{"id":2471,"date":"2009-04-01T22:10:11","date_gmt":"2009-04-02T05:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/of.jennism.com\/?p=2471"},"modified":"2009-04-01T22:19:24","modified_gmt":"2009-04-02T05:19:24","slug":"and-then-there-was-the-reunion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/of.jennism.com\/?p=2471","title":{"rendered":"And then there was the reunion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>To me, before I ran into Chris again, Rescomp had always been a job that I once had in Berkeley.  A job that I deliberately applied for, because I didn&#8217;t want to helpless.  I wanted to be different and special\u00e2\u20ac\u201done of the guys and one of the tech-savvy.  At the end of my time at Rescomp, I had realized how like any student jobs they binded people together.  But I never attended any of the social events, I never was part of the in-crowd&#8230;I had remained outside the drama and the inner circle.<\/p>\n<p>When I &#8220;met&#8221; Chris again\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhe and I never really exchanged a single word at Rescomp (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/rescomp\/2387983440\/in\/set-72157606586259228\/\">an example of a missed opportunity<\/a>: i am on the left with long black hair and he is in green on the right), he talked about his three years fondly\u00e2\u20ac\u201drecalling the crazy times, the memorable one-liners, the ski trips, the RBI&#8230;the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/rescomp\/2387152077\/in\/set-72157606586259228\/\">hijinks<\/a>&#8230;and his last year as part of the senior staff, leading a small team.  He showed me the classic photo of his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/rescomp\/2387156147\/in\/set-72157606586259228\/\">team<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe one that is still known in Rescomp today as the one of the best team photos.<\/p>\n<p>But this is how it started.  An almost aching for what could have been\u00e2\u20ac\u201dif I could have been less shy and more open as an undergraduate.  If I didn&#8217;t let some judgments get in the way and if I didn&#8217;t spend most of my time overanalyzing than doing.  I longed for what could be and that drew me to the event.  And in some way, I admit that I wanted people to see who I was now than who I was then.<\/p>\n<p>But was it a regret?  As I worked with the committee to contact <i>everyone<\/i> for the reunion, I came across those who had misgivings about their job.  And there were people who didn&#8217;t want to see others.  The grudges, the embarrassments, the shame, the guilt.<\/p>\n<p>Being known as the super-quiet, awkward one during my first few years of Rescomp, I wondered how perceptions of me have changed.  It was a self-centered thought really.  At the event, I saw my former supervisor come in with his girlfriend and dog.  &#8220;Hi&#8230;&#8221; he hesitantly said, seeming surprised to see me managing the welcome table.<\/p>\n<p>I smiled and said, &#8220;Haven&#8217;t seen you for awhile!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>During the toast, I suddenly wanted to retreat back to my super-quiet self.  When they called the committee to the front, I tried to hide behind the speaker, nervously picking at my strawberry cupcake.  But Chris who had yelled &#8220;HEY RESCOMP!&#8221; and people now attentive yelled back, &#8220;Hey taiche!&#8221; as if they had known him forever.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ericleungphotography.smugmug.com\/photos\/496947732_pcb25-M.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>More <a href=\"http:\/\/ericleungphotography.smugmug.com\/gallery\/7682951_G4fw6\">photos<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/rescomp\/sets\/72157615729725111\/\">photos<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To me, before I ran into Chris again, Rescomp had always been a job that I once had in Berkeley. A job that I deliberately applied for, because I didn&#8217;t want to helpless. I wanted to be different and special\u00e2\u20ac\u201done &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/of.jennism.com\/?p=2471\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/of.jennism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/of.jennism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/of.jennism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/of.jennism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/of.jennism.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/of.jennism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/of.jennism.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/of.jennism.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/of.jennism.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}