When I told people I was taking off for my old hometown of Eureka for my 15-year high school reunion instead of a standard 10-year or 20-year shindig, most of them figured I was a part of the most spirited high school class of all time. Exactly the opposite, in actuality. We didn’t have a 10-year reunion due to lack of funds/interest, and only due to the advent of Facebook did the reunion happen last weekend.
If the class of 1995 at Eureka High School wasn’t the most apathetic class in history, it was only surpassed by one of the classes in Dazed and Confused. This is the kind of thing that happens when your formative years coincide with the growth of grunge music and gourmet marijuana strains. Instead of pep rallies, a goodly portion of my classmates were taking advantage of our “open campus” system and flocking to nearby alleyways to get high enough to make going to Taco Bell sound like a good idea.
So it wasn’t any surprise that of the 500+ students who entered EHS in the fall of 1991, only about 350 graduated. And only 10% of the graduates showed up to the reunion. Still, it was a pretty good time — three still-childless buddies and I shared a couple hotel rooms and got to learn from our old classmates what it’s like to raise children and chickens. Seriously. And it wasn’t as awkward as my friends and I thought it was going to be (except the main event, which had an inexcusable 2-drink maximum policy, which only made everyone spend the entire time griping and planning which bars we would hit after the 3-hour event mercifully ended).
Still, the event was positive enough overall that I’ll probably hit up the 20-year reunion — provided there is one and there’s no 2-drink maximum involved. How do you expect a bunch of 32- and 33-year-olds to dance to Nirvana if the bartenders won’t keep the party going?
This year’s edition of “foreign NBA player bitching in his native language during the off-season”
— First Joe Lacob clearly left Andris Biedrins (and Monta Ellis) off his list of possible great Warriors. Now Biedrins fires back against the entire Warriors organization and the NBA in general in a Latvian interview. To summarize: most of his teammates are “egoists,” Don Nelson disrespected him by suggesting he shoot free-throws underhanded and he doesn’t plan on playing much longer after he turns 30. Do int’l players not know that the Internet and translators exist, or do they just not care? (Warriorsworld.net)
— If I know Bruce Bochy, he had to be impressed with Jonathan Sanchez’s performance yesterday. 4 innings, walking the opposing pitcher, picking up the loss and guaranteeing a sweep this weekend against the Padres, the team that’s had the Giants’ number for multiple years now. (Extra Baggs)
— Two offensive lineman come in, one leaves. Eric Heitmann’s out at least 6 weeks with a broken fibula, which is terrible news unless your name’s David Baas. (49ers Blog and Q&A)
— And as a send-off, here’s a 2nd-string WR named Alex “Loggy” Lagemann from Cal who thinks he can rap. Unfortunately, he’s a white guy who thought it’d be cute to start the video eating watermelon … and it only gets worse from there. This guy makes LFO look like NWA. Same with “DJ Big Red. Like the gum. But spicier.” He better hope Marshawn Lynch doesn’t catch wind of this, or he’s going to fly back to Berkeley from Buffalo and demand an explanation. (Deadspin)
