stop. put down your pencils and have some cake.
i finished my semester last monday may 5th, when i handed in my last paper at 5pm. but final exams ran thru friday the 9th, so a lot of my friends were busy the entire week, and i had to sort of fly low so as not to rub it in to eveyrone that i was already done. do you remember back when you were growing up and in school, you'd be taking a standardized test, and there would always be one kid in your class who would be the first to finish? s/he would fly through the multiple choice test questions and blacken the bubbles on the answer sheet in about 20 minutes, and then close their test booklet and sit there smirking and looking around the classroom, tapping his/her pencil & twiddling his/her thumbs while everyone else toiled away? i kind of felt like that kid last week (minus the smugness, of course).
may is always a celebratory time. friday evening saw me at a retiremenet party! yes--a retirement party! one of my favorite professors is retiring, and he's really going to be missed. i first had him as a teacher 10(!) years ago when i was getting my Master's degree. we remained in touch afterwards, and in many ways he was influential in convincing me to pursue this path and come back for a doctorate. i did, and was fortunate enough to have one more class with him last spring.
on monday night, my friends helped me celebrate my b-day a few days early. we went out for dessert at the Melting Pot. chocolate dipped strawberries? bring 'em on! yesterday, i woke up from the food coma in time for the parental unit to roll into town last night for some more celebrations. yesterday was the 5th anniversary of dad's successful heart valve replacement. and of course there's a belated mother's day celebration to be done this week.
but today? rumor has it that i'm getting a red velvet cake tonight. i also hear that i'll be taken to my favorite indian restaurant for dinner. there's no need to play coy with you: this is my birthday, and i'm off to enjoy the day.
