sunburned and tired

Graduation was long.

It was really hot, and I was feeling kind of nauseated for part of it, I think from the heat. (I wish, I wish, they just broke it into two different graduations and had it in the basketball arena like they do in the winter - it's airconditioned and out of the sun.

The speaker was our outgoing president. I wondered who it was gonna be since it wasn't advertised. He actually said some fairly strong things on the importance of education as opposed to mere certification, going against the idea that smaller colleges should take over the function of being a trade school. (Trade and vocational schools are great, but they already exist and it's only going to hurt smaller colleges to compete with them). I mean, yeah, I get that college is expensive (though we try not to be). But there is value in a good general education or even just taking some classes outside your specialty to see what the bigger world is like - I valued my out-of-major classes like linguistics and Great Books, and I enjoyed the classes in my major that weren't specific to my area of study (like Developmental Biology). Nothing you ever learn is a waste, I tend to think.

I know he wasn't the most popular president with some but I liked some of his qualities.

I ran to the drugstore after the ceremony and bought a tube of aloe vera gel. I don't know that I got sunburnt (on me it usually doesn't show up until the next morning), and I started using it in the hopes of lessening the damage from any burn.

I left early but I forgot how big the all-in-one graduation was, and wound up having to park behind the administration building and walk. That's only slightly closer than it would be to walk from my house....

As a result, I only caught the first 15 minutes or so of the first of the two-parter Ponies season finale. But good ol' Hub, they had it up as streaming video online, so I got to watch it this afternoon.

A few random thoughts, here be spoilers:

1. So, Twilight's castle is in Ponyville? I actually kind of expected that - I figured they couldn't keep the show working the way it was and move her away to somewhere. (I was thinking for a while, "Oh, she'll get the Castle of the Two Sisters, it's not too far away" but then again, that place is in ruins and while a season of My Little Construction Workers: Renovation is Magic might be interesting, I guess it wouldn't work.)

2. Looks to me like there's going to be some kind of Knights of the Round Table theme going on next season. I can be down with that. I like the idea of the Mane Six being more "equal" than one might have with one of them being a princess.

3. I was really hoping though she was going to be Princess of Books (heh) rather than Princess of Friendship, but whatever. (And what's Ponyville going to do for a library now? I hope they rebuild it, maybe hire a full-time librarian (new background character!), and put books back in it)

4. Discord. Oh, Discord. It's a good thing I'm not Fluttershy because what he did would have broken me permanently. Yes, he repented of it and you're supposed to forgive people when they repent, but really? I can forgive but getting my trust back of someone is a whole 'nother matter.

5. That was a pretty dang epic magic battle there. I found myself thinking, "If this were a fantasy show made for an adult audience, at least one of the main characters would have died by now." I'm glad it's not, and actually, that may be one buried reason why I watch it (and other cartoons) - it's very unlikely in a cartoon series aimed at kids, a character (even a fairly minor one) is really unlikely to be killed off.

6. I like Cadance a whole lot more now than when she first appeared. She's got guts beyond what I thought she would.

7. Tirek. I know he's from the old series but DANG that's a creepy villain. And sort of sociopathic: convinces Discord that he's a partner and is going to help him, and then just turns like that. (Interesting question: In Equestria, how do you determine whom you can trust? Discord betrayed the Ponies but then got betrayed himself....)

8. I confess I am glad the "rainbowfication," like the crystal effect of last season, was just a temporary thing - I really didn't care for all the crazy color combinations with the "rainbowfied" hair and wings and stuff.