Prom Night

Alright, so it wasn't a drunken night of debauchery or the flaunting of affluence, assuming exaggerated expenses, a pursuit of vanity for vanity's sake, financial decadence or an orgy of consumption that entails abandoning the pretense to policing sex/booze/drugs, sustained over the years by parents, kids, and school administrators. It was after all, the Prom night in a small town called Starkweather.

Albert was admittedly a little apprehensive about going to the whole Prom thing, but all it really takes is a gorgeous German exchange student for a date to change his mind:

Besides, he put too much effort in helping the juniors with prom to miss it.
That's Julia Kreiss by the way. And that's Albert's brooding look of contemplation.

And so it was that Albert and Gigih decided to go to Starkweather's "cute" little prom(as Julia puts it).

Never underestimate the American tradition, sometimes when there is the superficial practice of American culture, most people don't really give Americans credit for their own distinctive culture that they have evolved into, which is very much different from how its adopted in Malaysia. Quite unlike the "fake" Proms in Malaysia, Americans here take Prom VERY SERIOUSLY.

First off, after everyone was dressed, the girls stuck this flower(its actually called a "corsage") on left side of the guys suit and the guys fitted a duplicate around the left arm of his date. Its just something they do here.

Then they had the formal candlelit dinner at David's place:


Served and waited on by Chef David:


Albert felt incredibly out of place in this prim and proper setting, but managed to adhere to table manners(everything from setting the napkin on his lap to the nonsensical ones like filling up his plate from the top right corner). He even managed a little small talk. Its amazing what human capabilities can achieve when it's stretched far enough.

A little camwhoring followed naturally


Iris(Swiss exchange student), Gigih, me and Julia



With the pre-prom formalities complete, David chauffeured them to Starkweather High, where they were among the earliest couples there. The girls, coming from a big school and having a big, generic like prom thought the small, exclusive setting of Starkweather's little prom was cute and real pretty. Albert wasn't a big fan of the theme: Dreaming in Pink, but it turned out to be unexpectedly good, with all the understated elegance and innocence, it simply gave you this tingly feeling of niceness.


The result of the Juniors hard work

They exchanged pleasantries with the other early couples, the usual "wow, nice dress!" or "nice suit", but if you listen closely, don't be surprised to hear the faint whispers of "I swear she wore the same dress last year!"

The photo shoot followed, there was a nice little set where the couples(Albert&Julia included) held each other in an embrace and smiled for the camera. Then of course, more socializing as they waited for the Grand March.


Carly and her older sis Kori(whose dress is begging for a wardrobe malfunction)




Richard & Robyn


A devilish looking Carrie


Joey&Nick(the walmart boys) Kevin, Andrew

After the countless introductions of their respective dates, the Grand March finally began. The principal announced the names of the couples, "Julia Kreiss escorted by Albert Krishna", and the couples strutted down from separate paths and met in the center, locked arms, posed and had their picture taken by the crowd. This was repeated by the 29 other couples, and FINALLY, after all the formalities complete, the dance floor opened.


dance floor

there definitely wasn't any waltz-ing

And so they danced the night away, all 3 hours of it, even uptight Gigih was forced to have fun almost against his will, but damn it, he was going to enjoy it whether he liked it or not. There were slow songs, where you and your partner held each other in the hip-shoulder pose, and just sway slowly with the music. Through what must have been Divine intervention, Albert did not trample on anyones toes, nope, not once in the 5 slow dances. Then of course you have a the staple club music where everyone just goes crazy. There also was the macarena, which Albert learnt to do on the spot, Thriller popped up outta nowhere, a couple of country songs and of course, soulja boy. If anything, there was variety.

What must have been the fastest 3 hours of his life, prom winded down to the last song around 1 am, and Albert and Gigih and their dates decided to call it a night,summoning the chauffeur who drove them back to their respective homes. Of course, the night wouldn't be complete without the last bit of a Prom custom, the girls took off their guarder(its this thing they wear above their knees) and handed it to the guys-

now that's one hell of a souvenir for one hell of a night.