And so it is with a long, lumbering step and a deep, scarring sigh that I move to take the next step - I am a graduate, and I feel fan-freaking-tastic!
Quite obviously, I have been busy for the last month or so with school, which has put blogging on the back-burner, and I may be on-and-off busy for the next month with post-school plans, but all-in-all, I hope to pick up blogging on Critically Correct a bit more often now that beautiful summer is here.
There's much to catch up on, so without further ado, a little catch-up on some highlights of this past week or so:
Graduation
Of course, this is the focal point of my life lately. Everything has been about graduation: the last month of school was a huge hype-machine ("you're almost there!"), May 3rd was nuts (walking across the stage with 5000 pairs of eyes on me was crazy), and the aftermath has been weird (crap, I need to get a job).
All in all, I'm now done with the first "part" of my life... or so it seems. The true feeling of being "done" with school hasn't sunk in quite yet. I know that I need to be a lot more responsible as a person now more than I did even two weeks ago, but I have yet to really have the feeling "proven" to me. I am certainly trying to be responsible, however. I'm overhauling every part of my life: all my computers have been formatted, I'm gutting my personal belongs of everything I don't absolutely use (this is taking a looooong time), I'm restructuring my work habits at Meijer (to be more effective in my 40 hours there), I'm starting a daily exercise routine (right now just walking the dog), and I'm soon setting up daily "study time" - that is, time to brush up on my computer science education: learning CSS, PHP, writing programs, reading books, and of course, job hunting.
It's a lot to do all at once, but I feel like I have to be doing these things all at once. Come late August, I won't be setting foot in a classroom. It will be very surreal, I'm sure. In fact, by late August, I will be most likely panicking if my job hunt hasn't produced at least a few solid leads.
I really want to devote a lot of my time to my major. I don't feel like I'm a terribly useful software developer yet, and I intend to spend much of my summer working on my programming and general understanding of computer science.
Tantric
Last week wasn't just a mildly-stressful finals week at BGSU - it was also a highly memorable week for me: one of my all-time favorite bands, Tantric, released their third studio album, and I will say this abbreviated note about it: awesome.
After Tantric's debut album pretty much rocketed them to the top of my "awesome" list, I followed them like a lost puppy. I've seen them on stage three times, twice with them headlining (although I'm not sure how any band can "headline" at Howard's Club H). Their second album was more of the same - solid music, but a little stale for my tastes, to be honest. After most of the original band has split and Tantric reformed late last year, I've been cautious about approaching a new album. Suffice to say, I noted that the new album was out, bolted to my computer, and downloaded the entire album from Amazon MP3.
It's good to hear that Tantric is sounding better than ever. If their second album was a bit bland for my tastes, then their latest, "The Eng Begins," is a powerful example of what rebirth can bring to a stale flavor. Hugo's lead vocals (the only original member) is as familiar and comfortable as ever, but is brought to new life with an original selection of lyrics that go above the ordinary and weave in and out of anecdotes ("Regret") , powerful self-reflection stories ("The One"), and outright humor ("Love Story"). The rest of the band is new, and all bring great talent and a unique sound to the album. Above all else, the music is just outright good. I watched one of my favorite bands rise, fall, and now, I'm sure that their rebirth will be worthwhile. I look forward to Tantric IV.
Iron Man
It's no secret that the Spider-Man films, particularly Spider-Man 2, are among my favorite films. So it was to my surprise to see Iron Man this past weekend and suddenly push Spider-Man aside. Don't get me wrong, the Spider-Man films are still landmark as far as comic book-to-movie adaptations go, but Iron Man is extremely fun. It's an first and foremost an "origin" story - the telling of how a hero comes to be - but it never feels like it's stepping from A to B to C... Iron Man the film, like any good narrative, tells the story about a man undergoing change, and the changes, causes and effects, and ultimate outcome of Tony Stark is a story worth telling on film. The movie is also a gadget-lovers dream, and borderlines technology porn, with a ton of grounding in the real world with just enough "what-if" technology demonstrated to whet the appetite of any technophile in the theater.
Iron Man was a pleasant, unexpected for my graduation weekend, and I look forward to enjoying it many times to come.
... And Everything Else
With enough said, it's time to say this:
I'm back for good. Although I've only posted a dozen times in about two months, I'm definitely going to return to Critically Correct for personal blogging this summer (starting today, obviously). I expect to post a couple times a week, but I'm also quite busy with job searching, reorganization, and Meijer (40 hours now). However, I do intend to take some time out to get a few blog-bases features out the door, so stay tuned for some announcements on that part, including the eventual roll out of a new narrative focus for Critically Correct.
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