Sunday, May 23, 2010

My Excuse for Slacking

Yesterday was a very busy day for me, so I apologize to all you fellow ICLWers--and all of you whose blogs I normally read--that I slacked off a bit on the reading on commenting. I'm playing catch-up today, so it may be another slacker day in Ceejay's virtual world. And a quick post. Which might be refreshing, considering how long-winded I can be sometimes.

What was I doing that kept me so busy, you ask?
Can you tell that the hood's choking me a bit? My gown didn't have the button it was supposed to have on the front to attach the hood to. Those things are heavy!

If you didn't surmise this, I finally graduated yesterday. I say finally because I feel like I've been done for a long time. I turned in my thesis in December, but I took my last class a year ago. Of course, I still haven't received my diploma. But I guess that's what you get with a state school going through major budget cuts.

A couple of rows ahead of me during the ceremony was a woman who had brought her 4-year-old son into the ceremony with her. She had somehow procured him a miniature purple robe and cap! He was adorable. I had to stop and be grateful that I did not have a child yet while working through grad school. And mad props to any single mom (this woman was young enough that I made the perhaps incorrect assumption that she was single and had gotten knocked up as a teenager) who gets a degree of any kind with young kids.

The speakers were...graduation speakers. They spoke many words that sounded inspiring, I'm not sure what they actually said that had any substance. You earned this? You deserve this? Go live your dreams? Please. And sorry for the cynicism. I heard Oprah speak at a graduation once and was only slightly impressed by her, so I'm not the one to ask for opinions on these kinds of things.

But I am happy to have jumped the final hurdle in my education. I think I'm done with school for a little while. I'm sure I'll be back again someday for something. I'm a bit of an education addict. But for now, I'm enjoying the fact that I'm sitting here and blogging on a Sunday afternoon rather than writing pages and pages about John Donne.

Oh, and the best part of this graduation? The gift I received from my very generous in-laws: a Kindle. In general, I do not own very many gadgets. I still have an old-school cell phone and am typing on a ten-year-old laptop. But what gadget could be better suited to an English MA graduate than a Kindle?

22 comments:

Adele said...

Congratulations! That's wonderful (and a very lovely photo). I hope you can celebrate in high style. (Having sat through more than a few very looooong graduations, I know exactly what you mean about the speakers...)

cdg said...

Congrats on this amazing accomplishment!!

KD said...

Congratulations!! Yay for you! :) smiles and hugs!

April said...

Congratulations!!

ICLW

Oak said...

Good for you! Now you get to put little letters after your name which is very fun! :)

The Hopeful Elephant said...

Congratulations! I'm about half way through my degree for my Master's in Nursing Education...dear Lord, it seems like it's taking forever.

I, too, am a professional student.

And, I despise APA formatting. ;)

Happy ICLW!
#5

Alex said...

Congratulations!!! You look fabulous in your cap & gown!

And very cool about the Kindle. I don't actually have the device, but I've downloaded the softward onto my iPhone. Beware - your book budget will increase dramatically! They make it just so darn easy to buy and read books!

Julize said...

Yay, good for you!! I'm glad you decided to go through the ceremony after all. And I agree--the Kindle sounds very cool. Have heard mixed reviews about them so I'll be curious to hear what you think once you've used it for a while.

Anonymous said...

That is a great accomplishment, congratulations!

Jos said...

Congrats! That's an awesome accomplishment!!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on an amazing accomplishment! Enjoy your student free life! :)

Leslie said...

Congratulations! That's a very lovely picture. I hope it was a very fun event and celebration afterwards, and I'm glad it took you away from the madness going on in these blogs :)

junebug said...

Congratulations!! A perfect excuse for slacking on ICLW. :-)
ICLW

Patience said...

Congratulations on your Graduation! That is truly an amazing accomplishment!

ICLW

Terry Elisabeth said...

Congratulations ! I hope you got to celebrate that.
ICLW #44

Missy said...

Congrats!

Anonymous said...

Congrats! And have fun with the new Kindle -- awesome gift!

Keiko Zoll said...

What a wonderful accomplishment :) Congrats on all the years of hard work to get to this moment! Here via ICLW and LCFA - what a great read this morning. Congrats grad :)

~Keiko Hannah Wept, Sarah Laughed

Stickles McQueen said...

Congratulations! What an accomplishment. I'm a little envious of your new Kindle!

I know what you mean about graduation speeches. My favorite one that I've heard is JK Rowling's speech at Harvard. I think you can find it on the TED talks website.

Tricia said...

Congrats on graduating. That's awesome! So... how do you like the Kindle? I am interested in buying one, and it may be my next big purchase. Who knows!

ICLW

Marla said...

Congrats! I'm jealous of your Kindle. I've not-so-secretly wanted one for over a year now.

Happy ICLW!

Hannah said...

Congrats! What a great photo!