Wednesday, August 17

[Stick and move]

kristin's grandad and dog alex
So the commencement address was delightfully short, McPhee's remarks were the same as every graduation ceremony, Kristin made it across the stage within two hours of the start of the ceremony, and she's fairly sure they're going to mail her a real diploma in a couple of weeks. Success! Magna cum laude success, no less. That's amazing. I thought for sure that once you worked at Sidelines, your GPA had to at least fall three-tenths of a point. But she and Patrick sort of kicked that notion's ass and blew the curve for the rest of us.

Afterward, Kristin let me tag along to her family's celebratory cookout, which was a lot of fun. They live out in Lascassas on a beautiful old farmstead, but they're not quite so far out in the boonies that they don't still have city trash pickup. The photo above is of Kristin's grandfather getting ambushed by one of her dogs, desperate for some attention.

I hated to leave the fun and drive back, but as the sky got darker, I knew it would be harder for me to stay awake the longer I stayed.

I got to see Nick and Cox and even Matt Anderson at the ceremony, but I missed several of the old running crew. Nick, Cox and I got to piss and moan about the woes of the working-class shmoe, but compared to their schedules (they're both reporters), I think I have it pretty easy. I mean, they've got Cox working 50-hour weeks as a rule. But deep down inside, I think his little workaholic heart loves it. And Nick has found some country-ass bar where he can hang out and cuss with the locals, so all is well in Dyersburg/Newburn (sp?). As for Matt, he's just beginning his tenure as Sidelines editor. Sooooo ... yeah. His funtimes are just beginning.

And, finally, damn I miss Murfreesboro. Even though many of my friends have scattered, it still feels like home. Hastings has a newish crop of college kids. I was sad to see The Vegetable Garden had been leveled so a used car lot could ugly up the Broad/Northfield corner.

+++
I missed the Elvis vigil, but I watched some of it on public access TV. You guys have met my friend LAME, haven't you? Actually, I don't care. It looked really crowded and I doubt my camera would have taken anything but yellow blurred streaks anyway.

1 Comments:

Blogger JC said...

You see, our GPAs went down because we are L-A-Z-Y

Fri Aug 19, 02:24:00 PM  

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