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Since young, I was very much interested in karaoke. However, I felt that my voice was not one that deserved to be heard in public. As such, I was mostly a bathroom singer and even as that, I would not dare to sing my heart out.

Therefore, when my dad first got our first home karaoke system, I was simply ecstatic. But still, I chose to sing when the family was still sound asleep in the early morning so that they couldn't hear my voice (which I thought was quite horrible).

Until on one occasion, I went for a dinner with my family to a Lion's Club's gathering,which was held in a community centre karaoke hall. I mustered up my courage and went onstage to give my "virgin" performance in front of a fairly large audience (close to 50 people). Before the song began, I was having butterflies in my stomach. But then I told myself, "what the heck!" Just sing it out loud and get it done with. This ain't a competition, so why be nervous. Therefore I sang the song with gusto and upon completion of my song, i was sure glad that I did not get booed, though I was not asked for an encore either. From then on, I slowly gained confidence in my vocal abilities.

However, it was a couple of years later that I was to sing in front of another large audience, this time round being at least 200 people. And this time, it was different, as this was a friendly singing competition held in my company. As my competitors went onstage to perform before me, I was quite amazed by a few of their vocals and thought that I stood no chance at all. Moreover, I entered the competition at the last moment, after some nudging by my colleagues. Even though this was just a friendly competition, everyone really gave their best shot. As for me, I gave my best shot too of course. So when the results were announced, I was not that hopeful but to my surprise I was actually in second position! At that moment, I was really over the moon and even though the prize was just a few shopping vouchers, it mattered little to me as the recognition given for my singing far surpassed the monetary award. This was truly the turning point of my karaoke singing days. From then on, I started singing more confidently and entered a couple of competitions and attained several awards,including the top spot for a couple of them.

Needless to say, all these were very memorable experiences for me. But one of them truly stood out, where I got the top spot. This was because after the results were tabulated, I was tied for top spot with another contestant, whom personally I thought was a definitely top spot winner.. As such, we each had to perform another song in order to have a second poll. I was totally unprepared for another song and decided to sing one of my personal favourites, as I would be most comfortable with it. In the end, when the results were again tabulated, I was chosen as the winner and had won marginally. Inside my heart, I was very emotional and tears were really on the edge of my eyes. I was really very happy that my singing abilities had been given due recognition and the judges really appreciate my singing.

And now, I am just happy to go singing with my friends for fun. To me, the memories are definitely sweet and will be forever etched in my memory. Truly speaking, karaoke had really changed my life by giving me the courage to showcase my talent in front of others and becoming more confident of myself.

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