D - Dances

D is for Dances.

High school dances in particular. Hahaha.

Just thinking back at high school dances, they seem SO lame. Don't get me wrong, I loved going to dances and preparing for dances and the whole shindig. But once you graduate and stuff and look back at the importance of dances, you realize dances are not of the greatest importance to the rest of your life. But I must say, the whole dance experience was fun. These are probably the things that stick out the most/that I enjoyed the most:

a) Finding a girl to ask.
This was always the hard part #1. You always wanted to find a girl who was "cool" or generally in good terms socially with your peers. If you went with a random/nobody girl, then people would think you were uncool. But of course, you wanted it to be a girl who was a friend of yours, because if she wasn't your friend in the first place, it would end up to be a pretty awkward night. So once you have the girl in mind, you HAD to tell your friends. This slowly started the word through the grapevine, so that at least other people knew that the girl was part of YOUR property. The month before dances were always interesting and full of excitement.

b) Asking the girl.
This whole process was complex and at times, nerve-wrecking. You always wanted to have a cool way to ask the girl, but it never should have been too out-of-this-world. I always liked to do some online research before asking a girl; reading things online allowed me to know what people have done, how extreme people were willing to be, and gave me inspiration to think of ways to ask my dates in a creative manner. I think the hour/few minutes right before it happens was soooo tense because of the nervousness of the whole situation. A method I liked from back then was a balloon one; I put words of a sentence onto little notes and put them into balloons. Then I left the balloons and a pin at the girl's house and she had to pop the balloons to find the notes, which then "popped" the question, "Will you go to [whatever dance] with Charles?"

c) Corsage.
I HATED buying corsages. It was quite literally 3-5 flowers with ribbons, glitter, and a sweatband for the wrist. $30+ for that crap?! Hailzzzz nah. I still don't understand why or how corsages are a traditional part of dances or any formal occasion.

d) Denny's.
I think Denny's is THE SPOT to go to after high school dances. It was never too expensive, open until late, and it was fun to hang around there after getting all sweaty at the dance. I mean, it wasn't always Denny's, but Denny's was the generic place to go to.

High school dances were definitely fun. There truly is nothing like it once high school ends.