This past week was quite eventful. Aside from subbing a couple days (I took a few days off for Joe and the festivities), my brother had his last band concert ever and Barbara and Dave graduated from UMBC. When I went to my brother's concert Wed. night, one of the band parents brought their German exchange student with them. So I had the opportunity to talk to her about all kinds of stuff, both in English and German. Btina is 16 years old, but I honestly felt like she was more my age than a high schooler. Being able to talk to her rocked, and then I saw a couple Old Mill Alumni that I went to high school with. They didn't recognize me at first, but that's ok. The experience kind of made me wonder what my 5 year high school reunion will be like. Then Thursday was UMBC's graduation ceremony. Joe, Megan, and I all almost missed Barbara's name being called because we lost our place in the graduation program. Then I heard her name and let out my classical cheer/screams that I'm famous for at Sean's band events. (aka-very loud, very shrill, very deafening) Then when they called Dave's name, we were more prepared and we all jumped up out of our chairs and cheered for him. The funny part was, we were able to follow him all the way through the line to, on, and from the stage because we could see the white on his wing-tipped shoes. The only part of the ceremony that we missed was the processional into the arena, and that was because we had been stuck in traffic for 50 min. trying to get into Baltimore City. It was insane, I was driving (but not my car) Joe's car, trying to get to the ceremony, trying not to get lost, and trying not to get into an accident. After the ceremony we were trying to find Barbara, Dave, Barbara's family, and Dave's family. And I loved it when Barbara calls my cell phone and says "we're by these signs" (signs are everywhere) "and by some doors" (the entire building is a bunch of doors). Finally she tells me that they're at a corner. Thank God!! There's only 4 of those. Luckily it happened to be the corner of the building that we were heading towards... that really was just luck. So Megan, Barbara, her mom, her dad, her sister Melissa, and I all went over to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. The meal was delicious, and the company and conversation were very fun also. We all had a great time. Though it has been brought to mine and Barbara's attention that we have failed in the department of passing on legacy to Megan. Apparently there are a lot of things about UMBC that Megan has not encountered because the older, wiser, and more experienced students never showed her. Oops. So after dinner, Megan and I, with Barbara in tow, had to find the parking garage where Joe's car was parked. Barbara's mom assisted us by driving us around until we found it. After having a conversation with the automated parking payment machine, we made it to the car, started driving in the wrong direction, was sent in the right direction by a man in an SUV who worked for the garage (we didn't know that at first, we just thought he was weird and creepy), got out of the city no problems, and then took the scenic route back to Megan's apartment because I missed my exit off of 295. Yeah, I was talking as usual instead of paying attention to the road. But heaven forbid if you should think I wasn't paying attention and try to tell me that my exit is coming up... duh, I knew that! *mumble* Damn backseat drivers! ;) Anyways, dropped Megan off at her apt. drove back to Dave's house where Barbara's car was parked, at which point she says "oh, they're not home yet. I guess you can't give Joe his car back." So I drive home and call Joe's cell to let him know to call me whenever he was done with dinner with his family. Yeah... Joe was at Dave's house, and had been for the past hour. So yeah, when I dropped Barbara off at Dave's to get her car, they were there, in the house... yeah... I forgive you Barbara. :) So even though graduation was @ 1pm, it was definitely an all day event. But that's ok, because as much as everyone else complains about the long speeches, the crowds, the tons of names being called that you have no idea who they are... I love it all! Because, that's just the way I am. I'm proud of myself when it's me being honored, I'm proud of every single person, not just the people I know, who have accomplished their personal goals... even if they couldn't care less about their victory. I understand their excitement and their nervousness about the future. I understand their sadness about leaving behind so many things that gave them joy and comfort. We can't go back, it will never be the same. But we can make what's to come just as amazing. Just like we did when be graduated from high school. I hadn't said this before... but thank you everyone for making college so great! I can only hope that I did the same for you. Ciao!
Mother's Day weekend was a blast; spending time with my family has this great remedial affect on me. My great aunt is doing much better, thank God, and hopefully she'll continue to do so. Hanging out with my cousins Kathy and Marie was really awesome, and Kathy is all about having me come to Ohio to visit this summer. Come on end of the school year! ;) Work wasn't anything exciting this week, though I subbed for a dance class on Thursday and that was a lot of fun. 2 of the classes was brain-numbing but then I got to teach one of the classes how to belly dance. They were supposed to be practicing their routine for their dance show, but the CD player was broken so they didn't have any music to practice with. Anyways, instead of sitting around and doing nothing, I tried to give them something interesting to do. It was fun, gave me something to talk about. Then Joe came into town Friday night (after getting stuck in lots of traffic) and he's staying in MD for the week!! Yay! I'm going to get spoiled. We went out to dinner Saturday night with Joe's brother Steve and his wife Christine. I had a really great time, and hopefully they did too. :) We went to DuClaw's in Arundel Mills and Steve, Joe and I all ended up ordering the same thing... but we didn't know we would do that until we actually ordered. Coincidence or the alignment of the cosmos? Who knows. But the different brews they had there all seemed really good... I had the Ravenwood, tangy, light, a little bit sweet... the menu said it mimicked the German brew Klotsch, but I didn't think so. Still good, very good. Hehehe, I got to see Joe in action on Saturday morning because we went yard sale hopping... he is the yard/garage sale king. So I saw him in action and it was so much fun. Shhhh, don't tell my mom because she threatened me within an inch of my life if I bought anything and brought it back home... but I picked up an eight piece set of dishes, mugs, and glasses and a crock-pot recipe book for $18. Joe got some really cool stuff too... and at better deals than me. *frown* But he's had a little more experience than I. ;) Anyways, he's off galvanting with Dave yesterday, today, and tomorrow... being partners in crime together. ;) Last night I finally cleaned out my closet and my dresser drawers of all my winter clothes to go up in the attic, clothes that I never wear anymore, and clothes that will never fit me again even if I do lose the 20-25 lbs I've been wanting to for the past year. I was glad to finally do that, because I had literally run out of room to put my clothes. Ok, enough rambling for me, I'm off to find something else to occupy my time. I always have stuff to do, it's just a matter of whether I want to do them or not.
Ciao!