This one is for Nano. Hi Nano!

Hello internet, would you like some updates on my life? Because I really really want to tell you about my life, but I seem to have forgotten how to blog, so this will be disjointed at best and trail off Mary Kate style at worst. That only makes sense to me and Lauren because we spent all night watching this. Anyway, here's what's been happening to me for the last few months in chronological order:

FIRST: I was in graduate school, and I complained about it endlessly to anyone who would listen. I've almost certainly complained about it to you personally. In fact, I'm hard pressed to find even one positive mention of school on this blog at all! So good attitude all around. I remember about a month before I graduated I was thinking about all the work I still had ahead of me and I sighed and said longingly to no one in particular: "Ugh, I can't wait until school is over." My mom sighed in a similar fashion and said: "Yeah. Neither can we."

I started feeling significantly better once my comprehensive exams were over, and all I had to do was finish my last two classes and my internship hours.

SECOND: Speaking of internships! I loved mine. I started at a high school near my house in January, and I was really nervous, because of all the levels in K-12, I wanted to work in a high school the least. I much prefer middle school. Which I know, is an odd thing, since most people hate middle schoolers, but what can I say, it works for me. The good news is that high schoolers turned out to be kind of awesome, as did ALL the counselors I worked with. This was very encouraging to me, because as I may have mentioned once or twice, I didn't always love school, and was beginning to get concerned I had chosen the wrong profession. But working with students and the other counselors was an amazingly positive experience, and I can't wait to do it as my career. I hear they even pay you money sometimes? It's all very exciting.

THIRD: I finished said internship about two weeks before my school quarter was over...which meant I was free to take a five day trip to Catalina! Here is a picture of me and Lauren on the boat.

And here is a picture of Lauren and Rebecca.

Annnnd that's it. Those are the only pictures I took on my fabulous Catalina vacation. Ok, fine. I took three more pictures, but they are individual shots of the three of us reading. In the house. Because we're just that cool. It was such an awesome vacation. We'd wake up, lazily wander one by one down to the beach, read for several hours. Lazily wander back to the house, make a sandwich, go back to the beach, read for a few more hours, go back home, read some more, eat some more, watch White Christmas. And that right there folks, is my ideal day.

FOURTH: After Catalina, I came home to three papers and two finals, but I can't even muster the bitterness to complain about them a little. It did seem awfully hard to make myself sit down and write them, but not so much that I actually felt bad. The last day of class we had to attend we had a potluck with our whole cohort and our advisors. It was really cool to sit with everyone and think how we had all made it, all 19 of us. The next day I had one more paper and a take home final that I had to email in to my professor. I finished my graduate education sitting in a Coffebean, eating a chocolate croissant and chatting on facebook. It was kind of beautiful. I came home, and I'm pretty sure that was the day I found out I passed the comps, it might have been the day before though, it all kind of blends together. Sufficed to say, I was delighted. I texted everyone I ever met and told them it was over, I had PASSED! Woo! I'm excited even now!!! I collapsed on the couch at home, and had this exchange with Marianne:

ME: I'm soooooo relieved! It's all finally over, nothing left to do!

MARI: That's so awesome. Now you can finally take that beach vacation you've been talking about!

Heh.

FIFTH: I GRADUATED!!!!! Walking in the processional with my friends felt amazing. I was so proud of all of us, all the work we did, and that we did it together. That elation ended pretty quickly when I realized we were in for a three hour ceremony with like, eight speakers and almost three thousand students. But it was ok, we passed the time playing MASH in my commencement program. When it was our turn to walk across the podium they didn't even say our names (why are my graduations always so ghetto?), they just put our hoods on us, and sent us on our way. It was ok though, I texted my family so they would know to look at the jumbo screen. Pictures!!!

Processional

Master Hannah!

Me and the Parents

Me and Confucius

Me and various family members.

SIXTH/LAST: And that pretty much brings us to now. All I do with my days is read books and apply for jobs. Guess which one I prefer? I also keep going to the beach, and going to Disneyland, and hanging out with friends, and did I mention the books? That I keep reading? I MISSED READING! Because this is apparently my year for fabulous beach vacations, next Tuesday I leave for two weeks in Hawaii with a couple of my girlfriends from school...Ooooh I am loving this summer vacation! There are so many more things I feel like saying, but this post is already so long and boring, that I'll save them for future entries. Hey, it could happen!

PS: OMG I HAVEN'T TOLD YOU ABOUT MY KINDLE! Just wait. That post is coming tomorrow. Maybe.