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Day 907: Law Grad in a Hood
May. 14th, 2010 10:54 pmThat's totally me. I got my hood today. It was the most chill day so far of the week - got up, sat in my pajamas working on lace. Ate breakfast while catching up on Wednesday night's episode of Criminal Minds. Worked on lace some more - got all my clothes packed. Then we got dressed up and went onto Main Campus for the graduate brunch, which was tasty good. I got feta cheese - lots of feta cheese. I'm like a cartoon mouse - I can't pass up cheese. I guess it's a good source of protein, seeing how I'm usually loathe to eat meat (not that I'm vegetarian). We sat at a table with a nice Chinese girl from Hawaii who's graduating from PT. We took pictures on campus, and I took my parents on a tour of the law school (they haven't seen it since I started) and then we came home and I totally took a nap.
We made it to school in good time and took the bus shuttle over to the fancy civic center for the ceremony. We rode with Liz, another girl in my class who did an externship in DC, and a nice, conversational bus driver. I got my robes on and my cap on and we took some pictures, and then I skedaddled inside to the waiting area so we students could get properly lined up. I got to see some students who I hadn't seen in a long time, like the JD-MBA students who spent most of 3L doing MBA classes, and just other kids who I lost track of because we had such divergent schedules. I met my clinic partner Jenifer's fiancé, who's a cool guy, and then I hung around talking to friends.
We lined up in rows of fourteen, and we applauded as the faculty walked past us. Not all of the faculty was there, not by a long stretch - half of my 1L Section profs weren't there. But then we went out and were seated. I thought I'd be crazy emotional, but somehow I don't think the whole grad thing has quite hit me yet, not even now, two-odd hours later. Instead we were giggly and impatient and irreverent and...it was odd. The boy next to me, Carlo (my first oral argument opponent in 1L and my moot court partner in 2L), kept up a running commentary. The invocation was less prayer and more speech, which was weird, and then there was a shuffle because the Dean didn't tell us to be seated, and no one knew if we should stand or sit. The Dean - love her lots, she taught me Secured Transactions - likely had lovely remarks, but as in my old ST days, her voice lulled me into a state of false security, and I started to get a little drowsy.
Then they awarded an alumnus award, and thankfully the recipient kept his remarks brief, even more concise than his introduction. And then...then we had the class speaker. We picked him for a reason. He was funny and a little irreverent, and he picked on students and professors alike (I heard Professor Watts made an awesome faculty roast on Thursday night, which I am kinda sad I missed), and he was also profound and heartwarming. It was good and also entertaining and kept us awake. The actual hooding was...long. So long. They handed out awards as they went.
While we were standing in line, they warned us we'd have to duck a little so the professors could hood us, and I was surprised at how so many of the students were so much taller than the professors. Me, of course, I didn't need to duck - but I almost bolted off stage without a picture, because I'm me. I was hoping Professor Mahern, Professor Melilli, or maybe even Fenner or Dallon would hood me, but I got Brooks and Weber, and it was cool, because I was short enough for the both of them.
Carlo kept up a running commentary on people as they walked; we counted down the awards, snickered when someone was too tall for a professor to hood properly, and then...then it was done. The Class of 2010 was all graduated.
I ran around the reception hall afterwards getting pictures with Melilli, Watts, Jordan, Xiao Qian, Jenifer, and Kent, and introducing my parents around, and then we bolted. We decided to go to Olive Garden, and so we headed up Dodge. Now, there's a median on Dodge past 72nd, and it has signs at several points that indicate no U-turns between 10 pm and 4 am, and I commented to my parents that I wondered what happened on Dodge between those hours, that u-turns were not allowed. Of course, we needed a U-turn to get into the Olive Garden parking lot, so I swung around and then slowed down, and I saw a cop car in my rearview mirror, and I winced, because I'd pulled around and then slowed down to turn, and he was probably annoyed.
And then I saw his lights go on.
Story of my life - the night I got the award for outstanding English student for the class of 2007, I got pulled over with poor Seirra in my car. It figured that I was going to get a ticket ten minutes after graduating from law school. I pulled into a parking spot, got my driver's license and registration, rolled down my window, and prepared to hand over to him, ready to be polite and a little nervous. He was young and, I'm not gonna lie, kinda cute. He told me that I didn't need to hand him anything, that he wondered if I was aware of the no u-turns on Dodge and he was just going to give me a friendly reminder (out-of-state plates sometimes pay off). I widened my eyes a little bit (what can I say? I didn't need a ticket) and told him calmly that it was my understanding that u-turns were only prohibited between 10 pm and 4 am. He smiled, ducked his head, told me I was right, and went back to his patrol car. The two girls who'd parked opposite me looked all wide-eyed and judgmental but...hah.
I talked myself out of a ticket. Not using fancy lawyer skills. Just by being able to read.
I was pretty darn relieved, not gonna lie. Also, we saw Kim and her family at the restaurant, which was pretty fun, and dinner was tasty. Then we came home.
I'm gonna lace a bit, then go to bed. Or maybe just go straight to bed. I have lots of lace ahead of me, and goodness gracious, I'm going to make it flippin' well work.
I'm a juris doctor now.
Wow.
On facebook the other night, I noticed a guy I graduated from high school with freaking out about taking the LSAT. I remember taking the LSAT. The last few years have gone so quickly. The future still kinda freaks me out, but I have good people in my life, and everything will be all right.
We made it to school in good time and took the bus shuttle over to the fancy civic center for the ceremony. We rode with Liz, another girl in my class who did an externship in DC, and a nice, conversational bus driver. I got my robes on and my cap on and we took some pictures, and then I skedaddled inside to the waiting area so we students could get properly lined up. I got to see some students who I hadn't seen in a long time, like the JD-MBA students who spent most of 3L doing MBA classes, and just other kids who I lost track of because we had such divergent schedules. I met my clinic partner Jenifer's fiancé, who's a cool guy, and then I hung around talking to friends.
We lined up in rows of fourteen, and we applauded as the faculty walked past us. Not all of the faculty was there, not by a long stretch - half of my 1L Section profs weren't there. But then we went out and were seated. I thought I'd be crazy emotional, but somehow I don't think the whole grad thing has quite hit me yet, not even now, two-odd hours later. Instead we were giggly and impatient and irreverent and...it was odd. The boy next to me, Carlo (my first oral argument opponent in 1L and my moot court partner in 2L), kept up a running commentary. The invocation was less prayer and more speech, which was weird, and then there was a shuffle because the Dean didn't tell us to be seated, and no one knew if we should stand or sit. The Dean - love her lots, she taught me Secured Transactions - likely had lovely remarks, but as in my old ST days, her voice lulled me into a state of false security, and I started to get a little drowsy.
Then they awarded an alumnus award, and thankfully the recipient kept his remarks brief, even more concise than his introduction. And then...then we had the class speaker. We picked him for a reason. He was funny and a little irreverent, and he picked on students and professors alike (I heard Professor Watts made an awesome faculty roast on Thursday night, which I am kinda sad I missed), and he was also profound and heartwarming. It was good and also entertaining and kept us awake. The actual hooding was...long. So long. They handed out awards as they went.
While we were standing in line, they warned us we'd have to duck a little so the professors could hood us, and I was surprised at how so many of the students were so much taller than the professors. Me, of course, I didn't need to duck - but I almost bolted off stage without a picture, because I'm me. I was hoping Professor Mahern, Professor Melilli, or maybe even Fenner or Dallon would hood me, but I got Brooks and Weber, and it was cool, because I was short enough for the both of them.
Carlo kept up a running commentary on people as they walked; we counted down the awards, snickered when someone was too tall for a professor to hood properly, and then...then it was done. The Class of 2010 was all graduated.
I ran around the reception hall afterwards getting pictures with Melilli, Watts, Jordan, Xiao Qian, Jenifer, and Kent, and introducing my parents around, and then we bolted. We decided to go to Olive Garden, and so we headed up Dodge. Now, there's a median on Dodge past 72nd, and it has signs at several points that indicate no U-turns between 10 pm and 4 am, and I commented to my parents that I wondered what happened on Dodge between those hours, that u-turns were not allowed. Of course, we needed a U-turn to get into the Olive Garden parking lot, so I swung around and then slowed down, and I saw a cop car in my rearview mirror, and I winced, because I'd pulled around and then slowed down to turn, and he was probably annoyed.
And then I saw his lights go on.
Story of my life - the night I got the award for outstanding English student for the class of 2007, I got pulled over with poor Seirra in my car. It figured that I was going to get a ticket ten minutes after graduating from law school. I pulled into a parking spot, got my driver's license and registration, rolled down my window, and prepared to hand over to him, ready to be polite and a little nervous. He was young and, I'm not gonna lie, kinda cute. He told me that I didn't need to hand him anything, that he wondered if I was aware of the no u-turns on Dodge and he was just going to give me a friendly reminder (out-of-state plates sometimes pay off). I widened my eyes a little bit (what can I say? I didn't need a ticket) and told him calmly that it was my understanding that u-turns were only prohibited between 10 pm and 4 am. He smiled, ducked his head, told me I was right, and went back to his patrol car. The two girls who'd parked opposite me looked all wide-eyed and judgmental but...hah.
I talked myself out of a ticket. Not using fancy lawyer skills. Just by being able to read.
I was pretty darn relieved, not gonna lie. Also, we saw Kim and her family at the restaurant, which was pretty fun, and dinner was tasty. Then we came home.
I'm gonna lace a bit, then go to bed. Or maybe just go straight to bed. I have lots of lace ahead of me, and goodness gracious, I'm going to make it flippin' well work.
I'm a juris doctor now.
Wow.
On facebook the other night, I noticed a guy I graduated from high school with freaking out about taking the LSAT. I remember taking the LSAT. The last few years have gone so quickly. The future still kinda freaks me out, but I have good people in my life, and everything will be all right.
