paa alums: primer pic

a few fun pics from this weekend's events around and at the 40th anniversary of UCB's PAA organization - the pilipino american alliance.

pic of a pinky promise at saturday breakfast. it's a pinky promise. we shall not tell. ever.

young alums (and future alums?) at the prebuzz - henry's before the event. not to mention that some of these young alums (and future alums) were not born when some of us graduated from cal. ouch.

and at the anniversary, the paa intern project involving a tell-all about the history and evolution of paa.

after the anniversary, many of us footed it back to henry's for drinks, more pics and more frivolity. quite the group of us, with a few folks missing from the pic - especially our patron ... al, who convinced henry's to let us use the side seating area - a bit of a private place to gather our fun group!

and a few gathered for sunday brunch. (pic of the gals at brunch) quite a nice way to cap off a round of reunion activities.

one of my fave pics? this one, which definitely captures the fun, spirited and youthful moments many of us had this weekend!

more pics and stories to come!

r|breathe: today is a good day - visiting!

just a very quick post ... busy doing stuff, AND my friend iris is visiting for several days before she heads back home to portland (oregon)! her visit (re)reminds me that today is a good day.

make your day a good day, too!

repost: R|ReLo'd #1: i'm here in the BA ...

ANNIVERSARY ... today marks my being in the BA for 1-yr after leaving SD on 10/24 with stuff packed in my little car - sh** and those ever so must have with me items in my car (... the stuff that if the movers lost or broke, i'd be bummed big time).

AM TOTALLY MELANCHOLY ... so i decided to revisit (via blog posts) the last 2 months of being in SD and stuff i did to pass the time ...

• procrastinated: (tho's there were certainly more techniques, just a few)
  
• on-line game for procrastinating (which i did quite a bit) from packing and stuff;
• took time out for a (self)interview
• stalked photographer of my favorite picture and pal, pigdog
• moving business: moving quotes from various moving companies
• drinking: drinks (comp'd, of course) with socal friends for beer, wine, margaritas and martinis (with former interns), sangria, wine and martinis, outing with the gals for movie-beer-martinis
  
• eating: meals (comp'd, of course) at a place now closed, deli brunch (where i (errr ... we, unanimously) booted my only other corporate board member), fave places parallel 33 and vagabond for lunch - relunch - dinner, del mar's il fornaio, and more that i didn't post
  
• out & about relaxing: walks in the morning and evening 'round the neighborhood
  
• getting organized with a plan: weekly planning (reading this has totally tired me out for today)
• reunion: squeezed in (after movers dropped of stuff on 10/13 + before going back to SD for a week) the 25th h.s. reunion because i (the minion) made a deal with my friend, the devil

and a few of the best memories during the last SD days transitioning to BA days ...

• my addiction: made a new friend, b, who totally helped me out - physically packing and emotional support (aka - my weakness - the oatmeal-mango cookies from influx)
  
• angst on moving days:
• moving day in SD with long time friend, k, and watching movers leave with my stuff
• met the movers at the BA place
• dinner with friend who was being shipped off to iraq
  

and the day (10/24) i actually left SD with my car packed up

• play-by-play of 10/24 when i headed up to hermosa beach for the night and some pics from the crawl out of SD to the 10/24 drive up
  
• play-by-play of 10/25 and some pics when i headed up via warner bros. and ultimately landed in santa barbara for the 10/26 spa day

and finally, on 10/27 ...last day in santa barbara on little balcony (doing billable work on the phone with billn?!) ...

... RIGHT BEFORE I LEFT SOCAL & DROVE UP TO BA

[see original post here]

and this is me on 10/27 ...

looking back (well, sorta over)
right before i left santa barbara
(on leg 2 of my 3-leg trip from leaving SD on 10/24)

and then arrived in the BA at my destination point when odometer read

82740 miles

"it" all started in san diego
and you can read the blog
for this nutty journey to NoCal ...

ReLo-ing from SD to BA

time for the BA!!!
(and the on/off posts about SD when i visit)
enjoy and thanks for visiting!

repost: this day (uh... evening), last year ...

[see original post here,
which was the day AFTER
the movers dropped off/delivered furniture
at BA from SD]

25th h.s. reunion - quick thoughts & recap

amidst the move activities, if you note the sched,

yesterday eve (10/14)
was my 25th high school reunion!

[class pic1]

[... 25th h.s. reunion? ... feel free to do the math, if you're bored and have found some loose change in your sofa or in other people's cars ... you can buy me a b-day/housewarming gift - perhaps gift card(s)/certificates from ... oh, say ... target, cost plus, sur la table, west elm, pottery barn, flor, room and board, dwr, smart furniture ... or some new pillows? o.k. ... if not, that's alright.]

[class pic2]

(so for dave's benefit ... here we go!)

pics will be posted here/there over the coming week's posts
as i get pics from friends + my own camera

[sally, deb, shirl, valerie]

recap from start ... louis picked me up @ 5 pm (the agreed upon time), and i was not yet ready (of course) but not ready 'cuz 1/2-way through the blow-drying of the hair (prior to the straightening), the dryer started smoking ... and smoke alarm went off. (nice touch) took requisite pic w/dapper-looking-louis! (nice shoes, dude!) left ~ 5:20 pm to find out we'd be in traffic (880 north on a sat eve?! wtf?) ... so we missed the pre-reunion drinks at the hotel bar ... but there was another 'special bar' for the reunion folks.

[shirl, laura, ariel]

to the sign-in table ... caught up with deb, pat, valerie, laura, ariel on our way **to** the bar ... as they were heading **to** the reunion area. also met jack, who was in our class, on the way to the sign-in. walked w/them all to reunion get our name tags. checked out all the other names (aka other attendees). drinks to the left + dinner/ballroom to the right. yeah ... we turned left!

[valerie, laura]

drink room ... small, intimate setting, conducive to chit-chat stuff. round 1 - on pat (thanks!) ... and the start of the --- "omg" ... "who's that?" ... "isn't that ___?" ... "s/he looks totally the same!" ... "did we go to school w/that person?"... "what a cute dress?" ... "what does his name tag say?" ... "they are still together?!" ... "i don't think s/he'll remember me." ... "i'm going to say hi to him/her" ... "i had a crush on ___." ... "i'd like to see ___." ... "how many reunions have you attended?" ... "are there any teachers here?" ... "vodka gimlet over, please" ... "don't leave me alone" ... "where's my camera?" ... "how many kids?!" ... "and the top 5 are ___" ...

[valerie, brian, robert, raelene]

ballroom for dinner & dance ... tables of 10 ... and there were 8-9 tables ?! ... at ours - louis, me, laura, ariel, valerie, deb, pat, raelene, robert + empty. great table and great conversation! cameras all over the place. prime rib or chicken piccata or wild mushroom ravioli. survey says - not so great on the p-rib. chick o.k. and ravioli is ravioli. chocolate cake dessert - enough of a thumbs up. yes, spouses attended, also.

[deb + spouse pat (aka camera man)]

music for dinner & dance ... hopefully SOMEONE has a pic of the DJs ... really. and they did play brick house (ugh!) and the rest of the late 70s/80s music. just an evening of ... name that tune.

[glenn, cathy, arier, shirl, sally, louis]

[class pic3]

o.k. - more pics and thoughts later ...

fun lunch! hello to a ...

[last friday ... visited the 'no host organizer' of this friday's event]

last friday i had lunch with a,

with whom i went to college

fun, laughter & chit/chat included
small world
he is family/friends with the instructor
of the cardio/kickbosing class i attend

humor
he let me take a pic of him despite not knowing
whether a flower on the left ear meant anything
(like a bandana in a pocket?!)

[side discussions included:
left/right. blue/red. white/black. gay/straight. tall/short. young/old. length/girth. regular/decaf. vanilla/chocolate. hot/cold. gasoline/electric. night/day. well, maybe not all of these were totally discussed, but we did riff off of the whole left/right (blue/red) debate.]

reminiscing
about when we used to be able to eat not-so-healthy food
(and not give a rat's ass)
and then - fast-forwarding where we talked about
health issues, prescription medicine, sleeping earlier, etc.

oh! to be young again ...
... with funky hair (and hair products)
and interesting attire

... the whole mini-reunion was fun.

and tho' i enjoyed a salad (and one of a's french fries) at sonoma chicken coop, i've now been introduced to the city of campbell. there is a free wi-fi coffee place near a's work. and i'll get to hear stories about his being proud of his family, esp. his little baby girl!

see ya, a, at the '80s reunion this coming friday!

[oh! and apparently a recalls that i told him more than 20 years ago that i believed that we have multiple soulmates (for each of us) running around this world. hmmmm? i don't remember that, but okay, if ya say so.]

childhood friends reunite! (just yesterday)

"Our whole life is but a greater and longer childhood."

- Benjamin Franklin

[left to right: s, g, p, m. absent was m's sister, s.]
[well, yesterday, means wednesday evening, actually]

who are these people? ... in the early 70s, we all lived in the same l'il northern california town. we were kids ... 2nd-3rd graders. we hung out. played piano at family gatherings - those totally awesome potlucks with aunties and uncles all over the place, some majong, some lumpia, some awesome food. i don't remember everything we did as kids, but i recall there was at least one ringling bros. and barnum & bailey outing amongst our families.

reason for getting together? ... p passing through town after living abroad for many years. m keeps in contact with p. i ran into m in mid-april. i keep in contact with g. m (or p? or m's sister? or...? doesn't matter) had a great idea about getting together for a l'il reunion when p in town. (nice to have e-mail and text messaging!)

and i last saw the others ...? last time i saw g? saw him 2 wks ago - g has become a self-proclaimed big brother since i have relo'd to the BA ... and he is the 10 cane rum pusher! (it doesn't stop at holiday events!)

last time i saw p was some time in the early 90s ('93 or '94?) when i was living in san diego. since then, he has married and has kids ... and has been quite the world traveler!

last time i saw m was a little over a month ago in mid-april - total random(!) run-in with him at a jamba juice in the town i live in, which is not the town in which he lives ... he was just visiting his parents place. prior to that time, i saw m when i last saw p. and likewise, since then, m has married and has kids. i don't know if m is a world traveler, but i know that he is mighty sneaky creative with his phone/camera. (beware, people, if m (and his camera phone) is around beware. have cash on hand to pay the dude off. really. beware.)

oh yeah, p says he has been mistaken for g.clooney. am i standing next to a movie star? perhaps the p really means pinoy clooney.

i give "thanks" for failing memories ...

... creative writing, wonderful diction, high school, and e-mail. for without any of these, i would not have received the note below ... from an h.s. classmate who did not make it to the 25th reunion, who may (perhaps) grace us with his presence at the next h.s. reunion, and who didn't remember me ...

[CONTEXT: i remember PS wrote his last senior english paper,
which was titled "the art of scatology".]

Ms. YOU, aka Blog Queen,

It's a good news, bad news kind of thing: I certainly remember the name of YOU, but the face I have associated with that name and the face in the photos associated with the name don't quite match up precisely. (Ditto Ariel .) But I chalk that up to time and the tricks it plays on memories and faces.

(Though I am being overly generous to myself. I have always had a terrible memory for faces/names. Do you want to feel the hot flame of shame, if only vicariously? Start by imagining Christmas 1981. You got that? Six months after high school graduation. I'm in a store with a friend, and I run into someone I went to high school with. Not just anyone, someone I had a crush on--OK, that doesn't really help, because I had a crush on every girl I went to high school with--someone I had classes with, worked on plays with, etc. And I begin introducing my friend to my former classmate, and then...nothing. I dry. An excruciatingly long pause, in which everyone looks at their shoes, searches frantically for a trapdoor, prays for death, and then I muster a feeble "So, how's it been going?" The horror. The horror.

Same thing used to happen at family reunions growing up. Granted, I had a big family--on the order of 60-70 cousins and step-cousins, with about 15 or 16 aunts and uncles, not to mention a few "greats" of various types. There was no way I could keep it straight. I would just smile and not say anything. There were aunts whose first words on seeing me were always, "You probably don't remember me. I'm your Aunt ____." And they were right, of couse. Even if I really thought I knew them, I'd not take a chance. Why risk it? They were on to me and still not pissed, so why blunder something out? I'd smile and thrust out my cheek to be pinched or patted and hope it would end quickly.)

OK, back to now....I may not really remember you, but now I feel like I know everything about you, or at least about your dating life, your move from San Diego to Bay Area, your coffee drinking and reading habits, and other sundry items. I approve on all counts. And if that weren't enough to make me well disposed to you, I have to say that anyone who says my daughter is cute is clearly a person of discrimination and good taste. Move to the head of the class!

I can't say I remember the scatology paper--what were the good Christian Brothers teaching us, I wonder--though it is good to know that I exerted a salutory (baleful?) influence. Frightening, too, since I can only wonder the offhanded damage I will do to my daughter. I shouldn't blame the Christian Brothers; in grad school, my classmates in translation dubbed me the "Lewd Lexicographer" for my ability to supply just the right English equivalent for whatever pungent colloquialism was leaving them stumped. Filth was clearly my metier.

Say hello to Dave R. Again, his is a name I recall, but the face...? Alas, lost to time.

Good luck with your relocation, job, love life, blog(s) and whatever else your wit and passion direct you to.

Best,

P. (Suffering from Incipient Alzheimers) S.

... oh you, PS - thanks sooooo much for taking the time not to remember me! i heart you!

happy thanksgiving and until the next lapse of memory...