Done! I'm done. I finished my last project report. As soon as my other team member gets here and we turn this stuff in, I'll have no other academic requirements to meet.
I went and picked up my cap and gown this morning. It's all weird... Master's robes are so different. It's got long hangy-down sleeves, and the weird hoodie thing. I think it's funny.
So this whole graduating thing. It's kinda scary. Like... I don't know. Everyone has been asking me for months if I'm excited to be graduating and moving to Texas. And I have been like, well, I guess... it's just something you do. You finish with what you're doing in one place, and then you move. We're done in Starkville, guess it's time to go somewhere else. But now... I guess it really hit me this week. I'm not a college student. I'm a grown-up. Or at least... I'm supposed to be? When did I get issued my grown-up card? Who exactly checked my credentials for grown-up-ness? I'm not even old enough to rent a car... who thought it was a good idea to give me a Masters degree and let me move like, a quarter of the way across the country?
I guess I've just gotten really comfortable here. I mean, Starkville has been more "home" than Huntsville for a long time now... as much as I complain about it while I'm here, it's a little scary to leave. I'll be far enough from home, that I'll have to plan way ahead to make it home for important events like Mandie's graduation... I'm sure my parents will *never* make it out to Texas (until I provide them a grandchild as incentive, anyway). It's kind of odd.
Not that I'm not looking forward to it. Living in a "real" city with malls and restraunts and museums is going to be awesome. And unlike the last time I lived in a huge metro area (St. Louis), we will not be in the ghetto. Far from it, actually. Houston has so many advantages... I'm looking forward to doing things I never get to do here while I'm in school...
I don't know. I've moved prety often all my life... so the moving thing is ok. I guess it's the not-being-here-after-I-move thing that bothers me :-)
Graduating... with honors! So it turns out... I should be graduating like, Magna Cum Laude. Which is pretty cool. Since I never managed to keep a good GPA as an undergrad.
And... if you want to come to my graduation, it's Friday night at 7pm. My parents aren't coming, because spending a week in Gatlinburg for Thanksgiving (and this taking two weekends off of work) was more important than coming to see me graduate. Apparently, the two are mutually exclusive.
Almost there... Yes. I am almost there. Counting the days, in fact. Nine days, counting today, and I'll have a Masters Degree.
Between then, all I have to do is finish two projects and corresponding project reports, finish two class notebooks, and take a final. And clean my house so that a) my parents are way impressed with my housekeeping skills (if they actually make it down here), and b) the movers can actually move our stuff in some organized fashion when the time comes.
But... I got Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile in the mail the other day (not being cool enough to buy it when it came out, I had to eBay it)... and I stole some time a couple of days ago and played it for an hour... and it is so cool! like, amazingly so. I like it. Ha. So.... I am bribing myself to work on my projects for a little while (like a couple hours), and then I'll play my game for a little while. Yay!
So I took my camera on my Thankgiving trip, with the idea that somewhere in there, someone would take a picture of me and I could post it here... But somehow, the only picture of me ended up on my brother's camera, and he hasn't sent it to me yet. Maybe I'll get chad to take a picture of my hair this weekend.
Anyway.... I should get back to the working and the projects.
New things: I am now in possesion of one 4gb black iPod nano. Yay for me! (Been waiting on it for like, a month).
I cut all of my hair off. Well... to be fair, not all of it, I guess. I was just tired of getting my hair stuck in doors and accidentally setting it on fire and stuff... so I cut like, 11" off it and am sending the cut-off hair to Locks Of Love. I wasn't sure how I would adjust to short hair again, or how Chad would like it, but all seems to have turned out well. :-) Yeah. New hair length: just almost to my shoulders.
The server where lydaalexander.com resides is apparently back up. ANd has been for like a week, but no one (including Chad) bothered to tell me, so I haven't done anything about it. That being said... until we get possesion of the site (read: January at the earliest), I think I'll leave it here, and just post a redirect from lydaalexander. Or maybe a mirror or something. I don't know. This webspace will be deleted in January, so I have to figure something out before then. I'll let you know.
Chad and I are like the only two people in the world not doing NaNoWriMo. But that is fine... we always have next year to jump on the bandwagon, I guess.
We still have no idea where we are going to live when we get to Houston... although we now know we will *not* be buying a house in Clearlake proper... although renting there is certainly still an option. I've interviewed for some jobs, all in like, central Houston... but no word back yet. And I decided to apply to Rice for a psychology degree... no idea if they'll accept me, or anything like that. We'll see, I guess.
Anyway... That is all I really have to say, I guess. I'm so counting the days until graduation....
Ok. So some interesting life decisions are about to come my way. And I really don't know what to do with them. *sigh* So... what do y'all think about grad school? Here would be cool... I could study under Dr. T.J., or Dr. Dampier, or maybe (if I could coax him out of retirement) Dr. Mr. Boggess. Chad could ummmm... get his (PhD) degree here, or work or something... and I could finish my masters, and then work or something while chad got (finished) his degree here (or somewhere else). Or I could go somewhere else... Chad's thinking about MIT for his PhD... I don't know if I could handle MIT... or hell, even if I could get in. But it might be interesting... a degree from *ahhhhh* MIT. Or something. Or I could put the whole thing off, and just get a job like a normal person. There are CSC offices in Boston. Though none here...
This is my brain..... in part, at least.
