Degrees

Some things just won't die.  My thesis may be one of them.  Sunshine for days and days, but this morning had a decidedly monsoon-ish cast.  Bright and early (okay, overcast and not-so-early), I stopped at school to print my thesis at the department.  Parking lot to department journey = lucky I wasn't swept away in the rivers they call sidewalks.  I wore flats and jeans and whined out loud to myself the whole time as I got wetter and wetter.  By the time I made it to my department, I'd accepted the wet and cold.  At least my thesis paper was dry.  And then the beautiful wonderful department secretary told me the copier was down.  I didn't even flinch.  With all the setbacks, having the thesis printed and turned into the binding people all in one morning had seemed an impossible feat anyway.  The beautiful wonderful department secretary told me to leave everything with her, and when the copier was fixed, she'd make my 4 copies and hand them into the binding people.  I showered her with thanks: literal, figurative, and wordy.  She emailed me a couple hours later - it's done.  It's done. It's really done. Well, except for the fact that I'm converting it into a scientific article to publish.  But this means I'm going to have a second master's.  In the words of Kanye:

You keep it going man, you keep those books rolling,

You pick up those books, you're going to read

And not remember, and you roll man.

You get that associates degree, okay,

Then you get your bachelors, then you get your master's

Then you get your master's master's,

Then you get your doctorate,

You go man, then when everybody says quit

You show them those degrees man, when 

Everybody says hey, you're not working,

You're not making any money,

You say look at my degrees and you look at my life,

Yeah I'm 52, so what, hate all you want,

But I'm smart, I'm so smart, and I'm in school,

And these guys are out here making

Money all these ways, and I'm spending mine to be smart.

You know why?

Because when I die, buddy, you know

What's gonna keep me warm?

That's right, those degrees.

This is the only Kanye West song I really like.  My siblings quote it to me whenever I graduate from something or mention anything about school or do something that implies I have too much book learning (ex. fail to know the latest slang, calculate the price of a 40% off flower print blouse).

In other news, my one and only actual male friend (he's gay), now dubbed AMF, is coming into town this weekend.  AMF's also friends with Bud, but we've known each other a whole year longer.  So AMF loves me better.  Not that it's a contest or anything.  Scoff. Scoff.  Despite what I write and how I obsess, I really don't dislike Bud. I'm just not very adult about this.  Be mature, self.  Be mature.  I know it's better this way.