Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
azurelunatic) wrote2009-05-16 11:28 pm
azurelunatic) wrote2009-05-16 11:28 pm
A graduated JD!
Went to JD's graduation. Got ass amount of sleep, prior, but this was too important to miss. Made a morning checklist, without which I would not have got out the door in time. Drove to Stockton. Showed up at JD's front door, met his uncle, socialized, got a quick briefing, and before I realized, his parents and siblings were there, and I jumped in the van without the book I'd planned to bring. Ooops!
We got one of the last approximately 4 parking spots in the close parking lot. Score! I texted back and forth with JD, announcing our arrival and the lack of any explosion, and geeked out a bit with JD's dad, who is a technical writer and a competent end-user and baby-coder. I got a bit of the third degree. I notified JD that we were there safely by text message; we continued intermittent texting throughout the proceedings (but not the parts where he had to look attentive).
The students marched in. We searched for JD, who is most recognizable at a distance by his (currently pink) hair. A graduation cap does not lead to easy viewing of pink hair. One very blonde student had put holographic glitter sparkles on the top of her cap. We finally located JD, just as (in the unaccustomed shoes that looked like sneakers from where we were sitting but he swore up and down afterward were actually dress shoes) he tripped over something, possibly the air. :-P I had, alas, forgotten my camera.
The speeches were long and in some cases boring. Note my lack of book. Woe! I was tired enough to not be particularly able to write. I jotted down disconnected notes instead.
It had rambled on for two hours by the time the bulk of the mass-ceremony was done, and our party ditched out early. We grabbed snacks, then made for the site of the computer science/engineering/etc. walk-and-diploma ceremony. More chatter, and I introduced JD's little sister to the concepts (in brief) of base 2 and base 11 counting. (She's 9 and very curious; it had come up in discussion.) It didn't look like it stuck, but it's a seed.
JD's mom handed over Fairest for me to borrow. We wandered into the ceremony venue. It was already fairly well packed; JD's dad found seats in the balcony.
I hate old theatre seats, for the record. They and I do not get along, to the point where after 5 minutes of sitting, and someone else coming along to get past, that I decided that I was going to ditch the seat and stand through the ceremony instead. I got a good place by the rail. However, as things were starting, one of the ushers told the whole crowd that alas, fire safety regulations forbade that people stand in the aisles. By this time it was standing room only. The theatre was about a capacity of 300. The number of graduates were over 100. This does not make happytimes math, my friends, particularly because some people have significant others as well as parents, and siblings, and friend.
I wound up downstairs on a comfy-couch while people walked, so alas, I did not get to see JD walk. I did represent IRC there, though, for which I am happy. I read away happily. Seems that I identify "That's almost my name!" in books with "Aza" now. Later, JD's mom came down, and was not up to braving the stairs up to the balcony again, so we chatted about stuff. She seemed surprised that I knew about spoons.
We met up with JD outside, out back. No sooner did I pick up the phone to answer his call in the where-are-you search than I saw him, and we convened. There were photos, which are still on his dad's camera. JD's little sister declared me completely immature when she saw me give JD bunny ears for a non-serious photo.
We wound up back at JD's place. JD and his mother went suit-shopping. JD's sister was intent on the hotel pool. I declined an invitation to take advantage of the hotel's free wireless, and wound up horizontal on JD's living room couch, because I had stopped parsing stuff. I tried calling my best friend to just check in and say ♥, but he was driving. Some of JD's housemates and parents came in while I was theoretically out cold; I identified myself as JD's friend and went dlachta again, but not for too long: the household bass player struck up what may well have been a composition of theirs, which featured bassing, drumming (presumably on the bass), and vocalizations; I slipped in and out of consciousness with that rattling in my brains.
Then it was time for dinner. Yay! Dinner was at a Thai restaurant that is one of JD's favorites, owned by the parents of a classmate of his, incidentally. Dinner was good. JD's sister was squirrely. JD's brother is not just into setting things on fire and blowing them up, he is into doing it legally, safely, and with the proper amount of homework before doing so, thus some home-built rocketry funtimes. JD's brother also has a habit of making sarcastic comments; JD's sister declares that she is not a lady, but a tomboy, to anyone who attempts to call her the wrong thing. All in all good times were had, and I had yellow curry on rice and it was tasty, and did not have anything to which I suspect or know I am sensitive or intolerant (fried bananas are a no, mango is suspect, and ice cream is lactose-rich) for dessert.
And then I drove home!
We got one of the last approximately 4 parking spots in the close parking lot. Score! I texted back and forth with JD, announcing our arrival and the lack of any explosion, and geeked out a bit with JD's dad, who is a technical writer and a competent end-user and baby-coder. I got a bit of the third degree. I notified JD that we were there safely by text message; we continued intermittent texting throughout the proceedings (but not the parts where he had to look attentive).
The students marched in. We searched for JD, who is most recognizable at a distance by his (currently pink) hair. A graduation cap does not lead to easy viewing of pink hair. One very blonde student had put holographic glitter sparkles on the top of her cap. We finally located JD, just as (in the unaccustomed shoes that looked like sneakers from where we were sitting but he swore up and down afterward were actually dress shoes) he tripped over something, possibly the air. :-P I had, alas, forgotten my camera.
The speeches were long and in some cases boring. Note my lack of book. Woe! I was tired enough to not be particularly able to write. I jotted down disconnected notes instead.
It had rambled on for two hours by the time the bulk of the mass-ceremony was done, and our party ditched out early. We grabbed snacks, then made for the site of the computer science/engineering/etc. walk-and-diploma ceremony. More chatter, and I introduced JD's little sister to the concepts (in brief) of base 2 and base 11 counting. (She's 9 and very curious; it had come up in discussion.) It didn't look like it stuck, but it's a seed.
JD's mom handed over Fairest for me to borrow. We wandered into the ceremony venue. It was already fairly well packed; JD's dad found seats in the balcony.
I hate old theatre seats, for the record. They and I do not get along, to the point where after 5 minutes of sitting, and someone else coming along to get past, that I decided that I was going to ditch the seat and stand through the ceremony instead. I got a good place by the rail. However, as things were starting, one of the ushers told the whole crowd that alas, fire safety regulations forbade that people stand in the aisles. By this time it was standing room only. The theatre was about a capacity of 300. The number of graduates were over 100. This does not make happytimes math, my friends, particularly because some people have significant others as well as parents, and siblings, and friend.
I wound up downstairs on a comfy-couch while people walked, so alas, I did not get to see JD walk. I did represent IRC there, though, for which I am happy. I read away happily. Seems that I identify "That's almost my name!" in books with "Aza" now. Later, JD's mom came down, and was not up to braving the stairs up to the balcony again, so we chatted about stuff. She seemed surprised that I knew about spoons.
We met up with JD outside, out back. No sooner did I pick up the phone to answer his call in the where-are-you search than I saw him, and we convened. There were photos, which are still on his dad's camera. JD's little sister declared me completely immature when she saw me give JD bunny ears for a non-serious photo.
We wound up back at JD's place. JD and his mother went suit-shopping. JD's sister was intent on the hotel pool. I declined an invitation to take advantage of the hotel's free wireless, and wound up horizontal on JD's living room couch, because I had stopped parsing stuff. I tried calling my best friend to just check in and say ♥, but he was driving. Some of JD's housemates and parents came in while I was theoretically out cold; I identified myself as JD's friend and went dlachta again, but not for too long: the household bass player struck up what may well have been a composition of theirs, which featured bassing, drumming (presumably on the bass), and vocalizations; I slipped in and out of consciousness with that rattling in my brains.
Then it was time for dinner. Yay! Dinner was at a Thai restaurant that is one of JD's favorites, owned by the parents of a classmate of his, incidentally. Dinner was good. JD's sister was squirrely. JD's brother is not just into setting things on fire and blowing them up, he is into doing it legally, safely, and with the proper amount of homework before doing so, thus some home-built rocketry funtimes. JD's brother also has a habit of making sarcastic comments; JD's sister declares that she is not a lady, but a tomboy, to anyone who attempts to call her the wrong thing. All in all good times were had, and I had yellow curry on rice and it was tasty, and did not have anything to which I suspect or know I am sensitive or intolerant (fried bananas are a no, mango is suspect, and ice cream is lactose-rich) for dessert.
And then I drove home!