Hey! A brief overview of life after Samo:

85 Discovered after graduation they had handed me a blank sheet of paper. I had dropped a needed science class in 94 and as a result had failed 12th grade in 95, or at least not yet passed. Things were already off to a great start. Summer school fixed this. Final Samohi GPA, 1.6.

85 Ordered by my family to go to ITT technical school to learn a trade or to find a new place to live, cuz “You’re not smart enough for college”. I held out for the degree. After six years of this rerun, this was our final heated discussion and we mutually agreed we had different expectations of my future and different definitions of “love”, “family” and “respect”. My going away gift was a one day rental of a Uhaul. This permanently ended all family ties and was the start of my secret dream that I’m adopted.

86 I couldn’t swing a job AND college so with nowhere else to go I decided to join the Army as a Helicopter Crew Chief for the college benefits.

87 Assigned to my first unit, the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division in Kentucky. While there in 88 we had two helicopters mesh blades in midair, all 17 perished. They didn’t fell any pain, but had a ride through hell on the way down. The Army said it lost some assets, I just know is I lost some friends.

88 Assigned one month temporary duty in Egypt and Jordan. Egypt’s Pyramids were impressive. However, the most interesting thing about Egypt is found in flight. We often found dotted islands of black in the seemingly endless desert. When we landed to investigate we found the dots were exposed petrified logs. I learned Egypt’s desserts were once a thick forest. Makes me wonder about our future.

88 With daily workouts, I now weigh 250 and have a respectable build, yet wish I had better cut. I complete Airborne (Air Assault) training with a 12 mile run in combat boots packing full equipment. My Ranger partner beat my time by 20 minutes but had silver dollar blisters to show for it, making himself a liability had it been real combat. Grunts, will they ever learn?

The Kentucky people are cordial and were kind enough to remind me weekly “you’re one of them Californians ain’t ya”. Accordingly, in 89 I submitted a request for a transfer to Europe. Predictably a hard ship tour to South Korea with six day work weeks was all I was offered. I gladly took it.

89 ­ 91 Assigned to a Medivac Dustoff unit outside Seoul, South Korea. Found the flights along the DMZ to be a bit uncomfortable when the North Koreans lit us up with anti-air tracking radar. Was shocked to discovered the painted Red Cross with the white background on the sides of our camouflaged aircraft was little more than bulls eyes for the enemy. With a can of spray paint and a quick snap-in of the two gun mounts our helicopters can go from Medivac to Attack Ship in 30 seconds. Both sides knew this, so anything goes. On the up side, I was surprised to find many many miles of untouched virgin white sand beaches with turquoise water on the eastern part of the country. They are truly beautiful.

90 - 91 My last day in the military they notified me that I was “involuntarily extended indefinitely for Dessert Shield”, later called Dessert Storm. It could be said I was less than accepting to this change of plan. Later, I reluctantly agreed if I could take two college night classes. My company commander agreed then later refused when he realized my ultimatum made him look weak in the eyes of many. Friction followed, till two months later he watched with approval as one of his officers spit in my face. Classy move. We all had a good laugh about that. I realized the situation needed some inspirited leadership and threw one of his chairs out his 5’ by 6’ double pane window. After we recovered from the shock of the sonic boom like sound the talks were once again going in the right direction. They threatened me with jail; I told them I could use the vacation. Yada, yada, yada…*yawn*. No one ever wins these discussions. Finally, I was ordered to pay unbelievably ! only $10 for the window and 60 days later I was a free man with an Honorable Discharge. Don’t ask. I can only speculate that they finally agreed with me after over four years, with six day work weeks and many dead friends I’d just had enough. Or maybe this is a country that likes to keep its federal buildings; not everyone is as forgiving as I am. Either way, it was the best $10 bucks I ever spent.

91 - 94 SMC *yawn* Inspired by both family and military, I take orders from no one. I watch what the successful people do, meticulously plan my moves and create highly effective teams in class. This time I’m captain of my ship and the results are telling. Final GPA 3.5. 95 I ‘m still without a degree or any cute kids to show off, so I decide to drop any Samohi reunion plans, seeing myself as incomplete.

94 ­ 96 USC, B.S. Business Administration, emphasis in finance and real estate. Found the USC academic expectations to be night and day different than SMC. Final GPA 3.0 I may have degreed form USC, but without a BMW or a six figure portfolio I never really fit in.

96 Took a tour of the NY financial centers with USC Professor Larry Harris (the current Chief Economist for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission). Walked around the NYSE floor, experienced the insanity on one of the commodity trading floors in action and later after a few aspirin I saw the Federal Reserve’s gold piled up in cages 100’ under ground. Frankly, I found the streets and people of New York to be more interesting than all three of them. Most memorable moment of the trip was the commanding view of NY from the top of the WTC. It reminded me of my helicopters flights as I could see the curvature of the earth. It’s a shame their gone.

97 ­ Present Traditional career paths disinterest me. Have held a string temp jobs to fill time and pay rent, but nothing in the job market really appeals to me. I’m searching for something higher, something other than spiritual. I’m looking for my inspiration, my reason, my center. Its more than a wife and kids, it’s hard for me to define.

03 ­ Present Currently I’m privately working on NASA’s Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project. (type “bpp” in the NASA.com web site “search” box for info) This is an unpaid solo endeavor. The chance of success is said to be marginal at best and I agree. However anyone with an open mind should also be able to see possibilities. The challenge of designing and building a vectorless thrust inertial engine (or “artificial antigravity”) seems crackable to me. Should this work “The value to humanity of achieving a propulsion breakthrough would be enormous” - NASA. Traditional research gives endless reasons why the project won’t work; I only need to demonstrate one why it will. I like the odds.

Increasingly (2002 and on) I’m disillusioned with US policies both foreign and domestic. as this country seems to be going into self destruct mode. Planning on moving to Minnesota or Colorado and toying with the ideas of Canada and Europe. As of June 2004 I’m moving out of state so technically I’ll be both unemployed and homeless, a SoCal. refugee. Judging form the US Census on migration trends, I’m late to this game.

I loved Southern California in the 1980’s, but the inflated price tag coupled with the staggering decline in quality of life make this an easy decision. Increasingly English here is becoming a foreign language. There is now graffiti on the once beautiful San Vicente trees near Brentwood, and last month they found a dead woman on the beach only steps away from the Jonathan Club. Outside my 5th and Montana window I hear sirens or the faint “pops” of gunfire in the distance nightly.

Strangely I find the orbiting police helicopter around the Santa Monica Promenade each weekend comforting and watching the occasional spotlight from the air at night dancing from ally to ally is like a scene from Blade Runner. For better or worse, this isn’t the Santa Monica I grew up in.

Weird Stuff about me: I do not own a DVD, TV, or car. I gave them all away. Don’t have a girlfriend or wife. Don’t have any kids (but deep want 4 of ’em), dogs, cats or any other child substitutes. I’ve had a tuna sandwich for lunch almost every day since 1988. (Nutritionalists call tuna “brain food”, my last girlfriend called it mercury poisoning. You be the judge.)

Some entries I’d like to add to people’s ’85 year books as of 2004:

Alex Wei, Hong-Sze Yu, Jong Kim, Roderick McCoy (the Sidney Poitier of Somohi), Markus Bruder, James Intriligator and the rest of the 4.0 GPA Wack Pack ­ From 1.6 to USC, and you though I didn’t fit in. “Veni, vidi, vici” my little friends. Two down, I humbly suggest you brace your selves for number three. 'Imagination is more important than knowledge.' - Albert Einstein. Imagine that.

Patricia Peters ­ Always had a crush on you, good luck with your trophy fiancé, you two will have beautiful children. Spiderman!... Who knew? You still listed on imdb.com?

Laura Barnard ­Get over me! You probably have a doctor husband and three kids now. Honestly, will you stop at nothing to try and make me jealous? We will always have the memory of summer computer class together, now get over it. You and me, it never would have worked out. Move on with your life!

Carri Brown - Your too cute! Send those horses to the glue factory and have some kids. You’re cheating the world!!!

Laura Maisch - Your few words of encouragement changed my life. More than u know, with love, thanku, thanku, thanku.

Carolyn Dursk, Natasha Cohen, Carri Brown, Peter Ramming, Jon Hobbs, Rachel Hsu, Tenley Boehm, Stacia Short, Georgine Blaser, Fritz Eilber, Gabrielle Harner, Laurie Neal, Collene Priebe, Leha Rasmussen, Nathalie Logan, Badt bros, Deborah Gunerius and a few more I know I’m forgetting ­ Never knew any of ya! I just quietly admired all of you from a far at how beautiful and talented humans can be. I hope you and your circles of friends have experienced success equal to the potential I saw in all of you.

Jon Hobbs ­ Who ever said “Winners never cheat and cheaters never win” wasn’t grading his own math final in junior high. Any professor who hands the finals back to the class for self grading gets what he deserves. I like to think of the last few days in that class as more a test of our future ability to think on our feet under pressure. Had we not taken action he should have failed us both… for incompetence! Thanks Bro. Congratulations on your upcoming PhD.

Sarah Easton ­ Do u ever think about me?

Kelly Bates ­ I will always remember you form sixth grade when you emptied the pitcher of ice water out and refilled it from the toilet. That was a cool glass of water Brian will never forget. I think we destroyed the self image of that boy for life. He’s probably a lawyer now so you did the right thing. He can afford the therapy. We socially drifted apart, but I never forgot you. You’re a major part of my youthful memories. As painful as they were at times, when I reflect back on you I can only smile.

Julie Held ­ In Junior High I was both blind and a fool, a 2x4 on the back of the head would have helped. Nuff said.

David Homan ­ a millionaire in construction with two kids before 40. I should have dodged the Army and USC and gone to work for you. Dam!!! If only I had a time machine.

To everyone that left a phone number in my year book ­ I never called. My life was upside down and I wanted to have the memory of what could have been. At times in my life it was all I had. Hope u can forgive me.

OK, in closing, my life has been many things, but never boring for very long, seems to be my fate. I hope the many candid ups and downs of my life have in some way left you with a greater appreciation of your own.

Although I hid it well, I greatly admired all of you from a distance, even back in Lincoln Junior High. I seem to be able to crack all barriers except the social ones. I just never fit in your world. This may impart explain why I’m working so hard to create a new one, so I can invite you into mine.

I wish happiness and prosperity to all of you.

Wow. Still have the Malibu address because I travel so much not because I still live there. I live in Santa Monica currently. 11th and Arizona.

Well, where do I start? Since Samohi I have been continuing my life underwater. I became a scuba instructor right out of high school. I have continued to teach and advance in the diving ranks. I began to educate myself in just about every related area as well. I have a Coast Gaurd Captains licence. I received a BS in marine biology from CSULB. I am currently an instructor trainer for several training agencies.

After high school I began shooting photos. Shooting and diving supported me through the many years it took to graduate. Just too many cool places to dive. Over the last eight years these interests have brought me into the film and video industry. I own a company called Scuba And Film Enterprises. We shoot and support water production. Most recently I have completed a show on Animal Planet called The Aquanauts. It airs at 4:30pm and 11:00pm Monday through Friday. I am currently in development on an IMAX feature and another diving adventure series. I still love to teach.

I hope everyone is great. Feel free to contact me via Email. I would love to hear from you and catch up.

OK, here's an update about what's been going on with my life, & a bit of a recap of my life since Samohi for those who are new to this site or don't know... Went to SMC after Samo. After doing well there I got into my dream school, UCLA (GO BRUINS!). Yep, I marched in the band there, as did many other ex-Samohites - the first year I was there it was like a big Samohi reunion, running into people I knew from there pretty much every day.

Had a great time in Westwood; I even had Troy Aikman in my Sociology class. After UCLA I joined the family business and worked in education for over 15 years, mostly as a P.E. teacher and a coach. I worked at different schools in Santa Monica, Venice, & Culver City, including at Grant & Roosevelt. Speaking of Culver City, I moved there at the end of '98. Got sick of the thugs on 18th Street where I lived and the gang-bangers in the Pico Neighborhood. Actually, I got sick of Santa Monica, period; it was time to go.

Been living in Culver City for 10 years now, and liking it. Went to get my master's and credential at CSUN in '97. Did well there too, but got VERY, VERY disillusioned with the whole thing, including bullies who called themselves bosses, and slavery-era overseers who called themselves supervisors, by around 2002. After putting up with enough crap to fertilize the Rose Bowl, I finally told education to take a hike in February of this year to pursue writing full time. I'd always wanted to be a writer, having said so when I was a kid and was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I looked at it like this: Being that I - we - are in our 40's now, our lives according to the American life span are half over, probably more than half for some. If I was going to "follow my dream", to coin a cliche', I better do it NOW. Or forever wish I had and live in regret.

So I've been writing and publishing articles on different websites like Triond.com, Hubpages.com, & BleacherReport.com, where I have over ten sports articles. I also blog regularly on BruinReportOnline.com, a UCLA sports site. I've also written a book called Diamond Lives, about my time coaching kid's baseball and softball in Santa Monica (remember when I was into that?), combined with my views on how best to work with kids in sports. It's almost ready to publish. I'm quite proud of it.

I know some of you saw me as a dork and either made fun of me or shunned me during our Samo, John Adams,and even Will Rogers days. That's because I have Asperger's Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism that negatively affect social interaction. I found out about it in '96. It hasn't been fun; I suffered due to it and am still suffering, but hey, I'm still here, right? Still play softball in Venice on Saturdays, though not quite as much as I used to.

Still play my saxophone on occasion, especially in the fall - I've been in the UCLA Alumni Band for over 15 years now, mainly so I can continue to see Bruin football games at the Rose Bowl for $45 a year instead of paying $250 for season tickets; that's where you can find me on Saturdays in the fall. They've even made me a board member, and we got on a Fox Sports TV show last week. It's all good fun.

Oh, not married, no kids. No plans on doing so either. With my Asperger's, no decent girl would want me, a special needs adult. Plus while I like kids (wouldn't have worked at schools & in sports if I didn't), having them is not for everyone. If they were, then child abuse and neglect wouldn't exist. Right? That's about it for me and my life now. Check out my articles on the websites I've mentioned, I can use the feedback. And email me if you like, let me know what's up with you.
www.triond.com and www.hubpages.com

Hi All, I ended up missing the reunion,sadly. Glad to hear from many how much fun it was. We are back in Santa Monica, again. My husband (Armen) owns a manufacturing company in Gardena and the drive is quick in the morning, brutal in the eves. We are thinking about moving south, and actually have found a few interesting pieces of property. We'll see what actually happens.

My three kids (10, 6 & 4) are rare jewels among the kid set. My 10 yo and I sew & knit projects together. She will have her own website soon to sell some of the incredible items she makes because she is an entrepreneur in her heart just like her poppa. My 6 yo is a joy to be with, she has a great sense of humor. Not too interested in school unless she has her hands in the 'dirt', no boring textbooks for her. My Treasure is 4, he is a cuddly little guy who works his way through life by worming his way into your heart being precious and delightful. AND, yes, I AM biased!

We looked at the public school system and decided to home educate. Possibly the best decision we have ever made, except for picking each other. When we need to travel for work we just pack a bag for everyone and off we go. We have seen so much of the country in the past two years. I highly recommend the City Museum in St. Louis, we were there two weeks ago and are still talking about it (three weeks on the road for that trip). I am busy, happy and loving life! I would like to catch up with any of you, so drop me an email.

After graduating from SDSU, I decided to hit the road for a while. On the promise of a teaching job in Italy, I grabbed the cheapest one-way flight I could find and left. Visiting a friend in Hamburg I decided to stay there. I taught English for a while and also worked as a chef in a Carribean restaurant. I managed a band for 6 months and we toured in Germany and Sweden. We cut 2 CD's that did nothing other than locally. I met a great girl from Wales and after a visit to her house in a beautiful and peaceful country, decided to stay. We're still together and very happy. We have 2 dogs and are currently living in London where I work in recruitment.

Anyone know where I can find Buzz Tahbaz?

Hi browsers, if anyone remebers us pls. e-mail us. I used to hang around with Gaby Lobato, Monica Montoya, and Alicia Hernandez (RIP). I married Jesus (Chuy) Gonzalez who used to hang around Juan Acosta, Ismael Galvan, Juan Gonzalez (Speedy), Armando Martinez (black bird). Anyway we are now living in Chula Vista, CA with 3 beautiful children.. Hope to hear from someone.

Hello to all. Can't believe how time flies. Been married nearly 17 years, with 2 daughters, 10 and 5. I have enjoyed a life working in the film industry doing visual effects. I enjoyed the 10 year reunion but didn't make it to the 20th. Hope to make it to the 30th. If you have Facebook, look me up.

Heard the reunion was really good, sorry I was unable to attend. Still living with my husband & kids (Anthony-15, Shauna-5, Katherine-4) in the 'Valley'. Man is it hot, sure do miss the beach! Anthony just started high school at Taft and Shauna just started Kindergarten. Life is good. Take care of yourself & loved ones. K.I.T.

The wife, 2 kids and I still live in Boulder. I love living in the middle of the Country. 2-3 hours from east to west makes life fun. We have traveled too much in the last 4 years and I love it. The kids are in a great private school in Boulder. Wow how public schools need help, and yes I am involved in the public school system. You see, I am a stay at home "DAD" I have been for 4 years and I love it. We are just finishing the final touches on a huge remodel on our Historic home. We bought a townhouse up in the mountains this year. My oldest is really becoming a good skier. We are in Cali at least 2-3 times a year for around a week or 2 at a time. I think we go to the beach more than my family or friends that still live in SM. We were just there for Easter. I will be back for the reunion. We are going to Hawaii for a month this year. We went to Hawaii twice last year as well as Jamaica twice. We are going to Florida in a couple weeks. Like I said we love to travel. Music is another passion of ours. Red Rocks, the Fox theatre in Boulder and the Denver/Colorado Mountain music scene is great. Some bands to check out- STs9, Spearhead, Lotus, Soul Live, Karl Denson just to name a few. Widespread Panic will always be hard to top. Listen to the Jam station on Sirius Satellite radio. Theatre is another passion of ours. My sister in-law is brilliant. She is getting her masters in theatre at Northwestern. She is very involved at the Steppenwolf theatre in Chicago. We love Chicago. We were just at a performance at the Santa Monica Play House. Wow! What memories I have of that place. I still stay in contact with Manlin, Yaconelli, and Pringle. My sister Jenny and Coco Costigan are still best of friends and are living in SM. I would love to hear from some old friends. The clock is ticking. See you in August. Peace

P.S. When are any of you North Side people with political power going to fix SM.? Every time I go home to see family I get sickened by what SM has turned into. Santa Barbara is so much nicer. I drove by all of my old schools (Roosevelt, Lincoln, Samohi) and they’ve all been ruined. The school board there would hate me because I would never quit. The beaches look like trash. The vagrant problem and crime are scary. What happened to our nice beach town? My dad was the Commissioner of the SM airport years ago and gave up because SM politics is so backwards. Wake up people and save our city! Because it doesn’t look like its ours anymore. Hmm? A 24 story replacement mall and low income housing on top? Help us all.

Update since 1999: After two and a half years of being a stay at home dad, I was beginning to feel like I was missing out on what was going on in the world. At the same time, my wife, Elizabeth, Doing the 9 to 5 in property management, felt like she was missing out on the kids growing up. So we decided to trade places. I got a job at Flextronics as a hardware software design engineer and Elizabeth is happily pursuing the challenging occupation of domestic engineering. The past 3.5 years at Flextronics have been incredible! Our design center has an emphasis on printing and imaging so many of my projects have fallen under that category. I've contributed firmware to several HP consumer printers (deskjet 7550, 3550 and its cousins) and large format printers. I designed the entire printer electronics and firmware for an electronic voting machine that should be completed in time for the November election (http://www.vogueelection.com/products_automark.html). To my knowledge, this is the only electronic voting machine that actually prints on ballots, leaving an all-important paper trail. I did the image processing routines on a really cool measuring device that extrapolates the location of an object in 3-D space based on 2D images obtained from two cameras. It has to take into account how light reflects off of curved surfaces. This project really made me wish I paid more attention in math class! Lately, I've been getting a lot of really ! cool projects using microcontrollers (entire CPU, ROM, RAM and I/O on one chip) and motors (stepper and brushed DC). Still trying to make video games in my spare time (what little of it there is). I'm currently finishing up the OSX version of MacBrickout.

Left you all at 10th grade because I was raising my brother and could not keep things together. So, I finished at the Alternative School competing with a SAMO grad for a scholarship - I won. I missed everyone. I had no time to really be friends. Missed having a childhood with you all. I graduated and was off to the Marines in 84, before you all finished. When we meet again, I can tell you over dinner what happened. After the Service years, I worked at a Brokerage Firm in LA, and then ran off to Europe and hitch hiked for about 6 months. When I came back, I went to SMC and worked all over Santa Monica. I settled into managing a Tour and Seminar company in Santa Monica for a time. Writing poetry, making music, and romancing. The story just goes on… Now I have an Independent Record Label in Northern California with Kristine Robin. We are releasing her first CD. I am checking in because I wonder what happened to all those fabulous people I knew. I remember us as a particularly amazing group of people. I just realized how important the perspective and connection is...
www.cedartreemusic.com

Hi Friends!! Been doing my thing here in Thousand Oaks for 7 years now. I would love to hear from you!! 3 kids, wifey. Ahhhhh miss ya'!

I haven't updated my blurb for a couple of years, and was reminded to after running into many familiar faces from Samohi days at a New Year's shindig. Happy 2008 to all! So life brings all sorts of unexpected twists and turns - John Lennon said it best, of course --and I am rethinking my career direction now. Was writing in a variety of fields, primarily journalism, for many years - then a bit of political activism for the soul -- then corporate marketing -- and now, what? Well, I am pursuing some ideas, and will see how they pan out. Most of all, just wanted to say how great (and completely trippy) it was to meet and re-meet so many cool people at the reunion in 2005. Glad to exchange emails with any former friends reading this, and potential new ones.