We've come a long long way together.

Happy December 19th. It's National Oatmeal Muffin Day.

This weekend was busy + fun. It was bun. I graduated (on National Underdog Day) and it was good times. The commencement speech was over before I even realized I was listening to the commencement speech. And then I didn't fall down or anything! I competently put the hood thingy on the gown. My cap only fell off a couple of times and I didn't fall asleep during the eons of doctoral candidates getting hooded and handshaked and hugged and whatnot. I was amused throughout the ceremony by a handful of supporters of a new doctor named Saif Somethinorother, whose friends took it upon themselves to bring posterboard and write out different words and spell them out in the audience. They had a little rubber horn that they honked when they had the words spelled out so that Saif would see them. They first spelled "Saif". Then they spelled "Egypt" (where I assume Saif is from). They were doing well up to that point. Then they tried to do "We (heart) Saif" except the fella who was put in charge of the (heart) and the S got them turned around so when they honked and everyone looked it said "Wes (heart) Aif" until the guy sheepishly switched it. It kept me awake through the ceremony watching to see what they would come up with next. Thanks, Saif, for graduating in December and having such awesomely amusing and supportive family and friends.

Look at that happy girl with her empty diploma case. Aw.

So, there were also some parties, at which I played some games. It was fun. "Scattergories" was played. I like Scattergories. It always creates some laughs. One of the best ones from the weekend was when one person read the category wrong and instead of listing 'things that grow' that began with an M, she read it as 'things that glow', and she went through then entire round of people saying things like 'Monkeys' and 'Marigolds" and never blinked an eye. Someone became skeptical when she shouted out 'Moon rocks' and then when she realized what she'd done the game kind of fell apart for a while with laughing and mocking, because wouldn't you question someone else's answer when they shout out 'Monkey' and you are under the assumption that the category was glowing things? I arrived late due to dealing with another part of the weekend: Beatrix had to have a little surgery and she's not a patient that handles healing very well. At least not when she's left alone. She's getting better, I think. She's just not any good at resting and not jumping around when she's wounded. I also saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie. I liked the first one and I think the second one is better. But what I really like about it is that it's artistically done with the special effects and things. I love the way they tell the story with the fast motion and then the slow motion mixed. The first one was like that too, and I just really enjoy going to the movies more when the film is actually awesomely shot like that rather than just watching a long tv-show type movie that's got nothing all that interesting about the way its filmed. Nice job, Guy Ritchie. 

Then, I attempted baking. Today was my first day of being a full-time worker bee rather than a student worker at my job. And it was also the holiday party. And snack day. And I wanted to bring lots of stuff. So I made a cake, sugar cookies, and attempted peppermint bark. I am more Julia Child than Martha Stewart. I am more of the gang who believes that if you drop something and you're alone in the kitchen, you can just pick it up and continue on as if nothing happened. It's sort of a 'if a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it' kind of philosophy on cooking, I know. But it seems to work okay. Except the cake overflowed the pan it was in and dumped out all over my oven. I accidentally put too much peppermint flavoring into the peppermint bark and it turned out more like peppermint leather. After adding more chocolate though, it finally became more like bark. The sugar cookies turned out great, but the chocolate chip ones I also made are really sticky and have kind of molded into one giant cookie that holds the form of the glass bowl I was trying to keep them in...

But looks are somewhat deceiving! The cake tastes really really good. Half it was eaten today. I put a sign on it that said what it was (Chocolate Pear Spice Cake) and also that it 'tastes better than it looks'. I also kind of guilted a couple of people into trying it. (They all liked it.) The sugar cookies were a huge hit. They taste really good. Even a guy who's mother is a baker told me the cookies were really good. How 'bout THEM apples?! And the peppermint bark...well. One person tried it and said it was 'fresh'. Hardly anybody ate it. I don't blame them. It's a little strong. I won't eat it if I bring it back home.

Oh, holiday baking, you and I are not always compatible. But in a blindfolded taste test, that overflowed cake could be a real contender for winning. Really. It's pretty good. Here's a closeup of the cake, but not the overflowing part.

Nom nom nom.

Also, I was watching "Love and Other Drugs" earlier (not a bad movie, especially being able to watch Jake Gyllenhaal be all adorable and stuff for a couple of hours. It's a pleasant way to spend some time.) and Fatboy Slim's song "Praise You" came on during a scene and I haven't been able to get it out of my head. "We've come a long long way together...through the hard times and the good...I have to celebrate you baby. I have to praise you like I shou-ou-ou-ould-d-d-d-d-d-d-d."