Mandatory Fun and Karaoke

So last night, as is common in military circles, we had mandatory fun - a "New Year's Eve Nehi Night". In this fine tradition, we gather the staff together for a few hours of camaraderie, which sometimes can be fun, but other times is an exercise in "when is this going to be over?". These events usually have some sort of food and beverage, which for this one was: little sandwiches, wings, cake, and near-beer...great combo. Having survived many of these events before, last night's event was slightly more painful than average as the central theme was "Baghdad Idol" karaoke, complete with judges. This usually involved the MC haranguing the crowd to attempt to socially coerce participation. If it weren't for a few ringers (that the DJ brought along) this could have gone on for hours. The night ended up with some decent entertainment interspersed with the more painful moments: the ringers sang the duet "Summer Nights" from Grease, a few of the women were coerced into stumbling through "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" while trying not to laugh, the Aussies sang Men at Work, and at the very end the general dragged all the Colonels on stage to sing the CCR hit "Proud Mary" otherwise known as "Rolling Down the River" - it's bad when the general is the best guy up there and had to carry the whole tune punctuated by his Deputy playing great air guitar. Real beer would have definitely improved the event and we have once again confirmed that it should be mandatory for all events involving karaoke. Don't get me wrong, I can think of at least a few things that I would have rather been doing last night, but at least it was different than every other night here.

Well, I survived it, and have now made it into a New Year, almost one month down out of my six months here. The next several days are work as normal. Happy New Year from Baghdad!