Graduation Reception/Banquet

Good times were had... pictures will come once the photographers give us a copy.

What I want as a graduation present...

Extremely Rare Altar Boyz Poster #1

Extremely Rare Altar Boyz Poster #2

A girl can dream, can't she? Since I don't live near NY, it might be hard for them to ship these things... maybe I'll save enough money to go over to NY and pick it up. *sigh* A girl can dream, can't she?

Graduation

Here I am after graduating and receiving my diploma.

So I posted this on Altarholics.com...

but I'll adjust it a little so it seems like I'm writing it on here and I realized that it's "Psi Chi," with the Greek Psi and not "Psy" as in "psychology."

Ylissa, wanted to have a special ceremony to give all of her friends a gift the day before graduation (yesterday, Saturday). I didn't think much of it, but when we all gathered in my room, she had this special box, which reminded me of the box in Altar Boyz.

She said she wanted to give us all something to tell us how much she valued our friendship. Ylissa, Marisol, Anita, and I have all seen Altar Boyz multiple times before; my friend Molly hadn't. However, I couldn't hold back from quoting Matthew by saying, "You wanted to give us a little sumtin' sumtin' from you to us?"

Anyway, she made us promise that we would keep our gift and not give it back to her. This made me wonder, what could the gift be if she had a feeling we wouldn't accept it.

I was first. She took out her "I Got Crunk" button! I was almost in tears. She and I, out of all the other people in the room, both love Altar Boyz soooooo much and for her to give up her "I Got Crunk" button was so special! I was about to cry. She said that she knew that I would be one of the few people who would appreciate the button. And then she also gave me a pin that she got when she used to be Catholic (she's Protestant now). She said that she knew that "Epiphany" was my favorite song and that I felt a little sad that I wasn't Catholic to really sing it and mean it so she gave me her Catholic pin. It's small and gold and says "St. Paul the Apostle" on it, with a cross and sun rays. I thought that was so thoughtful of her. She told me that I didn't have to wear the "I Got Crunk" button for graduation, but the smaller Catholic pin wouldn't be too weird. LOL

Anita received her Psi Chi pin; it's a pin for a very exclusive psychology club. Ylissa would have worn it for graduation, but she wanted Anita to have it and wear it for graduation because she met Anita through their psychology classes.

Molly received an honor rope Ylissa received in high school for her graduation. Ylissa received it because she had a 3.5 GPA or higher. It's a yellow rope that goes around your neck to go over your graduation gown. She gave it to Molly because she felt special when she received it in high school and now she wanted Molly to feel special too. It was an rope for honor students and "it is an honor to be your friend," she said to Molly. She wanted Molly to wear it tomorrow for graduation. That was so sweet!

Marisol got a gift that made us all cry. If you are an Asian-American student and go to the CAPAS (Center for Asian and Pacific American Students) dinner, you receive a CAPAS stole to wear for graduation. I got one; Ylissa got one; and Anita got one. Marisol is half Korean and half Mexican. She received a CLSA (Chicano Latino Student Association) stole, but was unable to attend the CAPAS dinner to receive the CAPAS stole and maybe she felt hesitant as well for other reasons. Ylissa gave her CAPAS stole up, which she would have worn for graduation, and gave it to Marisol as a gift. She wanted Marisol wear it to honor her Asian side during graduation and knew that Marisol's Korean mother would be proud of her (Marisol's mother passed away when she was younger). She wanted Marisol to embrace both sides of her culture and giving her the stole would help her honor her mother as well. Marisol and Ylissa started crying and then we all started crying.

Each of these gifts all meant a lot to Ylissa and for her to give them up and give them to us was so special. We all hugged each other. It's going to be sad tomorrow. I know we'll all see each other again, but it won't be the same as living on campus, being in the dorms, and eating together in the dining halls!

I GRADUATED

Pictures are coming soon...

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY

I'm graduating tomorrow! :)

I got an A for my thesis, an A in Language in the Field, and an A- in History of Anthropological Theory. I'm glad I got an A-. That class was way intense, but I knew my stuff. After knowing my advisor for 4 years and the other anthro prof for 2, I know how they think and what they expect.

Getting ready for graduation

So I've been getting ready for graduation. I want to look nice so I bought products to put on my face, apparel for my body, coverings for my legs and feet, and had some hair chopping and eyebrow shaping. I spent like $130 on Clinique products alone... and almost half of that, $60, were on 2 makeup brushes. What the hell?!

Can't believe it's over

I still can't believe that school's over. 4 years just went by. It does feel like four years though. I'm really going to miss this place. I've been waiting for this moment for the longest time, especially when I've been stressed out with school work. However, I know that I'll realize that school is a piece of cake compared to life and trying to find a job and trying to get by on my own.

I've been listening to Avenue Q lately, like just an hour ago while I was in my car, "I Wish I Could Go Back to College" came on. And just last Friday before I went to the anthropology lunch, a fellow anthro senior/classmate/peer of mine told me that she was going to Vegas, but she was sad because she wanted to see a musical that had left there. The first thought that came to mind was, "OMG, could it be Avenue Q?" And it was! It was funny because an hour before we met up for the lunch, I was thinking of the song "What Do You Do With a BA in English?" from Avenue Q. Anyway, I told her not to fret because the show is touring, but she said she wanted to see the original cast... well, you can't have EVERYTHING in life.

Anyway, when "I Wish I Could Go Back to College" came on in the car, I wondered, "How long will it take before that song actually means something to me?"

KATE MONSTER:
I wish I could go back to college.
Life was so simple back then.

NICKY:
What would I give to go back and live in a dorm with a meal plan again!

PRINCETON:
I wish I could go back to college.
In college you know who you are.
You sit in the quad, and think, "Oh my God!
I am totally gonna go far!"

I've been listening to that song ever since I've been in college and it's always been funny because I was living in the moment so I was like, "I don't know if I will really miss all of this stuff when I'm gone." In any case, I took advantage of my meal plans. I took lots of pictures. I never stayed up around 4 AM in the computer lab though. But yeah, I'm sure in a few years, that song will actually mean something to me... and I can actually say "I wish I could go back to college" and really mean it.

I'm FINALLY done with school!

Yay, so I'm done with undergraduate schooling! Woooo!!!! No more school (for now).

I took my oral exam today and it was alright. Some easy questions, some hard questions. You know how they are. It was funny because before moving onto the next topic of questions (we were doing one section at a time), the easy-going professor mentioned that in one of our study guides, she laughed at one of my answers. The question was to pick a passage where we think Karl Marx was trying to be funny and explain why he was trying to be funny and whether we genuinely thought it was funny. I picked a passage where he was talking about "the Lamb of God." I had just seen the touring cast of Altar Boyz three times so I was laughing because it reminded me of Altar Boyz ("Some people think we're really kind of odd when we sing about how we love the Lamb of God"), but of course, I had to give a serious answer as to why Karl Marx was trying to be funny; he was making fun of religion.
"You know what I thought was funny in Cheryl's study guide about Marx? For the funny passage, Cheryl picked a passage that no one else picked and I thought that THAT was funny and it made me laugh," Professor M said, she was laughing while saying this.
"Remind me what passage it was," Professor S. said.
"The Lamb of God one," I said.
"Oh yes, you see, most kids pick the dirty jokes or the obvious Marx jokes, but he DOES tell a lot of religious jokes, but most people don't pick up on it," Professor S. said while he was laughing too.
And then I went into my explanation about the show to them again and they thought it was hilarious.
Wee... and I'm going to see MTW Altar Boyz for a 3rd time later today too... how ironic...

Anyway, for those interested in the question and my answer:
"Find and quote any passage in the assigned reading in which you think Karl (not Groucho!) Marx was at least trying to be funny. Explain the joke you have identified and tell us whether you were or were not genuinely amused by it and why."

“As a use-value, the linen is something palpably different from the coat; as value, it is identical with the coat, and therefore looks like the coat. Thus the linen acquires a value-form different from its natural form. Its existence as value is manifested in its equality with the coat, just as the sheep-like nature of the Christian is shown in his resemblance to the Lamb of God” (Marx, 1867:143).

After seeing Altar Boyz, a hilarious off-Broadway musical about a Catholic boy band (whose members include Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan, and Abraham [he’s Jewish]), three times in the past month, anything related to Christianity amuses me. Having recently learned what “Lamb of God” meant because of the musical (Abraham sings, “Some people think we’re really kind of odd / when we sing about how we love the Lamb of God.”), it was satisfying to know that I understood the Christian reference.
The more I analyzed the passage with my roommate (a devout Christian), the more amusing it became. First off, Marx is anti-religious so for him to cite Christianity seems like he is poking fun at it. Second, the analogy itself is amusing in that he is equating linen to Christians and the coat to the Lamb of God, Jesus.
This is how I interpreted it, with the help of my roommate since I am not Christian: Marx states that the linen has no value unless it is equated to some other commodity, the coat. The linen has value because of its relationship to the coat. Without the coat, the linen’s existence as a value is not manifested. If there is no such thing as a coat or if a coat is not equated or related to the linen in some way, then the linen has no value. Similarly, Christians have value or meaning because of their relationship with Jesus. If there is no such thing as Jesus, they have no value or purpose in life. As my roommate analogized with sincerity, “If there is no such thing as a coat, then there’s no purpose for the linen to exist and there’s no meaning in its life.”

On that note, watch this video because it's the best thing ever!
The Calling Music Video

OMG I'm almost done

I finally got my thesis bounded and turned into my linguistics advisor. She said she loved my title. I'm getting my own copy of the thesis bounded as well... but I wanted mine to be hard bounded. My advisor said she didn't care so I got it done at our duplicating place so that I could give it to her by today, which only has spiral binding. To get hard binding, I had to go to the library and they're kind of slow/busy there... so I left my copy of the thesis there for them to bind. And I'm still waiting for it.... I dropped it off around 4:45 or so and now it's almost 7:00. They better not mess up... but at least it's like my own copy and no one else's.

I still have an oral exam tomorrow morning. The times for the oral exams on Wednesday did not work for me (some were early in the morning and I knew I'd be tired from working on other stuff [thesis, linguistic report, etc] and the later times were during one of my linguistics class.)

So I chose Friday at 10:00 AM as opposed to the 11:00 AM. I don't think it will be that long. They said an hour and my classmate is coming in at 11:00 to take his oral exam right after... but the thing is... there's an anthropology lunch and we were told to meet at 11:50... so that should mean it shouldn't take that long, right? Or only his oral exam will be shorter and mine will still be an hour? :(

The oral exam is for History of Anthropological Theory. Sounds scary, doesn't it? There's two professors. One of them is my anthropology advisor and the other is another anthro prof that I have had before in a previous class. My anthropology advisor is a picky hardass and the other is easy going. It's a nice balance. My advisor is pretty intimidating and scary. When I tell people that I have an oral exam and they ask who is giving it and I tell them it's with HIM, they always roll their eyes. It's like this mutual understanding of, "Oh god. I feel for you." Like even the duplicating lady gave me that look today while I was getting my thesis bounded. She asked if I was done and I said that I had one more thing, the oral exam. And when I mentioned his name, she gave this look and I asked if she knew him and she said, "Yes" and there was that "mutual understanding" again. When I went to turn in my thesis to my linguistics advisor, she also asked if I felt good that this was done and over with. I said no because I still have one more thing, the oral exam tomorrow morning. And she asked with who and I mentioned my anthro advisor and the other prof woman. She rolled her eyes and her head when I mentioned his name. "Sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to roll my eyes at you. It's just... you are fine. You're a wonderful student. Don't let him get to you. He really likes to challenge people and push people. So don't get discourage. I'm sure he knows you know your material. Don't worry about it!" But I told her it was ok and that everyone rolls their eyes when I mention his name. Hah! I remember one professor who said that he didn't know my anthro advisor too well, but he sees him at faculty meetings and all he knows about my advisor is that he uses big words and seems arrogant. That made me laugh... it feels good knowing that I'm not the only one who is sometimes scared of him; even other professors are scared of him.

I'm not THAT scared of him. He IS my advisor and I go to him for advice a lot (well I used to when I was a confused underclassman and didn't know what to double major in with anthropology, but then I decided to go with linguistics). He's a funny man, but in an academic and scholarly way.

But anyway, enough about him and that stupid oral exam. I'm almost there. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope I live through it!