one thousand pounds of awesome.

Today was an Amazing day.

I started the morning by acquiring my favorite coffee from my favorite coffee stand- dirty chai with soy- and I paid for the person behind me. Someone has to start the chain. And Karma repaid me instantly, as I walked past my favorite professor's door and saw that they were around. I dropped onto the couch, as I have many, many hours in the past, and they said "You know, I wasn't sure if I was going to see you, and I was going to whisper in your ear at graduation, but you've been my favorite student in 23 years, and I was thinking about retiring, but you've given me new faith."
And I pretty much cried. I'm emotional, and o.k. with that.
My prof went on to tell me that they really believe that I'm going to change the world, and that I have so much potential. I believe them, and it made my day so full of confidence to hear it, right before I presented my senior research to the community.
One of my best friends took time out of his day to escort me to the awards ceremony and to lunch, and also sat through my presentation, even though it wasn't in his field and it took up a lot of time.
My presentation went really well. The room was packed, with standing room only, of people that love me and came to support me. They laughed in all of the right places and asked good questions. I feel like I covered the material way better than I did in practice sessions, and I didn't use the speech that I printed out against the option that I might freeze.
The president of the university himself shook my hand afterwards, and told me I did a great job. Some of the younger students said that my research made sense to them, completely, and professors in the audience still thought it was relevant. My advisor seemed really happy with it.
I went to a whole bunch of other presentations, and really enjoyed them all. I learned a lot. I struggled with a philosophical dilemma that I hadn't previously considered.
A friend bought me dinner, and I ate with a philosophy professor that I have always wanted to take a class from, and we had a wonderful discussion. He said that I'd made him consider a problem from from an angle he'd never considered, and would think about including that in his book.
I went to the nondenominational worship service and came to terms with the alienation and belonging inherent in being different, and maybe even considered it a good thing. After super bucket, I danced for an hour with friends, and got excited about moving to Portland all over again, and saw a gorgeous view of Olympia as I drove a friend home.
Overall, I feel encouraged and inspired. I wish every day could be this cool.