By Ivey McDaniel | Staff writer
It was homecoming night, and I had the house to myself. My little sister had gone to the dance and wouldn’t be back for another hour and a half, plus my parents were out of town for the weekend. I had my mother’s seven passenger Honda Pilot to myself, and so far, the only thing I had done was drop my sister off at a friend’s and gone to the rollerblading rink downtown. It was an act of protest, an objection to school spirit, a statement, that I didn’t want to spend my Saturday night in a dirty gymnasium, listening to awful music, pushed in a grind-line against my own will, with bodies I saw 35 hours a week. When would the student council realize Egyptian decorations from Party City would never mask the onion and cumin smell generated by the few pubescent teens who decided to leave their gym clothes in the lockers located only feet away? Never.
So, instead, a friend and I decided to rollerblade at a rink smaller than the school gym, that only played awful music from the 80’s, and rather than teenagers, got pushed around by sweaty adults with strange tattoos and exposed body parts. We had enough after about an hour and left with battered knees, the aroma of old nacho cheese in our nostrils, and the lyrics to “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” by Dead or Alive still in our heads.
When I arrived home, I had a sudden realization that I had never done anything rebellious in my short span of teenage years. It was a Saturday at 9:30 PM, and I had no plans. I then grasped the idea that I had never cursed in front of my parents, toilet papered a house, or gone anywhere without my mother’s knowledge and consent. It was time to do something crazy. With my cat Mochi as a witness, I blared “Drop it Low”, the clean version of course (but I whispered the profanities), drank straight out of the orange juice carton, and found some inappropriate, IQ dropping show, to watch. I was half way through the song and “rewindin’ it back” as Lil’ John commanded, and I then came to another realization, how ridiculous I felt. There I was, a sad excuse for a rebel, with a orange pulp mustache. I shamefully turned off the music, changed into my favorite Christmas PJs in the middle of October, the craziest thing that I’d feel no guilt for, and settled down for a rerun of “19 Kids and Counting” with Mochi.
So, if you’re not going to prom, save the embarrassment and plan something fun,(and not too rebellious) to do. Here are some local events happening in our area on May 5:
AT&T Center Comedian Kevin Hart is performing at 8:00 PM
http://www.attcenter.com/events/detail/khart
Stubbs BBQ Austin Rodrigo Y Gabriella and C.U.B.A. concert with Zach Heckendorf
http://stubbsaustin.com/events/rodrigo-y-gabriela-and-c-u-b-a/
Luminaria Celebration of Arts and Artists HemisFair Park 7PM- 1AM
http://www.bizjournals.com/prnewswire/press_releases/2012/04/27/DC96205
New movies such as LOL, A Little Bit of Heaven, The Avengers, and Death of a Super Hero out
