Graduation!!

Ah, Graduation.

I graduated from The George Washington University this past weekend - and I wanted to put all the pictures up here for everyone to enjoy. So I took out all the pictures where I look like a goof-a-loof, and here they be!

All these pictures can be clicked on for a much bigger version. You're going to need to do that for some of the far-away shots.

It was five days of incredible fun! My parents have a Christmas Eve party at our house every year - and the whole family comes and it's such a great time. This was like five full days of Christmas Eve!


Here's my sister Karen and her boyfriend Brian. Aren't they adorable? You may recognize him from a little independent film called Miss Congeniality 2 - you probably didn't hear about it. They're in the hotel room that my parents and I stayed in. It was huge! Honestly, we could have hosted a dance party in this room. We almost did.

I was so glad that my friends from college came into town. Pictured above is Amy, Shanie and Lisa. I lived with them for 3 years in college. I don't know how I turned out gay with gorgeous women like that in the house.

That's me with the girls. I never like pictures I'm in.

More relatives! That's my father, Uncle Ray, Aunt Angie and my sister relaxing and enjoying some down time. Contrary to this picture, my aunt does not drink all the time. Plus, that was soda.

An Uncle picture! Uncle Tim and Uncle Tony. That ended up being Uncle Tony's favorite spot.

Amy and Shanie. awwwwwwww.

Here's Shanie at dinner. Right after I took this picture I dropped my coat and went to pick it up...

... and after I picked it up I took this picture. Shanie is quite a lush!

That night we went out for Karoke in town. That's Shanie, our friend Venu, me and Amy.

Here's Venu crooning to the crowd. See those girls behind him? They were crazy drunk and lame.

Me and Amy. She's so cute. And she looked wicked fly that night.

My sister came too! It was fun!

After Karoke we went anywhere that was serving booze to another bar in town we enjoy.

The next day we went sightseeing. This is a great family shot taken in the sculpture garden of the National Gallery of Art. That's my family. Me, Karen, my dad and my mom. My family is the reason I had the strength and made the effort to get my degree. I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today without them.

My sister and Brian in the garden. Adorable.

Here's a nice shot of the World War II memorial in DC. It's a lot bigger than I thought. I would have taken more pictures here, but I was wicked tired from working.

A small portion of the bar at the hotel room. I can only remember parts of this weekend.

The big graduation ceremony was on the Ellipse, next to the White House in DC. This is the view I had. And it was 10 times better than the view of my family. sigh.

A new view - with the platform party on stage.

Martha and George Washington stopped by. (natch.)

Speaker One: A female in physics - outspoken all her life, she didn't stop now. She called on the university to increase funding to the sciences.

Believe it or not, that's Andy Rooney - he was the main speaker. He had a really good speech.

My friends April and Bercu. They were getting masters and I a lowly bachelors, but I still sat with them. It was more fun that way.

Family - post graduation ceremony.

Woo! Uncle Tim, Aunt Rosanne, me, Aunt Angie, Uncle Ray, Godmother Aunt Maryann and Uncle Tony. I was so happy that they all came down. It made the day so much special because they were there.

Dinner at Jaleo! Great Spanish food, even better company.

Another table at dinner, I work with Rosanna, she's next to Lisa, then Amy, Shanie and Jean-Paul. Rosanna's the reason I have these pictures. She gave me this incredible (and amazingly small) digital camera for graduation.

Family shot at dinner. As you can see, I got a bit too much sun at graduation. OK, a LOT of too much.

Me and the girls.

The men in my sister's life.

Lunch the next day --- I started missing people even then. Too close to them leaving.

My parents and I and lunch.

My parents - taken this morning - I was really missing them then, even though they hadn't left the city yet.

It was a great weekend - everything worked out so perfectly! I had no reason to be nervous about anything, everything worked out perfectly (thanks to my family.)

All of a sudden, I feel so lonely. I can't wait to see them all again. I'm visiting my sister in a few weeks, and I'm going to visit my parents this summer.

Can't wait!