Joe Shlabotnik Is My Hero
[Recent Entries][Archive][Friends][User Info]
[Who Is Joe Shlabotnik?]
[20 Random Pictures Taken By Peter]
[What Is Peter Reading?]
Below are the 9 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Peter, Not Joe" journal:
|
01:54 pm
[Link] |
Stupid Lousy Perfect Weather
I need to kick some meteorologists in the butt.
I had planned to have a birthday get-together at the beach yesterday, but yesterday morning, the weather reports all said thunderstorms, possibly severe ones, all afternoon. So I called all the people who were planning on coming (unlike in years past, this year I actually convinced more than one person to come with us - why is it so hard to get people to the beach?) and cancelled. It seemed like the prudent thing to do.
And then I sat at home all day and moped, angry at the beautiful warm sunny day it turned out to be.
Fortunately, I did manage to check one project off of my (long) list: photographing Reunions cups. You see, currently taking up space in our attic are hundreds of cups I've collected over the past twenty years of going to Reunions. For years, I've been meaning to organize and take pictures of them, so I can get rid of them less reluctantly. And so that became my day's project - sitting outside on my roof deck, taking picture after picture (sitting under the deck umbrella because it was TOO SUNNY - stupid meteorologists), then sitting inside at night uploading them all. (Here they are, if you're interested.) And now I'm talking to the Princetoniana committee to see if they'll take them off my hands and give them a good home.
So at least it was a productive day. Now I probably should search through other piles of junk to see what I can photograph and chuck. I could probably clean out my entire house that way...
Oh yeah, and we've rescheduled the beach trip for Saturday. Unless it rains.
Tags: beach, birthday, reunions
|
|
11:06 pm
[Link] |
Reunions 2008
I am perpetually surprised. Every darn month it's "I can't believe it's [name of month] already!" It's never "Well, I'm certainly ready for [name of month], it definitely feels like [name of month] should be here right now." No, I apparently still haven't gotten the hang of this "time" concept.
And in May, I always think "I can't believe Reunions is coming up!". And right now it's "I can't believe Reunions is over!" You'd think after 20 Reunions in a row, I'd start believing it.
I don't know what Violet believes yet, but she handled her first Reunions like a star. And we did, too. Reunions is a bit different with a baby, as you can imagine. We've now noticed that here are lots of stairs on campus. Pushing through a crowded eating club for meals is tricky. And while Violet is good at staying up until midnight (or later), or sleeping in her stroller whenever she feels like it, we forgot that most courtyards get REALLY LOUD once the bands start playing. That's probably not good for baby ears. So Sue and I took turns finding quiet places for her while the other hung out with friends and partied. Or we found quiet places with friends together. We managed to stay out past 2 a.m., which is more than I can say for some of our childless friends.
At 12 weeks, Violet wasn't the youngest baby there (I met babies of 8 and 6 weeks), but she was adorable enough to get lots of attention regardless. And I didn't mind the attention, either, especially when it was from a gaggle of gals from the Class of 2006. But it was fun to have a bunch of wives of the Class of 1962 moon over her, too. They were so sweet and grandmotherly - I probably could have convinced some of them to babysit while we went out. Maybe next year.
So as always, it was a fantastic weekend. And of course I took hundreds of pictures. Then Sue had to start work again on Monday. Poor Sue. I can't believe she's back at work. Me, I'm home with the baby for about two more months, and then... well, we haven't really figured that out yet. Stay tuned.
Tags: princeton, reunions, violet
|
|
09:17 am
[Link] |
Drunk Locked-Out Girl
Princeton, June 1, 2007 - Funny Reunions story... we were walking through the 10th Reunion courtyard when we saw this girl trying to climb up the tables and into a room. She was hesitant, though, because she (and we) realized she was wearing a not-very-appropriate dress for climbing into windows (as you can plainly see...)
When she saw us coming, she said to me "I'm locked out of my room. I'll give you five dollars if you'll climb into the window for me." I was a little startled - I was pondering whether this wasn't some elaborate ruse, but I was more slightly insulted that she thought I'd only help someone for money.
So as I kind of stammered, she gave up and went ahead and climbed up on the table anyway, pretty much mooning anyone who cared to look. As we were wondering why in the heck she decided not to wear any underwear under that dress, she kind of paused, and so posed like you see here, I took her picture. I figured it was a neat picture, with a funny story to go along with it.
Well, she saw the flash, and half turned and said "Hey! I'll sue you for that". I was trying to protest, telling her that the photo was actually rather chaste (and I had friends to back me up), when her roommate showed up and asked if she needed to be let into the room. She said yes, then also "that bad man took a picture of my thong!"
I figured she was too drunk to reason with, so I just walked away. But she was wrong in two ways: 1) I wasn't taking a picture of her thong, and 2) I can guarantee there was nobody who even saw a thong, let me tell you....
Tags: princeton, reunions
|
|
04:47 pm
[Link] |
Reunions!
Princeton, May 31-June 3 - Of course I had a great time at Reunions! I'll write more later, but in the meantime, feel free to browse the photos...
Tags: princeton, reunions
|
|
05:21 pm
[Link] |
Reunions Sunday
Princeton, New Jersey, June 4, 2006 - And suddenly, it's over. After the big climax of Saturday, Sunday is a letdown. No more crowds, no more music, no more free soda and alcohol wherever you turn. For some reason, most people tend to leave as soon as they get up, and all you're left with is empty tents that smell like mud and beer, along with a thousand hungover seniors dressed in caps and gowns on their way to Baccalaureate. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday are for graduation events; all the parents arrive, so all the alums need to get the heck out. Sadly for the parents, the campus never looks worse than it does right after Reunions.
Anyway, *most* alums leave early. Of course, we stick around. Will C., Sue, and I had a post-Reunions brunch at Chuck's: 50 amazing chicken wings. It's our little Reunions tradition. It's so much of a tradition for us, that word spread: about a dozen friends who didn't eat with us purposely stopped by to say hello. Holding court at the wings joint - now *that's* living.
Dessert was ice cream at Halo Pub, and then not being in any rush, we wandered slowly back through campus, running into a few more stragglers, and stopping at the U-Store for some Princeton paraphernalia. Sue and I managed to finally leave campus around 2:30 and spent two hours fighting 60 miles of traffic on our way home.
This past week I was pretty useless. Not only was I hoarse and tired (and exhausted to the point of staying home on Friday), but I was basking in the glow of a fantastic weekend. Just like every year. It's totally worth it. People ask me why I haven't missed a Reunions yet? I don't understand why anyone would miss it. I'm already looking forward to my sixteenth!
P.S. - There are lots more Reunions photos in my Reunions Snapfish album and in the Princeton Reunions Flickr pool...
Tags: princeton, reunions
|
|
01:22 pm
[Link] |
Reunions Saturday
Princeton, New Jersey, June 3, 2006 - Saturday is the big day of Reunions. There is plenty of time on Thursday and Friday to wander aimlessly and do your own thing, but Saturday is chock full of events from sunrise to way past sunset. I've gone to eighteen Reunions in a row, and Sue has been to fifteen out of the last sixteen, so by now we both have our Saturday schedule down to a science:
First, we get up with some sort of mild hangover, not only from drinking, but also from shouting and dancing until later than we're used to, combined with what's usually a lousy night's sleep in a hot dorm room. Then we pick up a free donut or two and some watery orange juice on our way to the Princeton University Band's Fred E. Fox '39 Memorial Concert on Cannon Green at 11am, where we mingle with other Band alums and marvel at how much better the Band sounds these days. (This year we also marveled at the torrential rain and pitied the poor band members playing out in it).
After the concert, we head to Colonial (my eating club) for brunch - Colonial always has an amazing spread, as well as delicious milk punch (hangover be damned). Time flies quickly, and soon enough it's time to wobble over to the P-Rade, filled with omelettes and gumbo, and woozy with milk punch (I said, hangover be damned).
(As you can see in the picture, it only rained harder as we were having brunch, but magically the rain stopped about half-hour before P-Rade started. No matter how much it may rain all weekend, it never rains on P-Rade. That's the rule. Someone at Princeton has connections. Well, okay, last year the rain started a little early and drenched the senior class, but everyone else had already finished and was safely inside. So that hardly counts.)
"P-Rade" is what we call the parade of alumni through campus, starting with the Band and the 25th reunion class, then the rest of the alums from the oldest (Class of 1925 this year) to the youngest, and ending with the senior class. Most everyone is in their costume, blazer, or beer jacket, which makes for a colorful sight. There are multiple bands, classic cars (often done up in orange and black, natch), steam calliopes, the works. We cheer for the older classes while waiting for our turn in line, then cheer for the younger classes as we go by. It's a giant orange love-in.
(Well, a partly powder-blue love in this year. For the 15th, along with white or gray sweatshirts and quilt-patterned pants, shorts, or skirt (our choice), we got powder-blue hats, which had everyone asking: "Blue? Why blue?")
After P-Rade there are receptions for various undergraduate groups and academic departments - we stop by the Band tent for a bit, then we usually go to Tower and/or Cloister (Sue's eating clubs) to snag dinner. (This year we skipped Tower and ate lightly at Cloister because, it being a major reunion year for me, we had dinner back in Little/Edwards courtyard. Steak and chicken, not bad.)
Dinner is followed by the Orchestra concert on the baseball field, which is then followed by a spectacular fireworks display. (Instead of sitting on the wet and muddy baseball field, we sat on the back porch of Charter where we could hear the music and see the fireworks rather well. It was the ideal spot - we were dry, comfortable, and we could have a beer if we wanted.)
So by the time all that is over, it's nearly 10pm - time to head out and wander from courtyard to courtyard, dancing, collecting cups, snagging the occasional slice of free pizza, drinking gallons of beer, wine, margaritas, and soda (mostly soda for me tonight), and hearing "Mustang Sally" over and over. Why do so many bands play "Mustang Sally"? Must be a Princeton tradition.
(The 10th Reunion had the same 80's band that we had at the 15th on Friday night, so we stayed there for a while, then there was a good band and DJ at the 5th, and finally we ended the night at the 15th, which wasn't nearly as crowded as it was Friday night, probably because of the band. There was nothing specifically wrong with the band, except that they were playing the same old songs you could hear at the 20th, 25th, 30th, 35th, 40th, and presumably 45th reunions. For example, "Mustang Sally". Not music for our generation, really.)
I closed our reunion down, declined to go out to Charter again, then sat up chatting with Rodney (my roommate) until past 3. Holy crap, what a full day. And it's nearly all over.
And finally, here's Sunday...
Tags: princeton, reunions
|
|
11:49 am
[Link] |
Reunions Friday
Princeton, New Jersey, June 2, 2006 - While Thursday was miserably hot and oppressively humid, Friday was merely rather warm and oppressively humid. And yet somehow we ended up with hooded sweatshirts as part of our Reunions costume. Fortunately, we didn't have to put them on until Saturday.
Sweatshirtless, we wandered around campus, did a little shopping on Nassau Street, and greeted friends as they trickled in throughout the day. We also attended an alumni-faculty forum on the new buildings being built on campus; among which are the beautiful new gothic-style Whitman College, and the ugly and boring replacement for Butler College. Oddly enough, it's Whitman, not new Butler, that causes controversy among architectural professionals. Must be because it's not ugly. I don't understand architects.
Lunch was a spread of Hoagie Haven heroes and dinner was burgers and hot dogs - nothing fancy, but nothing they could ruin, either. Usually we wander from courtyard to courtyard after dinner, but it started to pour again, so we stayed in at the 15th all night. Fortunately, there was a great 80's cover band to dance to, and the beer and margarita tent was only a short dash away through the rain and mud. The dance floor stayed packed until everything shut down at 2am, which is rather unusual for a 15th reunion. But hey, we're a partying class.
I declined to head out to Charter Club with friends (Charter being the farthest eating club, and it being still pouring out), and attempted to head off to bed. But I ran into many a friend on my way to and from the bathroom (being in charge of housing for the class, I had put a good number of people I know on that hallway), so I didn't make back to my room until nearly 3:30. Running into friends everywhere is one of the things I miss about college and one of the things I love about Reunions.
Now on to Saturday...
P.S. - The 80's cover band mentioned above also blogged about their experiences that weekend:
Updated on Wednesday, June 7th, 2006
What an amazing weekend up in Princeton, NJ!
Where else could you find a mass of some of the most affluent, successful and well educated people in America stage-diving and crowd-surfing other than at a Breakfast Club show?!!!!!!!!!!!! The surroundings were beautiful, but the weather was probably the most dreadful the band has ever had to perform in.............thunder, lightning, high winds and torrential, non-stop rain.............thank God it was under a massive marque...........but did that stop the huge crowd of 80's music and Breakfast Club fans from having a good time and drinking their weight in booze?..............NO, of course it didn't...........it was a near riot.........on both the 10th and 15th reunions...........just the kind of nights the band love!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks and appreciation go out to everyone who came along to these reunion events. The best 80's cover band around wouldn't be any good without the best 80's audiences around..............so, to every one of you..........you rock!!!!!!!!!!........:-)
That's very nice of them. Yay, we rock!
Tags: princeton, reunions
|
|
10:27 am
[Link] |
Reunions Thursday
Princeton, New Jersey, June 1, 2006 - Reunions officially starts on a Thursday, but most attendees don't get to campus until Friday. Of those who show up on Thursday, only a select few (such as me) are devoted (some say crazy) enough to arrive by noon. I was the second classmate to sign in, behind the classmate who went and got the sign-in book (eventually, about 380 class members signed in - just over a third of our graduating class).
As someone who volunteered to help plan our 15th Reunion, I spent much of the day helping prepare - the courtyard needed setting up, the costumes needed organizing, the undergrads who worked for us needed instruction. But I didn't mind. It was even fun, because I got to talk with people (other volunteers) whom I never knew in college and whom I would never have met otherwise. I also met a bunch of people because I was in charge of assigning people to dorm rooms: all weekend classmates thanked me for getting them a bed. It was very nice of them to make me feel important.
As the day wore on, I had fewer responsibilities and more time to simply hang out. Thursday is the most mellow day of Reunions. A couple dozen boxes of pizza were brought in for dinner, an acoustic guitarist (with drummer) provided the music... and then it started to pour. Fortunately, we were under a tent. Unfortunately, once the lightning started, Public Safety evacuated the tents, and worse, shut off the taps. There's been lightning at Reunions before, but I don't recall that we were ever evacuated because of it. But evacuated we were, so a couple of us smartly grabbed a box of pizza and sought refuge in my friend's first-floor dorm room, which was fully equipped with a nice bottle of scotch.
Eventually the lightning stopped (the rain didn't) and we were allowed back outside. But eventually everyone drifted back to their rooms to sleep. I wandered around to some of the other reunion courtyards - the 5th was of course the only reunion still going full blast after 1am that night - it was full of wet seniors drinking and dancing to a really good DJ; seniors who dress much better (read: skimpier) than we did when I was a senior. But also simply better - dressing up back in 1991 meant putting on a T-shirt without holes. A baggy T-shirt at that.
I did manage to peel myself away and wander back to my room around 1:30, where I could still hear the DJ loud and clear until the parties and taps were officially shut off at 2. And then I stayed up being miserably hot until who knows when...
Now on to Friday...
Tags: princeton, reunions
|
|
11:13 pm
[Link] |
Reunions!
Princeton, New Jersey, every year - Yep, every year Sue and I head back to college to Reunions! It's three days of dancing, drinking, and outrageous outfits - there's even lectures to go to if you wish. It's the full college experience... No, scratch that - it's Freshman Week all over again. Only with more children. This year is my 15th, after all.
I drive down tomorrow morning - hooray! I'll get around to posting a few words and a couple of pictures once I recover. Hopefully that'll be by July.
UPDATE - I posted much more quickly than I was expecting...
Tags: princeton, reunions
|
|
