Graduation Pictures

As of yesterday morning, I am officially graduated. Any inclination I had to repeat the process to get my Honours certificate next April was beaten out of me around about the five bajillionth name they called out, which was probably one that wasn't even in the program, like, NOW YOU'RE JUST MAKING THINGS UP. Apart from that, it was lovely. I walked, shook, doffed, and accepted (then napped, as I was in the first group of twenty. Out of, like, twenty bajillion). The dress and shoes and cap and gown all did perfectly, as did Photographer Shelle.

Slideshow here plus some of my favourite pics below, depending on whether you like sliding or scrolling down.




Thank you to everyone I've relied on for distraction and support over the past several years. I love you. And now ... no more essays!

You Fail Graduation

It turns out that - even if you got a straight High Distinction average (*cough-lowD-cough*) and handed in your last assignment over a year ago - the tests continue.

I had to work today from 10 til 6. The office where I had to pay for my gown hire was open from 9 to 5, so I could go before work - just. (Who needs breakfast or shaved legs anyhow?) The place where I had to pick up said gown did not open til 10, but it was open til 7 tonight, so all was well. (Also I had to get my shoes on my lunch break. Who needs lunch anyway?)

AS YOU CAN SEE ...



... OPEN TIL 7. RIGHT? RIGHT?!

Yeah, no. Not so much. Or at all.

Until me and this other girl who showed up convinced this other random woman - who worked in a different office and who has now vowed never to stay back late at work ever again lest she be roped into Grand Theft Graduation: Gown and Hood Edition again - to let us in so we could pillage caps and gowns to our hearts content.



Graduation test? Passed. Thank god.

Also, my shoes? Gold. The colour on my hood thing? Gold. I totally rock at graduation.

The End?

So it would appear I have become really crap at this whole bloggy thing. I have to confess it even crossed my mind that there would be a nice symmetry in starting and finishing something (say, a blog) at the start and finish of my time at Flinders. But no, there will always be topics which make me say "I wonder what the internet would think" and "OMG I MUST COMPLAIN ABOUT THIS TO THE INTERNET."

Today is not one of those times, unless you count the fact that I just had to tell you that I might not be posting so much anymore, but I thought an update would be nice, just to prove that I remember how to type things and hit publish with little regard for content. (Check, check, and hell check.)

I have been working at my sports store job four days a week. Which is nice. We're getting busier as everyone realises that their kids are demanding scooters and those wheely shoe things and whatnot, but we're all pretty much all friends now, and three of us went shopping and movieing yesterday even. (I saw Four Christmases twice in two days, what with having uni friends and work friends, not because it was that awesome. It was funny in parts.) I also got a job at a bookshop, the orientation for which is next week. That is also nice.

Graduation is also next week, and I still haven't found my imaginary shoes, but I think I've found some acceptable ones. Our work Christmas party is on this weekend, and I found a pretty purple dress for that so we're all set for the dress-uppy events.

Turns out I am invited to family Christmas, which means that I have to go Christmas shopping (dammit) for random relatives. What do you get for the boyfriend of a cousin you see once a year? Christmas shopping for the boys did not even necessitate a trip to Marion. I am that good (and lazy).

I'm still going to the gym on the days that I don't work. My treadmill routine isn't particularly hard anymore, and I've added some random balls and weights but I'm too scared to use any of the machines or go to classes because I will for sure look like an idiot.

Planning for our Great Ocean Road Trip is pretty much done, without contributions being made from all members of the travelling party, which is great. It will be awesome.

Summer had not kicked in for real yet, and I am not thrilled about this. Although it does seem to be putting in a little effort to overcome the clouds and rain, I would appreciate the sun's appearance more often and continuously.

I still read your blog, I promise, but I think I've left three comments in the last month. I am terrible, Muriel.

Free Feed, Stop Your Whinging

First of all, quite seriously, I have a question for you: Say you happen to be attending a lunch provided by the English department for its Honours students and staff. When you and your two friends arrive, there are two of your fellow students sitting in the middle seats of a long table. Do you:

(a) sit next to them,
(b) sit at one end of the table, or
(c) sit at the other end of the table?

If you answered b or c ... um, okay, then I will stop my ranting, because that's just what the people I want to complain about did. But seriously? Is that not rude? (Honestly, I'm asking.)

Anyway, other things I experienced at yesterday's lunch:

Professors really do discuss such pretentious things as the opera, the latest reviews they've submitted, and what journal articles they've read recently.

I'm not sure which is worse: me, being mistaken for an idiot kid, or my classmate, being mistaken for a lecturer that had been hiding all year.

The hilarity of a plan largely depends on the number of glasses of (free, so really, shut up, me) wine its beholder has enjoyed. (It's ok, they all stopped soon after ... and went back to marking essays.)

Everyone has Facebook, even the oldest of lecturers. No-one claims to actually use it, however.

I discovered why a university located in the south of Adelaide and populated with, you know, uni students has a fancy brunchy restaurant - so the now-postgrad students and their lecturers can pretend to be above everyone else all together.

Some people are just much better at being sociable. It's a gift and not everyone has it.

Well, I waited til today to write this, and apparently being back at uni makes me very bitter about things. Whoda thought?

I'm Going to Graduation, parentheses, The Graduation Song

Graduation is held in April, for students who finish at the end of the year. There is a second one held for people who finish at the end of semester one. I decided to skip the April one, since I was going to be doing Honours and would get another one (assuming I pass) in April 09.

However, the graduation people just sent me an email which said (slight paraphrase), "It's almost summer! Your thesis will be over (for better or worse) in less than a month! There are some really pretty dresses out now! How bout you graduate in December of this year?"

So I've decided to go to graduation. With a cap and a gown and all of that.

There are three things standing in my way:
~ Thesis: Due October 15th.
~ Editing Project: Due 24th of October.
~ Special Project: Due 7th of November.

And then I'll be FREEEEEEEE!

It's cold on winter mornings, give me a break

(Basically, I only chose that title so I could show you this, which I have already complained about to anyone I spoke to, emailed, texted, sat across from in the computer room, happened to pass in the library, sat next to at the traffic lights ... well, you get the picture:



Hail. HAIL. Seriously, Australia, get your act together. Bring on summer!)

ANYWAY. On to the actual post.

I am pretty much a snob. I might as well admit that. Uni students' clothes? Oh my lord, I CANNOT STOP JUDGING. Casual, sporty, wintery would be one thing (well, three). But seriously. Those jeans. And those shoes. So not cool. And those jeans WITH those shoes? Ick. And PS, your grandma wants her cardi back. And your boyfriend wants his socks back. And ... no-one wants that jacket.

And then I'm like, would it kill you to put on some make-up. Moisturiser? Lip-gloss? You are (apparently) intelligent adults. You could try to look like it. Brush your hair even.

And then I'm all, half an hour extra sleep in? HELL YES THANK YOU. And all, co-ordinated outfit what? And then, beauty routine who? And then I'm all, never mind, uni people.

I don't want to deal with this right now

Is is possible that I failed to complete every single topic I took last semester? I know I slacked off a little, but COME ON.

And is this why the stupid uni computer system, which I thought I had all sussed out, refuses to let me enrol in topics for next semester?

Email the Honours co-ordinator, or ignore it til I get back from San Francisco?

I AM a student AKA So many questions

The BA Office ladies overrode whatever system wouldn't let me enrol and signed me up for all my classes. In about five minutes. WOOHOO!!!

Question: Why couldn't you have done this weeks ago?

My name was recorded by the dude on the train who wouldn't let me travel on a student ticket because my Flinders student ID was not valid (then, it is now) and my international student ID wasn't acceptable.

Question: Isn't the point of an international student ID that it's valid anywhere?
Question: How about you don't sell tickets to people without valid ID so they don't end up ON A TRAIN with no money and no ticket?
Question: If that chick hadn't given me change, what would you have done?

Question: Is that even how you spell the word 'question'? QUESTion. KEWSTyun. KooWESTeeon.

It'd be an Honour

I re-got a signature. I re-filled in the form. I re-handed it in. They'll get back to me.

I went to buy the book of readings for the first class. But wait, I don't have a student card so I can't. But I can't get a student card because I'm not enrolled. I could provide my timetable, but hang on. I don't have one those either cos I can't enrol. The solution? Get a letter from my Honours convenor. Who has nothing better to do than write letters for me that I could have gone around a corner and written for all the effort it took and all the attention they paid to the letter, once it was procured.

I decided to be a good little Honours student and do the readings. Before class even. What I didn't take into account is that there are EIGHT. For ONE CLASS. For the FIRST WEEK. Which means I just did forty-five pages of readings. And suddenly, ten thousand words doesn't seem like that much to write at all.

The World Is Crazy

- SuperTiff.com has been hijacked! Stop by for some babbling. (Everyone: We get that here, durrrrr.)

- We walked to Brighton today. For everyone NOT in Adelaide, that is a long way. Not as long as Jetty Bar to home, but long. Especially in 40 degree heat. (FENIA: That is HOT.)

- The BA Office has sent me two letters, in which they:

(a) offered me admission to the BA [which ... I already have] and subsequently informed me that
(b) graduation is in April [which ... first of all, I want to do Honours, not graduate, and second of all, you just offered me admission, think I'm going to get through four years in two months?] and also were happy to tell me that
(c) I am eligible to apply for Honours [which ... I ALREADY DID THAT].

So I've filled out the form that I already filled out and gave to them, and now I have to see the convenor I already saw, and hand the form in at my their earliest convenience.

HOPEFULLY, after all that, they will then send me a letter telling me I'm in. For reals this time. No seriously.

Devastated

Dear Ms [Missy]

[Blah blah blah] received your application [blah blah blah] regret to inform you that your request has been denied.

[You may now proceed to one or more of the following:
a) have an aneurysm
b) burst into tears
c) sit for a full minute trying to process what in the hell is going on.]

Sincerely
BA Office [Life-ruiners].

I did then proceed to option D which was to go to the BA Office and demand request that they explain themselves.

One administrative error and a heart attack later, they will be looking at my file and sending me a letter later in the week to tell me I'm back in.

I fricking hope.

BIG! NEWS! PART! TWO!

(See Part One for some BlogHer-related excitment.)

Remember when I had my Last Class Ever? And then everyone was all, you'll be back. Well, they were right.

I'm doing Honours this year!

That sounds so damn smart and intelligent, I'm a little shocked they're letting me in.

So, who wants to write 10 000 words for me?

Just when you thought I'd finished talking about uni...

I got my grades today.



Yeah, that's right, two more Distinctions, baby!

Which means my time at Flinders can be shown like this:



Which means I have a degree!

A Bachelor of Attendance, but still. Drinks and chocolate all around!

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

I handed in my take-home test today, my last thing ever.

I am officially finished uni.

Tomorrow I am off to Marion to buy a new pair of swimmers, so I can start on the next phase of my life.



Widely known as "Summer," also known as "Let's Go To The Beach."

Who wants to join me?

William Tell Mom Sayings

AKA This is all you get because I'm so far behind my schedule it's not even funny.

I have that line from Good Charlotte's 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' in my head: I think they'd stumble and they'd fall / They would fall.

I don't want to fall.

This one has been doing the rounds. It is very funny, whether you're the "mom" or the one who has to hear it everyday!

"Myth, myth." "Yeth?"

I had two essays due on Friday. Yeah as in past tense Friday. I didn't hand them in. Oops, my bad! But it's for research! I'm testing an urban legend!

English assignments have to be in by 4pm before the woman checks the drop-box and relegates your 4:01 submission to the next day, and therefore minus 2%. BUT! The Social Sciences one is different: if you hand it in before 9am the next day, it will still count as the same day. (Where Monday morning = Friday's next day.)

Or so I've heard but never been brave enough to test. Until now.

I handed one in yesterday and the other one will be done and handed in tonight. Now we'll find out if it was all just a myth. Wish me luck.

(My note reminding me to write this post says "mythical ass drop-box." You know, like crazy-ass schedule, or lazy-ass study practices.)

Seriously?

Turns out more people were still trying to kill their targets than I thought (ie, more than no-one). Assassins is over though, and I survived til the end. We have one more "mission" to complete which I think is knowing who got killed first, who had you at the end, etc (ie things you had to be invested to find out). The grand prize winner will be announced at dinner at Friday. (Hint: it won't be me.)

***

The Austen/Wharton/Lee/Scorsese essay is done and handed in.

The Miss Snark/Evil Editor/Agent Kristin one is done and will be handed in in about an hour.

Your options for the history essay are as follows:
3. Consider the history of coerced emigration from the British Isles before 1788.
8. Consider the history of mortality on board British emigration ships.
12. Consider the careers of four well-known British emigrants and say what they tell us about the process.
22. Write an account of the ideas of any political figure or economist in relation to emigration from Britain.
24. Write a short biography of EG Wakefield and explain the significance of his ideas for emigration.
29. Consider the role of charitable organisations in British emigration.
33. Write a short history of emigration of South Africa.
35. Consider the history of British emigration to some of the lesser destinations – eg Argentina, the Falklands, Tristan Da Cunha, Hong Kong, Montserrat, Kangaroo Island, St Lucia.
38. What were the implications of the ideas of Thomas Malthus for British emigration?
46. What happened to British emigration in the first half of the 20th century?

I've chosen number 12, even though I don't even know one "well-known" British emigrant. (I suppose there must be some somewhere. Right?) Anyway, this is in accordance with my new philosophy (honed during the Snark/EE/Agent Kristin essay) of writing a bunch of 500-word essays, tacking on an intro and conclusion, and calling it a major essay.

(It's due Monday, by the way, you better get writing.)

***

There were messages on FLO, my Flinders email, and my phone this morning all telling me the same thing: the computer department at Flinders is an idiot.

A power outage in the central computer room is planned for the weekend of 26/27 May. ... All central services will cease during this period - including, but not limited to, email, web site, HR, Finance and Student systems, network connectivity, FLO (Flinders Learning Online), ASMS servers, FMC backup servers, Citrix and Library on-line services. We apologise for any inconvenience this disruption may cause to staff and students but it is necessary for the growth and continuation of central computing services.

I don't quite understand all that IT-geek-speak, but it seems to me they are telling Flinders students that they will have NO INTERNET on the weekend before the second-last week of uni - basically the busiest essay-writing weekend ever. Does this seem a bit suicidal to anyone? (As in, they should shoot themselves before we all go batshit-crazy and kill them. Also as in, students may suicide if they can't do essays they need to finish in order to graduate.) Seriously guys, this is what semester breaks are for. Semesters are for writing essays, breaks are for breaking the internet. DO NOT MIX THE TWO OF THEM UP.

Catch Up

This will be a general catch-up of things that've been going while I was too lazy to be blogging.

*****

I finished my Museums evaluation and handed it in. Two weeks later she said we'd be getting out essays back the next day and sorry it wasn't earlier. The next day we got our essays back - the ones we handed in in like, Week One. Might be a bit of a wait on the evaluations.

I finised my History presentation. Then I woke up at 10:58am for an 11am presentation. Good work. And I could tell she didn't believe that I hadn't been working on it all morning and that's why I was late.

I wrote a History tut paper on the weekend and I'm supposed to have an English one finished before Carla gets here. (Good luck with that.)

***

We had Academic Dinner which was where's the wine speech wine? speech wine?! pumpkin soup WINE?! speech WINEWINEWINE?!?!?! fish or steak WINE YAY! speech winewinewinemmm dessert wine wine Shenannigans.

Tarryn and I had a good time passing a way drunk Hallie who kept hitting on us back and forth (until he settled on her. hee!).

I stole a tie. Again. This one I gave back though.

And I got invited up to another drunk Hallie's rooom.
Him: I'm heading back now.
Me: K Bye!
Him: You could come up to my room when you get back.
Me: .....
Him: Anytime.
Me: [nodding cos I'm listening to him. realise what I'm nodding at and start shaking my head]

***

This guy from one of my classes asked me to dinner. We went. It was fine.
I've had a cough for weeks now. He bought me butter-menthols.
He burned me Greys and House and Veronica Mars.

But he is shorter than me and while we are good friends I think that's all it's going to be. But he's a really nice guy. But he's short.

Lines of my life

Clockwise from the bottom:

the line for dinner at the Hall vs Village Soccer match*

the line at the MVR**

the line at Unibooks.

*we won.

and also, why were the Village People eating our dinner? They don't get dinner. We get dinner. This was our only dinner, so why were they eating it?

**see: the post I'm about to write about the MVR.

The #1 Reason Why We Live At The Hall

I was very good the other day: I woke up in time for breakfast and made myself a healthy salad roll for lunch. (As opposed to the other other day when I slept in. A lot.)

Then I went back to room, at around 9:50, and read a book. My class was at eleven, and eleven take nine is two, so I had two hours to read. Right? And no, it wasn't even a uni book, it was a trashy novel.

Which I finished.

Then, I looked at my clock to see whether I had time to go on the net and read everyone's blogs. Unfortunately not.

10:43!

HOLY SHIT!!!

Clean teeth, get dressed, pack books for class. Go!

From my room up up up to the very very very top of the uni (Social Sciences South) with two minutes to spare.

Sometimes I love the Hall.