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Graduation !
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Finally, I will be graduating with the Class of 2001! Although I will not be
walking the graduation wearing a gown and a cap, I will still graduate. This is
a very special time for me - a time to celebrate, a time to party, a time to get
away from my "school mode" and get a real job, and also it is time for
some quiet introspection and contemplation. I have been assessing my life
lately. Well, what is the Bay Area commute for anyways?!!?
Pleasant thoughts fill my mind as I reminisce my high school graduation -
wearing pristine white sarees, white jasmine flowers and contact lenses for the
first time, I felt on top of the world. It was also the first time I entered a
pub and had my first beer after our school graduation party! My college
graduation was even special because I was up on stage handing over the Mount
Carmel College Flag and also handing over my post as a captain of “Mounts”
Softball team. Holding a small lamp in our hands and listening to Sr. G’s (the
legendary Mount Carmel principal) poignant speech about facing the big bad world
and conducting ourselves as as women and take pride in the fact was indeed
memorable. We also said a lovely prayer to the Lord invoking His blessings and
even to this day, I have the prayer pinned to my soft board.
But graduating with a Master’s degree is different and more so when you do it
in the United States.
Staying here has taught me a lot and yes of course, I want to share it with you.
So, please be prepared and don't flinch. (especially dada and ma!)
Wear protection. If I could offer just one tip for the future, being protected
would be it. When efficiently used, they considerably lessen the chance of
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. What I have to say will not
preclude conception. To some people, it may not even make sense. But, for what
it’s worth here, it is a good advice.
I have a master’s degree now. I have successfully completed two years of
graduate program without having a nervous breakdown or contracting an eating
disorder or enrolling the help of in-patient psychiatric services. This is no
small feat, if you know where I come from and what kind of person I am.
However, as the semester winds to a close and summer approaches, I can’t help
but think that this will be the last true summer vacation, the last sunny months
of recklessness. In these last weeks irresponsibility can be attributed to the
naive college years.
My suggestion? Savor every moment of it.
If you haven’t done the Alabama Slammer or Long Island Iced Tea, I suggest
doing so right away. Binge drinking is an significant aspect of coming of age.
We call people who do this type of thing later in life alcoholics.
Get your nails painted by your roommate at 1 a.m., bitch about your boyfriends
and gossip till 7 a.m. and sleep in until 2 p.m. the next day. In the real
world, we will be “expected” to be at work at 8 a.m. With prep time added
in, you are looking at waking up at 6 a.m. for the next 50 years. Perish the
thought!
Go skinny dipping at least once. All my close friends have seen my bare backside
at least once. I figure, if they can forgive me for exposing my flawed rear,
they can stand anything and will not judge me. In a queer way, I'd like to think
that I have toughened them up.
Realize that sarcasm is a beautiful thing.
Get tested for STDs -- it will be one less thing you have to worry about when
you graduate. I am serious about this.
Sit down and watch Jerry Springer. When you watch the 12-year-old prostitute
tell her father/pimp that she has been having an affair with her brother and has
sex dreams about her father and is going to have a baby from step-mother’s
third husband, you will realize that despite your grade point average or life
savings -- things could be worse...we could be living next door with such
weirdos!
For one day, go without food or water.
For one day, don’t talk.
For one day, do something that you truly enjoy doing.
Start a quote book. Kodak can’t capture your crazed best friend in the shower
or some of those “X” rated photographs that one wouldn’t show their
parents. Immortalize these moments. When we are old and bitter we can look back
and remember that not all things in life have to taken so seriously.
Get your nose, ear, eyebrow, navel pierced at least once.
Spend your last $10 on Chinese food. The healing power of General Tso’s
chicken is immeasurable, and if nothing else, you have tomorrow’s lunch down.
Ask the girl/boy of your dreams out for coffee. After next year, you’ll never
see her again. Getting shot down is better than a lifetime of wondering if s/he
could have been your soul mate.
Relax, take one day at a time and don’t take yourself too seriously. If you
learn this secret to serenity, please e-mail me. God knows I need it.
But trust me on the condoms.
Happy Graduation to the Class of 2001!! Feel free to email me with your best
wishes! God knows I need it.
Yipeeeeee!!!
-LKS
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