May 23: A Day Away

“Graduation is only a concept. In real life every day you graduate. Graduation is a process that goes on until the last day of your life. If you can grasp that, you’ll make a difference.”

~Arie Pencovici

I don’t know much about Pencovici (and apparently neither does Wikipedia), but if I had to guess, I would have said that he uttered these words at a commencement exercise. They’re just too perfect, to the point of being cliche. The only problem is, I don’t know if anyone knows who he is. But being that I don’t really know what to expect out of my commencement address tomorrow, I might just tell people that Arie’s fine words were the basis of the message. Works for me. By the way, Arie is an awesome name. I may consider it for my firstborn. It’s also the name of one of my favorite movie characters of all time (spelled differently).

Where was I?

To be honest, that quote has more or less summed up my outlook on graduation. I finished my resume tape today (cue fireworks), and even got the nod from my unofficial career adviser, Jenny Atwater (I honestly never thought she’d not find something wrong with it, she’s just that good). As we were walking out of the Media Center, I mentioned that I will truly feel like I have accomplished something when I land my first job. She urged me not to put that type of pressure on myself, but I’m hoping it will work in my favor eventually. Anyways, it’s not the exact definition of Pencovici’s quote, but I think in some ways it reflects what he is trying to say.

However, I think having a commencement ceremony at the end of every day could get a bit tedious. No?

I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.

44 down. 1 to go.

*Pictured: My mom cutting my hair. And that’s nothing new. She is the only person to have ever cut my hair. That’s not an exaggeration. No one has ever cut my hair who has not also given birth to me. She used to have people coming to our house all the time for trims, but in my 21+ years I have been her most loyal customer. I dread the day where I will actually have to pay for a haircut (I have a bad feeling it’s coming pretty soon). I figure getting one costs, lets say, 15 dollars (that may be way off, I don’t know, I’ve never had to worry about it). And if I get one cut every two-to-three months, that’s about five each year. So that’s 75 bucks. Multiply that by, lets say, 20 years. That’s $1,500. I tell people all the time that she is my full-time barber. I consider myself pretty fortunate.