Thoughts About High School Reunions

So, apparently next month or so is my High School 20th reunion.  Technically it was supposed to be last year, but for obvious reasons it was postponed, and the class of 2000 is now joining the class of 2001.

I'm not going.

It's not because there isn't any value in it, it's just that I don't want to attend.

Movies and shows seem to romanticize class reunions, and whether or not the stereotype is true is something I won't be discovering until the 50th reunion, which could be interesting.  If that happens I fully expect a 90's theme with Backstreet Boys blazing over the speakers.  

(I sang once at a 50th reunion when I was around 18, and they had all this 1940's and 50's music playing.  It felt really nostalgic, and everyone there was dressed so classy.)

(Fun fact, in Back to the Future Marty traveled back 30 years from 1985 to 1955.  If we were to travel the same distance, we'd end up in 1991.  Let that sink in.)

A decade past I didn't go to the 10th reunion as well.

I don't know... there's the technical reasons with it being in California. Travel expense and whatnot.  

It's just weird!!  And I'm struggling to find the words. 

I'm in the FB group, so all these posts keep popping up.  It's like another life.  Just super strange.

Well, movies seem to romanticize the High School Reunion as a type of trope, the popular or lowers returning to show who's achieved and who's failed.  Friends seeing each other after years of neglect.  Someone who was bullied getting their revenge.  Oh, you know that super cute dude back when?  He's ugly now.  Just silly things.  And I'm trivializing it all a bit.  I'm sure it won't be like that, just reiterating what I've seen in moving fiction.  What movies and television tend to miss are all those who just don't go for a variety of reasons, some emotional, others practical, and so forth.

Anywho, just some thoughts.  Maybe if I went it could be fun, but that's neither here nor there.  To all those who go, I hope it's a blast.

Sarah

 

OK Go in Japan, The Largest Rube Goldberg Machine in the World, and a Park

"I Won't Let You Down" by OK Go.

I love OK Go!  They have the most innovative music videos.  They're crazy brilliant.  And their new music video, released just a couple days ago, takes place in Japan, which simply ups the video's cool factor.

You HAVE to watch till the end.  It may seem like CGI digital or something, but it's not.  It's all real.  And that final aerial shot of Japan . . . breathtaking.

And now for an OK Go classic: "This Too Shall Pass - Rube Goldberg Machine"

Here's some fun facts: My alma mater Monache High School from Porterville CA set the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest Rube Goldberg Machine on July 31, 1997, between my Freshman and Sophomore year, and maintained the record until 2005, which was broken by Purdue University.

My High School maintained the record for 8 years, which is really cool.

My HS Physics teacher Blomgren wrote this in 2010: 

"Thought you might be interested in knowing that the original Guinness World Record for a Rube Goldberg Machine was set by a team of students at Monache High School in Porterville, California.

"This record was set July 31, 1997. In keeping with the spirit of Rube Goldberg’s cartoons, the machine was built entirely from common objects. The machine included a phonograph, bicycle, film projector, sink, rocket, cannon, bow and arrow, toaster, blender, coffee maker, rubber chicken, etc. etc. etc. In all the machine had (according to the rules established by Guinness) 113 steps. Its function… to give 50 pennies change (one at a time) for two quarters.  In 2005, Purdue University students broke the Monache record. Two years later, a new record setting machine was built by students at Ferris State University. I believe they still hold the record."

The record was taken back in 2012 by Purdue, which you can read about on the official Guinness World Record page.  This new record was set by the Purdue Society of Professional Engineers Rube Goldberg Team, and has 300 steps.

You can see the video below.

I still think it's cool that the Guinness World Record was held for 8 years by High School students.

And lastly, the very first OK Go music video I ever watched, which so happened to be while eating lunch at the Ventura mall.  The TV screens in the food court don't always state the name and artist behind the videos they show, so it actually took me a couple months to find the video online.

Tale of the Three Tankards

 

It's funny, I don't drink, yet I own three tankards.

 The first tankard I bought was when I graduated from Monache High School year 2000.  I can't remember the company, but when I was looking through the supplied catalog at class rings, I saw this tankard, and I knew I wanted one.  It just looked cool.  And it is cool, looking pretty awesome on my shelf.

 

Next came the Millennium Mickey Class of 2000 Tankard.  Due to circumstance I wasn't able to attend Grad Night at Disneyland, which would have been a lot of fun.  I'm sure they sold these tankards at the event.  My Dad found this on Ebay and got me one.  I love it.

 Did you know that some dude somewhere here in the U.S. copyrighted the phrase "Class of 2000"?  How stupid is that?  And who in their right mind allowed it?  Finding any trinket when I graduated that said "Class of 2000" was rare and hard to find.  Disney obviously bought the rights to use the phrase.

And without any further ado . . . my favorite tankard in my collection.  A BYU (Brigham Young University) Alumni Tankard.  I didn't find this until a couple years after graduation.  I was passing through the bookstore after getting some BYU Creamery Ice Cream in the Wilkinson Center, and saw this, sitting on a shelf beaming brightly at me.  I quickly picked it up, held it close, and just started giggling.  BYU doesn't even sale caffeine-free coke on campus!  And yet they sold this tankard . . . and I bought it.