r|psa: when faced with a decision ...

... of whether to go into work after a weekend of frivolity, decide wisely, or else suffer a day of ... a day of ... a ... day ... of ...

well, the picture says it all (imo).

note to self - bring pillow & crawl under desk (or just take the day off!)

(hee-hee! what a FUN weekend!)

blast from past ... shylock revisited

i LOVE pigdog (as evidenced in this post over here).

HOWEVER, second to pigdog ... is kelly - the jack russell sleeping here with the punching nun. (kelly, you ho bag ... in a precious way, though. right?!)
(SIDE NOTE: just as i have done so with pigdog - kelly has been proudly posted on my fridges of days gone by AND currently resides on my current fridge.)

why bring this up now? ... because a blast from the past, kelly's "mom" - who nicknamed me shylock (and i don't remember why) - stalked and found me on linkedin. (it's been nearly 15 years, i'm guessing, since we last hung out after she left SD.) needless to say (perhaps), i stalked her on fbook and found her.

presuming the world isn't THAT small ... i'm fairly certain the 7-8 folks who actually follow this blog will not recognize the other 2 gals in this photo below (... taken some time in '93 or '94 - oh my!). i barely recognize myself!!!
BUT - - - if you do recognize the other two gals ... certainly let me know because then the world TRULY IS SMALL. well, that and i'll (we'll) have to figure out what exaction i (we) may want to pursue if either of these chicas are intending to pursue a political career of sorts. just sayin' ...

thanks rainbow-glasses-shylock-naming old friend for stalking me!
you have certainly made my week.

looking forward to further "catch-up" talks & e-mails!

r|break: ... s/he said BA dating

after reminiscing with olekoi palau's osu (my bud from way back in the sacto days) just yesterday, i was reminded of other BA dating experiences. so i'll certainly continue with the recaps of the landfill-optional possibilities.

however, to be fair, here is my take on "... but what would he say about you (shirlsd)?" - similar to this attempt. that said, let's begin ... (and mind you, these aren't too interesting - and i s'pose i'm gaming the responses, to some extent, eh?)

1. skateboard dude ... it is in my best interest simply to plead the fifth on this one. skateboard dude has potential (imo) blackmail material. and if you are not familiar with pleading the fifth - it's the fifth amendment which goes like this:
   

   "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

   in short ... although i'll never run for office (but i am reminded never say never), it's prudent to play my cards safely.
   
   
2. meow-meow ... serious gentile chick. (and meow-meow and i continue to touch base throughout the years. in fact, just a couple of weeks ago, we spoke while he was on his annual bike trip eating a meatball sandwich that he was resting on his belly while watching t.v. in some economy motel - so he says.) here, the deal is that i was in the throws of my business - lots of work, and in fact, a bit overworked and overcommitted (both understatements) ... and i - well, i'll stay away from the manShe part of the meow-meow story.
   
   
3. p3 ... doppleganger tess. not much more than that.
   
   
4. 976-boy ... gimme back my baking cooling rack! (yes, even after nearly 20 years, 976-boy's cooling rack is STILL in my possession. them shrimp - of the coconut curry shrimp - had to cool on something before he tossed them into some batter stuff. maybe it's time to "let go!" but of course, it's a cooling rack that can be purchased at less than $20 new and probably for $0.25 at a garage sale.)
   
   
5. wb #2 ... well, this one is TOO OBVIOUS (asian p*$$y), so let me give this a second thought - what ELSE would wb#2 say? ...hmmm ... tick-tock-tick-tock. ... ahhh yes! yet another "term of endearment" (NOTE: sarcasm with a bit of disdain - on my part) spoken by wb #2 - crazy asian girl.
   
   
6. big meat ... i think i still owe you and your neighbor sushi. (yes, let's not (or LET'S!!!) talk about the time that big meat took off in the 'community car' where several of us were stranded at a club (of sorts) and had to pack into a mustang at 2:15 AM and wake up my neighbor at 2:30 AM. my neighbor had the spare key to get me back into my place. why? because my keys were in my backpack ... in the 'community car' ... and because big meat wasn't answering his cell after driving a gal with a broken leg at a club (of sorts) home. big meat's "make-up" offer at 8:15 AM when he dropped off my backpack? ... sushi.)
   
   
7. endless love ... i'm guessing, "score." (not to be self-deprecating, but is that the appropos '80s term for initiating "the deed"?)
   
   
8. jerr-bear ... pret-TEE, pret-TEE hair. pret-tee.
   
   
9. drive & ditch ... just another match experience.
   
   
10. alberto v05 ... interestingly enough, as with skateboard dude, i MAY (read: DO) have something(s) on av05. however, i'll play it safely and say he wouldn't necessarily say anything about me so much as he would likely ask, "so ... how's your friend esther?"
    
    
11. wb #1 ... short.
    
    
12. st-fb ... why didn't shirlsd take her shoes off?

... see - not too interesting. but there are back stories, of course. meanwhile, i'll compile the additional 1/2-dozen a little later.

BA dating ... aka landfill-potential (pt. 2)

yesterday's 1/2-dozen is joined by the following 1/2-dozen. before we begin, let's have our little daily mantra moment -

"Then again, if you spend your whole day
walking through a landfill all the time,
you might come to the conclusion
that the planet stinks."

• here we go!
  
  7. . . . endless love: disclosed as part of pr5air epi5-therapy, for those not interested in heading to the hyperlink - here is the short story:
  confession: (in the best calligraphy i could as a 17 yr old) i wrote the lyrics to the sappy song "endless love" for a dude i thought i was totally in love with my first love who deflowered me.
  theoretically "the first"?! (ewww ... i'm grossing out!!!) he and i attended the same college; we never hung out or kept in touch. several years ago, i was linkedin-stalked by endless love dude; we met for dinner - one of those sociology experiments or something. dinner good. conversation meh. didn't keep in touch after that. i hear from mutual alums that he divorced and married/hooked-up with another gal from college who had a HUGE(!!!) crush on him. not much more to say. will close this with a friend's response:
  sactofloyd: "After reading that confession, I was blinking so fast, if you shined a light in my ear you could have used my eyes as strobe lights. You calligraphied endless love for the dude who Round-Upped you? Waste of a good stroke, if you ask me."
  (o.k. - 'nuff said.) pig quotient. 7/10.
  
  8. . . . jerr-bear: speaking of sactofloyd, he "rescued me" after my din-din date with jerr-bear. jerr-bear and i were partners in an art class, so we hung around each other quite a bit - in class and outside of class when doing little assignments. jerr-bear was actually a pretty good friend. well, when the school term finished up, he asked me to din.
  
  here's the din-din deal ... 2 bottles of wine - a red & white. it went something like this - jerr-bear said, "let's order wine - two bottles of wine - one red & one white." when server brought over, jerr-bear said to the server something like, "break 'em both open. ... oh now. pour more [red wine] in her glass ... c'mon. top it off!" and then there was the soft shell crab appetizer that i asked if he wanted to share; he said he loved soft shell crab. well, he loved that crab lots. so much that he separated the soft shell from the crab so the soft shell wouldn't interfere with his eating the crab.
  
  fast forward during the date... when he dropped me off and invited himself over with the whole - "i gotta go pee" excuse - i let him in and quickly SOS-phoned sactofloyd to head over. sactofloyd called back just in time after jerr-bear relieved himself, i answered, then i told jerr-bear sactofloyd was coming by to drop something off. while we were waiting for sactofloyd and talking on the couch, sactofloyd rang the doorbell just seconds after jerr-bear reached over to run his fingers through my hair. i mean, really!!! wouldn't you wanna run your fingers through that hair? of course, back in the day, the hair came with fashionable high-tops and EXTREMELY tangled SPIRAL-PERMED HAIR. ... anyway, don't know where his is. don't remember his last name. pig quotient? 3/10.
  
  9. . . . drive & ditch: while on a formal 'first date' - dinner + play + dessert - in short, after dessert (not a euphemism), he drove me to my car on the rather empty 3rd level of the sutter/stockton SF parking garage at 12:35 AM; we hugged across the stickshift (not a euphemism), i opened the passenger door while i'd started also fishing for my car keys, i started to step out of the car - and maybe i'm making up the next memory, but i could swear the car was moving a little (just ever so slightly).
  
  anyway ... before i even got my key into driver side lock, d&d took off, didn't circle back ... so i thought, "hmmmmm? that's kind of - not cool. he seems polite. he's probably waiting downstairs." nope. just me safely in my car as i waved to the parking attendant on my way out of the garage. where is d&d now? hopefully learning manners. pig quotient? 5/10.
  
  10. . . . alberto v05: my, oh my. another sactofloyd moment. where to start? highlights and tidbits. let's see ... we were set-up by a client, his car broke down as he was driving up to meet me in the state's capital, so we met formally (in the let's date rather than just be friends kind of way) at a hotel somewhere in/near the raisin capital. (btw, this was the continuation of my "long distance relationships" that had actually started in last year of college.) we dated for 2+ months. i ended it for many reasons, with one of his notable traits - quite a stereotypical machismo thing going on. so my ineffective attempts at breaking up lasted over a 3 week period. we ultimately "really" broke up, and he moved farther away.
  
  a few months after the break-up ... he called and wanted to return 2 of my white/cream sweaters. i didn't want to see him, so as timing had it, sactofloyd was was going to be in v05's town. v05 handed a cardboard box to sactofloyd, sactofloyd played mule, and 2 days after the mule received the goods, the box sat closed in my home for 2 weeks. i opened it up ONLY because i got an irate call from v05 asking why hadn't i called him about the box, blah-blah-blah. WHOOPS?! turns out he had a nice card & some roses - now dead roses. dead roses leave marks on white/cream colored sweaters when cooped up in a cardboard box for 2+ weeks, did ya know that? now you do. (so don't do that. don't.)
  
  and where is v05 now? ... oh - that is SOOOOO another story and a really interesting story. i'll just say that the world is VERY, VERY SMALL. i believe karma has served v05 and me very well in this lifetime. he is now married. would we be cordial? yes. pig quotient? 8/10. (uh ... maybe 9/10, if you count ... stuff.)
  
  11. . . . wb#1 (errr ... #1a, #1b): this will be short. just the little f=m+c in this post. having reconnected with cal gal pal and thinking that maybe we may do a reunion of sorts with other folks, wb#1 came to mind. just google-stalked. still in BA. pig quotient? 4/10.
  
  12. . . . school teacher-frat boy (st-fb): this will be short enough. agreed to go to din-din with my friend's frat buddy. (clue #1) st-fb was a high school teacher. his students worked at the black angus where we had dinner. (clue #2) still fully-clothed, i left his place quickly upon his rico suave attempts. [note to self: good thing i didn't take my shoes off; that would have added a few more seconds to my get-a-way.] afterwards, my friend asked for the download, "how'd it go with st-fb? was he a pig?" apparently, i was my friend's sociology experiment. i think my friend won a bet or something. i don't know where my friend is now; i don't care where st-fb is. pig quotient? 8/10.
  

now up to a dozen ... this share-therapy is kind of interesting. sort of. maybe not. but i promised billn i'd provide some non-pr5air a la the little recipe o' BA dating. more later.

BA dating is not so much lately ...

... however, there will be a turn of events.

meanwhile, in the spirit of yesterday's promise to billn for a non-pr5air post, as well as in the spirit of several exchanges with cal gal pal, ice man, sacto floyd, and skateboard dude ... the result, as mentioned yesterday, is a half-baked IJAM-esque tale (recommend you read for context purpose) about my kinda-anemic BA dating with a splash of green a la mode. today's recipe revealed:

• 1/4 t. peeing on a stick
• 1/4 c. #11 asian girls
• 1/2 c. BA dating life
• 1 T IJAM
• 1/2 c. enviro-stuff
• 1 c. napkin life planning
• 1/2 c. apartment therapy
• (optional) 1/4 c. google-stalking
  

[ACCEPTANCE SPEECH: ... and to the former boyfriend, skateboard dude, who (just yesterday) offered up an extremely very blatant offer (with specific examples) to "fix" me of the "dry spell affliction" in the dating department, i thank you for providing me with fodder and inspiration to fulfill my promise to billn.

for whatever reason, you truly believe that last year, at the 80s reunion, when i agreed to temporarily lower my self-respect kiss you because you were freaking badgering me about how i could never have met anyone else who kissed better than you after 20 years and i wanted to get you off my back just wanted to see if i still felt the urge to vomit a spark, ... that my saying it was "awesome" was ACTUALLY THE TRUTH?!?!? honestly you silly, silly, boy. how cute is that?! ... and that you are still the narcissistic man that i remembered as the narcissistic boy? ahhhh!!! because back then, i was too smitten by charm and "flash over substance", i'll admit.

and then just yesterday, your trying to compel me to take you up your offer to "fix" me?! kudos to you for relating why i should revisit an encounter with you for the sake of the environment.

what is it that you said? ... oh yeah! "baby, c'mon. you're green. ya gotta reuse and recycle so you can reduce your dry spell." corny? yes. clever? no. points for trying to stick with a theme? sure, i'll throw you a bone.]

context: a smattering (part 1) of select encounters that lasted longer than a happy hour former boyfriends (or at least interesting dates) identified with occasionally telling affectionate monikers to respect and maintain their anonymity (until you ask me who they were). in other words, given my anemic BA dating life ... WHAT IF i reused or recycled my past encounters/relationships? rather than answer the question, i'll provide the "she said" side for potential landfill options (in no special order) ... that - and a little self-therapy.

"Then again, if you spend your whole day
walking through a landfill all the time,
you might come to the conclusion
that the planet stinks."

(so write-eth ice man)

1. skateboard dude: [a.k.a. the inspiration for this topic]
   more than 20 years ago, in between classes when a friend and i were deciding whether we'd kiss/sleep/touch randomly selected men among the sea of men walking past us in front of dwinelle hall (..."how about him? over there? that one? okay, guy with red backpack? for a second? if you were hammered?"), my friend pointed out skateboard dude, who was flying downhill toward us. i said "no f**king way!" AND of course, several months later, i was crawling surreptitiously under a slow-closing, apartment garage door with his OTHER girlfriend in order to confront him with OUR new found knowledge - that he was two-timing us. D'OH! joke was on us. BONUS of this pseudo-james-bond-ish move? when we knocked on his apartment door and the door opened, it was his THIRD girlfriend. fast forward to the 21st century? look - he pulled that "kiss me" when he was living with a gal. (i know. i played along. his deal, not mine. cold? oh well.) not going there. but we remain friends. pig quotient? 7/10.
   
   
2. meow-meow: living in SD and now married, clearly not on the radar. dated back in '99. however, someone asked "what if meow-meow was on the radar? you guys got along really, really well!" my answer - he fell off the radar after "date" #4 ... awfully charming, funny, and sensitive, he also was an atheist-thumper (think bible-thumper-on-steroids and then flip it over) and a bit too heteroflexible for me. kinda that simple. oh! the moniker? petula-award, 2nd place. pig quotient? 3/10.
   
   
3. purple-pleated-pants (p3): back in the day, some 20+ years ago, p3 was a totally fabulous dancer - a disco dancer, that is. and back then, that was solid gold! turns out ... i was the doppleganger of his ex-gfriend - and i would like to believe i am the 'good' vs. the evil one. the attraction? i don't remember - maybe it was the 7 pleats per pant leg (front & back) and quite the dancer body. fast-forward to the 21st century? my just-this-afternoon, google-stalking may have him as a dance instructor in the BA. pig quotient? dunno. don't remember.
   
   
4. 976-boy!: an accountant by day. a musician by night. i met him on the commuter bus nearly 20 years ago. we got off on the same stop - day-after-day. one day, i decided to sit next to him ('cuz he looked cute; again, that's how i rolled back in the day) and chat it up. a few days later, he was making coconut curry shrimp for me and my roomie. a few weeks later after that, i was waiting for him to get ready to head out to brunch. so while i was sitting around his apartment, i saw (plainly on the coffee table) his phone bill total of $376.43 (or some number like that). it was very close (if not exact) to the phone bill totals i used to have when i dated someone who lived in hawai'i while i was in college in california. of course, i HAD to look at the phone entries out of sheer curiosity - just to see if he was dating someone in hawai'i. (ha!) but i digress. long story short - 976-boy! was completely addicted to 976-porn stuff. wonder what he's doing now that we have the internet? pig quotient? 4/10.
   
   
5. wb#2: already paid homage to him in this smooth skin blog post with a most memorable quote of "mmmm ... look at that asian p***y" - that encounter was actually just last year. with no communications for nearly year and then an e/m from him just this april, i seem to be hovering at the entrance of the landfill, and i seem to stare at him from afar. just being truthful. as i told ice man, "i don't mind a little smut talk, but it's a little disturbing when it appears to be intended to be more of a soliloquy [than a monologue]." petula-award, 1st place. pig quotient? math is hard.
   
   
6. big meat: well, don't make me state the obvious. a former 2-time felon (way before i met him), what a fun guy whom i "dated" earlier in this decade. "dated" is in quotes - as it should be - over a 2 year-ish period and on/off around when the conan o'brien show was on the tube. ('nuff said) i was once reminded by him - "it's not like i'd do anything criminal anymore." i believed him, well, except for his chasing way pain killers (in quantities way more than the prescribed amount as a result of a car accident that he had) with some other drugs of choice (available when it wasn't a totally dry season). during the 2003 christmas season, i received a step #9 phone call. another notable moment? when he flaunted/flailed his attributes while in assless chaps after i had repeatedly thrown-up. i know this is not him, because a friend facebook-stalked him, and he's still living in the socal area. good to know that he won't be featured in intervention. pig quotient? 7/10.

half-a-dozen little IJAM-esque tales should be fulfilling enough of the promise i made to billn. i need to have another reason for a non-pr5air, therefore more later as i think of some other tales.

r|break: ... potpourri

i gots me nothing(!) organized to post but i have various "shiny penny" (a.k.a. random sh**) in my head. so here goes, in no special order:

• i used to sew! ... with a high school moment (oh .... 25+ years ago!) of "rami-wear", i made my senior ball dress. (i thought about this today because i am STILL very slowly moving stuff back and forth in cleaning out my garage, and i realized i either sold my sewing machine or left it in SD.)
• music break ... iceman and i exchanged music info for tunes to pass the time. so here are some iceman suggestions (alternative, indie, pop, rock, world):
• Dengue Fever (. . . check out the songs "Seeing Hands," "Sober Driver," and "Tiger Phone Card")
• The Raveonettes ("Love in a Trash Can")
• Duke Spirit ("Lassoo")
• The National
• Feist
• Devotchka
• Beirut
• Jesse Sykes (check out "The Dreaming Dead")
• Rilo Kiley
• Jude
  
• My Morning Jacket
  
• when i go to and leave from work ... i can't avoid seeing this neighboring establishment. (no, it's not affiliated with my alma mater, as far as i'm aware.) i am told they have a good friday buffet deal. (i'll stick with the sweet potato fries at zebulon any day.)
  

potpourri over for now

pr5air: epi5 - therapy

[a.k.a. please hold me during this somewhat of an au naturel flashback]

as part of my confession at the end of this post,

sacto floyd said: "After reading that confession, I was blinking so fast, if you shined a light in my ear you could have used my eyes as strobe lights. You calligraphied endless love for the dude who Round-Upped you? Waste of a good stroke, if you ask me."

so please join me in absolution -

(even if you are not roman catholic)

let's croon to the tune of endless love and then ...

... let's hold hands and acknowledge that, in fact,
flashbacks - - - even those not drug-induced - - - can be disturbing.
[hold me.]

pr5air: epi5 - PICK(!)

here is the score card

going into episode 5 ...

current points & other admin stuff...

• 2 points - with the lead:
  l.a.g.
• 1 point each for:
  tree; shades; buzz; ponytail; t&c; sactofloyd
  
• absolutely nothing:
  ... you know who you are
• ADMIN - moniker change: let it be known that as of ~ 08/05, 11:45 (eastern), "shirlsd" shall now be referred to as "wcdbunny" - and so it was said.

episode 5 described on bravo's site as:

Welcome to the Jungle

The workplace can be a jungle. Inspired by a hit TV show, the Project Runway designers help working women dress the part.

Guest Judge: Brooke Shields

your predictions? ... with SOME room for negotiating submittal time (ask nicely or in sign language) ... and then, of course, i can pick for you from my java-jacket-filled-with-heads-o-designers next to one of my most favorite magnets ever.

• SELECTIONS DUE before: Wednesday, August 13 @
  
• Californians - 2:00 pm
• Maryland, Vermont - 5:00 pm
• GET THEM TO ME via:
• blog comment
• other e-mail (make sure i confirm)
  
• IM me (make sure i confirm)
• text (for those who have the secret digits)
  

this reminder's clip ... a little retro, dare i say, when i was growing up. (and yes, i owned calvin's.)


confession: (in the best calligraphy i could as a 17 yr old) i wrote the lyrics to the sappy song "endless love" for a dude i thought i was totally in love with my first love who deflowered me (man was i ever stupid! and i know ... tmi.)

a billboard ...

... for my birthday,
from my friend deb!

i so **heart** deb ... and stewie!

self-involved moment ...

as with last year,as with every year,
tho' this year - one number repeats itself ...

"HBTM, HBTM, HBDshirlsd,
HBDM ... AMM"

thanks to you all who sent text and e-mail messages
that disrupted my work day and my (successful) shopping spree*.
the messages were VERY, VERY welcomed.

love you all!

[ALMOST done shopping.
so far ... a pair of hispanita shoes,
a pair of peter kaiser shoes,
a cute top from zara,
and a cute coat by coffeeshop.
must buy a watch!]

and when i sewed ...

... it was during jr. high and high school. and when i responded to question #15 over here, not only did i attend, but i also sewed my dress using this pattern.*

trés élégant, ne pensez-vous pas?

captured on camera in real life
(and a little fabric swatch as a bonus)

oh, how pretty were the fruits of my labor?! ... however, don't have the dress anymore; wouldn't be able to fit in it, anyway. haven't seen the date since early '80s ('tho he started at the same college i attended); however, i just googled him and D'OH!!! ... but story has a good ending - charges were dropped.

still ... that dress is lovely, isn't it?
trés belle.

*[yea. i am finding all sorts of stuff
around the home because of the assholes,
so there are some benefits
- walking down memory lane, i guess, is one of them.]

it's a small city world ...

... this little 'burb i live in with our trusty law enforcement community

recall last year ... when there was an eventual eviction process that played out in court last march '06. why? so i could live in the 'burbs.

small world #1 ... a county deputy sheriff at the courthouse on 05/24? turns out we knew him. went to h.s. with him.

small world #2 ... another county deputy sheriff at the 05/16 eviction/sheriff's lockout? turns out we knew one of them, also. went to h.s. with him.

small world #3 ... a sgt who works with 2 officers that dealt with yesterday's event (08/20)? turns out he went to the same h.s. - was in the same class as my bro.

well ... i'll say this much - at least i'm much calmer than a few hours ago, and i'm maintaining some grace by not disclosing of whom the child-picture is. (i'll leave that to the experts.) and if it wasn't for the dad & mom of moki (woof), i'd never have known the whole h.s./law enforcement connections.

[oh! at least the l'il thief/thieves
didn't abscond with my h.s. yearbook &
my printer/scanner. gotta love grayscale scanning!]

retro to h.s. daze

because i enjoyed joanne's read - and i'm stepping up to the plate after her response to Q26, here are mine ...

:: high school daze ::

Directions: Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!!

[keeping in mind this was 25 yrs ago! reunion last october over here]

1. Who was your best friend?

. hmmm? ... i think that was sue c.

2. What sports did you play?
. assuming this means a "school" sport, none.

3. What kind of car did you drive?
. pontiac sunbird.

4. It's Friday night... where are you ?
. maybe at a school game or just home watching t.v.

5. Were you a party animal?
. nope, not so much.

6. Were you considered a flirt?
. nope, not so much.

7. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
. nope, not in my senior year (tho' was in band first 2 years - clarinet)

8. Were you a nerd?
. uh, see responses 7 & 20. kinda, yup.

9. Did you get suspended/expelled?
. nope, but i got detention once (tho' not in senior year).

10. Can you sing the fight song?
. sure, if "sing" means humming the fight song (notre dame fight song - dahhh da da dada da da - dada da da da dada da da - da da da da da da da da dada da da da dahhh)

11. Who were your favorite teachers?
. j.maxwell; a. everton.

12. Where did you sit during lunch?
. at a table up front near where the food was served, over near the exit doors.

13. What was your school's full name?
. you can do the sleuthing - a holy cross school in hayward, ca

14. School mascot?
. mariner

15. Did you go to prom?
. yup (and i got home before 1 am)

16. If you could go back and do it again, would you?
. sure. why not?

17. What do you remember most about graduation?
. having it at the paramount theater in oakland ... very cool!

18. Where did you go senior skip day?
. hmmm ...? i have no recollection of where i went.

20. Were you in any clubs?
. yup. the polynesian club and csf (as documented in the yearbook)

21. Where did you go most often for lunch?
. school cafeteria (closed campus), 'cept for the "burger king" incident with sue and nora.

22. Have you gained some weight since then?
. totally.

23. Who was your Senior prom date?
. joe s. (and tho' not asked ... i sewed my prom dress.)

24. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion?
. have been to every reunion (to honor the deal with louis)

25. Who was your home room teacher?
. i think that was j.maxwell (physics).

26. Who will repost this after you?
. i would've thrown this over to joanne (but she threw it over to me); maybe she'll comment? ... and maybe one day judy will give this is all a shot.

27. Who was your high school sweetheart?
. no one, really.

28. Do you still talk to people from high school?
. yup.

29. Did you win prom queen or king?
. oh pah-leez.

tidbits 'bout me in college (p1)

been in the BA since oct 27 and have done a bit of reconnecting with peeps. way back, i left the s.f. bay area in fall '88 (after a stint with the feds). then, i left northern california in fall '90 where i did spent time in l.a. and in SD. since returning to the BA and having mini-reunions, so far, i have been reminded of the following (in no special order) regarding my college days ...

• speaking endearing words - in college, first words outta my mouth before being formally introduced to the emcee (now a dear friend of mine) of an ~ 400 people-in -attendance event - "hi. you don't have a speech impediment, do you?"
• i was clueless - i actually said, "who? dunno him ... maybe not, but thanks." when j asked me to the james taylor concert.
• disappeared for 3 days - snakeman lived across my college apartment. i went in snakeman's place one day, and under the careful watch (my two roomies) of snakeman's front door - wondering if i'd disappeared into reptilian land, i emerged (unscathed) almost four days later.
  
• flour tortilla chips - consumed quite a bit o' flour tortilla chips at juan's.
  
• t.a. dating - yes, i did. (and no, i did not get a better grade.)
  
• ex-boyfriend clueless - before "formally" dating (aka being exclusive - back then), he asked if filipino = mexican + chinese. he wasn't kidding. he didn't know. but he was a cutie!
  
• bowling - it's what i did almost weekly during the 1st and 2nd quarter of my freshmen year.
• lightweight and then not so much - too light to give blood, yet oddly did well (enough) with beer consumption
• student night dancing at the i-beam - often had 6-9 of us squished in k's car, heading over to s.f. for a l'il dancing ... a weekly (thursday) event!
  

more tidbits 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.

r|break: more sorting ... and then i found photos taken in the 80s

... of friends sporting clothes with designer names* - a time in the 80s when it was fashionably acceptable to wear ... wait. um? acceptable?! i'm not sure if acceptable is accurate. i take that back. let's try this again. rewind .

... of friends who wore clothes with designer names* ... so that i could later blackmail them 20 years later. (you see ... i do have the full picture of their (l&f) heads - eyeballs and all.)

*[don't know if you can tell
which designer they are sporting.
maybe look REALLY, REALLY closely.]

r|break: still sorting stuff ...

... as i move on from sorting greeting cards to sorting & pitching work files, and i found this freaky memory!

so as i once shared this with the oracle, who provided the following, which i will share here ...

Holy-time capsule!...That (glamour) photo puts you at, what, 26? I'm sure you plenty of lunch invitations at ERM.

You really have not changed, well, maybe your hair was longer. To your credit, you look like you came out of the eighties without the classic Whitesnake overtones; I wasn't so wise - I had curly permed hair down to the middle of my back, and teased four inches off my head (N.B. relax; that's a joke).

The writing reflects your personality - and, that certainly hasn't changed. Love the fact that "SFR" was an abbreviation (or maybe the SoCal acronym pronounced "SurFeR") before I arrived on the scene. You may be less California-centric at this point, but at least you referred to northeast as a direction (lower case) instead of a region (upper case).

Oh, and I vote no on the change to "Farina", though that may have played well in east LA - stick with Frances, I'm sure your parents had a reason for giving it to you.

... i am reminded that more than 15 years ago, i was who i am now, i suppose - minus the youthful look, spiral perm, and job with corporate america (but PLUS my l'il pigdog, per KT's comment).