35 and Ticking? Not us, we’re the young’uns!

35 & ticking? Speak for yourself- I’m still a young’un!

Black Cinema Club every Friday at the Mella Center

Once again the Mella Center held another successful Black Cinema Club film friday event showing 35 & Ticking; A romantic comedy which follows the lives of 4 thirty-five-plus African-American friends trying to figure out life, love and marriage…

So what do I, a twenty-something year old student have in common with a despairing thirty-something year old singleton? More than I’d like to admit!

And it starts with the pressure of having to have it all while in your twenties; the degree, the job – the CAREER, the car, the boyfriend, the engagement, the house, the marriage, the kids… And have a life!

So a few of those pieces are missing from my jigsaw – big deal! I’m still young, I have plenty of time before I’m 35 and ticking…

Except that’s the one thing society doesn’t warn you about having. “Hear that?… Tick-tock!”

Time.

You can’t earn it from the fanciest university, you can’t buy it with all the money in the world, and you most certainly can’t freeze it – despite what some prone-to-plastic surgery celebrities think.

10 years of friendship… Jamming like the young’uns back in da day!

It took celebrating the 29th birthday of my good friend, Moi, last night after the film club to come face-to-face with my despair… As we danced into the early hours of the morning, it felt like it was just the other day we were the young’uns jamming to the same old skool beats on our many nights out… Except it wasn’t just the other day. It’s been within a span of 10 years!

How does time fly like that?

If I had a £1 for each time I’ve been told “Oh, you’re still young, you have plenty of time”, I would give up being a struggling student and live off the royalties rolling in! I’m glad that the film starts with the group of friends from when they were young – look how they ended up! Time doesn’t discriminate with age. It can creep up on the youngest of people and slow down for the oldest. Sometimes I forget my age because I’m in a classroom full of 18-20 year olds… And of course the endless compliments about looking younger than I am tend to leave me disillusioned (like they say, black don’t crack)! But then when I think about it, 10 years ago when I was out clubbing with my girl Moi, most of the students I sit in class with would have been at home tucked into bed…

If 10 years can go by like a blink of an eye, so can reaching 35!

I might feel like a young’un, but time tells all… The clock is ticking!

Happy birthday to my special friend Omoye ‘Moi’ Alexandra. Cheers to figuring out life, and celebrating friendships… Like wine, they just get better with age! Priceless!