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to the Reunion '97 HomepageVictor Sim '84
I woke up Monday morning with a funny feeling... knowing that the Kadena/Kubasaki Reunion had officially ended. As I boarded my flight back to S.F. (half asleep... half dazed... and hoping I had boarded an Alaskan Airlines flight), many thoughts from the weekend raced through my mind starting with Thursday night....
Thursday Night...The night people started arriving in Vegas. Beware Vegas!!! I waited at the airport for approximately 3 hours and finally Dr. Dean's plane lands.... Wow, great seeing MOM 2 after 7 years. You looked great and haven't changed a bit..... I returned to my room at about 1:00 am and checked my voice message. The machine says "you have 35 new messages." Ouch, I hope they aren't from demanding clients... Great, there from old friend... Canavan, Cooley, Rimrodt, Leigh, Foster, Cheri, Parkinson, Klein, Wilson, Noren (Ward), Handy, Janette and Corinda, et al.... I'm getting ready to go to bed and ring ring ring... Hello Cooley, how are ya? Okay, let's go downstairs... Ring ring ring.. Parkinson? Meet us downstairs at the bar. So, the three of us proceed to the bar (just like old times in D.C.) hanging out drinking beers and scotch. Cooley, you really should have tried harder with the 2 Australian women. Scott, congrats on the soon to be father of twins.... I'll send ya the Cohibas shortly.
We get back to the hotel at 8:00 am and M. Cheri and Jimmy are ready for the 18 hole challenge. No mas! Sorry guys, I'll have to take a raincheck... Who won anyways??? I'm definitely in for the challenge in New Orleans!
Friday... Day 1 of the Reunion.... Ring ring ring... Gee, it's only 10:00 am.... hello... Oh, hi Allison (MOM 3)... I know we need to go to the store and buy refreshments for the Happy Hour... ok... see ya at noon... I know... I'll help out with decorations....Ring ring ring.. hello, Tracy... hey glad ya made it... Lunch??? Sure, meet you downstairs in 20 minutes.... but I have to go to the store in one hour... We decide to check out the pool.... Renee and Kevin (great seeing ya).... At high noon, Allison and I catch a cab to the nearby Luckys... We throw approximately 200 beers, 50 sodas, bottles of wine, chips and other goodies into carts.... Flag a cab back to the Flamingo around 3:00.... Frantically, dump all the refreshments into Allison's tub... get buckets and buckets of ice. Ok guys, I need to take an hour nap... see ya around 7:30...
Ring ring ring... hi Allison... It is only 6:30... What 100s of people are already raging... ok be down soon.... I get off the elevator... and hear lots of rumbling in the hallways.... My first thought was "didn't the Navy get rid of tailhook?".... Then, I recognize many familiar faces Wittman, Sonny, the Egans, Flattens, Kristi and her class of 87-89 friends, Canavan, Parkinson, the Handys, John "You want some" Metcalf, Tracy, the 4 married women (Liz, Amy, Danny and Tracy) ready to party, Cindy, Jennifer Becke, Jimmy R, Melody.... Then more and more people arrive... The Driggers, Cheri, Murray, Coston, Stu, Higa and child, Neis, Mimi, Cooley, Shirley, Sullivan, Stan, Cindy Cox, Stephanie, Janette and Corinda, Yamanoha, Klein, Wilson, the Watsons, Lind ... A call from Clayton Old....Oh I run into two people that I can't for the life of me recognize (as they have changed soooo much)... Tom "The Bomb" Egan and Tom Scambilis... An hour into the event and what we are out of beer already... Gee, what a bunch of lushes.... OK Allison, Cindy and Tom "The Bomb" are off getting more beers... Thnx Tom for being such a sport... Scambilis, you and Gigi are awesome... Can't wait to do Hurricane's with you two in N.O. I'm downstairs with Parkinson, Ramirez and White hitting the blackjack table pretty hard... White those were some awful cards you kept getting.... You must have broke 10 times....That was lots of fun though :)
So, off I go wandering the casino and run into... Mike Leigh, Dana and JENN and many others.... Go back to Allison's room for round 2....Out of beer again... and now it is about 11:00...
Wait... Culver is the GM of the Beach... Let's go!!! Great seeing roughly 80 of us at the Beach dancing away (reminded me of the good ol' days of 8-Beat, Manhattans and New York/New York... We did take up half the floor... Dana, wanting to dive off the stage.... Wittman and Leigh, that 5 minute shot was awful.... BTW, Mike, what happened to the group of Canadians? Didn't I hear you humming OH CANADA at the game the next morning???? Where were the Dragons... Higa and Sullivan, I see how you are.. placing a curfew of midnight on your team while we were out til 5:00 ish... Culver, again many thanks for the great time at your awesome club.
Hit the craps table with Stan, Wittman, David, Peter and Tracy... We win some and lose some... Tracy wins big $175, but gives it to Peter... Glad you guys already understand the concept of community property....Get to my room at 5:00ish... You have 15 new messages... Ring ring... Kelly Anderson, Klein and Wilson what do you want? No, I can't rage tonight b/c I'm in charge of the big softball game.... Good night!!!
Saturday... Day 2
8:00 am... ring ring ring... Higa, what do you want? Oh yeah the softball game... Yikes, my team was out until at least 5:00 am... I'll need to call everyone to wake them up.... What Metcalf was sleeping on the floor outside his room? Where is Cheri and Stu? Leigh and Jimmy, I know you are still drunk, but you need to play... 10:00 am, where are the Dragons Higa? 40 of them already left and they've been practicing for 30 minutes!!! Is that Michelle Sullivan? Irene Warner? Yikes, we're dead!!! 11:30, Higa and I arrive at the field after running more errands... Whew, I see about 40 people in the Kadena doughout as well.... This is going to be a great game!!!
(The rights to post details of the softball game were purchased by Mike Cheri.)
3:30 pm back to the hotel... and run into Jarinda and Poho... Sorry guys, the game ended an hour ago ... maybe in New Orleans....ring ring ring... Allison.. what can I do for you now? Okay, we need to go over our dinner stuff... ring ring ring.. Higa, come on up and let's get the power point stuff ready...Murray, Costen, Foster, Higa and I go downstairs for the last minute walk through.. Yikes, where is the overhead? Where is the D.J? did anyone blow up the balloons??? Panic panic....
6:00 pm... ring ring ring.. Cooley, thanx for calling can you take care of the Orion beer? ring ring ring... Wilson, how are ya? I need a milk cartoon and some tape and bring me up a stogie....Get downstairs... dinner starts... Candlelight vigil for my good friend Butch (thnx Mike for the kind words)....
7:30 pm let the roast begin... Costen and Murray great job... Cindy's top ten.... the "you brought that shit upon your self awards"....Thnx everyone for being such a great sport with the roast... What a riot!!!!
1:00 am okay everyone head on out to New York/New York.....Stop the press.. who is that!!! Excuse me Mr. D.J. can you play 45 minutes of slow songs for me..... Thnx JM for a great evening... We head over to New York/New York... There must have been 50 different bars there b/c we only ran into a few of ya and got lost in that Casino... Off to Utopia... honk honk honk... Costen, how are ya? Can we get a ride to Utopia? I hear Dennis Rodman is there!!! Thnx.... Hang out for a few songs and head back to the hotel....No Dennis Rodman, but fun nevertheless... So, what happened Mistress Kelly???
4:00 am Return to the Flamingo and wander the halls of the 5th floor... JM, what are hallmonitors doing on your floor? Quel coincidence....Tom "The Bomb" your lipstick is the same color as Dana's......knock knock.... Metcalf, Stan, Wittman... what are you guys doing sleeping? Okay, I'm starving... haven't eaten anything all day.... I'm off for some chili cheeseburger in paradise... Boy, did I regret it the next morning....
5:30 am Walk the halls of the 5th floor... coast is clear no hallmonitors in site... goodnite JM.....
Sunday... day 3...
ring ring ring... Tracy it is 8:30 am what do you want? Okay,
I'll be down in 30 minutes.... Great seeing all of you again..
Many have already departed.. heee :( Heee :( What a sad day
realizing the end is near.... Eat breakfast... say
goodbyes....and wonder when we'll see each other again... One by
one people leave... ring ring ring... Hi JM (heart skips)... are
you leaving? Promise to stay in touch!! Okay, my plans for Sunday
were to sleep... rack ... and sleep some more... Somebody,
however, leaked that I would still be in Vegas... and whaaalaaa
my room became the homeless shelter.... Knock knock... Rob and
Joy, sure come on up... ring ring.. Allison... Cindy... Mike
Lyons.... Kelly Anderson and Friends.... Finally, at 1:00am
everyone
had left for the airport... Goodnite... ring ring ring... hello,
Jack.. how are ya? Jack and I talked for 2 hours about
confidential
stuff which I am not a liberty to disclose... Yikes, I gotta
catch a flight back to S.F......
I arrived in S.F. at 7:30 am and went straight to work.. My boss and colleagues looked and me and said "you look like shit".....Four days later, my voice is still gone, my liver abandoned me.... I am still intoxicated (not from alcohol alone but from the wonderful bonding experience) and I miss all of you already.... I get calls from many you know who you are wondering about you know who!!! Were there any love connections?
See.... Peter please call Tracy.... Tom the Bomb when are you coming out to Orange County (I think September is a great time)... Mike H, I can't believe you didn't let Cindy walk to 1st... Jennifer Becke, we we all so concerned about your whereabouts on Friday night.... Mike Leigh... call me... Joy and Robert, you guys make a cute couple.. Am I invited to your wedding... For the last 4 days, I've been getting lots of e-mails and phone calls from all of you... In a nutshell, what a great time.... I believe we left our footprints in the sands of time... Kudos, again for the wonderful job done by Jack Canavan, Allison Foster, Cindy Rimrodt, Tracy Stuckrath, John Higa, John Sullivan, John Murray, Derrick Costen and Kristi Patterson.... If you guys ever need anything, let me know.... I believe the venue for the next gig is likely to be New Orleans.... I'm scared for everyone already.... You know the rules... See you then... Keep in touch b/c I want to know what you guys are up to.... BTW, on Thursday night at 11:58 pm as I was about to turn into a pumpkin, she finally called.... Yippie skippie....
Special thanks to Jim Strickland and Brad Barton for the awsome web pages.
Best regards,
Victor