the paper to prove it
It's official. I have a diploma.
Can I share with all of you that the most incredible and unrealistic paranoia overtook me at the end of my exams last semester and I had all but convinced myself that I had probably failed at least one if not all three of my last three classes? Why so psycho? Just because. It was the end of school, I was scheduled to take the bar, there was no room for error. Failing a class, not graduating... that would have *really* fucked things up in a not-so-easy-to-fix sort of way and, b/c I'm totally neurotic sometimes, I decided I must have failed.
I was so worried, I refused to check my grades. I just couldn't bring myself to look. Then, when I finally looked (just a week or so ago), I was utterly shocked and amazed to realize that my grades had actually been great! The best grades of any one semester. So what the fuck was I so worried about?
Anyway, today I drove up to campus to pick up my diploma and, because I didn't bother to check it out before I went, I got there half an hour before the Registrar's Office opened. To pass the time, I went down to the coffee cart and bought myself a decaf Americano and picked up a Tribune to entertain me. That's when I saw Eagle Eye Goldberg, my favorite professor and my biggest law school crush. Yay(!!!!!!!)
I was so happy to see her I almost fell over and, of course, I was dorkilly awkard about it. At first I didn't even see her, I was just waiting for my coffee when I heard my name. I looked up and it was her, looking so sweet and happy to see me. She told me she was reading a book I recommended (No God But God by Reza Aslan, a very good book about Islam) and that she was really enjoying it. I was beside myself with delight and would've followed her off like a little puppy, but she was on her way to teach a first year crim pro class and I was on my way to go wait for the Registrar's Office to open... *sigh*
So then I went over to see if I could still access the internet on the computers in the LRC and that is how I discovered the one and only drawback to finishing school. My password didn't work anymore. Oh well. I read the paper and passed the time and before I knew it, I was standing at the Registrar's desk holding my very own diploma with the very impressive words "Juris Doctor" on it. If the degree says "doctor," how come I am not Dr. Poet now? I don't know, but I'm fighting the urge to start calling myself Reasonably Prudent Poet, Esquire.
I have to admit a mild feeling of melancholy at what is essentially an anticlimax. It is, after all, just a piece of paper. It doesn't even have magic powers. I don't even get to be called "Dr. Poet." But, it's fifty-percent bigger than my college diploma and 100 percent more valueable... maybe 700 percent more valueable. Or, at least, potentially. Now I need a big, gaudy frame to put it in so I can hang it over my desk and stare at it. Maybe that will make me feel better.
Can I share with all of you that the most incredible and unrealistic paranoia overtook me at the end of my exams last semester and I had all but convinced myself that I had probably failed at least one if not all three of my last three classes? Why so psycho? Just because. It was the end of school, I was scheduled to take the bar, there was no room for error. Failing a class, not graduating... that would have *really* fucked things up in a not-so-easy-to-fix sort of way and, b/c I'm totally neurotic sometimes, I decided I must have failed.
I was so worried, I refused to check my grades. I just couldn't bring myself to look. Then, when I finally looked (just a week or so ago), I was utterly shocked and amazed to realize that my grades had actually been great! The best grades of any one semester. So what the fuck was I so worried about?
Anyway, today I drove up to campus to pick up my diploma and, because I didn't bother to check it out before I went, I got there half an hour before the Registrar's Office opened. To pass the time, I went down to the coffee cart and bought myself a decaf Americano and picked up a Tribune to entertain me. That's when I saw Eagle Eye Goldberg, my favorite professor and my biggest law school crush. Yay(!!!!!!!)
I was so happy to see her I almost fell over and, of course, I was dorkilly awkard about it. At first I didn't even see her, I was just waiting for my coffee when I heard my name. I looked up and it was her, looking so sweet and happy to see me. She told me she was reading a book I recommended (No God But God by Reza Aslan, a very good book about Islam) and that she was really enjoying it. I was beside myself with delight and would've followed her off like a little puppy, but she was on her way to teach a first year crim pro class and I was on my way to go wait for the Registrar's Office to open... *sigh*
So then I went over to see if I could still access the internet on the computers in the LRC and that is how I discovered the one and only drawback to finishing school. My password didn't work anymore. Oh well. I read the paper and passed the time and before I knew it, I was standing at the Registrar's desk holding my very own diploma with the very impressive words "Juris Doctor" on it. If the degree says "doctor," how come I am not Dr. Poet now? I don't know, but I'm fighting the urge to start calling myself Reasonably Prudent Poet, Esquire.
I have to admit a mild feeling of melancholy at what is essentially an anticlimax. It is, after all, just a piece of paper. It doesn't even have magic powers. I don't even get to be called "Dr. Poet." But, it's fifty-percent bigger than my college diploma and 100 percent more valueable... maybe 700 percent more valueable. Or, at least, potentially. Now I need a big, gaudy frame to put it in so I can hang it over my desk and stare at it. Maybe that will make me feel better.
posted by reasonably prudent poet at 12:01 PM
7 Comments:
Congratulations on your diploma! it IS a magical thing you did.
And crushes on teachers are always fun. I am in undergrad school now and have a crush on one of my professors. She's awesome.
Your blog is great. I've been reading it for a few weeks.
thanks for reading my blog and thanks for liking it. are you a gamecock? have you figured out yet that i hail from your neighbor to the north? are you originally from sc or do you just go there for school?
(I tried to post this comment already, but looks like it didn't work at all. Let's see if can try this again...)
No, I'm not a gamecock, or a tiger. I go to a little Baptist college and live with my parents still.
Yeah, I knew you went to school in North Carolina, because I remember your sweet story about making a friend in the mud. That was cool! You're a wonderful storyteller.
Congratulations. That really is huge, even if it's just symbolized by a piece of paper.
That's fantastic, Juris Doctor! Well done! I'll definitely be thinking of you as "Esquire" from now on. Huzzah!
thanks scg, you're sweet.
and thanks roro! 'esquire' does have a certain ring, doesn't it? ;-)
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