Scrumptious Word Morsels

Two days ago, as I walked out of my last class ever after taking my last final ever, I did a celebratory dance around the halls of McClelland before I strutted out the doors for the final time. After five years of papers, presentations, group projects, and homework assignments, it was finally over. College was over.

In the midst of my ecstasy, a thought hit me: was it worth it? Was it worth the studying and hard work? Was it worth the investment of time and money? Was my time in college time well spent? I think the answer is yes and no.

Sure, it’s not a bad thing to have a college degree, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a requirement for the kind of work I do. I know plenty of talented programmers and developers who never went to college, and I can back that up with firsthand experience: about 95% of the skills I use in my job are either self-taught or things I learned while working there. This only really applies to computer and IT jobs, though. If I ever needed brain surgery, I know I’d want my surgeon to have more training than reading “Brain Surgery for Dummies” and Wikipedia.

Just like when I left my last job, the most important thing I can take away from college is the relationships. I met a lot of great people and made a lot of friendships that will probably stay with me for my entire life. When I look back in ten years, I’m pretty sure I won’t remember anything I learned in Organizational Behavior or Operations Management, but I will remember all the people I hung out with until deep into the night on many occasions.

Finally, I think the biggest change for me will be the lack of nightly homework. I’m going to come home from work, make dinner, and then what? Free time in the evenings is going to be weird at first, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it quickly. I can see myself buying a nice recliner and falling asleep around nine o’clock every night after reading a book for an hour. Or maybe I’ll get a satellite dish and subscribe to four or five soccer channels for endless hours of entertainment.

Or maybe I’ll sign up for night classes at Pima to pick up some new languages. At the rate of one language every two years (assuming fourth-semester proficiency is the desired outcome), I could possibly be speaking seven languages by 2018.

I just wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a merry Christmas. I refuse to say “happy holidays” or “season’s greetings”, because, according to my secular calendar, today is still known as Christmas. On the other hand, if you celebrated Hanukkah earlier this month, happy Hanukkah/Chanukah/Hannukah/et al. If you be celebratin’ Kwanzaa tomorrow, have a trippin’ Kwanzaa fo’ shizzle.

I’ll leave you with this awesome light show set to “Wizards in Winter” by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

After about nine hours in the car, I arrived in lovely Malibu, California last night around 11. The weather here is unbeatable: mid-70s and a nice ocean breeze make for generally enjoyable nights and days. Oh, and Alix was surprised to see me, but I don’t think my presence is unwanted.

Well, good! I almost went an entire month without a new entry. It would be nearly impossible to sum up everything that’s happened in the last 30 days or so, but I think I’ll give it a shot anyway. I now present you with a bulleted list for your reading enjoyment.

• Alix came home for a few weeks, and we spent Christmas, New Year’s, her birthday, and pretty much every day together. It was lovely. We also went to the dullest office Christmas party in the history of the universe, and on the 10th of this month, we celebrated six months together.
• I got to see lots of high school friends, including the Gillan crew, Kari, Carissa, Andrew, the Watters, and countless others who will surely be offended because I haven’t listed their names.
• I visited with two sets of friends who are getting married this summer. Congrats to Emily and Garret and also to Kelly and Greg!
• I bought plane tickets to Italy for the week of spring break. To say that I’m excited would be the most heinous understatement of the century. Tentatively, we’re gonna hit up Florence, Venice, and perhaps Pisa or Lucca.
• I worked nearly 60 hours this past week, but thanks to school starting, that’s about to change. As of Tuesday, I’ll be working nearly 60 hours a week and going to school full-time.
• A few of us are taking a dance class this semester on Saturday nights. After 16 weeks, I’ll be able to do Latin and ballroom dancing with the best of the best.
• Mute Math is coming to town on the 26th. You can bet your bottom dollar that Alex and I will be there. Heck, I’m even going to buy a CD.

Again, I apologize for anything or anyone I’ve left out of this little summary. My head hurts from regurgitating all that information, so I hope you’re happy!

Edit: Carissa whomped the crap out of me in Boggle. I didn’t even put up a respectable fight. I have a good excuse, though! I was preoccupied with Alix being sick, and thinking about her took precedence over making words out of square tiles.