My Voice

Well, some of you may not have heard me talk yet... And seriously, if you do not like my voice, neither do I... But, I was born with it and I have to live with it. Unless moolah drops from the sky and I'm able to go under the knife to do something to it...

Here's what happened the other day...
A colleague brought his amp to the office, because we had our annual staff party, hooked up a mic to it and got me to mic test. There I was, yabbah yabbah into the mic, and I really cringed. I told them I can't stand hearing my voice cos it's SUPER whiny though I have no intention to whine.
Then they laugh...

I'm irritated not because of the laughing and what not. Because as normally as I try to speak without whining, I still sound as if I'm whining! And sometimes I feel that because of the pitch and tone of my voice, no one takes me really seriously and would always brush my comments off as whining... When in actual fact, I'm NOT whining...

Back to what happened the other day...
And so, a few moments passed and there I was at the processing area, obviously doing something... As we had stock take earlier in the morning, some colleagues who were working morning shift could go home a little earlier. But because we had the staff party in the night, some decided not to go as it was a blardi long day for them.
So, one of them was just about to go home and I started to really whine and asked this fella to go. Then we started to joke, saying I whine to "wrong target" cos this guy is gay. Then Boss and I brought up what happened in the office a little earlier, and there I was, saying that I have a permanently whiny voice.

Back in Poly, a lecturer and some friends told me that if I want people to take me seriously, I have to stop whining. But I really can't help having such a pitch and tone...

Something just set me thinking... Are there cheaper and less invasive alternatives to "tune" my voice? Say vocal lessons or something? If anyone knows, please drop me an email or a comment on this post or the tagboard on your right. Help and suggestions much appreciated. Thanks in advanced!