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This is going to be a long post, I think. A long post for a long weekend.
Chinese and cocktails
Thursday night is the first night of Reunions. I had a list of places I was supposed to be. Actually, I'm pretty sure at some point that day I was supposed to be at some kind of dinner for athletes (apparently they count the band). However, they informed us of it months ago and asked for sweater sizes, and then didn't tell us the time or location and I totally forgot about it. Somewhere I suppose there's a varsity sweater in my size floating about.
Instead, after getting back from the picnic and doing some chores, I went to dinner with the band alums. We have a tradition of going to a Chinese restaurant as a group - the same restaurant each time, but usually with a different name, since it seems to change ownership approximately once a year. We must have had about 30 people there. It was great to see all the alums, and I'm afraid I've been slightly insufferable about gleefully announcing the engagement.
My class had a cocktail party later with our grandparent class, the class of '55. They had an impressive jazz band - it's a little sad, but I vastly prefer the "old folks" music to the newer stuff. It's so much more fun to dance to...
And then of course there was the band party. So many people. So little oxygen. But it's quite frequently a great party, and this year was no exception. And we didn't get busted, which is always a slight concern.
Clocks and Cats
Friday morning I had to get up early to go help my advisor. He was doing a presentation on teaching engineering with antiques, and I gave a chunk of it about the clock. Went fairly smoothly, and the alums seemed to like it.
I caught up with the band making its rounds, expecting them to be nearly through. They were running late, so I ran back, grabbed my hat and flute and finished off with them in my beer jacket. (There were a number of alums in beer jackets instead of plaid, so I wasn't out of place.) We accidentally marched in on one reunion (each major year is set up in a different courtyard) while the Katzenjammers were singing. Oops. We stopped as soon as we realized and let them finish out their set.
Met up with Wildcats alums for the ritual ice cream social. I've had a lot of ice cream in the last few days.
After a gig at the grad college with terrible, terrible mics, we went back for the Wildcats alumnae arch. It was much fun, as it usually is. We were a little ragged - a lot of us had blown our voices at the previous gig. But you get into the older rep and the alums join you singing, and no one cares. We dragged them back to the Cat Cave afterwards - they were very impressed with our new room.
I'd met up with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chuckro at the arch. We went out reunion-hopping, and managed to catch up with the band for dancing and screaming "Living on a Prayer" with many of our classmates. I was reminded again how much I dislike the 5th. The 5th reunion is usually characterized by massive quantities of extremely poor beer, a very bad band, and a lot of smashed people trying to hook up with each other randomly and relive their college days. I much prefer the older reunions, where people have grown up a little and have the money to afford decent music. (No, I don't insist that only jazz is good music. I like the stupid-but-fun pop stuff, too. But I would much rather hear a good cover band doing 70s/80s/90s hits than a bad hip-hop imitator screaming "Fuck" a lot, which is what the 5th had.)
God hates my class. Maybe.
The day started out flawlessly gorgeous. Warm, sunny, lovely. The band's outdoor concert was well-recieved, and I managed to track down my folks afterwards. Got my picture taken with my class in the beer jacket, did a quick change with the other seniors and sent a band alum ahead with our jackets to find somewhere safe to put them until we were ready to change back out of plaid.
We started the P-rade. I love the P-rade. The band leads everyone in - we've got the best seats to actually see the unlocking-of-the-FitzRandolph-Gate ritual before we enter. And then marching through the lawn in front of Nassau Hall, with the 25th Reunion all around you, is the closest to mass adoration I've gotten. It's like this wave of love and nostalgia comes washing over the band from the alums. It's incredible. Everyone's singing along with the fight songs and smiling and cheering. And there's so much black and orange you think you'll be seeing orange and white afterimages for days.
After the first pass, the seniors cut out. I went back to my room, got a shower (hey, marching in wool jackets and long sleeves and pants in 80 degree weather is hot work), and changed. Then I joined up with my class. Had a great time watching the parade - my favorite was the class that dressed up like pirates, and gave inflatable swords to all their kids. And the weather was gorgeous.
As we got to around 2000, the clouds start rolling in. And right as 2005 hoisted their banner, the storm hit. Raindrops the size of my thumbnail, blowing sideways. The officers could barely keep the banner up. The band leads the graduating class in as well, and the band seniors link arms and keep our class from trampling the band. Well, it was a half-riot. But ridiculously high spirits. The class was utterly soaked to the skin in a matter of minutes, but it certainly was dramatic. When we get to the grandstands, the band seniors have to hold back the class until the band clears the grandstand, and then we all run like crazy. We're supposed to circle back and be inducted into the alumni association. That didn't happen. As the class cleared the reviewing stand, the sky exploded into thunder and lighting. People were taking mud dives, throwing fistfuls of water at each other, screaming and dancing in the pouring rain. There was no way to get us back. And the band played on, heroically, as lighting crackled across the sky and the wind blew the rain in sheets.
Twenty minutes later, and the sun was out again. We were pretty much the only people hit by the storm. Talk about drama.
Went to the Campus reunion, where all the food was already eaten. Went to the Firehazards reunion, which I seem to have been adopted into as an honorary member. So glad to see pizza. Apparently in the meantime, the orchestra concert got canceled at the last minute. The band decided to do a strike force gig, wearing the rain jackets they'd intended to sit on. Grabbed instruments from the armory and gave an impromptu concert where the orchestra was supposed to be, to the delight and gratitude of the events planner. Saved the day in a little way. I love the band. I missed it, though, and only made the fireworks themselves.chuckro and I went out dancing later, and then collapsed in an exhausted heap.
Singing gone awry
Baccalaureate was nice, but I kind of dozed through part of it. To much Reunions, not enough sleep. The Wildcats parents arch was nice, but a little surreal. I'm having trouble realizing I'm an alum.
Step-sing was...odd. The seniors gather on the steps of Blair and sing a bunch of Princeton songs and pop-songs we picked. But we couldn't hear anything because the speakers were in front of us. So we totally missed most of the Princeton songs. And as for the pop-songs...well, the ones my classmates chose made me kind of wonder about what it says about our class. "Livin' On a Prayer" - working class anthem about not making it. "Piano Man" - mostly working class anthem about being middle aged, lonely, and thinking you wasted your life. "This Love" - about breaking up and bad relationships. "Friends in Low Places" - working class anthem against people with class and ivory towers. "Glory Days" - working class anthem about high school being the best part of life and everything after being a waste. Ummm...so we think we're middle-aged, nostalgic, blue collar workers who have wasted our lives?
Why Chevy Chase is not my hero.
Class Day is supposed to be for the seniors. We have a bunch of awards, some class speakers, and a keynote speaker. We were supposed to have Ben Stiller. However, he ended up with a schedule conflict, and couldn't come. He graciously offered to come a different day, and did so, for a seniors-only event. Afterwards, we made him an honorary member of our class, which he seemed genuinely touched by.
In an attempt to find a replacement, we ended up with Chevy Chase.
Now, most of the program was excellent. Our three speakers from our class were all fantastic - funny, sincerely, insightful. Actually, two of them were hysterical. We gave those two standing ovations. They were fantastic. There were a few mutterings about how Chase had a lot to live up to.
And then Chevy Chase stood up. He started by babbling something in what was probably a made up foreign language. It was cute - he acted as if we all knew what he was saying. Then he switched to English and informed us he'd left his speech on the bathtub rim at home. Uh oh.
And then things went downhill.
He sort of segued into a fairly offensive and not really funny joke about Iraqi women and landmines. He briefly made fun of the president in uncreative and half-hearted ways. And then he became increasingly incoherent. Seriously. Barely made sense at all. It was terrible. We became increasingly convinced that he was drunk, high, or both. We were squirming in our seats in discomfort, praying for him to stop. When he finally did, and the class officers offered him his jacket, there were mutters around me about how we didn't want him to be an honorary class member. I mean, many of us had our grandparents here. It was humiliating, and excruciatingly unpleasant. WTF?
My department gave us all lovely mugs with the entire class' name on them at the department ceremonies. It was really nice. It's like my department is Jekyll-and-Hyde - half the time they screwed us over, and the other half, they were the nicest department ever.
The prom was interesting. Kind of strange to rock out with people's grandparents and baby siblings. In the gym. Jadwin is an aircraft hanger of a gym. They had it all beautifully decorated with ice sculptures and balloons and lit-up stars hanging from the ceiling. But the entire place still smelled like feet. I was surprised at how good a time I had. My parents are really cool folk, and know how to dance to boot, so it wasn't as awkward as it seemed for many other people. Hung out with friends and danced until my feet hurt too much to walk.
Gradumacation for everybody!
I guess the weather was finished toying with us after the P-rade - it was beautiful again yesterday.
There was minor panic in the morning, as the wrong line-up times had been sent out. And then we were horribly squished and disorganized trying to line up. And the stupid academic hoods are ridiculously difficult to put on from the directions on the package.
But the actual ceremony was lovely. I was surprised by how not boring it was. I was expecting far worse. But even the president's speech was well done and interesting. And the valedictorian was great. I'm incredibly impressed by the public speaking abilities of my class.
And we walked out the FitzRandolph Gate for the first time.
I went to Chantal's commissioning. Had brunch. Finished packing, and came home.
It's strange now. I can't believe I'm not going back. That place was my home for four years - in some ways, it was the first place I ever felt like I really belonged. I'm going to miss it so much. I can't believe I'm an adult, for that matter. There's no way around it. I have a real job, I've graduated, I'm engaged. Seems so strange.
Being home for a bit is nice. It was so peaceful and calm in my house - I hadn't realized how crazy everything has been for the last several days. There were no drunk people yelling outside my window when I went to bed - no construction equipment when I woke up.
So that's it. I'm still a Princetonian - I'll always be a Princetonian - but I no longer go to Princeton. How strange.
Chinese and cocktails
Thursday night is the first night of Reunions. I had a list of places I was supposed to be. Actually, I'm pretty sure at some point that day I was supposed to be at some kind of dinner for athletes (apparently they count the band). However, they informed us of it months ago and asked for sweater sizes, and then didn't tell us the time or location and I totally forgot about it. Somewhere I suppose there's a varsity sweater in my size floating about.
Instead, after getting back from the picnic and doing some chores, I went to dinner with the band alums. We have a tradition of going to a Chinese restaurant as a group - the same restaurant each time, but usually with a different name, since it seems to change ownership approximately once a year. We must have had about 30 people there. It was great to see all the alums, and I'm afraid I've been slightly insufferable about gleefully announcing the engagement.
My class had a cocktail party later with our grandparent class, the class of '55. They had an impressive jazz band - it's a little sad, but I vastly prefer the "old folks" music to the newer stuff. It's so much more fun to dance to...
And then of course there was the band party. So many people. So little oxygen. But it's quite frequently a great party, and this year was no exception. And we didn't get busted, which is always a slight concern.
Clocks and Cats
Friday morning I had to get up early to go help my advisor. He was doing a presentation on teaching engineering with antiques, and I gave a chunk of it about the clock. Went fairly smoothly, and the alums seemed to like it.
I caught up with the band making its rounds, expecting them to be nearly through. They were running late, so I ran back, grabbed my hat and flute and finished off with them in my beer jacket. (There were a number of alums in beer jackets instead of plaid, so I wasn't out of place.) We accidentally marched in on one reunion (each major year is set up in a different courtyard) while the Katzenjammers were singing. Oops. We stopped as soon as we realized and let them finish out their set.
Met up with Wildcats alums for the ritual ice cream social. I've had a lot of ice cream in the last few days.
After a gig at the grad college with terrible, terrible mics, we went back for the Wildcats alumnae arch. It was much fun, as it usually is. We were a little ragged - a lot of us had blown our voices at the previous gig. But you get into the older rep and the alums join you singing, and no one cares. We dragged them back to the Cat Cave afterwards - they were very impressed with our new room.
I'd met up with
chuckro at the arch. We went out reunion-hopping, and managed to catch up with the band for dancing and screaming "Living on a Prayer" with many of our classmates. I was reminded again how much I dislike the 5th. The 5th reunion is usually characterized by massive quantities of extremely poor beer, a very bad band, and a lot of smashed people trying to hook up with each other randomly and relive their college days. I much prefer the older reunions, where people have grown up a little and have the money to afford decent music. (No, I don't insist that only jazz is good music. I like the stupid-but-fun pop stuff, too. But I would much rather hear a good cover band doing 70s/80s/90s hits than a bad hip-hop imitator screaming "Fuck" a lot, which is what the 5th had.)God hates my class. Maybe.
The day started out flawlessly gorgeous. Warm, sunny, lovely. The band's outdoor concert was well-recieved, and I managed to track down my folks afterwards. Got my picture taken with my class in the beer jacket, did a quick change with the other seniors and sent a band alum ahead with our jackets to find somewhere safe to put them until we were ready to change back out of plaid.
We started the P-rade. I love the P-rade. The band leads everyone in - we've got the best seats to actually see the unlocking-of-the-FitzRandolph-Gate ritual before we enter. And then marching through the lawn in front of Nassau Hall, with the 25th Reunion all around you, is the closest to mass adoration I've gotten. It's like this wave of love and nostalgia comes washing over the band from the alums. It's incredible. Everyone's singing along with the fight songs and smiling and cheering. And there's so much black and orange you think you'll be seeing orange and white afterimages for days.
After the first pass, the seniors cut out. I went back to my room, got a shower (hey, marching in wool jackets and long sleeves and pants in 80 degree weather is hot work), and changed. Then I joined up with my class. Had a great time watching the parade - my favorite was the class that dressed up like pirates, and gave inflatable swords to all their kids. And the weather was gorgeous.
As we got to around 2000, the clouds start rolling in. And right as 2005 hoisted their banner, the storm hit. Raindrops the size of my thumbnail, blowing sideways. The officers could barely keep the banner up. The band leads the graduating class in as well, and the band seniors link arms and keep our class from trampling the band. Well, it was a half-riot. But ridiculously high spirits. The class was utterly soaked to the skin in a matter of minutes, but it certainly was dramatic. When we get to the grandstands, the band seniors have to hold back the class until the band clears the grandstand, and then we all run like crazy. We're supposed to circle back and be inducted into the alumni association. That didn't happen. As the class cleared the reviewing stand, the sky exploded into thunder and lighting. People were taking mud dives, throwing fistfuls of water at each other, screaming and dancing in the pouring rain. There was no way to get us back. And the band played on, heroically, as lighting crackled across the sky and the wind blew the rain in sheets.
Twenty minutes later, and the sun was out again. We were pretty much the only people hit by the storm. Talk about drama.
Went to the Campus reunion, where all the food was already eaten. Went to the Firehazards reunion, which I seem to have been adopted into as an honorary member. So glad to see pizza. Apparently in the meantime, the orchestra concert got canceled at the last minute. The band decided to do a strike force gig, wearing the rain jackets they'd intended to sit on. Grabbed instruments from the armory and gave an impromptu concert where the orchestra was supposed to be, to the delight and gratitude of the events planner. Saved the day in a little way. I love the band. I missed it, though, and only made the fireworks themselves.
chuckro and I went out dancing later, and then collapsed in an exhausted heap.Singing gone awry
Baccalaureate was nice, but I kind of dozed through part of it. To much Reunions, not enough sleep. The Wildcats parents arch was nice, but a little surreal. I'm having trouble realizing I'm an alum.
Step-sing was...odd. The seniors gather on the steps of Blair and sing a bunch of Princeton songs and pop-songs we picked. But we couldn't hear anything because the speakers were in front of us. So we totally missed most of the Princeton songs. And as for the pop-songs...well, the ones my classmates chose made me kind of wonder about what it says about our class. "Livin' On a Prayer" - working class anthem about not making it. "Piano Man" - mostly working class anthem about being middle aged, lonely, and thinking you wasted your life. "This Love" - about breaking up and bad relationships. "Friends in Low Places" - working class anthem against people with class and ivory towers. "Glory Days" - working class anthem about high school being the best part of life and everything after being a waste. Ummm...so we think we're middle-aged, nostalgic, blue collar workers who have wasted our lives?
Why Chevy Chase is not my hero.
Class Day is supposed to be for the seniors. We have a bunch of awards, some class speakers, and a keynote speaker. We were supposed to have Ben Stiller. However, he ended up with a schedule conflict, and couldn't come. He graciously offered to come a different day, and did so, for a seniors-only event. Afterwards, we made him an honorary member of our class, which he seemed genuinely touched by.
In an attempt to find a replacement, we ended up with Chevy Chase.
Now, most of the program was excellent. Our three speakers from our class were all fantastic - funny, sincerely, insightful. Actually, two of them were hysterical. We gave those two standing ovations. They were fantastic. There were a few mutterings about how Chase had a lot to live up to.
And then Chevy Chase stood up. He started by babbling something in what was probably a made up foreign language. It was cute - he acted as if we all knew what he was saying. Then he switched to English and informed us he'd left his speech on the bathtub rim at home. Uh oh.
And then things went downhill.
He sort of segued into a fairly offensive and not really funny joke about Iraqi women and landmines. He briefly made fun of the president in uncreative and half-hearted ways. And then he became increasingly incoherent. Seriously. Barely made sense at all. It was terrible. We became increasingly convinced that he was drunk, high, or both. We were squirming in our seats in discomfort, praying for him to stop. When he finally did, and the class officers offered him his jacket, there were mutters around me about how we didn't want him to be an honorary class member. I mean, many of us had our grandparents here. It was humiliating, and excruciatingly unpleasant. WTF?
My department gave us all lovely mugs with the entire class' name on them at the department ceremonies. It was really nice. It's like my department is Jekyll-and-Hyde - half the time they screwed us over, and the other half, they were the nicest department ever.
The prom was interesting. Kind of strange to rock out with people's grandparents and baby siblings. In the gym. Jadwin is an aircraft hanger of a gym. They had it all beautifully decorated with ice sculptures and balloons and lit-up stars hanging from the ceiling. But the entire place still smelled like feet. I was surprised at how good a time I had. My parents are really cool folk, and know how to dance to boot, so it wasn't as awkward as it seemed for many other people. Hung out with friends and danced until my feet hurt too much to walk.
Gradumacation for everybody!
I guess the weather was finished toying with us after the P-rade - it was beautiful again yesterday.
There was minor panic in the morning, as the wrong line-up times had been sent out. And then we were horribly squished and disorganized trying to line up. And the stupid academic hoods are ridiculously difficult to put on from the directions on the package.
But the actual ceremony was lovely. I was surprised by how not boring it was. I was expecting far worse. But even the president's speech was well done and interesting. And the valedictorian was great. I'm incredibly impressed by the public speaking abilities of my class.
And we walked out the FitzRandolph Gate for the first time.
I went to Chantal's commissioning. Had brunch. Finished packing, and came home.
It's strange now. I can't believe I'm not going back. That place was my home for four years - in some ways, it was the first place I ever felt like I really belonged. I'm going to miss it so much. I can't believe I'm an adult, for that matter. There's no way around it. I have a real job, I've graduated, I'm engaged. Seems so strange.
Being home for a bit is nice. It was so peaceful and calm in my house - I hadn't realized how crazy everything has been for the last several days. There were no drunk people yelling outside my window when I went to bed - no construction equipment when I woke up.
So that's it. I'm still a Princetonian - I'll always be a Princetonian - but I no longer go to Princeton. How strange.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 08:14 pm (UTC)From:Sorry to hear about Chevy Chase...sounds kind of lame.
Now you are crusty, like me. It's not so bad, I promise ;)
no subject
Date: 2005-06-01 11:44 pm (UTC)From: