middaymoon's Weblog Site • NuTang.com

Hey, lots going on this month.

But before that, an update about that adorable doggie. He's getting pretty big and he bites me a lot. But he began sitting today and he's overall adorable. Even his pointy little teeth.

So, this month. I graduated this semester. Finishing my last final was exquisite. I walked almost all the way home with my eyes closed, to commemorate the trip.

During the ceremony, there were only about eight Physics majors who were supposed to graduate...and only three actually showed up. So that's cool! I got to sit between my only two comrades. The whole time, I was waving at over-enthused parents and thoroughly enjoying myself.

They had a nice lady up there reading names, but it was quite unfortunate that she has a very strong Chinese accent. It might be generous to say that she butchered nearly every name she spoke. It wasn't just the hefty accent, it was her unfamiliarity with how names are read. She sounded unsure of herself every single time. And there was one lad with six names; when she finished stumbling through them, she sniggered. She laughed at this kid's name! For shame.

They eventually replaced her with this guy who read off a whole bunch of names, even the ones in foreign languages, like a champ. I mean, he probably missed a few of them, but he sounded confident. You felt good about the way he said the names. Like he was making them real with his voice.

Until he got to mine.

You're supposed to write the phonetic spelling if your name is difficult to pronounce. I emphasized the "F" sound in my first name, but neglected to write a pronunciation for "Hooper" because, hey, what can go wrong? I'll tell you what this man did. He called me "Hopper."

Hopper.

So naturally, when he called my name, I hopped up the ramp to receive my diploma, on one leg. Then I hopped to the president to shake his hand.

Hopper. Pfah.

So I graduated. Also, there was a birthday. I'll get to that momentarily. In the meantime, there was Christmas. Today was Christmas. It was a pretty nice day, all things considered. My family isn't great at conflict resolution, or you know, not fighting all the time. So it was cool to have a day with considerably less of that. I got a Chromecast , some neat clothes, and a camping stove. My brother bought me two very nice books: A Brief History of Time, (which I already own, but not nearly in such a nice edition) and The Count of Monte Christo. Both beautiful editions. Hardcover. I'm proud to own them. He did really well. I made belts out of paracord for my mom and stepdad, and I gave a gold necklace that I'd found to my brother. Sean let me have a present for Mom so I wouldn't just be giving her a cheesy belt.

Seriously, when did my brother become such a stud? Too bad he's dating, ladies.

Several of my friends started dating relationships a couple of days ago. Which brings me to my next point: I'm going to do that too. Start a dating relationship, that is. I'm gonna ask her out shortly after the new year. I'm not going to pretend I'm not excited about this. It's the first time I've been in a relationship for almost six years, if I remember correctly.

By the way, I just spent about 40 minutes going through my entries trying to figure out when exactly Katie and I broke up, but I gave up. I write too vaguely. If you're interested, it seems to be some time after March 2009, which is currently around page 68.

But yeah. I met her at a Halloween party last year (I took her on a date, before which I knew her by name only.) I've had my eye on her since she helped me a ton with the St. Baldrick's fundraiser earlier this year, and especially after the spring semester ended. Once the summer ended, and I'd made up my mind (both about my feelings, my fitness for a relationship, and the wisdom of the situation in general) I started taking her on dates more and more often. Before the Thanksgiving and Winter breaks set in, we were going out almost every week. I'm going to ask her when we both get back in town from the holidays. She's a great inspiration to me; She always finds joy in mixed situations, and she has a huge love for people she barely even knows: both areas that I'm sorely lacking in. And it's obvious she wants to be as close to God as possible, which is great for me.

I'm quite fond of her. I look forward to letting that grow even further. She's already caused me to use more happy exclamation points in text messages than I ever thought feasible.

It was her birthday that was a few days ago. I was already back in my hometown so I tried to arrange for my handmade candy-pack to arrive at her apartment. Those arrangements failed, but I am trying to forgive the one who failed me. :P But yay it was her birthday!

And in a few days it will be my birthday! I share birthdays with my roommate (well, one of them) and we're going to have a party or something at his house. He's turning 21! Go him. I hope she'll be there!

And then it will be New Years! Yippee!

And then I'll ask her out, with a date-and-switch. It's almost exactly what it sounds like.

And then all my friends will have school except me! yay?

good night