A SPLASH OF POMP

Despite my diploma having sat on my mantle for several months now, I graduated today. I passed on the cap and gown because they were optional, involved hoop jumping to acquire and are wildly unflattering. Still got to march in front of a sizable crowd, despite it being only a Comm department todo, and indulge heavy admissions of pride and adoration from the folks.

I was less than pleased at being the only graduate student to not fit in the first row seats, thus relegated to the beginnings of the endless stretch of fresh faced bachelor’s degree earners, or at least I thought so until Byung came trotting up from the back of the room at the last possible moment. The MCDM program also feels a bit like the red headed step child of the department with our noticeable lack of obtuse thesis titles in the program. But overall, the ceremony lent a satisfying sense of completion to my pricey education, and I’m glad I took the time for it.

After mom and dad headed on down to the south sound to prep for the next family affair, I wandered my back to campus, via two happy hour stops (Hey, I’m not off work early enough to catch these most days.), for our cohort reception. There was ‘much what are you doing now?’, ‘we should stay touch’, and ‘I hardly know what to do with my free time’ going about, plus snacks and vino. There was a slide show that consisted mostly of photos taken while at the RAM after classes, so naturally it featured plenty of wildly unflattering shots of me and my various shades of hair over the last couple years.

Things wrapped up right around nine, as scheduled, and everyone was keen to get back to their regular lives. I treated myself to a couple drinks at Norm’s, as that sums up my “regular” life pretty much these days, and called it a night. Once again, I’d been prepared for a bit more raucous, but had a lovely time all the same. Story of my week.