Graduation

Today I received my Masters of Engineering in Modeling and Simulation from the College of Engineering at Old Dominion University. The commencement was held at the Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Virginia.

What a fitting end the ceremony was to the grueling 2 years of graduate studies. Actually, neither was really all that bad (I ended up with a 3.93 and was initiated into Tau Beta Pi), but sitting through actual graduation was somewhat painful. I had to get up at 0600 in order to be on campus by 0800. It takes about an hour for all the students to get robed properly and lined up according to their degrees, so by 0900 we were marching into the stadium. The speakers were brief, except one, the honorary degree recipient & CNN host/reporter Wolf Blitzer. Not only was his speech long, but most of the graduates seemed to find it irrelevant to the particular event. The speech, which revolved around the current criticisms journalists faced & the war in Iraq, was hardly motivational. I, for one, was quite disappointed. The longest part of the ceremony was the 'walk' where graduates go up to the stage to receive their 'fake' degrees and shake various people's hands. There were probably 500 graduates for this particular commencement. (The school holds a separate commencement in the afternoon for other colleges.) I took a short nap during the first half. When it was my turn to go up, I did manage to have a moment of cheer and put on a smile for the ODU president and other people. Then I went back to my seat only to spend rest of the 2.5 hour ceremony literally cursing the jerk-offs behind me who were letting their cell-phones ring and being obnoxious in every which way possible.

So why did I bother walking you say? It wasn't in my plan to, but my friends were attending since they invited their families. I did want to share this moment with the girls that helped make these past two years bearable, if not at times enjoyable. If they were going to suffer through the ceremony, I figured I'll suffer right along with them.

When shaking the president's hand she asked if I planned to pursue my Ph.D. My mind said hell no, but I politely replied, "maybe." My only motivation to do a Ph.D. is so I can make people address me as Dr. so-and-so. Whether it is enough or not, I'm not too keen on becoming a student again. At least for now, going back to school is not in my future plans. If anything, I hope those that know me will remind me if I get any crazy ideas how much I disliked being in school.