creative riff

So spring is officially here. It greeted me this afternoon with a thick coat of pollen the color of mucus (no sniffles here yet). Also, the oak tree in my yard is spreading sap all over the place leading to sticky stepping stones out to the street.

Anyway, this evening I was hosing the worst of the weekend’s “seasons greetings” off of my car when I thought to myself, “Am I washing my car because it is still new (a 2006 Lexus but I acquired it one year ago this April) or will that wear off after some number of years?” What is that point in time when you look out to your old car and think it’s just too much effort to rid it of bird poo? I want to think it is at least five or six years out but I don’t have a clue since I have never owned a newish car for that long a period of time.

Just a random thought that crossed my mind as I was winding up the hose this evening.

So my diploma showed up in our mailbox, sealed in a white canister yesterday. The shipping was $1.90. I presume that shipping to the lower 48 is the same. Assuming the bulk of the class of 2009 is around 3,200 that puts the total for shipping those parchments at $6,100. It really is fascinating to take a closer look at the costs involved with sending one semester’s worth of graduates their diplomas (couldn’t they curb costs by giving it to us directly on the stage?).

Physically seeing the document has also stirred a few emotions within me. I am officially an alumni.  Am I okay with that? Sure, but can I keep some of my now-vintage Duke-Carolina t-shirts, pretty please? Another thing, I can now hang the accomplishment on a wall somewhere. Plus it actually looks a lot cooler than a trophy. Imagine what it would be like if you received a trophy upon completion of undergraduate study. What would a bachelor of the arts trophy look like? Would it involve a beer funnel and viking horns?

I apologize for the long gap between content. It isn’t that I am particuarly busy as I await my semester at VCU to start. Rather, I am finishing up some reading, Fallout 3 and watching a good deal of films I might not have time to see for many years. Crazy stuff. More soon.

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