Back from a great weekend in Los Angeles
I had a fantastic time in Los Angeles this past weekend.
I spent Thursday and Friday nights with Kylae, collaborating on a delicious batch of chilaca bowls, decimating the Santa Monica stairs, and reflecting together on life, love, and how to make it through those rougher spells.
Saturday afternoon, I drove to Belvedere Junior High School, where my grandfather, Walter Zabriskie, had been principal in the 1960s. His former students had asked if he could attend their reunion. And by virtue of the fact that he has lived to the age of ninety-eight, his answer could be “yes”!
Even though Belvedere is a junior high, its students from the 1960s hold periodic reunions because they feel about their junior-high years the way many people come to feel about high school.
The way they tell it, this was largely due to their excellent principal and staff. So they presented my grandfather with this fantastic plaque:
This morning I uploaded my best photos from the reunion into my Flickr account.
After the reunion, I headed to the Ogdorm for a quick nap in Rebecca’s delightfully-appointed room and then a building-wide party with what must’ve been more than 100 of the most interesting people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting in such a short period of time: Phil, Bob, Troy, Reichart, and so many more.
I am not usually much of a party person, but this one had too many interesting people for me to pull myself away. I fell sleep at 5:00 a.m.
On Sunday morning I recovered to the best of my ability and rode with Andrew to a jazz piano lesson he was teaching in Hermosa Beach. We returned in time for lunch with wookie-philosopher Luka, but regrettably missed Shapiro, who unlike the rest of us has a real schedule to keep thankyouverymuch.
Sunday evening, Andrew, Rebecca, Paul, and I joined Reichart and company on a Hike the Geek trek up the aptly-nicknamed “ass buster” trail. I probably needed to buy new running shoes already, but now they’re covered in dust.
Paul took the above photo during the hike. Monday morning, he and I spontaneously took a quick road trip to see Zibby (my grandfather) again before I had to catch my plane Monday afternoon.
I am reminded just how inspiring and rejuvenating it is to spend time with quality friends.
To all of you whom I was able to meet and spend time with during my trip — thank you! I hope to be back soon. With so many good people in one place, it will be hard to stay away.
Today I’ll be re-adjusting to being back home, including plenty of meditation, and getting back into the swing of things with work and the various web development projects on my plate.
Joshua, I just found out about the Belvedere JHS reunion held last year. I was dissapointed I was not there! I did not know about it until now! I would have loved to have had the honor to see your grandfather, Walter Zabriskie, again. He was a great example of what a great human being can become and give back to the community, and how he influenced his students to be the best.
Thanks for your photos, I enjoyed them very much. Ray BJHS Alumni W’65.