julie's and jennifer's graduation
A mix of pictures from Julie and Jennifer's graduation
Julie's Residency Graduation
Julie (finally) graduates from her family medicine residency in U.C.I.
Seattle, WA | 2006.07.01 | Photos | Graduation, Medical residency, Physician
Jennifer's Graduation
Jennifer graduates Harvard; we visit with Sheri and her boyfriend
Boston, MA | 2007.06.10 | Photos | Graduation, Harvard, Julie's family
That next step is a doozy
I drew this after we returned from Julie's sister's graduation. At Harvard, they wear funny robes with little swirly things on the collars. Since I'm reading the Harry Potter series, it makes me think of Hogswart as everything reminds me of Potter's world. (I hate being a Muggle, by the way.) The trip to Boston was fun. The graduation was a graduation. It feels important, and yet, for all its importance and pomp, it is excrutiatingly tiresome. We did have yummy Japanese food to celebrate.
Jennifer was a bit concerned that I made her look witchy, what with the green skin and red hair. She did dye her hair red, so I had no choice but to draw it that way. The green skin was an afterthought. It's always difficult to figure out what color I should make people. Many times green is my default. I already have the beige, pink, and blue people. Green is the big missing one.
Ziggy was amazing yesterday. He learned to sit (sometimes--mostly when he wanted a treat, regardless if we asked), and even walked to the park without us having to drag him. He's still not properly housetrained, but he is getting better. While running up the hill after our park walk, I accidentally stepped on his foot when he crossed in front of me. Ziggy is a small dog, and there were lots of warnings about how delicate Italian Greyhound's legs are. He yelped for a good three minutes, and it left a nasty cut on his toe. I spoke with Dr. Julie, and she assured me he would survive. Barely.
We finally hit another nice week of sunshine in Seattle. I was concerned that summer had passed us already. I may even bike sometime this week. I'm a bit nervous: I feel my muscles attrophying even as my appetitie dissappears. I'm destined to be overly skinny, and to hear about how bad I eat everytime I see my mother or Julie's parents. We all have our issues, I guess.
Seattle, WA | 2007.08.14 | Cast of Horribles | Diary, Graduation, Jennifer, Julie
JK Rowling's Commencement Speech
I don't know what it is about commencement speeches but they tend to provide the best life advice. I think it has to do with the presenters: they’re asked to look back some twenty-odd years over their (successful) lives and, with perfect hindsight, provide that tidbit of wisdom that allowed them to succeed.
JK Rowling’s Harvard commencement (via kottke) is one of those. While her second part (for the good of humanity) fell on uninterested ears, her first part didn’t. She spoke of perseverance. How she lost everything, was in the pit of depression and poverty, and discovered something that they never teach you: failure is not terrible. This understanding was what propelled her to write Harry Potter. It's always the fear of failure that is the horrible beast (the adages aren't always wrong).
Now, if only I wasn't that coward she described:
It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.
If in ten years, I look back and, having followed her advice in the first part, see the second part of her speech as meaningful as the first, then I can say that I've not only found success, but I've learned to be successful as a person.