What my Dad's missed...

or, the past 6 months of my life. I haven't talked to my Dad since the end of March. The brief argument was silly but because of the challenges/issues we've had my whole life it's not something I'm going to let go of until we've figured it out and neither of us have attempted communication since then. I need to tell him how he's hurt me and how he's disappointed me. And then I'll tell him about my six extraordinarily, ridiculous 6 months:

I was in my first wedding. I went to two more weddings. I planned and was maid of honor for another wedding.

I moved twice. Once into a home of someone I barely knew. It worked out well.
It was an amazing and challenging summer, all at the same time. This summer gave me a different perspective on marriage, on kids, on life. Gave me the adult/parent version. I've shifted away from being the kid and shifted to being the adult.

I have an awesome new group of people I call friends here in the small city in which I live. I wouldn't have thought it to be such an important thing, but it has been. I needed the grown-up friends. Not just the people I still know from college. But I've also come to appreciate my friends from high school and college so much more. They know who I was at 15, at 18, at 22, at 24 (and it's surprisingly different And, sometimes, they know exactly what to say.

I dated someone who was actually closer in age to my dad than me. (I won't tell either of them that. Though, I may be tempted if either happens to piss me off anymore...) We ended up not knowing each other very well yet, or maybe because of, the way he ended it hurt. Actually, it made it ten times worse. (Let's just say I don't like things to be ambiguous. I'm big on honesty and knowing what the heck is going on.)

I was admitted to a graduate program. I completed my first class over the summer, despite all the drama listed above. I started my 2nd class. I realized, despite being almost 25, I am VERY different from 22-year olds, fresh out of their undergraduate experience.

A moved in with a complete stranger and it has turned out phenomenally well. I've had good/bad roommate situations, but this one is the most surprising.

I've been on the hunt for the perfect dog. Sammie should be joining the family next week!

I'll tell my Dad some of this, he doesn't need to know it all. It's been six months? Wow, life is moving fast.

*blogger only lets you use 10 tags. So in addition: weekend, women, men, puppy, harry potter, kansas, lawrence, hope, learning.... because life is full of everything.

Do I need to tell you what you ate for breakfast, too?

Some things about working with undergrads (now that I'm not one...)

I'm beginning to question the intelligence of the many, many students with whom I attended KU. Coming straight into my position from being an undergrad (ok, yes there was a 6 month delay...but I labeled that working on my mental health...) there are going to be a lot of students who come through my office who I actually know. I'm sure it will take 3 years or so for everyone I knew as a student to be flushed out. This is me being optimistic. I knew some smart people. Not the kind to take 8 years to graduate. I hope. Kind of weird, yes; but weirder (and more embarassing) are the things that these students (well, not the ones I know) believe about the graduation process at KU. You "graduate" and officially have a degree once you COMPLETE all your classes. You "walk down the hill" in May after you graduate OR whenever the heck you want to. In my case: I WALKED in May 2007 but officially GRADUATED in December 2007. Kind of cheating, whatever, but I wanted the experience.

A short synopsis of walking down the hill at KU: The only official, university-wide graduation ceremony is in May. All the graduates line up in awful black polyester on Memorial Drive and proceed through the Campanile (proceed makes this sound easy. It is not. 4,000 people is a lot to get through a tower...). THEN on the other side of the Campanile is a hill. And NO, not just a lovely hill like the one in your backhard but a BIG hill in which you walked up for (at least) four years earning you "KU Calves". So, we all parade down this hill with friends and family taking pictures, crying, etc and the ceremony is at the bottom in Memorial Stadium. Everyone's name is NOT called (but who needs that - the REAL photo op is coming down the hill) and the Chancellor speaks. So, to a general outsider (aka a non-Jayhawk) this might not sound exciting AT all. Well, it is and it has been done for about 100 years now, so deal with it. We like our nostalgia and tradition at KU!
SO, with 4,000 people (plus 10,000 screaming fans, I mean family members) everyone is screened before they walk down the hill, right? WRONG. Seriously, who has time for that? This is about as organized as 4,000 people can be with a couple of well placed signs and crowd control ropes. So, you can basically walk down the hill however often you want. But I wouldn't for several reasons. 1. Did I mention black polyester? In May? In Kansas? Right...moving on. 2) There's this little thing called IF YOU WALK THROUGH THE CAMPANILE BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY FINISHED, YOU WON'T GRADUATE. Seriously. Maybe a myth, but I would NOT want to mess with something like that. 3) Did I also mention this is freakin' one of the coolest things to do? Ever? On my list of top 5 favorite experiences. You don't want to demean it by doing it more than once. Unless you get another degree, then by all means do it again!

So, back to my point. You may *think* you're graduating. You walk, etc, pomp, etc. family, etc., circumstance, etc. But, did you finish that incomplete class? Did you transfer those juco hours? Did you REALLY need 45 junior/senior hours? Yes, yes you DO need all that to officially be granted a degree.
So, when a student emails asking, did I graduate in May and we respond, "no, because your hours didn't transfer" and then you come back with "but did I walk?" Well, here begins my theory on the intelligence of some people. We do not know if you walked. Did we hold your hand? Did you see us take a picture of you? Geez.

Silly undergrads. I can say that now since I am no longer actually an undergrad.