Graduation, in brief

It has been a whirlwind past few days, I tell you what. Right now, I can't walk straight, I'm so tired, but Mom and Dad could be home as early as 9am tomorrow, and I am NOT getting up that early, so I need to decorate and wrap presents for mother's day tonight.

Friday was the most out-of-body experience for me. I kept forgetting and then realizing that I was graduating the next day, today, and when I forgot it, it was comforting to think I had a day left before the big event. Alas, this was not the case.

I did all the driving until Dad arrived around 2pm Friday, so I drove to Raleigh, to the airport, to Cary, to Six Forks, and then down to the hotel off of Capitol Blvd, a trip that had my knuckles whiter than John McCain. Anyway, we got Aunt Jean all right, and Darren and Kim arrived on Friday night, and after a not-so-brief foray to Cookout for some shakes, we adjourned to my room, where Becca and I (mostly Becca) took down all of my posters. The four of us told the most kick-ass ghost story, passing it on between us, while it stormed that night, and then much later, I was finally ready for bed. Four or five hours later, I got up, took another cold shower (the hot water was shut off on Wednesday, thanks to the penny-pinching bastards that run my dorm) and then it was time to get ready.

Nervous, was I, so I said little, and made it on time to where I was supposed to be. The ceremony lasted 3 hours, and I'm sure I'll have pictures to show you soon. On the way to lunch, I finally broke down into tears, and then while we were waiting for our table, I really started crying, but everyone was sympathetic and understood the strange combination of nerves, stress, and miscellanea that had come over me.

Lunch at Red Robin was delicious. I have a new favorite sandwich. Then we made it back to campus for a pell-mell breakdown of all that was left in my room, which was more than I thought, and then we just made it to the departmental ceremony, I got my diploma, took a few pictures, and then we were out of there. I'm still waiting for school spirit to descend upon me, although mention Carolina or Duke and you just might get my dander up.

We did some other things after that, mostly hanging about, until it was time to go, and now here I am at home, graduated, exhausted, resigned, and ready to get to work on decorating.