.:reflections of twilight:.

Apparently, my hoop jumping is far from over. I went to the school today to turn in my initial certification application, and it seems the school doesn't even have my graduation status up yet in their official documents. The lady there, who was very nice, said it might not be until January 23rd or so. Which is interesting since I have to pick up my diploma on the 19th. I also have to order my transcripts from my other schools to be sent to the state Board of Education. I'm not going to worry about that just yet, since it'll still be a few weeks until everything gets organized. Luckily, the schools are used to the whole red tape aspect of everything, so if I say my certification is “pending” that'll usually do for the time being until things come together.

While I'm glad to be finished with grad school and all of that, I still have the stressful part of the job hunt ahead of me. I filled out the online application for the Knox County School System, so that's done at least. I haven't heard anything back yet, but it may be a little while yet and there's also the holidays coming up and people are busy with that.

My dad was in town for my graduation and it was nice that he was here. The ceremony itself was pretty basic, not that it wasn't still nice though. It was a typical graduation ceremony and all. The graduate students went first, with the doctoral candidates going first and getting hooded onstage, followed by us, the Master's candidates. Finally the undergrads went. The speaker was actually pretty decent, which can't be said of most graduation speakers. We went to get a quick bite of lunch afterwards, and then I went home and changed and dad and I went to the movies. We went and saw Spectre which was pretty good. There were some Star Wars cos-players in the movie theater who were promoting the new Star Wars movie (which mom and I are planning to see on Monday morning, once the opening weekend crowds thins out a bit. Presumably) and I got a picture of dad with them. It was fun. Mom wasn't feeling well, so when we went to dinner, she didn't eat anything. I think the burger she had for lunch was under-cooked, so it was bothering her. We were going to go and see the lights at the local raceway, but she really wasn't feeling well enough to go.

Sunday, I went and had lunch with friends of ours, as a post-graduation celebration of sorts. We went to our mutually favorite Chinese place and it was very good, the company AND the food!

So, due to all of the goings-on recently, we haven't decorated for Christmas. At all. I have my lights in my windows, but that's mostly because I didn't bother to take them down last year. If I do end up moving to Knoxville, I will have to take them down eventually. That's another thing I'm trying not to think too much about. I don't mind having to move, but the actual act of moving isn't all that fun. But, I'm not going to count my chickens before they hatch, as the saying goes.

Hopefully I can get some things done around the house now that I'm no longer tied up with studying. I need to do some catch-up house cleaning and organization. And reading!! I can do some pleasure reading again! And hopefully I can re-learn my knitting. My skills are considerably rusty since I haven't been doing it as much due to school. I had to frog what I was working on and start over since I forgot a simple purl stitch. And my knit stitch could use some work as well...

I haven't had much opportunity to enjoy many hot beverages lately. The crazy weather due to El Niño hasn't helped any. It's usually a looooot colder by this time of year and we've had at least one snowfall by now. It's barely broken the 60's for the majority of the time. I don't know what January and February will bring since they're usually the coldest months. I guess we'll see.

I hope everyone has a happy holiday season and I'll send out letters as soon as I can!