That is how many days I have waited, looked forward to, and thought yesterday would never come. I still clearly remember my very first day of school. I entered the 1st grade at Riemerling Grundschule in the outskirts of Munich, Germany on September 11th, 1990 at the ripe young age of 6 years old. Every single day for 6122 days between now and yesterday, I looked forward to that day, in which I could finally say I am done. 6122 days of dreading the grueling torture that is school.
I have struggled through math class, learned to write perfect handwriting with an ink fountain pen, learned, forgot, and re-learned the rules of grammar in English and mastered the German language, as well as gained a solid grasp on the basics and fundamentals of the Russian language, made and lost many good friends, moved many times and attended 8 different schools between 1st and 12th grade, attended college for 6 years, at two separate colleges through 5 different majors, accumulated over 300 college credits and finally, finally walked across the stage yesterday as a diploma was handed to me in front of my father, mother, stepfather, uncle, grandmother, some very close friends, and most importantly, my girlfriend, Karen, who has conquered my heart. Indeed yesterday can count to one of the greatest days of my life. No longer will I be dreading class tomorrow or the essay due next week. I have finally achieved a status in my life that I have been longing for for 6122 days. What comes next?
Tomorrow morning I will leave what has been my home for the past 11 years and embrace what has been my home for many years before that. I will be flying into Munich after a long flight and jump right into work. I am overwhelmed with sadness and joy at the same time. Joy for finally finishing something of significance in my life. Joy for going back to my favorite place on earth, for getting to see my little sister, and my brother and some close friends. Sadness for leaving behind my mom and some other close friends, and most importantly, my girlfriend, with whom I have fallen in love with.
It has definitely been an adventure, and for the first time in 6122 days I feel that I am truly free and the world is just another adventure waiting to be explored. There is nothing holding me back from pursuing my dreams and my future. I have succeeded. I have graduated. I am done. I am now Alumni. However, if the University thinks I am going to join their Alumni Association and give them even more money, they are definitely mistaken. I am already in the possession of the most expensive piece of paper I have ever seen, I don’t need another. 
My time as a student at Oregon State is coming to an end. I have 18 days of classes left, 2 midterm exams, 3 final exams, 4 German Essays to write and 32 homework assignments to turn in before I graduate. But who’s counting?
Well, the Friday before Christmas is a day that gives all Classified Staff at the university off, leaving only Faculty and Students. Most Students are gone because it is right in the middle of Winter break, and most Faculty are gone for the same reason. This leaves me as the sole tech support worker in my office on Friday afternoon, while all my Classified Staff co-workers have the day off, and my Faculty manager has gone home already, and my student co-worker is home sick. I’m sitting here waiting for someone to break something so I can fix it. Ironically, since my customers live by the same rules as we do, they are all off today as well…
Luckily I discovered DOSBox for Linux. I am now going through memory lane and playing all my old favorite “Abandonware” DOS games from the days of the old 386. I discovered that my all time favorite, “Tony and Friends in Kellogg’s Land” is still floating around the internet and still just as fun as ever. Who would have thought that with all of Windows’ backwards-compatibility and whatnot, I actually finally got this game to work using a DOS emulator under Linux? Good luck trying to get it to run properly under Windows XP.
Well I’m off to do some more DOSing and waiting for phone calls that will never come!
I just finished taking my last final exam for summer term, so I have about 3 days of pure joy now, while I bask in the satisfaction of being finally finished, before my final grades come back and I sink into weeks of deep depression. Either way, I think I put up a good fight, and it just feels good to be done. Now I get to go back to working full time for a few weeks before I go on vacation. But working is kind of a vacation from school. So in a way, I get a few weeks of vacation, before I go on vacation from my vacation. Yeah. Awesome!
My university has a pouring contract with Coca-Cola. This means, that for the most part, only Coke and Coke products are allowed to be sold on campus. Coca-Cola happens to be my favorite drink, and for years, I have been very happy that in a Pepsi-loving society, at least on campus, one could easily purchase a nice refreshing Coke. This is all going to change next week. The pouring contract has expired and Pepsi had a better deal to offer. So over the next month I am going to watch my beloved red vending machines and soda fountains turn blue.
I am a little torn on the issue, though. There is an independently owned Pepsi Distributing plant in town, and the owner is a valued member of society. I have personally met his son, and went to high school with his grandchildren. They are very nice people and they really give back to the community. I think they deserve to have the pouring contract at the university in their own town.
But I absolutely can’t stand the taste of Pepsi! In fact, what angers me the most, is that there is a general assumption that the general public can’t tell the difference. Every time I sit down at a restaurant and the waitperson comes around to take my drink order, I order a Coke. If the particular establishment is a Pepsi-infested one, I always get the obligatory and blasé “Is Pepsi okay?”, and without even waiting for a response, said person has already written it down and started asking the next person at the table what they want to drink! That is NOT okay!! This angers me. I always have to stop them and say “No! I’ll take Dr. Pepper” or whatever else they might have. Really, I don’t have a problem with the Pepsi company. I just don’t like the taste of their main drink.
So I guess this marks a sad chapter in the life of Jabba. There is nothing I can do about it. I will be forced to go off campus for a refreshment, or drink whatever other products might be available. *Sigh* 
This week has been a little busy for me. I started taking summer classes at my university. Summer classes are advertised as being quick and relaxing and a good way to catch up on credits or jump ahead. It is pretty nice. Class sizes are smaller, out-of-state students get to pay in-state tuition, and indeed a standard 11-week class is done and over with in only 8 weeks. There are some negative aspects, though, that immediately reminded me of why I hate summer school. Let me count the ways.
1. It’s summer! No one should have to study during the summer.
2. Classes are taught by TAs instead of professors. This can be good or bad, depending on the TA.
3. A 10 week class, which meets 3 times a week during the regular school year plus once a week for a lab or recitation (that’s right: 30 times per term, plus 10 labs/recitations) will meet 5 times a week for 8 weeks. The last time I checked this math, 3 x 10 + 1 x 10 = 40. 5 x 8 = 40. Yep, exactly the same. But for some reason, every teacher I have had always has this idea that we are in a condensed class, so they move twice as fast, don’t explain everything properly and skip over a lot of important stuff, but give twice the homework. The math class I am taking normally has two midterm exams and a final exam upon which your grade is based. During the summer (since there isn’t enough time) there will only be one midterm and a final. I can live with that, but the irony of the situation is that the particular subject matter of this math class is Logic. And I have twice as much homework to do in half the time. That kind of bothers me.
4. 4-week classes are deadly. Sure they are over as soon as they begin. Yeah, I get three credits for showing up 4 times a week for 4 weeks. Anyone can do that. In fact the 4-week class that I am in, is “Music Appreciation: History of Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Who could complain about that? It’s great. But seriously, I have a rather short attention span. I have a hard time paying attention to a 2 minute TV commercial. These 4-week classes are two hours long and they meet Monday through Thursday. I started the class on Monday, and I have my first midterm exam on this coming Monday. That is enough to drive anyone insane.
Now I remember why I didn’t take classes last summer. Because I took classes the summer before that and realized that summer classes are someone’s idea of a bad joke. Hopefully I’ll survive. It’s only 8 weeks, right?
