A College Seeress' Diary

Mangled Matric

Dear Jesus,

The main program was done. Finally. Thankfully.

I felt sore all over, having sat in one cramped position for hours on end.

All the unnecessary procedures of boring speech after sleep-inducing speech and the lengthy oath-taking ceremony took their toll on me.

The amphitheatre was packed to the brim.
Still, other locations were chosen for the minor faculties and the program was live-streamed for them over there.
At least, I got to see the real action.

McCheynne had gone all the way and admitted plenty students this session.

Yes, we had a compulsory dress code. Black and white.
We were given our robe and academic hat just as we filed in to enter. So much ceremony.

Kathy. My God-sent.
That girl stuck by me all through, via real-time chats, even as she sat with her nerdy architecture mates in their allotted spot.
It was that that prevented me from dozing off to la-la land.

Kathy: Looks like this man is reading the bureaucracy verdict for penguins on the north pole. 😩🤦

I snorted in laughter which was an unsuccessful attempt at covering up my amusement at her metaphor.

Me: Kathy!!!🙃😶

Kathy: What?🤨 Am I lying?🤷

Now, I couldn't object.

Ray: No ma.😅 On a serious note, Kathy, I'm not feeling very fine right now.

Kathy: You okay?😟

Me: Feeling a bit woozy. I didn't sleep well yesterday at all. That dream I told you about repeated and when I woke up it was around two. I couldn't sleep. I prayed till daybreak. 😓

Kathy: Oh dear!🥺😿 Ever since you told me about your dreams, I have been praying too. Just take heart, Ray. The Lord who is revealing these things to you will surely answer. He has it all figured out. ✨

Ray: Thanks for the encouragement, bestie 😁. I just can't wait to get out of this oven and run to my room to sleep. 😴

Kathy: Room ke? Aren't your parents coming?🙂

I wasn't sure about that.
I tried to not let that affect me. Communication that I had with my parents had been minimal, not in quantity but quality.
Or how else can one describe them not telling me if they could truly make it or not?
At least if their schedule was very tight, the least they could have done was to explain.

Me: I don't think so😐. Besides, graduation is the most important ceremony of all. This jamboree is a silly preamble.😑

Kathy: Whatever you say.🥴 What of the others? Have you seen them?😃

I knew she was referring to John and Pris.

Me: Nope! Not yet. I'll chat them up.

And that I did.

To my surprise, it seemed like Mr Concentration, aka John, the Baptist, was at his peak level once again.

John wasn't connected online. I could almost picture him taking actual notes from the speeches. Yikes!

Pris sent 'HELP ME!' in all caps and a tirade of crying emojis when I asked her how she was faring.
I chuckled. It was that serious.

The only fun fact about this matric was how fascinating it was seeing everyone in uniformed colour schemes, arranged like stacks of books on the seats of this mini colosseum.