Finals are done. Grades are turned in. Graduation ceremony was last night. I’m free until August! Naturally, I spent most of this afternoon napping.

I really enjoy graduation, but it shouldn’t be held late at night at the end of a long week, because the faculty members are not on their best behavior. Caps off, robes open, shorts and hiking boots as attire. The chair of our department refuses to wear a mortar board because he is so tall that it makes him look like the Statue of Liberty (according to him). And herding the various departments into the processional was a disaster for the poor ushers. Our department always lingers to be in back, and so does philosophy & religious studies. They were put in the left line and we were in the right. One of the philosophy instructors (who took my astronomy class this past semester) screamed at us, “Left is right, and right is wrong.” One of the geologists yelled back, “We’re making change from within.” All this in front of the assembled guests.

Then we had to deal with “Pomp and Circumstance” over and over and over again. It was played on an organ, and the bridge really sounded circus-like. So the giggling began during the procession. It continued during the choral music and through the speeches. The speeches were grim, and one of them contained the line, “We hope that you will continue what you have just completed.” More giggling.

Only a few hundred of the eligible students actually walk through graduation. I saw ten of my former students get degrees! Yay! So happy! Partway through the ceremony, the lights went out. (Methinks that the chemists who were running the show need more circuit theory courses.) The graduates immediately brought out their cell phones, and the group was illuminated by the little blue glow of cell phone displays. I was happy, because I could look up and see Jupiter shining in Leo above our heads. The graduates started doing the “Wave” and, at the urging of the audience, the faculty joined in. I love the casualness of this ceremony. Lights came back on, ceremony continued. It was fun, but at the end, I was exhausted. But also happy to have another school year successfully completed.