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Class of ‘08 (This may bore some people. I just want to write it down so I could look back at it later and go “Ahhhh, I remember that!”)

As for how Commencement went, it was reeeeeeallly hot. I think it was about 80°F there (but felt like 90°). And we were sitting out in the sun in black, polyester robes. Yup, it was hot all right.

Get Up

I woke up around 5:45-6am (Mocha wanted her slave to get her some breakfast), got dressed and had breakfast (and I finished this and posted it on Flickr!). Everyone else woke up, had breakfast, took a shower, etc. Once Jeidai’s parents showed up, we left.

While everyone else went to the South Quad, I was told go to Malibu Hall, where I would check in with my major. I put on the cap+gown and filled out a card with my name, postal address, identifying features (glasses, mustache, cords or other features [Edit] that were listed on the card) and gender. On the back, I put my full name along with my name pronunciation (I figured this may be the only time I’ll hear my name being pronounced correctly by a non-Japanese person or anyone really familiar with the language, so I was determined to do a good job on the spelling. :3

Stand with Your Major

Once we were done with that, we had to go inside the building (took me about a couple minutes to realize that) and stand with our major. By now, it was getting hot (and to think I asked my mom if I would need a sweatshirt—it was cold this morning :P). For some reason, I was nervous (and a little excited) about seeing my classmates clad in grad gear, so for a while, I was reeeaaallly hyper.

Also, they asked that we try not to bend or do anything that might wreck the cards, since we’ll need to give them to the people reading our names. Unfortunately, when I’m nervous or excited, I tend to play with whatever is in my hands (which means that the card will be destroyed).

Eventually, I realized that left some parts of my card blank, and since there were no writing utensils inside, I went back out to get them filled out. On the way back in, I noticed another door that led into the building and thought ‘I could go through there.’ But when I walked in, I ended up in a room full of faculty, who I figured were the marshals. Wut. I saw another closed door and went through that, and ended up in a room that looked as though it were full of food (they wanted grad folks at the school at 7:30-8, so I’m pretty sure some people didn’t have breakfast). Then I went through another door that led to the room where all the grad folks were.

Single File Line (to Hide Your Numbers!)

Then they wanted all the majors to get into single file lines (well, they told us art majors to get into two lines, since there was so much of us). One by one, the procession filed outside (once we were outside, the art majors formed a single line again). Sometimes they would start, and then stop (while we were outside when this happened, they told us they only wanted to get us out of that building—smelled like B.O. in there some folks said ._.). Once we were all outside, the procession marched toward the South Quad.

On the way over, we passed by an ambulance (classmate: “In case if someone passes out?” classmate #2: “But they don’t have enough. They would have to pile everyone inside.”), as we approached the South Quad, we could hear the school song playing.

There was a heck of lot more visitors than I thought. It was almost as if they were overflowing all over the place, forming the wall around the walkway that the degree candidates walk on to get to their seats. I read on the university’s website that they anticipated around 7,000 guests, but it looks like “7,000″ is much smaller in my head.

(The chief marshal was my Spanish teacher from last semester. O_o)

Take Your Seats

The seats were sectioned off according to major, and because of that, some seats were left empty. And since it was so freakin’ hot, they provided tiny (lukewarm) water bottles along with programs at our seats. The events that followed:

1. Invocation
2. Presentation of Colors
3. National Anthem (by an officer from the police department in a nearby city)
4. Welcome (by chief marshal/former Spanish teacher)
5. Introductions
6. Remarks
7. Master Degree candidates get their degrees
8. Teaching Credential candidates get theirs
9. Bachelor Degree candidates get theirs (us!!)
10. Alma Mater (school song?)
11. Recessional

Before the procession, they also had the ringing of the Navy Bell and Sounding of the Conch Shell, which we missed, since we were…elsewhere.

And looks like I lost track of what was going on in between Invocation and Remarks (except for National Anthem—I knew what that was :P).

Go Up to the Stage

After the Masters and Teaching Credentials folks went up, they asked the Bachelor Degree candidates to rise. A bunch of us cheered…then they asked us to take our seats. ._. BUT they called the art majors up first. ^0^

Only a half of us was able to go up at a time, I guess because there was a lot of us. When it was our turn, we went up to the ramp on the side of the stage. Once we reached the front of the line, someone took the name cards we filled out when we checked in and gave it to the reader. When we were at the very front, the reader read our names off of the back of the card (using the pronunciation guide in the back to ensure he/she got the pronunciation right), and we would advance forward to the blue X on the stage. Once the student in front of us gets his/her degree, we go forward and get our degree from the president of the uni (and pose for a picture).

Once we stepped off the stage, a lady waiting for us at the end with a microphone asked for our name (I was taken aback, since I wasn’t expecting it, and for a while forgot what my name was :O).

Return to Your Seats

And we sat back down. Somehow we were able to ensure that we were sitting in the seats we were in before we went up, which was a good thing (we didn’t want to drink from someone else’s water :P).

And since we were the first major that went up, we had to sit in the heat and wait for everyone to get their degrees. And did I mention it was hot?

Sometime while this was going on, we ran out of water (not surprised, these were tiny water bottles). Luckily, the girl I was sitting next to had asked some of her guests to get her a “real water bottle”, so she left for a little and came back with a plastic bag, holding a paper bag, holding a icy cold bottle of water. When she took it out, some of us sitting nearby broke up our empty water bottles, and it was nice of her to share.

While the other majors went up, I found that the way for me to keep my sanity was to keep track of the names that were being read…I also did that to keep an eye out for six middle school classmates (I found one more, which bumps five up to six). And when they went up, I did a silent squeeeee (especially for one girl, who I was friends with back in middle school). I think I might have missed one though (or she didn’t walk).

All Right, We’re Done

After the last candidate from the last major (Spanish) got their diploma, the school song was sung. And just as we (degree candidates) had entered the seating area, we left in the same fashion. And…that was it.

(The diplomas we got aren’t the actual diplomas. They’re just cover/holders for them and we get the actual ones in the mail.)

Apparently we’re given free license plate covers. I’m not an exciting car owner and I don’t decorate my car with anything, so I almost turned it down. But since it was free, I decided to take it anyway (I’ll probably hang it on my wall :P). After some picture-taking, we went to the Art Complex to get my two paintings that I forgot to pick up on Thursday, and left. (I still need to come back and get one of my other paintings, which is in the library…which was closed at the time.)

I wanted to stay longer, since I figured this would be the last time I’d see any of my friends, but it was also too hot and too crowded. And I couldn’t seem to find anyone anymore, so…

(I guess I could always friend them on Facebook or MySpace. :P)

The end.

Btw, now I don’t have any more school, I don’t know what to do, in terms of a job. ;o; I know I want to go into web design or maybe web development, but I don’t know where to start.

As for that graduation party, I’m tempted to have a little game, where I take the names of everyone I know from that alumni t-shirt, write them on a list and have people find said names.

I also found it interesting that I was practically the only one wearing a t-shirt underneath my graduation gown. ([Edit: Jun. 6, 5:52pm] Oh, never mind. Now that I look back at a photograph of some of the other art majors, I can see that there were others who wore their everyday clothes to Commencement) The two I was sitting with both wore collared, long-sleeved shirts. The girls in front of us wore (sleeveless) dresses. They never said we had to wear something formal underneath, which is why I didn’t bother (only requirement was the cap and gown).

Modified: November 18th, 2008