Thursday, January 10, 2013
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Presentation - Berkeley 1969 Class Reunion
I have been absent from most of my online social presence (myspace; facebook, twitter, this blog, etc), because I have been busy working on coordinating a 40th class reunion.
It started with a conversation of "why can't we get together again and have another reunion for those who couldn't make it in 2007?" So, I put it out there, and there was interest. I guess I just took the "bull by the horns" and decided to just do it!
I started out with 25 already located graduates from the 2007 reunion through the courtesy of two former classmates who coordinated the last reunion. Then, someone on our Yahoo!Group asked a question about "does anybody know where...is?" So, I quietly took that as a challenge and started searching the internet. When, to my surprise, I found a long-lost teacher! I immediately posted it to our Yahoo!Group. I received another challenge to locate another missing classmate, and boom, I found her as well; and then that's when the fun started. I looked on classmates and noticed the now "married" names and started more searches. I did general searches on my deep-search engines and found at least 20 more!
Out of a total graduating class of 79; (minus 2 that have gone on to greater glory), that makes a total of 45 girls located, leaving 34 left to find. Granted, not all will attend the reunion, but I'm on a mission to find them all regardless.
What started out as just a quirk, has ended up being a wonderful treasure-like hunt, and I'm enjoying every minute of it! One of my former classmates even sent me the yearbooks she had saved from back then, so that I could scan and hand out copies for anyone interested at our reunion coming up in September. I will now have my very own copies saved to a disk for whenever I feel like viewing them.
I also discovered that there are classmates on Facebook, so I'm making sure that we all reconnected through that social network. It's amazing what you can do with a little impetus and interest!
I have even located some of the nuns that taught us at that wonderful "all girl" school in Berkeley, and to my enjoyment and surprise, two will be attending our 40th reunion. Boy, do we have some catching up to do!
An even greater surprise (mostly to myself) was finding our Art Teacher, Miss Peel who teaches at California College of the Arts . Thanks to Nancy for sending me those yearbooks, I've can now search for names of faculty from back then (which I had long forgotten about; dimentia, old age, or just too many duh moments?). Now, I wonder...is Mrs. Rodenbaugh still alive. I'm sure she would love to scold me for bringing water pistols to history class, even now. I know how upset she was when I accidentally spritzed her, and she thought someone was spitting at her (oops!) . I was such a bad girl...but I have good memories and I'm glad I can still remember, period!
Well, gotta go. Gotta finish scanning those yearbooks, and reach for the kleenex each time a memory flies into my brain about high school...little did I know I would miss that dang school so much. Who knew!?!?
Sunday, November 16, 2008
About me in 500 words or less
California born and raised (by Maternal Grandparents).
Have lived in San Pablo, CA all my life. Catholic School girl...St. Paul Elementary in San Pablo and Presentation High School in Berkeley. Have been working since 16 (but not at the same job). First job was cashier at the Rancho Drive-In theatre in San Pablo part-time. After graduation from High School, I went to Contra Costa College studying Business Administration and Principals of Accounting. Second job was Bookkeeper at Goodyear in Richmond at 19. Later I moved out of the house. After that, worked at different waitress jobs until I found a good job at UC Berkeley as an Admin Asst in the Chicano Studies Dept. I worked at the Golden Gate Fields/Bay Meadows Race Tracks during the mid 70s at which time I bought my first car...a fiery red 1979 Pontiac TransAm. Although the car is long-gone, the memories of that fantastic machine are as vivid as if I drove it yesterday. Loved that car!
I worked at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and for the University of California, Office of the President in Oakland in the 90s. I was a DJ in the early 80s at a small club in Albany, CA for awhile and learned how to mix music and drink! I spent most of my life making choices that may not have been the best, but I don't regret having had those life experiences because it made me a stronger and wiser person today. The best thing that ever happened to me was having my daughter, Vivianna in 1987. She has always been there with me, still is, and we share a great friendship as well. She is now 21, and has almost completed her AA degree. I'm a self taught computer geek, and proud of it. I love custom cars and going to car/bike shows and got into the photography thing at each show. I used my photographic learning curve to take more and more pictures at custom car and bike shows and at the drag races. The more shows I attended, the better my pictures became. I attempted to start an online magazine of local custom cars, but never got it off the ground. I still occasionally attend cars shows and go the NHRA drag races every year. I'm currently employed at a company that refurbishes large Yachts, Ships, Barges, etc. in the Human Resources department. My life is not as exciting anymore, as old age and arthritis has crept in like an unwanted roommate and just won't leave! I spend most of my spare time beading and making my own jewelry as well as making my own greeting cards. I used to occasionally go out dancing on a Saturday night with a former friend Jaylene, but my movement is limited. However, that doesn't stop me from having a good time!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
SpringTime
I was raised and have lived in the Bay Area all my life. Mostly living in San Pablo, CA. In my search to find out about early San Pablo, and the area in which I grew up, I have found that there is not much online to be found. There is plenty about the surrounding city of Richmond, CA, on the internet but not much on good old S.P. I understand that there is/was a book provided by and published by the San Pablo Historical Society, but have not been able to find it as of yet. Therefor, I will be compiling together my own book, in hopes of publishing it some day.
Aside from doing my bio, I spent another lovely Easter/Spring break week in Oakdale, CA, where my lovely hostess, Tina showed me a picture she took shortly before Easter.
For those of you who doubt the existence of the Easter Bunny, or no longer believe...this will definitely put those doubts to rest. Here is a little something I wrote reminiscent of Charley Brown's friend Linus who believed in the Great Pumpkin:
to hide the beautifully colored eggs for all the children
to find on a nice bright sunny Easter morning!
The birds a-twitter
With song mid-flight
Flower buds burst forth in bloom
A sea of color viewed from my room
The wind flows gentle
Through tall oak trees
The miracle of pollination
Brought forth by bees.
The site and sound
of croaking frogs
The joy of catching pollywogs
The dragon and the butterflies
The spectacle of Nature enfolds
Before my very eyes!
Friday, February 22, 2008
TGIF
Monday, February 11, 2008
Is Xmas really over??
On a lighter note, I watched to 50th Grammy awards last night, and I must say I was a bit disappointed. I don't ususally watch the Grammys, but since it was the 50th, I expected a little more pow, bang and zip for it being the 50th and all. Of course the entertainment was good, but I expected something more "out-of-the-box" type of thing. Something more stupendous to out-do all 49 Grammy shows that preceded. Not even a compilation video show of all 50 years put together in one glorious presentation. I guess the writer's strike affected the illustrious Grammys and I was very dissapointed to say the least. Not to mention, that of the "late" artists that were being shown on screen who had gone on to their "greater Grammy award," James Brown was not listed among them! For shame! Between that disappointement, and christmas being gone and over with, I think I'll just curl up and hibernate until winter.