ALDA Highlights - Karaoke Party

Time is just seeping into unknown crevices and leaving me with little or no time to do much of anything. Priorities are rearranged and some of them are put on the back burner like this blog. It has been a month to the day that marked the end of the ALDA Convention and I wanted to share some highlights that everyone wants to know about - the Karaoke Party.

But first, a little history on the Karaoke Party. Since most of us are deaf, we can't really follow along with the words of the music nor can we keep a tune. What they do is they put the words to the song on a big screen so everyone can read them and they pass out balloons to feel the music. The balloons are far more sensitive to vibrations and far more reliable then using a table or our feet to feel the beats. How did this traditional use of balloons start? It started when a member went over to the next banquet room where they were having a wedding and he kind of, sort of - borrowed some balloons. The bride even joined them when she saw how much fun they were having. That was a start of a great tradition. I strongly suggest that you check out LaRonda Zupp's vlog that gives you a better idea of how the whole balloon things works. Click here to watch it :) It has yours truly featured.

But let me give you a little background information. Since the Karaoke Party is supposed to be the main event that everyone looks forward to and the date just so happen to fall the day after Halloween. Some of us decided to dress up. Jennifer and I brainstormed for days, we even got her kids involved. One of her offspring thought it was be a rocking good idea if we were a giraffe - Jen would be front since and I would be the back end of the giraffe. It was a novel idea and I applaud them for their creative endeavors BUT I don't want to be the back end of anything. :) We nixed that idea. I came up with this idea to be Abby on NCIS. I was really stepping outside of my comfort zone because Abby is gothic with chains, black lipstick and the ultimate combat boots and this Abbie that is typing out this blog is all about classic ivory lace dressed in chiffon and strands of pearls but as you can see, I managed to pull it off.



Jennifer decided to be her natural peace loving self as everyone's favorite hippie complete with shoes that brought her to a final height of six foot, five inches. I had a crick in my neck by the end of the night. :) She is hunched over in this picture. You will see the full heightage further down.


We were not the only ones dressed up! From left to right - LaRonda Zupp from Ear of My Heart as the cutest little fairy, Ken Arcia brought Elvis back from the dead, Abbie as Abby and Jennifer as the tallest flower child in the history of mankind.


Surprisingly enough, I thought it would have taken me a couple of drinks to get me up on stage to sing but with a little coercing, I got up there completely sober. I was doing my best Milli Vanilli impression. I look rather convincing don't I?


This is my favorite picture. This is Thing 1 otherwise known as Maddy, the daughter to one of my very good friends, Tina Childress. I wanted to take this little girl home with me. I was just so impressed with her intelligence and her signing capability - far better mine. Plus, I was having a political discussion with the little McCain supporter as we were walking down a busy highway made it all the more fun.


This is Mr. Dave Litman and I spreading the good word of peace, love and rock and roll. :)



Tina Childress as the Dragon and her adorable munchkins, Maddy as Thing 1 and Mia as Thing 2, Jennifer the flower child and yours truly signing off.


This is the founder of ALDA, Bill Graham with the very lovely and lively Elvis. :)

It was good times, good times indeed. You can go here to check out more pictures from the ALDAcon and if you are interested you can join ALDA on Facebook. :)