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[10:04 AM EDT - That's not a good omen.]
Hey, HT got rear ended yesterday makes my gear grinding seem like peanuts in comparison huh? Well, it's a tiny scratch, but as with anything with cars, they want to replace the whole thing probably instead of just touching it up.
Argh, I forgot my cell phone at home. Should I go back and pick it up?
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[2:04 PM EDT - Postponed trip.]
Hmm, I may not be going to Texas next week after all. Apparently I am going, just not then. Later, but don't know when.
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[3:15 PM EDT - Selling some links.]
I got a couple of links from HT. He suggests that I soup up my car and sell it. For my smaller items, he gave me a couple of forums (one and two) to use.
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[Sunday, October 12, 2003: Birthday planning.]
Well, we have been planning this party for a number of weeks now ever since I tried to organize a ten year reunion dinner last month.
Let me start from the beginning. SLWD gave me a call last month and I suggested that we should have some sort of reunion since it's been ten years since graduation. So I e-mailed the usual suspects to gauge their reaction.
The response was mediocre. There weren't too many people interested in getting together and everyone was too "busy". Then DeeL gave me this brilliant idea: Since it was Stonaday's birthday soon, why not have a surprise birthday party for him, and use the reunion dinner as a ruse?
Brilliant! I thought that was a great idea, so I asked what kind of ideas DeeL had in store for the party. That's when he told me that it was my idea for the reunion so I should be the one planning it.
<- looks shocked.
I see, so this is how you're going to play it huh? *rubs chin* Indeed..
I recalled that DeeL's birthday was around the same time as Stonaday's so since he did suggest that a surprise birthday was in order, why not have a surprise birthday party for both birthday boys?!?
So the idea was hatched, and the plan took form. All I needed were people who I could trust to carry out this plan, and to keep this secret..
The first person I contacted was HKL. He agreed to the plan, and began to look into recruiting a few good operatives. OMok was the next likely candidate, and I sequestered his help. KH was next on the list, and the spies on DeeL's side were in place. HKL concentrated on Stonaday's half and brought JK on board. His connections allowed us to cull the informant SC from Stonaday's camp, and we were able to consolidate our forces.
After a short hiatus due to other commitments (like me buying a new car), we got back together the week before to hammer out the final details. JK was able to convince JH and eventually DM to come back to town. This gave the reunion party more importance and gave the two surpriseees less reason not to come out.
Now DM's birthday was also in the same chronological vicinity, so having a triple surprise was an idea..
The we had word that Stonaday was organizing his own birthday party the night after this one, and many of those who had agreed to come on his side began to cancel..
But it was already too close to the reunion date, so we could only continue on with the plan. Dinner, and party at DeeL's place. So I made reservations at the restaurant and headed downtown..
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[Monday, October 13, 2003: Reunion Surprise.]
I got down the restaurant a little early. That's a good thing since the place was packed with people and there was a lineup for tables. I picked up my number and waited patiently hoping that people would arrive before our table was called. Seven rolled by and nobody showed up. Tables were being called, and I began to worry. Peeking at the table list, I noticed that there were two other large groups head of us. I figured that it would be a while for our table to become available (despite the reservation) so I didn't worry so much. Then people started to arrive and I was wondering how long we'd have to wait for a table. We finally got to sit down about half-an-hour later, and chowed down on some food. HKL, DeeL, JH, JK, his fiancee (I forgot her name again!) [Wednesday, June 30, 2004: It was SO], Stonaday, and OMok showed up. The meal was good and filling. (Actually, they gave me all the leftovers. *urp*)
Afterward, we split up to go to DeeL's place. I called in to KH to see how things were going at the home front, and found out that they needed plates. We (HKL and I) voluntold to pick up the plates from the grocery store nearby. It didn't take us long to find it. It was pretty darned big. Actually, it didn't even look like a grocery store. We ended up parking in a covered lot, and the store looked so.. good. Most of the specialty shops had closed for the day, but the main grocery store was open. It was so clean and.. nice. I was completely taken aback by what I saw. Afterward, KH commented that that store was like the Mecca for grocery stores. I'll bet.
Because of our side trip, we missed out on the initial surprise on the two birthday boys. (Apparently they were both very confused when the surprise was announced. Too bad Stonaday KOed his own surprise when he organized his party.) However, we were still there for the card presentation and other things. Many of DeeL's friends showed up and a couple of Stonaday's came out as well. I brought out the old photo album and showed off some pictures from our days in elementry school and high school. (Most were blurry though.)
![[Ten year reunion.]](../Pictures/2003-05-27/2003-10-10.jpg)
During our ten year reunion cum surprise birthday party, I wanted to take a picture of the group that stuck through high school. In hindsight, I should've gotten this picture taken before JK took off.
Back row: DeeL, me, JH, and DM.
Front row: OM, HKL, and Stonaday.
Missing: JK.
DM eventually came by later in the night and we presented him with his card as well.
All in all, it was a good night, with much reminiscing and catching up.
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