Phew! Slow day today. Nothing but boring news (except for that Buffalo plane crash – may they rest in peace, poor souls), and meanwhile I've been working like crazy on my songs (writing a second Rhapsody, which I think should be better than the first, 'Adrian Rhapsody', by a fair bit) to try and get part of it ready to show to my music class teacher so I don't get drowned in damned theory again. (I KNOW MY SOLFEGE DANGIT!)
Anyway, there's at least one bit of vaguely-interesting news displayed on my Google Sidebar News gadget. According to the British reliable-as-trash tabloid The Sun (though reposted on Newsweek so it may not be 100% bullshit), Britain's fatherhood demographic now has its age limits widened a bit. To 13 years old. The boy, 'Alfie', was reportedly only 12 when he had his first sexual relation, with a girl named 'Chantelle' (then 14). She had been on the pill regularly, but as luck (or a staggering lack of it) would have it, she had apparently missed the pill for that month, coinciding perfectly with their first sexual act. Well, she became pregnant, and has recently birthed a healthy baby.(LONDON) He's 13. He scarcely looks 10. And according to a British tabloid, he's a father. Baby-faced and only 4 feet tall, the boy, Alfie, was just 12 when he impregnated Chantelle, now 15, The Sun reported Friday. Shown in a video posted Friday on the tabloid's Web site, the diminutive Alfie takes the newborn girl in his arms. Asked what he would do to support the child financially, Alfie asks in a small, high-pitched voice, "What's financially?" The girl was taking birth control pills but missed one, the newspaper reported. Friends and relatives left the family home near Eastbourne, about 70 miles southeast of London, Friday without speaking to reporters gathered outside. The teenagers could not immediately be contacted.'The teenagers could not immediately be contacted' ... Probably because they're being beaten by their parents or something. Hell, if I had a 13yo boy and came to me with a little bundle of not-so-much-joy and said it was his, my head would explode (right after my voice). I'm all for greater youth freedom and liberties, but this is taking it a little too far in my opinion. Anyway ... The child (erm ... the baby, not the father) is healthy, and the article says the father, 'Alfie' (THIRTEEN!) and the mother, 'Chantelle' (FIFTEEN!) have decided to keep the baby and will try and raise it as best as they can. Now 'Alfie''s father plans to give him the 'birds and bees' talk. (Which I have no idea what it is – my mother explained it all to me perfectly naturally and normally, and I don't recall being traumatized (or even interested afterwards), so why do people keep giving the 'stork' story ...? Nevermind.) Um ... a little too late, no? It's said this has sparked a debate on teenage pregnancies in Britain. Great. As if we didn't have enough pseudo-moral-debates flying around, arousing people to spew their stupid and misinformed opinions about anything and nothing at all ... urgh. [sic]
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I have faint hopes that this is at least partly bullshit. Years ago I read an article in a tabloid even trashier than The Sun about a kid who'd gotten married and become a father at 13, got a divorce, and remarried at 14. Since they also had articles about six-foot locusts attacking Mexico I had a hard time believing the story. But I have to ask, where were Chantelle's parents? I don't want to place any more blame on her than I place on him, but it seems she must bear 50% of the responsibility. Did she and her parents not notice her swelling belly? Did they all just think she was getting really fat? And how are Alfie and Chantelle supposed to take care of a child when they can't legally hold jobs?
On a happier note (no pun intended), good luck with your composition. And if you even understand music theory you're doing better than most music students I've known.
Well, I didn't find any other articles or reports about this story so I can't cross-examine to find any disparities or anything, so I gotta take it as it is, though with a grain of salt as usual. I still think if it's worthy enough to be posted on Newsweek (which, far as I know, is still reliable), it can't be that bad. Anyway, this is a big enough story to virtually ensure that if it were false people would've let them know by now, so I'm inclined to think at least most of it is true.
(Seriously ... six-foot locusts? XD Please tell me nobody fell for that?)
I understand the basics of the basics of musical theory. As I've said before (or maybe not), I've never been trained in my life. Everything I know is 100% self-taught from Wikipedia, a few forum questions here and there, and 99% trial-and-error, figuring out what works and what doesn't to achieve the right sounds. My music class is actually an ex-Guitar Class that I've asked my teacher to stop so we could concentrate on my songs and her feedback/criticism on them. I should be starting an actual musical theory course soon, as soon as my father remembers to call. (I hate phones. :S )
Oh, and thanks. :P