This past weekend (August 15-16, 2009), the McKinley High School c/0 1999 had their high school reunion!
(10 years already? Damn I feel old!)
On Saturday night (August 15th), we had the main event at Bonsai Restaurant! It had 2 floors. Our reunion was in the 2nd floor, with a bar and a few tables.
There wasn't much space, which has its pros and cons. The pros is the small space gives us a greater chance to talk to more former classmates crowded among us. That's the point of reunions. The cons are that we could use more room to dance around.
The program itself was from 5pm - 9pm. But we could stick around and party when the general public was invited to Bonsai afterwards!
The next day (Sunday, August 16th) there was a picnic at Ala Moana Beach Park. There were less people, but some were the ones who couldn't make it to the previous night's event. It was mostly due to those people being unable to find a babysitter to watch their kids. But they could bring their kids to the Sunday picnic!
The picnic was very low-key and very relaxing! I brought Tostitos Lime Chips and Chips Ahoy cookies! Others brought pizza, chili, rice, sushi, juice and other items!
Now, on to some commentary
1) One of my classmates said he wasn't planning to come, but came because I sent SO MANY e-mail reminders to my friends about the reunion!
That guy (I won't mention names) said he had some bad memories of high school, and didn't want to see people he didn't like!
But after the reunion, he said it was better than he thought it would be! He even expressed that it was a wake-up call to enjoy life!
He made the correct decision to come. But there's other people who probably didn't go to their reunions because they didn't get along with some people!
THIS NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED!
If you go to a school like mine (with 1800 students) there's no way you'll get along with everyone! But there's also no way everyone would be your enemy!
I predicted that the wanabee thugs, druggies, and other sort of losers will NOT show up for the reunion!
I also predicted that those involved in ethnic gang fights between differing Asian and Pacific groups will not show up to the reunion!
I WAS PROVEN CORRECT!
What people need to understand is that those people didn't even show up for various school activities like Bonfires, luaus, Project Grad, etc.
Those people HATE school, HATE everything, don't like school activities and I knew they had no interest in going to the reunion!
What you also need to understand is that those people were NOT really popular! People just put up with them, because they're afraid to tell them to"SHUT UP!" But the main proof that those losers (wanabee thugs, druggies, etc. ) weren't really popular is that NOBODY INVITED THEM TO THE REUNION! Most people don't want them around!
So if you're worried about your tormentors showing up for your reunion, CHILL! Most likely, nobody reminded them to come! They most likely aren't going to show up anyways!
And even if you do see one of them, no one is going to force you to talk to them! Talk to the people you get along with!
Also, it's 1o YEARS LATER! People change!
I know I irritated some people during my schooling years. I also know from the reunion that most of them forgave me anyways! They knew I didn't have bad intentions, and that we were very immature, and that people mature and grow wiser!
2) Reunions are not only fun, they're inspiring!
At least I know I was inspired
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For one thing, I witnessed 2 former enemies made peace. Actually, those 2 were friends in elementary and middle school, but had arguments at the start of high school! Those things escalated to the point where they didn't talk to each other for years!
I met them at Kawananakoa Middle School. I got along with them, but wasn't the best friend I should've been! Instead of mediating, I told both people what they said about each other! I totally regret that, and it was eating me up on the inside!
I invited both to the reunion, and we all apologized to each other! It was a special moment!
A lot of people didn't know about this, so I won't mention names!
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One of my former classmates was in the US military and was fighting wars in the Middle East. Had a lot of near-death experiences, had injuries from IEDs, and probably had many traumatizing moments!
But at the reunion, he showed everyone that he still knows HOW TO PARTY!!!!! He was talking to a lot of people. He was dancing!
He knows from experience how to appreciate life!
That was inspiring!!!!
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I was talking to Don, who once lived in the same neighborhood growing up. That neighborhood is officially named Puahala Homes, but EVERYONE calls it Lanakila Housing!!! It is a small housing project!
We were the only ones from that hood to show up to the reunion! (however, our high school also had other ghetto communities within the district )
We were trading stories about our childhoods in that communities, the people we grew up with, the blatant welfare fraud committed by our neighbors, etc.
We no longer lived there. Don was saying "you can't live there forever", and you can't live off the government forever". I told him when parents moved out in my early adolescence, I was unhappy that I being uprooted and I mentioned my good memories there! But I totally understood what he said about leaving the hood and accomplishing things!
Our families came from 3rd world nations (my dad's from Mexico, his family is from Laos). Our families struggled with cultural shock and being a minority in a new place. But we made it! I told him "We made it out of the ghetto" and we gave high-fives!
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I also was talking to some girls I knew from Lanakila Elementary School. We drifted apart and didn't hang out much after elementary! But there we were at the reunion! As I came up to talk to them, one of them was saying "look, we all from Lanakila Elementary School". It was like a reunion within a reunion! Trading stories about our past and our present! I never had a sister, but talking to those girls, it's like talking to my long-lost sisters!
I was talking to another female classmate from the same elementary school, and she still remembered my brother! The same one still remembered that I memorized the names of U S presidents back in elementary. Then she thought I would be getting my PhD by now [maybe later, but thanks for the thought!:)] We were joking around about some stuff as well! I didn't talk to that girl much in high school (never shared classes for some reason), but at that reunion, it was like time never passed. Another long-lost sister re-united!
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As for my other elementary classmates, I still talk to Jeff on a regular basis. Nicholas (who attended Lanakila for one year) was also at the reunion. That guy started growing late, but now he's taller than me!
Nicholas and I had some common friends like Orlando Holbron and Justin Gonda.Over the years I lost contact with both! However, I heard that Gonda is in jail for raping a girl!
It's a very bad feeling that someone I hung out with in high school has done such a heinous crime! A very sad thing to mention to my former classmates!
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I'm sure I must've inspired others as well at the reunion!
Some people couldn't recognize me at 1st because I lost weight.
In my 12th grade year, I was about 220 pounds.
The last time I checked earlier this summer, I'm about 165 pounds!
A lot of people congratulated me on loosing weight.
They asked how I did it! I just told them I did the basics -- eat less meals, walk around more, ride bikes, etc.
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Some were surprised I became a substitute teacher! I talked to some about the life of a sub!
I also joked to one of my former Lanakila classmates, after becoming a substitute "now I understand why some people were mad at me" in our school days! She just laughed and told me I was a funny guy!
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I was also inspired by the careers of my classmates.
They include a salon owner, a Christian self-help book author, real estate agent, a forensic science, elementary school teacher, preschool teachers aide, construction worker, a police officer, soldier, engineer, accountant, nurse, cell-phone salesperson, restaurant staff, investment banker, medical student, day care operator, computer technician, building inspector, ........
there's more, but you get the point!
3) The excitement of the reunion!
It was great fun meeting so many people from our younger days! It's just like Project Grad just happened yesterday!
But it was also exciting to find out what they are accomplishing, and what they will become in the future.
We traded jokes and made loud noise :)
We took photos (though I still use the old-school cameras, whereas others got digital cameras)
Some of us had beads, while I wore the yellow paper-leis given out by the reunion organizers :)
I also remember our MC, Herman Lee asked who wanted to sing our school song "Black & Gold". I DID! I also won a prize for it! Though next time, I'll also sing "Hail McKinley Hail" as well!
After the official program was over, and people sticked around, we were dancing! I was one of them :)
Too bad that place didn't have a bigger dance floor!
4) Conclusion
I encourage all our positive-minded people to go to your reunions! You'll be glad you did!
As I mentioned in facebook "if I'm still alive when the next reunion comes up, I'M THERE!"
Off course, a former classmate responded by saying "dude, the next reunion is 10 years from now, you'll only be 38"
TRUE! But as I mentioned in earlier blogs, you'll never know when your time is up!
That's why you gotta enjoy the big events in life! Be the life of the party!
