finished

The last few weeks there's been sort-of-a-lot yet not-a-whole-lot going on. But the things that have been happening were pretty huge...

Here are the highlights.

Totally freaking graduated. Not only did I survive my exams, I participated in the graduation convocation for our department. It was a ridiculously long and HOT two hours in a ballroom, but was amazing because it was my very very last grad school thing ever, and because mom, grandma, and Seth were there to support me. :)

Mom and Grandma visited. They arrived last Tuesday and left last Saturday. Highlights included getting to drive them around in a Prius all week (of which I was very skeptical but soon grew very fond of driving...shame.), a trip to IKEA for house necessities, a visit to our favorite sushi restaurant where my g-ma proceeded to ask every server if they were Japanese then demand they speak to her in Japanese which apparently she does A LOT in sushi restaurants but Isweartogod I've never ever seen her do before (I was thoroughly embarassed; mom and Seth thought it was hilarious), G-ma's difficulty in saying Seth's name correctly so she referred to him as "John-boy" (John is my uncle) the whole week, a trip to the fish market, and dinner at the Space Needle, or more specifically, in the ridiculously overpriced revolving restaurant at the top of the Space Needle, at sunset. I made fun of mom for wanting to do something so touristy (and I was really protesting because I knew it would be expensive) but I'm glad I relented because it was AMAZING. They were impressed that Seth could (for all we knew) correctly identify nearly the whole city. We had this incredible chocolate gonoch cake in honor of my graduation that was a total surprise because mom ordered it when she pretended to go use the restroom. It was good to have them here, and not just because g-ma cleaned my whole kitchen and bathroom, twice.

I had my last day at work. Coming off my graduation high, I've decended into the realm of the depression of unemployment. Don't get me wrong, I know I've been griping about wanting more free time for as long as I've been here, and now that it's here I'm just trying to enjoy it without panicking about my next paycheck being my last. I know I'm going to land in at least a temporary job soon enough, but there's something unsettling about not knowing if we'll make next month's rent, and instead of hitting the pavement (or the cyberspace equivalent), I'm gearing up to go to Mexico. Yep, just when I'm running out of money, I'm planning a tropical getaway. Which might I add is being very well-budgeted and is almost entirely paid for (save the spending money and the security deposit I keep forgetting I'm responsible for forking over). So the game plan is to save the job search panic for when I get back, and in the meantime keep my spending in check. Oh, and my last day of work was pretty unceremonious (because half the staff was on vacay and campus is deserted since summer quarter doesn't start til next week) but I still teared up on my way out of the building for the last time. I KNOW.

I love being home all day. I wish someone would pay me to do this. Or that all those work-from-home ads werem't such total scams.