raccoon hat

We had a lovely day in Stillwater, even though I awoke sometime around six a.m. and discovered that my brother had instinctively locked his bedroom door, which meant that I couldn't access the bathroom without waking him up. So, I dosed fitfully until his alarm went off; he had a final to take this morning, and I didn't want to wake him up early. But, after he left for the final, I slept for a bit longer, then got up, got ready, did a load of laundry, and repacked for the roadtrip ahead of us. He came back around 10:30 and our parents weren't too far behind -- they spent the night at a hotel, but they showed up in time to have lunch.

We drove around Stillwater for a bit, and settled on Braum's, which is a creamery that also serves burgers and fries. In this respect, it was both twice as good and half as costly as the Palo Alto Creamery, although they served their food on paper wrappers rather than on plates. Then, my brother showed us around campus a bit; my parents had seen it when they moved him down here last fall, but I got to see his office, the buildings that he frequented, the alumni center, etc. Oil money has bought some lovely buildings down here (the alumni center is named for Conoco-Phillips), and also seems to buy any possible attempt to keep the grass green and the flowers blooming in the arid plains.

After campus, we came back to my brother's apartment and watched some "Stargate" (weird, I know). I took a bit of a nap, but woke up in time to watch some more "Stargate" and some "Scrubs" before getting ready for graduation. The ceremony was for masters' students and doctoral candidates and was held in the OSU basketball arena, which was very modern (albeit filled with too much orange for my taste). My parents and I scored decent seats, although somehow where we sat and where my brother ended up sitting ended up being in the exact wrong line of vision, since the loudspeakers blocked us from seeing him. I realized sometime after sitting down that I'd forgotten my phone, and I had all the mad twitching of an addict when I broke out into a cold sweat upon envisioning several hours without it. Had I known it was in my car, I would have gone back for it, but I thought it was in my brother's apartment, so I made do without. Luckily, I'd brought my Arizona/New Mexico guidebook with me, so after my brother's name was announced and he walked across the stage, I read half the guidebook as the ceremony continued for another hour.

But, things got spiced up near the end; apparently, Garth Brooks did the online MBA through Oklahoma State, and he actually walked in the graduation tonight like any other masters' student. My brother had texted my dad's phone earlier in the evening saying that he had stood just a foot away from Garth Brooks while the graduates were gathering before the ceremony, but I didn't realize that Mr. Brooks was actually graduating. They announced his name and he walked across the stage to huge applause; he's an OSU undergrad alum as well and a source of much Oklahoma pride. And, he's apparently quite sincerely humble; my brother got a picture with him backstage, and when the ceremony was over, he chatted with everyone who stopped to say hi to him rather than making a run for the exit like he easily could have. So, that was cool to see. And, we're all v. proud of my brother, of course :)

After the ceremony, we escaped campus and had a late dinner at my brother's favorite Mexican place in town, which was definitely not Alyssa-approved. He ordered the queso appetizer, which was a big bowl of melted cheese that somehow seemed different than any other melted-cheese dish I've ever had. Then, we came back to his place, my parents gathered the items they'd brought over here from the hotel, and they took off; we decided against breakfast tomorrow morning since it's quite out of the way for them to come back here or for us to go to them before they leave for Iowa, so this was the end (until I go back to Iowa later this summer, of course). And now, I should really go to bed -- we may or may not leave tomorrow (likely not), but I really do want to write. Goodnight!