Party Like It's 1986

Does it seem like I've been talking about my prep school a lot lately? Well, that's just because there have been a couple of recent donor/alumni events I've attended. On Thursday, there was a San Francisco reception in Pacific Heights for Poly alumni, and of course I was there. Several other alums who graduated in the 80's also made it, so naturally, we took the celebration to Solstice on California and Divisadero for an after party once the official reception was done.

As always, it was a lot of fun to reminisce and even more fun to see people from high school without actually having to be in high school.

Sunny Winter Weekend in the Southland

Remember about 1000 years ago when I said I would post photos from the Los Angeles leg of my Winter Break 2012? Well, I'm finally getting around to it. I've been a terrible blog slacker for the past month or so, but hopefully I'll be back on track soon.

Anyway, it was 80 degrees and sunny that late January weekend, and the two and a half days I spent in Los Angeles, Pasadena and Glendale were just lovely. I went to the prep school alumni luncheon that I wrote about in the last post; I sang some songs; I saw the film The Artist, which I loved (it so deserved its Best Picture Oscar); and I hung out with my very fun family and friends.

If I were rich, I'd jet down to L.A. for the weekend a couple of times a month, but as things stand, I'll have to settle for about five or so Southland mini-vacations per year. I'm okay with that; I also have my Hawaii sojourns, so there is no need to be greedy about getting some Los Angeles time.

A shot of my prep school. Doesn't it look like a lovely place to get an education?

Another angle. These photos are both of the elementary/middle school campus. The high school campus is across the street.

Ground beef and pickle tacos on Sunset in Silver Lake. Yum.

Thirsty?

A sunny January brunch at Dusty's, which is also in Silver Lake, with Denise and Charlie.

Of course there was karaoke...this time at Barney's Beanery in West Hollywood.

My karaoke partner in crime, Emily.

Going Home

They say you can't go home again, but sometimes I like to try. When I went to L.A. at the end of January, the primary purpose of my trip was to attend a luncheon at my prep school in Pasadena. I was invited to said luncheon because I have donated money to my little prep school for at least twenty consecutive years (I graduated in 1988, and my donations began soon after). I must admit that I never give a ton of money in any one year, but even the relatively small donations I make add up after a couple dozen years. So I happily joined the other donors to nibble on chicken, salads and yummy desserts. Doesn't my table of luncheon attendees look happy?

I don't know how you felt about high school...or junior high or elementary school for that matter; I attended the same school from second through twelfth grade...but I loved school. Loved it. To be clear, my secondary school experience wasn't without angst or drama. There were mean girls, to be sure. In fact, I pulled a few stints as a mean girl, myself, in junior high. Overall, I was very nice, but there were a couple of instances when I was the bitch. A racist episode or two proved annoying, but thankfully those were rare. I also was overweight through my adolescence, which didn't exactly make me super popular with the boys once we hit high school. However, I had plenty of friends, both boys and girls, and the good greatly outweighed the bad (no pun intended).

I credit my education with so many positive things in my life that go far beyond diplomas or which facts I do or don't know. It's the least I can do to throw a couple hundred dollars to my prep school every year (I also donate to Brown, my college alma mater). And the best parts about coming back to visit every once in a while are that we've all grown up, I lost all my extra teenage weight years ago and no one is a mean girl anymore.