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Day 908: A Tale of Two Cities
May. 17th, 2010 08:12 pmSo…Commencement. Saturday morning, I arrived at the Qwest Center bright and early - a good half hour before most of my classmates showed up - for commencement. I had my robes and my hood and I helped an undergrad find her spot; they had us lined up in rows, alphabetically by name, our names taped to the cement floor. Colleen, the lady who runs the copy center at the law school, was there, and she and I worked on getting people's hoods straightened up. Apparently there was a fancy way to do it, so we did it, and I ran around "attacking" people's hoods so they looked right. I talked to old friends, and then we lined up.
They led us out in the wrong order, so the law students were completely out of alphabetical order (woo hoo! Look! the law students don't know their alphabet!), but I was sitting next to a friend (who'd been realphabetized after hooding) and it was good times. Harry Potter jokes abounded, because we were in robes and had hoods and were separated by the colors on our robes and…yeah. They were easy jokes to make.
I dozed through most of the speeches. I woke up to see the BA students walk. We law students snagged a program and considered "adopting" an undergrad; to wit, picking a random name, and then going nuts when that student crossed the stage. Because we're weird that way. The plan didn't pan out, but it kept us entertained. When I walked, it was brief, a blur - I don't really remember shaking Father Schlegel's hand, or really smiling or anything. I remember there were pictures afterward, and I know Dean Dallon read my name, and I know I didn't trip, but other than that it was…it just was.
We made it through all right - I dozed again during Father Schlegel's speech - and then…then it was done. I turned in my gown, bought my hood…and I got it. The magic paper. My diploma. I was over the moon. I lost my tassel, so dad and I ran back to get it, because mom had bought me a lovely frame for my diploma and tassel. Mom and Dad put it together while Angela and I had lunch at Burger King. We talked summer, the dojo time I missed, and her birthday. She bought me an ice cream cone to celebrate graduation.
I'm gonna miss her like crazy. I'm going to miss Jenny, too.
I hung out with my parents for a bit, then they dropped me off at Amber's place, and Amber and I went to Janice's for Merlin night. Season One. Seven episodes. Janice and I speculated about season three and taunted Amber with hints about season two. Janice gave me practical advice about studying for the bar. Overall a good night, though. I was in bed by one, which is what counts.
We set out evil early Sunday morning. I slept a bit, and then drove the middle stretch. I made a point of stretching out and doing mini line drills whenever we stopped. People stared, but I need to learn to get over that business if I'm going to train in the park near my new place. We made it to Rawlins in Wyoming in good time, and had dinner and a small diner (mom and dad weren't too impressed with the food, but I was happy), and I got to talk to Ericka before bed. We watched TV while I tatted (and I'm pretty sure my knuckles are swollen from the sheer amount of tatting) and then we slept.
Today was…long. Less driving. I tatted or slept and didn't drive at all; mom and dad took turns the whole time. While I drove yesterday, I listened to music and sang along to keep awake; I could hear dad snoring beneath my singing. Usually on long car rides we talk and have philosophical debates, but this time it didn't happen. Mom and Dad were tense and annoyed at each other most of the time.
I think it's endemic of the Now Generation, but occasionally I have moments in my life that I manage to encapsulate in a single third-person POV sentence that would make a great facebook status. All day today, mom and dad argued about the best way to do things - drop Amber off at her new place and then get the dresser, or get the dresser from Wayne and then go to the new place? Take Trax to the U or take the Bus? I wanted to post over my head in big letters for the world to see: Dear Mom and Dad, arguing will not help me figure out where I'm going while I'm lost in a new city.
Only SLC is a real grid. Omaha downtown is a fake grid, full of devilish one-way streets and roads that end or cut off or turn into different roads. Not that downtown SLC doesn't have one-way streets or the like, but when someone tells me to go two blocks over and one block down, it works. I can find my way around by sheer dint of being able to read road signs, and I love it. After I got all moved in - and my landlady can out-talk everyone I know, including some people at law school - mom and I decided to go the U of U and see about getting my Bar Prep ID and maybe a student pass for Trax. Now, someone told her that the student union was near the law school. I looked up a map online on my super-awesome phone. The student union was nowhere near the law school. I told her if we got off the train at Stadium we could walk to the law school.
She insisted we go to the student union.
We went. We ran into a crazy dude, but he led us in the right direction. As it turned out, since bar prep is run through Barbri and not through the university, I don't get a student pass. Also, the student union really is nowhere near the law school, but it is near the stadium stop. By the time we'd had lunch (and I'd learned that campus is loaded with cute Japanese boys who don't speak really any English and are too young for me) and made it to the law school, the Barbri reps were gone, so we took the train home. Poor mom was sore and frustrated and also mad at dad. But we took the train home and went grocery shopping successfully, and then went to dinner at Iggy's Sport's Grill.
My sister and I managed to not kill each other over dinner, which was good. She insisted on contradicting pretty much everything I said, but it didn't really matter. We did fine. I got to see her, and we had good food, and we got along, and also her husband is a super-nice man, so there you go.
As it turns out, I have a roommate, a journalism grad who's interning at the Deseret News. Her name is Jackie and she's nice. We're not going to the student ward by the singles ward, and she informed me that she was asked out her first week there, but apparently she is antagonistic to dating and together we will form a front of dating antagonism, her with the sarcasm, me with the martial arts and legalese. I love my mother, but she's been a bit crazy harping on about dating and the like. Stephen called today to invite me to his going-away bash, and I told him I was already in Utah. My mother has declared all the guys in the WQ ward useless because they won't ask me out. I think they're nice guys. At the rate I'm going, crushing relentlessly on SR and facing down my first blind date ever, I don't really care if the boys back home don't ask me out.
I have four other housemates, one of whom I have not met. So far so good, though. Apparently labeling food is a must, and the bathroom is messy, but we will survive, and that's what counts. I missed the first day of bar prep, but I called Kent, who is out here as well - which will be a comfort from home, of sorts - and it'll all work out tomorrow. I can't say I'm looking forward to it, but I do want to get it done.
I wish I could go train tomorrow night. I'm going to need it, and I won't have it.
I made it back to Utah, though. It's the last time I'm coming home, though - after I pass the bar and get a job in Omaha, Omaha will be my home. But Utah will be where my heart is, where my beloved Black Dogs roam the wild.
They led us out in the wrong order, so the law students were completely out of alphabetical order (woo hoo! Look! the law students don't know their alphabet!), but I was sitting next to a friend (who'd been realphabetized after hooding) and it was good times. Harry Potter jokes abounded, because we were in robes and had hoods and were separated by the colors on our robes and…yeah. They were easy jokes to make.
I dozed through most of the speeches. I woke up to see the BA students walk. We law students snagged a program and considered "adopting" an undergrad; to wit, picking a random name, and then going nuts when that student crossed the stage. Because we're weird that way. The plan didn't pan out, but it kept us entertained. When I walked, it was brief, a blur - I don't really remember shaking Father Schlegel's hand, or really smiling or anything. I remember there were pictures afterward, and I know Dean Dallon read my name, and I know I didn't trip, but other than that it was…it just was.
We made it through all right - I dozed again during Father Schlegel's speech - and then…then it was done. I turned in my gown, bought my hood…and I got it. The magic paper. My diploma. I was over the moon. I lost my tassel, so dad and I ran back to get it, because mom had bought me a lovely frame for my diploma and tassel. Mom and Dad put it together while Angela and I had lunch at Burger King. We talked summer, the dojo time I missed, and her birthday. She bought me an ice cream cone to celebrate graduation.
I'm gonna miss her like crazy. I'm going to miss Jenny, too.
I hung out with my parents for a bit, then they dropped me off at Amber's place, and Amber and I went to Janice's for Merlin night. Season One. Seven episodes. Janice and I speculated about season three and taunted Amber with hints about season two. Janice gave me practical advice about studying for the bar. Overall a good night, though. I was in bed by one, which is what counts.
We set out evil early Sunday morning. I slept a bit, and then drove the middle stretch. I made a point of stretching out and doing mini line drills whenever we stopped. People stared, but I need to learn to get over that business if I'm going to train in the park near my new place. We made it to Rawlins in Wyoming in good time, and had dinner and a small diner (mom and dad weren't too impressed with the food, but I was happy), and I got to talk to Ericka before bed. We watched TV while I tatted (and I'm pretty sure my knuckles are swollen from the sheer amount of tatting) and then we slept.
Today was…long. Less driving. I tatted or slept and didn't drive at all; mom and dad took turns the whole time. While I drove yesterday, I listened to music and sang along to keep awake; I could hear dad snoring beneath my singing. Usually on long car rides we talk and have philosophical debates, but this time it didn't happen. Mom and Dad were tense and annoyed at each other most of the time.
I think it's endemic of the Now Generation, but occasionally I have moments in my life that I manage to encapsulate in a single third-person POV sentence that would make a great facebook status. All day today, mom and dad argued about the best way to do things - drop Amber off at her new place and then get the dresser, or get the dresser from Wayne and then go to the new place? Take Trax to the U or take the Bus? I wanted to post over my head in big letters for the world to see: Dear Mom and Dad, arguing will not help me figure out where I'm going while I'm lost in a new city.
Only SLC is a real grid. Omaha downtown is a fake grid, full of devilish one-way streets and roads that end or cut off or turn into different roads. Not that downtown SLC doesn't have one-way streets or the like, but when someone tells me to go two blocks over and one block down, it works. I can find my way around by sheer dint of being able to read road signs, and I love it. After I got all moved in - and my landlady can out-talk everyone I know, including some people at law school - mom and I decided to go the U of U and see about getting my Bar Prep ID and maybe a student pass for Trax. Now, someone told her that the student union was near the law school. I looked up a map online on my super-awesome phone. The student union was nowhere near the law school. I told her if we got off the train at Stadium we could walk to the law school.
She insisted we go to the student union.
We went. We ran into a crazy dude, but he led us in the right direction. As it turned out, since bar prep is run through Barbri and not through the university, I don't get a student pass. Also, the student union really is nowhere near the law school, but it is near the stadium stop. By the time we'd had lunch (and I'd learned that campus is loaded with cute Japanese boys who don't speak really any English and are too young for me) and made it to the law school, the Barbri reps were gone, so we took the train home. Poor mom was sore and frustrated and also mad at dad. But we took the train home and went grocery shopping successfully, and then went to dinner at Iggy's Sport's Grill.
My sister and I managed to not kill each other over dinner, which was good. She insisted on contradicting pretty much everything I said, but it didn't really matter. We did fine. I got to see her, and we had good food, and we got along, and also her husband is a super-nice man, so there you go.
As it turns out, I have a roommate, a journalism grad who's interning at the Deseret News. Her name is Jackie and she's nice. We're not going to the student ward by the singles ward, and she informed me that she was asked out her first week there, but apparently she is antagonistic to dating and together we will form a front of dating antagonism, her with the sarcasm, me with the martial arts and legalese. I love my mother, but she's been a bit crazy harping on about dating and the like. Stephen called today to invite me to his going-away bash, and I told him I was already in Utah. My mother has declared all the guys in the WQ ward useless because they won't ask me out. I think they're nice guys. At the rate I'm going, crushing relentlessly on SR and facing down my first blind date ever, I don't really care if the boys back home don't ask me out.
I have four other housemates, one of whom I have not met. So far so good, though. Apparently labeling food is a must, and the bathroom is messy, but we will survive, and that's what counts. I missed the first day of bar prep, but I called Kent, who is out here as well - which will be a comfort from home, of sorts - and it'll all work out tomorrow. I can't say I'm looking forward to it, but I do want to get it done.
I wish I could go train tomorrow night. I'm going to need it, and I won't have it.
I made it back to Utah, though. It's the last time I'm coming home, though - after I pass the bar and get a job in Omaha, Omaha will be my home. But Utah will be where my heart is, where my beloved Black Dogs roam the wild.
