I GRADUATED!!!!

I’M AN ALUMNUS!!!!

I’M A GRADUATE!!!!

I HAVE A B.S. IN ENGLISH!!!!  (that’s a Bachelor of Science in case you were confused ;P)

Ok so this is a little late because I graduated on Saturday (the 18th of December), but I was busy Saturday with graduating and all and then I drove back to Colorado with the parentals so it was late when I got home and I went straight to bed.  Then on Sunday I slept and then went Christmas shopping with mi madre and just the thought of getting on the computer even for fun put my stomach in knots, I needed a bit of a break.  Then I slept most of the day Monday so here it is Tuesday and I’m just now getting around to announcing it…oh well that’s the way it goes sometimes.

The graduation ceremony was fun, it was the fall ceremony so it’s smaller and goes faster than the spring ceremony.  I sat in the front row pretty much smack dab in the middle; right in front of the podium where the president of the university, the registrar, the student body president and the president of the alumni association spoke from.  I only cried twice; once during a song that the choir sang and then when the alumni president spoke and called us alumni.  They gave us all namecards so we could pronounce our name to the dean and then they would read it out; the namecards also had the honors on it like Summa Cum Laude or whatnot.  I was just happy because this way my name wasn’t butchered.  They did mis-pronounce my middle name but I didn’t care so much because they got my first and last name right so yaaaaaa!!!!

I still have a few little things to finish but overall I’m done…and it feels weird.  It’s going to take a little while for it to sink in.  I keep finding myself doing things that I did in the past when I came to visit my parents.  Like gazing at the mountains and trying to soak it in as much as I can to sustain me only to remember that I don’t have to do that now.  Just little things like that.

And now Christmas is like right here and I haven’t done any shopping so I’m having to do that this week and after that it’s job hunting time…hooray…I have a few prospects lined up so we’ll just have to see if anything pans out.  I figure I’ll be lucky if I get a job before next Christmas.  Kidding, sort of!!

So that’s where things stand.  I should have week-in-a-flash back next week, though I doubt I’ll have a whole lot for it and as soon as I finish up with the few things for school that I have left and get into the mindset of “hey I can do this for fun!” this being reading and writing, then I’ll have other things besides week-in-a-flash and I’ll be able to catch up on all the blogs I read.  And do you know what else I can do now that I’m a graduate and an alumnus?  I can start reading for fun without having to analyze the book so I can write a paper on it later and I can watch TV like a real person now and I can write my stories again and I don’t have to pull all-nighters and I can eat real food…so exciting!!

week in a flash (week 18)

1. Was talking with a friend the other day and she said something that struck me – “it’s hard to stay mad at someone when you are praying for them.”  Pretty cool huh?

2. Days to graduation =54

3. My Lit Crit professor referenced a modern author yesterday and I had no clue who it was and then a few minutes later he referenced Percy Bysse Shelley (a Romantic-Era author) and I knew exactly who that was and it struck me that I know more (and more about) authors that are dead than the living ones…that’s what you get for being an English major.

4. I watched The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance today…yeah I’m not sure I liked Jimmy Stewart’s role in that movie…I don’t know, I’ll have to think about it.

5. Yes, I know I’m late on my “week” but that’s because I was working on homework, it happens.

6. Read something for my Am Lit class called “Rationalizing Religion,” it really pissed me off, it talked about how these “enlightened” men of the 1700 and 1800s basically deconstructed and dismantled Christianity.  The reason they it did was noble, they did it so that people would have a way to avoid being duped by charlatans claiming to be priests and whatnot by relying on their senses and logic.  But the way they did it just…ticked me off, things like denying the Holy Trinity and claiming that the reason Christ came to the earth was “not to reveal new truths but to ‘republish’ those obscured by evil and error.”  (This “enlightened” man compared Christ to Socrates and edged towards the denial of Christ’s divinity).

7. Reading this also caused me to re-evaluate certain things.  These “enlightened” men were very harsh towards the priesthood and it bothered me.  For a number of years I have ascribed to the belief that the structure of the modern church is flawed, that we give too much power to pastors and priests to sway our beliefs and opinions and outlooks on life and perhaps that is true…but in reading this I’ve begun to question the hardline manifestations that belief has brought out in me…after all isn’t part of what pastors and priests are supposed to do is offer wisdom and help you find answers to questions you have?  I often go to my parents when I have a tough question about, well, pretty much anything.  My parent’s site (Topics of Conversation) is based on the premise of me and my bro (and even my parents) bringing forth questions about beliefs (and sometimes prejudices, social topics, politics, etc.) and figuring out why we think or believe a certain way using Scripture and personal experiences – is that any different from the relationships that exist between some congregations and their pastors?  Plus I’ve been reading a Pastor’s blog for about a year now…and my views have been changing………I don’t know, I’m going to have to think on this one a bit……  (Just in case you are curious about the Pastor’s blog I’ve been reading I’ll link to it and I really hope he doesn’t mind because I’m presently just a lurker on his site).

8. You know you are a freak when you can spell “macchiato” correctly without looking it up…yep I’m talking about myself…  :D

9. Holy Crow!  September is already almost over!

10. I’m tired.

11. Found a spider building a web in my kitchen sink the other day and it made me laugh…I mean I know I don’t like doing dishes but c’mon I do dishes more often than that!  The really funny thing is I had just done the dishes the day before…unbelievable…Lol!