My 10-year high school reunion is next week, and I'm already having a great time. Why?

Gosh, where should I start?!

Let me begin by explaining that I grew up in this teensy little town in New Jersey. No, it wasn't the nasty parkway part of New Jersey; it was the northeastern, leaves-turn-colors-in-the-fall, preppie part. I mean, the place was named Long Valley, and the same people I went to nursery school with were basically the same people I graduated from high school with.

Out of the two hundred and sixty-some folks in my class, I was one of only two people crazy enough to go west of Minnesota. That's right. Everyone else pretty much stayed on the eastern half of the country. We were provincial folk.

Anyway, coming out to California was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. Even now, I'm amazed at how much I've seen, learned, and matured. Now that my high school reunion is approaching, however, I have suddenly started realizing that not everyone else was so lucky. Remember my off-beat sense of humor? I've been very amused at discovering what some of my WMC classmates have been up to.

Here's a great e-mail that I received today, for example:

An idea for Saturday...
Since there aren't that many people, maybe a party room at a club/bar -- something like $20-$40 a person, we guarantee the place a minimum of people. I'm in Florida, and 'party-rooms' like that are popular. If someone can look in to that and offer some suggestions, it might be a good idea.

When I read this, I couldn't help but roll my eyes with disbelief and laughter. I should explain that our reunion starts with a formal get-together Friday night - dinner, dancing, etc. Saturday, however, has been up in the air, since no one has really stepped up to plan anything. Instead, all sorts of e-mail suggestions have been flying around on our class e-mail distribution list.

OK, so what makes this suggestion so absurd? Well, the guy who wrote it was the best man at another high school classmate's wedding a couple of years ago. The groom was a very good friend of mine, and Felix and I flew all the way to Durham, NC to attend the event. After the wedding, the best man stayed up into the wee hours of the morning and got completely drunk. I'm talking smashed beyond belief. He then proceeded to dive headfirst into the shallow end of the hotel's pool, crack the top of his head open, and leave this disgusting trail of blood all the way back to his room. Oops, I neglected to mention that he did all of this while fully decked out in his tux. Yes, that's right; squeaky rental shoes and all.

HOW DO I KNOW THIS?! The morning after the wedding, Felix and I went down to the hotel lobby with my high school best friend Elizabeth, where we found a very distraught mother of the groom. Naturally, we asked her what was wrong and heard the entire gory tale. The worst part was that she was terribly concerned about getting all the tuxes returned on time without penalties or worse. Southern hospitality and sheer sympathy kicked in, and the three of us offered to take the matter off her hands.

Elizabeth, Felix, and I gathered all the tuxes, ties, shoes, and bags and trundled off to the rental shop. You should have SEEN the look on the shopkeeper's face when she pulled the nasty tux out of its bag. It was still dripping wet, reeked of chlorine, and was covered in horrible bloodstains. It was absolutely grotesque. The funny part was that the shopkeeper was able to peg exactly what happened. "Looks like someone went a little overboard on the drink, fell in the pool, and had a serious accident." I guess people who deal with weddings have seen it all.

Two years later, that same idiot of a classmate is suggesting that we all pay $20-$40 to go to a party room club?! Hmmm.......yes, ok. Some people clearly don't grow up; they just grow older. It's so bizarre to me that 10 years can go by, and as much as I've changed, others appear to have remained exactly (and sadly) the same.

My reunion is going to be sooooooooo interesting. I can't wait.

Wow. It's been a month since my last blog. That's a LONG time!

Well, I'm not offering any excuses. I'll just dive right into today's thoughts, and hopefully, my next blog after this one won't be so far away...

STOP THE RIDE!!!!! PLEEEEASE!! LET ME OFF RIGHT NOW AND STOP THE RIDE!!!!! I took the team out to Great America today for a some good ol' fashioned fun and games. We're a great group; all twenty-somethings who love to laugh, talk, and hang out. I love all of them. Everyone met up at the gates at 10am, and we went straight for the rides. We rode just about every roller coaster in the park, gossiped over lunch, and really bonded as a group.

Our last ride of the day was Delirium, Great America's latest thrill ride addition. It was surprisingly tame with a rather gentle swinging motion, although it definitely took you pretty high into the air. The best part of the ride, however, was this woman who was sitting straight across from me. The minute we started moving, she became absolutely hysterical. I've never heard anyone scream as loud as she did, wildly kicking her little legs as we sailed through the air. Her eyes were scrunched so tight that her entire face was wrinkled, and at some point, she actually covered her face with one hand...although the screaming never stopped.

And how did the rest of us respond? Everyone was cracking up. That's right. No sympathy. No concern. Just laughter all around. In fact, I laughed so hard that my stomach hurt, and I kept it up the entire ride.

I know, my sense of humor is a bit off. The interesting thing, however, is that everyone else around me was also laughing at this poor woman's antics. Isn't it odd how the human condition works?

When the ride ended, I fully expected the woman to depart in tears. But no, she simply left her seat and calmly walked away. Strange!!! But oh so funny...my oh my...