Funny the World...

CAST OF CHARACTERS

These are the folks who show up most often in this journal. Others who pop in from time to time will be identified as they make their appearance.

The Piñata Group - We were a group of five couples who met as ten single people while we were members of the Newman Club on the University of California, Berkeley, campus.  We dated together, married within about four years of each other, and together have raised 22 children.  We were bridesmaids and groomsmen for each other and godparents to each other's children.  We went camping, had dinners, lived in the same neighborhood (most of us) for the kids' younger years.   Our kids went to the same schools.  Every New Year's Day we had a big party at which there was a piñata, which is how we came to call ourselves the Piñata Group. Piñatas were a part of every group gathering, even as the kids became adults (we had a piñata when the five kids born in 1966--the only year we doubled our numbers--all turned 40; there was a piñata at Jeri's wedding; there was a piñata at Bill's funeral). The oldest of the 22 kids is now looking at her 50th birthday in the foreseeable future, but we still call them "kids."  Now when we get together, we have piñatas for the children of the original group.  We have seen one divorce, the death of three children and one spouse since the 1960s.  Some of us have traveled together all over the world, some of us lived together (platonically) for short periods.  It's rare to have such lifelong friends, and I consider myself so fortunate. 

The original Piñata group is Walt and myself, Char and Mike, Pat and Rich, Audrey and Gene, Jeri and Bill (Bill died a few years ago and Jeri is now remarried to a man named Phil, which is very confusing), and Concetta (who has not been able to join us for things for many years, due to her MS). After our kids got into nursery school, Michèle and Richard became part of the group with their son Eric. Michèle died a couple of years ago.

FAMILY

Walt - long-suffering husband since 1965. I’m not sure why he puts up with me, but he does. He once made a web page in a class, but never went back to do anything with it again.  His web page is proof that nothing is ever lost in cyberspace!

Jeri - born 1966, living in Boston. She graduated from Berklee College of Music and is now Assistant Professor at Berklee, and Woodwind Instructor at Brookline Music School.  She gives private music lessons, and plays clarinet, saxophone and flute in pit bands for various theatrical productions in and around Boston..She also has a couple of degrees in theatre design and in her spare time does lighting design for small theatres in the Boston area.

Phil - Jeri's husband, as of August 2008.   Jeri and Phil have been friends since junior high school and he has lived with her in Boston for several years now. 

Ned - born 1967, the imaging director on Jack-FM (93.7-FM) radio station in Sacramento. He and his wife live in Sacramento with their shelter dog, The Bouncer.

Marta - Ned’s wife, a certified massage therapist with her own business, Jakarta Bodyworks.  Call 916 718-5903 if you're in the Sacramento area and want a good massage.

Paul - died at age 30 in 1999

Audra - Paul’s widow, who is a veterinarian working in Southern California.  She has remarried and now has three children, including a set of twins.

Thomas/Tom - born 1970, lives in Santa Barbara and works for an international computer sotware development company as a Senior product manager, whose specialties are "Software; Product Management; Product Design & Development; Implementation; Consulting Services; Sales; Human Resources; Finance; Compensation Management; Performance Management; Talent Management; Human Capital Management; HCM; EPM" (from his Linked-in profile)

Laurel - Tom's wife, who works in banking, but just changed companies and I'm not too clear on where exactly she works now.

Brianna - Tom and Laurel's daughter, born March 31, 2008.  Naturally she's the most beautiful, most intelligent child ever born.  I'm not prejudiced. Not me!

Lacie -  Tom and Laurel's daughter, born September 20, 2011, adorable, very smart, and mischevious.

David - died at age 24 in 1996

Peach & Bob - My cousin (whose given name is Carolyn), and her husband.

Norm and Olivia (generally come as a set) - Walt’s brother and his wife.

Alice Nan - Walt’s sister

Joe - Alice Nan's husband

Ed - My mother's stepson

Ellen - My mother's stepdaughter

FRIENDS WHO APPEAR MOST OFTEN IN THIS JOURNAL:

Peggy - My dearest friend, who lives in Australia. She gave me my first digital camera and got me started with PhotoShop, for which I will be forever grateful. We met in real life, after a year of a pen pal relationshp when she spent a 6 week vacation with us in 2000, during which time we became very close face to face friends, as well as on-line friends.  I visited her in 2003, which was the trip of a lifetime for me. This all changed in 2011, when she suddenly cut me out of her life without a word of explanation. I learned that, contrary to what I had believed about her for 13 years, she really is a cruel and heartless woman.

Char - We have been friends since college and with her I have gone on some of the weirdest and most fun adventures of my life.  The stories in which Char is a co-star are always the best ones.

Mike - Char's husband

Steve - Singer/songwriter Steve Schalchlin, one of the "grand old men of on-line journaling," whom I’m proud to call my friend. His song cycle, "New World Waking" was performed in December 2008 at Davis Symphony Hall in San Francisco, by the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus.

Jim/Jimmy - Steve's partner of more than 20 years, a fabulous actor who won tons of awards for his one man show Zero Hour.   Now preparing to open a new show, Character Man this fall.

Olivia - My friend and former biking buddy, now living in Seattle.

Shelly and Ellen - good friends who have been activists for gay rights forever and together as a couple for more than 30 years.  They were the very first couple in California to be legally married during that brief window when marriage was legal for gay couples here four years ago.

Ashley - my contact at the SPCA, the canine coordinator who keeps filling my house with dogs and who has been my redeeming angel on more than one occasion.

Gilbert - Once my best friend, an actor and the longtime Musical Director for The Lamplighters, who died in 1986

"Dr. G" and "The Psychiatrist" - both men I once worked for, simultaneously.  I worked for Dr. G for not quite 2 years as his office manager and for The Psychiatrist for about 30 years, as his at-home transcriptionist

Mr. McCoy - This is the fictitious name I have given to our cranky neighbor who hates our dogs.  Think Hatfields and McCoys.

PEOPLE IN THE LAMPLIGHTERS HISTORY PROJECT

Alison - We have been friends since 1975, when we collaborated with another woman to write the first of what will eventually be three Lamplighters histories.

Barbara - is the former artistic director of The Lamplighters

Kathryn - a Lamplighters volunteer whose idea it was to do a book for the 60th anniversary.

FOUR LEGGED FRIENDS

Sheila, Lizzie, and Polly - our current dogs
Toby, Seymour, Benjy, Buddy and Kimba - our dead dogs

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