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Tuesday, August 02, 2005

It is I, Sidney Feldman

Someone I worked for for many years taught me that a good practice for making client memos more readable is to use bullet points wherever possible. The bullet points make the memo seem more inviting and readable, even though it might still contain the same old dry and boring information, such as the detailed requirements for complying with Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, if your company is a Category 3 issuer. Let's see how far bullet points go toward making this entry--which promises to be on the long side--more inviting.
  • Not yet.
  • This is still the introduction.
Last weekend I attended my twentieth high school reunion in one of the ten largest cities within a 250-mile radius of Seattle (I don't know why I make an effort not to out myself, since if you are reading this and don't know me you have probably started looking around for the "Next Blog" button anyway). Of course, because I have this blog, I am expected to write some pithy and irreverent observations about the reunion (if you are one of those visitors who don't know me, you have probably by now realized that I got rid of the "Next Blog" button a long time ago. It is unattractive and usually takes you somewhere annoying anyway. [SIMULATED "NEXT BLOG" BUTTON] See? I'm really glad Google allows Blogger to contain all this chaff but seems to have zero interest in indexing this blog. But I digress.). I'm actually not sure I have that many pithy and irreverent observations about the reunion, but here goes:
  • There were 120 to 150 people at the reunion, including various spouses and significant others. Every single person was white. Now, this shouldn't be so surprising given that there were two black people and perhaps only two Asians in the Class of 1985, but it's still striking in 2005 to be in such a large group and see no minorities at all. I would have expected at least one person might have married or be dating someone from a different race. When I told my ex-girlfriend (who is black) about the racial non-breakdown of the room, she was amazed. But when I told her how few minorities had been in the graduating class, she became less amazed, observing "after graduation they probably got the hell out of there and never wanted to come back."

  • Two different people had little stories about getting a very good grade on something in a class I was in, and my reaction. One reaction was generous of spirit and the other, not so much. Neither person could remember the teacher's name, but they remembered these cute little anecdotes involving me. So, kids, being an arrogant know-it-all in high school really will pay dividends later on.

  • No one I know my age or younger who didn't go to my high school has been divorced. I had been wondering when my experience of knowing divorced people would catch up with statistical expectations. Now I know all those divorced people were in my class. Many people had been divorced. Yes, I did warn you that I might not have many pithy and irreverent observations.

  • Someone said I'd always reminded him of Orson Welles. Hmm.


    Unfortunately, it was not the voice. Better than Hugo Drax from "Moonraker," which was my college roommate's reaction when he first saw my goatee.

    The person who made the Welles comment himself bears a striking resemblance to Oliver Platt.


  • One person now looks totally different, and remarkably like Jean Reno in "The Professional." I wanted him to be carrying a plant.

  • There was a definite trend of people moving back to our little hometown from other places.

  • There was a definite trend of women in my class marrying alumni of one particular other high school in town.

  • Someone counted five sets of twins. I think there are more surviving twin births these days than in the past, and there may be other environmental factors conducing to having twins. I think being over 30 significantly increases a woman's chances of having twins.

  • Several classmates told me I had submitted the best photo for the "Memory Book." (Seasoned readers will recognize the tent.) What a sweet and generous group of people.

I may write something more profound another time, should profound thoughts occur to me.

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posted at 7:26 PM

2 Comments:

Blogger syp said...

You? An "arrogant know-it-all in high school?" Never...I thought that was just post-gradutate you.

August 03, 2005 10:17 AM  
Blogger Chase said...

HA HA HA

Enough said.

He was like that as a toddler.

August 05, 2005 11:48 AM  

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