Welcome to life after graduation.

No homework. No long term projects. No more waking up with text books and journal articles on my face and highlighter all over my bed.

I woke up today and cruised Facebook for a bit and started to come to grips with the reality that I am no longer a student. Finally, a year late, I'm officially done with school and a part of the "real world." While I have been working full-time for the past two years or so, I've been a student for the entire time as well. And now finally, I'm home on a weekend and just don't have anything school-related that is pressing to do. Undergrad was such a whirlwind of just being busy and grad school wasn't that much easier because I was working a lot more, but now I'm just a regular guy who works and comes home everyday.

I can't say that I have a ton of reading to do, nor papers to write. I don't have to rush back to campus for group meetings. And yes, my car is stolen, but suddenly it doesn't matter that my USC parking pass got stolen as well. And even though this is what I've wanted since the day the 2006-2007 school year started, there are definitely things that I'll miss about my disgruntled existence in grad school. It was so much fun to make class fun and to meet fun people to joke around with during class. I can't say that I didn't love being incredibly nonchalant in all of my classes, but yet still finding "academic success" through my grades. Inevitably, as the past year and even past few months have shown, you lose people along the way. You lose people in undergrad and there's no doubt that I'll be losing people from grad as well. Sometimes it's people you expect, sometimes it's the people you least expect.

I shed no tears, had no overwhelming sense of pride or joy as I walked across the stage two times to claim both my faux degrees (real degrees come in 4-6 weeks). It was just another motion to go through in life for me, which is perhaps sad and a little too mature for a day when people are supposed to be jumping for joy or out getting wasted before and after the ceremony. My joy came from just seeing people come out to celebrate with me after my graduation. From family, to my San Diego family, to friends who came in from other cities, states, and people who took time off work that normally really shouldn't, that was what mattered to me.

A part of me is really sad that I didn't graduate last year with my Freshman class. I missed not having that feeling of togetherness and celebration with tons of people that I knew on Friday, as the number of people that I knew from grad school was a fraction of the people I knew graduating in 2006 (not that the relationships I formed during graduate school aren't valuable, because they are, but there's something about the bond of having classes with people for four years that changes things). It would have meant more, despite the fact that I would have just had to do it again the year after. I wish I had walked with my class, but clearly that's an impossibility at this point.

To everyone who came out, thank you so much. I appreciate your presents and all the unexpected gifts! Many of you will technically be a part owner of my next car, as that's where all my money is going to lately.

So overall, graduated, but not changed.

This weekend was great. Busy, but great. Today, I'm cleansing my room of academia and doing some reading for fun, something I've been looking forward to doing since forever. Saw Blades of Glory last night, which definitely had its moments (I got distracted by Jenna Fischer for too much of the movie).

Distracting in a good way.

What am I going to do with all this newfound freedom? Hopefully I'll at least be able to start with a clean room.