Graduation Day--We Take Back Everything We Said About You

It's been a week (or more...who's counting, really?) since my last update, but I have a really great reason for why! This was my last week at Owens Community College, and it was also the week that my husband became an Owens graduate! This Fall, I will be a student at Lourdes College in Sylvania, Ohio.

It's been a little bit hectic. Thursday, the learning centers that we work(ed) in at Owens threw a going away party for us. It was really nice to know that we'd be missed. We exchanged information with the important folk and reassured others that we'd still be in touch. (Hey, if nothing else, there's always Facebook, right?) It was lovely. I feel good about the time we spent at Owens and having worked there. I'll miss all of our friends!

JJ's graduation was yesterday. His family, my in-laws, came in from Indiana to watch him walk at commencement. I was a little incredulous, but it actually went really well. JJ's parents got along, despite their divorce. JJ's aunt and grandmother came with his mom and brother. His father came with a cousin of his, Barb, and her husband, Dennis. Every one got along and had decent things to say about and to each other. I was so glad it went so well!

Commencement was long, but worth it. The key not speaker was somewhat interesting. She gave some tips about how to stand out in the business world. The speaker from the class of 2010 was just pathetic. Her speech basically consisted of a series of regurgitated cliches. The douche who sat behind us wouldn't stop talking during 80% of the ceremony (he left for the other 20%, which couldn't have made me happier.) He also had a child who wouldn't stop touching my father and myself or sit down and shut up either. Needless to say, my patience wore thin quickly. Happily, my composure was kept. I was just thrilled that they left before JJ walked so that I got to actually hear his name called.

We went out with the family yesterday to celebrate. Tonight, we went out on our own to celebrate. We decided to have dinner at Koto Buki and see a movie afterward. Before we hit the restaurant, JJ wanted to stop at Game Stop and spend some of his hard-earned graduation money. He bought Left 4 Dead, a subscription to Game Informer Magazine, and 12 months of X-Box Live. Sadly, upon our arrival home, we discovered that our X-Box 360 hates us and gave us the Red Ring of Death. At least we had a great dinner...

Dinner consisted of several courses, in fact. First, we started with edamame and hot sake.

Our hot sake and a random glass of water.

Though my husband prefers cold sake, he still enjoyed it hot. He doesn't like it as much as I do, though, so he let me have most of it.

View his enjoyment of sake!

Needless to say, of course, I was disappointed when the sake was gone. I was actually really looking forward to the sake. It had been over a year since our last trip to Koto Buki, so we were really excited about the sushi/sake combination.

Gone, you say?! NO!!!!!! Behold, the face of sadness.

The sushi, sadly, I didn't have the foresight to get a picture of. In fact, we're lucky there are even stories to tell about it because it was gone very quickly. We ordered salmon sashimi, tuna sushi, eel sushi, and something called a Ninja roll. The Ninja roll was crap, cucumber, and avocado with some kind of yellow sauce in a roll that had salmon and tuna on top. It was fantastic. After that, we got our salads and miso soup.

Delicious Miso!

Then, we got our main courses. I ordered a Korean dish called Dolsot Bibimbop. It consists of rice, beef, egg, sprouts, cucumbers, carrots, and sundry other veggies (I think bok choy was in there...) which get mixed together with a special hot sauce. It comes served in a stone bowl which is what it's been assembled in. The stone bowl comes out hotter than fire, so you have to spend the entire meal being extra careful not to touch it. Needless to say, I had a few singed-pinky finger moments. Also, I was rather surprised at the amount of hot sauce I was able to add to my food tonight. Normally, I'm a pretty big wuss, but, despite my wussiness, I actually put quite a bit on my food. I probably could have gone hotter, but I didn't want to go too far and not be able to eat my delicious meal. I'm not sure if the sake just dulled the pain for me or what, but it was a great meal regardless. My husband had a bento box for dinner, which was full of an assortment of crazy things. He loved it, so I'm glad.

Dolsot Bibimbop. The tiny pitcher is full of fiery goodness.

Later, after dinner, my husband and I took in a movie. We ended up seeing Kick Ass. JJ wanted to see Clash of the Titans 3-D, but he ended up forgetting that the movie time for that was 9:40, and we didn't get to the theater until around 9:50. Reluctantly, he agreed to see Kick Ass with me.

Kick Ass movie poster. Yes, that's an awkward mirror/flowers
combo you're seeing there. That was at the theater. Can't make
that shit up.

I thought that it was an enjoyable movie. It was funny and violent--a very good combination for a super hero movie. Plus, the guy who played the super hero who is the namesake of the movie, Kick Ass, is super cute.

All in all, we had a good night. Moreover, we got to come home and know that we can actually sleep in for once, which is something that we haven't been able to do since spring break. I'd say that makes this a very good thing. Hooray for graduates and sleep!