When I was younger, like up until I was 11 or so, I used to never be able to shut up when it came to music. I couldn't listen to a song without singing along and this happened no matter who was around or where I was. I used to sing all the time: to and from school with my mom/dad/brother in the car, while reading books (i could do both at the same time, I felt quite accomplished), in church, etc. I mean, I used to run around my house singing church songs from Sunday mass or from whenever St. Francis had mass, which was quite frequently.

I used to sing for my cousins whenever they asked and there's one moment in particular that I still vividly remember. One car ride from Busch Gardens with my cousins when I was super obsessed with Avril Lavigne, they were feeling really sleepy, so they asked me to sing a lullaby for them to sleep to. Me, being the awkward penguin that I am, picked the first song I could think of, which was "I'm with you" by Avril Lavigne. Clearly, I either sang it well or I sang it so horribly that they passed out, but by the time the song was over, they were all sleeping silently for the rest of the trip. I was 11ish, so that would make Josh 9 and Megan & Zack 7. I'm pretty sure if I sucked, they wouldn't have asked.

I feel the need to preface that I wasn't singing loudly like the song may suggest & I also didn't have any instrumentals, so maybe I didn't hit the notes quite right.

I stopped singing as much when I caught my mom creeping on me by sitting outside the bathroom door while I was singing in the shower. A point that I constantly remind her of, because now I'll only sing in my car or around friends, and even then, it's not like when I was younger. She feels guilty about it, but I was never really that good at it.

I remember trying out for Choir in middle school and it was a horrible experience, not because I had no voice, but because I felt like in comparison to everyone else, I shouldn't even bother trying. So I attended some meetings, but then just stopped going, because I felt like I didn't make any contribution to it and that I wasn't necessary. I still roll my eyes when my mom tells me that I was actually good at it back then, because there's a part of me that really believes I wasn't good at it and that I just pretended I was because I wanted to have a talent to call my own.

Then again, middle school in general wasn't a very good time for me, because I had such an attitude problem and all this energy that I couldn't put into anything, so I was pretty much a bad student who gave teachers grief. Dem teachers though were some real bitches.. let me tell you, but that's a whole other post :P