It's Been a Quarter Century Since I Completed High School...

So today marks 25 years since I graduated from Bishop Amat Memorial High School!

The Class of '98 panorama above was actually taken two days before, followed by such exciting events as the Senior Paper Toss and Senior Luau on campus, and then Grad Nite at Disneyland before the big day.

I took a nap at home the morning after Grad Nite...before I suited up and headed back to Amat for my commencement ceremony. The summer that ensued before I began my college career at Cal State Long Beach was a memorable one...with me watching such memorable flicks as The Truman Show, Can't Hardly Wait, Armageddon (yes, Armageddon) and Saving Private Ryan at the theater, and hanging out with my high school friends before we began parting ways later that year.

One of my high school classmates pondered on Facebook a few years back about having a 25-year reunion this year, but I don't think it's gonna happen. But the 30-year reunion is only five years away, and I definitely can't wait for that one!

Happy Monday.

Remembering a Fellow Lancer...

Rest In Peace, Mariana. Earlier today, I found out on Facebook that Mariana Baserga—my former classmate from Bishop Amat Memorial High School—passed away after fighting a brave battle with cancer. I was absolutely devastated to hear this. Even though I wasn't a close friend of Mariana when we were in high school from 1994 to '98, I chatted with her during our 20-year high school reunion that took place in Newport Beach, CA almost a year ago.. It was a memorable time...and it's gonna be heartbreaking not to see Mariana around when my fellow Lancers (that's the name of our high school mascot) convene for our 30-year reunion in 2028. My condolences to Mariana's family.

The Final Post of 2018: Reliving 2008 (and then some)...

Just thought I'd end this year by pointing out how 2018 reminded me of 2008...a year that I look back on favorably for personal reasons. 2008 was memorable because a spacecraft carrying a DVD that bears my name (NASA's Phoenix lander) successfully touched down on Mars, I attended my 10-year high school reunion in Pasadena, CA, I went to Florida and took part in a cruise (to the Bahamas) for the first time, and I did so many viewings of The Dark Knight in movie theaters because it was such an awesome film.


SpaceX

In regards to 2018, my name landed on Mars for the third time (via two small microchips aboard the InSight spacecraft over a month ago; my name is also on the Curiosity rover as it safely arrived at the Red Planet in 2012), I attended a dinner cruise in Newport Beach, CA, to mark my 20-year high school reunion two months ago, I went to Florida and took part in a second cruise (to the Panama Canal and other locales in Central America) last March, and I watched The Dark Knight in Universal City (twice during the summer) after the movie was theatrically re-released for its 10-year anniversary.


JAXA

Along with the highlights listed above, this entry also includes some non-personal events as well as cool, exciting activities that I did this year [namely, going skydiving in San Diego County for my 39th birthday (as shown in the pic at the very top of this entry)...and finally meeting 5-time NBA champ Kobe Bryant (as shown in the image at the bottom of this post)]. Check out the photos throughout this entry...and have a safe and happy New Year!

---

MARS LANDINGS

NASA / JPL - Caltech

NASA's Phoenix lander arrival (at Mars' north polar region): May 25, 2008

NASA's InSight lander arrival (at Elysium Planitia): November 26, 2018


NASA / JPL - Caltech

---

THE DARK KNIGHT


1st Theatrical Viewing: July 18, 2008

1st Theatrical Viewing (for 10-year anniversary release): August 26, 2018

---

OLYMPICS


2008 Summer Games (in Beijing, China): August 8 - 24, 2008

2018 Winter Games (in Pyeongchang, South Korea): February 9 - 25, 2018


Chang W. Lee / The New York Times

---

CARIBBEAN CRUISES


Bahamas cruise (from Fort Lauderdale, Florida): August 13 - 18, 2008

Panama Canal cruise (from Miami, Florida): March 11 - 23, 2018

---

CLASS OF 1998 REUNIONS


10-year high school reunion (in Pasadena, CA): October 25, 2008

20-year high school reunion (in Newport Beach, CA): October 6, 2018

---

And lastly, it only took 11 years to meet the Mamba...on October 23, 2018!

Snapshots of the Day #2: My 20-Year High School Reunion!

Last night, I drove down to Newport Beach (in Orange County, CA) to attend a dinner cruise that celebrated 20 years since I graduated from high school, and needless to say, it was awesome! I'm totally glad that I went. Originally, I was unsure about whether or not I should go since none of my close friends from school were showing up...but the reunion had such a festive atmosphere that almost every classmate in attendance was willing to approach and touch base with fellow students who they didn't really talk to when we were at Bishop Amat (our alma mater) from 1994 through '98.



The dinner cruise was aboard a charter yacht known as Endless Dreams, courtesy of Hornblower Cruises & Events. Personally-speaking, what made this reunion more enjoyable than our 10-year reunion in 2008 was that the cruise around Newport Beach Harbor lasted about 4 hours and we obviously couldn't leave till it ended! (We boarded the ship at 5:30 PM, set sail from the dock around 6:30 PM and didn't return to the pier till after 10 PM.) Since we were all stuck on the Endless Dreams together, my classmates and I had no choice but to talk to as many people onboard as possible...making us bond even more. We had so much fun on this cruise that after we returned to the dock, we literally walked across the street to attend a post-reunion gathering at On the Rocks Bar & Grill. The last 3 photos at the bottom of this entry shows just how many Amat folks stuck around to continue the festiveness that began when we gathered together at the Hornblower dock before 5:30 PM.



I totally can't wait for the 30-year reunion in 2028! Some of my classmates joked last night that we should have a 21-year reunion next year, but that's a little too much. No need to make the same mistake that Disney did releasing Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Solo: A Star Wars Story within 5 months of each other! Heck— Even a 25-year reunion would be too soon. 2028 gives all of us Class of '98 folks enough time to experience more life events and changes that we can share three decades after our commencement ceremony was held at Bishop Amat High School (on June 5, 1998). Happy Sunday...and Go Lancers!

LINK: Additional photos I took during my 20-year high school reunion

Snapshots of the Day: The Blue Angels Make an Appearance at the Miramar Air Show...

As I stated in my previous entry, I was going to share images of the Blue Angels that I took at the Miramar Air Show a week ago today. Before taking flight in the afternoon, the six blue and gold-painted F/A-18 Hornets were parked out on the tarmac in front of the viewing stands...providing a nice backdrop as different types of aircraft performed acrobatic demonstrations above them throughout the day. As shown in the pics above and directly below (and alluded to in my Blog entry yesterday), the Blue Angels also made for nice static displays as explosions rocked the field behind them during a combat demonstration known as the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Demo. It was a few hours after MAGTF (and the F-35B Lightning II aerial demo that I wrote about in this entry) that the Blue Angels finally soared into the air. Thanks to my awesome Nikon D3300 DSLR camera, I was able to take these close snapshots of the Angels as they wowed the Miramar crowd for over 30 minutes that day.

The main reason why I went to the Miramar Air Show this year was to see a "heritage flight" take place between a modern F-22 Raptor and a World War II-era P-51 Mustang. Unfortunately, since the show was running behind schedule last Saturday, the flight was cancelled. And considering the fact that I didn't see any F-22/P-51 aerial pics from this year's air show on Instagram and other social media sites, it appears that the flight was scrapped for all three days (September 28 - 30) of the event. Bummer. But at least I saw the F-35B in all of its hovering glory again! Anyways, check out these Blue Angel photos that I took 7 days ago...

PS: Tonight is my 20-year high school reunion! Can't wait to attend.

Image of the Day: The ENDLESS DREAMS...

Just thought I'd share this snapshot of the Endless Dreams...a small ship that I'll be riding during my 20-year high school reunion on October 6! It was earlier today that I decided to hop on board and dish out $125 to join my fellow classmates on a 4-hour cruise though the Newport Beach harbor in California less than three weeks from now. Of course, I rarely talked to half of those classmates in high school two decades ago. But for personal reasons, attending my reunion is one of the events that'll make 2018 so similar to 2008—which was a very good year for me. I'll elaborate on that in a Blog entry by year's end.

So yea— I need to arrive in Orange County (California) to board the Endless Dreams around 5:30 PM, and the ship will set sail for a voyage that will last from 6 PM to 10 PM on the first Saturday of October. Awesome. I would also like to mention that my 39th birthday is two days before that! Yes, I plan to do something awesome to celebrate on that day... Carry on.

Better Luck in 10 Years!

So my 20-year high school reunion takes place a little over a month from now...on October 6. Unfortunately, I most likely won't go since my close high school friends, two of whom I went to my 10-year reunion with in October of 2008, won't attend this time around. The reason for this is because the 20-year reunion will be held on a boat that sails out of Newport Beach in Orange County, California. I myself don't mind being on the boat (even if it's gonna be for at least 2 hours), but I don't want to be on a boat with a bunch of former classmates who I didn't really talk to on campus 20 years ago! Oh well. I'm hoping that the 30-year reunion will take place on land—at a restaurant, preferably (the 2008 gathering took place at Villa Sorriso restaurant in Pasadena, CA). Or someplace cooler, like Spire 73 atop the Wilshire Grand Center! Then again, one of my close high school friends might also be afraid of heights. Soooo Pasadena restaurant, it is! If I was the one organizing the 2028 reunion... Carry on.

Back in the Day: My High School Graduation!

So today marks 20 years since I graduated from Bishop Amat Memorial High School in La Puente, California. How time flies! The group photo below was taken two days earlier on June 3, 1998. My class attended Grad Nite in Disneyland the following day. A pack of school buses drove us to the Happiest Place on Earth the night of June 4th, and returned to Bishop Amat the following morning. I took a nice nap when I got home before I had to get dressed and head back to Amat later in the day for my commencement ceremony—which was professionally recorded to a VHS tape that I purchased (I've been meaning to transfer it to a DVD). Our graduation song was Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me."

I could go on about all of the memorable details and events that took place around the time I graduated...as well as the Summer of 1998 itself. But I won't 'cause this would be a pretty long Blog entry! All I'll say next is that my 20-year high school reunion is set to take place aboard a yacht in Newport Beach on October 6, but I'm still deciding whether I should go or not.

If you look closely at this pic, you can spot a red arrow I put that denotes my location in this group photo. Go Lancers!

Photo of the Day: My High School's Uniforms 54 Years Ago...

One of my friends recently sent me this old picture that she found of our former high school back in 1964. This photo is jaw-dropping for two reasons: 1.) The colors of the uniforms are totally different from what they are today (the theme colors for our high school are now royal blue and gold). Also, it's amusing that there were uniforms back during the 1960s when my oldest brother (and I think my sister) got to wear casual clothing to class until uniforms were re-instated in the early 90s (all of my siblings—I have two brothers and one sister—and I attended this school). And 2.) The demographics of the students in this image are waaaaaay different from what they are in 2018 (and 1994 thru '98, the years that I attended this high school). How different, you ask? Well, let's just say that the neighborhoods surrounding my alma mater apparently didn't have any Asians or Latinos (mostly Latinos) living in 'em more than 50 years ago. That's how different.

And in case you didn't notice after I mentioned what years I was in high school in the previous paragraph: My 20-year high school reunion is this October! We'll see if I go. Have a happy Presidents' Day weekend.

Go Lancers!

CLASS OF 1998 REUNION... Last night, I attended my 10-year high school reunion at a restaurant in Pasadena. Pretty much a lot of my former classmates who I talked to before yesterday were apprehensive about showing up at the event. Of course, if any of you have already attended your get-together, you would know why. What would you tell them if you still lived at home? What would you say if they asked you about your job, which wouldn’t exactly be the most exciting or prestigious occupation out there (one of my old classmates used the term: "Not being accomplished yet")? What if you run into people who you didn’t get along with in high school a decade ago? For the most part, there was no reason to worry about these issues. My reunion went off really well!



Even without boozing up to feel relaxed for the event, it was easy to approach almost everyone at the restaurant. Even if it was people who I didn’t talk to AT ALL back in my alma mater, they were very friendly when I walked up to them to start a conversation. Granted, the conversation was brief ("Hi. What’s your name again? I’m Richard. So what’ve you been up to? Just work? Me too. All right, talk to you later")...but the fact everyone bonded last night was what made the reunion an awesome experience. And do I even need to mention how this helped make it easier for me to walk up to hot girls who I didn’t talk to that much in high school and take photos with them? There was one girl who I couldn’t approach for a pic (since she was sitting next to her fiancé on a couch for much of the night), but that’s okay. I was able to take a pic with this other girl (let’s call her Mandy) who was a cheerleader back in high school, and helped organize the reunion. Thanks Mandy...you did a great job!



All-in-all, I am extremely glad I attended the reunion. And that was the sentiment shared by a lot of my old classmates who showed up as well. Some of the other dudes who were considered "jocks" back in high school were cool to talk to, and I got along with one of my, um, former friends who I stopped talking to back in 2004. He’s pretty successful right now... Owns a local motel (which he said he’s gonna tear down and turn into a suite) and several Subway restaurants. I’ll feel envious when he or his family starts buying In-N-Out or Yogurtland shops. Of course, I think a lot of other people would feel envious about that too, haha.



AN ADVICE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE YOUR REUNIONS COMING UP:

GO TO THEM. The most common remark when you ask someone if they’re going to their get-together—especially in this Age of Facebook and MySpace—is "Why bother? All the people who I’d want to see, I still talk to." Trust me... When you show up to your reunion, that mentality will go away, and you’ll be walking around the room taking pictures and wanting to know what your fellow classmates have been up for the past decade. And you’ll realize that it’s such a great experience to reminisce about the good ol’ days...when all we had to worry about was who to ask to the Prom or when to start that book report...and not about buying a house and then facing foreclosure, or who to vote for who would be suitable to handle today’s crappy economic situation and the war on terror.

I’m looking forward to 2018...