Because you demanded it!
Jul. 21st, 2009 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kickahaOkay, not really. In fact, I'm pretty sure no one even hinted at a request, but what the hell.
My 20th high school reunion just got over... and holy crap, none of us grew up. I *hear* that some of us have jobs, and kids are involved somehow with most of us, but from what I saw when we all got together, that simply can't be true.
Too much damned fun.
Thu night: get into Seattle at 11:15pm, head to Beth's Diner for a late night traditional WTH meal with Six. Get to sleep at 4:45am. Get up at 9:30 because the sun was coming in the window, drive to Wenatchee about noonish, visit with relatives for a bit. Did I mention it was 103F as I got to town? Nice and toasty.
Then the hilarity ensued. Went to The Hitching Post Tavern in Cashmere, now owned by a classmate, about 7pm, and we closed it down just after 1. So. Many. People. I was terrified I wasn't going to remember anyone's names - I'm *horrible* with names in general, and these were folks who I hadn't seen in 10 or 20 years. I nailed every name except two out of the crowd of 50 or so who showed up. Yay.
Beer was consumed, teachers showed up, songs were sung, lost friends remembered, and a few tears shed.
Then *SOMEONE* decided that the big ol' '10 up on Number Hill simply wouldn't do, and it needed to be reverted to '89. (It's a rural town thang. You display your class year on the hillside over town - every senior class puts their number up when they graduate, and it almost always gets replaced by the junior class immediately, then fades, and is refreshed on graduation the following spring. Lather, rinse, repeat.) This was around 1:30 or so. In the dark. Up a steep incline. And did I mention the beer? I hear only three stalwart souls made it up there, only to find that the numbers weren't made from white rocks, which would be movable, but from quicklime, which... isn't so much. The end result kind of looks like Mayan cuneiform, but hey, A+ for effort guys. :D The rest peeled off at the irrigation ditch to go swimming, and there was an emergency rescue to keep a couple folks from getting sucked into a tunnel. That would have been Bad(tm). I wussed out of both, because I was exhausted. (Ha.)
Get up about 9, head up to the high school, which one of the teachers opened up for us, so we could see the changes and renovations. The big three? A new machine shop, a new woodshop, and a new weight lifting training room. Oh yeah, I love mah redneck school. :D (Honestly, woodshop was my favorite class my entire time there.) Lunch with the relatives, then hanging with some folks in the afternoon, and then dinner at a classmate's restaurant: The Wok About. It's a Mongolian style grill. If anyone in Seattle remember's Chang's on Cap Hill, this is in the same level of noms. In Wenatchee. Yeah, I know.
Off to a bar at 12, closed that place down, then off to an after-party that turned into a poker game, and sleep was finally achieved at 5:15am. Rawk. It's been a long time since I've seen the sun rise over Badger Mtn. In fact, it was pointed out that the last time any of us had seen that was at the *10* year reunion. Oops.
Back up at 10:30, head down to the Columbia River, and play in the river with the speedboat. Towing an innertube, of course. Bouncing off of wakes at 30mph? Sweet. The water was so damned cold it was hard to breathe. Nice contrast to the 98F heat. Managed to get a blob of 70SPF waterproof sunblock in my eye, which swelled up like balloon, and took a couple hours of antihistamine treatment to get to the point that I could... drive back to Seattle that night. Got in about 10:30, and crashed at 12:30 or so.
Up Monday morning for meetings in Seattle, then dinner with family, just in time to catch the redeye back to NY, get in at 6am, whereginkgo met me at JFK, only to bop back through rush hour traffic up to Westchester County. A good breakfast at a diner, then to work for me. I r teh ded.
And it was worth every bit of exhaustion I have now.
Good god it was good to see everyone again, and just catch up with what we'd been up to. Many chuckles over my *finally* graduating fer realz just 3.5yrs ago, but you know, that's one thing I loved about that class - no one ever *cared* about my education situation. I was just... one of them. Thanks guys. See you sooner than another decade. :)
My 20th high school reunion just got over... and holy crap, none of us grew up. I *hear* that some of us have jobs, and kids are involved somehow with most of us, but from what I saw when we all got together, that simply can't be true.
Too much damned fun.
Thu night: get into Seattle at 11:15pm, head to Beth's Diner for a late night traditional WTH meal with Six. Get to sleep at 4:45am. Get up at 9:30 because the sun was coming in the window, drive to Wenatchee about noonish, visit with relatives for a bit. Did I mention it was 103F as I got to town? Nice and toasty.
Then the hilarity ensued. Went to The Hitching Post Tavern in Cashmere, now owned by a classmate, about 7pm, and we closed it down just after 1. So. Many. People. I was terrified I wasn't going to remember anyone's names - I'm *horrible* with names in general, and these were folks who I hadn't seen in 10 or 20 years. I nailed every name except two out of the crowd of 50 or so who showed up. Yay.
Beer was consumed, teachers showed up, songs were sung, lost friends remembered, and a few tears shed.
Then *SOMEONE* decided that the big ol' '10 up on Number Hill simply wouldn't do, and it needed to be reverted to '89. (It's a rural town thang. You display your class year on the hillside over town - every senior class puts their number up when they graduate, and it almost always gets replaced by the junior class immediately, then fades, and is refreshed on graduation the following spring. Lather, rinse, repeat.) This was around 1:30 or so. In the dark. Up a steep incline. And did I mention the beer? I hear only three stalwart souls made it up there, only to find that the numbers weren't made from white rocks, which would be movable, but from quicklime, which... isn't so much. The end result kind of looks like Mayan cuneiform, but hey, A+ for effort guys. :D The rest peeled off at the irrigation ditch to go swimming, and there was an emergency rescue to keep a couple folks from getting sucked into a tunnel. That would have been Bad(tm). I wussed out of both, because I was exhausted. (Ha.)
Get up about 9, head up to the high school, which one of the teachers opened up for us, so we could see the changes and renovations. The big three? A new machine shop, a new woodshop, and a new weight lifting training room. Oh yeah, I love mah redneck school. :D (Honestly, woodshop was my favorite class my entire time there.) Lunch with the relatives, then hanging with some folks in the afternoon, and then dinner at a classmate's restaurant: The Wok About. It's a Mongolian style grill. If anyone in Seattle remember's Chang's on Cap Hill, this is in the same level of noms. In Wenatchee. Yeah, I know.
Off to a bar at 12, closed that place down, then off to an after-party that turned into a poker game, and sleep was finally achieved at 5:15am. Rawk. It's been a long time since I've seen the sun rise over Badger Mtn. In fact, it was pointed out that the last time any of us had seen that was at the *10* year reunion. Oops.
Back up at 10:30, head down to the Columbia River, and play in the river with the speedboat. Towing an innertube, of course. Bouncing off of wakes at 30mph? Sweet. The water was so damned cold it was hard to breathe. Nice contrast to the 98F heat. Managed to get a blob of 70SPF waterproof sunblock in my eye, which swelled up like balloon, and took a couple hours of antihistamine treatment to get to the point that I could... drive back to Seattle that night. Got in about 10:30, and crashed at 12:30 or so.
Up Monday morning for meetings in Seattle, then dinner with family, just in time to catch the redeye back to NY, get in at 6am, where
ginkgo met me at JFK, only to bop back through rush hour traffic up to Westchester County. A good breakfast at a diner, then to work for me. I r teh ded.And it was worth every bit of exhaustion I have now.
Good god it was good to see everyone again, and just catch up with what we'd been up to. Many chuckles over my *finally* graduating fer realz just 3.5yrs ago, but you know, that's one thing I loved about that class - no one ever *cared* about my education situation. I was just... one of them. Thanks guys. See you sooner than another decade. :)