Chapter 156 Preparations for a Charity Dinner
"This idiot can be nominated as a party manager by sitting here, and I am sitting here, and you will just say welcome home to me? And hand me a beer while **** reminding me, Remember to donate to SSD in time?" Jason White sat in the conference room of his fraternity, looked at the fraternity members in front of the round table, and asked in an unhappy tone.
With Charles and Eric graduating, the newly elected chairman Ian and vice-chairman Ted nodded with a smile at this time: "That's right, because you have been in the state of SSD since the moment your mother suspended school. changes happened."
"It means that you are a successful person in the eyes of our SSD students. Jason, we are proud of you. You are now worth tens of millions and admired by thousands of people." Tommy picked up a cigarette and lit one. Sen said with a smile.
Jason calmed down a little when he heard Tommy's flattery: "Very well, keep talking, don't stop, Tommy, if you can keep complimenting for five minutes, you will get my forgiveness."
Derek, who once partnered with Jason and won the beer bowling championship in the rookie competition, continued Tommy's words at this time: "Of course, apart from the illusory market value, the biggest difference between you and us in the future is that you will not have the opportunity to participate in the sorority meeting." fellowship activities."
Jason closed his eyes longing to hear more flattery, and then his brother at the same time smashed his psychological defense line. At this time, he slapped the table hard and cursed Tommy and Derek loudly:
"F*ckYou! Derek! F*ckYou! Tommy!"
Tommy turned his head and looked at the new chairman Ian Heywood: "In a short time, Jason should be unlikely to donate to us."
Once a fraternity member leaves school, they will be moved to the list of leaving school brothers by the internal student list of SSD. Although they are still undoubted SSD brothers, don't expect everyone at Stanford SSD to treat you as a fool who can play tricks on you. You can go back to the Spartan House to drink beer and participate in parties, but they will never take the initiative to contact you, they will not call you every weekend to tell you to go back to participate in club activities, and they will no longer make you responsible for solving certain problems for a big party. A difficult problem, maybe designing lighting, or transporting drinks, or being responsible for contacting sororities, etc., you can only attend the party, and there is no sense of participation in the whole party from scratch.
"The reason why you would rather use all the available time to frantically study credits than to suspend school, now I know, I don't know if Holly regrets it, but I have regretted it now, if I worked as hard as you did, Now I can be like you, competing for the post of outreach manager with a fool like Derek, and I can... continue to be a fool..." Jason said with some regret.
Tommy patted Jason on the shoulder: "Don't take it to heart, I just participated in a slightly longer time in the fellowship activities with the sorority, not too long, just a negligible three years."
"Thank you for sprinkling a handful of delicious salt on my wound, Tommy." Jason glared at Tommy, and then said nonchalantly:
"After knowing this cruel truth, I feel that the treatment of three girlfriends every night can't make me happy. I decided to add one more, then send the video to you, and donate a large-screen TV to broadcast to you 24 hours a day. ..."
All SSD members also broke their defenses after hearing Jason's three girlfriends' lewd life every night. Derek and another brother at the same time, under the urging of Ian, grabbed Jason and dragged each other out of the conference room.
The show off of the rich is so **** monotonous and intuitive, but the lethality is amazing.
"Counting Jason, we have ten brothers leaving school this year, which means that in the first week of school in the near future, there will be at least ten new faces joining. The problem before us is, this year's recruiting night, we What big names to use as a gimmick? Last year it was Major General Ott, which living SSD alumni who graduated from Stanford do you think should be invited to attend this year?"
"Has Mr. Gardner resigned from the board of directors of Stanford University? Do you want to invite him to revisit his old place? I guess he should be willing to go back to the campus and SSD to have a look." Tommy seemed to say a name casually.
John Gardner, a member of the SSD fraternity at Stanford University, served in the Italian branch of the US Marine Corps Strategic Operations Office during World War II, and was in charge of intelligence work. After World War II, he joined Carnegie Corporation and became the president of Carnegie Corporation for ten years. The Presidential Medal of Freedom. During the term of President Lyndon Johnson, he served as the Minister of Health and Education in the President's Cabinet. After leaving office, he served as a director of the Stanford University Board of Directors and established a number of lobbying organizations. The main lobbying direction is how to help the rich tax exemption.
Everyone in the audience looked at the list of well-known alumni who graduated from Stanford SSD in their hands. Ted was the first to raise his head and give his opinion: "Tommy, I don't think Mr. Gardner is the most suitable candidate. I'm not saying that he is not good enough. It's just that he's not cool enough for newcomers, you know? Major General Ott can at least invite us to drive tanks, shoot guns, and give us military ranks. As soon as Mr. Gardner shows up...I always have a kind of him to check at any time From my homework, he is very strict. When he was a school manager, he called the chairman of Stanford SSD in private every year, intimidated Charles and the previous chairmen, and asked them to assure him that SSD would not cause trouble in their hands, otherwise he would Be the first to disband it..."
Others, including Ian, also nodded repeatedly. Mr. Gardner is definitely the shadow of the SSD Stanford branch. It is certainly worth showing off that his alumni are school managers, but the feeling of being strictly required by SSD is also uncomfortable. Every time the school If there are any public welfare activities or charity activities, if the presence of SSD is not strong enough, Mr. Gardner will suddenly appear at the fraternity house like a villain and talk to everyone.
"That's right, rookies walked into our site, thinking about what interesting things they would see, and then Mr. Gardner told them with a straight face that he would ask SSD members to spend one day a week to help the illiterate nearby Homeless people take literacy lessons... I promise no rookie will think this is cool." Derek also opened up and added.
"How about Mr. David Gard? The roster shows that he updated his address the year before last and moved back to Los Altos, California from Hawaii. Yes, he lives in a small town next to Silicon Valley." Jason, waving the roster in his hand, gave another name.
Hearing Jason's proposal, everyone turned to David Gard's profile page. David Gard, whose real name is Donald David Gard, graduated from Stanford University in economics in 1957 and is a member of the SSD Stanford University chapter. He is one of the three founders of the famous American folk band Kingston Trio, the guitarist of the band,
For this band, Tommy, who is a traveler, has never heard of its album, but he also knows the name of this band. It can be said that its establishment has revived American folk songs. The first album released in 1958 The album, with a sales volume of three million copies, frightened all the music companies and directly changed the development trend of American music.
Even the entire American nightclub industry at that time had a rule that if you want to make money, you must let the resident singers learn the songs of the band.
"Cool!" Everyone except Tommy got excited.
There is nothing more attractive to rookies than being in close contact with idols and talking to them.
Tommy sighed depressingly. It seemed that he was going to find another opportunity to get to know Mr. Gardner. Strength, much higher than Mr. Gard's.
Oh, by the way, Tommy moved out of the dorms after his first year, but instead of a fraternity house, he rented a six-bedroom cottage near Stanford University.
Occasionally, Jason, Holly, Mark and Susan will come over to discuss some issues with him, and if the chat is too late, they can directly live in the guest bedroom.
Tommy, who had no work arrangements, seemed to be completely relaxed. He was enthusiastic about setting up the venue and designing party plans with SSD brothers. Everything in life seemed to be back on track. Just like that, the new semester came.
On the recruiting night, the appearance of Mr. David Gard, a well-known SSD alumnus and folk revivalist, made SSD the biggest surprise of Stanford University that night, and even many members of other fraternities and sororities couldn't help running over to get close See idols, the next day's school newspaper "Stanford Daily" specifically reported that the recruiting night of the SSD Stanford chapter last night was the recruiting party with the largest number of visitors in the past four years.
From the moment the gray-haired Mr. Gard picked up the guitar, sat on the high stool, and sang the famous songs "Tom Dooley" and "500 Miles" by the Kingston Trio with a vicissitudes of life, Tommy felt that Mr. Gard was better than him. Mr. Gardner, whom he proposed, is indeed a better choice.
He didn't even know before that "500Miles", a song that was still sung in the previous life until 2022, was actually recorded by the other party in the album as early as 1962. The monotonous and palpitating guitar melody sounded, which made Tommy feel I felt a wonderful feeling that my previous life and this life seemed to be perfectly intertwined because of this song.
The only thing that upset Tommy was that when Mr. Gard sang the song "Tom Dooley", all the **** in SSD, led by Jason, directly replaced Tom Dooley with Tommy Hawk during the chorus. If they had chosen Mr. Gardner as Tommy suggested, there would never be such a dazzling SSD recruiting night tonight.
So the lyrics become: "When the sun rises tomorrow, it's Tommy Hawke's day to die, bow your head, Tommy Hawke, you deserve to die, Tommy Hawke, you deserve castration As punishment, Tommy Hawke, you should be hanged from a white oak tree, Tommy Hawke..."
Mr. Gard, a veteran of folk songs, even curiously asked why the brothers sang this way when they took a photo with Tommy. Ted reported to Mr. Gard intimately, saying that everyone present hoped to invite Mr. Gard, only silly *Tommy objected and proposed to invite the former director of the school. Fortunately, the SSD brothers insisted on their own opinions and let you, Mr. Gard, appear tonight.
After listening, Mr. Gard plucked the strings, and sang with a smile: "You don't deserve to die, Tommy Hawke, I'm going to cut off your dick, Tommy Hawke..."
However, for SSD, Tommy is not always in a state of guilt. For example, before the start of the newcomer's membership night on the second day, Ian and Ted asked Tommy, the party manager, about the drinking expenses and the upper limit of event funds. Tommy bit his cigar and asked domineeringly:
"I can only guarantee that as long as there are people who can continue to drink, there will never be unlimited drinking, or what is the **** upper limit?"
"This is your most generous time, Tommy, do you mean that you are willing to personally support a part of the drink expenses?" Ian and Ted were very satisfied with Tommy's generosity: "We chose you as the party manager, it is the most correct decision."
"Of course it's the most correct decision, but I'm not the one who pays. That idiot Jason will receive the drink bill at the end of the year." This was Tommy's shameless answer at the time:
"I have to make sure that he has enough presence in SSD for the next three years. He doesn't have to be with his brothers, his heart doesn't have to be with his brothers, but his money must be with his brothers. .”
"On behalf of all the current students of the SSD Stanford chapter, thank alumnus Jason for his contribution." Ian told Tommy with a dignified face: "When thanking you, please be sincere and friendly. Remember to buy accident insurance for yourself. , SSD is not responsible for any casualties of members."
As for the rookie newly joined by SSD, Tommy didn’t deliberately choose him. He is the party manager of SSD. There is no rush to choose a successor for this position, although the two positions of party manager and outreach manager will basically show more opportunities. , and it is easier to run for chairman and vice-chairman, but Tommy has no interest in managing SSD, and he is not prepared to hold an election to forcibly usurp the throne before Ian resigns voluntarily.
"SSD Stanford Chapter Veterans Association fundraising charity dinner?" Ian and Ted looked at Tommy: "You mean, we will host it this year?"
Tommy nodded: "SSD has been established for more than 140 years, and the Stanford branch has been established for more than 100 years. Our branch has never hosted it as the organizer."
"But we send people every year, and every year we do all kinds of other events to donate or fundraise, and to be honest, Tommy, this is California, and I'm afraid the brothers are not interested in hosting this kind of event. We are A private university, not a military academy." Ian lowered his head and thought for a moment, then looked up at Tommy and said.
The charity dinner for veterans is held by SSD every year, and the venue will change with the host, but after World War II, it is mainly concentrated in Texas, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Connecticut and even Tang Mi’s hometown, Rhode Island, and other regions, the California branch has never hosted this kind of event, mainly because the event has been labeled as military since it was first established.
The West Point Military Academy in New York State, the Naval Academy in Maryland State, the Naval Academy in Rhode Island State, Texas State University in Texas, etc. are the main force to undertake such activities.
"California has the soil to hold charity dinners. There is Hollywood, stars, and celebrities here. It is no worse than New York, where West Point is located. Why can't it be held?"
"Tommy, we don't have as much money as the other party, and more importantly, we don't have that much influence in the military. At most we can only call Major General Ott, the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard, but the other party can let the Secretary of Defense Attendance, that's the difference." Ted also said:
"When Charles was here, he had considered this issue, but after his careful thinking and calculations, based on the $1,000 ticket for the charity dinner, Major General Ott could only sell 30 invitations at most, which is 30,000. This number can only make us a laughingstock, and the lowest fundraising record at West Point Military Academy is a **** 180,000, which is six times higher than ours."
The so-called charity dinner is to sell tickets at a high price, and then donate the money earned to the Veterans Association.
You have to let those wealthy living SSD alumni, or ordinary people who want to participate, willingly buy your tickets with money, and then have a close chat with the big figures attending this charity dinner, take a photo, and you can be treated as you in the future External bragging capital.
For the Stanford branch, the difficulty lies in how to invite the big men who let the rich buy tickets, and at the same time, it needs to convince all the living alumni of SSD.
For example, you can’t invite Jim Carter, a former president who is willing to stand up for money. This guy advocates racial equality, black people’s participation in politics, and even hangs Martin Luther King’s photo in the hall of Congress. If you invite such a guy, Without outside guests, SSD's own brothers could directly blow up the charity dinner with dynamite.
Invite a few big names in the computer industry to attend, members of the SSD branch of military academies will not send people to the meeting, they are not interested in learning about the history of computer development at their own expense.
So every year for this event, Charles Salmon takes two or three rookies to the meeting, contributes three to five thousand tickets, and then hand in the money raised by his own branch through various activities, and finally takes some photos to commemorate .
"I mean, if you have no objection, I will ask Jason from EFF to donate a special donation of 500,000 yuan for the dinner in the name of an alumni, and then design the entire charity dinner plan around the cost of 500,000 yuan."
"Jason is really **** lucky to have a brother and boss like you, Tommy, if you said you would pay half a million, we wouldn't waste so much talking." After listening to Tommy's words, Ian was stunned for a while. After a while, he said angrily to Tommy:
"It's no wonder that before Charles resigned, he specifically told me not to talk to Tommy, that idiot. Brotherhood is like a Troja to him. Put it on when you want to use it, and throw it in the drawer when you don't need it. What the hell? Are you going to sell veterans as commodities?"
Tommy looked at Ian dissatisfied: "I don't sell veterans, I just want to expand some interpersonal relationships, which is also good for SSD, don't look at me like this, I donated a **** half a million in real money, the scale of this dinner Not to mention the West Point Military Academy, the White House charity dinner is almost the same, and it was held during your and Ted’s two stupid* terms, enough for you two to blow to death, this is an honor that Charles didn’t have when he was in office.”
Ted raised a **** at Tommy: "First of all, the money has to arrive in the account first, then you write the plan, we will help you sign it, and then submit it to the general meeting, get out, by the way, the plan Remember to put me and Ian before your name, silly*."
"This proposal is good." Ian and Ted clapped their hands together: "Remember to call Charles to stimulate."
Tommy raised his **** at the two of them, and then walked out of the meeting room.
…
Sophia drove the Tiffany blue Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, which she bought with a scholarship, and looked through the rearview mirror at Tommy who was reading a stack of old newspapers in the back seat:
"You broke up with Renee, right? I mean, in this case, you are still going to... let her father help you design the overall plan for the charity dinner, and for the sake of your relationship with his daughter, for you Some discounts?"
Tommy flipped through dozens of newspapers in his hand, mainly the "Army Times", "Navy Times", "Air Force Times" and "Marine Corps Times" under the American Newspaper Group. Hearing Sophia's words, his head shook Without raising it, he said:
"No one told me that after breaking up with my girlfriend, I can't take care of her father's business, uh... by the way, remember to call Renee later, and ask her to remember to take away the clothes that were left at my place the other night, if If you don't take it away, I will give it to the maid in my villa."
"Didn't you break up? Didn't you say that she has a new boyfriend?" Sophia's eyes widened in disbelief: "Are you... together again?"
From time to time, Tommy finds out a piece of news, and then circles it with a marker: "No, it's just that a guy from the geology school is pursuing her, and Renee wants me to give her some advice as an ex-boyfriend. Based on my performance in all aspects, and The other party made some comparisons, but when we talked later, the topic was a little deeper..."
"Change the subject, Tommy, I don't want to continue listening, so the new semester begins, what do you want me to do for you?" Sophia stayed away from Tommy for a summer vacation, so she was about to re-accustom to normal human thinking, It wasn't until school started that the **** Tommy found her again.
Tommy always responded while being busy: "Go to see Mr. Benjamin Moore, express our needs, ask him to come up with an overall design plan for the charity dinner, and then contact Delia and ask her to call my residence after work , I have some questions to talk to her in Washington, call the office of Senator Pete Wilson and ask when he is free, I want to visit him, today's arrangement is like this."
"Then you can...call me and tell me these arrangements instead of asking me to drive here." Sophia said while holding the steering wheel.
"Pick me up to go to class on the way. My residence is five kilometers away from the school. Otherwise, why do you think I strongly recommend you to buy a car, and why did I accompany you to choose a car in your busy schedule? Miss Sophia O'Connor? Park in front That's fine." Tommy raised his head, glanced at the outside environment, and put the newspaper in his hand on the back seat:
"Don't move the newspaper, and then we will drive back to my residence after school. I will continue to read the newspaper. I wish you a happy day."
Sophia stopped the car slowly, staring ahead: "I wish you a happy day like me, Tommy-Bastard-Hawk, I don't have time in the afternoon, I'm going..."
"Los Angeles." Tommy put down the newspaper, looked at Sophia, and suddenly interrupted her to say the place name Los Angeles.
Sophia didn't respond: "Wat?"
"What do you think when you celebrate your birthday, call up Susan, Jason, Holly and your other friends, and we go to Los Angeles for two days? I remember you talking to Holly once about wanting to go to Universal Studios Visit, we can make this little wish come true on your birthday." Tommy cast a questioning look at Sophia.
Sophia took a few deep breaths: "Don't tempt me, I won't be fooled, Tommy."
"So?" Tommy opened the car door, but didn't get out of the car in a hurry, waiting for Sophia's response.
Sofia lowered her head: "Yes, I'm actually not very busy in the afternoon."
"See you in the afternoon." Tommy left the back seat and walked towards the campus: "By the way, when you call Delia, ask her to ask Pinkerton for me, and ask those ruthless guys who can stay up late I can’t help you to recommend two bodyguards and drivers who are good and bluffing, work rotation, the price should not be too high, if the salary is too high, you can only continue to work part-time, repeat the employer’s requirements.”
"It can help you get beaten, can beat people for you, and most importantly, the salary is the lowest." Sophia summed it up succinctly.
Tommy turned and walked away: "It's best to be a retired veteran. I just happened to be busy raising donations for veterans recently, and providing jobs for two retired veterans is also a plus."
In the last chapter, some readers summed it up very well. The author and the protagonist don’t believe in disrespecting women and feelings at all, so they can’t write that kind of plot well.
I want to say, you are right, just don’t let my wife know, okay? I respect my daughter-in-law very much in reality, and I just want to spread some wildness in the book...
(end of this chapter)