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Graduations-Worst Interminable Experience?

Semiologist

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Apr 19, 2002
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And it's graduation time again. Time to sit and wait, in a time crawl, for some relative/friend/vague associate's name to be called. It's especially fun when they have the ceremony outside, because May in Florida is just lovely. Is there a worse experience?

Please hold all your cheers until all the grad's name have been called....uh huh....that's happening.
 
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What's the degree of consanguinity that compels you to attend a graduation vs. taking a hard pass?

Our house: our children, other people's children whom I have taken in and raised and spouse. That's it.
 
This latest one is extra fun. It's at 6:30pm on Saturday, Memorial Day weekend. What?!? Why? Three day weekend....yea.....fun plans?.....no........
 
My son is graduating in a few weeks. It will be us, his sister and her boyfriend, grandparents and my sister. That's it.

Grow some balls and say "no".
 
The worst thing is graduation from every freaking grade now. PreK, K, 5, 8. When I was in school and we finished those grades, we just moved on.

And you walked to school up hill, both ways without shoes....damn kids.
 
My sister's kid is graduating. I don't feel the need to go, especially as they try and limit the number of attendees for each graduate, but I still appreciate the invite, recognize the importance of the occasion, and will gift her a crisp $2 bill.

The shock and awe that comes from receiving a crisp $2 bill is truly an amazing thing. It's my sister-in-law's go-to move during the Holidays. She makes it rain Jeffersons around Christmas time.
 
One of the worst experiences of my life was attending my younger sisters college graduation. It was at the College of Charleston , temp was probably 98 that day and I had the worst hangover of my life. I am 11 years older than her and spent the previous night pretending I was 20 years old again. I did not drink again until football season.
 
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I recall FSU graduation was long and horrible. We graduated with the main graduation on Saturday. Probably close to 2000 people. COB was the last college to be called and my name is towards the end. I was proabably 1850. Hungover as hell, pre-iphone.....terrible.
 
My sister and I graduated from FSU at the same time. Her nurse pinning ceremony was the same time as my graduation (social sciences), so my mom got special permission for me to walk with the college of business the next day. The look on the COB dean's face when I walked across the stage was like, "who is this knucklehead?" I was not happy (or sober).
 
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My sister's kid is graduating. I don't feel the need to go, especially as they try and limit the number of attendees for each graduate, but I still appreciate the invite, recognize the importance of the occasion, and will gift her a crisp $2 bill.

Wifey and I are apparently well-known among all graduates as suckers. We are getting invitations from kids we have never even heard of. They obviously do not want us at their ceremonies, and we have absolutely zero intention of attending. It is a transparent grab for cash. It’s OK, we get it.

If anyone is thinking about sending cash in the mail, reconsider. The postal crowd knows full-well what a graduation card looks like, and many of them never reach their addressees. This has reached an epic proportion during recent graduation seasons.
 
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I go for family members, and they better be close. We just drove to birmingham for my sister-in-laws graduation as a Dr. of Pharmacy from Samford. I tried to get out but my wife insisted. (On the plus side, I got to see the statue of Bobby Bowden they have outside their stadium.) It's her sister so I'm not going to say no to that one. But cousin, friend, or co-worker? Heck no.
 
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I've been going back to school myself to finish up some degrees I had to leave early years ago. I'm killing myself doing this full time at night while working full time and trying to be a Father. I'm trying to decide if I want to walk. I think I'll just buy myself something nice or go take a relaxing vacation instead. lol

Maybe once I completely finish the graduate degree I will, but just for the Bachelor's? No way.
 
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I've been going back to school myself to finish up some degrees I had to leave early years ago. I'm killing myself doing this full time at night while working full time and trying to be a Father. I'm trying to decide if I want to walk. I think I'll just buy myself something nice or go take a relaxing vacation instead. lol

Maybe once I completely finish the graduate degree I will, but just for the Bachelor's? No way.

Totally senseless in my view, UNLESS IT HAS SOME SPECIAL MEANING TO YOU. I don’t recall one thing that was uttered at any of my graduations. Totally meaningless to me, but I could understand why others might feel differently. You do you.
 
Didn't go to mine. Had it on a Friday night. Was out at Bullwinkle's and around 9pm figured my name was being called. Friend ordered me a shot. Slammed it and went back to drinking. Not sitting around for 4 hours to hear my name and walk.
 
At my high school graduation one of the students walked across the stage, turned around and dropped trou right there. Even made the national nightly news. These days it probably wouldn't make the local news.
 
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At my high school graduation one of the students walked across the stage, turned around and dropped trou right there. Even made the national nightly news. These days it probably wouldn't make the local news

But at least he’d get a lifetime sex offender registration for his troubles these days.
 
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My kid graduates from Elementary School (5th grade) next Friday morning. Then at about lunch time we are leaving and heading to Destin for a weekend soccer tournament. She told me she would rather leave for the tournament Thursday, but she has to attend graduation for mom. Yep, definitely my kid.
 
Totally senseless in my view, UNLESS IT HAS SOME SPECIAL MEANING TO YOU.
This was the thing for my college graduation. It was a big deal for my parents, and for my extended family. My cousin graduated from college two years earlier. He was the first of any of us to ever graduate college. So I was the second, and it was still a pretty big deal - especially to my mom and dad.

Plus, I went to a pretty small college, so it wasn't a huge assembly line of graduates - after I walked across I got hugs and congratulations from a lot of the professors I'd had over the years because they knew me.

I can see how it would be a huge pain at a massive school with thousands of graduates, but I was glad I walked for mine.
 
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The day my daughter graduated(3 yrs) from college I got multiple kidney stones and was unable to attend. Was a memorable day for several reasons.
 
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My parents insisted that my older sister & brother walk at their ceremonies when the graduated from USF & FSU, respectively. Fortunately for me, they got their fill & I didn't have to suffer through mine.
 
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My high school graduation was held at Constitution Hall in Wash. DC, so that was pretty cool.
I graduated from FSU in August '73 and they didn't hold grad ceremonies after that quarter, so my grad ceremony was my ROTC commissioning ceremony. There were 6 of us for that. My Mom and Dad (retired Col.) pinned on my Lt. bars and we were done.
 
I've been to two college graduations in my life. My wife's and then my daughter's last weekend.

I didn't go to mine...my family was from far away and didn't come. I did kind of regret not going later, felt like I might have liked the closure as opposed to going there for four years and just taking off. But maybe not.

I was the only one that made my daughter's...my other daughter had prom and my son had a boy scout trip. With a C last name, she kept telling me she would leave after her name got called, which I thought was doubtful considering how often they told them not to leave, and then roped off the exits. But sure enough, I watched her walk across the stage, and 30 seconds later got a text "outside". So about a 30 minute experience for me.

I would never, ever got to a graduation that wasn't my child's, and I would never presume to expect someone outside the household family to come to my kid's graduation.
 
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