This explains a lot

I love my family.

What I've been doing

Andy and I took advantage of being mobile and went to the lovely town of Red Wing. Where Andy bought a hat and I bought shoes from the local cobbler. We also found some interesting art by the train depot.

Andy got curious.

I danced with a metal person.

Another weekend Andy and I ventured to the little town of St. Peter and visited the local Lutheran college. Mr. Gustavus Adolphus was a fairly chubby man according to his statue in the center of campus.

They have a really ugly church there. Only made better with this crazy statue.

Though the views were much more beautiful!

Tony came down for a visit one weekend, and we had a boot or two at Gasthof's with some of his buddies from school. We all learned to polka and did a bunch of dancing. It was less fun when the live band left and we were left with some DJ. Overall it was a good time.

Tony enjoying his boot, sideways.

Like brother like sister.

Andy is uncomfortable dancing with me, it may be due to the placement of my left hand.

The delightful weekend of the Super Bowl, us people who ride bikes had an even the day before called the Stupor Bowl. It is apparently the longest running alley cat bike race in North America (and the largest) and Minneapolis is quite proud of that. It was a lot of fun to bike around to new places and enjoy beers a places I've never been. Once again, I like the camaraderie of biking in these cities. Our ride was cut a bit short though because dear Andy ingested a bit too much and took a risky turn on a large patch of ice and injured his shoulder. He's fine and well now, no harm done. Pictures shall come later.

And that's the gist of what I've been doing!

Finals are over, so now what?

Last week was finals week and it went surprisingly well. Each of my finals weren't as difficult as I anticipated. The grades that have come back thus far have been good, so I'm happy about that. What I'm not happy about is my lack of employment. My work study job at the psychology department is no longer (at least for the summer) because I don't have work study funds for the summer. My brilliant plan to graduate this summer fell through because of one class and one lame department head telling me that 3 credits were too many to do an independent study. So now in addition to having to pay for another semester of college and reapply for loans, I don't have a job with which to ease that burden.

After finals were finished Mom and Dad drove up from Indiana for my graduation ceremony the coming Monday. That Saturday Tony and Laura ventured down to the cities as well and they took Andy and I out to dinner. First was shopping for Tony some new clothes because he can't do it without my mom. I also obtained new "kicks" that I'm really excited about. After dinner I went back to Minneapolis and hung out with Mike, Adam, Dan, and the rest of the gang. They were playing drinking games that involved overly carbonated beer and I couldn't compete. Afterward Andy and I headed to Van Cleave to play on the playground. Where instead we "wrasseled" with Ross and I lost my phone in the sand. Surprisingly it was still there in the morning, in good working order despite being a bit sandy.

Sunday involved brunch with my former neighbors and a stop by the old house. In the last 11ish months the new owner, Jimmy, has changed just about everything he could with the house. Admittedly the garden looks nicer (except for the statue of a dog's butt that makes it look like it's digging in the garden), but it's all overly arts and craftsy. Really quite gross, but hey, if that's what he likes, so be it.

Monday was the big day! I got to graduate this spring because Carlson only has one ceremony a year. So it was either before I graduate or well after I finish up. The ceremony was horribly disorganized as no one really knew where to go. But in the end we all ended up in a line of more or less alphabetical order. I'm glad I'm not in CLA because the processions in and out and the reading of names took far too long, and CLA is much larger than Carlson. Steve Forbes was the speaker, and he turned out to be quite funny and that made everything more bearable. Nothing exciting happened as I walked across the stage, though I could hear the high-pitched cheers from my mom and Andy. Here's a photo:

Me "walking" at Northrup.

Dad, Mom, and I posing with my "diploma."

That night we went out for fancy dinner at the Capital Grille and it went really well. Andy and I ordered entire chickens without realizing. And I got a rose for being a "graduate." It was quite nice. I also got my laptop back Monday, and I was really excited. Except I never got any of the files off of the computer, so I have to go back and get those. It's nice to have the laptop back though. Except now I have to replace all of my music, and that'll be annoying without the network of my former home.

So now it's Wednesday and I still don't have a job. I'll be cleaning my room today, looking for a job, making a list of things I need to get, maybe making a dent in that chicken, and possibly plotting out bike routes for my extreme free time.

The only thing that really makes me feel better about myself is that I'm not a 10 month old baby from Illinois with a gun license.