Um, I don't want to sound like an attention whore, but..

[gridlore]

The other day in my weekend update post I pointed out that I sang at karaoke. No one commented. This is a bit bothersome for me, since I pointed out that singing is something that is very hard for me, and doing it in public, with a microphone terrified me. Really, getting up and singing, especially a song where I was starting off, scared me as much, or more than, finding out I had cancer.

Seriously. I walked onto that floor with the same gait as that of man going to his execution.

I don't know why the lack of replies annoys me so much. Maybe because this was such a big accomplishment for me. What's the hip phrase? Validation, that's it. I did something very hard for me and want some validation.

This is my one whiny post seeking attention for 2007. Next up: memes and penguin sightings!

Oh, speaking of validation, someone posted to the TML today searching for the lyrics to a filksong Kirsten and I wrote a decade ago.


The Traveller Saga
by Douglas & Kirsten Berry
music: "American Pie" by Don McLean

A long, long time ago,
I can still remember how the first game stirred my soul
Known Space on the StarForce map
A fist of stolen dice and that
Was all it took to make my dreams take flight

Every weekend at the game store
With my ten hard-earned bucks to buy more
Now twenty years have flown past
With wars and life and mishaps
I know I'm not that wide-eyed teen
But I still look up and I still dream
Whatever comes I do believe
I still will play this game

(Chorus)
So bye bye, I'm goin' Travellin' tonight
The rules set may be changing
But the concept's all right
And it lets me travel through the stars and through time
Saying: Gonna play this game 'til I die
Gonna play this game 'til I die

Do you remember when CT
Was only Books 1,2, and 3
and a homespun setting that you wrote
Do you recall Bill and Andrew Keith
Early FASA and JG
All the products out to help us play
And slowly the Imperium came to light
With enemies for us to fight
Then in Supplement 3
We met the Zhodani
It was a glorious time of change and growth
And we couldn't ever get enough
So we sat down and wrote our own stuff
And I still played this game

I told my mother...
(Chorus)

Then came some folks called DGP
About as passionate as you or me
About this universe we'd made
They filled in all the holes and cracks
They fixed some rules, they wrote a patch
And changed the way the game was played
But GDW had a plan
Strephon died at an assassin's hand
The Imperium fell to war
Much worse than before
And in '87 we got MT
To play through this galactic catastrophe
But the new rules didn't mean much to me
'cause I still played the game

I told my girlfriend.
(Chorus)

For six years, we played through Hard Times
While pretenders fled and planets died
And we wondered how it all would end
Then we got the horrid news
about a Virus that would use
any means to kill humaniti
TNE made its bright debut
While the Old Timers hissed and booed
Much dissent was spoken
The TML was broken!
And while X-Boat waxed on days gone by
GDW up and died
The hard core fans sent up a cry
They can't have killed our game

They told their children...
(Chorus)

Then Marc Miller took back control
And promised Traveller like we had before
But did they try to push too fast?
For T4 was a sorry mess
Barely edited and the rest
Of the releases, well they didn't shine much more
The authors grumbled we've not been paid
Imperium Games quietly sped away
Then Loren brought our reprieve
A deal with Evil Steve
A return to all those Classic themes
Of hard-sf and future dreams
It may be GURPS, but what the beans?
I still will play this game

We'll tell our grandkids...
(Chorus)

(slowly)
Now twenty years and more have past
From first edition to the last
But the setting is the game to me
I went down to my local store
Where I bought the first books years before
But that store now is part of history
And nowadays the kids play Magic
Glitterboys or Vampires tragic
No more the sound of parties-
Instead, the hum of PCs
And books for which I once did lust
Sit on the shelf collecting dust
But I have them and that's enough
For still, I play this game

(Chorus, slowly)

(Chorus)

I should update this for Traveller's 30th...

Comments

[mdlbear]

Good song, and congrats on facing down the dreaded demon of stage fright. I learned a long time ago in Toastmasters that more people are afraid of speaking or performing in public than are afraid of dying.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

It's not stage fright, you've seen me on panels and at parties, it's singing in particular. I'm so self-conscious about it that when we saw Judas Priest a few years ago I lip-synced during Living After Midnight so the people around me wouldn't be put off by my voice.

At a heavy metal concert. Where most of us were either wearing ear plugs or were already half deaf.

[mdlbear]

That's pretty common, too. I taught myself to lip-sync in Junior High music class.

[murphymom.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry - I really should have said something at the time - especially since the whole thing scares me, too. Mazel tov!

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

good show, and welcome to golden womb of apotheosis that is karaoke!

[hellloooonurse.livejournal.com]

About the singing...you're a braver man than I am. *two thumbs up*

I meant to comment, but right at the time that I was going to, I got interrupted by Shiwa.

[bushidobunny.livejournal.com]

You don't know me from Eve, but I'm proud of you.

It takes a lot to face that kind of body/mind wracking fear.

But congrats!!! You did it.

[supersniffles.livejournal.com]

I've been off line all weekend.
Good for you! I spent 18 months hanging out in a karaoke bar before I dared to sing, so yeah, I know about the fear.

[fimbrethil.livejournal.com]

This was my birthday weekend and I was very busy and I admit I skimmed posts and didn't see that you had sang. If I had I would have commented. I'm glad you were able to get up and do that. It's hard.

[maliszew.livejournal.com]

You make me miss Traveller a great deal. I'm knee-deep in CT nostalgia right now and this only exacerbates it.

What a great game.

FWIW

[capplor.livejournal.com]

I find that most really bad singers think they're wonderful, and a lot of excellent singers don't. Now I"m trying to remember if I've ever heard you sing.

[valkyrwench.livejournal.com]

Eeep. I meant to go back and comment, really, I did. Well, anyway, a hearty Well Done, if a little late.

[melchar.livejournal.com]

Was it a weekend post? I tend to barely look at the 3 days of 'friends' posts over the weekend - pretty much just catch up on the 'Get Medievals' and read Monday posts.

So ... didn't really see it. However, that said - karioke is just a nice word for getting up in front of others and hoping one doesn't make too big a horse's arse of one's-self. Been there. Cringed a bit. Glad you survived. ^_^

Nifty filk!

[silverstorm2013.livejournal.com]

I feal the same way sometimes. I'll post something that to me was life changeing and get dead silence in responce.

congrats on the singing, I know my first (and only) time I made the mistake of trying to sing Green Day - Good Riddance