Proud and Happy Chappy . . . . Yipee!

Well they say every picture tells a story - let this one speak for itself!
Other Photo's -
Group of 4: Kamal; Murvin; Abiodun & I and then Murvin (whom I think was the best coder on our course) & I;

The only thing you can't see, is me, beaming from ear to ear . . . . . lol!

The Graduation Ceremony was held today - 29 October - in the lovely Barony Hall - where I wrote my Information Retrieval exam in January of this year . . . I am down with this chest infection - something similar to what I had back in April and no doubt passed onto me by Judi - well I was bold enough to say it ain't coming my way - seems it had a mind of its own.

Judi asked in passing last night - what is the plan for tomorrow and this prompted me into action - making sure the times dates and locations were all known and planned for only to discover I still had an envelope with information in it waiting for me at registry . . . Judi was laughing and I had to admit that not everything was planned down to the finest detail - there were still one or two things to be finalised - anyway - not to belabour the point picked up envelope - picked up gown and sash and even had photo's taken straight away and went to pick my Mum up and still had a couple of hours to spare . . . .

At approximately 14h00 I made my way down Collins Street to get to the entrance in High Street (guests had to enter via Rottenrow Road) and almost immediately met Christine, who was having a cigarette with her brother. Made our way plus two others - to the hall - where you had to register to find out where you were to be seated - not surprisingly all the MSc - Computer and Internet Technologies guys where together - when I took my seat E15 - Gobi was sitting next to me - Mathias, Antonio, Idong, Abi and Murvin were all close by with Rory, Phil & Stephen in the next row opposite us - which meant they would be right behind us when we stood up to go on stage . . . .seemed like quite a while before the proceedings were under way and thereafter it just flew . . . I think our group was in the first third of the proceedings - which left us with some time when we arrived back with our degrees. The Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Hamnett (who has more intials behind his name than I have letters in all three my names) capped each of us . . . - someone else hands you the actual degree and another person places the hood over your head and drapes it across your shoulders.

It was all really over rather quickly - theses were Science degrees - they start with the Doctor's (1/2 a page of names) , then Masters (2 and a 1/2 pages of names) and then finally some Bachelors of Science (only about 1 and a 1/2 pages of names). Of the Information Management group that started with us - roughly about 18 students only 2 submitted their dissertations and Graduated today a bit sad. Of the CIT group we were about 25 - I only counted about 12 who were eligible - of whom 4 were not present - is this how it normally works - I know I struggled with my Technical Report with my Honours - but it seems pointless to complete two semesters and then not too bother going any further?? The course is structured so that you qualify for a Post Graduate Diploma after the first two semesters - but they would have Graduated today as well and there was only persons name down for this in CIT - and not a name I recognised so he must be a carry over from last year??? What happened to everyone else - about 13 students??? No idea about the Library students - but there seemed to be loads of people missing their as well . . . ??? Spoke briefly to Nicole seems she has moved to Edinburgh and she loves it there . . . .

After emerging from the hall all the tension was released and everyone was hanging around posing for photo's etc., - now MR MR who is a keen photographer never took his
camera along - I was sick guys . . . lol - anyway everyone has promised to send me copies . . . watch this space . . .lol.

Afterwards - rushed to hand the gown and hood back in and stopped off at Harry Ramsden's joint for traditional fish and chips . . . .

I have set up a meeting with Careers Advice for next week - I need to work through my book on 44 1/3 things to do to ensure I don't succeed in life - prior to this appointment.

The day left a nice warm fuzzy feeling behind . . . . if only all days were as accommodating!

Rory and his band played this evening but unfortunately I wasn't up to it . . . pity - could have been a grand way to celebrate . . . most of the guys are around though so hopefully sometime soon we can have a celebratory evening.