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Well,
the day sort of broke in the early afternoon with a downpour of
rain, and it's been raining on and off ever since. It's a little
cooler, but not cold — it's still humid. There was a wonderful
light just now, the clouds had broken over the far hills, and
there was a washed-out blue, shimmering across the lucent grey
of the water.
And
the situation with the job has sort of resolved itself. The job
will be done for the agreed price. There's unlikely to be a Christmas
card exchange though!
Now,
I forgot to mention, that on Friday Debbie had her graduation
ceremony from University. She has a Masters of Communication with
Distinction. Yah Debbie! It's been four long years getting there.
I am so proud of her for sticking it out and finishing, and for
doing so well. I took the day off work and went with Matty to
watch the parade of graduates through town. We then met my parents
and went to the graduation ceremony. It's actually quite moving.
You see all the professors and lecturers wearing their academic,
multicoloured, and completely from-the-past gowns all parade in
and sit down. Then the graduands (not graduates quite yet!) file
in and sit down, awaiting their call onto the stage. It's the
sort of thing that sounds a bit ridiculous, and not cool, but
when you're there, even as a spectator, it means a lot. You appreciate
just how much hard work goes into an academic degree, and just
how much it means.
We
just stayed till Debbie was called, then left. It was too much
to expect Matthew to stay through the whole ceremony. He vacillated
between rapt attention and wandering up and down the steps beside
our seats. At the start, the auditorium went dark, and there was
a Maori welcome and challenge. When that finished, the lights
came back on, and Matthew piped up for everyone in our section
to hear, "It's morning time!"
Tomorrow
night is the Christmas function for clients where I work. It's
been a long time since I've been to a Christmas function of more
than 3-4 people. My most memorable ones were when I was at University
and worked in an ice-cream freezer each summer holidays. I was
between 17 and 23 when I worked there. I would get very drunk
at each of the functions. So would everyone else. I guess it was
like a rite of passage or something. It was fun though. Until
you had one drink too many and threw up somewhere in public. Now,
I don't get really drunk except maybe once a year. I don't think
I have this year yet. There's not long to go …
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