( Long and image-heavy! )

And that's that!

bye bye, Atlanta.

A list of things that made me happy today, with other random thoughts scattered throughout.

The APhiO freshmen, sophomores and juniors who got up super early, for no other reason than to see off the seniors.

"He's got a friggin' medallion!"

Drive-by photography

Walking around campus in cap and gown. I've never been on the receiving end of so many smiles.

Gorgeous weather. That in itself made me happy enough to cry.

We weren't allowed to wear APhiO cords, but I wore my service pin.

A bottle of water (Dasani, natch) under every seat. Wasn't done last year, so it was a nice surprise.

The announcer voice coming over the speakers sounded like it was straight from the VMAs. I kept expecting to hear, "Ladies and Gentlemen...Kanye West!"

Made friends with Palanci, Pallay, Palmiter, and Panaro, whom I'd never met before and will never see again.

Marian Wright Edelman's awesome commencement address.

Dr. Weeks got a teaching award!

Question: How many people can say, "Sean Penn filmed my graduation"?
Answer: The number of people in the Emory College Class of 2006.

The beach balls.

Brought my mp3 player, and before the ceremony, I listened to the songs that will always remind me of college.

I didn't turn into a sobbing mess!

I got to cheer almost all my friends as they got their diplomas. If you didn't hear a loud "woooo!" when your name was called, it was because I dozed off.

Hearing "LaKedra SheVonn Pam, highest honors in chemistry" with everything pronounced correctly!

Didn't wipe out as I got my diploma.

The hilariously awkward singing of the alma mater. Nobody knows it because we never sing it.

Hats were tossed, which was cool. Some hats were sidearmed like ninja stars, which was not so cool.

Um...I can't think of anything else right now! I'm really really tired, but my brain is racing and kind of hopping around from place to place. My grades never did get posted on OPUS, except for the Pass in Revolutionary France. I guess it doesn't really matter now, since I have satisfied all the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science, and am accordingly admitted by the faculty to that degree with all the honors, rights, and privileges thereunto appertaining here and elsewhere.

I have a degree. I'm an alumna. Wow.

I'll have to write about today in more detail sometime after I get back to Baton Rouge. For now I'll just say...
Bagpipes are totally cool when you're marching behind them.
BAs get cooler-looking hoods, but music PhDs get the coolest gowns (pink velvet!!).
There may be knowledge behind the shower door, but there is no Santa Claus.
Casey's family is always watching.
You do NOT stick your arm through a fourragere.
Dr. Kindt writes limericks!
If you hear someone say "SMILE!!", pose and take a picture with the nearest graduate. Even if you know neither them nor the person with the camera.
Hugging someone while wearing a mortarboard can be dangerous.
Yes, this IS really happening.

Me, my dad and my mom, after Baccalaureate. Now that the Honors Ceremony is over, I also have a nifty blue and gold braid for my shoulder!

Today was the brunch for graduating Emory Scholars. All of my guests had a great time. My parents finally got to meet Dr. Kindt, after two years of hearing me talk about him. He and my dad hit it off really well. They talked for a while about rubber, and just how fascinating it is. And Dean Lancaster spent so much time talking to Uncle Vurnell, I'd convinced myself that they'd met before and already knew each other. I think my family members were surprised at how friendly everybody was. They've got this image of Emory as this rich school where everybody's snobby. Only half of that is true.

Up at the front of the room, they had the group picture that we took during Finalists' Weekend in 2002. Dad and I went up to look at it, and he was going to take a picture of the picture until I pointed out that I have an actual print on my wall at home. I pointed out all the people I became friends with. So weird to think, that picture was taken over four years ago. This whole graduation thing is really starting to sink in. It'll hit me for real tomorrow, when I have to don cap and gown for Baccalaureate and the Honors Ceremony.

Today I went to the salon to get my hair done, and from there went straight to a nail place to get a pedicure. Once I made up my mind to suck it up and get the pedicure, I pretty much had to do it immediately, before I lost my nerve. It was awful. I do not like feet, I do not enjoy having a stranger touch my feet. But my decidedly non-slovenly appearance got nothing but approval from Mom, and that's why I did it. (She'd flip out if she knew that I spent the last month going to class in pajamas.) This whole graduation thing is really for the parents, after all.

So my parents, Aunt Mildred and Uncle Vurnell got into town this afternoon. I was super happy to see them all, as I hadn't seen them since Christmas break. My dad has lost a LOT of weight, but not for a good reason...some medicine he's on for his heart has apparently done a number on his stomach. And he also gets tired easily, so I'm trying to keep our activities to a minimum. Tomorrow's just the Scholar's brunch, then back to the hotel to sleep, or whatever.

SUPER scary thought. When all the additional things like bibliography, table of contents, and so on are done, there will be more pages in my thesis than I have days left at Emory. And I have a short science thesis! Is anybody else freaked out by this?

Reading todays Wheel, I found out that a member of the Chemistry department, Dr. Apkarian, died on Tuesday. He ran the electron microscopy facility, so I don't think he had much interaction with undergrads. In fact, until today, I only knew him as 'motorcycle guy' because he parked his bike right on the sidewalk outside the door of Emerson Hall. Sadly, it was in a motorcycle accident that he died.

Today was the first Friday of the month, which means the campus acapella groups gave a little concert. One of the last concerts of the year. It was only fitting, then that Aural Pleasure did the Counting Crows song "Einstein on the Beach." That was the first song I ever heard the group do, back when I visited Emory during my senior year of high school. Nobody who performed the song then was still in the group today, but it still sounded just as awesome as before. That made me think about the way things will carry on here at Emory after I'm gone...I won't be here, but people who knew me will still be here, and then people who knew people who knew me, onward into the future. Actually...I didn't get that philosophical. I don't do that. Although I have begun to realize that there's a huge number of people whom I see fairly regularly, but will probably never see again after May 15. That's about as heavy as I get.

Anybody know if it's bad luck to put on your cap and gown before commencement week? I hope not, because I'm wearing mine right now. Just to be safe, I left off the hood and tassel. Prancing around in this getup is very exciting, but it also makes graduation seem much more real than before. I keep picturing this bright sunny day in which I'm really happy, but also can't stop crying. That's going to be a crazy, rough day. I don't want to think about it.

Edited to add: I should note, somewhere other than a post-it in a desk drawer, that the cap, hood, and tassel are in the bag that's in the pink thing on the shelf in my closet. And the gown is in the dress bag al the way to the right, behind the dresses I never wear. That info might come in handy at some point closer to grad week.

Tonight was the pledge retreat...my last one. NO, I did not cry. I guess it's kind of a geeky thing to do on a Friday night, but if I hadn't gone, I'd have watched ice dancing or surfed the net all evening. Surely that would have been even geekier. Besides, I do care about APhiO and the people who are going to be in it after I'm gone. And I'm going to be nagging those kids about service hours for the next couple of months. I figure I should at least get to know them first. So I sat around and ate free junk food and did sigs. It's always cute when the pledges try to ask some deep questions, like, "Why are we on this planet?" And then I break out "Would you rather lose an arm or sweat mayonnaise?" Gets them every time.

Then the brothers were kicked out so the pledges could bond. After some brief regrouping, we broke in again. That actually went pretty well. And not long after that was cleanup. Jason, Emily, Christopher and I ended up spending an hour untangling the yarn we'd used for the string game. That was quite the ordeal. At some points we had yarn laid out along the entire perimeter of Harris parlor. It led to this exchange between me and Emily:

"I feel such a sense of accomplishment right now, guys. I feel like this is more meaningful than getting my diploma will be."
"Really? They're going to call out your name..."
"And I'm just going to take the diploma, look out at the audience and shake my head. I'll look right at you."
"Wait...oh, no, I won't be in line behind you."
"No, Witham is way after Pam, you'll still be in your seat."
"I'll be standing up to see the look on your face."
"I'll have a piece of yarn in my pocket, maybe hidden in my tassel, so I can pull it out as a visual reminder."
"Haha...Forget the diploma, I untied a bigass knot."


Hmm...that was a lot funnier while it was going on. Maybe you just had to be there.

I need to sleep now. Thesis stuff all weekend! F'real!

Getting out of bed this morning was very difficult (because I went to the 100 days thing when I should've just gone to sleep). But I did it! I drove Mansi, Neha and Carol out to the pet adoption service project. They only have 3 volunteer spots per shift, and while I could have stayed anyway, I decided not to. I went to the mall right across the street...walked around there for a while. Then I went to Starbucks and studied human phys. That's right, I studied. And when I got back to campus, I met up with this girl in the class and studied more. What's wrong with me??!!!

After all that studying, I only had a little time to kill before tonight's Rush event: cosmic bowling!! Whooooo! There was a good turnout, of both brothers and rushees. When it came to the actual bowling, that didn't go so well. I did horribly, which makes sense considering the last time I went bowling? I was a rushee.

I am not going to finish this stupid honors thesis. I don't know why I keep fooling myself. IT DOESN'T MATTER. I could turn in my degree application and then stay in bed until May 15, and IT WOULDN'T MATTER.

Last night, I had a dream about graduation. It was quite weird. I was graduating, but I was just watching all the activities, not actually taking part. And weird activities they were. There was a party of some sort on the quad. When it ended, everybody took off in a sprint and ran around some building before diving into a lake. (I'm guessing those things come from various end-of-high school traditions that I know about in Baton Rouge.) It wasn't on any campus I recognized, but then towards the end I found out I was at my dad's alma mater. Oh, and Will Smith and Uncle Phil were there. Yes, from the Fresh Prince. So yeah, it was a pretty interesting graduation.

Kaniksha, Danielle, and I went to the Olive Garden tonight, to celebrate our victory against the MCAT. Those with good memories might remember that there was a trip to Olive Garden the evening of the MCAT, so it was like coming full circle. Back in April, we were happy that it was over, but uncertain of exactly how things would turn out. Tonight, we were happy about our scores, but...we still haven't gotten in anywhere yet. But that's a worry for later. MCAT night, I had shrimp and crab ravioli. I almost got the same thing tonight, but decided to be wild and crazy and go for something different. Mmmm, shrimp and crab cannelloni.

During dinner, the conversation turned to a topic that actually has me pretty excited. That is, the graduation hat toss. Baton Rouge High's graduation was all formal and stiff and "has been held in the same hallowed chamber for the past million years" blah. Obviously, I didn't get a hat toss then. I was okay with that, but I decided that when college ended, my cap was going to enter low earth orbit. Watching this year's ceremony, I saw a problem. Only a handful of hats got chucked into the air, from what I could see. That must change. And so, Operation Hat Toss begins. I'm not sure how exactly I'm going to get the entire class of 2006 to buy into this. But on May 15, 2006, the sky will darken with 1000+ flying hats. You heard it here first.