the end is near, the end is near

well friends, the time has come to close another chapter of the novel known as val's life. these past 2 weeks of my senior year have been amazing, and i just knew you were itching to get all the details.... so here goes.

1) what a blast
over the past 2 months or so, my dear friend t-dogg and i have been working on a rocket. now, some may say this is a rather simple feat, even as far as calling it a past-time or hobby, but i tell you... this was no stamp collection! after successfully super-gluing every inch of the instructions to the counter, rocket, or simply together (and after scraping every traceable print off of my fingers along with the hardened adhesive), our masterpiece was completed.

we chose the beautiful AMBUCs park for our launch, and despite a first-round nose-dive (due to lack of parachute release), our shining star saw 2 flights before any damage was reported. one fin detachment delayed any prompt return visits to the launch-pad, but future repairs have been discussed.

2) geekin' and drinkin'
the end of the semester, the year, and a college career. what better a time to celebrate with food, friends, and.... well.... alcohol! the last day of finals were capped off by a bbq with my lab group (one of my many families). our grad student, shawn, has been an extremely influential person in all of our lives, and has even led a couple of us into a future of research.

after the bbq, the party moved to legends for the commencement of the greenough barcrawl 2006. i designed our shirts (with the input of my lab peers), but the rest of the evening was pretty much ad lib. overall, about 15 people came out in greenough attire for beverage consumption.

although i'm going to be around the lab next year, it was a sad departure from the tight-knit community of undergrads and a good-bye to my number one cuban friend, who will be using his love of research to benefit the minds at stanford university.


3) ...hail alma mater...
and the culmination of all events: the commencement ceremony! apparently, the majority of my extended family happened to be in the area (within a 3 hour radius), so we opted to use graduation as an excuse to see each other. i was really excited that all of them were able to come in, since i haven't been with them all together in over a year. anne got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to eat dinner with the whole famn damily (the jennings side, that is). sorry folks, no pictures of my kin (or anne's reaction) yet... my parents still believe in film (whatever that is).

however... i do have pics of my bio buds. in return for me fulfilling their "token white girl" quota, paula and aj have been solid study buddies and reasons to attend class for the past 4 years of the hell known as mcb. what a bittersweet event to watch them cross the stage and get to share in this monumental occasion. i love you guys!