What to wear?

I've received numerous emails from classmates wondering what they should wear. For the ladies it's easy, a dress or a nice pair of slacks and a blouse. For the gentlemen, we suggest a nice pair of slacks and a dress shirt or a sweater. We are trying to throw a classy, but comfortable party. But clearly, we want to see you, no matter what you're wearing. So if you only feel comfortable in a suit and tie, wear it. If you only feel comfortable in your UCLA Hawaiian shirt, wear it. We just want to see you there. Just be sure to wear something!

Nicole Pfiester's Update

I won’t be able to make the reunion, but thought I would add my update. Well, 20 years later I am still in a Catholic high school, but it is in the “other” valley. I didn’t start out to be a teacher, but here I am.

I graduated from CSUN in 1991 with a degree in Radio/TV and Film. The senior short film I produced did rather well in film festivals and that afforded me the opportunity to travel Europe when I graduated. We even sold our little film into distribution. For a while there I got steady royalty checks for $5.00 (yep the decimal is in the right place). Then I worked for a low low budget film company as an apprentice editor. Yes if you look closely in the end credits of that critically acclaimed martial arts masterpiece Bloodfist II you will even see my name in the credits. And yes I did meet the film’s star Don “the Dragon” Wilson…who’s name is mentioned in the 80’s classic Say Anything…which means there are two degrees of separation between me and John Cusack.

So what, you ask, lead me to give up the glamorous life of showbiz? Well, it could have been that I would wake up in the middle of the night terrified with memories of the night Anthony Butler broke my skillfully crafted collapsing prop chair in a production of You Can’t Take It with You. (if memory serves it was Bill Horbury who told me that would happen). Or perhaps it could have been that I couldn’t find steady work in the film industry.

At any rate, a M.A. degree in Religious Studies later and I am now the Campus Minister at Bishop Amat High School. I teach Leadership, Media and Morality (aha still put the B.A. to work) and a class on Death and Dying…which isn’t as morbid as it sounds. In summer I teach English. The main part of my job involves directing our retreat program, which I based on Chaminade’s program.

It has been a real boost to see some of you here mention the retreat programs…it gives me hope that I am investing in the future. Of course reading this blog has also scared me into wondering what my students will remember of me in 20 years. I hope at least some of them are fond memories.

I hope everyone has a great time at the reunion.

Nicole Pfiester (nmp1968@aol.com)

I - Carumba!

This music compilation idea was truly inspired! Genius! Brilliant! It also just happens to bring to mind yet another aging anecdote. How convenient.

Last June, my kids received graduation money and immediately bought a new fangled gadget called an "Ipod". Given that I spend a good deal of my time sitting on my porch, in my rocking chair, yelling at kids to get off my lawn, new technology usually passes me by. The kids swore EVERYONE had them - but it didn't interest me.

For Christmas, my folks got me an Ipod. First, I thought I'd return it - but they had had it engraved on the back. Crap! What was I going to do with this I-pod thingy? My mini-van already had a CD player and I already had 200 CD's crammed between the driver and passenger seats for "easy" access. What possible purpose could this serve? And it was probably going to involve the computer and be confusing to learn. Drek!

Okay, I was amazed to get all those CD's into one little, thin, silver player. Now, I don't know how I lived without one.

Thinking about our music, today I took a look at my Ipod list. All that great music of our time that defined us and made us cool - gone. I have more Disney, Hannah Montana, and Sesame Street than anything else. And the scariest realization of all was that while I was driving, with no one else in the car, the Ipod was playing Grover singing "Monster in the Mirror" and it did not occur to me to change it! I think my left foot was even tapping on it's own!

My youngest is 5, and starting to catch on to his older brothers music. The real test of how hip I am is when he doesn't want Sesame Street music anymore - how long will it take me to get it off my I-pod? I can tell you this - Grover ain't going nowhere!

Anthony "It's not easy being green" Butler

Rob Lefebvre - Jim Davis hates you

Yes Rob, Jim Davis, the actual originator of Garfield has taken personal offense to your comparison. I, however, appreciate your memory which probably makes me better than I really was. Hey, my ego enjoys being inflated like everyone elses.

I am trying not to play favorites, but I am going to induldge just a little and say you are one of the people who has popped into my head over the years. You were a great guy and obviously continue to be. Plus, to this day I still don't see how you get "Le-Fay" (phoenetically) out of "Lefebvre". Its just too damn many non "Y" sounding letters in a row.

Along with many others, I am sorry you will not be attending. But I am glad you are well, with a nice family, and I am definitely going to contact you personally.

Be well.

Anthony Butler

P.S. I left out the "nick name" intentionally. This is from Anthony the person, not the schtick.

The music thing...

Hey Everyone...

...this music thing has sure developed a life of it's own.

Thanks to your participation, we're a lot closer to 870 than 87.

It's quite the cultural artifact (if only one of our English teachers had the sense to use "The Hungry Wolf" and "Hungry Like a Wolf" to get that whole metaphor/simile thing across).

In case you have no idea what I am referring to, have a look at the posts "Straight to the 'Nads" and "4 weeks to go..."

If you can spare the bandwidth and a moment or two of your time, drop me a line (tlopatka@gmail.com) with your contribution(s).

Looking forward to hearing from you,

TL

Greetings from Gosselin

Ok, I am finally giving in! I have been reading all of your posts since May and have become equally addicted, entertained and impressed by all that has been accomplished. But what really got me was Matt’s posting of all the songs and the aging process that has been referenced. Why is it that I can not remember what time my daughters’s soccer practice is and if I am supposed to bring snacks when I just received an email with this information yesterday? However, I look over this list of songs and can start singing every word to 95% of the songs?!? How can I free up some of this memory that is being used up by all these great songs? Perhaps then I could throw out my sticky notes posted to the kitchen door that remind me of things or stop sending reminder emails from my work to my home email. Oh, come on, I know some of you guys do it too!


After leaving Chaminade, I continued to work at the same job (Leslie’s Pool Supplies) that I worked at during high school and enrolled at CSUN with Michele Yasiello. In January 1988 I was introduced to a Leslie’s manager, Kelly McNeely, that worked in the Walnut Creek store in N. California. We started dating and flying back and forth and to my surprise he asked me to marry him in Dec 1998! I literally thought he was kidding and told him to shut up and get serious! To this day we still joke that I am not sure I ever told him “yes”. I got tired of flying back and forth to bay area so I finally moved up there and went to school at CSU Hayward and worked part time at Paychex. We enjoyed many weekend trips to Napa and Lake Tahoe. We were married in the Valley on March 17, 1990. Michele Yasiello and Jessica Zada were in our wedding. About six weeks prior to the wedding, my fiancé was offered a position back in his home state of Texas, which he accepted and moved to prior to the wedding. So I was living in N. California, he moved to Arlington, Texas and we were getting married in the Valley – gee, not to much change for someone that wasn’t even 21 yet!

I was able to transfer my job w/ Paychex to Texas, but in a full time roll. I figured I’d take off one year of school to establish residency and go back, but I never did. It’s been gnawing at me every day since! I always joke w/ my kids that after life slows down for me and they are off to college, I’ll go back and I’ll be sitting next to them in college.

I quickly grew tired of the big corporate way at Paychex and realized that was not going to be a job that was conducive to family life. In 1993 I went to work for a small manufacturing company doing their accouting and worked there for abt five years. The company was sold and I took the opportunity to take some time off before our son started kindergarten.

So, I’ve been married 17 years and we have two great kids and a strong marriage! Patrick was born in Dec 1994. He started Junior High this year. He is my book smart kid and very analytical, plays football, and is very busy with his social life It’s hard to believe I will have a teenager under our roof in a few months. Lauren was born in Nov 1998 and started 3rd grade. She is very street smart and quick witted. She plays soccer, loves school and always has some social activity in the works with friends, and she is sooo tall. She is a head taller than most of her class mates.

For the past six years I have worked for a private investment firm doing Portfolio Accounting. I have an awesome job! I am lucky that I have had the opportunity to learn more real world knowledge without the “piece of paper” than a lot of people who needed the degree to just get their foot in the door. You know what they say, sometimes its more WHO you know not WHAT you know.

If I hit the red light on the way to the office, I’ve had a bad commute. I work one mile from home and the kids schools are within a few miles, so I am always able to attend all their functions and serve on the PTA boards and be involved and most days I come to work in workout clothes and tennis shoes. My husband left the retail world of swimming pools in 2000 and started his own service and repair company. I take care of all of his accounting in the evenings. We love to travel and try to fit in a family ski trip & beach trip each year, and a trip for just the two of us to somewhere (we just got back from Cancun on Sunday, see pic). Kelly doesn’t do the theme park vacations so I usually do those trips with girlfriends and their kids. He said he has had enough strollers rammed into the back of ankles to last him a life time. We haven’t been to Europe yet but it’s on the list when the kids get a little bit older. We always go to California to my parents’ house in Woodland Hills for Christmas, but other than that we usually do not vacation there.

Whatever you’ve read about football in Texas is probably very accurate. It rules this state! The best time to go shopping is during a Cowboys game on Sunday afternoon! We live in Arlington (which is located in between Dallas & Fort Worth) and are only a few miles away from the new Cowboys stadium that is being built. My son started tackle football in the 4th grade and I’m holding off as long as possible from starting my daughter in the cut throat drama of cheerleading.

The kids keep us running 24/7 with their friends and activities. There are nights when I sit down to work on my desk at home at 10pm when everyone if finally asleep but it’s all good and I wouldn’t change it for the world to know that we have smart, happy and well balanced kids and I’m lucky to have a great husband as well who is a true partner in everything. He jumps in for cooking, grocery shopping, and doctor’s appointments. When I get the time…. I enjoy gardening, baking, reading and I’m currently training to run a half marathon in December. I really don’t have a passion for running, but it’s just something I want to achieve.

Things I remember:
Absolutely #1 is the beach! So many weekends spent laying out at Zuma 6 (?) and now so much money spent on facials and products to reverse all that sun damage!

Michele and I driving down to the Forum (is it Staples Center now?) at 3am to get in line (before there was online) for Billy Idol tickets. What the heck were our parents thinking letting us going down there in the middle of the night.

Warm summer nights spent at the Winnetka drive-in drinking Tom Collins.

I’ve only stayed in touch w/ Michele Yasiello off and on over the past 20 years. I have enjoyed reading about everyone’s accomplishments and enjoyed seeing the pictures.

If you are ever in the Dallas area or come for the Superbowl in 2011, please drop me a line.

lmcneely@mmcgrand.com

Regards,

Lisa

The Chatsworth White House

Hey Everybody,

I recently got an email from an anonymous Eagle (anonymous to you, not to me) who revealed that one reason he was not coming to the reunion was that, and I quote, “that place they chose just frightens me.”

Well, I wrote back and told him that I was part of the “they” that chose “that place.” And please if that is the reason anyone else is not coming, PLEASE RECONSIDER!

Yes, on the website photos, the Chatsworth White House looks rather opulent. But that’s not how we’re doing the reunion.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s going to be nice. But it’s not going to be stuffy or formal. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be relaxed. One of the things the committee talked about when choosing this location was that, since it is an actual house, we wanted it to be an old school Chaminade House Party.

And then the fact is, regardless of the location, the real draw should be the people. We could be in a palace in France or a gay bar in WeHo (actually, that could be quite fun). It all melts away because we’re there to visit and catch up with folks most of us haven’t seen for 20 years!

So don’t let something silly like the location stop you from coming. We’re getting a great turn out, so come be part of it.

Chaminade Reunion ’87. Come for the people. Stay for the fun!

Amy

rob lefebvre is in da blog

OK, crap. 20 years (thanks a heck of a lot, Amy)

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Tok, Alaska right now, with enough time to kill to actually blog a bit about the past 20 years.

You see, I work in Alaska, traveling to rural and remote villages across the state, consulting with teachers of students with severe disabilities, trying to help them improve their educational programs in small, tiny, isolated places. I travel by plane, boat, and sometimes snow machine to villages such as Stebbins, St. Michael, Tok, Shaktoolik and Ketchikan. This trip is a relatively nice one, with hotel and restaurant and all.

But how did I get here? I'm glad you asked.

I went straight on to undergrad at UCLA in 1987. I chose psychology as a major because my other choice didn't seem to offer me anything in the way of a future (English Major). I spent four years (ok, ok, four years and a desperate summer) studying sex, drugs and rock and roll, not necessarily in that order. I worked at various psychiatric hospitals as a nurse's aid and at UCLA in the Treehouse food court thingy. I played a ton of bad rock and roll, both on the guitar and on the bass. I made some great friends, and fell out of touch with the couple I had made in high school.

After college, I played in some bands around the LA and Hollywood areas, moved around the greater LA area, and generally worked in psych hospitals. I realized that my BA in psych only counted towards working as a nurse's aid some more. I watched the psych-ward teachers come in later than me, leave earlier than me, and make more money than I did. I went to CSUN to start a teaching credential. It was at this point I realized that the damn English major would have been more helpful. Hindsight and all.

I did come out of the psych hospital saga with something worth keeping, though: my lovely wife, Summer, who I began dating in 1992 and am married to even now, 15 years later. More on her and the kids later (this is called foreshadowing).

I went to work as a long-term substitute teacher at a locked school for kids with the label of Severely Emotionally Disturbed (SED) for about two and a half years. About a year into the credential studies, I was offered a stipend for a Masters' degree in moderate/severe disabilities. With the free money, I had to take the offer. I soon found out that I loved helping kids with significant disabilities learn what they needed to in the same "regular" classrooms that they would be in if they hadn't had a disability. I became a devout Inclusionist, and worked in Simi, Burbank, and finally as an inclusion specialist in LAUSD until 1999.

I also played with a band comprised of Bob Vassegh and Bill Horbury, both class of 87-ers. We called ourselves schwa (look it up!) and played all original music around the LA area. We rehearsed in the same studio in Santa Monica that Weezer did (yeah, Rivers is cool). I still hear from Bill on occasion (just did his company website for him), but haven't heard from Bob since he left for Boston several years ago.

I got married in 1996 and spent the last almost 4 years of my time in California as a teacher in LA, Burbank, Simi, and again in LA. My wife is a trained opera singer with a Master's degree in voice, which she earned at CSUN, and a recent Master's in Social Work, which she earned in Alaska a couple of years ago.

At the end of 1999, I heard about a job in the Alaskan wilderness. Based in Anchorage, people who worked there would have to travel by tiny plane, boat and snowmachine. I said, sign me up. My wife said, huh, wha, where? But eventually she relented. I flew up in December 1999 to a house that we rented sight unseen. I arrived to find the floor in the kitchen rotted out from a big spill. I could see the basement from near the refrigerator. My wife and her parents were coming up in a week.

I rented a different house; one that had all it's floors intact but was attached to a beauty salon. Sunday mornings were the best when the house filled with the smell of perm solution and the sound of hairdryers. Soon after moving up, we found out that Summer was pregnant with our "just-about-to-move-sleep-on-the-blow-up-mattress-on-the-floor" conceived child. We bought our first house just in time to welcome Hunter Elisabeth home. That was 7 years ago, and we had another child, Spencer David, who just turned 5.

Which brings me to sitting in Tok, Alaska (Google map it, I dare you).

Currently, my job is half traveling consultant, half distance education coordinator and resident tech-geek at the Special Education Service Agency in Anchorage (www.sesa.org). I play music with a band in and around the Anchorage area (mostly original music, with some kick-ass covers thrown in -- including Weezer, hahhah). I also run a web-design business out of my house, and am working on a novel, which can be seen on my blog at www.roblef.com.

I'm loving my family, enjoying my life, and keeping busy. I've really dug reading the blog. It's amazing how everyone seems to have similar themes of life, career, love, etc. It's beautiful reading. Even Anthony, the guy I mostly remember as an amazing artist who drew Garfield like no other, has little pearls of wisdom and life-lessonry tossed in among the one liners and genuinely funny insights. I'm honored to have been a part of such a cool group of people way back in the days.

So, yeah, it's a long blog entry, but I thought maybe it would be ok, since I won't be able to join you all at the reunion. Please, if you remember me and think fond thoughts, contact me at roblef AT gmail DOT com. I'd love to hear from you. Erin and I already have re-connected a bit because of the chamiblog and Facebook, so you could be next!

Thanks again, and hope to talk to you all soon!

Just opened a bottle of wine...

As I sit here wondering what the hell I am doing reliving Chaminade days that I truely thought were behind me, it is clear that I am remembering the friends, not so much the school crap (Mr. Lawson to begin with). "Duh!", they shout, but it has taken me this long to decide to "take the plunge" (not to mention the many tech support emails with Amy).

As happy as I was to be finished with high school, I was even happier to know that I was leaving LA. I moved to the Bay Area (only to come to LA to visit family, Caroline and Beth) and began college at a small Catholic University (sound familiar?). After a year and a half of amazing political science study, I couldn't help but wonder why I was still in an environment that was too stifling. I left College of Notre Dame and moved to San Francisco where I graduated with a degree in Early Childhood Education from San Francisco State. I began teaching during college and continued through my 10 years in SF. It was wonderful to be in SF with so much of my family and great friends, including Caroline and Beth who were both in Northern CA for a time.

I met Rick in 1995 (in SF although he is a New Yorker) through a family whose children I taught - very unexpected, but very wonderful. Very fun story for us, but boring for everyone else, so ... We were married November 1997 and moved to Grenada a month later where Rick went to MD school. We lived there 2 years, and it was heaven. I was lucky to land 2 great jobs while there 1) at an NGO on the med school campus where I was responsible for fundraising activities and grant writing and 2) as a faculty member, working with medical students. It was a magical time for us (mostly for me), easy living on the beach, getting to know amazing people and enjoying a beautiful island. Our first son, Justin, is our "island" baby and he was born in LA in 2/2000. I came home to have him, as birthing in a 3rd world country was strongly discourage by the MD's in Grenada. 4 months later (6/2000), we moved to Brooklyn, where we lived for 18 months while Rick finished year 3 in medical school. We then moved to Princeton, NJ, for Rick's 4th year and where Ryan, our #2, was born 12/2001. Rick began his residency in Phoenix, AZ in 2002. Phoenix was great for the time we were there, especially because I had a super teaching position at a wonderful school. Then...Surprise, Surprise! A little over a year after we arrived in Phx, Evan, our #3 was born in 7/03. Fortunately or unfortunately... my teaching tenure in Phoenix is marked by absences - baby absences that is. Baby #4, Miya, joined our family in 2/2005. After Miya came, I quit teaching and was "happy" to be home with our little ones, although 4 children under 5 can be grueling...

In June 2006, we left Phoenix (to move for Rick's fellowship) shortly after the market dropped which made the move to VA all that more stressful! Our leaving Phx was quite a sight: Rick had the BIG Penske truck with our Camry on a trailer, and I had our Surburban, filled with 4 children, my sister-in-law and a 12ft UHaul on the back. 3.5 days later, we pulled into Charlottesville, VA with a shitload of crap and 2 mortgages!!! Anyway, Charlottesville is dreamy and it might be the place where we totally unpack (we still have wedding gifts in unopened boxes), but we won't know until next summer when Rick is finishing up his fellowship.

It has been an amazing life so far and I wouldn't change much, except that I wish I could remember more of the Chaminade details that some of you have. NOT!! I truly believe that I have blocked them out...

Thanks for reading my life on epaper... I haven't even made a dent in the bottle of wine I am drinking - how pathetic! I suppose I could go on and on, but I won't.

Take Care,
Mona Sethi



Rick and I (Yes it's dorky, but it might ensure someone will recognize me next week...)

Ryan (5.5) & Justin (7.5)

Evan(4) & Miya(2.5)

A Dave Chmelka Update

Okay, this is not the official Dave Chmelka Update. This is some news I just received via Eric Nesheim and okayed by Dave to put on the blog. As you read this, you will gather bits of information on Dave's life, but Dave says he'll try to do his own update before the reunion so you will can get the full story. If this doesn't happen, Dave will be attending the reunion, so you can quiz him there.

CHMELKA NEWS

Dear Family & Friends,

I wanted to share with you all some special news about an unexpected blessing in our family. Dayna is 5 months pregnant! We weren't exactly planning for a third child, in fact we were pretty comfortable with Dylan in Kindergarten and Taylor in 2nd grade, but life doesn't always work out the way you plan.

The initial shock of this news took a while for us to get use to, but now that time has passed, we have become very excited about the idea of having a bigger family and getting another chance at experiencing the joys of an infant. Don't get me wrong, we are definitely nervous about the thought of starting over, and a little overwhelmed with the idea of having 3 kids, but ultimately we are looking forward to the birth of our 3rd child at the beginning of February 2008. At this point we've decided to add a little more mystery to the situation and not find out the sex of the baby but we might change our minds because both Dayna and I like to plan ahead.

Sorry that we weren't able to share this special news with you in person but given all of our busy lives, we decided we better inform you now before our new child is born. Thanks for all your support in our lives in the past, present and future.

Love always,

Dave & Dayna Chmelka

PS - Taylor & Dylan are very excited about the news. Here is a picture of them right when we told them the special news.

Frequent Flyer Miles - PLEASE

Last call. Anyone out there have miles to burn? Please email me at LISIEFLAV@sbcglobal.net. A classmate is waiting. Thanks!

Fun classes...

I was going through some of my old files on my computer (I'm a digital pack-rat, it's hard to believe that my whole life fits on a device small enough to fit in my pocket) and I ran across some old papers that I wrote for Mr Redondo's faith issues class. I didn't realize how much fun I had with him in that, in most of the reports I talked about God like he was a good fishing/drinking buddy. It's no wonder on during the last week of school he called me in and grilled me for 3 hours about my seemingly odd beliefs. I think he was worried I was talking to aliens or something. Still he was a good sport about it.

Thinking about this I also started to wonder what happened to Ms. Huckabee and her constant rant on why socialism was so much better, I seem to recall that Tom Coleman and I brought tritium illuminated compasses/watches into her classroom to violate her nuclear free zone!

Then there was Mr. Wenger and his silly ethical dilemmas that only had two outcomes, neither of which I ever choose. The grenade case stuck in my mind as being particularly stupid.

Whatever happened to that tall Spanish teacher who married an illegal? I heard she moved to south america.

Is the yellow line still there on the little campus?

And then to wrap up this and get back to work (lunch is over) I have fond memories of Bro. McCall's literature class. I can remember him asking why Kafka's (sp?) main character in metamorphosis was eating trash and rotten food. Bob V. answered with "because that's what cockroaches eat" and getting the famous McCall glare. Those were the days... until of course these were the days!

Apa

MORE SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION!

I would like to invite everyone to see my new movie, opening October 12 in time for our reunion.

For a long time, I had been looking for a vehicle to star in with Samuel L. Jackson. With no script satisfying either of us, I sat down and wrote my own script inspired, of course, by our upcoming reunion. Samuel loved it! With an A-list cast, the best director, and an unlimited budget, we made the best damn movie seen in decades!




I hope you will come out and support this film.

Anthony "I have had it with these mother f*ckin' snakes at this mother f*ckin reunion!" Butler

Hotel Shuttle for Out of Towners

Three weeks to go! The Reunion Committee discussed offering a shuttle to classmates staying at either the Marriott or Radisson Hotels the night of the reunion. Is anyone planning on using this? Or will everyone have their own wheels that night? If you plan to use the shuttle, can you please email me at LISIEFLAV@sbcglobal.net. Thanks!

we are gonna have some fun!

L-O-V-E you, anthony, i mean mr. butler-if-you're-nasty! we are going to have us some laughs. pole not included.
like a rare, fine wine, your kinda funny has just improved with age.
i hope you teach a seminar on snappy comebacks. i am so there.

Don't You Dare Shelly!

Shelly, don't you sell yourself short.

I remember you very clearly from high school. You were very attractive and cute. And if you were not skanky then, maybe you have improved with age. You may be the most attractive and skanky person at the reunion. Wait, . . . . . . somehow I feel this may not be sounding good at all.

Personally, I never got the wrong impression from you BLOG entry. I new you weren't actually a stripper. But, if you were - so what? To me, that just means I would have had a place to go for a 1/2 price lap dance. Oh yes baby, I love me some friend-courtesy discount.

Anthony "Spanking Costs Extra" Butler

clarification

OK, i will not deny that i do teach "stripping for the everyday woman", but i have to make this point extremely clear: fellow grads of '87, i am not, nor have i ever been a stripper (c'mon you people went to school with me - i'm not that attractive OR skanky). just a fun job i fell into, minus the taking-off-my-clothes part.
little SAT trivia: ecdysiast is the PC term although i know "shellaine the ecdysiast" doesn't roll off the tongue as nicely or easily as "shellaine the stripper".
try not to be disappointed when you see me & i'm more mama of twins than stripper!

FEAR NOT, MR. BUTLER!

I am so sorry I scared you. That was never my intention. But please know, I will always look for you.

I will reach my hand deep into the BLOG and find you, under the edible underwear, and I will bring you to safety.

Amy

AMY ROGERS! Stop scaring me!

If my Blog entries have proved nothing else, they have at least shown me to be unstable, delusional, and twisted. Why, knowing this, would you feed into my paranoia?

I'm frightened and unsure. You said that as new posts were made, we would "get pushed down further getting buried deep in the blog until we were hard to find". I don't want to get buried deep in the Blog, Amy. It's dark, and cold, and I can't get enough air. With all those new posts on top of me, the space will get smaller and smaller, crushing me. And then I will panic and start writing anything just to claw my way back to the top of the Blog. But someone will write about their life or advertise their online edible underwear store - and I'll get buried again. Good lord, my heart is already beating through my chest!

I know some of the more strong willed classmates can take it Amy, but I can't. Please tell me you were just kidding. Say it was all in jest. We won't really get buried deep in the blog, right? And if it is true, promise you will get some hound dogs and search the Blog if you don't hear from me in a few days.

Anthony "Claustrophobia" Butler

Shameless Self-Promotions

Hello Eagles,
In reading these posts, I've learned that we are quite an ecclectic, innovative, and talented group of people. I mean, between Stacey the Clown, Shellaine the Stripper, and Anthony's Hospital Wear (he always had great gams), we just need some liquor (that's you, Dave Donnell) and Matt's rental supplies, and we can really get our collective freak on.

But back to the subject. I know people have posted links to their businesses and personal blogs, but as the posts get pushed down further and further, these links get buried in deep in the blog and they become hard to find.

You may have noticed that to the right of this site, there is a LINKS section. So, if it is cool with folks, I'm going to start adding links to their websites and blogs. If you have a site you would like me to add, just write to me at amykeatingrogers@pacbell.net and I'll put it up. If I've posted your link and you don't want it there, tell me and I'll remove it.

Amy

CALIFORNIA ER: MORE BLOODY THAN SEXY

Not even a week since my trip to the Idaho ER and I end up in the California ER! Ain't that some shit?

I went to the West Valley Animal Shelter to a visit a dog I had been considering adopting. I was there an hour and a half and during that time, I was also playing with a nice Labrador mix. Gentle, sweet, maybe even slightly timid.

It was 4 minutes to closing, I was saying goodbye to "my" dog and stopped by the fence of the other dog. The "MIX" part must have represented a blend of Labrador plus freakin' psychotic sharp toothed blood thirsty lab experiment gone wrong! I barely put my hand in to pet him and he chomped down on my left hand. I think it was jealous of the other dog but in two seconds it went CUJO on me.

So I look at my hand, which is now squirting blood, notice my middle finger is now kind of "flappy", and I'm in disbelief. I look again and my finger is still bleeding, and I can see that the flesh looks shredded and beefy. For a minute, it made me want Taco Bell.

Now, instead of acting like a normal person, I panicked. Why? Because there is one sign plastered all over the whole kennel repeatedly - DO NOT PUT HANDS INSIDE CAGES. DOGS MAY BITE. Crap - they are going to get pissed at me for ignoring the sign and getting bit 4 minutes before they get to go home for the day. I am cupping my blood as it flows out onto my clothes, dripping on my feet and thongs, and wondering how I am going to sneak out unnoticed. Moving quickly, I go inside, heading for the exit, and grabbing the comlimentary cat litterbox newspaper to wrap my hand in.

By the time I got to the ER, the blood had soaked through the newspaper and started to dry. It was like paper mache'. I had a horrible vision of little kids whacking my mini-pinata hand in the hope it was full of treats.

Now my middle finger has been sutured back on, covered in a gauze condom, and sticking straight up as a permenent "bird" until Friday. My only hope is to be accepted for who I am and not shunned at the reunion for my hideously distorted digit.

Anthony "I taste like chicken" Butler

TOP SECRET: for the boys only

Gentlemen, while the ladies are getting fit by simulating stripper moves - I have something to offer.

Having never left the valley and seen the rise and fall of many business, I am in the fortunate position to offer you an entertaining diversion while the ladies are in class.

For a mere $25, I will take you on a tour of the Valley's hottest strip clubs. There, you will actually get to see what your wives/girlfriends are learning. It's not inappropriate -it's educational! She will appreciate you cared enough to show interest in her hobbies.

The 25$ gets you my guidance in an air-conditioned, slurpee scented mini-van, 15$ in one dollar bills, one cheap beer, and a drool bib. For an additional $5 I will provide you with a notarized score card that states you were bowling with me all night.

The mini-van only seats 7 so sign up today!

Anthony "I can only imagine how many women will be slapping me" Butler

TOP SECRET: for the girls only

apparently, my update has been read by some of you blog obsessed peeps out there & i have heard some whisperings of interest in taking one of my classes.

all i have to say is WOO-HOO! you brave girls ROCK!

i would love to offer my fellow FEMALE (sorry dudes, you can't even enter the studio) chaminade class of '87 grads a private intro class at the S Factor. usually intros are $40 but this class would be my 20th year reunion gift to all of you lovely "skirts" out there who are interested.

for those lovelies on the fence about taking a class, let me tell you a little bit about how an intro at the S Factor works. an intro is a class that whets your whistle & gives you an idea of what the first day of a level 1 class is like. the intro is approx. 1 1/2hrs in length. workout gear is recommended - tanks, tees, yoga pants, etc - whatever you are comfortable working out in. no special shoes needed, barefeet preferred. all of our studios have NO mirrors & dim mood lighting. we do about a 45-50 min warmup consisting of yoga/pilates/ballet-type movements. then we learn the "S" walk (think jessica rabbit) & one pole trick, the firefly! lastly, i gather a few S instructors for an awesome jaw dropping display of pole tricks, from basic to cirque du soleil worthy.

here is a link to the FAQ section on the S Factor website: http://sfactor.com/studios/faqs.asp

i am thinking of targeting a saturday night, 6pm, either the weekend prior to the reunion OR the weekend after.

please email me at shellainey@aol.com so i can keep your interest on the DL.

sorry hubbies, boyfriends & male fellow grads, i am bound, kind of like a doctor-patient confidentiality agreement, not to disclose any names. sorry!

i look forward to hearing from you!
shellaine

EYE CANDY, Jr.

This is a picture of my son. A thinner, younger, cuter, less funny version of myself. I believe this was on his way to work at the car lot.

Anthony "Proud Dad" Butler

IDAHO ER - BRINGING SEXY BACK

Over the last five days I happen to have been in Idaho. On my first day there, my extensive car travel plus tempermental blood pressure medication landed me in the Idaho Emergency Room. I had passed out and banged my head in the bathroom of a Best Western. If you are going to fall on the floor in a hotel - do it in the Best Western in Caldwell Idaho. You can eat off those floors!

The shape and flow of the gown was not flattering, however it did allow me this photo op to bring sexy back while awaiting a CAT Scan.

My pain is your gain - enjoy the eye candy.

Anthony - Mr. Butler if your Nasty

P.S. NO, this was not my audition photo for Edna Turnblad in Hairspray!

so you were a stripper?

did that get your attention? thought so. even though my name sounds perfect for a dancer (i mean can't you just hear it? "ladies & gents, get your dollar bills out for the dance stylings of shellaine"), it's not my name that inspires this question but what i do for a living. what do i do, you ask? you'll just have to muddle through my blog to find out!

first off, HELLO!!

second, everyone's kids are sooooooooooooooooo effing cute! probably some of the cutest offspring i have seen are right here.

last, has it really been 20yrs? can we get some confirmation on this? a friend just emailed me a pic of a guy who's fashion sense leaves ALOT to be desired & i telling you, it's still 1987 out there. somewhere.

so what happened to me & where have i been? read on, my fellow alums, read on.

after graduation, i had several lapses in good judgment. fashion school? not so much if patternmaking & sewing are not your thing. although i have to admit this $16,844 mistake paid for itself when the hubman & i realized that our 10 month old son resembled, wait for it, a mini bob's big boy. i scoured the internet for a bbb costume to no avail. with my trusty FIDM education, i was able to craft one mighty fine bbb costume. see pic to your left.

what else?

living in montrose - who lives in montrose? working for a jewelry company in pacoima (of all places) whose owner embezzled the CA state unemployment funds of all 743 employees. freelance designing for 1928 jewelry - the operative word being "free". and most regrettably, not working on the first "matrix" film.

when it was all over, it was 1996 & i somehow made it through the wilderness (can you name the song that line comes from?). tired of the fashion game, i took some classes digital imaging classes at AFI. i landed an internship at duck soup produckions (i swear that is how they spell it) where i became a technical director for kids cereal commercials & later a department supervisor. my next leap was into the film industry. i talked my way onto perhaps the monumentally worst film of all time & ended up making an insane amount of money for digitally making babies talk. everyone remembers their first & for me this would be "baby geniuses" which IMDB has ranked as the 40th worst movie in the history of movies. i worked for another digital effects house in santa monica & did FX for another handful of movies - making dogs talk, background, ahem "enhancement", sharks, a giant monster named godzilla & a scary house movie as well some christian doomsday flick. with this impressive resume (& i am being facetious here), academy award winning effects house rhythm & hues added me to their staff as a compositor. compositing is taking film elements (the background, actors, etc) & melding them with 3D computer generated elements to create a seamless intergration so that the viewer would never in a million years guess that that spaceship was never actually there when will smith was filmed.

the stripper thing is coming, i swear. hang with me.

so, that was my job, making the world a better place, pixel by pixel. one year i had the distinct pleasure of working on 5 of the 6 film nominees for nope, not the academy awards but the razzies: dr dolittle, little nicky, battlefield earth, flintstones: viva rock vegas & of course, my beloved, baby geniuses, all vying for worst movie of the year. although i do have an awesome tornado & f-14 sequence in X-Men:X2 that i am quite proud of.

in 1999, i launched a jewelry company called trophy girl, which supplied the majority of semi-precious jewelry for just about every show on TV at that time. trophy girl's success has been interrupted by a totally life changing event. no, not the stripper thing but we're getting warmer keep reading.

one thing about working in the FX industry: despite the crazy salaries one gets paid to pixel f*** film frames all day, it doesn't leave much time for a personal life. this leads to dating your co-workers. which inevitably happens even though you say it won't. always. & sometimes it has consequences. with that said, the hubman & i met, fell madly in love & he makes me laugh ALL the time. he is some kind of funny - a stand-up comedian & sometime screenwriter as well as an art director. we married in italy. siena, italy, in fact. under the gaze of the mayor of siena in a "office" so amazingly beautiful that i can't believe italian officials meet here to discuss bi-monthly trash pickup. we rented a villa in chiusi/chianciano & 18 of our nearest & dearest flew out to help celebrate our day as well as take in the tuscan countryside. we stayed in italia for 5 weeks & lived la dolce vita. i swear we will live there someday, even if i have to sell fruit on the side of the road in positano!

i have retired from the FX biz & these days teach pole dancing. yes, you read right, pole dancing. hence the question about being a former stripper. i teach classes at sheila kelley's S Factor in los angeles. about 5 years ago, a friend introduced me to sheila & i started taking classes out of her husband's office. 6 levels & a year & a half later i was looking to get out of FX so the hubman & i could focus on the babymakin' as having him on location in australia & me here working all nighters does not a baby make. sheila asked if i wanted to teach. i did & within a month left rhythm & hues.

besides teaching classes at the S Factor, i also train actresses for film roles. i worked with teri hatcher & choreographed some moves for her to demo on jay leno. i can do some crazy, flipalicious cirque du soliel-esque pole tricks while hanging from my big toe suspended 15 feet in the air. i love love love the S Factor & can't say enough good things about it! the positive influence the "S" has in women's lives is a cause that lives close to my heart. it's an absolutely amazing movement that, despite the press we've received from oprah, goes far beyond "a strip for your man" class. it's a journey that will hopefully lead students to love & accept their bodies as they are, not by the standards set by men or society. through the S Factor community, i have had the chance to meet some of the most
amazing/interesting/intellingent/passionate/awesome women & have had the chance to participate in programs that will allow girls of the future to stand up & confidently have a voice for themselves.

as an aside, the pole dancing/lapdancing really works wonders for getting knocked up. and when i say knocked up, i mean knocked up in a BIG way: on november 12th, 2005 we joyously welcomed fraternal boy/girl twins. dignan edward (extra points if you can name the movie that has a character called dignan) was born 1 minute before his sister gemma genevieve sprang out on his heels. they are almost 2 & extremely HI-larious. so here they are: gemma at the carousel, trying on her best "miss personality" poses. dignan is getting his best billy idol impression on, because he's a little comedian, just like daddy!

these days are full with my time split between playing mama to my awesome twins, getting some alone time with the hubman, teaching at 2 S Factor locations (LA & SM) & trying to get my jewelry company, trophy girl back on track. it's busy but definitely a fantastic place to be! thanks for reading.

shellaine corwel

p.s. and yes, we do have a pole in our house. the neighborhood kids think (wink wink nudge nudge) that i am a some kind of volunteer firefighter & that we have the BEST house for playdates!

Shellaine

Hello from Michele Yasiello...

(...Its actually Michele Burlingham now...I got a big jump in the alphabetical order now and don't have to sit in the back corner of the room anymore!)

Alright already, the guilt has finally gotten to me. I have to admit I have been an addict reading this blog so I guess its time I shared as well. It will be my first blogging attempt ever.

I can’t believe how time has gone by. I remember we couldn’t wait for each school year to end. Each year seemed to take so long at the time but the last 20 years out of school went by in the blink of an eye. Here’s a recap of the last 20 years:

After our Chami days, I attended CSUN. The first semester I had every class with Lisa Gosselin. Working together we could come up with plenty of excuses to not go to class. All it took was a nod across the room and we were off to get something to eat instead. Once she decided to move up north, I actually got a lot more school work done over the next few years. I never really got into the college scene as I worked almost full time all through school. I did eventually graduate with an accounting degree and went off to the world of public accounting. I worked for Kenneth Leventhal & Co (eventually bought out by Ernst and Young) as an auditor. I also did a little tax work. I got to travel quite a bit…audits in Hawaii and Las Vegas aren’t too bad to do, especially on the corporate credit card. I stayed there for a few years, long enough to get my CPA license. I was living in Simi Valley at the time and the drive to Century City was really getting to me. It was time for a change to somewhere closer. I ended up working at Blue Cross of California in Woodland Hills starting in 1995 and have been there ever since in various finance, IT and project management roles.

I met my husband Dan a couple of months before we graduated…thanks to Melissa Chappell and Lisa Gosselin for the introductions. We have been together for 20 years now and married for 12 of them. My bridesmaids were all Chaminade alums…Tracy Tuso, Lisa Gosselin, Jessica Zada and Heather Chase. Not too long ago, I was going through a box of high school mementos. I found the back cover of our 11th grade religion book. On it Jessica had written “Michele will love a man named Dan”. It was dated 8/6/86, about 7 months before I met my future husband. Jess, how did you come up with that one?

Dan and I have two bright, energetic and happy kids who are the biggest joys in my life. Amanda is 8 and Anthony is 4 ½. They keep us constantly busy with school, soccer, baseball and dance. Amanda is a little clone of me (especially if you compare pictures of me at the same age).

We live in Simi Valley and own a glass company in Simi called Community Glass & Mirror (anyone needing showers, mirrors, windows, etc give us a call). Dan runs all of the day to day operations and I handle all the behind the scenes finances in the evenings.

We have a boat, motor home and quads and are truly weekend warriors. We spend summers at the Colorado River or in Lake Havasu on our boat and the winters in the desert riding quads. The kids love all our activities and I really enjoy all of our family time. I never did much family stuff with my parents at a young age, so I guess I'm trying to make up for all of that with my kids. Luckily with Dan working for himself and my 5+ weeks off a year at work we can spend a lot of time away from work. We have also been playing co-ed softball weekly for about 10 years. This always makes me laugh as I wasn’t on a single sports team in school. In my “free” time I am an avid scrap booker and try to keep up on albums filled with all the pictures I take from of our activities.

Some favorite memories…breakfast at McDonalds on Platt instead of first period class; letters from all our friends and family from Kairos retreat; homecoming and vice-versa dances (Matt Wiltshire…how many did we go to together???); graduation trip to Hawaii; being in love with anyone from Duran Duran; the song Save a Prayer from Duran Duran; ice blocking; and of course the endless parties.

I can’t wait to catch up with everyone at the reunion or feel free to send me an email ahead of time. Hope to see you in October.

Michele

Kim Radmacher: Enjoying the Procrastination!

Sadly, I must admit today was my first visit to the reunion blog. But, it has been wonderful to read what everyone has been up to. It’s been a welcome source of procrastination from revising my dissertation. Thank you for the distraction. Since all of you have shared a bit about your lives over the past 20 years, I felt impelled to do the same. In the words of my best friend, Jimmy, I will try to “précis”. Although his attempts to keep my account of events short and to the point have failed miserably, I will try my best and give you a “newspaper” version of the last 20 years.

I’ve been in school for most of the past 20 years; 14 years to be exact. I find it quite fitting that 20 years after graduating high school I will finally be graduating from college. I will receive my Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from UC Santa Cruz this fall and will be moving back to the Los Angeles area in January to open a new chapter in my life as an Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Development at CSU Dominguez Hills. I am currently single, but look forward to sharing my life with someone when the right person comes along.

The road from Cheviot Hills to Dominguez Hills has been an adventure. New experiences, friends who have come and gone and some who will always remain, shared laughter and tears, found love, lost love, learned lessons, but most importantly shared moments. After graduating from Chaminade, I attended Moorpark College for two years. On my first day of college, I met my friend Megan “from Montana” and before I knew it I was transferring to Montana State University in Bozeman. Exhausted from the “material world” of the 80s, the fresh air, mountains, and slower-paced lifestyle were a welcome retreat. Mountain bike trails right outside my door, skiing class on Friday afternoons, hiking the Grand Tetons, Thursday quarter beers nights at the Cat’s Paw. I worked as a server at Frontier Pies and managed to graduate after 3 years with a Bachelor’s degree in Business-Marketing. The end of my undergraduate career also marked the end of a year long relationship to my college boyfriend, whom at the time I thought I would marry. Thankfully, I did not.

Heartbroken and convinced life would end at 22 before it even began, I returned to California and worked as an Administrative Assistant at Vista Ford for two years before beginning a career with Enterprise Rent-A-Car as an management assistant and eventually a corporate account representative. Aside from gaining excellent training in sales and marketing, my days in Corporate America were rather unremarkable except for the handful of amazing friends I met and still continue to have in my life. Most important among these, my friend, Jimmy. We met, became friends, were in a relationship for three years, and then broke up and both left the company on the same day to pursue our life’s passions; Jimmy, a photographer; myself, a college professor. We dated off and on for the next few years, but, in the end, being close friends was the best option. I am still privileged to have him in my life as one of my closest and dearest friends.

After Enterprise, I attended CSU Northridge for three years and graduated with a Master’s degree in Psychology. I’ve been working on my Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at UC Santa Cruz ever since. I began teaching psychology at CSUN as part of their teaching intern program, a passion that has grown despite the occasional bump in the road. Teaching is still one of my favorite “hobbies” as my friend Julie and I call it. I have been teaching Introduction to Psychology, Developmental Psychology, and Adolescent Development at UCSC and Cabrillo Community College for the past three years. I have reluctantly grown to enjoy research and writing as well. My research and teaching focuses broadly on adolescents’ and young adults’ social and emotional development as well as how social class and poverty influences their opportunities and outcomes. Currently, I have been focusing on identity development, or how adolescents and young adults come to understand who they are as a person and whether and how their social identities (e.g., ethnicity or social class) play a role in defining who they are. Although adolescence is typically the age when a more comprehensive sense of who we are begins to develop, reflecting on my own life and reading your blogs reminds me that our “identities” are always growing and changing as we encountered new experiences and people throughout our lives or revisit and rethink the past.

As I start my career as a professor, I’m still a bit uncertain of the whole publish or perish mentality. CSUs tend to be more focused on teaching than research; but time will tell. While I have sacrificed time with family, friends, and myself over the past nine years of graduate school, I have known for some time, that there are more important things in life than my career and am vigorously attempting to not let it gain the upper hand. Although sometimes, I still fail miserably.

In my spare time, I enjoy sharing moments with family and friends. My parents moved from Simi Valley to Sutherlin, Oregon, three years ago. So, I typically spend a week or so with them in Oregon: hiking, river rafting/tubing, wine tasting, going to Beaver football games, or just hanging out doing nothing. My sister, Christin (she graduated in ’85; some of you may remember her from softball or as a retreat leader), lives in Simi Valley, is married, and has 3 wonderful children, Nicole, Brianne, and Jeff. Nicole and Brianne both attend Simi High (I can’t believe they are in high school already) and Jeff just started middle school. I’m excited that I will soon be living much closer to them so that I can spend more time before they are off to college themselves. I also enjoy experimenting with cooking for/with friends. Although not all my experiments turn out as fabulous as I’d like, my friends are usually forgiving. I’ve taken some drawing and painting classes and pick up my camera from time to time and my guitar at least once a week (when I meet with my friend, Bob, for lessons). I am currently working on writing my second song. I typically engage in the local sports wherever I live. In Santa Cruz, that has meant Yoga and sailing. I haven’t embarked upon belly dancing yet, but I may try a few classes before I leave. This past year, one of my students, who is our age, invited me to join her softball team. I have been inspired by playing with women of all ages, who still get out and play just for the love of the game. It also doesn’t hurt that we’ve taken 1st place in the last two seasons (spring and summer). So, that’s the short version of my life since Chaminade.

I look forward to catching up with all of you at the reunion and meeting your families at the picnic on Sunday. Ciao!

A message to share with our kids

Thought this was cute and since this is the 20 yrs out of high school thought i would post it

THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!
If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways. Yadda, yadda, yadda..........
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it! I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!! There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!
We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids' and the graphics sucked ass! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning.

Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards! And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up.We had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire... imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot. That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards, The over 30 Crowd

One Last Harass

Harass. Hector. Bug. Wheedle. Needle. Annoy. Bother. Pester. Badger. Coax. Cajole. Persuade. Entice. Flirt. Flatter. Fondle. Fuck.

I'll do whatever it takes. But this is the last time! I'm getting sore and I have a reputation to protect. (well, not really)

To those of you who have not joined the blog, I sent your invite out one last time before the big day! If you have lost, thrown away, or a firewall stopped your directions on how to join, please email me and I will send them again.

To those of you who HAVE joined and have yet to blog, what are you waitng for? You figured out how to sign up, so get on it! I know you're reading the blog. People have admitted to becoming blog-addicts. So just continue sitting on your ass at your computer, but instead of reading about others, start writing about yourself. Most of us took Mrs. Valentine's typing class (which I must say has served me quite well), so I know you can do it!

Okay, that's it. I look forward to reading even more about everyone!

Amy

Better Late Than Never. Greetings from Lynn Coyle Darrow.

I wrote my blog over a week ago and was too embarrassed to post what seemed like a novel. Thanks to the recent posts, I feel much better about opting out of drafting a shorter version!

I feel a lifetime older from our high school days. So much has transpired in this time. I feel so fortunate to have enjoyed the ride a majority of the time over last 20 years. For me there have been a lot more ups than downs and as I get older I feel like I’m winning the game at this point.

I couldn’t wait for high school to end. Don’t get me wrong, I walked away with some of my dearest friends that will be a part of my life forever, but I knew there was so much more life ahead of us. For me, going away to college wasn’t in the realm of possibilities. I am the youngest of 7 children so having the privilege of attending school away from home wasn’t really an option. I received a great education from CSUN and finished with a degree in Engineering. Engineering school was honestly one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life but the investment has been good to me over the years.

Before I left CSUN I was hired as a product engineer for Teradyne in Agoura Hills. Since I had worked almost full time while going to college, I treated myself to a 6 week European vacation before I entered the professional workforce. I have very fond memories of taking in the European culture, skiing in Zee Lam See, Austria, doing endless pub crawls in England and Germany and getting the worst sunburn of my life in Italy (ok, that memory is not so fond).

Once I settled into work at Teradyne, they quickly unsettled me and sent me to support the Texas region for an average of 60% of my time. I installed and repaired many test systems over several years. What do you ask was I doing? Well the testing equipment that Teradyne builds is wickedly complex machinery. Just about every electronic part behind your everyday electronic devices (cell phones, computers, printers, cameras, etc…) is tested on equipment Teradyne manufactures. As technology gets faster and more complex, this equipment has to take a leading edge and be faster while allowing software engineers to customize the equipment to test a very large array of electronic components. Now, don’t get the wrong idea, I didn’t have near the smarts of the architects who engineered this equipment, but I did have a raging tool box that even my brothers would have envied. I did have the advantage of being smaller framed than someone in my life. Let’s just say the Grandfatherly-like gents in the field regularly enjoyed happy hour at the local saloon in Texas and could barely bend or crawl inside this equipment to perform installations and/or repairs. I was the lucky one who was all too willing to do the grunt work. After a few years of this labor intensive job, it was time to move on for me. I settled into marketing as a product manager after spending a few years in software engineering coordinating software updates and software license distribution to customers. Learning the software release process has been an invaluable experience for me. As a product manager I supported the European territory. These were self-inflicted tough years for me as not only was I traveling to Europe frequently, I married my husband of 12 years during my intensely time consuming promotion. To top in off, I decided to take advantage of a full-ride tuition program at Teradyne and get my MBA in Marketing (at the same time as my husband Chris) from California Lutheran University. I did enjoy getting to visit with Mark Grondin and JVS on repeated occasions in Germany (so much fun in Amsterdam!), but the strain of so much responsibility almost destroyed my marriage. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, which was the case for us.

Although the town home in Westlake I had purchased in 1994 seemed huge when I bought it, we were ready to purchase a larger house. Thank goodness! We sold our stock at what seemed too low, but we then thanked our lucky stars a couple years later when stock prices came tumbling down. We moved to our suburbia lifestyle in Moorpark in 1999, where we still live today. My career took a different direction at Teradyne when as a product manager they repeatedly asked me to run special projects. For the next 7 years I would evolve to a certified Project Manager and was responsible for Program Management of Teradyne’s business applications used to custom quote/configure the testing equipment I once used to install and fix. Although I thoroughly enjoyed what I was doing, someone moved my cheese. The company restructured umpteen times and essentially merged the East and West Coast design/manufacturing centers. Needless to say, I spent about 30% of my time traveling between Agoura Hills and Boston over the next few years while my husband was left behind to care for 2 small children. I did get to enjoy visits w/ Daniella Carusi on several occasions during my visits. Although I definitely enjoyed Boston culture, the weather blows! I admit it, I’m a SoCal girl and just don’t know if I could ever permanently leave what I consider to be one of the best climates in the world. The last couple years at Teradyne were disheartening for me. Teradyne took what seemed like a never ending downturn and simply couldn’t get the restructuring to the point where expenses were in alignment with revenue. I was laid off from Teradyne in my 13^th year of service after dozens of layoffs had impacted so many of my coworkers before me. At first you feel lucky to be spared in a layoff, but at some point, I’m not sure who is better off, the person getting laid off or the person left holding the bag. I still remember the day of my departure. People were so amazed at how overjoyed I was. The environment had taken its toll, the once entrepreneurial nature had been squelched, the novelty of traveling had long since worn off and as I put it, I was ready for that chapter of my life to close.

Why you ask did I stay at Teradyne during such turmoil? Believe me; I don’t think my husband will ever quite understand! Quite simply, I was a young Mom. Jimmy was born on 02/02/02 (what a cool Bday) and Chelsea Rose was born in 2004. In high school I was certain that I’d never have kids, but the rockiness of professional life wasn’t leaving me fulfilled. My time clock kicked in and well, the rest is history. I stayed at Teradyne because I was able to telecommute and work out of my home office 3 days a week for several years. I was the project manager and could set my schedule to suit my needs. I do not know how I could have pulled of raising two young children without that flexibility Teradyne gave me. So for me, Teradyne was a worthy experience. They invested in my training, allowed me to make mistakes on their dime, sent me to many destinations, supported a flexible working schedule, and gave me the opportunity to grow in areas that interested me. Going through the pain of continuous downsizing was hard at the time, but has left me with a better understanding of the process that is inevitable in the working environment.

Once I left Teradyne, I had NO intention of going back to work for a long, long, time. After 13 years I had received a handsome severance package that allowed me to play with my kids and get paid for a good chunk of it! I was able to take the kids out of daycare, except for a few hours a week so that I could also perform my new duties as a full-time Mom, maid and cook. During this time I was able to hang out more with my high school chums: Lisa Macias, Kathy Hayes and Mark Boccicchicio. Life was great during the 18 months that I was home with the kids. Everything was simpler. For the first time I felt like I could stop and smell the roses. I am so fortunate to have had that time. During this period, Chris received a 10 week paid sabbatical from his company (yes companies do exist who believe in paid sabbaticals). We decided to do the unthinkable. We packed up our kids (4 and 2 at the time) and headed to Europe for 6 weeks. The many frequent flyer miles I had earned paid for our flights. My cousin in Northern Ireland hosted us for 4 of the 6 weeks, inclusive of most meals and she even loaned us her car for the whole trip. Our only expense was the occasional meal, entertainment and perhaps a few too many souvenirs. Traveling to Europe with the kids was quite different than the dozens of time we had vacationed in Europe pre-kids. Instead of endless museums and churches, we saw endless parks. I must say the parks in Ireland, England and Scotland kick ass over what we have in America. Kids can actually be kids and they aren’t so paranoid about removing any and all obstacles that might inflict harm to children just trying to have fun. We even got some Mommy and Daddy time when after 3 weeks; we left our cutie pies w/ my cousin and traveled around Southern Ireland for a week.

We then left Ireland for England followed by Scotland. If anyone ever gets the chance, I highly recommend Scotland during The Edinburgh Festival. We were able to see Howard Jones in an acoustic concert w/ only 40 people in a restaurant basement for about $40. That was just one of thousands of venues available during the 4 week long Festival event in Edinburgh.

Needless to say, having time off from work for more than just a few weeks since I was 16 was terrific. The timing was perfect to allow me to try my hand at being a full-time Mom. However, all good things must come to an end. In 2003 we had decided to invest in rental property to diversify our portfolio. Although we’ve done great in terms of equity in the property, equity doesn’t pay the bills. We had dipped into our savings during my time off and it was finally time to increase our reserves. I rejoined the workforce in Jan. of 2007. Although I was expecting the process of finding work to be lengthy, my educational background, experience and PMP certification (project management) paid off. I found employment within weeks of seeking work. I am now contracting as a Business Consultant and my current client is the Safety Net Foundation, which is funded entirely by Amgen. The Safety Net Foundation distributes Amgen products to qualifying patients who meet program guidelines free of cost. I work on Amgen’s main campus in Thousand Oaks. As a business consultant my responsibilities have run the gamut. My latest title is Project Visionary. Didn’t know such a name existed but the work is satisfying and I’m happy because I get to work 30 hours a week, which lessens the stress of having to go back to work and yet juggle family life too. Thank goodness my husband’s work covers our benefits which will allow me to take time off between contracts. I’m just hoping one of those breaks will be sooner vs. later….

So, 20 years in a nutshell? Can’t believe 20 years has come and gone? Well for me, I feel like I’ve relished every minute of it. I have satiated my travel bug, completed my formal education plan, have 2 adorable and healthy kids, a loving husband with a happy marriage, and am surrounded by family and friends. I’ve sadly experienced the death of both of my parents who are no longer suffering and have ridden the thrilling yet challenging waves of my professional career. I look forward to the next 20 years with the same anticipation of the last. I can’t hold back my sense of positive things for the future. Now that our 20 year reunion is fast approaching, I look forward to getting reacquainted with some old friends. I love to see the walls created by youth crumble as we all grow older. I’ve loved reading about everyone’s adventures and life antidotes. I can’t believe it has taken me weeks to finally write this blog and then how hard it was to stop writing once I finally started. Thanks Amy once again for launching this great communication vehicle. Lisa and Carol, you are awesome for taking on the challenge of spearheading our reunion.

For a quick update on the reunion, we now have 77 people confirmed for Saturday's event at the White House. We have at least 10-15 more people who've verbally committed but I've yet to receive their registration. If you are one of those people, get to it and send in your registration. If it is easier for you, send an instant funds transfer via paypal to 87eagles@pacbell.net. We'll be hard pressed to have another reunion with such a great turnout, so don't miss out on this opportunity to get reacquainted with some old friends. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone!

Air Miles

Hey Everyone,

Are any of you frequent flyers? Do you have miles to share? If so, can you please email Amy Keating or me at lisieflav@sbcglobal.net. We have a classmate who needs help flying in from out of state. Thank you!

4 weeks to go...

To all my fellow 'nads...

The response this first couple of days has been amazing...nearly 400 songs. THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING!!! However it has become clear that it might be worth communicating a few things:

1. If we ever had a class, extra-curricular, retreat or hung-out together trick-or-treating or something in 10th grade...I REMEMBER YOU...I was generally lucid in HS, no need to ask in the e-mail, though it is rather charming when you do.

2. If you don't fall into category 1 and we DIDN'T know each other at all (which is a possibility)...don't worry about it. No time like the present to get acquainted. If not now, when?

3. If you belong to category 1 or 2 and just thought I was an a-hole or whatever in high school, GET OVER IT...it's been 20 years. This isn't about me...IT IS ABOUT US AS A CLASS.

4. PARTICIPATE FOR YOURSELF, I'm just putting it all together. I am not going to add songs to the list because I think they "should" be there or I remember YOU liking them...for example, if Def Leppard, Madonna, Dick Smith, Jack, or the Red Hot Chili Peppers were your thing, get your thumb out, because NONE OF THEM are in the first 400 (Billboard top 100 or not...BTW, thanks Heshire).

4. 87 songs might not be enough to cover the full 6 years, so this might get broken up into two lists, one for the Chatsworth years and one for the West Hills years...we'll just have to see about that.

5. Don't get complacent thinking that "since there are already almost 400 songs, mine are probably there"...there have been VERY FEW repeats so far.

6. I am not going to trawl the Blog reading your posts to see what you would like to hear, you have to e-mail me. In return, you have my word that I will not add you to any mailing lists, send you spam or other BS like that, OK? As a matter of courtesy, I will probably send you a short e-mail thank you...nothing more (or add a "DO NOT REPLY" in the subject line if you would prefer it this way).

7. This is NOT about what will be played at the reunion or a play list to hand over to Richard Blade. He's been doing what he does for a long time, and no doubt he gets paid handsomely for it...if you don't like the way he does his job, or what he plays next month, you can always TP his car or something (though I am not, in any way, encouraging or recommending this).

Looking forward to hearing from more of you,

T

P.S. If nachos, margaritas, & reminiscing at the Sagebrush Cantina the evening of the 12th aren't giving you that full charge of 80's bliss, and the relocation of the football game has got you down, BERLIN is playing that night just up the road at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills...

Heshire's Playlist........

As others have said, this blog can be quite addiciting. Obviously since this will be my 3rd post.

I took Mr. Lopatka's idea of a soundtrack to our 'Nade days a little too seriously. I have spent way too much time the past couple of days going through the Billboard Top 100 charts for our Chami' years. I am a big fan of Napster (same as I-tunes if your an Ipod person) and have a bunch of songs downloaded from Heavy Metal to Disco (no really, its for my wife.....).

Putting together a group of songs from those days reminded me of a few things........

#1 - Dave Skaggs - 8th Grade Little Campus - got me hooked on heavy metal. My first exposure to Iron Maiden was a tape he leant me. That led to the whole Heshire bit. Even my XBOX Live username is Heshire. (Than he started dating Sharon Broughton and went new wave on us a year later.) Also the same year Matt Dalsing introduced me to the evils of Copenhagen.....

#2 - Dances in the Little Campus Cafeteria - Adam Ant / Journey /Pat Benetar / et al. Everyone sitting around the room when the slow songs came on, and trying to get up the nerve to dance with THAT girl (or any girl).

#3 - First Concert - Van Halen 1984 - The Forum - I think it was Grondin, Bratkovich, & maybe Bochiccio or Dave Chemelka - but I might be wrong..... Driving the Blue '73 Pontiac Ventura back from the show setting land-speed records on the 101....

#4 - White Lines by Grandmaster Flash- just about everywhere...... but usually at the park behind the big campus discovering the wonders of fermented beverages.

#5 - Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill album - Who remembers the Red Van I had with the table in the back - cramming to get homework done in the morning before the bell rang. Better yet, who remembers the van Troy Kirk used to drive?

#6 - Dokken & Krokus & Rush - Me & Bruce Roberts on a 6 hour drive to San Diego one Friday afternoon to party, ...eerrrrr "visit" with his bro at SDSU. Saturday Morning - worst hangover of all time.......

#7 - Iron Maiden - My senior quote was from one of their songs...... Oh man what was I thinking.....

#8 - RATT & Van Halen - vague memories of a crazy vacant house party in West Hills followed by rash of tee-pee attacks through the valley.... Kathy Hayes made us do it.....

#9 - 105.5 KNAC - Pure Rock!! - more concerts: Rush, Triumph, Deep Purple, Dio, Oingo Boingo, Accept, and more Rush.....

#10 - Senior Year - Post-Kairos - Bon Jovi - driving in the red van with a bunch of people on the way to Santa Paula (or somewhere) singing Living on a Prayer.........

I could go on forever.....
Well here's a playlist in case you forgot some of the stuff we use to (and may still) listen to....... If you want the Napster Playlist let me know........ The first song is not from that decade, BUT it is related..... If you haven't heard it before, give it a shot...pretty darn relevant to this blog...

This is not my OFFICIAL music submission, as many of these songs are not on my regular rotation. Nor is it a complete list of our era at the nade. I just thought it would help get something started......

Enjoy.

-Heshire

Bowling for Soup - 1985

Van Halen - Hot For Teacher
Adam Ant - GOODY TWO SHOES
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five - White Lines
Beastie Boys - Fight For Your Right
The Outfield - Since You've Been Gone
Robert Palmer - I Didn't Mean To Turn You On
Simple Minds - Alive And Kicking

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
Ozzy Osbourne - Shot In The Dark
John Mellencamp - Small Town
Oingo Boingo - Just Another Day
Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days
Depeche Mode - People Are People
Bryan Adams - Summer Of '69
Journey - Only The Young
Autograph - Turn Up The Radio
Bananarama - Cruel Summer
The Fixx - Are We Ourselves
Sammy Hagar - I Can't Drive 55
Deep Purple - Knocking At Your Back Door
Twisted Sister - I Wanna Rock
Ratt - Round And Round
Dokken - Alone Again

Eurythmics - Would I Lie To You?
Tears for Fears - Shout
INXS - Listen Like Thieves
The Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink
Run-D.M.C. - Walk This Way
The Fabulous Thunderbirds - Tuff Enuff
Triumph - Follow Your Heart
David Lee Roth - Yankee Rose
Peter Gabriel - Big Time
The Bangles - Walk Like An Egyptian
Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer
Mötley Crüe - Girls, Girls, Girls
Whitesnake - Still Of The Night
Cinderella - Somebody Save Me
Great White - Rock Me
U2 - Pride (In The Name Of Love)
ZZ Top - Legs
Wang Chung - Dance Hall Days
Scorpions - Rock You Like A Hurricane
Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart
The Romantics - Talking In Your Sleep
The Police - Synchronicity II
Big Country - In A Big Country
UB40 - Red Red Wine
Night Ranger - (You Can Still) Rock In America
Billy Idol - Rebel Yell
Kiss - Lick It Up
Quiet Riot - Cum On Feel The Noize
Talking Heads - Burning Down The House
The Fixx - Stand Or Fall [Live (Canada)]
David Bowie - China Girl
The Tubes - She's A Beauty
Berlin - The Metro
The Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away
R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe
After the Fire - Der Kommissar
Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science
The Pretenders - Back On The Chain Gang
Pat Benatar - Little Too Late
Thompson Twins - Lies
The Clash - Rock The Casbah
Modern English - I Melt With You
Duran Duran - Hungry Like The Wolf
Billy Squier - Everybody Wants You
Judas Priest - You've Got Another Thing Comin'
Rush - New World Man
A Flock of Seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away)
The Go-Go's - We Got The Beat
Cheap Trick - She's Tight
Soft Cell - Tainted Love
Talk Talk - Talk Talk
Missing Persons - Words
Van Halen - (Oh) Pretty Woman
J. Geils Band - Centerfold
The Human League - Don't You Want Me
Olivia Newton-John - Physical
The Cars - Since You're Gone
The B-52's - Private Idaho
Tommy Tutone - 867-5309/Jenny
The Tubes - She's A Beauty
Iron Maiden - Wasted Years
Krokus - Screaming In The Night