The Birds

A post for the feathered creatures of the world, or at least the ones outside my apartment.

I love hearing a good dawn chorus. It's uplifting, brings the promise of a new day filled with sunshine and laughter. It's also noisy.

I have no intention of stopping your morning song, but could you perhaps lose one two of the chorus line? Perhaps even drop a few lines of the song, a little less tweeting and chirping more of allowing a tired pregnant woman another hour of sleep?

And what's with carrying on in the evening? I figured a three hour performance first thing (in the morning) would be pretty tiring...no? Ah well, I can only ask.

Prom Night

The headline on CNN caught my attention the other day. It stated that Georgia was having it's first racially integrated prom: read article. I took a double take - first racially integrated prom? Are you serious? It's 2013, segregation ended about sixty odd years ago...?

It's things like this that makes me just sad. America claims to be this great, forward thinking nation and I agree in terms of science, technology and medicine. But in aspects of life which are just as important - race, gender, sexual orientation and money - the divide doesn't seem to get any smaller.

I could write all day about the injustice of this world but I'm not going to go there - narrow-mindedness annoys me. I'll move on to the lighter side of life. Thestory did remind me of my own prom.

As a fairly new concept to the UK, I remember being pretty excited about going but then the realization that I didn't actually think anyone would take me to the prom dawned. Lord how embarrassing! But I had a group of friends who didn't seem bothered by this concept. And me being me was deep in the background getting the snacks and drinks sorted out, a vague memory of decorations...

So imagine my surprise when this guy I was friends with asked me to go with him. I said 'yeah alright' to find out that the guy I kinda fancied wanted to ask me too. Talk about the proverbial bus, no dates for the entire five years and then two blokes want to take me to the high school prom. Ah well.

The big night arrived and I wore a red two-piece with diamante's thrown around the top. I felt stunning, but to be honest wouldn't have looked out of place at a Carrington (Dynasty) soiree - not really hip. But my date arrived looking very handsome and off we went.

All was going well until he decided to dedicate a song to me. As we stood at the back of the hall waiting for the DJ to play the song, my heart pounded. What was the song going to be? I smiled politely waiting and then it came on. As the opening bars of Color Me Bad's 'I wanna Sex You Up' boomed, I closed my eyes and...well, I can't actually remember me saying anything (to him) or how I ended up in the girls bathroom praying that the song would finish.

My friend came in to find me, I believe struggling to keep the smile off her face, and said that I couldn't stay in here all night. I thought why not? The rest of the evening was a blur, I can't remember if I said anything to my date for the dedication. It was a lovely gesture but...And yes, I still cringe when I think of that moment.

Well, even if they had to campaign for it, I'm glad these teenagers enjoyed their prom together. It's a time to vote for prom King and Queen and have a dance and a laugh with your friends, before entering the new world of work or college.