Yesterday Today: JHS 65 & Golden Unicorn 2017

Eric put the word out and 10 of us showed up! In a way...the core group. Alphabetically: Caryn, Eric, Jimmy. Jinny, Nancy, Robert, Shek, Winnie & Winston. Peter was supposed to be attend but became unavailable. Still...10 is a perfect number for a Chinese banquet restaurant.

For me, it worked well. I drove down to my usual spot on St James Place to wait out the 6pm parking. I wanted to bring 2 (heavy) bottles of apple juice to my mom and also had arranged to meet up with Shek before the dinner and buy some dried shrimp - also for my mom. He was able to get a parking spot in front of Golden Unicorn and I met him at his car. He was also waiting for 6pm to feed the meter for an hour. Eric was with him & then Robert joined them. We did the transaction, I dropped off the stuff at my mom's and went to meet the guys at the restaurant. I missed them walking in by sheer seconds!

Our table was on the 3rd floor. Eric and Shek did the honor of choosing the menu and did an excellent job. Food was particularly delicious. Though I did not partake of the crab because anyone who knows me - knows I won't go to the trouble! Coincidentally, the waiter taking the order had a name tag that said "Micheal Fan" - which just happens to be brothers - Michael & Fan that are part of this group but live in Florida.

Somehow the "girls" sat together and the "boys" on the other side as if we were at a JHS dance. But I guess with the fact we were seeing each other as a group for the first time this year, each group had lots to say to each other.

When I wanted to take the group photo...Winston was the one who asked if I brought along my selfie stick and of course, I was prepared! I have discovered - through much disappointment - that having a stranger whether it be a wait staff or just a person near-by, the shots don't always come out! Yes, having someone else take the group shot makes for a better composition. But doing the selfie gives me more control. I can take as many as I want and I will. You never want to inconvenience a stranger to keep snapping away.

I have toyed around with a program that can "switch" faces - but you have to have the same type of photos to play with. The program needs to be able to aligned the 2 shots in a similar setting. It's been a godsend in terms of one person with eyes closed or head turned to swap it out with the other shot where he/she is in perfect form!

I took a few shots with the selfie. The waitress saw us and said she would take some. She did. And sure enough...things went wonky!! She took 4 shots. 2 where she cut off part of the group. And 2 where somehow some faces and areas became distorted...but really badly! I was never more thankful for the "fuse" program than I was with these photos.

Eric and Robert left earlier than the rest of us. Eric had to pick up his wife and he was Robert's ride. The rest of us got involved in playing "Head's Up" - the Charades app. Fortunately the restaurant wasn't super busy on the 3rd floor because we were whooping it up!! It sure made for great laughs and that warm fuzzy "had a wonderful" time feeling!!