Doug Ogata:
CLASS OF 1987
Richmond High SchoolClass of 1987
Richmond, BC
Abbotsford High SchoolClass of 1987
Abbotsford, BC
Richmond High SchoolClass of 1987
Richmond, BC
Burnett High SchoolClass of 1985
Richmond, BC
James Thompson Elementary SchoolClass of 1982
Richmond, BC
Doug's Story
Life
After Richmond High, went out to Montreal to study Electrical Engineering at McGill University. Worked a bit in robotics and AI, but decided this life path wasn't for me. Took to the road and hitchhiked south to Louisiana, then across the US to the deserts of New Mexico. Met an Acoma Indian there who told me to get back to my roots, so tripped on out further West, into the Far East. Here, I've travelled to many ancient places: India, Thailand, Burma, China, and Japan, where my ancestors are from. Here I've apprenticed in Zen Buddhism and Shiatsu therapy, and have realized my vocation: teaching children.
I'm heading back to Vancouver this summer, to study teaching at UBC.
I've a beautiful Japanese wife (my parents are so happy!) and a child on the way.
Would love to hear from any Richmond High people!
My email address is ndogata at y_hoo.co.jp
(Sorry for the typo, the underscore's supposed to be an "a")
School
A humourous memory of senior high, but only in retrospect, is the time I thought I'd received a telephone call from my friend Geoff Scales. It was his voice, I swear, claiming, in a half-baked impersonation, to be Mr. Beairsto, our IB math teacher and vice principal.
"This is Mr. Beairsto speaking. May I please speak to Doug Ogata?" he goes.
"Oh yeah, right, Geoff. Like you're really Mr.Beairsto." I say, as I'm convinced it is Geoff doing a lame impersonation.
"No, no. This really is Mr. Beairsto speaking. Is this Doug Ogata?"
"Yeah, yeah right, Geoff. You don't even sound like him." I say, not playing into his game, "And you know what? If this is Mr. Beairsto, you're a p-nis."
"What? Oh, uhh. This is Mr. Beairsto speaking..."
"Yea, yea. You're a p-nis! You're a p-nis!"
"Oh uhh...This is ...Expand for more
Mr. Be--"
"You're a p-nis! You're a p-nis!"
"Umm, uhh, maybe I'd better call you back when you're in a better mood."
<click!>
Well, at that moment in time I was pleased with myself for not falling into Geoff's prank. Waiting for him to call back and maybe pretend to have talked to Mr. Beairsto himself and feign never impersonating him, I waited. And waited.
Soon, I became impatient and called Geoff myself. No answer.
Ah, no doubt he's playing this prank with an accomplice, maybe Peter Reeves.
I phone Peter and ask if Geoff is there, and he responds, "No, he isn't. I have no idea where he is. But I did get a call from Mr. Beairsto just now and he told me we've got to go on the trip tommorrow by ourselves."
"No way!! You're in on this with Geoff! He's totally there! I can hear him breathing!"
"Ah, no, Doug he isn't. And Mr Beairsto asked me to relay the message to you, because he had trouble getting through or something."
"What!? You swear Geoff isn't there? Mr. Beairsto really called you!?"
"Yeah. What? What's wrong? Doug...? Are you there, Doug...?"
My mind had become numb. A dark, black bile was forming in my gut, as the realization of what I had done was slowly creeping through me.
"Oh, Peter... Oh, man, Peter... I think... I think I just called our vice principal 'a p-nis'."
I explained to my friend what I had done. Peter found the humour in this immediately and was in stitches laughing. I, though, was in shock.
"Call him up, Doug. Just apologize. And lighten up. You may not be laughing now, but years from now, all this'll be just a hilarious memory of the past."
I did as he said. And lo, it was just as he said.
But still, I sure hope he's not at the reunion.
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Reunions
Doug was invited to the
138 invitees
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