This last weekend our families came up and stayed with us to celebrate. The commencement ceremony was ok. Not quite as bad as I was expecting. Mercifully short at a little over an hour and a half. The real fun part was afterwards when we got to hang out, eat food, and talk about how awesome I am. We had red velvet cake (awesome) and lamb spiedies (also awesome) from my Grandma. Not necessarily in that order.
We also went out to get Pho at one point. Which was interesting. Almost delicious, but for all the basil. I ate a half-gallon or so of the stuff, nonetheless.
You know it's an interesting thing, being a college graduate. I've spent pretty much every day for the last 19 years doing the same thing: going to school. My brain has become a machine finely tuned to the task of passing college classes. Tell me to write a 1000 word paper, and my brain will create something between nine and eleven hundred words. Tell me I have an exam coming up, and my brain will know exactly what it needs to study, how it needs to remember it, and what is likely not to be on the test and can be safely omitted. Put me in a lecture with pen and paper, and my brain will keep pace with the instructor making decisions on what needs to be recorded and what is safe to skip to keep the pace up.
I don't have any great understanding of any of these mechanisms; these are all things that my brain just does. Things that are now, largely, no longer of any use to me. Sure there is the prospect of grad school at some point, and good note-taking skills are always good to have, but the point I'm trying to make is how strange it feels that the one thing that has driven my life for the last 19 years is now over.
[WARNING: Bad metaphor ahead]
In the last few years of college, I occasionally felt as though I were running through a series of thin, chest-high sheets of plywood. There was nothing especially graceful about the way I felt like I was barrelling through some of my assignments, or classes and being able to see the next sheet of plywood just ahead (ie; the next class or assignment) made me feel rather encumbered at times. Not anything significant enough to really stop me or slow me down too much, but just enough to be annoying. Now though, I feel like the only thing ahead of me is an open field. Free time is not a luxury I've had in the last year or so, but is something I am greatly looking forward to having once again.
In the realm of not-quite-as-awesome news, my computer died. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but it isn't receiving power for some reason. I'm guessing the power supply is bad, but I haven't yet been able to diagnose it for sure. I just built the thing 5 months ago and I'm still under factory warrantees for pretty much everything, so I'm covered there at least. It just sucks that it died in such a short time.
As soon as I get it fixed, I plan to switch back to my old computer case. I love how the one I've been using looks (red wunz go fasta!) but this will be the second system I've had die within its clutches. Coincidence or not, that doesn't sit well with me so I'm switching. I've always felt like the smaller, albeit awesomely red, chasis had circulation problems, and I've known it runs somewhat warmer than I'm comfortable with, although still within operable levels, but I always just let aesthetics take precedence over performance. No longer! This case has claimed its last. It is now time for my old, echoing cavern of a case to rise again.
For better or for worse, that won't be for a few more weeks yet. All of this coming week, we will be in New York City visiting my old college roommate. He managed to get out while he had the chance (graduating in 4 years instead of 5) and moved on to bigger and better things up in NYC. He's agreed to host us for the week and show us around all the coolest bits of the city. This trip is sure to be awesome and is something we are looking forward to with great enthusiasm.
[(Big awesome city + hanging out with old friends)*NYC Food]/A week off work = made of win.
It just means that I'll have to put everything on hold until we get back. A price I am certainly willing to pay. On that note, this will probably be the last thing I put up in the next week or two.
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