I was going to rant about how dead my blog has been as of late, but in retrospect, I realized that the deadness of my blog is the product of my own inactivity, both with the infrequency of my own posts and my own neglect to read and correspond with my fellow bloggers, so it is much more my own fault that it is any other reason. I of course have the usual series of excuses, among them are my school, my work, my rollercoaster of a social life and my struggle to find some semblance of balance in my life.

I�m going to take this moment however to cease the ranting, and to begin celebrating. In typical �student syndrome� fashion, I submitted the last of my take home finals last Thursday, which was of course due that midnight, just few minutes before the computer lab officially closed. And with that submission goes that final assignment of my career as a graduate student. Part of me is definitely going to miss my life as a student and an academic.

Now I�m not saying I was always the perfect student. There was a time in my life where I was the ultimate slacker and quite possibly one of the worst students in terms of study habits. I have a long ugly transcript of my undergraduate career with all the incompletes, withdrawals, low and failing grades and long �sabbaticals� in between to prove it.

But then something happened. I exhausted my financial aid privileges as an undergraduate, thus effectively ending my days as an eternal slacker student. Suddenly I had to become responsible and find a way to be financially independent. I had to make serious changes in my life. I had to find a full-time job, hopefully with tuition reimbursement. I had to become serious with school, with every single class. I could no longer afford to drop classes or fail like I had frequently done in the past and no matter how difficult my path was, I had to claw, struggle and fight my way to the finish.

Eventually, school gave me focus. It became my driving force, because of it my life shifted from being a slacking underachiever to some unstoppable, bachelor degree and later master degree level scholar. Don�t get me wrong, part of me is breathing a sigh of relief that it is all pretty much over now, that I no longer have to cram or hustle, or whip together an intelligible and convincing essay at the eleventh hour. Another part of me however feels like I�m at some crossroad, with no clear direction or focus, no compass to guide me to my true north and I�m a bit disconcerted by it all.

I suppose the uncertainty is part of what makes life so interesting. I don�t need to have everything in life all figured out, I should be happy with the things I have accomplished, especially with the big things like being able to complete my masters degree with a 3.950 GPA and to be able to graduate �with distinction�. So this Sunday, I will walk the graduation aisle in full master�s regalia, complete with cap, hood, gown and honor cord and stand proud with my fellow graduates.

Hopefully, sometime in the very near future, I�m going to get myself drunk out of my skull. It�s been a ridiculously long time since I have done so and I think I finally deserve it. Anyway, there�s a bit more to blog about (isn�t there always?) but I have a long weekend ahead of me, so I�m going to engage in some much needed and much earned rest, so until next time...