Thursday 18 June 2009

6/14/09 Graduation

We got up around 6 and made our way down to All State Arena. We got there around 7 and there were people outside, of course they all had their gowns on. I saw some people I knew and they all seemed to know that Charlotte was supposed to get my stuff. So I waited around outside for her for about 40 minutes, shook Conklin's hand (he said he'd talk to me after) and kept waiting. Finally I gave up on her and went in to see if my stuff was there or if I could get an extra. Turns out she didn't pick it up and decided not to tell me. Fail.

So I made my way in with everyone else (I was number 121) and my hat didn't really fit and me me sort of look ridiculous, but it was alright. I ended up talking with the girls around me (there was like a 10-1 female to male ratio of graduates) and soon we were led in.
It was dark in the arena, with fancy screens and such around. It was cooler looking than I expected. They played that graduation song over and over and then we finally took our seats. Being at the front of the alphabet, I had a good one.

David Axelrod spoke, and he was good, not very rhetorical but based in reality, which I liked. He didn't talk much about Obama, which I was surprised about, but I liked his speech in general.

They did all the CDM people first, so there was a lot of sitting around being bored time. I talked with Rachel the girl next to me about how boring this was. Eventually it was our turn.

It was strange being up on the stage, it went really fast. I shook Father Holtschneider's hand, and he talked to me really briefly. When I shook Dean Taylor's hand, she told me they'd be watching me. She might say that to everyone but it felt good.

Then I went back and sat down while everyone else finished with my new red empty diploma holder.

Afterward we waited around to try to find Conklin but we couldn't see him. I ran into Charlotte, Brooke and Joe and they were looking for him too. No one knows where he went. Oh well. I did run into Father Holtschneider and he asked when I was going back to Michigan. Just incredible that he remembered that, what a good guy.

We went back, packed up, and I changed and we made our way into the city. We parked in the same place and went down to Ghiradelli's. I had an ice cream sunday in a waffle cone, which was of course awesome.

I realized I left my phone stuck under the pull-out couch part so mom and dad went back to get it. I went with Mark down to the Trib and I tried to see Brian, but he wasn't around.

Mark and I walked across the new bridge to the Modern Wing of the Art Institute (really cool views) and went down by where I used to live. The bum park whre the Blues Brothers used to live is now a fancier, more paved bum park. Kinda cool. We tried to see Ryan Burke but he wasn't going to be back until later, so we went down to the Trib again and Brian wasn't there again.

We got a hold of Ryan and went over to see his awesome place for a few minutes before mom and dad picked us up and took down to the Cheesecake Factory to meet Dennis.

We got a table before ma and dad were back from parking the car. Dennis seems good, always working. I had my usual, the portobella burger and then a ice cream sunday cheesecake. Both were great. So was the bread. It was a really nice time.

We went back to the car and I slept literally the whole ride, which was great, I never do that. We got in around 2 and I went to sleep. A crazy couple of days.

It's good to be back, but I'm going to miss Europe a bunch. Hopefully I'll be back sooner or later. Either way, going to Europe was the best thing I've ever done.

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