I'm officially smart now

I can't believe it. It's done. Finished. Fini. Beendet. Three and a half years of work finally completed. No more homework, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks. I finished my last test, my last paper, my last chapter to read, my last project to do. I can hardly believe it.

Wednesday I took my final final. At first, it seemed like nothing changed. I first of course felt a sense of relief. A weight off my shoulders. It wasn't until the coming days I would really feel it kick it.

I went to Chicago for Memorial Day weekend the next day to celebrate with some friends. On BART going to the airport, I listened to my iPod. I just sat there listening to it. I wasn't reading a textbook, I wasn't studying for a test, I wasn't working on homework or thinking of what was due next. I just sat there listening to my iPod. It was delightful.

Some friends of mine want to go to a movie on Thursday. As soon as I found out, I thought to myself, What am I doing on Thursday? Do I have class? Do I have homework to finish? Do I have to study? No! I ain't got none of that!

Then part of me as been reflective. I'm very glad with my course of study. When I first started, I knew I just wanted to finish my degree. After finishing up the basics, I started a course of action of where I wanted to focus my degree. I already work in the industry, so I focused a lot of my study on the management side of information systems. So I took management classes, finance, operations, that kind of thing. I've been very happy with where I've gone.

Then I think of what I gave up. In three and a half years, not only I gave up a lot of my time (and money!), there were people I didn't date, projects never started, interests never fulfilled. I mixed a CD a couple weeks ago, and I remember how I used to just love doing that. I've started to have "normal" thoughts about doing stuff like getting a new kitchen table, or doing some remodeling, or doing some work on my bike (instead of just using it for utilitarian purposes!). For the longest time, they weren't "normal", because I never even gave them a thought.

So what's next? Nothing. I've thought about switching jobs or focusing on other things. But honestly I've been so busy finishing my degree I haven't even had a lot of time to think about it. So I'm gonna just enjoy this summer, do a bit of travelling, get caught up on some of those interests of mine, and give it some thought. Maybe after that I'll take the plunge. But it's time right now to just rest on the laurels for a little bit. :-)

Look out the window and whadya see

There's one really really really really really great thing about my apartment. Actually, it's the best thing. It's the view. Because San Francisco is so hilly, most people some view... even if they have to go to their roof to get it. :-) My view is starts just at the edge of downtown, and you can see the Bay Bridge, SBC (formerly PacBell) Park and much of San Francisco Bay.

A friend staying with me asked me "You must spend a lot of time in front of your window." Honestly, no. I live here. I said unfortunately I spend 98% of the time hearing the traffic noise out front and 2% seeing the view, because, I live here, I have stuff to do. I only see the view when I pause for a moment, but I hear the traffic all the time. It's not bad really. You get used to it. I used to live in the Mission just two doors from the corner. My bedroom was right on the street on the second level. That sucked ass. My head was right by the window. My head was just feet from not the first car waiting at a light, but the second. So the second that light turned green and the car didn't move, a horn went off feet from my sleeping head. Not fun.

But I digress. So I live on a busy street, but it has a great view. So I woke up from a nap tonight (we love naps!) and was watching Jeopardy (it's the Ultimate Tournament of Champions). So I hear a car parked across the street with it's radio on loud. Now people are parked across the street all the time, because there's a scenic overlook. (I joke even my parking spot has a great view.) And normally there's like a handful of cars. So I looked out and there wasn't a single spot available. There had to be like 50 cars out there, some people double parked. I couldn't tell why for the life of me. Then I soon found out.

The Giants played the A's tonight in a rare Bay Series. After the game at SBC Park, they had a huge fireworks show. What do I do? Grab a chair and a blanket and head to the roof. It was pretty cool. I clicked a few photos, but because of the night shots, I had no tripod (I had no idea it was even going to happen), and so many are quite blury. I managed to get a few off though.



Not bad for a Saturday night at home. :-)

Ceremonially done!

Well, last week I graduated from college. It was slightly anticlimatic, because I don't actually finish my last class for a couple more weeks. (Most classes, including one of mine, finishing up at the end of April.) However, I've always been a believer in ceremony, as a way to recognize an achievement and usher in a new era.

Perhaps most amazingly enough, my father came for it. For those of you who don't know, my dad doesn't fly. He flew for the very first time ever this last Christmas when my father flew out to my sister's in New York. My dad's something of a control freak, thus why he doesn't venture via that mode at all.

So imagine my surprise when he said he'd come out for my graduation ceremony. My mother was unable to make it (she was on a field trip with her class), and since dad doesn't fly, I assumed he wouldn't. I was rather nervous when he said he was going to fly out, but I felt a lot better when my brother said he'd join him.

I was still nervous because it was my dad's first time to SF in nearly 40 years. That trip was a rather sad story, often retold over and over. A few years before we were born, my mom and dad went to a month-long trip to California. They started in San Diego, worked their way up the coast to Los Angeles, and finally ended in San Francisco. By the time they got there, they had no money to do anything, and it was a very cold and foggy July, mom had to go to JCPenny to buy a jacket on credit and they had no money to do anything but go to the movies. This story would be retold to me countless times that I hesitate to mention the weather was foggy for fear of rehearing this sad tale. (My mother came to visit two years ago along with my brother, so she finally had some fabulous stories to tell about SF.)

So I was still a bit nervous. San Francisco's a big city, and my dad's a small town kind of guy. Would he enjoy it? Would it weird him out? I had no idea. Luckily my brother helped out a lot.

Turns out he enjoyed himself a lot. One of the things I love about San Francisco is that no matter who comes, there's something for everybody. I didn't want to do the very same things that my mom did, mostly because Nate was coming back and he would want to do something different. Turns out I didn't have to. Dad was interested in a lot of different things. (For example, my dad doesn't drink, so wine tasting wouldn't be his thing.) We ended up going to a Giants game, and both my dad and brother wanted to see SBC Park, and you don't have to twist my arm to go to a Giants game.

There were funny moments. We went to Luna in the Castro for brunch Saturday morning before the game. Nate kept telling dad "In this neighborhood, if you look at it, you buy it!" to keep him from looking in the windows of the sex shops! Dad was still very surprised to see guys holding hands though. Not shocked, just a little taken aback. :-) We had a perfect brunch though. We sat on the back patio, Nate got to smoke, everyone got something great. Very enjoyable.

Sunday was the ceremony. It was quite rainy though. I ran into many fellow students, many of which I hadn't seen for a year or more. ("Hey, I had you in CIS 122!" kind of thing!) We all congratulated each other. I ended up being the very first undergrad to be announced. Apparently it was first by the School of Technology, the alphabetical by Degree (first was Computer Information Systems) and then by last name... which just happened to be me.

We managed to get some choice photos on Nob Hill (see above). We had planned a BBQ in Golden Gate Park, but opted instead for a brunch at my place.



Monday we got some real sightseeing in. We saw the Golden Gate Bridge (of course). We had one of the best meals of my life at Scoma's in Sausalito, right on the bay. I think it's the most expensive meal dad's had in his entire life. But he got his seafood he wanted so bad! We then met up with Kevin in Union Square for some lattes. (See above.) Dad used to teach Business Law, so now that he's retired, he always follows the big cases, most recently the Scott Peterson trial. So where did we go? The Berkeley Marina, where Scott supposively dumped the body into the Bay. A little morbid, I know, but it made dad happy!

Monday evening dad was starting to get real adventurous. We went for sushi! He enjoyed it a lot, but we dared him to eat the baby octopus! Overall he really enjoyed it... well everything but the octopus. (He did chew the head, but I'm sure when you feel the brains squish when you bite on it, that's what did it for him!)

The sushi, the subway, the Castro, I gotta give dad a lot more credit! He did just great. Bravo, dad!

And now I can concentrate the next couple weeks on finishing up my last class!

Graduation photos