JTC Class of 1980

Paying It Forward…

jtc80 — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 07:16:08 +0000

Had the best job today – I got to give some money away. The 46th John Taylor Collegiate Convocation took place on June 28th, and two students of the 2010 class were recipients of the Class of ’80 generosity. Through the participation of our class in the June 5th Reunion party, two scholarships worth $500 each were given to two deserving students. At the request of the reunion team, the JT awards committee recommended two deserving graduates for the award. Both students had an average above 80%, were actively involved in the JT music/choral/band program and musical over their high school careers and both will be attending post secondary studies. The two students were Jordan Doe (who happens to be Richard Milton’s nephew…) and Hope Figueroa. Both were very surprised at receiving the awards, and were looking forward to their university careers.

As my son was also graduating this year, I was fortunate in being able to present these students with their scholarships.

Way to go Class of ’80 – this was a good thing. Hopefully some other alumni might think this is a good thing to do one day too.

No more pics lately…

jtc80 — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 22:22:10 +0000

If thats it, that’s it. But if you have some that you’d like to add to the collective detritus of our slideshow, by all means, send them along to jtc1980grads@gmail.com . Updates to the JTC 1980 Grads Scholarship awards forthcoming soon. Now get off your computer and get out in the backyard – its a beautiful day out there and people are stealing your beer…

OK – now that’s a lot of pictures…

jtc80 — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 16:50:46 +0000

Started to add some more pictures, but getting a bit too time consuming here on WordPress. If you want to check out all the pics, we’ve set up a Flick’r space that everyone can access here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50748098@N03/ … You can also check out the slide show here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50748098@N03/show/ and of course, John Taylor’s facebook page is still live and happy. If you want to share your photos, take a minute, and send your pics to jtc1980grads@gmail.com. We’ll keep posting as quickly as we can.

Cheers…
jtc80

First round from Cathy Cherka – lots more to come…

jtc80 — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 12:26:11 +0000

Lots of pics on the John Taylor’s facebook page - will be spending the weekend uploading here. Have fun guessing who’s who…

Hmmm… 150 visitors over the last 2 days and no pictures…

jtc80 — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:24:05 +0000

With all the cameras I saw last Saturday I’m sure that someone took at least one picture that didn’t involve that cute l’il server in the black… uhh – never mind. So get your kids to show you how to get the picture thingees through the wire into the computer thingee and send us some pictures – otherwise we might be forced to start putting up those geeky, big-hair 1980 yearbook pics from the badges. So take a minute, and send your pics to jtc1980grads@gmail.com and we’ll get them up as soon as we can.

Cheers…
jtc80

OK… that was fun…

jtc80 — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:47:59 +0000

Wow – I hope you hurt as much as I do - not like “I hurt from the gym” kinda hurt, but a good hurt – just a bit too much liquid fun, mixed with a whole lot of hugs, kisses and “so good to finally see you again” kinda warm burn…

On behalf of the group of people who conspired to get everyone together, I’d just like to say thanks to everyone for making the evening a great success – when friends come into the ‘Peg from across North America for a party, there must be something special about that friendship. I hope everyone had as much fun as we did in putting it together.

We’ll keep this blog alive as long as there are photos to post, so if you have pics to share, send them along to jtc1980grads@gmail.com and we’ll get them up as soon as we can.

Cheers…
jtc80

Reunion FAQs and other sundry matters…

jtc80 — Sun, 30 May 2010 20:16:43 +0000

A Final Notice! email arrived on Thursday, and while I normally just delete those kinds of things (like that’s gonna get my attention or something…), I noticed that it was from the responsible side of the JTC80 planning team.

Wow – 6 more sleeps – can’t believe how quickly the time has passed since initial plans for a reunion were first laid out on a bar napkin back those many months ago (actually all of our plans are on bar napkins; no one could ever remember paper…). But as it says in the email, everything is pretty much done – all that’s left is getting ready for the big evening.

And in that “getting ready” spirit, I’ve put together an FAQ list to cover off the many questions that have been flooding this blog every day (OK – not really flooding, maybe just a trickle. OK, nothing – no one has asked anything. In fact, I’m not sure anyone reads this crap at all…)

Reunion FAQs

I’ve never reunioned before – what’s required to be a good reunioner?

First, one must have some group to reunion with (preferably people), and they should likely be linked in some common endeavour. Examples might be:

-   Sports Teams (hockey, football, cribbage, etc.)
-   Schools (that’s us)
-   Families (these are particularly dangerous without experience…)
-   Government teams (Army, prisons, mental hospitals, political parties etc.)

After that, it’s pretty straightforward… One needs a common date (no – not her… a date on the calendar), a place to reunion (check), and something to do. This generally involves cheerful greetings and conversation (to be supplied by everyone – check), some refreshments (food and beverage – check), and convivial jocularity (generally follows beverages…). Not too complicated.

What does one wear to a reunion?

Beer. It makes everyone look great, and helps you dance better.

A very common question. As an organizing committee, we spent a great deal of time discussing attire (at least ten minutes), and came to an agreement that the attire for the evening would be “reunion casual”, simply put, wear what you’re comfortable in, wear what you would to a friend’s summer party. It would be great if all really hairy parts and dangly bits be covered for the majority of the evening (or at least until midnight…)

How much drinking generally goes on at 30th Anniversary High School reunions?

Considerable. A great deal. Lots. Many. Professional reunioners who drink alcohol suggest that a taxi or designated driver is an excellent idea.

What if I don’t drink?

Bring a camera – many of those who do drink, earn good money. They should be good for some hush money… Seriously, drinking is not necessary – you’re going to meet people you haven’t seen for many years – there’s going to be lots of catching up to do, some great nibblies, and maybe even some dancing too….

If I take pictures, will there be a place to share them?

Stay tuned to this blog, post reunion – we’ll be setting up a site for sharing pics. Hopefully those who can’t be here on the 5^th can check them out too – and perhaps spur them on in attending future parties.

I don’t have a ticket yet – will there be tickets at the door?

There will be tix at the door, but we’d appreciate it if you’d let us know as soon as possible if you’re coming – we need to confirm food numbers with the bar a few days before the event so they know how many chickens to dispatch, and how many nachos to cheez…

Let us know at jtc1980grads@gmail.com. We look forward to getting your money…

Cheers…
jtc80

More Fun Facts and Handy Reunion Tips….

jtc80 — Fri, 21 May 2010 19:53:38 +0000

1. Once again, whether these are fun or handy is clearly debatable.
2. John Taylor was the bass player for Duran Duran.
3. John Taylor now plays lead guitar for the Jonas Brothers.
4. Obviously John Taylor is tone deaf – his musical taste sucks.
5. Reunion Tip – You needn’t worry that you look fat in that outfit – you only need to worry that you don’t look as fat as that other guy in that outfit.
Mr. Marchinko’s art classroom was always in the basement – lots of dads got homemade clay pipes for Father’s Day. And Christmas, and birthdays…
Mr. Perriman’s electronics class was also in the basement. He didn’t smile much – people kept using his soldering irons irresponsibly.
Reunion Tip – If you’re hesitant about attending the reunion, hook up with a friend and go together. Tequila’s a good choice too.
The band Harlequin once played JT – their “Ring of Fire” pyrotechnics set off the fire alarms – which is why people smoked in the greenhouse.
Reunion Tip – If your bunions are acting up, I don’t want to hear about it. Save it for when you’re back at the home.
Calculators became popular in the mid-70s. Despite that fact, we spent a month learning how to use a slide-rule in grade 10 (in the event of the oft-predicted battery famine…)
“Computer Science – 1980” used computer cards where you needed a pencil to mark them – because some geek always hogged the key punch machine.
Reunion Tip – the pasty guy you’re talking to who “has a real sweet set-up” in his mom’s basement is the guy who hogged the keypunch.
The walk to Unicity Mall during a spare took seven minutes. Two minutes in February.
The 12 minute run sucked.
The cost for a drink ticket at the Monterey Ranch Dance Hall was fifty cents – if you had five bucks, you were in for a good night.
The Monterey Ranch Dance Hall burned down in 1992. The dance hall business was so lucrative, it became a strip mall.
No human being ever set foot in the courtyard.
Reunion Tip – Bring pictures of your kids. Everybody likes kids. Cats – not so much.
There were very few bagpipers in John Taylor. Okay there was one bagpiper.
Gold skyrocketed to $850 an ounce in 1980. Other products sold by the ounce didn’t skyrocket.
Reunion Tip – Your opinions on politics, religion and stories of your sexual prowess are good conversation starters.
Reunion Tip # 20 should read “..not good conversation starters.”
Mr. Bridge always looked very serious. It might have been the plaid blazers.
Future archaeologists will be baffled by the “smoker’s catwalk” by the parking lot.
Mr. Spencer’s nickname was “Skippy”. I don’t think he liked it.
Life Week was really cool. We counted trees in a swamp. Other people went to Europe. Not sure we made the right choice.
If you were in “Pajama Game”, you likely can’t get “Fernando’s Hideaway” out of your head. Or if you finally did, it’s back in there now.
The Student Council removed school uniform regulations from the Student Body Constitution. No one knew what a “Green and Gold Beanie” looked like.
Reunion Tip – If you’re still reading this, you really should buy a ticket already. Pick one up through jtc1980grads@gmail.com

Cheers…
jtc80

Holy crap. This just might work…

jtc80 — Wed, 19 May 2010 01:52:11 +0000

We might actually pull this one off… this party has the makings of a classic - as much as damn-near-50-year olds with bad backs, sore feet, high cholestoral, can’t-drink-too-much-cos-I-have-to-get-up-and-get-the-kid-to-soccer people can party “classically”.

Tickets just keep rolling out the door (we’re over 80 now…), names like John Handford, Tracy Mullin, Keith Gilbert… Doug Fraser was in town last weekend (he sold the Gremlin), picked up his tickets. Traffic here is now averaging about 40 people a day (compared to.. like two back when it started – and I think they were both Karen…). Music is ready to go, weather is awesome, nachos are being cheezed (we couldn’t afford the real thing so we went with cheez), beer is chilling…

So if you’re still thinking about doing some reunioning (verb?) - what the hell are you waiting for?

For tickets or more info, contact jtc1980grads@gmail.com…

Cheers…
jtc80

Time to start pitchin’ in for beer…

jtc80 — Fri, 14 May 2010 01:46:46 +0000

It’s getting to the time when the preacher finishes the sermon and gets out the collection plate. We’re two weeks away from having to confirm numbers with the bar – and as these commitments include financial ones, we’d like to begin the process of taking your money. Many of you have already received emails regarding your nasty high school reunion ticket buying habit, but in case you didn’t get the letter, tickets are now ready for distribution. The offer to have tickets dropped off to you is still open, however, with the initial weak response to this option, we are not sure if many of you want/need this option. If you don’t send us your address in the next few days, then you won’t be able to have the tickets delivered right to you. We have another option for those of you who want to pick up your tickets in advance. Lori Marquette has offered a pick-up spot for tickets at Marquette Homes located in Headingley just beside the old Odeon Drive-In (Maybe Skatetown’s being held over - I was always a sucker for lycra and sparkles…) .

Pick-up dates:
- Tuesday May 18th and Thursday May 20th from 1-4:30 pm
- Saturday May 22nd from 1-4 pm.

If you aren’t able to pick up the tickets at Marquette Homes on the dates and at the times given, then option #3 will be to join those out-of-towners who will be picking up their reserved tickets at the door, on June 5th. However, as the busybodies organizing this party are expressing a degree of financial commitment to the beer slingers, it would be appreciated if you could pony up with the coin prior to the event so our children will be able to eat the following week.

For those of you still undecided, all we can say is that we hope you can come and enjoy what we think will be a great evening, and that you get off the pot and make a freakin’ decision already(with love in our hearts and all due sincerity…). ;->
Please respond as soon as you can to jtc1980grads@gmail.com and let us know which option works for you. ( To those of you who have responded – tanks! We will let you know when the date is set for delivery…)

(We’re so much gonna have more fun than these people… except the two on the left. They look like Dick van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. They always were party people…)

Cheers…
jtc80