Slide Away

Stick a fork in mine. I'm done. Yup, I emailed and submitted my InfoViz individual report and CSCW take home final. Right now, I am killing time until Erika picks me up to take me to the airport. Oh what a semester it has been. Quite honestly, I wouldn't have been so slammed and busy if I managed my time better. So what has been going on? I was pretty jammed up with work for the past few weeks. I had to finish up two group projects, study for a final, and do a take-home final. Plus after my BIT514 final exam, I was walking across the law quad where I slipped on a patch of ice and totally bailed. I should have sued someone as I was in the law school at the time. However, I did find some time to go to Apetes party and Maurice's party with party invites that lacked a skanky-enough asian girl on it. This semester was alot harder than I was expecting but it also went by quickly. But rest assured, that next semester will be much easier as I only have one required class to take, so I will make sure to organize my schedule to have the easiest classes possible. In an update to last entry, I did get verification from CapGemini that the position they were offering me is for the user centered design group, which makes the offer very attractive. By the way, you may have noticed that it is harder to post comments on my blog. That is becasue "alextewnewsite" decided to spam comment my blog about a dozen times in the last few days.

Speaking of job stuff (which almost always appear in my entries), I applied to be a SI Career Services Assistant. I suppose if I am rambling about this stuff, I might as well get paid for it. I should know if I got the position sometime later this week. I don't have anything really profound to describe this semester. But now that I am done with it, I guess I would describe it as the "beginning of the beginning of the end." Besides classes being over, things are changing for me. For one thing, my term as the Treasuer of the School of Information Student Association is over. Amazingly somebody actually wanted to be the treasurer so she will take office at the beginning next semester. Yet another thing is that Sylvie, supreme ruler of SISA, is getting married which is another signal that I am getting older and moving towards actually having to be mature and responsible. But I think the most telling event that my grad school experiencing is starting to start ending (not at the beginning of the end, more like the pre-beginning of the end), is that several of SI friends and classmates graduated yesterday. Nabeeha and Cameron decided to graduate earlier since they both have sweet ass job offers and to eliminate the chances of slipping on ice in the law quad or walking into wet cement during the Michigan winter. So we had a graduation celebration at Raja Rani this past Thursday and Maurice's party was also a good send-off. But I guess the finality set in at graduation yesterday. And yes, at it was at graduation that I gave my speech.

Now some of you may remember the speech I posted a while back. For obvious reasons, I couldn't give that speech. So I had to come up with a new one. I did get some help from Sylvie who already wrote a speech. So I wrote one and it got approved by administration, something which Cho says is borderline facist. I was pretty nervous about it. I mean it is one thing to fuck up a class presentation because quite honestly who is gonna give a flying fuck. But a graduation. This is a momentous occassion in people's lives so therefore I wanted to make it memorable and polished. So I must have practiced my speech about 20 times. Which just goes to show you how bad an orator I am seeing that my speech was only 4 minutes long. The reaction and feedback I got back after I gave it was really positive, except for Apete who had to mock it even though he wasn't actually there to hear it and did I happen to mention Apete is old, bitter, mean and I did I mention old? John King, the Dean of SI, said that I had a future in politics, well if politicans practice 20 times to give 4 minute speeches. So I guess I will conclude this entry with the speech I delivered yesterday at the SI winter graduation ceremony as a tribute to Nabeeha, Cameron, Todd, Julie and all the SI graduates I happen to know or should know but have forgotten.

Good morning fellow students, staff, faculty, families and friends. It is an honor to able to congratulate you today on the completion of your degrees. You should feel proud of the great accomplishment you have achieved. As some of you may know, I was originally not supposed to be your speaker. Traditionally, the School of Information Student Association President gives these remarks. However, our current president, Sylvie, is unable to be here today. Rest assured that as soon as we heard that Sylvie could not make it, I was chosen as your replacement speaker only after a through and extensive selection process, which may have involved a game of rock, paper, scissors. Sylvie did have a speech prepared so I will try my best to incorporate her thoughts into my speech. So just as a disclaimer, if you like this speech, then it is because of me. If you do not like this speech, then it is all Sylvie’s fault.

One of the major points I want to convey on behalf of Sylvie, is to remember the time you spent here. Remember the time you spent working on your 501 projects. Remember the long hours spent working in the DIAD. Remember the happy hours and parties, well if you are able to. Remember the advice, wisdom, and companionship you have received from your fellow students, staff and faculty. But most of all, remember that each of you played a very special role in our School of Information community. We are going to miss you. It is our sincere hope that you continue to play a role in our community now that you are alumni.

Now that we have covered your time here, what do your fellow students wish for you now that you are leaving us? Quite honestly, I had some trouble trying to figure this out. One thing your fellow students want to convey on this very special day is envy. Whereas you are heading off to your future careers, the rest of us, myself included, will have another semester of lectures, discussions, term papers, group projects, midterms, and final exams. All of which will occur during the winter, during the coldest months of the year.

Aside from envy, what do your fellow students wish for you now that you are graduating. I know many of you have plans about your careers, be it in academia or industry, but much of your future journey remains unknown. When I think about unknown journeys, I think of a quote by the polar explorer Roald Amundsen. Amundsen led the first expedition to the South Pole via a previously uncharted route. When he returned from the South Pole, and remember this is after weeks of trekking across Antarctica – did anybody watch the movie March of the Penguins – yeah it is like that movie except minus the penguins. Anyway, after Amundsen got back from the South Pole, he allegedly said, “We haven't got much to tell in the way of privation or great struggle. The whole thing went like a dream.” You see, to Amundsen, if you planned out everything, evaluated all the risks and planned for all the contingencies, then nothing unexpected should happen. Therefore, you shouldn’t have adventures. In fact another explorer named Stefanson said that having an adventure is a sign of incompetence. Obviously, none of us are polar explorers. At least, I am assuming none of us are. There will be times that the unexpected occurs that no amount of planning can prevent. Whether these occurrences are good, bad or somewhere in between, they challenge and stretch our capabilities. I think all of us would love to live life like a dream, but I doubt any of us would want to have the same dream every night. So I guess that is what your fellow students wish for you: To experience the unexpected and to have an adventure or two.

So on behalf of your fellow students here at the School of Information, I wish you the best of luck in all your future adventures. Thank you and congratulations!