System 3, Artistic Logic 0.

I'm better with words when I don't want anything because then I'm just glad to be alive & words are my happy sounds., originally uploaded by Rabujee.

I'm annoyed. You know when you make a certain plan and you've planned it for months and then it falls through? Well, I'm that kind of annoyed. Hear me out and by the end of this post you'll be annoyed too.

So, a majority of our writers and friends here at SD are seniors at W.Uni. We've known each for years and then some and when the opportunity comes up for all of us to coincidentally graduate at the same time, it was very appealing to be able to attend a ceremony together. We looked forward to it, discussed it, anticipated it, and spent a lot of time beguiling our friend "Controlled Chaos" to join us at May 2009 Graduation. (She was about the only one of us who hated the idea of "walking" because to her formalities are annoying and ceremonies are mind-numbingly boring. Somehow, we finally convinced her to attend. I think?)

A new semester starts, and we're all in the process of figuring out our last requirements, applying for graduation, doing the paperwork, etc. I visited my academic counselor the other day, and asked him what I needed to do to be able to "walk" this May. He tells me that because I'm technically in school until December 2009, I CAN walk but I will need to apply for graduation twice.

Which means I'll have to pay the fee twice, once in May when I attend graduation and then once again in December when I finish up my remaining classes.

Although its not a HUGE amount ($40) -- the thought still struck me as a rip-off. Here's what I imagine as counselor man is telling me about this rule:
-Me writing a check for $40 to W. Uni.
-Getting a whole 2.5 seconds of fame on the stage
-Listening for those hoots/whistles from my fans in the audience (all 3 of them)
-Receiving a rolled up mock degree (basically a rolled up piece of printer paper that SHOULD say "You got hosed")
-And finally resuming my position among the graduates for the next 2 hours until the whole shabang is over

$40 for all that is a bit unnecessary in my book. I feel so unappreciated as a student. Where's the recognition I'm entitled to after putting up with 5 years of gruesome, hard work? I thought this was the end of it, but wait, this is W. Uni. they LOVE screwing students over... there's more to this story.

Today, I find out they've changed the logistics of the ceremony entirely. They broke the colleges apart into groups where each group will have a separate ceremony over a span of 2 days. So there are 4 ceremonies total! *Pause and blank stare for effect*

Not only that, there's no longer a "walk", its more of a "stand." Apparently, they call out the college and all the graduates from such college stand up for maybe a minute, and then that's it.

Pardon me, but who gave them permission to change the WHOLE system around when its time for ME to graduate? Now that I think back to my schooling, from elementary to college, something like this has always happened to my class. Some "testing out" of a new methodology or "restructuring." *Rolls eyes*

In elementary school, I remember everyone awaited the arrival of 4th grade. Why? Because once you got there you would be entrusted with a little bit more freedom and responsibility. This was the grade when you finally got to experience changing classrooms for every subject. From Kindergarten through 3rd, you stayed in one classroom most of the day and only got to get a change of scene for special classes like Gym or Art. Even then, you were escorted through the hallways, hushed about a 1000 times, told to straighten-up, quiet down, and follow each other closely as if you were in a caravan across a vast and barren desert.

That's why a 4th grader's chest swelled up with pride when he/she got the freedom to roam the hall on their own and find their way to the next class, unsupervised. That meant you could do all the FUN things like slide on the stairway railings if no one was watching and race down the hall with your friends.

What happened when it came time for ME to be in 4th grade? They made you stay in one classroom for 3 subjects and travel to a different one for the last 3 subjects. AND they put "hall monitors" in various corners of the school (just an assortment of very bored lunch ladies). Puh-thetic.

In junior high, the system became even more childish. Thats the time when tweens are becoming teens and looking forward to rollin' with the big crowd, right? SO what did the school do? They made sure we would retain our youthfulness by creating "teams" for 6th - 8th graders. Each grade was broken into two halves, and each team was graciously given a title like "The Tazmanian Devils" or "Tweety." I spent junior high as a "Road-Runner", then a "Tweety", and finally as an "Untouchable." Don't worry, I'm just as confused as you are about all this (STILL).

I'll spare you the details of high school but I'm PRETTY sure you get the point.

Looks like the system is winning again, but I'm not giving in this time, this time I have a choice. I'm NOT attending a crappy graduation and I'm NOT wasting 40 dollars on W. Uni. and THATS my final answer!

Now excuse me, I think I have to go figure out how to scrape the words "guinea pig" off my forehead before anyone else gets any ideas.