Well. An awful lot has happened in the last few days:
Graduation was Friday and Saturday. It all seemed rather silly, but it's really more for relatives anyway, of course. I thought Tom Brokaw's speech was bizarre and pretty lousy, between the complete Other-ing of Muslims in his whole "we are at war" bit (as if it had never occured to him that any of the "we"s or "you"s he was imploring to find a way to deal with Them could actually be Muslims themselves-- not at Northwestern! not in America!), the strange rambles about how "single-issue groups" are destroying American politics, and the complete lack of anything inspiring or profound, or even mildly entertaining or interesting. At least Lane Fenrich spoke at the WCAS convocation on Saturday, and I liked his speech. Not knock-me-down amazing or anything, but he talked about envisioning change in the world and working to make it possible, was genuinely inspiring in some spots and made the speech enjoyable the whole way through. Anyway, I sat through hour after hour of graduates' names being read (starting at 8:30 Saturday for Tech's to see Alex, and then CAS at 11), wore and returned the cap and gown, got lots of pictures taken, got a diploma, the whole bit. And now it's over.
My family was around for the past few days, which was really nice. My grandparents came Friday morning and left Saturday night, and my parents and sister arrived Thursday afternoon and left today. It was nice to have them all here. We did a variety of fun things, including seeing fireworks down at Navy Pier last night and watching a Cubs game in the bleachers today (which was a lot of fun, although I got both of my forearms badly sunburnt). And we went to dinner on Friday night with Alex's family... 12 of us at one big table at Trattoria Demi. (That went pretty well, all things considering.)
They also helped me move. I'm not completely moved over to the new apartment on Emerson, but all the large furniture's over there now, at least. (Thank goodness... I don't know how I'd have managed if it wasn't for three family members and a rented moving van!) However, my clothing, food, and internet connection are here on Maple, so I'm thinking I'll stay here for the rest of the month anyway. I dunno, though. It depends on how uncomfortable it is to sleep on the green couch cushions on the floor...
Oh, and then there was shopping. On top of the practical stuff my grandparents got me, such as much-needed pots and pans, my parents got me a digital camera as a graduation present. (It's a digital video-camera, actually, since it didn't cost that much more and my mom was really excited about the idea.) Part of me feels very much spoiled by such a fancy gift, but they insisted on getting me something nice. I suppose I could have made them give me money instead, and put it into savings or donated it to somewhere-or-other... but instead, I've got a camera now. And it's really quite neat. And I'm already starting to send them money to help them pay off the loans they took out to put me through NU, so that helps me feel a little better about the whole thing.
And I bought myself a new computer, too, while we were shopping. An iBook, of course, since I am nothing if not a bandwagon-jumper. It is very cute and spiffy, and I like it so far. And, of course, it doesn't have a cracked screen with giant black blotches, and it's not virus-infested so that it freezes up 5 times a day. I sold my old one to my parents-- I reinstalled Windows first, which I certainly hope will get rid of all the problems I've been having, and they're going to hook it up to a monitor they've got lying around. They've been needing a better computer than the almost-non-functional one they've got, so it's a win-win situation.
So, there we go. And now it's time to get to bed pretty soon, and then get up in the morning and go back to work. The last 3 1/2 days have felt kind of like their own little world, and it's almost hard to believe that tomorrow's business as usual, but I suppose it has to be eventually...
