College is Over
Final Meeting Food IV
Originally uploaded by Peter Gray. This week has blown by. The first few days crawled as the dust settled and I found myself with little to do. I soon found new things to do, which mainly included catering my final meeting. So I poured all my energy that once was put into my Division III into planning and facilitating making the final meeting food the best that I could. You can see on the left that it turned out quite nicely.
My committee seemed really pleased with my work and waxed lyrically about it and me. In the course of the meeting's two and a half hours, I'd like to think I got much better at taking compliments than I was before. I wish I had recorded what they had said as it made up for all the frustration, anger, and insecurity I felt throughout this project and made me feel honestly really proud of the work that I have done this year. Afterwards, I ran flustered to my own bell-ringing that I was late for and staved off numerous phone calls from the people who were waiting and wondering where I was. About twenty-five people turned up for my bell-ringing and cheered as I jogged my out-of-shape self carrying all the left over food over to the bell and gave it a rang (or two, or three, or five).
After demanding hugs from all in attendance I thanked people for coming as they all went their different ways. I honestly hadn't expected so many people, many of whom I didn't even think would come or even expected to come. It was another reminder of all the friends at Hampshire that I had, but never really realized. Sobering in some ways, as I realized how many people cared about me that I honestly hadn't realized.
I would very much like to write more about this week and perhaps sometime this weekend I will. Some really interesting, funny, and wonderful things happened - particularly about the rather eccentric fellow I met in Northampton. But for now the exhaustion from this week has taken me. For now, I will leave you with the rather odd sensation I've been feeling in the last two days. This feeling can best be described as constantly feeling like I'm ten minutes after an orgasm. Crude, perhaps but the best description I can come up with for the happy, contented, oddly complacent, and totally exhausted sensation I'm feeling. I haven't felt so alive in a very long time.