Graduate, hood thyself
May. 23rd, 2021 10:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
allekhaI had a pretty busy week!
Saturday before last, Z and I went to the Habitat for Humanity Restore because he needed a new computer desk that wasn't a cheap folding table collapsing in on itself. After we helped a couple with a baby get their new desk onto a cart and after Z accidentally smashed his finger as we moved a random marble countertop sitting on a desk, we picked one out! ...and it was about four inches too long to fit into his tiny car.
Go inside and ask them for the phone numbers for movers, I suggested. When I was buying furniture for my apartment when I first moved, they had a whole list of them on the wall. Z comes back out with a single business card. They can't help; the people they suggest can't help; the other people I google don't pick up the phone. We contemplate taking the desk apart, but get stuck on the first screw as it won't unscrew more than a quarter turn, and anyway we aren't sure that it isn't glued together. Z has no bungee cords or anything else that can help. He puts out a call for help on his Discord and nobody responds. R answers his phone, but his dad's car is too small. Finally, I go, doesn't D still live here? because Z took me to catsit for him once. It turns out that D is free and has a car that isn't tiny, so he was finally able to save the day for us. Z bought him and his girlfriend ramen from our favorite place as thanks, and we had dinner together on the roof of their building.
Z's cat now loves sitting in the big drawer. All's well that ends well.
On Sunday, the university's website finally got back up, but only if you were using their VPN. Z got his working, so I was able to schedule a COVID test. Didn't get mine working for a few days after. It doesn't quit when you close it, so I am uninstalling it now :| More importantly, I did my taxes; after I finished, I went, that doesn't look right, and called my dad for help. He pointed out the very important detail that I hadn't included my fellowship income from the spring (because the university didn't put in on my W2 for reasons I don't understand). So that all got sorted. I still need to call the IRS about my last stimulus check because I never received it; maybe now's a better time....
My package from Russia finally left St. Petersburg after 45 days of sitting in the post office, and was supposed to arrive on Monday but got delayed until Tuesday. My Zhenya cosmonaut t-shirt!! The print looks good, and while I was worried about ordering an extra-small because I... am not an extra-small, the extremely loose fit on the website's measurements was correct. I wore it when I saw R, since he is also a Zhenya stan :D
On Wednesday, I got my first ever COVID test (sorry to the person who had to walk me through it!) and picked up my fancy dancy graduation regalia. And I received a request for an interview! The job is temporary (one year), but it looks really interesting and pays well!
R had also asked me to do a photoshoot for him - this time as the model, not as theshaky hands behind the camera. I was a little nervous because my make-up skills are very basic and limited to 'cosplaying a few days of the year' and R's dress-up clothes tend towards the low-cut, but it all worked out and he had multiple extra shirts and slips and stuff already set out just in case. His photos are amazing, so I'm excited to see the results - especially for what he called the 'Midsommar' outfit and what I called the 'hippy in a cult' outfit (it was all white and very loose and gave me a 70s vibe), which was not made for my shoulders but was otherwise very fun to pose in.
Friday was our hooding ceremony. I lugged my ceremonial regalia up the hill and got dressed when I got to the top. I am not a fan of the robe color, but I am glad that they included a pocket and a pocket access slit, and the hats are very cool and fancy. Because of social distancing, they made us hood ourselves. This did not make much sense to me because first we handed our hats to our advisors, and then afterward they had each pair of us take our masks off for a moment to take photos together, and I'm pretty sure most of us are vaccinated anyway, but oh, well. I liked the ceremony! It was inside, we were air-conditioned, it was cool to hear everyone's thesis topic, and I got to see my advisor and talk with him and his other graduating student, who is doing cool work!
Commencement itself was on Saturday. They provided a lot of free water, which is good, because it is already quite warm here, and wearing a very thick polyester robe on top of normal clothes made for a lot of sweating before I'd even gotten checked in. Thankfully, a thunderstorm started to roll in but never entirely materialized, so we had a good breeze for a while. Some of the speeches were nice! Though there were lots of sarcastic murmurs around me when one of the guest speakers urged us to donate when we were rich one day - alumni donations have been plummeting for years for a reason, dude.
Unlike my much larger undergrad, they actually handed out everyone's degrees and had us walk across the stage as the president tipped their hat at us. Afterward, my advisor surprised me by grabbing me for a hug :)
We were urged to stay through the whole ceremony, but 1/3 of the grads left immediately and the rest of us got thanked for staying. We were originally told the ceremony would be 2.5 to 3 hours, but at some point after it had been three, I checked the list and realized we weren't even halfway through the undergrads. More Ph.Ds and Masters grads had left, as had plenty of undergrads who had received their degrees. The sun was coming out again. I'd already read 20k of fanfic on my cracked phone screen because I'd run out of things to think about. The two people in front of me decided to leave. I ditched with them.
On the way out, we got free cookies! As we talked, I also found out that one of the two I'd left with was another nb person who was excited to be able to use the gender-neutral Dr title :) The ceremony ended up being well over four hours in the end. They didn't even give me an actual diploma lol, I guess since they'd already mailed mine to me - the folder I was handed just had a 'congratulations!' note inside. But it was nice to go for the first part. And now school is over for me, for real, for ever. It's sure been a ride.
After I dropped off my regalia, Z took me to pick up Greek food to celebrate (we saw a bald eagle on the way back!). Later, I watched gymnastics, although the coverage was absurdly terrible even by NBC standards. Like, showing 4 routines in the first 35 minutes, staring at an exhausted Simone pretending the camera isn't there as her ankle gets taped for at least five minutes straight, multiple reminders that Morgan was born in China!!! terrible. Anyway, that aside, it was nice to see Simone doing her vault and Morgan's new floor - much better than the one she had for five seconds last year.
Saturday before last, Z and I went to the Habitat for Humanity Restore because he needed a new computer desk that wasn't a cheap folding table collapsing in on itself. After we helped a couple with a baby get their new desk onto a cart and after Z accidentally smashed his finger as we moved a random marble countertop sitting on a desk, we picked one out! ...and it was about four inches too long to fit into his tiny car.
Go inside and ask them for the phone numbers for movers, I suggested. When I was buying furniture for my apartment when I first moved, they had a whole list of them on the wall. Z comes back out with a single business card. They can't help; the people they suggest can't help; the other people I google don't pick up the phone. We contemplate taking the desk apart, but get stuck on the first screw as it won't unscrew more than a quarter turn, and anyway we aren't sure that it isn't glued together. Z has no bungee cords or anything else that can help. He puts out a call for help on his Discord and nobody responds. R answers his phone, but his dad's car is too small. Finally, I go, doesn't D still live here? because Z took me to catsit for him once. It turns out that D is free and has a car that isn't tiny, so he was finally able to save the day for us. Z bought him and his girlfriend ramen from our favorite place as thanks, and we had dinner together on the roof of their building.
Z's cat now loves sitting in the big drawer. All's well that ends well.
On Sunday, the university's website finally got back up, but only if you were using their VPN. Z got his working, so I was able to schedule a COVID test. Didn't get mine working for a few days after. It doesn't quit when you close it, so I am uninstalling it now :| More importantly, I did my taxes; after I finished, I went, that doesn't look right, and called my dad for help. He pointed out the very important detail that I hadn't included my fellowship income from the spring (because the university didn't put in on my W2 for reasons I don't understand). So that all got sorted. I still need to call the IRS about my last stimulus check because I never received it; maybe now's a better time....
My package from Russia finally left St. Petersburg after 45 days of sitting in the post office, and was supposed to arrive on Monday but got delayed until Tuesday. My Zhenya cosmonaut t-shirt!! The print looks good, and while I was worried about ordering an extra-small because I... am not an extra-small, the extremely loose fit on the website's measurements was correct. I wore it when I saw R, since he is also a Zhenya stan :D
On Wednesday, I got my first ever COVID test (sorry to the person who had to walk me through it!) and picked up my fancy dancy graduation regalia. And I received a request for an interview! The job is temporary (one year), but it looks really interesting and pays well!
R had also asked me to do a photoshoot for him - this time as the model, not as the
Friday was our hooding ceremony. I lugged my ceremonial regalia up the hill and got dressed when I got to the top. I am not a fan of the robe color, but I am glad that they included a pocket and a pocket access slit, and the hats are very cool and fancy. Because of social distancing, they made us hood ourselves. This did not make much sense to me because first we handed our hats to our advisors, and then afterward they had each pair of us take our masks off for a moment to take photos together, and I'm pretty sure most of us are vaccinated anyway, but oh, well. I liked the ceremony! It was inside, we were air-conditioned, it was cool to hear everyone's thesis topic, and I got to see my advisor and talk with him and his other graduating student, who is doing cool work!
Commencement itself was on Saturday. They provided a lot of free water, which is good, because it is already quite warm here, and wearing a very thick polyester robe on top of normal clothes made for a lot of sweating before I'd even gotten checked in. Thankfully, a thunderstorm started to roll in but never entirely materialized, so we had a good breeze for a while. Some of the speeches were nice! Though there were lots of sarcastic murmurs around me when one of the guest speakers urged us to donate when we were rich one day - alumni donations have been plummeting for years for a reason, dude.
Unlike my much larger undergrad, they actually handed out everyone's degrees and had us walk across the stage as the president tipped their hat at us. Afterward, my advisor surprised me by grabbing me for a hug :)
We were urged to stay through the whole ceremony, but 1/3 of the grads left immediately and the rest of us got thanked for staying. We were originally told the ceremony would be 2.5 to 3 hours, but at some point after it had been three, I checked the list and realized we weren't even halfway through the undergrads. More Ph.Ds and Masters grads had left, as had plenty of undergrads who had received their degrees. The sun was coming out again. I'd already read 20k of fanfic on my cracked phone screen because I'd run out of things to think about. The two people in front of me decided to leave. I ditched with them.
On the way out, we got free cookies! As we talked, I also found out that one of the two I'd left with was another nb person who was excited to be able to use the gender-neutral Dr title :) The ceremony ended up being well over four hours in the end. They didn't even give me an actual diploma lol, I guess since they'd already mailed mine to me - the folder I was handed just had a 'congratulations!' note inside. But it was nice to go for the first part. And now school is over for me, for real, for ever. It's sure been a ride.
After I dropped off my regalia, Z took me to pick up Greek food to celebrate (we saw a bald eagle on the way back!). Later, I watched gymnastics, although the coverage was absurdly terrible even by NBC standards. Like, showing 4 routines in the first 35 minutes, staring at an exhausted Simone pretending the camera isn't there as her ankle gets taped for at least five minutes straight, multiple reminders that Morgan was born in China!!! terrible. Anyway, that aside, it was nice to see Simone doing her vault and Morgan's new floor - much better than the one she had for five seconds last year.
