Hey there everyone. My brother graduated from college over the weekend. Well, he walked in graduation over the weekend; technically he finished classes back in December, but his school gets so much snow in the winter they measure it in feet, and my grandparents weren't going to be able to make that trip. So instead of braving a frozen tundra, we went on a calm trip that was still a little nippy (there were mounds of snow, our hotel had a sign on the door that said "patio may be icy," and according to my brother there was still a fair amount of snow when he went back a week before to tie up some loose ends. Anyways, my brother, dad, and I took one car and my mom, grandpa, and grandma took another car. Mom left on Thursday and took 2 days to get there, whereas Dad, bro, and I took 1 day to get there.
Now for some stories. I took off the Friday because graduation was Saturday and we needed to travel all day Friday. The plan was I go to my parents house on Thursday, spend the night, and then we leave right from there house Friday morning at like 6AM. On Thursday afternoon, one of the project managers decided to hold a meeting 10 minutes before I was going to leave, and I was determined to get out of there. I came in, said "here's what you need to work on, I'm going on vacation now." He kept pressing the things I was saying his team needed to work on, and why I was bringing it up to him, and I responded "because that's what senior management wanted me to do, now I'm going to start my vacation." This went on for 40 minutes. Now, this manager and I have a good working relationship, and the kind of banter we were having is OK because of what we've been through, so it's not like I was causing any problems, but I did have a rocky start to this little trip. Once I finally got out of work, I packed up my stuff, and began my hour long drive to my parents house (because rush hour traffic). For dinner, "the men" had pizza from one of the local joints. I basically spent the night streaming playstation vue and trying to finish a project I started 2 years ago. I also cleaned off my video camera memory card, because I was going to film graduation and I don't want to run out of space (because that would be bad). I also wanted a drink after the day I had, but dad and bro don't like the same kind of alcohol I like (they like just beer, I like everything except beer), so I was really glad to find one of my Henry's Hard Soda's in their mini-fridge from the last time I visited.
OK, wake up at 5:45, load up my stuff into the jeep, eat my muffin, pack some drinks and snacks for the road, and get ready for a 10 hour car ride. I was finally going to watch some of my DVD box sets. I started out with Please Twins (which I reviewed and can be found here), an anime series I picked up at a thrift store on impulse (it was $3, and I like anime). Pretty funny series, even if it is a bit weird. After that I watched the first half of Futurama season 5. That was pretty much what we did for the drive. While we were driving, we stopped at a gas station, and it just so happened that we caught up with my mom and grandparents at that same gas station. What a coincidence. I also picked up some chips. I got dill pickle flavored chips and maple bacon flavored chips. The maple bacon flavored ones were REALLY good. I don't know how to describe them, except like the perfect blend of sweet and salty, with a hint of bacon. After 9.5 hours of driving, we reach my brother's college town, and we stop at his and dad's favorite bar. They each have a beer, and as someone that doesn't care for beer I had their house soda (a cherry root beer). Now, I'm not a big fan of root beer, but it was cool having a house brewed soda. After our drinks, we checked into our hotel and unpacked, and mom arrived at about the same time.
Now for trying to figure out dinner. At first we thought "order in pizza," but we couldn't really find a good place. Them my mom had the idea of "lets get these local meat pies," because grandpa and bro really like them, and everyone else likes them, except me. Luckily the place that makes them also makes deli sandwiches, so I had an Italian beef sandwich. I had my sandwich, and everyone else had their meat pie. Now, it's been a good 6 years since I last had one of the meat pies, so my brother wanted me to try it again; I did, and still didn't like it. This confused my grandpa; "what do you mean you don't like it, it's good stuff." Because I like my potatoes fried not baked, I don't like the other things they put in it like peas, and they don't put nearly enough meat in it for my liking. Oh, and here's a real hoot; when we went to get the food, I ran into one of my old college professors. This was really unlikely, because my old college and my brother's college are nowhere close to each other. He must have been there for graduation as well. I made some small talk, and pulled out my challenge coin I got for completing the program. That impressed him some. Then when we went to pick-up some house brew beer from dad and bro's favorite bar, we ran into some of his old professors. That was kind of fun.
Now the real festivities begin. Bro's program was holding a little reception at one of the dorm ball rooms the night before graduation. My grandparents wanted to go, but they have trouble walking, and the ball room was down a bunch of stairs. That was not good, because that meant they weren't able to go, because this was held in a location that was not ADA compliant. Apparently there was a freight elevator, but that went to an office that no one had the key to. We found this out after getting my grandparents in the car and driving there. Needless to say we were not happy, and Mom made it known. I suggested we sue, to get some of our tuition money back, but we didn't go through with it. So, I took a bunch of the cookies they were serving. Mom asked me "why am I taking so many cookies," and I said "they're for the pain and suffering; if we aren't going to sue, I'm going to take a lot of cookies." She didn't argue with that; no "that's childish, grow up, let it go," because they had it coming. It was a nice little reception. They showed all the graduates in a slideshow, and bro's picture had him with scraggly hair and unkempt beard. Since my grandpa couldn't be there, I played his complaints; "hey, that beard doesn't look good, you knew you were getting your picture taken, why didn't you clean up your beard, and why didn't you get a hair cut." Just yanking his chain.
Now for the big day. Bro goes there early because he's part of the event, and mom went early to make sure they got a good seat. Now, my brother was only able to get 4 main stadium tickets, but there were 5 of us. So, the parents and grandparents take the main stadium tickets, and I had to sit in overflow. Overflow, means I had to watch it in the basketball gym on a projector. It was the same live stream my other grandpa and aunt watched at her house. Anyways, I was still going to film the important parts (even if it was a low quality boot leg, lol). Now, seeing that this wasn't my first graduation, I knew I needed to bring something to keep me occupied. Yes, the speeches by the university president and guest speakers are generally good (unless it's a 2 hour speech on the peace corps, like my mom experienced at another graduation ceremony), but I don't care about the 400 other students getting their names read. So I brought Avatar The Search Part 1 and Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man, 2 books that have been sitting on my shelf for years. I also had my 3DS, but I take it everywhere so it's not like that's special. I also had my camera bag, and safety vest, and cargo shorts full of my normal random stuff, and my fedora. Now the trick to looking so conspicuous is to subtly act like you're official and should look that way. Seeing that I like to casually dress like this and have been for 8 years, I've learned how to do that, but I was fully prepared to get searched. The bag checker asked to see inside my camera bag, saying "just looking for bombs, flasks, weapons, drugs, and such." Well, it's a good thing I don't carry my pocket knife in my camera bag. I found a good seat in the center. I played my 3DS, and read the dedications that were being shown. One student thanked Monster Energy Drink, and that was funny.
Now for the great thing. About 10 minutes before the ceremony started, a lady came in and said "OK everyone, we have about 200 seats open behind the graduates, anyone interested?" Sure, I'll take a better seat. I go there and "set up camp." The grads were all in, and I took some video. Here's something good. While taking the zoom shots, one of the people in front of me kind of kept getting in the shot. I thought "hey old man, can you stop getting in the shot" (he had white hair). After about 45 minutes, I thought "the back of those people's heads looks familiar," and then I realized that was my family, like 5 rows in front of me. How about that? So my mom got there 3 hours early to make sure she got a good seat for my physically challenged grandparents, and I get essentially the same seat by chance 10 minutes before it starts. The speakers were good, and they did it in alphabetical order. Though, it was a little confusing since one announcer was reading the graduates from 1 department, and the other was reading the graduates from another department; but I eventually figured out the rhythm and was able to read my books while I waited for my brother to get called. Then when he got called, I continued reading my books. Part way through the ceremony my grandpa had to stand up and turned around some, and saw me; then everyone turned around and saw me.
Afterwards I met up with them and helped get them out of the stadium. I also brought up how much of a hoot it was that I was able to essentially sit with them. We got everyone out and in the hallway while we wait for my bro. When he shows up we go to the photo op area and take some pictures. We even get some with the mascot. There were also some refreshments. Mom and I each had a $100,000 cupcake. And after some time, we happened to get our picture with the university president, because he happened to walk through the hallway at the same time we were. Cool. We also took some pictures outside. Being an ammeter filmmaker, I played with perspective to make really good shots of the family. After those pictures, my brother and I went around to some more places around campus he wanted to get pictures of. Again, good thing I know some things about photography, because I was able to take some well composed shot (well, as good as one can take with what I had to work with).
After taking pictures, we stopped at his frat house. He said hi to his frat brothers, I introduced myself as "his biological brother," and I had a hot dog (because hadn't eaten anything since breakfast). They weren't the kind of frat boys I'm used to from my college days. The frat boys at my college were the typical "frat boys," whereas his frat brothers were more laid back. An hour later we had dinner at the hotel restaurant. There were also a lot of prom kids that started showing up as the dinner went on, because apparently it was prom weekend too. That took me back. The rest of the night was pretty laid back. My brother spent the night with his frat bros, and Mom just couldn't sleep because he was out.
Now it's Sunday, and we head back home. I finished Futurama season 5, and started Cowboy Bebop. We stopped at the same gas station that had the maple bacon chips, and I was going to buy many bags. Unfortunately, they were sold out. Something tells me I'm not the only one that really likes those chips. After 10 hours of driving, we arrive back at my parents house. We unloaded my dad and brother's stuff, I loaded up some stuff to take to my condo, and then I started the hour drive back to my place. It was a really good trip. Short, but good. This has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.
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