Prom night

Kell's high school (well, it's not her high school, it's the one at which she is a teacher ... I digress) held their prom last weekend and I went along as a chaperone because it was a free date night and it was good to see some of the people she works with.

Anyway, it was at the prom that I came to a disconcerting realization ... I'm old.

I base this epiphany on a few observations:

• It never ceases to amaze how many girls (and they are girls, not women) go for the slutty look. Just astounding that their parents would let them leave the house like that.
  
• Apparently, the new(?) thing is for guys to wear new baseball caps as formal wear. There were a few kids there wearing caps with the flat brim, slightly askew. Now, this was bad enough, but what was even worse was the fact that they didn't take off the caps when they sat down to dinner. Drove me absolutely insane.
  
• Seeing kids practically fornicating in dark corners of the hall was ridiculous. But Kell had fun going after them, so that was fun to watch.
  
• Aside from the few teachers' requests that the DJ played, I didn't recognize a single song I heard. They all sounded the same ... bumpa bumpa bumpa ... thumpa thumpa thumpa ... crapola crapola crapola. Ye gods.

But, all that being said, I had to give credit to the few kids who go for that goth/Marilyn Manson-type look. It may be really bizarre to me, but you have to admit that these kids really don't care about conforming to the norm. They really have a unique style ... hmmm, I guess in their own way they're conforming to others like them, but it certainly isn't mainstream.

Anyway, this is a different generation to be sure and never is it more evident than when attending a high school event.