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It's a Beautiful Day
Jun. 18th, 2007 09:33 amEven if I am at work and busy.
It's good to be busy, after all.
So, this weekend, in non-gaming news...
Friday was convocation. It started far too early in the morning, but I got there on time. Parking was free, which was a nice touch. The milling about part before the ceremony was long and tedious, but I did meet a couple of nice people who were also milling about. It was really kind of neat to see the whole place get filled up. Mom, Dad and Aunt Jean were there to watch the ceremony. They arrived at 9:55 for a 10:30 start and still couldn't get good seats. They were way over on the left side towards the back-middle of the venue.
At York, they don't have a permanent convocation hall or anything. They put up a big white tent, though it's not made of canvas, but seems rather to be made of wood and whitewashed by Tom Sawyer and his buddies. There were quite a few large fans on the roof, so it wasn't quite as sweltering as it otherwise might have been.
We started out by getting in line to collect our robes, hoods and caps, then moved to Vari Hall to mill about for a really long time, as we slowly got ourselves lined up in alphabetical order. The way the hoods and caps work was explained to us by a wonderful prof who stood up on the second floor balcony and shouted loud enough that we could all hear her from the floor below. Then they marched the BBA students out and into the tent. After they were there, we MBA's marched out. As we neared the convocation tent, we could hear the first strains of the bagpipes.
It was a lovely sunny day, and there was something to be said for some 500 students marching out (both BBA and MBA included) and entering the venue, all dressed in black robes. The BBAs had black tassels on their caps and sleeves on their robes - MBAs had red tassels and wings instead of sleeves. PhD's - they're just special. The 4 of them had red robes and caps with a feather in them. Reminded me of some of the Hogwarts imagery I've read/seen.
The ceremony itself lasted a good 2 hours or so. The speeches were okay, all about leadership and helping to make changes in the world. The honorary PhD fellow went on about his place of employment too much, though it is a decent example of what he was talking about I suppose. Hah - guess that was the last MBA speech ever. Cause he could have been lecturing in a class, considering how many times we'd all heard what he said already. The MBA students were seriously considering throwing our caps at him to see what would happen, but he came to his conclusion just before anyone actually tried it.
The reception afterward had okay sandwiches and champagne. I picked up my degree and had it framed, so it's already on my wall. We didn't schmooze long, as it was already 1 by the time everything was all done. So home we went, to prepare for the evening festivities. It wasn't a huge party, but it was nice to see those folks who could make it. To those who were sweet enough to bring gifts or mail cards, thank you very much! You really didn't need to do that, but I do appreciate the generosity and kindness. Dad got the barbecue up and running, and well, we had lots of food. I'm still working through leftovers. ;)
I think that the whole thing did in fact bring a sense of closure to the whole school thing. I'm glad it's done, and now it's really time to move on.
Saturday was clean up the house day. Mom and Dad (and the 2 dogs) headed out, and we did go for a lovely walk down to the water front. 11km - go us! Well, actually 11.2km which is 7miles. I'm kind of boggling over hitting the 7mile mark. It seems somehow significant. And of course, I played some computer games in there.
Sunday - another walk, though much shorter, only 4km. Then Grant's condo-warming party which was nice. I got to catch up with a few folks, see a few friends, meet a few new faces and say hi to some folks from way back. It was quite the treat. And Grant sent everyone home with some leftovers, since he and his parents are going on a tour and won't be able to eat them all.
So all in all - a very nice weekend. The sad thing is that I am getting to the peopled-out stage. It seems there hasn't been a day where I've just been home alone in ... well, in forever. So my poor introvert side (Yes, I have one!) is feeling neglected and grouchy. I shall have to do something about that soon.
It's good to be busy, after all.
So, this weekend, in non-gaming news...
Friday was convocation. It started far too early in the morning, but I got there on time. Parking was free, which was a nice touch. The milling about part before the ceremony was long and tedious, but I did meet a couple of nice people who were also milling about. It was really kind of neat to see the whole place get filled up. Mom, Dad and Aunt Jean were there to watch the ceremony. They arrived at 9:55 for a 10:30 start and still couldn't get good seats. They were way over on the left side towards the back-middle of the venue.
At York, they don't have a permanent convocation hall or anything. They put up a big white tent, though it's not made of canvas, but seems rather to be made of wood and whitewashed by Tom Sawyer and his buddies. There were quite a few large fans on the roof, so it wasn't quite as sweltering as it otherwise might have been.
We started out by getting in line to collect our robes, hoods and caps, then moved to Vari Hall to mill about for a really long time, as we slowly got ourselves lined up in alphabetical order. The way the hoods and caps work was explained to us by a wonderful prof who stood up on the second floor balcony and shouted loud enough that we could all hear her from the floor below. Then they marched the BBA students out and into the tent. After they were there, we MBA's marched out. As we neared the convocation tent, we could hear the first strains of the bagpipes.
It was a lovely sunny day, and there was something to be said for some 500 students marching out (both BBA and MBA included) and entering the venue, all dressed in black robes. The BBAs had black tassels on their caps and sleeves on their robes - MBAs had red tassels and wings instead of sleeves. PhD's - they're just special. The 4 of them had red robes and caps with a feather in them. Reminded me of some of the Hogwarts imagery I've read/seen.
The ceremony itself lasted a good 2 hours or so. The speeches were okay, all about leadership and helping to make changes in the world. The honorary PhD fellow went on about his place of employment too much, though it is a decent example of what he was talking about I suppose. Hah - guess that was the last MBA speech ever. Cause he could have been lecturing in a class, considering how many times we'd all heard what he said already. The MBA students were seriously considering throwing our caps at him to see what would happen, but he came to his conclusion just before anyone actually tried it.
The reception afterward had okay sandwiches and champagne. I picked up my degree and had it framed, so it's already on my wall. We didn't schmooze long, as it was already 1 by the time everything was all done. So home we went, to prepare for the evening festivities. It wasn't a huge party, but it was nice to see those folks who could make it. To those who were sweet enough to bring gifts or mail cards, thank you very much! You really didn't need to do that, but I do appreciate the generosity and kindness. Dad got the barbecue up and running, and well, we had lots of food. I'm still working through leftovers. ;)
I think that the whole thing did in fact bring a sense of closure to the whole school thing. I'm glad it's done, and now it's really time to move on.
Saturday was clean up the house day. Mom and Dad (and the 2 dogs) headed out, and we did go for a lovely walk down to the water front. 11km - go us! Well, actually 11.2km which is 7miles. I'm kind of boggling over hitting the 7mile mark. It seems somehow significant. And of course, I played some computer games in there.
Sunday - another walk, though much shorter, only 4km. Then Grant's condo-warming party which was nice. I got to catch up with a few folks, see a few friends, meet a few new faces and say hi to some folks from way back. It was quite the treat. And Grant sent everyone home with some leftovers, since he and his parents are going on a tour and won't be able to eat them all.
So all in all - a very nice weekend. The sad thing is that I am getting to the peopled-out stage. It seems there hasn't been a day where I've just been home alone in ... well, in forever. So my poor introvert side (Yes, I have one!) is feeling neglected and grouchy. I shall have to do something about that soon.
