Vaughn Lee:  

Updated 07/13/16 Class of 68 just lost another great one this pass March, Garrick Lew. He will be remember for his prowess in the courtroom, his contributions to the Asian community and his unique and engaging personality and character. We shared one summer sitting next to one another in an algebra class in San Leandro and six years in the same homeroom. Yes, it seems the older we get, the more difficult it is to navigate our life's journey. Losses in health status, physicality, memory, friends and acquaintances, difficulty managing myriad passwords and bugs in our computers, endless piles of paperwork and bills, misunderstanding and miscommunication with others, waiting forever for a live person on the phone and then getting cut off, navigating busy streets and freeways, whew. My wife and I find that getting away can relieve some of the stress, at least for a short time. Luckily, we found, or rather a group of same retired cruisers found us. We have a leader in that group named King who unselfishly organizes the trip, figures all the logistics and plan some of the activities. Our group can sometimes be 40 strong. We go on Princess Cruises exclusively because the more we sign up with them, the greater the benefits. We get a credit of one cabin for every eight booked. Couples with at least 100 shares of Carnival stock get $250 credit on board. There is also another $250 credit per cabin if a member has had at least two years of military service. Another $250 credit for a pre cruise payment of $100. I will be getting free internet after a couple more cruises. Those with 15 cruises get free laundry. One piece of advice: Although you can buy art or jewelry on board for almost 40% off and not pay any taxes, I just found out that you can get better bargains, about 80% off at auctions. However, I didn't get anything being gun shy, inexperience at the one auction I attended. Yea, I found that I couldn't win anymore, getting turned down for rebates, paying penalties, etc. Most of us have had our identities stolen including one of my family members.. It took 6 months to resolve most of the issues but we still get targeted for new credit cards from retailers that we didn't apply for. Well, that's all for this update. Take care. Other people I admired for their athletic abilities are: Don Bolden (the black Bolo Yeung), Emory Fitpatrick (wrestling), Sterling Owens (just cool), Gary Grooves and Martin Hom (football), and Robert Look (football and basketball). Also tops in my book, the charismatic David Wells (h.s. basketball playmaker and "youngest college basketball coach in the nation at Claremont McKenna". Sorry to see him go at a still youthful age. He had everything, including the best hair in the class. Not to be forgotten was my late friend Leslie Chan. Although he didn't participate in any high school sports, he was a natural born runner, especially at long distance. I wasn't into HS sports back then, so my apologies to the many wonderful athletes I did not mention. Again, academically, our Spring Senior Class President, Bobby Fong, was simply the best all around student. Bobby Attended Harvard, earned a PhD at UCLA. Prior to becoming college president of Butler college and Ursinus College he was Dean of Arts and Humanities at Berea College, Professor of English at Hope College, and Dean of the Faculty and Professor of English at Hamilton College. While Dean of Butler, the basketball team he helped to support reached the finals of the NCAA basketball tournament. Bobby was also considered the world's authority on the author, Oscar Wilde. Bobby was known among his friends as being a very supportive and kind person. Bobby passed on Sept. 08, 2014 from natural causes, possibly an aneurysm. We lost a great one. The other top "Fong" in our class was of course, George. As you recall, George made the top 40 of the national "Westinghouse Science Talent" competition, now known as the "Intel" competition. I believe he ended up in the top ten. Cynthia Kwong and myself helped type up his research presentation. George's project was about semi-conductors. I believe he should have continued in that field as he was an early innovator and could have become a billionaire. George is now a well respected physician at Kaiser with bright children. We are all getting older and most of us are struggling to stay healthy. I recently got my Medicare card and believe me, it's no gift. It would now cost me $1000 co-payment for a once a month self injectable to treat an autoimmune problem under Medicare that I previously got for free when I was under my private insurance (with a co-payment support program). So I stopped getting the medication because of principal. Bought a mountain bike. Observation discloses two types of individuals who purchase high grade "Carbon" mountain bikes: The young speedsters, jumping over rocks and tree trunks daredevils and the old, slow careful cruisers who just want to have all the latest just because we want it all. This mountain bike, of course, is just one thing that was on my "bucket list". Want to catch up on some of the technology that flew pass, such as "Twitter". So got to get rid of my cheap flip phone and go for the iphone and probably an iwatch (2016 version). Want to go on a "Crystal Cruise" but can't find anyone to go with us. Talked with a lot of contemporaries. The feeling most people have is this: Enjoy yourself. You've earned it. We don't owe any big payday for our kids. We supported them through college. If they want anything, they have to earn it themselves. We had to do it, so can they. So don't deny yourselves. Don't be in prison in your home taking care of grandchildren full time. Enjoy their spring of life, but don't lose yours. That's it. Time is rapidly closing in. Don't wait till it's too late. No regrets, get moving. Updated 06/29/14 Welcome to my world! In college, my hero and inspiration was OHS's own Warren Edmonson. His exploits on the running track from 100 yards to 400 gave me fuel to study for exams. In my opinion, after winning the NCAA 100 yards, he may have won the gold medal if he had entered the Olympics. Right now, I think Garrick Lew is a pretty cool attorney. My old buddy, Wayne Lee told me Garrick has a great web site. Bobby Fong, college president, is the most accomplished person in our class. My motto is " Act Responsibly with Truth and Transparency". After dental scho...Expand for more