i have so much to talk about that i imagine i won’t be able to get through it all in one sitting. at the moment i’m waiting to leave for my sister’s high school graduation so i think i will only have time for a few random items.

this last week was beyond crazy. let’s start with graduation …

graduation was amazing. the ceremony on friday was incredibly boring and exhausting but the main commencement ceremony on saturday made it all worthwhile. it was nice to just relax and take it all in while realizing that i was finally done with college and no longer had to worry about homework or papers or final exams. what a relief.

it was my last week in austin so i spent a great deal of the week saying good-byes and what not. originally i was supposed to spend the week packing and cleaning the apartment ready so i’d be ready to go by saturday at the latest. well that just didn’t work out like i had planned. so wednesday evening i went out and had my [or what i thought] my last meal at trudy’s. i had two mexican martinis and by the time i got home i wasn’t motivated to do that much. i just ended up falling asleep. on thursday i had a horrible attack of allergies, or at least what i thought was allergies at that time. i ended up having to take a bunch of medicine and didn’t get much done but sleep.

friday was the big 22. i have to say that it was hands down one of my best birthday’s ever. i seriously had such a great day. it was also my last day of work in the austin office so it was a good combo. my team at work made me my favorite kind of cupcakes (strawberry with cream cheese icing). they were freaking amazing. those were seriously enough to make the day great. since it was the last day before the holiday weekend we got to leave work early which also was quite nice.

i had dinner with a bunch of friends [tom, michelle, joe, javi, dustin, doug, eric]. had such a great evening. after dinner we went out for “a bit”. we were out until nearly 2 in the morning. i had A LOT to drink but was surprisingly sober. the whole evening definitley made it a great birthday.

to be continued … [have to go to sister's graduation]

i just realized that i haven’t used a credit card all month. having a real job is so nice.

i’m so far behind on the packing it’s not funny. it will be a busy weekend. i really just want to get to chicago already. that’s what i’m most excited about at the moment.

in other news … so it’s finally here. graduation weekend.

today is the college of communication commencement and then tomorrow evening is the main graduation ceremony. yipee! it’s still a bit hard to believe that it’s finally here. what a long four years. hooray!

in an attempt to simply my move i decided to get rid of some of the stuff i really don’t need. of course the first to go is all the class notes and junk mail that i have in random boxes. i’ve gone through maybe one or two file boxes and i have a HUGE pile of paper that needs to be recycled. it’s seriously out of control. it’s like credit card offers exploded everywhere. see for yourself:

a giant pile of recycling

less than two weeks worth of credit card offers

crazy huh? and i’ve barely scratched the surface. i figure i can get rid a lot of my crap and then that will make the move much easier. i still have so much to go through.

so i’m taking a bit of heat over my choice of desk lamp at work:

okay i need some sleep. gnight.

on a sidenote …

how amazing was the finale of grey’s anatomy? i cried like i haven’t cried in ages. seriously, wow. that was one amazing season. i can’t wait until it’s on dvd (9/12/06). that’s what i need to start collecting … tv shows on dvd.

seriously though, one shock after another. the only thing that scares me is that it’s really setting the bar high. when you have such a good season and it’s only the second and the first season was only a mid-season pickup, it’s tough to continue the high quality. i’m looking forward to season three though.

time for sleep.

so i’ve officially got a place to live now. i’m renting a room up in north chicago and am incredibly excited. it will be nice to have roommates to hang out with and show me the city. the new roommates seem like awesome guys so it looks like this is going to be quite nice. the condo is incredibly nice. so spacious, such a quiet neighborhood, near the el, just a great choice. i’m just happy to have that all set. so now i just need to worry about getting ready to move. so much packing to still have to do. i really need to step it up a notch and try to get things done.

okay i have to go watch the season finale of grey’s anatomy. last night’s episode was insane. there’s no telling how great tonight’s episode will be. ooo that reminds me, in chicago i’m not going to have cable which i’m actually kind of looking forward to. i have a feeling that without tv i’ll actually be able to get on a normal sleeping schedule. plus several of the shows that i do watch i can download via itunes or watch online somehow. now only if they would put the rest of the shows i want online. and at the rate they’ve been sticking shows on dvd lately i won’t really fall behind too much, i think i might actually be able to handle it.

i’m going to get advantage of the situation and try to really catch up on my reading. this is the perfect opportunity to go crazy on the reading. between the train rides to and from work and the free time at home i should be able to go through a book or two each week. i think that might be my new thing, to see how many books i can read before the end of the year.

i’m finally getting excited about the whole graduation and move thing. most of the stress has finally passed. other than packing everything up and getting there i don’t have much left

okay i’m really going to go watch grey’s anatomy now.

so this is the homestretch.

i have to say that it feels a bit weird not having homework that needs to get done on the back of my head. this is going to be weird to adjust to.

chicago was wonderful. i can’t wait until i finally get to make the move.

i can’t freaking believe i graduate this week. incredibly hard to believe. wow it’s really here.

i have so much packing to do this week. i am going to have to work diligently these next few days in order to get everything ready to go.

okay i need to get some sleep. gnight.

i’m in chicago for the weekend. it’s beautiful.

in other EXCELLENT news. i scored the minimum 28 that i needed on the final exam for international advertising. i be graduating college next weekend what a freaking relief.

okay i’m going to read for a bit and then get to bed because i have to be up early to make it to north chicago early.

talk to you all when i get back. or when my plane gets delayed at o’hare and i have nothing better to do.

first and foremost: i’m freaking out about the exam tomorrow. i just don’t feel prepared. i went over the exam reviews but after doing that i read some sample exam questions from the first exam review and i was confused on two of them (there were only 5). i NEED a 70 at the very least. that means i need to get AT LEAST 28 of the 40 questions on the exam correct. the average for the past three exams has only been 2-4% above a 70 (exam 1 average: 73.4, exam 2 average: 74.3, exam 3 average: 72.4). that scares me. i have little room for error here. he said that 10 questions would come from previous exam questions that were missed by a large percent of the class. luckily he gave us those but he did warn us he would reformulate the questions. so out of those 10 say i miss 2 (theoretically since i have all the answers you would think i’d get all 10 but i’m using lower numbers to be on the safe side in planning this scenario). after missing those two out of 10 that still leaves me with 10 questions that i can get wrong and still get a satisfactory grade. so outside of those previous exam questions i need to get 2/3 of the remaining 30 questions correct. that’s 67% of those. that’s my average on my previous exams and i never did study for any of those exams. so i’m studying a great deal this time so my chances are decent, aren’t they? yeah, this is how my mind thinks. it’s just a garble of running numbers through my head.

okay … in other news …

i LOVE my new job. it’s been a rough week and i haven’t really gotten into the full swing of things but i’m getting there. i imagine things won’t start to feel normal until a week or two after i get to our chicago office. it’s been a bit slow trying to pick everything up but i can tell i’m going to love it. my team is awesome which makes it that much better.

i have more to say but i really need to get back to studying.

until later.

.ryan

this is an amazing article: Leaving the Wild, and Rather Liking the Change

in other news … i swear i’ll make a first day post, i’ve just been so busy.