I finally graduated cum laude with a BA in Communications. Boy am I glad! I wrote a lengthy rant the other day, but really it isn’t appropriate to be posted. I try not to be “click-happy”. It’s too easy to write something in a fit of choler, post it, and then regret it five minutes later. The writing of it was cathartic, but the posting of it would be pointless in the main.

In any case, I’m understandably psyched to be finished with my undergraduate career. I have one more year of grad school. I must admit, it is extremely tempting to get a real job, make real money, live in my own real place (i.e. a place without ridiculous roommates), et cetera. But with my degree, there weren’t any jobs available that I really wanted. The economy is bad, too, so it might have been hard to get a real job. Above all, the temptation to return to London was irresistible. It’s only one year, I get to be in London, and at the end I should be looking at a job I can really really enjoy. I will be going for my MA in publishing, with the goal of becoming an acquisitions editor or a literary agent. I will probably at least start out in London, but I do ultimately plan to return to the US. I’ll to work somewhere besides NYC.

In any case, graduation was fun. I told my parents I wanted to go to my graduation ceremonies and they asked, “Why?” and “Do we have to go?” Of course they had to go. The University of Maryland had two ceremonies for each grad, one for the entire university and one for each department/college. I went to both. The big ceremony was very assembly-line. We weren’t given much information at all about what was going on. It was enjoyable anyway. Leon Panetta was out speaker and gave a wonderful address. They called each college to stand to cheer, so we all did. It was just fun to be part of the mass of graduates.

The next morning was the Communications graduation ceremony. It was 9:00, which was pretty dang early. I literally had to Google it to find out when I was meant to show up because, again, we weren’t given much information. It was a lot better-run than the main commencement, however. And it was much smaller. They called each graduate’s name and we all got a poster of images of the campus. Our diplomas are mailed to us later. My parents and one of my brothers came. The weather was gorgeous. All in all, it worked out to be a very successful ceremony.

From there, we went straight to the house I lived in and packed up all my stuff. My parents were moving at warp speed. I was trying to pack up the last few things. They wanted to take out the bed and I had to stop them so I could get off the sheets and blankets! I was like, “Cool it for a minute, guys!” We got everything outta there in record time. I wasn’t sad about that, let me tell you. I was so damn fed up with that place and those roommates. I got a note that morning that my roommate was moving out on Monday (today) and expected a check for the water utility (which he had been paying late, for which we had gotten a shut-off notice). This was Friday, today is Memorial Day. So in other words, I had no chance to mail him the check, since I didn’t have my checkbook with me. That would be his fault. I’ll send the check to the address there, hoping it will get forwarded to him.

Summer is ahead of me. Tomorrow, I really need to start looking for a job. I should be able to get a loan for all I need, but every penny counts. I need to be able to save a couple thousand dollars this summer. That will make me feel much much better. I have no undergrad debt, but I want to be in as little debt as possible, obviously. Debt is huge trouble, as everyone has finally begun to realize as of late.

Ah, well, anyway, I regress. Here are a few lovely photos from graduation.