May 14, 2016

 I graduated today. Sort of. We'll count it though because in August when I am actually done with classes it will feel like a relief but not much like a graduation.

I got up a few hours before we planned on leaving town so I would have time to chill out and watch some YouTube videos before getting ready. I also steamed by graduation hood because I hadn't even thought about it when I was doing my robe and it also had fold marks. Not after I steamed it. I think tomorrow I might steam my curtains. It's just so relaxing.

After getting ready, I had a small tortilla with some peanut butter and we headed out of town. It all seemed very familiar considering I had made the exact same drive last night. The drive was thankfully uneventful and we pulled into the parking lot by the library at exactly 12:45PM, which had been the plan.

I walked in and hung out with my mom and sister for awhile in the lobby of the building where the ceremony was taking place. Then we parted ways so they could go find seats and I could go up to the third floor and stand around for an hour. I didn't put my hat on until about the ten minute warning because as more and more people made it up there it got hotter and hotter. When we finally started lining up we were at the end of the line for all the different schools but we also ended up by a door that was kind of closed but not really. One of the girls got curious and wanted to know what was behind the door so she opened it. It turned out just to be office space but it also came with a cool breeze from the air conditioning, which was welcomed.

The ball eventually started rolling and we slowly made our way back down to the first floor and into the auditorium. When we reached the lobby I heard someone call out my last name and when I looked up to the second floor balcony I saw my friend and his parents waving at me. I waved back and when I looked back down I saw my dad walking toward me. He had apparently just gone to the bathroom and came out at the perfect time to shake my hand as I went by.

The auditorium was packed and the actually didn't have enough seats in the section they blocked off for the graduates. I was in the last row and probably six or seven people ended up sitting in the back row of the next section over. There were also people when we were still up on the third floor, that walked past us going up to the fourth floor to watch the live video feed because there wasn't enough room left in the auditorium. It feels like the fire code was probably broken because all of the seats were taken and there were people standing along the walls.

It felt like the ceremony took forever but I think it actually went by pretty quickly. They were only doing graduate students, so even though the place was packed with us, there were still far fewer than there were at my undergraduate ceremonies. The biggest school graduating was Education and we in Library Science didn't get to see most of them get hooded because they all stood up at once and most of them remained standing, even though they were being called to line up one row at a time. There were a few smart ones who sat back down and waited until their row got closer but the majority remained standing, completely blocking the view of the last two rows.

At the beginning of the ceremony we had to stand up and sit down a few different times and each time I sat down I sat on my winged sleeves and had to pull them out from under me. Thankfully I wasn't alone in this because it was happening to the people around me as well.

After what felt like an eternity it was finally our turn. It didn't take long at all for it to be my turn to walk up the stairs, have my name read out, have my hood put on me, walk across the stage to get my empty diploma thing, and then walk off the stage. I didn't stumble or trip so I think it was successful. At two points on the stage they took our picture and after the stage we had to pose for a picture. Then we were given a box of chocolates, an alumni pin, and then we headed back to our seats. After a brief closing statement we were good to go.

We had to wait for the faculty to go first, and then every row in front of us, so my row was the last to leave the auditorium. When I got to the lobby I ended up going out the side door because the front door was just jammed with people barely moving.

When I made it around to the front of the building I walked up behind my mom and sister, who had their eye on the front doors, and asked who they were looking for. It startled my mom and I thought it was funny. I stood there and talked with them for a minute and then I headed over to see my friend and his parents, my aunt and grandma, and my dad, brother (and his girlfriend), and my step-mom. I posed for pictures and I think did a fairly decent job socializing. While I was talking to my friend and his parents one of my classmates came up and basically said how good of a student I was and gave me a whole bunch of complements. It was really nice of her to do that. I had a group project with her last semester I think and it was actually a good experience because everyone did their fair share. She's the one that works full-time at a library, has her own photography business, is married with a couple kids, and usually took three classes a semester. Which is ridiculous. But she's actually done with school now, not having to take summer classes, so that must be nice.

After we parted ways with everyone my mom, sister, and I went to Spangles for a really late lunch. It was delicious. Then we went to the gas station so I could get gas, something gas stations are known for. While I was doing that my mom decided she wanted Braum's, which is right next to the gas station. My grandma loves the place but I had never been there before. My mom and sister got mixes, which are like blizzards at Dairy Queen, and I got a strawberry shake because while driving I couldn't really get someone that required a spoon. It was a good shake but there were giant pieces of strawberry in it that kept getting stuck in my straw.

The drive back to town was also uneventful. When we got home my mom gave me a token of my graduation, since I said we shouldn't really celebrate until I'm actually done in August. The token was a card and a DVD of Deadpool. I had actually planned on watching it tomorrow, so that was perfect timing. After that I changed out of my clothes, caught up on all the YouTube videos from yesterday, started a load of laundry, and started watching Deadpool.

I got about an hour into the movie when I had to stop and get changed so I could head over to my friend's house. We went out to the bars with his sister and ended up going to at least four bars, which is a decent number. They were telling me a story from last night where the sister got really drunk, or “white girl wasted”, and instead of calling my friend (her brother) she called the house. Their dad thought it sounded like her but she immediately said her name was Sandra and that she needed to talk to my friend. At 2:30AM. My friend ended up calling her an Uber and that got her home. When we were leaving the house tonight her parents said I might meet her friend Sandra tonight, which was a much funnier statement after I heard the story.

We called it a night at midnight and they wanted Taco Bell. The first one we tried was closed so we drove back across town to the other one. That one was opened so I ordered them food and I drove them home. After dropping them off and getting back to the main road my car started messing up. The RPMs would go through the roof but my speed was topping out at twenty miles per hour. I didn't know what was happening but the road was empty so I decided to try and nurse it along to a side street. Then I figured out it was because instead of putting my car in Drive, I had slide it over to the manual shift mode. I hadn't noticed it on the side streets getting back to the main street because I hadn't gone faster than first gear. But when I tried to go faster than that it didn't work out too well. Once I slid it back over to Drive, all was well.

Now I'm going to go to bed because it is nearly half past two in the morning and I have been tired since this afternoon. Tomorrow is my last day of freedom from school but my goal is to sleep in.