Yesterday morning, I finally dragged myself to the dentist. Because of my long absence and my lack of flossing (I swear I try. It's my New Year's resolution every single year), I inevitably had gingivitis. So they had to do a somewhat painful type of cleaning called... debridement? Dunno, something like that. Anyway, it's where they clean below the gumline. Sure it hurt, but the absolute worst part was still that horrible, awful, gritty paste that they slather on your teeth with that little whirring object that looks like a mini-polisher thingy. God I hate that. After some confusion over how I was going to pay (my special cleaning earned me an extra special co-pay with my insurance. Yay. My dad ended up paying the $90 over the phone), I hurried home to look presentable for graduation.
At home, outfit was picked out, makeup was done, hair was straightened, and the cookies I stole from the dentist's office were eaten (yeah, my dentist gives out cookies. Probably to get the taste of that horrible, nasty grit out of your mouth). Eventually, I hopped into the car and drove over to Gammage.
Gammage parking was already a zoo. Luckily there were still a few places left, and I snagged one. I changed into my gown, and walked down the loading dock to get in the back of the enormous line of graduates that was forming. And then we all stood there. For 30 minutes. In the sun. Roasting and sweating in maroon colored synthetic fabric. FINALLY the line started moving, and then the mass confusion that is trying to keep track of over 500 college kids, register them, and line them up alphabetically in different lines according to department began. It was a mess. No one knew which side your tassles were supposed to go, so about half of the Herberger college had them going one way, the other half, the other way. After another half an hour of standing in the sun, our lines started to be ushered indoors into the Gammage backstage area. Quite suddenly after all of the standing around, and without warning, we were on stage, walking down the steps to our seats in the front rows to the tune of Pomp and Circumstance. The loooooong ceremony began, and numerous speakers imparted words of wisdom to us. Eventually, it was time to walk. The planning for this was awful. The music students actually had to go out the opposite side of the auditorium, all the way up the steps and through the huge lobby, down the steps on the other side, and back into the auditorium to walk across stage. So I walked. Got my name called and got my picture taken shaking hands with the Dean of the college. And then I went offstage and sat down again. Yay. The whole thing took soooo long. After the art, dance, music, and theatre undergrads were all done, it was time for the Master's students. Most of the departments had about 5-10 Master's students, so that part wasn't that bad..... except for the Music school. We had about 100. Dunno why music students are more inclined to get their Masters than other arts. Perhaps because there tends to be a lot more specialization within music, and not all especially focused on performance? There's Music Education, and Choral Conducting, and Composition, and Theory, and Music Therapy, and allllll kinds of other nonsense. The other departments generally only have types of performance, education, or design. After the Masters students came the Doctoral students, and then some closing words. FINALLY it was over.
I met my parents, stepmom, aunt, and grandparents outside for pictures and congratulations. My dad gave me a beautiful bouquet of roses (they smell soooooooo good), some soft stuffed animals (which I REALLY don't need anymore of, but it's the thought that counts), and a card to open later. I made plans to go out to eat with my dad and stepmom on Saturday, and left to go out with my mom's side of the family.
We tried to go to this really nice gourmet pizza place called Classic Italian Pizza, but it was closed. :( Instead we settled with average Mexican food at Tres Margaritas. I got my presents from my grandparents, aunt, and mom. My Granparents gave me a check for $200, my aunt for $50, and my mom a $25 gift card to Trader Joe's (she had already paid for a whole bunch of stuff- cap and gown, graduation announcements, the plane ticket for San Francisco in June for my cousin's wedding- for my graduation present). I had a tasty Mexican stew and a margarita. My relatives got mediocre dishes. Then it was finally time to go home.
My grandparents picked up their dog, who they had been keeping in our backyard (although he managed to get into the house several times DESPITE the fact that his chest cavity alone is considerably larger than our small doggie door. Don't even ask me how he was able to squeeze through). Then I asked Sasha and Rob to put on their caps and gowns so that we could have roommate graduation pictures. :) I eventually opened the cards that came with the stuffed animals and roses from my dad, and found that he had deposited A THOUSAND DOLLARS into my bank account as my graduation present. Jesus Christ. I was a little stunned. I was expecting to be able to use my graduation money to buy a new vacuum, not buy a new vacuum AND pay for all of the moving expenses, application fees, and security deposits that come with getting a new apartment. Thanks dad!
Then came the vegging out.
My mom and I took a short nap, watched the season finale of Scrubs on tv, and then ate some dinner while watching a PBS showing of one of THE BEST versions of Camelot I've ever seen. It was so good. They definitely modernized it (Lancelot wore leather pants, and Mordred was punked out with red and black hair and boots that laced all the way up his legs. Also the only set they used were different sized boxes). It was incredibly refreshing to see the show done by people who can ACTUALLY ACT. I was recently subjected to the most horrendous version of Camelot I've ever seen on the national tour. It was awful. It's so much more pleasant to watch when you're not constantly cringing at the bad acting.
Eventually, I went to bed, got NINE hours of sleep (something that hasn't happened for quite a while), and here I am.
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