Friday was our company's karaoke night.

I don't know whether you've ever been to karaoke. For me, Friday was the first time ever. I expected something ridiculous, awkward and embarrassing (...so my expectations were pretty low!). I got something which was actually quite funny and nice.

Very close to our office, there is Manchester's Chinatown. (I am not sure I've mentioned this before.) Chinatown means a lot of Chinese / Japanese / generally Asian restaurants, Asia market style shops selling tea, noodles, spiky fruits, fish heads, coconut juice (three different brands!) and also some stinking weird stuff (no offence). Chinatown also means quite a few karaoke bars. We went to the biggest one - maybe five floors of small rooms with upholstered walls and a TV and a couch and of course the karaoke machine!

So, there is a big screen on which music videos are played. There is a small screen on which you select which songs to play. There are two mics, with a funny plastic collar so that when you put them down on the table, they don't touch the upper desk. There are door which are almost soundproof and on which there is a warning than anyone caught vomiting will have to pay £20 cleaning fee. (Seriously!)

Once you select the songs, they go into your playlist and they are played, one by one. Lyrics appear on the screen, and when it is time to sing, they start changing colour; the stuff which is to follow is still white, and the stuff which has been sung is bluish or greenish. The only thing you have to do is pick up the mic and start singing! (And drink a lot of Chinese beer or wine in the meantime.)

As mentioned above, I quite enjoyed the evening. I don't know many pop songs, which is a shame (because karaoke is usually about the most hardcore pop there is), but I knew few of them, and so I could sing at least something. I mean, yes, I did it! I sang! After initial fear of being embarrassed to death, I've discovered that it wasn't so bad, that everyone embarrassed himself/herself equally, and that 'this is why the room has the door'. People were actually encouraging me, and the atmosphere was that of acceptance (something like 'no one can sing like a pro, some are better than others, but that is not the point, we are here to have fun' - an attitude which I quite enjoyed).

And just for the sake of completeness - I was asked by colleagues to sing a Czech folk song. So I did!