I graduated last week — Thursday, May 10. It was one of the most boring experiences of my life. I don’t even remember half the ceremony. I may have fell asleep a few times. I happened not to sleep the night before. I was just so wired. But, when that old man (not sure who he was, it may have been multiple men) started talking, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Needless to say, I got this giant diploma that says something about having a degree from Auburn University.

Other than the really boring speech, I had another problem. Our graduation is not well-organized. The university is supposed to mail every student a card with their name on it that the student presents to a speaker before they get their diploma. The speaker reads the student’s name, the student walks across the stage, shakes hands with some old guy, and takes his or her diploma. Well, I didn’t get my card. No big deal. Our university website told us to let someone know if we didn’t get one on graduation day. I let someone know. They directed me to someone else. Then I was directed to someone else. That person told me to take a seat and someone would come around in 10 or 15 minutes to take care of all students with this problem. No one came.

As I sat through the ceremony, during my waking states, I was near freaking out. What do I do when I get on stage? Do I now whisper my name to the guy? If I do that, would the mic pick up my voice? Oh my God! Oh my God! Since I’m a fairly smart guy, I figured I’d just hand him my student ID, and let the speaker read from that. Problem solved. Though I shouldn’t have had that much anxiety on graduation day.

What I have I been doing for the last week or so? After getting all of my company out of the house last weekend (I had people over from Wednesday through Saturday), I decided I needed a week’s vacation. I must note that a week’s vacation for me, since I don’t have much money, means staying at home and being lazy. This works well for me.

I’ve made it through seasons one and two of Stargate SG-1, a few movies I’ve seen countless times, and now I’ve started watching Battlestar Galactica again. I’ve got to get some new stuff.

I have been educating myself though. Reading books. Keeping my mind sharp. I finished reading The God Delusion, which I wrote a review of. Interesting book. I’ve since read I Robot, Running With Scissors, and Pledged. I read the firt book of The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and four pages of Einstein’s Relativity (too heavy for me to read right now).

I’ve decided to finally get on the Harry Potter bandwagon and read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which is the second book of the series. I figured I might try to catch up before the final book is released. I’ve been on a four-year hiatus since the first book. And to think I run Books In Bed.

What’s on the agenda from here on out? Next week I have to see about getting some kind of employment that doesn’t involve burgers and fries. Review all the books I’ve read. Continue building this website and Books In Bed. Maybe have a little fun. Live life.

I honestly don’t know what’s next, but I’m kind of looking forward to it. I finally feel at peace with the thought of something different, and I think that’s the point I needed to get to. This doesn’t mean I’m not scared to death about what’s coming. I’m just oddly ready because I don’t have to know what to expect, just know to be expecting something.