My High School Reunion

Thursday July 9 2015 10:30AM. I am sitting in the SFO terminal after having checked in waiting for my flight to board. Gate 61 at 10:40AM! The checkin process was a bit of a hassle. Despite having checked in the night before online and printing my boarding pass I nevertheless had to check in again at the baggage checkin counter. It cost me $59 for what I don't know. In any event, after some waiting during which several people went ahead of me I was able to to get my duffle bag checked in. I now have a sheaf of papers one of which is my actual boarding pass.

I went by a deli to get food for the flight. I bought a Coca Cola and what sounds like a nice sandwich. I plan to eat this during the flight instead of paying for food on the airplane. I have a bag with my food and drink in it and I am hoping there won't be a hassle about bringing it on the plane along with my black carry-on bag. I'm going to keep my iPad in the food bag so that I don't have to dig it out when my bag is stowed in the upper compartment. So I'll have it to journal my trip starting on the airplane.

I just took a Klonopin. Ilene, my psychologist, suggested yesterday that I only take one for my trip. I don't she fully appreciates my fear of flying. Hanging out in the airport is a hassle in itself. I took a Klonopin earlier this morning around 7:00AM, shortly after I woke up at around 6:20AM. So I am pretty mellow. I expect I will be numb by the time I actually board the plane and throughout the trip to New Jersey.

I am writing this as a Note on my iPad. For reasons I don't understand I can't get Pages to start up. I'm not sure if Pages has a bug in it or if it refuses to start up without a WiFi connection. I'm disappointed because Pages is so much more powerful. I may need to upgrade it because of my new IOS. I'm going to try this shortly after this journal entry. This is not the end of the world. I can always cut and paste my Note entries into Pages at a later date. If the problem is in fact due to a lack of WiFi I should be able to correct the problem once I arrive at my brother's

P apartment in New Jersey.

I'm a little apprehensive about my visit to New Jersey. I'm not sure what to expect from my brother. He has a tendency to lash out when he is in a bad mood. He's picking me up at Newark airport, which is very generous of him because it spares me the problem of having to arrange my own transportation to his apartment. But he is mercurial and the 40 minute trip from Newark to where he lives could be trying. My plan is to be a patient listener, a strategy which usually works despite his mood.

The plan is for me to stay overnight in his apartment alone with him before he drives my up to New Paltz in the mid-Hudson valley of New York, my hometown where the reunion will be held. He's ambivalent abut the reunion; he does not want to attend it. But Friday's activity is the Pub Crawl which he has expressed an interest in. So he may stay for that and overnight with my sister-in-law Denise at the house which her sister and her husband has rented for our stay in New Paltz.

For my part, I don't know what to expect from the reunion. There are some events I plan to attend but my suspicion is that I will have a lot of free time on my hands. The house is located at a trail head so I may. be able to do some hiking. But the weather is expected to be hot and muggy so I may not want to spend too much time out in it. The porch of the house is a place where I can smoke which is convenient. I've brought plenty of cigarettes although I don't expect to smoke eight packs during this weekend visit. I also have a lot of nicotine patches for those times when I will be spending a lot of time in town for various events.

I wonder how many people I am going to recognize. I am insecure about my ability to socialize but I expect Klonopin will be my friend to help ease any anxiety I have about getting along with people. I am concerned about keeping my mental illnesses private and hope that Denise does not blab about them. My strategy is to tell people that I have retired because I saved a lot of money during my career. I might reveal that I also live on disability but I will be circumspect about what that disability actually is. I wonder if people will think it is due pto HIV seeing as I come from San Francisco and with the earrings I have it might be the case that people think I am gay. I will demure about this. I don't like to lie but have no intention of revealinig I am bisexual. I will remain mum about this. If someone asks my if I am gay I can honestly reply, "no." I am probably overly worried about all of this. Everyone else will feel awkward, too, so I might find in myself of making people fell comfortable, which would be an irony considering my own insecurity.

As luck would have it I missed my flight. I was able to get in touch with Randy so he know when to pick me up and where. it's almost time to start boarding good old flight 1754 for Newark. I lost my window seat because of it--I am stuck between two other people But I don't have anything to complain about. I am just happy I was able to get on a flight shortly afterward. I don't have a lot to say at this point so I will wait until I am actually on the airplane itself. They are beginning to board now. Time to go.

 

The plane is taxiing now and we are about to take off. I am strapped securely in my seat while the airplane rocks and lumbers toward the runway. We  are approaching our cruising altitude after which I expect the fight will become a lot soother. It's a bit rumbling right now. We are experiencing a little turbulence. Probably because we are passing through the cloud cover zone of the atmosphere. It's hard to type.J

I've put on my headphones. The fidelity is very passable. I am so glad I thought to download my music to my iPad before leaving. I did the same for my phone, too. But that's in my pocket and hard to reach. Since I have my iPad in my lap it works out better for me. But the Bluetooth is disabled, probably because of Airplane Mode. Fortunate I remembered to bring my cord so I can still listen to my music using a direct connection. There's supposed to be Internet on this flight. I need to find out how that works.

We have seemed to reach cruising altitude. The flight is a lot smoother. The time is 12:30PM. I am still full from the small latte and stale chocolate croissant I had for breakfast. I think I'll wait for about two hours before eating my sandwich while washing it down with Coca Cola. I don't want to pay for airplane food. They're bringing it down the aisle now. I can smell it. The flight attendant is almost here. I plan on asking him about Internet access. I also want to use the restroom after he passes.

Well, I managed to get through to the restroom before the snack cart came through. I didn't have to go but it's nice to get "caught up." I also found out that the plane is having trouble with its Internet connection so it seems like I will have to do without it. Bummer.

It's 4:30PM and by my reckoning we should be approaching Newark soon. I just finished the delicious sandwich I bought at the deli at the airport washed down with Coca Cola. It was no doubt better, and less expensive, than the fare they serve on the airplane.

My back is killing me. I had taken two VIcodins before leaving the apartment this morning but they wore off. I took a Percocet I am still in pain. Hopefully I'll feel better when I reach Newark.  I have a forty mile drive to Randy's apartment.

Lots of turbulence. Time to sign off.

Friday July 10 2015 2:27PM. I arrived at around 10:30 at Randy's apartment after what was not so arduous a flight as I had expected. Randy picked me up in at the airport in pouring rain. Gosh how I hate driving in the rain and visibility was about sixty flight. Randy drove like it was a clear day. I'm sure he knew what he was doing and was driving safely despite the conditions. My natural fear of driving kept my eyes glued to the road nevertheless. Anyway, the drive only took between 30 and 40 minutes to get home.

I was so busy listening to Randy and enjoying his company that I ran out of time to properly make entries in my journal. So I am just now getting around to it. I folded my bedroom linen and deflated the inflatable bed, which was very comfortable to sleep in. My only complaint is how cold it is in their apartment. My brother likes it cold--he was always that way in Alameda, too. So I rearranged the covers so that I was sleeping under everything instead of sleeping on a comforter. I took my meds at 11:00PM and had no trouble falling to sleep. I slept until 10:00AM.

I found out, by dumb luck, that my flight back to San Francisco has been cancelled, by checking my email. I went to the Expedia.com web site and confirmed this. I quickly booked a one-way trip back to SF on Wednesday, the 14th, instead of the preceding 13th. I used up what was left in my savings to do so and in a panic sold off my shares of ARTIX on Schwab, to give me another $2000 or so. I cannot live with an empty savings account. I am now on the phone with Expedia trying to resolve the issue and getting a refund for my cancelled flight. It looks like I will in which case the transfer from Savings may have been unnecessary. I called Ilene, my psychologist, to cancel my Wednesday appointment and confirmed with The Animal Company that they can hold on to Pippin another night.

I found time to shave before cleaning up the bed. I'll be taking my shower about a half hour before leaving with Randy for New Paltz, somewhere around 4:30PM. He left me with an itinerary of things to do during the reunion with instructions to note which ones I am interested in attending. I dutifully went through the list and made my notations. Most of it sounds more or less interesting. I don't think I will go to the "Pub Crawl" which doesn't interest me because I don't drink and have no desire to be tempted. But some of the other get-togethers sound interesting. I am going to a play reading in which Denise will participate and I want to go to the art show. I might also want to tour my old high school, which is now a middle school, and the new high school which I have not seen. I'll go to the Veteran's Memorial picnic that will be held at the old VFW. I am foregoing the tour of the old parochial school. Likewise the golf tournament.

I just found out, after about an hour on the phone, that Expedia will give me a full refund for my cancelled flight. But the refund won't show up for another eight weeks. So transferring my money from savings was a good idea. Selling off my ARTIX mutual fund was nevertheless a good idea. There could be complications receiving my retirement checks from the University of California. I may need the proceeds from that sale to survive for another month or two. I am not sure the person at the bank entered my bank account number correctly. The direct deposit may not work. I'm actually a little anxious about it. Hopefully UC will send me a check if the direct deposit doesn't work.

11:38. I am finally settled in at the house where I will be staying for my trip. It took Randy and me 90 minutes to get to New Paltz from New Jersey during which Randy drove 101 MPH at times, setting my nerves on edge. We had stopped at a local bar and restaurant in town for a meal after having picked up Denise from where she was working on reunion stuff. The meal was good and I treated everyone to it. I met some people at the bar who I recognized but many more who I did not. After the meal Randy and I drove up to the house which was a harrowing drive along a darkened road whiteout shoulders where Randy drove like he was on the freeway. I was scared and made even more uncomfortable by his obscene outbursts when we could not find the way at first. But we made it and were greeted by Harold Issen, an old classmate of Denise's and her sister Kathy and her husband Barney, Harold's brother. I never found out if this house has Internet so I suppose I will have to read my email tomorrow using my cellular network. I'm glad I got this new iPad before leaving. I don't know what tomorrow's events will be but I expect I will participate. In the meantime my bed is all made up and I'm feeling pretty tired. I think I will text Yaffa before going to bed.

Saturday July 11 2015 5:08PM. I had horrific nightmares last night and woke up shaking. I took a Klonopin and a Zyprexa to calm myself down. I was able to sleep after that, unfortunately until 1:00PM when Harold Issen, Denise's brother-in-law, showed up and demanded that Randy and I, alone in the house and sleeping, get up and get ready to leave for Denise's book reading. I was so wobbly that I could barely walk. I nevertheless managed to stumble to the bathroom where I had a shower, miraculously not falling down. Randy checked in on me to see if I was OK and I replied that I was hurrying. But I wasn't fast enough; Harold hd left by the time I got out. I went back to sleep after a belated cigarette and woke up at around 4:30PM. I had another cigarette and am now fresh from another shower. I am wearing a nicotine patch and am ready for the day. Or night as the case may be.

Still no word from Yaffa. I texted her last night but she didn't reply. I just texted her today and am waiting to hear from her. Fortunately I discovered the Internet WiFi for the house so I can read my mail and do other things. This is a good thing because I have no cellular service. (Maybe that's why my texts aren't getting through.) I sent her an email today.

9:04PM. I have just returned from the reunion dinner. It was the main party of the reunion and had seating for hundreds and a live band. I chatted with a few people while waiting in line for food. All of them were people who recognized me but who I did not recognize. The most interesting part of the evening was running into Holly Pugliese who I dated briefly while in high school. She had a funny story to tell me about a trip she took with her family to Florida. Apparently a friend and I hitched hiked down there to be with them. All of we youngsters stayed in a room by ourselves. Holly's parents were oblivious to how many of us there were. They had a large family so keeping count of all of the kids was not foremost in their minds. So my friend Bruce and I spent the week there with Holly and her siblings unnoticed. I had forgotten all about this episode until Holly recounted it.

Sunday July 12 2015 7:18PM. I woke up at around 9:00AM and had time to shave and shower before whisking off with Denise to Deyo hall, the site of the art gallery. I watched a couple of films. The first was about a woman and her dog in the wilds of Colorado. It had poignant music and a lot of scenes showing how the woman was bonded wither dog while she hiked. It ended with her committing assisted suicide assisted by a country doctor because she had cancer. The film was a bit bland. The second film was quite a bit longer and was a documentary about John Lindsey, a former mayor of New York City. It chronicled his life during his mayorship. It was produced by Rob Issen, my brother-in-law. It was better produced than the first and considerably more interesting.

After the visit to Deyo hall Denise and I went to the veterans memorial picnic held at the Elks lodge. A man read off the names of those that had been a part of the armed forces. A special tribute was mad for a classmate who fell in the Vietnam war. The speech ended with the reding of names of classmates who had passed on. I didn't know anyone except for the Issen family, relatives of Denise. I wanted to leave so Barney drove me back to the house. 

I quickly changed into my house clothes and had a cigarette before returning to find the whole clan assembled in the living room. I didn't partake in the conversations, content to sit at the edge of the gathering. Randy had already packed everything and was ready to leave. I quickly smoked another cigarette, put on a nicotine patch, changed into my street clothes and drove with Randy and Barney into the village where Randy transferred all of our baggage into his car. There was a bit of a spat between Randy and Denise but it soon ended. Randy and I got into his car and left New Paltz. We arrived about and hour ago, 7:00PM, and set up my bed. Randy is in his bedroom reading his email and I am writing this at 7:30PM.

Monday, July 13, 2015 5:31AM. I can't sleep anymore, I am wide awake. I think it may have something to do with jet lag but could also be a natural waking time for me because I went to sleep at 9:00PM last night. I had a broken sleep, racked by nightmare in which Shuli, a former co-worker at UC Berkeley, occurred prominently. I felt a deep and abiding love for her and when faced with the choice that one of us quit and the other stay on the job I begged her to stay. I held her close in my arms and wept when she insisted on leaving. I think this dream was a metaphor  for her loss due to suicide.

Tuesday, July 14, 2015 4:16AM. I spent almost all of Monday sleeping on and off. I was so lethargic and bored out of my mind I thought I would go crazy. I nevertheless had the wherewithal to shave and shower as I usually do on Mondays. It's a good thing because  after reviewing my itinerary I realized that I had to leave today and not on Wednesday as I had thought. I went to the United Airlines web site to confirm my flight and attempt to make a seat reservation. But the plane is packed. All of the seats are taken. So I don't know where I will be sitting. But at least I will have a seat to get me back to SFO. In the meantime I tried to occupy myself by reading some of the articles in the Washington Post and managed to watch a couple of episodes of East End Witches, which is in season two. But I couldn't concentrate and lay in bed most of the day. 

I am busy charging my devices. My iPad is charged and so are my headphones. I have now connected my keyboard and  phone which I expect will be fully charged by later this morning.

My flight leaves at 5:45PM and I have made plans to be at the airport at 3:45PM. I booked a taxi to take me there. It will cost me $84. It will arrive at 3:00PM which gives me 30 minutes to get to the Newark airport. That's about the time the drive requires. I tried booking a Super Shuttle but I am outside their service range. I could have taken Uber but I wasn't sure when they could pick me up or how to book a ride in advance. So a taxi is it. Randy showed me the directions to the front gate where I can catch the taxi. It's only a five minute walk so I am relieved that I don't need to work my way through this maze of apartment buildings. I need to remember to pee before leaving and shower and pack. I don't expect this to take very long at all. Still, I have set my alarm to 10:30AM just in case I sleep late.

I have just recently taken a Klonopin to help me get back to sleep. It might be residual effects of jet lag that woke me up so early. In any event I will soon be very relaxed and hopefully drowsy enough to make me go to sleep. My plan is to take another just before the taxi arrives which should calm me down before the plane trip without (hopefully) zoning me out to the extent that I miss my plane like what happened on my trip here. I was very lucky at the time that there was a ticket for a flight immediately afterward. I don't want to mess this up.

The forecast for tomorrow is for rain. I sure hope that's wrong. The last thing I want to do is fumble with my luggage in the rain. It was pouring rain when my brother picked me up but luckily he was parked inside the terminal parking lot so I was spared from getting soaked.  The rain comes down in sheets here. I have my small folding umbrella in my carry-on luggage but sincerely do not want to use it.

There a lot of things I need to remember for the flight today. I need time to shower so that I can have time to smoke a last cigarette before showering. I need to pack up my toiletry bag, too. I am leaving the blue scrubby ball behind. It was nothing but hassle getting it in and out of the toiletry bag. I have many at home so it wont be missed. I need to pack up my house clothes (read smoking clothes) before changing into my smoke-free street clothes. After the patch is on I need to empty and clean my ash cup and pack it away. I have to make sure that my electronic devices are packed. I think I will take a quick shower at 2:15PM and put on my nicotine patch afterward. 

I must confess that I m anxious about the trip which will take 6 and one half hours. I will arrive at 8:40PM local San Francisco time. After getting my baggage I will need to either get a Uber ride or take another taxi home. I should get in a little before 9:00PM. I'm not sure how I will feel after the jet lag back to San Francisco. I might decide to simply go to bed before texting Yaffa to let her know I made it back safely. She might want me to stay overnight in which case I will probably take her up on her offer. I cancelled my appointment with Ilene on Wednesday so I can sleep later than usual. This will give me time in the morning for coffee with Yaffa before returning home.

I need to pick up Pippin from the Animal Company on Wednesday where he has been boarded for about a week. I wonder how he will react to me. I hope he remembers his commands: Come On and In You Go. He screeched when I put him in through the little door on top of his carrying cage. I think I will try opening the cage up and getting him in that way. He'll have food and water for the trip so I expect him to be relatively mellow when he arrives home. I cleaned his cage before leaving so everything will be nice and ready for his return.

Yaffa has been so sweet during my trip. She has watered my plants and looked in on the apartment. She actually sent me $200 for my trip which I declined because I don't have a Chase account. I discovered later that my Google pay account is linked to Chase. Oh well. But I didn't need the money. I still have lots of cash on me and am charging the expenses for this trip on my Discover card. All told, my balance on my Discover card is between $2,000 and $3,500,  which includes the new iPhone and iPad. I think they are so happy with me that they have raised my credit limit to $6.500. They have also raised the amount of money I can withdraw from it using an ATM to $750. Not that I will ever use that much credit or cash. But it's nice to know that I have that much in reserve should an emergency occur.

Well, it's getting time to go back to sleep. I have a lot on my mind ad could probably write forever. But I will need my sleep so that I feel refreshed in the morning. I'll no doubt at to this journal during my wait for the flight and even during the flight.

8:18AM. I tried going back to sleep but failed at it despite having taken a Klonopin beforehand. I have too much pent up energy about the trip to sleep. Randy just woke up and is eating his breakfast while reviewing his email (I guess). I've folded all of my bed linen and am waiting for Randy to wake up a bit more before deflating the air mattress I have been sleeping on. I've got my bags all ready to go and am in general prepared to leave after my shower. Then I'll only have my toiletries remaining to pack. I'm not really looking forward to this flight at all but have acquiesced to the inevitable. I'm drinking so hot tea and taking it easy. 

4:18PM. I am sitting in the airport waiting for my flight. I just got a text from the airline that my flight has been delayed until 6:10PM. So I have two hours to kill in the airport. I've already printed out my boarding pass using the automated machines in the terminal lobby and passed through security. I am looking forward to two hours of nerve-wrenching boredom. I can only hope that the flight does not get further delayed or, for heaven's sake, cancelled. I guess I will play with my iPhone for a while.

Friday, July 17, 2015 11:46AM. I've taken a couple of days off to recover from jet lag and the horrific trip back home. It happened that my flight was delayed twice due to maintenance issues. United Airlines finally decided to board everybody on a different airplane so we all got to trudge to the other end of the terminal. The plane finally departed 1-½ hours late. The pilot came on the intercom while we were taxiing to the runway and informed us that we would be taking a northerly route to avoid the rainstorms in New Jersey. This would add an hour to our flight time he informed us. Already frazzled by the wait in the terminal I settled into my seat with dismay.

I decided to watch the in-flight entertainment provided by Dish network instead of listening to music. I watched an Avengers movie but could no hear anything through my headphones. At the end of the movie I discovered that there was a short in the headphone jack. By holding it carefully with my right hand I was able to hear something. So I watched another movie (I don't remember the name) while my right hand and arm fell asleep holding the headphone jack. It was during the second movie that I got a terrible headache.

I had eaten in the airport while waiting for my flight but I had not bought any food for the flight itself. So I bought an airplane meal which purported to be a Thai chicken bowl. Much to my chagrin it consisted of a pitiful few pieces of dry chicken surrounded by a ring of carrots (I hate carrots). The rice was mushy and the only other vegetable was celery. I choked down the chicken. The meal was detestable and I don't remember what I paid for it.

At the end of the interminable flight an attendant announced that we would be picking up our luggage at carousel two. Everybody sleepwalked to the baggage claim and waited forever for our luggage. I realized after a long wait that a different carousel was churning out bags. I hard someone say that the announced carousel was wrong. I turned around and saw my duffel bag and scooped it up. I practically shoved people out of my way as I headed for the exit. An Uber driver was waiting so I jumped into his car. I finally arrived home at 12 midnight.

So I am now home and the trip to my high school reunion is over.