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7:36 a.m. - 2003-04-27
Party On Dude
Another pollster called. Wanted to speak with a young adult (don't trust anyone over 30), but mine were all too busy playing, so the young woman reckoned I would do after all. The last poll was about politicians and political issues; this one was social issues and "optimism" for the future. No wonder younger people were wanted. I've always been called Pollyanna or naive by some of my friends and relatives. I have no compunction going in "where angels fear to tread" if I feel strongly enough that someone or something is important enough. However, time and experience now tell me that although some things may not be impossible, they will still take a few more generations to achieve. You know like "peace on earth" and tolerance that is truly tolerance. It was very difficult to answer some of the questions as a result. What was fun though, was that I knew the answers I was giving were really going to skew the benchmark demographics developed for adults of my age and geographic location. How do I know that? I don't believe much presented from polling results, but I do watch what the pundits want us to believe about ourselves. Helps me guess what they're trying to manipulate us into agreeing on or doing. One of the cheapest mass marketing tools there is - polling.

Tehcnically, according to meteorologists, yesterday we did not have a blizzard. The wind chill factor (how fast one's flesh will freeze) wasn't high enough. However, the airport had to close - something that happens maybe once a decade. All our TV stations warning people to stay home unless they absolutely had to travel, letting us know that all major roads out of the city were either closed by the police or about to be. My youngest was shoveling the "not blizzard" snow that built up in a couple of hours and it came up well past his knees. Again technically only 40 cm / 1.5 ft, but drifts were high enough to bury some vehicles up to their roofs. This was really wet, heavy stuff. Out driving across town with one of my old school friends and her son we went through areas of flooding on the roads that we just don't normally see here but potholes from winter freeze up combined with spring road construction made it inevitable.

So why were we out on the road? High school reunion. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Turn out? Only about a dozen confirmed attendees bailed and that could have as much to do with nerves as weather. I hadn't realized how much I missed a lot of my classmates. For this city we were a large graduating class - close to 400 people. About half made an attempt to be involved. I was impressed with how little some people had changed and how well so many have turned out. Like wine we've mostly improved with age. Not only was our one true genius there, the Java man,down to earth and enjoying himself as far as could be seen, but our class also managed to produce quite a few really good artists and musicians. No lack of community builders either - teachers, medical personnel at all levels, volunteers/parents, and of course, a lot of fairly successful business people. I found myself barely moving. Every time I completed a conversation with one person there were one or two more waiting to catch up on news. The music was great from Golden Earring, to Steve Earle to the Eagles to the Beatles - you get the drift, but a bit too loud. I'm not used to being in a room where the sound makes your internal organs vibrate in time with the music anymore. Felt good but it made talking difficult at times. The nicest thing was the fact that there were no pretensions or facades being played out - I guess we've all become comfortable enough with who we are that we can share ourselves with our contemporaries. A lot of "let's get together soons". Hope that happens. Next party? Our collective 50th birthday party. Ouch!

Final note? My sons were waiting up for me when I got home around 1 am. Don't know if it was the roads or the fact that their Mom actually went out to a party, but they were a little spooked. Good to have the shoe on the other foot for a change.

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