Monday, May 15, 2006

Let's Dance!

. Monday, May 15, 2006

I was inspired by Gabriel's post about going to dinner and seeing a bunch of kids at their junior prom. That prompted me to think back to my junior prom. I've attended a number of formal dances in school, actually. Here's a quick synopsis of all of them:

8th Grade Dinner Dance (Theme Song - Stairway to Heaven ~ Led Zepplin)
This was held right at the school. Dinner (if you want to call it that) was served at the school too. Everyone ate right at the cafeteria tables. Most people went to the dance as a group of friends. People didn't really go to this dance as a "couple". Girls dressed up in nice dresses, and boys dressed up in a suit or a shirt and tie. I borrowed my older brother's suit to wear. I remember having a good time at the dance. It's funny because at this age, when there was a fast dance, either no one would be on the floor or it would be all girls. I would scope out who I wanted to slow dance with next while the fast songs were playing. And when a slow dance would come on, I would quickly walk over and ask the girl to dance with me. For some reason, after all these years, I still remember dancing to "Stairway to Heaven" with Diana.

VVS Winter Ball (Theme Song - This is the Time ~ Billy Joel)
This was my first real formal dance. I was invited to this dance by Allison. She went to VVS and I went to OHS. We knew each other from working at Joel's Steakhouse in Verona, NY. Looking back, it was pretty obvious that she invited me as her date just as a "friend" although, at the time, I was hoping it would be much more than that. I'm pretty sure a group of us went out to dinner at Vincent's in New Hartford. (Didn't that place burn down several years ago?) Strange that I remember having prime rib. The dance was right at the high school gym. I was "brave" and danced some fast dances with her and her friends. It was great having her to dance with for all the slow songs. I remember they had a cover band who was pretty good. We went to someone's house afterwards for a party. Nothing illegal or immoral went on at the party. I remembered being really nervous as we left wondering if I would get a kiss goodnight. I got a nice kiss goodnight and it really completed a terrific evening.

OHS Junior Prom (Theme Song - I'll Remember You - Skid Row)
This was my Junior Prom. I invited Allison (see above) to be my date. It was kind of nerve racking taking pictures at each of our houses before heading out to dinner. I could see my mom get all teary-eyed seeing her son "all grown up". We went to The Beeches in Rome, NY for dinner. I had been there before for an awards luncheon and really liked the place. I really liked the expansive lawn there. It was just the two of us there (besides the regular patrons). I did all of the "gentleman" things all night like dropping her off at the door, pushing in her seat, etc. The dance was held at the Kallet in Oneida. I had a good time and did my fair share of dancing. The girls at OHS had a preconceived notion that I was a big nerd because I was so smart in school so it was nice to "show off" my date to all my classmates. After the dance ended, I took Allison on a ride to the top of Peterboro Hill to see the city lights (well as much city lights as Oneida and the surrounding area could offer). It was nice and all but it didn't materialize into any further activitiy as I had hoped. So I was disapointed in that sense, but overall had a great evening.

OHS Senior Dinner Dance (Theme Song - On the Turning Away - Pink Floyd)
I took Pam (another girl from VVS and a friend of Allison's) to the Senior Dinner Dance. We actually had been going steady for several months earlier in the year but mutually broke up a couple months before the dance. We still remained friends, and Pam was my date for dance. I remember there was a big hullaballoo over having Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton as our theme song. The school objected to the lyrics, "You were wonderful tonight" because it insuates that the man and woman had sex. That's why we had a different song. How lame!

Potsdam Senior Dinner Dance (Theme Song - Don't Remember)
My girlfriend at the time, Laura, invited me to her Senior Dinner Dance. Yes, I know I was robbing the craddle - me a junion at Clarkson; she - a senior in high school). We went to this nice place in Massena for dinner. Don't remember the name of the place. I think I was more relaxed at this event compared to the others because I was older and because I had a steady girlfriend. The event was held in one of the event rooms in Cheel Arena on the Clarkson University campus. They also had a lock-down event where they had casino night and other games for students. I remember going back to Laura's parents house between events for some action and to change into more comfortable clothes. I had a real blast at the casino night. You would win "money" that could be used at an auction at the end of the night. I played black jack most of the night and did really well. Surprisingly, that was the first time I pulled an all-nighter. Got back to Laura's parents house around 8:00 in the morning and slept for a dew hours.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You went back to Laura's house for some "action"? Boo! You were a junior in college and she was a senior in high school!

Boo said...

Nothing ILLEGAL! (at least I don't THINK it was illegal) Let's just say we did everything but...

Greeneyezz said...

lol

Boo! "Let's just say we did everything but....."

What???? You related to Clinton Somehow???? :)