Sunday Goodbye

With the dramatic exception of seeing Jen Turano in a towel in Sheridan, Sunday morning was fairly lame.  We just kind of packed up and left.  It was a bit of a letdown, but what a killer weekend.  One last Bloody Mary at the Palms.  Too much fun to end so quickly.

Saturday Afternoonight…

By Saturday afternoon, it was time to head over to Echo Field and see some classmates. A bunch of people went to High
Rock, and it was clear to me that I would stay awake longer that night if I chose the festival on Echo…

Upon arriving at Echo, it reminded me of a band called Great Train Robbery that played on echo field when we were there. The event seemed well organized, and there were members of the class there that I didn’t see anywhere else the whole weekend. It was there that I saw a ton of old friends. Among so many others, it was good to see Arturo make the trip form PR. It was also good to see Danny Kalinowski, Jeff Canon, Will Milligan, Lisa Petrozzi, Gloriana, Kristin Schilling…so many others – I could go on all day.

The time arrived for the class picture, and we probably got only half of the attendees in it. Something about a bridge…

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It was time for the class picnic, and Lightning Bolte, Sparky and I went to the Super Thrift (which is now called Jubilee, but they can’t fool us) to get some burgers and dogs. Here is a picture of Sparky politely inviting the checkout girl to the party.

We got back to the Mount, and partied like the Kennedys. It was a huge bash, and it was a lot of fun. It was so wild to see Tim Myers holding a baby… his baby – completely surreal. The class of ‘92 was clearly the best represented at the apartments. Emma came up with a superlatives list (anybody remember what they were)? So – plenty of partying… then….

…the chips came out. Yep, you guessed it – Germ, Scudder, Bolte, Peduto played a quick round of cards for old times sake.

There was this black van in the parking lot…. Many pegged it for a new fangled drunk bus. No, it was a limo bus rented by Paulette for her Krewe, and it was going around the mountain late night. I don’t know how we got an invite (ok we begged), but it was a hugely fun time. It was especially funny when Maureen Sweeney stepped on a styrofoam cooler full of Miller Lite. What a hoot – thanks girls.

The night wore on, and we moved over form A to C (the real tower by the way). There were all kinds of hi-jinks, and Boz gave a speech that brought the house down.

3:30 – time for bed.

Is it a sign or just a sighting?

As most everyone knows driving with Germ is always an adventure…..too many to possibly recount and most you wouldn’t believe…. and the way down and back were no exceptions.  During our return I was sharing with Germ that “Party Marty” lives nearly two miles away and how crazy it is after six years we have missed even a random meeting at the store or around town.  We played a little telephone tag, but that’s it…

 After a long drive and exiting the PA tnpke, Germ says… “hey, did you say “Party Marty” lives near you?” Yeah… Guess what? He’s in the car next to us.  Yep, thats right…Party Marty in the Caravan.

We exchanged a few words, Germ shouted some mildly inappropriate words that led Martin to let us both know the “kids and wife” were in the back seat (sorry Colleen c of ‘91!) 

So is it a sign? or just a sighting? Out of 5b cars and 6 years returning from 15 and we bump into Party Marty….I think its a sign… For those who went here, no explanation is needed; for those who didn’t, no explanation is possible.”
~ Father Forker on the Spirit of the Mount

Saturday Morning (wait, what morning?)

The first time I awoke, it was 9 am. The air conditioner was still going, no sounds from Turano or Sarff on either side of our room. The only sound I heard was some water gulping from Gregg Howell. He asked if I was ready for breakfast, and explained that he was just back from his 4-5 mile run, which was preceded by a 12 mile bike ride.

So, we set off for The Palms to get some grub. I was completely sick. I tried all kinds of liquids: see below

Nothing seemed to work. While we were there we saw TA, Gloriana, Dave Lloyd, Theresa Dempsey, and several others (Trisha O’Connor and her beautiful kids also). We got out of dodge after breakfast quickly – just fast enough to get back so I could go to bed.

Morning… what morning? My alarm went off at 1:00.

Friday recap and why I looked forward to the weekend…

Why is it that we were looking forward to this weekend?  I talked to so many people who were either glad to have some time to think, or away from twins, schedules etc….  I am sure all of those things were true.  For me, it was also a chance to re-center – to go back to basics.  We all made fundamental decisions about who we are during the formative years at the Mount, and those decisions were informed by people – friends.  Our process of becoming ourselves was facilitated by a kind of community nurtured  self discovery.  The fact that it was community centered is the very reason why Mounties of all classes  ARE confident individuals who are skilled at relating to others, creating win-win scenarios in life and in work.  Yes, I spent time anticipating and getting ready for this reunion for the fun and the escape – but was also looking forward to re-connecting to those early influencers that helped me shape my identity.

I woke up Friday and left an hour before I had planned to. With all of the buzz leading up to the events, I wanted to be bright and early for a tee time at the Links at Gettysburg. It was a great course and an even better result as Howell and I won room air conditioners for our soon to be sweltering first floor Sheridan Annex rooms. We arrived and installed them with ripped Styrofoam and duct tape in true MacGyver style.

From there it was around the mountain to hear that fabulous and irreplicable sound of the brook flowing at the first bridge. From there it was Otts.. and we stayed there until late.

At Otts, the class of ‘92 dominated the crowd – and Jean Weiss was there, although it was just her head on a stick. We would have preferred the real thing, but had fun (especially Brutus) with the stick (see flickr photos).

I was at first surprised, and then overwhelmed by the size of our crowd. And, there were 2 pretty neat themes…first – most came without spouses (would have probably been great if they had all come too!) which had everyone on a path to party hard for the weekend. The other was that our class seems to be very well preserved.

Pretty soon the night was in full swing, the band was too loud, and the beer was incredibly cheap. Bill McGrath handed out “woo-woo” shots that were probably $.50 each. I said yes to every drink that was offered – so did everyone else.

“DRUUUNK BUUUUS”, was shouted by Dale – followed by several trips back to campus. Would it be a shocker to report that Berger and Germ totally missed the fact that everyone had left?

Back to campus we went, and went straight up to C-19 where Rob Weed (c.93) had set up an apartment with flags, Christmas lights, etc…. Late night. 3:30 for me. Incredible to see everyone and looking forward to the next day.

New Postings – recap of the weekend

What a great weekend.  Pictures tonight, recap by day tomorrow.

What a turnout, what a lifelong journey, and what a seriously enormous quality of everyone’s character this weekend showed.

More tomorrow!

The countdown…

The countdown is in motion… we start the metamorphasis into our “mount” characters…
 
Sparky, Wiggy, Keg Butt, Bozz, Disco’, Sarge, Dicky, Dopey, Greenballs, Brutus, Lloyd, Fieldsy, Schwinger’, Cloughy, Germ, Chucky, Summer, MJ, MF, Pul’s, Jimbo, Shehands, Clark’e’, Quinn’e’, Condon, Scudder, Ginz, Captain Ahab, Myers, Court, TA, Glo, McGyver, Lighting Bolte, Dug’s, Chetty, Mercer, Father Murph,  Ping Pong, and on and on…  
 
We leave the “other” world behind and relapse into the nostalgia of friendships, memories, and bonds that have lasted nearly two decades…  and gearing up for more “stories” of ATM, the Bridge, the falls, a climb to the copula? Mud slides? What next?
 
Once you confirm the babysitter, or leave that spouse at home, just a couple of things to throw in your bags….
 
Pictures, memorabilia, anything we can put into our archive….for the next gig!
 
Anyone have XM, Sirius or an Ipod? Like to blast out some good 80’s and 90’s from Sheridan…
 
Bring blankets, chairs, coolers full of beverages and stuff to BBQ…
 
Cameras and recorders so we can provide a live stream of the weekend’s events live…
 
So gear up and get ready for the celebrations….any last postings?  Any predictions? Like “Most likely to xxxxxxxxx?
 
 
 
Ping Pong and Sparky

Twenty Four

What will happen next? Will Jack foil the plan for an assassination…? No – not Kiefer Sutherland – 24… hours until the big reunion. An Ott House, 92 picnic at the apartments, ATM, Cunningham Falls, Weekend! So, the burning questions are as follows…. Will Jean actually make a guest appearance? Will Lloyd and gang crack open their ground beef time capsule in B towers? Will we see the Puerto Rico contingent make the journey? Will Pete Mulvihill show up and strip for Christine O’Connor? Will we have a larger turnout than the ten year (I am quite certain we will)? Who will be the last one to go to sleep (Howell has my vote)? Will Court pick flowers for anyone?  Will the third Brute girls finally admit that they wished they lived in C towers senior year?  Will Bobby Hill bump his head? Will Mario have to arrest anyone?

So many questions…. and only one day to wait until the season premiere of… 24.

I hope all of you travel safely to the reunion and have a great time.  I am going to have some information on where to send camera phone pictures during the reunion so that they automatically appear on flickr.   Rock out!

Not Pictured…

Some of you might be wishing you were one of those “not pictured” in ‘88… (TA???) for those less than fortunate, take a trip down memory lane b/c we dug up and posted our 88 “pig book”.  Initial reactions – “I was that young once, that skinny, is that really me?”  “What happended???”   Then you start digging around looking at classmates…. some you remember, some you wonder…did this person even show up?  or they did, but lasted only weeks… (remember George?)You ask, is that really Mark Story or Will Milligan?  I thought big hair was out in the late 80’s…(you know who you are…)?

When you finally make it to the “P’s”, you gotta ask … does Palmieri look like a criminal or what?  Once you look again, and again, reliving many stories and fond memories and after nearly 20 years you realize life is way too &%@%* short, looking forward to seeing everyone and having a blast this weekend…

1988 pig book

The Mystery Man…

…from a few posts ago is Michael Courtney.