Reunion, part 3

[msmemory_archive]

Just to finish out the tale of my college reunion...

Saturday night was the Class Dinner, each class in its own dorm or tent. In my class's case, we were in the front hall, library, and living room of Claflin Hall. They put out drinks and cheese trays around 6 or so, and we all mingled around. Presently the music, very loud, started. The DJ was on the living room balcony, and had a very good well-rounded set of vintage early 80s plus current tunes, but the music was too loud for easy conversation anywhere in the dinner area. Then they put out dinner trays to replace the cheeses. uh-oh. No chairs, no tables. Some of us could perch on the living room furniture, and some stood around the cocktail tables in the hall.

Dinner was tasty enough. Baked salmon with mango salsa, Caesar salad, roast chicken with light blackening, roasted mixed vegetables, Mexican quesadillas and little fake fajitas. All served with little bitty plates which one got to balance along with the drinks. (In my reunion evaluation form, I complained: for my $70 I would have expected chairs, darnit.) I've a suspicion that the record attendance at Reunion this year did us out of some previous plan for a sit-down dinner; we were kind of leftovers.

After a while of trying to converse at a shout and eat standing up, I was tired and my feet hurt. Ostensibly to change my shoes, I went upstairs - and stayed there for half an hour. Missed dessert, oops! Eventually M and C came by to see if I wanted to go for a walk. It was the only way to get away from the din. We stopped and listened awhile to the 50-Year class's Big Band - that was nice.

Why they couldn't have something else available to do on Saturday evening - a musical/theater performance, a movie, have the library or computer cluster open, something, I don't know. I like my classmates well enough, but I didn't really want to spend 5 hours on dinner-and-dancing, since M and C are not the dancing type and I hadn't dragged jducoeur along with me.

Sunday morning after breakfast, M and I went to the "Interfaith Service" which turned out to have nibbles from every faith except Roman Catholic (who had their own Mass). Not enough of anything to satisfy, and a carefully complete excision of Jesus. But we sat with Nancy Heller, someone I knew from freshman year in Severance, and it was nice to catch up with her. She's volunteering with Ronald McDonald House, and raising kids in Texas someplace.

Then it was time to hurry up and wait, as we formed up by class for the Alumnae Parade. Stand around chatting again with people, taking snapshots, and waiting and waiting. Eventually we processed, in a double skin-the-cat formation, toward the Chapel. All the younger classes processed through an aisle between their elders, then made an aisle to the older women could process through them. It took ages. But we had fun cheering for the really old ladies in their antique cars -- they weren't going to make 70th Reunioners walk, after all! M and C and I ducked out of the Alumnae Association meeting afterward, not feeling any need to be guilted into donating more toward the College.

After a light cold salad lunch in the very-renovated Stone-Davis dining hall, I drove C to the airport. My first time in the New Tunnel. It took as long to get out of the weekend traffic in the Vil as it did to go from the Pike entrance to her terminal. Whee!

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[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Overloud music is a pox upon the face of society.