The 30th reunion planning group of the Upper West Side progressive
high school (UWSPHS) that no longer exists met last night at the Pastel Colored Italian Restaurant uptown.

It was actually a lot of fun. I was a little aprehensive because all the other females on the planning committee sent their regrets. So it was just me and six guys from high school.

Before they knew I was coming, one email said, "Have fun at the boy’s night out." That made me self-conscious and I wondered if these guys wanted it to be a guy thing so they could act like obnoxious high school guys.

Well, they didn’t act like obnoxious high school guys at all. And we managed to have a great meal, not too many drinks, various small conversations; a good time. We even discussed issues related to the reunion. So that was good, too.

We talked about who we think is coming and who is still missing. CORPORATE LAWYER  suggested we get a private detective to find the missing people. But my feeling is: that would be going a bit too far. Not everyone wants to be dragged out of the woodwork to go to their high school reunion.

The invitations have been sent out. HEDGE FUND will be getting the checks (of course) and the RSVP’s. We’re all on tenter hooks waiting to see who’s coming.

MAGAZINE PUBLISHER had the invitations designed by her staff at the magazine and they look very fancy, very official, very cool. There’s a picture of ye olde alma mater on the cover and a well-worded, wedding-like invite on the inside.

We are delighted to invite you to the  30th reunion of our long-lost, often missed (by some) high school.

There’s also a very funny survey written by TV PRODUCER AND CORPORATE LAWYER, and a questionaire for biographical information. Some of the questions were quite funny:

–What have you been doing for the last 30 years?
–What are you doing now? (not right now)

–What teacher is famous for this quote? “A asquared plusa Beeasquared isa Seeasquared”

From my high school days I hope I was best remembered as:
–The best student
–The most popular
–The most witty
–The best athlete
–The kid who could belch the loudest
–The most likely to succeed
–I just hope I was remembered

And of course, the expected drug question:

My recreational drug use has

–Increased now that I don’t worry about (first name of principal) suspending me
–Decreased from my high school days
–Been replaced by prescription drugs
–Can you ask the question again?

As the head of the Program Committee, I am now looking for a CD by rock violinist,  PAPA JOHN CREACH. The album is called, "One Way."  We used his gorgeous version of "Over the Rainbow" as our graduation music (no Pomp and Circumstance for this crowd).

I found one copy of the CD on eBay from a seller in Great Britain. I bid $5 dollars and am hoping to be the highest bidder — it’s at 89 cents right now. I guess it’s not a very popular CD but it means a lot to the class of 1976 of the UWSPHS. Papa John Creach did play with the Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. Whatever.

Now all we can do is wait. To see if I’m the highest bidder, to see who responds to the invites. All we can do is wait.