Graduation

Oh zany Tuesday, you did bring much merriment and cavorting.

So, Tuesday was Graduation Day™, and it rocked pretty hard. Mum and Dad were staying at the Kingsgate Hotel for the last two nights, up in the nice suite with the fantastic view, courtesy of Captain Osbourne, so big shout out to him. The visit was awesome, in that I got to see the parental units and got showered with food, gifts and 'we're so proud of you' moments. Awwww!

The graduation ceremony itself was standard fare for these events. I was interested from a cultural observation point of view (I guess a year and a half of anthropology did something) to see the emphasis on Maori protocol and Christian belief during the process, which were many times blended together. Luckily myself, Craig and others spent most of the two hours cracking stupid jokes and making people around us shudder in quiet laughter so the whole thing didn't get too high brow, especially over in our corner.

After a breif moment of walking on stage, shaking a couple of hands and accepting the diploma, the whole thing was over and we headed over to the campus for free food, balloons being thrown around and pats on the back.

That evening, a small group of us went pub hopping around Palmerston North. Since this was the day after St Patrick's day, the place was desserted and we got served cheap drinks by surly looking bartenders, who were mainly hoping to close up early before we descended upon their establishments, demanding hard liquor and peanuts.

I didn't quite get embarassingly drunk, but a damn good time was had and I think Tuesday drinks could end up becoming standard practice. It's great being out on the town with minimum drunken fuckheads (apart from us, naturally) getting in the way. Plus the bars tend to have cheap booze evenings. It's a winning combination.

And of course I get to do the whole thing again next year, when I get the degree. Whoo!