Graduation Day!!! Part I

Today, Sidney graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a minor in Psychology.

Andrew graduated with a degree in Mathematics.

I did not graduate.

Yet.

But let's get back to more important matters. After 4 years of college, Sidney finally got through it and became an alumni of the University of Kansas. Along the way, she went from Biology to Math, and then fortunately back to Biology again. I mean, who would ever want to major in math?? Anyway, at one point in the past 4 years she also ran into some random guy at Mrs. E's that turned out to be something kinda special. And now she's moving on with her life. This chapter is done and in the books, forever relegated to memory. Hopefully there are plenty of good ones to go along with those inevitably increased stress and lack of sleep. No more will she be a slave to Blackboard and its occasionally evil grade updates. No more will she worry about finding a parking space in a lot with twice as many cars as there are parking spots.

And no longer will I have someone to sit with in the library. And no longer will have I have anyone to hug before class.

But these past four years, with all of their ups and all of their downs, have culminated in this one moment - this moment of moving onward and upward.

I cannot express how proud I am of Sidney, even though I had literally nothing to do with her success. Sure, I edited a paper here and there, but no, it was really all her. She did it. And while it's not even that big of a deal to her, it's a big deal to me, and I have more than enough happiness and excitement for the both of us.

Finally, it was time to wear the cap and gown.

And then it came time to walk through the Campanile. This is the moment that really, in my mind, definitively marks the graduation from KU. Walking through the Campanile, followed by the walk down the hill, is hugely symbolic in that way. It's something I can't wait to do, but in the meantime I'll live vicariously through Sidney.

And for Andrew, it's been an even longer road. He began college in Vermont, but after finding out that there were fly bros in Kansas, he transferred to KU. It was my sophomore year when I first met him. He was straight outta tha Bronx. He didn't know what a griddle was, he was unaware of the greatness that is ranch dressing, and he pronounced our local grocery store as "Pillows" (it's actually Dillons).

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5d/Dillons_grocery.png

I can't say I blame him, but this comes from the same bro who thought "Swiffers" were "Swifters." Having ventured out from the sheltered life he had harbored for so long, I, along with my roommate Jed, eventually trained him well. When we first met him, Andrew only knew lifting. Jed and I eventually got him back into an ice cream habit when we introduced him to Sylas and Maddy's. It was history from there. I shared an apartment with Andrew the next year, and we worked together at Mrs. E's for over a year. His undergraduate toils are now over as well, but he'll be starting a Masters program in Math this fall. Good luck to him, but that sounds awful.

An easily-overlooked aspect of the day that enabled it to be so pleasant was the weather. It was absolutely perfect. It was sunny, it wasn't too cold, and it wasn't too hot. It really was the ideal day for a commencement ceremony.

That being said, instead of walking into the stadium and sitting around for more than two hours, Sidney decided that her time would be better spent with family and friends. I couldn't agree more, so right after she walked down the hill, we all went to Johnny's for a celebratory after-graduation lunch. So finally, here's where food comes into this equation. I had been subsisting on a single fiber brotein bar all day (like 3.5 hours, maybe).

But once at Johnny's, we ordered some appetizers.

There was spinach artichoke dip.

And there were loaded nachos.

And while waiting for the main course to arrive, I even went so far as to take one of the many leftover hint-of-pickle tortilla chips and pour Parmesan cheese on it.

That was a little weird. Though not horrible at all, it's not really worth the effort. But it didn't matter, because the rest of the food was starting to arrive. As it usually happens when I'm at a restaurant with more than a couple other people, my food was brought out last. So, to pass the time, I thieved a fry from my mom and dipped it in the mayonnaise that was originally meant for her tenderloin.

It turned out that this was all the time I needed to pass the time until my food arrived, because it arrived just after me finishing this fry.

I got buffalo chicken strips with fries and ranch dressing to generously dunk everything in.

And yes, I asked for more ranch. But in the meantime, and having deemed mayonnaise a wonderful dipping "sauce", I dipped one of my buffalo strips in the now leftover mayonnaise that my mom was not using.

And actually, I suppose this is only a natural regression, for ranch is simply mayonnaise with a little milk and spices thrown in. At any rate, I really enjoyed the mayonnaise on the fries and on the chicken. But I'll still probably order ranch in the future, because ranch.

After we had all finished eating, we made the jaunt back to Sidney's house for some post-after-graduation festivities. This, of course, means dessert.

And what desserts were in store for such an occasion? Why, cake and ice cream, of course! Having recently discovered the wonderfulness that is WheatFields's chocolate mousse-esque cake, another iteration of said cake was on hand today.

It pretty much consisted of chocolate on top of chocolate covered with chocolate with chocolate on top and more chocolate on the sides. One thing it was lacking, though, was more chocolate!

To complement this chocolate, I thought I'd get some chocolate ice cream to go with it. But, at the very last second, I switched my preference to vanilla. I wanted to be a little different today, and for some reason I was in the mood for that classic chocolate and vanilla combination.

During and after this chocolate eating fest, Sidney had a single solitary mixed beverage. A-ba-dee-badee-badee-badee-ba-dee, that's all folks! Sidney was out like a halogen light bulb that had just been touched by overly oily hands. Poof!!

She had a relatively decent nap on the couch. At some point later in the day, she was somehow coaxed into consciousness. At this point, I unbelievably managed to convince her that more ice cream was needed! But not just any ice cream. Oh yes, Sylas and Maddy's here I come (again)! I used the sentimental pitch of her ordering the "Graduation Day" flavor on her actual graduation day. Unfortunately, Sidney isn't sentimental and she doesn't really put that much stock in graduation. Luckily for me, she still agreed to go, with the condition that she order her favorite flavor - DaBomb. Of course I agreed to this, so we were off!

When we got there, it wasn't really as busy as a first expected it to be. Sidney immediately ordered her ice cream, while I contemplated what I wanted. See, I had just been here but 2 days prior, and I didn't want to get the same thing. And for a while now, I've been wanting to try the Turtle Sundae, but I had my reservations. I know their ice cream is simply the best, but I didn't want to mask the flavor with a bunch of toppings. I went back and forth for a while, much to the chagrin of the patient employees. Eventually, Sidney convinced me to get the sundae. Her argument? It's Sunday, so get the sundae.

And since that logic is literally impervious to critique, the Turtle Sundae was mine. The guy making it accidentally put peanuts in it, and then offered to remake it. I vehemently declined, with the condition that they still add the pecans. The way I look at, even though pecans are far superior to peanuts in my opinion, extras like unexpected peanuts are simply more flavor and more gains! I ended up with a special Turtle Sundae with peanuts.

For the base ice cream, I got DaBomb. It was then covered in chocolate syrup and caramel, followed by peanuts, pecans, whipped cream, and a cherry on top (which I gladly gave to Sidney).

Overall, it was a very good day. It was even a better day than I had hoped for or expected.

I just want to say again how happy I am for Sidney, especially since she has a really good job lined up this summer. Some people at Mrs. E's would take great joy in knowing that she's got a job lined up, but none more than me!

Also, good luck in grad school, Andrew! I still think that you should try and test out of a Masters and Ph.D and just go straight into your tenure as Brofessor of BroScience.

Stay tuned for Graduation Day!!! Part II, coming later this year...(fingers crossed).