The end of a College* Career..

So! It’s done.

Wild. Weird. Is it true, is it real? After SO many years (of school, or even college in particular), it’s done, this is it? No way. Whatever will I do with myself? I have watched friends graduate (especially in the last few years) with no seeming direction, but with a lot of nervousness/anxiety/similar emotions, and I admit, I thought they were a bit silly. Like, what’s their problem?? Just, you know, go, do something cool at a neat place that fits in with your major, or at least something you’re way into, and do it! The stories I had heard in the past of English majors working at McDonald’s had sounded silly until I saw similar things happening.  So, the point of this paragraph is: Now I feel silly for wondering what their problem was!
WHAT TO DO??  It’s weird to be done with school, I’ve taken breaks from school and worked or travelled, but this is different. Even with those diversions, I still had one place to go to, one thing to get through – I was on a path to my Bachelor’s degree. I only had to pick a school and a major (which was still a long process!), and follow some cookie-cutter recipe, and voila! Here’s your degree sir! Just follow this path, this structure, these steps (however you want to refer to it), and you’re there! A lot of life has been like that.
Til now.  The entire past year has had a lot of NOT that. China was weird and confusing and difficult to travel in. Coming back to school, I had Bacteriology, and ”work” as an LGA (like an RA), among other aspects of my life such as career hunting, how to best take care of friendships, other problems/queries/etc, that did NOT allow for a structure or defined path, and really, required ME to take charge.  To put my critical thinking skills to good use, and take on life, via these various activities/challenges. It seemed like it was all at once, but maybe the ending of a degree course made that all the more real.
My degree path has been a bit of a crazy ride, from Davis (where I was a CS major), to JCs (e.g. DeAnza), to the CCC, and then here, to Humboldt State. (Working at startups– Assured Access (later purchased by Alcatel) and Talarian (later purchased by Tibco) on the way)  At DeAnza I finally decided on a major, Environmental Studies is what it was called there, but it was still like starting at the beginning, because it was a broad+ interdisciplinary field.  It wasn’t until my first 7 months at HSU, starting with learning about the Arcata Marsh in Engineering 115, and then when I went to Mexico (with the school, the first Parras program), where I was surrounded by Engineers, many of whom were way into in WasteWater (AKA, sewage.. playing with poopies!) that I too became interested/fascinated. It helps that I take like 3-5 poos per day, and so feel very guilty about wasting [fresh, clean, potable!] water.
Alright, so brushed up my Spanish, learned necessary things about Appropriate Technology, got a career direction (later wrote a paper about it all and presented it in China), and made so then made a tweak to my degree plan. (Water quality instead of Appropriate Technology)  Did some volunteering here and there, some club participation, and finally ended off my last year being an RA in the Residence Halls on campus.
Well, I get bored of this entry (maybe because I’m tired!) and otherwise forget what I was writing, so I guess I should just end this entry now!  I did intend to give mad props to all of the great and amazing people that I’ve seen and otherwise shared time and energy with over this long-ish journey, but that would be too many names to even think about now, so if you’re reading this, probably I have to say to you: Thank you!  You’ve made my life better.   Seriously. Let’s see, this post is missing some pics..

5836 It’s Jocelyn (And Gary), she was involved with the first two clubs I got involved with at HSU, Green Campus and (YES house’s) Environmental Education!

<– This links to the Asian Graduation Ceremony pics
* End of a bachelor’s really, maybe I’ll be back in school! I could imagine it, but not RSN.. (Aka, a Masters is not Real soon now)