I've been very busy the past two weeks. I've had three commencements to attend. One was my sister's, and then one was for work (I was the line leader). The last one was my own for my MBA! My younger sister graduated with her Bachelor's in Political Science! Which just means I'm getting OLD. I graduated 10 years ago, and I can't remember anything about my commencement. What's weird is there is a live recording of in on Youtube and man it feels so... old. Haha, and honestly 2014 wasn't that long ago! The photos in the strip next to this are pictures of me from the video... The quality is awful, and I do not remember wearing orange stockings! Although that is very me. And despite the blurriness, I feel like I looked cuter than I remember myself looking.
My sister's commencement was very large and it felt like a normal length ceremony. Her speaker was Judy Girard who has had a healthy work history in television and media. She was so funny! I wish all commencement speeches were as interesting as hers.
Thankfully, my camera is awesome and I was able to see her from across the room. We went out to eat at some nice American restaurant, and Oat and I got some awesome pretzels and cheese and ahi tuna. There wasn't even a wait because Wilmington is so big, even when there are lots of people in town, it's not that big of a deal.
Outside of the graduation, we spent most of our time at the beach. We got to see lots of dolphins hopping around (featured in the above image), and we stayed at a cute beach motel (ran by some weird people), and we tagged along with my sister during her pre-gaming. We drank some, but oh my god, I can't keep up with young people anymore! I'd never wake up in the morning if I tried! One of her friends threw a nice graduation party, just for the handful of girls in their social circle, and we had lots of food and drinks. I felt really weird around all of them, since I don't exactly fit in with that crowd, but I also didn't want to leave.
We had a bigger ceremony than I thought we would at our graduation. Turns out most of the masters candidates were education majors, so that makes sense. I was in a pissy mood earlier in the day, I think because I can't help but feel like our graduation was... well, not as "celebrated" as my sisters? And also I guess it was upsetting to think that I've wasted so much in school when I doubt it's going to do me any good. I do have a good, steady job for the state already, although it doesn't pay enough. Hopefully this will help Oat find something better though!
While I was walking to the podium I made eye contact and got smiled and waved at by one of my professors. None of these people have met us in person since our MBA program is online, but he's one of the "better" professors in my opinion (makes lecture videos and seems to actually care about the subject he teaches), and he's kinda good looking, so it was nice being acknowledged by sempai (,,> ᴗ <,,)
Afterwards we went out to eat and waited like 2 hours for a table, when the wait was supposed to be 25 minutes. The manager gave us like 20% or 30% off the meal (I can't remember), although I feel like they should have given us more. The food was good though! So, that's good!
The commencement I had to lead one of the lines for for work was painstakingly long. I was at the local university's auditorium all day long helping with practice, and then the ceremony was like 3 hours long and I didn't get home until 10:00 PM. That sucked!
Anyways, I just wish that school was over for me. This class I'm in now isn't awful, but after 4 years of doing college again (I did two associates degrees before I went into this MBA) I am SO READY to have my free time back!