Day 247: Gold bracelet

This bracelet was a gift from my grandparents. Unfortunately, it's not something I can see myself wearing. I think it was a cruise ship purchase. My grandparents enjoyed going on cruises together and they have also brought the entire family along for three cruise vacations. We have done the Bahamas, the Mexican "Riviera," and Alaska. Alaska was the most fun because my sister and I were old enough to drink and our cousins are old enough that we can relate to each other better. It's weird knowing that my 18 year old cousin has similar taste in music as me!

Cruises always have all sorts of planned activities but we don't usually participate in many. For the Alaska cruise my sister and I decided to get up the nerve to compete in Westerdam Idol - the karaoke contest. I've always been terrified of speaking and singing in front of other people so this was a big deal for me. We had to sing in front of 300 people. I wasn't very daring back then so I sang "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer. I had a shaky start but by the end I felt pretty good. Suz is more experienced at singing in front of people so she sounded great. We didn't win but it was a good experience.

Since the cruise I have become a lot more comfortable with public speaking and singing. Toastmasters helped a lot and so did Rock Band. It's easy to sing in front of people when you're focused on the video game and eventually my confidence grew enough that I sing in front of people all the time now. Also, I recently did a presentation for a work conference and I was happy with how it went. It feels good to finally be conquering this fear.

Status: Dibbed