Last night was my 30th High School reunion. It was held at the Mountaingate Country Club at the top of the Sepulveda Pass, a beautiful location for seeing the freeway. So naturally, I liked it :-). No, I’m not going to imply that there was any meaning from the location other than the view (the country club is actually built on top of a former landfill). As to what I thought of the reunion:
- First and foremost, I thank the reunion organizers for pulling off a wonderful night. There is a lot of hard work that goes into making these things happen, and the organizers don’t get the appreciation they deserve.
- Naturally, at a reunion you want to circulate. However, it seemed a bit crowded to do as effectively as one would like. Perhaps there were more people than expected; I don’t know. All I do know was that it was quite difficult to move around the bar area and between the tables.
- Another problem (remember this if you ever organize a reunion) was that it was hard to talk. The primary purpose of a reunion is to talk to old friends and classmates The glass windows that showed off the geogeous view also reflected the sound, increasing background noise. There was also a 1970s style rock band making it even harder to talk — IMHO, the band’s volume needed to be drastically limited so it could only be heard in the area of the dance floor.
- It was fun watching the people. So classmates have aged quite elegantly, and were looking stunning (the ladies) or quite handsome (the men). Others had finally grown into their looks: the gawky teens turned into striking adults. Many of the black ladies had grown even more beautiful.
- But I also saw that where some improve, some don’t. Many of those who were sun worshippers in high school (quite common in a school four blocks from the beach) were showing the effects after 30 years. Some didn’t choose flattering dress styles. Many men had hair loss — some handled it with grace and some didn’t. Some folks looked to be in their late 30s and early 40s, and others looked like they were already in their mid-50s. gf_guruilla said that I was one of the folks looking on the younger side (although I still wish I had lost a few pounds before the event).
- I must say, while I’m on this subject, that gf_guruilla looked ravishing last night. And it is so much fun to ravish her :-).
- One goes to a reunion to talk, and it was interesting to see where folks ended up. We had teachers, we had engineers. We had folks running day schools, and folks doing home schooling. We had finance directors of studios, former LAUSD school board members, and newscasters. We had folks active in the environmental arena, dancers, and lawyers. It was quite an interesting mix.
All in all, it was a fun evening. We didn’t close down the night (we left around 11:15pm), but had a blast!
Today, it is off to a “A Day Out With Thomas” at Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, California. If you’re out at OERM, I’ll be Thomas Car Attendant, so stop by and say “Hi!”.
P.S.: A big and hearty “Welcome to LiveJournal” to any PaliHi grads finding my journal from my notes in the 30th Bio Book. It’s great to have you here. Come on in — the water’s warm, and we do our best to keep the sharks out.
