I just heard from Wendy, my high school girlfriend. (She had the hairiest forearms.) Our 20th high school reunion is coming up at the end of the month. I haven’t seen most of those people in 20 years, as I moved to San Francisco three days after graduation. There were only 30 or so people in my graduating class, and I received this enthusiastic note from the organizers saying that they had gotten in touch with HALF of our graduating class. It looks like it’s going to be a pretty intimate affair, but that’s what my high school experience was. My school was called RLC, and the organizers, Rita, Liz, and Amy, were known as RLA–still buddies after 20 years and still living in Birmingham. So I’ll be in Alabamie from August 26-Sept 1, Birminghamians, so mark your calendars. I’m totally excited about seeing JL again. He’s living at home again after living as a hustler and drug dealer in LA. He called me a few months ago, laughing, about his recent felony conviction for dealing crystal meth. “James, you can’t vote, you idiot.” He’s one of my favorite people–in high school he wore feathered earrings and eyeliner (this was in the heart of Dixie, mind you), and was so confident and secure and out that everybody respected him. We got our ears pierced together, that is, at the same time, forging notes from our parents saying it was okay. This was way before it was cool–we were trailblazers. He went on to become the wigmaster of a theatrical group in Santa Maria (there’s a song) prior to his LA downfall. More on the rest of the gang later in the month.
Last night Neel came up from downstairs, Dave up the hill, and BC down the hill, for dinner. I cooked while running Norton Utilities on my recently crashed computer (still running–20 hours later), so I just kept making dishes. Poor guys, I really stuffed them. They pleaded for me to drop the salad dish, so I obliged. The menu: melon and prosciutto; a salad of cannellini beans, onions, and tuna; shrimp risotto; green salad with feta and grapefruit (dropped); and for dessert a fresh fruit tart, and limoncello. The theme was supposed to be seafood, so I told them that the prosciutto was seapig. A fine evening with fine fellows.
What a beautiful day–enjoy it folks.