The Best Part of Graduation (not what you’d expect)
June 18, 2008
So you may or may not have noticed that I actually failed to do what I said I (at least wanted) to do, namely, write something up for every day of the graduation festivities. Opps! What can I say, there were a zillion things going on and by the end of the day I was always super tired. Plus, I didn’t actually use my Flip (we used my dad’s instead) so it took time to get the video and blah blah blah. The point is – now graduation is over and I’ve yet to tell you how it all went.
I have to say: I think my favorite part of the graduation proceedings themselves had to be the text messages going back and forth between primarily me, Savannah, and my dad. So here I want to give you some highlights from those conversations. Because they’re hilarious… and infinitely more interesting than me writing about sitting and waiting for my name to be called for a zillion trillion years.
During the College Honors Graduation…
Savannah (S): “Remember that one time a million names got called before you?”
Me (Me): “Vaguely”
….
(S): “Stop fucking around with your cap”
(S): “Your tassle is on the wrong side… Psych!”
….
Mom (M): “I luv you”
(Me): “burp”
….
(S): “I just had a psychic prediction… Your cap falls off at the feet of the chancellor. When you go to pick it up he kicks you in the face”
(Me): “I could make that shit a reality – how much money for me to drop it on his feet???”
(S): “If you smack the chancellor on the ass when you go up there I’ll be your slave for life”
(S): “I can offer you the hefty sum of… 5 dollars. Take it or leave it.”
(Me): “Deal – but I can’t promise he’ll bend over for it”
(S): “I accept”
During the Departmental Ceremony…
(S): “We’re leaving”
….
(S): “Who’s that cute boy on your right?”
….
(Me) to Dad (D): "Wouldn’t it be funny if I peed myself like kindergarden graduation?"
(D): "Yes… and yet. Well, yes (but please don’t!)
(Me): "If you insist"
….
(Me) to (S): "I can’t decide if I should use [for the name they call out] Heather "Starbuck" Whitney or Heather Michelle Whitney."
(S): "Do Heather ‘I love my sissy’ Whitney
(Me): "Well that was a close second…"
…
(Me) to (D) after someone blew some party favor: "You brought the blow horn right??"
(D): "I brought the loudest whistle in the room, baby!!!!"
(Me): "so you’re saying you don’t love me?"
Oh and I guess I should give you at least one video. Here’s my dad… making fun of me 
Graduation Time! Day One Complete!!
June 13, 2008
So it’s 12:30AM and I’m running on but a few wee hours of sleep (had to catch a 6:55AM plane back from SFO this morning) and yet here I am drawing a doodle and uploading a video to my blog. And why? Well, because I want to see if I can write something up every day of my graduation celebration! And why do I want to do that? Well, I know how badly (desperately in fact!) you wanted to be down here celebrating with me but, you know, “situations arose” and blah blah blah- so I’m trying to do the “good friend thing” and share as much as I can with you.
So!! What was today? Well, today the family all congregated in Los Angeles (minus sissy, who is flying in from Berkeley in a few hours). My mom drove up from Oceanside and my dad, Melissa, granny, and Cindy (Melissa’s sister) all crammed into Melissa’s boat giant SUV and drove out from Vegas! Oh and Eric made the epic journey by coming on over from Westwood.
After we all arrived and settled in a bit(and Eric, my mom, and I watched “Perfume” - a sort of Grimm fairytale-esque [and like real Grimm not Disney-Grimm] movie that has been totally under appreciated by larger audiences…) we braved rush hour traffic to go to my Phi Beta Kappa initiation ceremony.
Basically this ceremony consisted of each of the initiate-ees going up to the microphone and letting everyone know what there plans are for the next few years. This to me was super exciting because I was thrilled to hear of all the adventures these people are embarking upon. There are students going directly to top-notch law, medical and graduate schools, a few doing either the PeaceCorps or Teach for America, hippiees that will be traveling until they reach enlightenment or run out of money (whichever comes first), and a few with actual jobs. So it was fun.
Once that was all finished with, we drove down to the PF Chang’s on third street and gathered for our first group dinner. The video below is from early on - my dad wanted to make a toast… and I wanted to capture it for the website! But, since my dad is the biggest ham known to mankind (followed closely by my granny, followed closely by…), he ended up giving quite a performance!
Today we’ve got the college honors ceremony and our “official” group dinner at the Stinking Rose. Because I love garlic!!!!
Jewelism or Dualism: Studying for Philosophy of Mind with David
June 9, 2008
So… I haven’t been able to dedicate enough time to the blog recently due to extenuating circumstances (i.e. FINALS), but I made a promise to myself to find some glimmer of hope and joy in this finals experience (which generally has a vibe more closely resembling the picture to the right).
So last night, when David, Eric, and Matt came over for a finals studying jam session, I was like a hawk on a high branch somewhere forest-y… scanning for a moment to capture with my love, the Flip. And the homies came through (or so I like to think!) While reviewing philosophy of mind with David he had a question… a question that led to this video.
Enjoy and I’ll post more once the seas have calmed and I’ve graduated!!!!
The Best of Westwood (with some of the best of homies!)
June 2, 2008
I’m going to make the writing short because I so badly want you to watch all of the videos! On Saturday night Peter came down from the ghetto of Pasadena (explained in a video!) to spend some time with us UCLA-ers. We tried to show him the best we have to offer: dinner at Bombay Bite, dessert at Diddy Reise, and a short stop at the precious home of Galaga, the best video arcade game in the history of time.
For a bit of background - you are looking at some of my very best homies… ever. Peter, Matt, and I met as sophomores in high school and we all met Eric our senior year. And, we’ve all been super great friends ever since! To get a better sense of our unique and magical personalities, please view the image to the right.
Anyways, Enjoy!
