First Day of the Last Semester

Yesterday afternoon, the University's bell tower rang 4 o'clock, marking with sweet, melodic chimes the beginning of my last semester of school. Perhaps not forever, but at least for a good, extensive moment. And I declare, "It's grand!"

Oh, I will miss the perks of being a student: a free checking and savings account from banks, the complimentary Student Prime status on Amazon.com with free 2-day shipping, the good student discount on insurance, access to super cheap AdobeCS programs, discounts on movie tickets, etc. But, on the other hand, life goes on and I will be free to pursue the next thing.

By the time I graduate in December of this year, I will have been a student for 21 straight years. TWENTY-ONE YEARS! Out of a possible total of 25, 21 is a heck of a long time to be doing the same thing. 84% of my life has been spent as a student. A good student at that (my GPA has consistently been over 3.5 since time began; right now I think it's somewhere around 3.7). After all of these years and tuition monies spent on my education, I'm now ready to take the reins of my life in my own hands. I'm ready to assign myself books to read, projects to work on, interests to develop. I'm ready to step away from "student mode," away from the professor and his or her syllabus. And with soon-to-be two college diplomas hanging on my wall with gold thumb tacks, I am ready to kick this semester in the boot and start fresh.

...but, that will have to wait a few more months 'til after I tackle this pile of books and write several thousand words about them.

My brain just went *splat* ;)