Also, a couple of people have asked me in the past couple of weeks, (and they must be people who read my blog at the Blue Moon Grille website), who the little guy on the right hand side of the page is. The little guy is a court jester, and court jester clothing is called "motley." The web address for "The Blue Moon Grille" is wwwmotleyplayer.blogspot.com, with no (.) after the w's in honor of the CHS Motley Players of olde.
Planning my fraternity reunion has been tremendously enjoyable. Of course, I still imagine most of the guys as they looked 40 years ago. We certainly weren't the wildest fraternity at SUNY Albany back then, but I did have fraternity brothers with great nicknames like the Rock, the Pimp, the Red Rose of Tel Aviv, Stain, the Wad, and the Mole. My nickname was a relatively tame "G" or perhaps "Big G" so as not to confuse me with my roommate "Little G. And the brothers of Alpha Lambda Chi did occasionally get a little rambunctious of a Saturday night.
Well, when it got time to plan on what to have for a buffet at the hotel on reunion weekend, I asked the opinion of several of my once rambunctious old brothers about the various choices the hotel had to offer. One choice was the All-American Barbecue Buffet featuring roasted garlic sirloin burgers, St. Louis Style pork ribs, horseradish cole slaw, etc. When this option was offered, the brothers questioned declined. Kind of hard on the stomach, they thought. Didn't know if the wives would care for it. These were the same guys who subsisted on Walt's submarines, Central Avenue Pizza and Hedrick's Beer. We opted for the more stomach pleasing Classic Buffet, which should be the best for me seeing that I am recently short one gall bladder.
When it came to choosing a style for our reunion t-shirts, I had a great time. One design I suggested would have featured part of the chant we chanted after every intramural football or softball victory. To give you an idea, the last two lines read, "flim flam #%@$@#, who the $@%#$ do you think we am." Wonderful grammar! No way, the brothers thought, even with the asterisk euphemisms. Couldn't very well wear that walking down Main Street or to the Lions Club meeting. Another suggestion would have shown the words "Albany State's Finest," with a picture of a beer bottle below it, and below that the words 100% ALC (ALC referring to Alpha Lambda Chi). I knew that probably wouldn't make it, but it was fun thinking it up. Finally, Jan created the design we will use. A tasteful pocket logo on the front, and on the back, our fraternity crest with the words "Forty-two years later and still on double secret probation" below to suggest our occasional rambunctious natures.
My great old friends with names like the Rock, the Stain, or the Pimp, are the same but different. Everyone can't wait for the weekend of the reunion to arrive, and I know that once we are together, it will be like we were never apart. But the guys who might have once reacted kind of rambunctiously, instead reacted in a way that was, as Linda suggested,kind of "cute." Cute in a social security checks/winters in the South kind of way. I have to say I'm glad about it, because I guess that's the way it ought to be, and it makes me even more excited about seeing my new old friends.
I've been reading your blog for awhile and just today became a "follower". That has kind of a cult ring to it, doesn't it? Kinda creepy. I was going to respond to the Jeopardy answer but didn't do it in time so missed out on the lavish grand prize. And it was going to be in the form of a question!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy reading your blog. In fact, yours is the only blog I follow, so consider yourself complimented.