I Don't Want Anybody Else. When I Think About You, I Judge Myself.

As much fun as it is judging other people, I’d have to say judging myself is high up on my “activities I like to do” list. Also high up on the list? Watching random YouTube videos of people singing popular songs. Some are better than the original, and some make me want to clog my ears permanently. Maybe I’ll do a blog post some day and show you what I mean. But yeah, I figured it's only fair that if I'm going to publish a blog where I thrust my judging opinions into the spotlight, I might as well make fun of myself in the process.

Judging Myself: I sing in the car.

I actually think singing is a vast understatement. I get really into songs when I’m by myself in my car. It’s sort of how some people sing in the shower because they assume the running water muffles their voice and no one in the vicinity of the bathroom can hear them… I’ve decided that my car is completely sound-proof (it’s not), and that my windows are tinted (they’re not).

Now, you may be thinking, “big deal, so you sing along with songs while you’re driving, why is this judgment-worthy?” And you would be correct… singing along with songs isn’t a big deal, and I’d even do that with other people in the car. But I have no shame when I’m by myself.

I recently bought a car, and it came with 3 months of free XM radio. Upon browsing the stations, I came up with a fantastic lineup of stations for my pre-sets: 20 on 20, 90s on 9, a couple mix stations, a hip hop station, and On Broadway. This last one is hit or miss, because sometimes they play obscure songs that put me to sleep, but they also play all the showstoppers that make me love musicals. One of my favorite songs that I’ve heard on this station (and the reason for this story) is I Am Changing, as performed by Jennifer Hudson and as featured in Dream Girls. I guess this is a double-judgment post, because not only can you judge me for my car-singing, but you can also judge me for thinking that I can sing like a diva.

When the song comes on, I don’t sing along with Jennifer Hudson. Oh no. I AM Jennifer Hudson. This comes complete with hand waving, head shaking, and me belting every note. (Side note: even with me getting really into the music, I still drive better than most of the idiots on the North Carolina roads) If anyone bothered to look over at me, they might be confused as to why I was driving around with my mouth wide open. I’m not going to try and convince you that I’m as good as Jennifer Hudson. But for a white boy, I think I have a pretty good set of pipes. Too bad I’m not gonna be getting cast in “Dream Girls” any time soon.

My old voice teacher used to have to try all sorts of techniques to get me to loosen up when I was performing. I guess I should have told her sitting me in a car by myself does the trick.