Well, it's been over a month since my last update, and now that I'm nearly finished with graduate school, it's time to get back to my routine of updating this thing on a regular basis.

The last time I wrote, the ILLINI were on their way to the FINAL 4 in St. Louis. On Saturday the 2nd, I met a bunch of my friends from Chambana at Al Hrobosky's (the ILLINI fan headquarters), where we watched the game on the big-screen televisions. The Illini won quite easily, and we all had a great time. The atmosphere was unlike anything I've ever seen before in my life! After a long day of screaming and excitement with a few thousand other ILLINI fans, I stuck around STL for dinner and watching the UNC/MSU game (UNC won, darnit). I headed back to Springfield around 1 a.m.

As you can imagine, Saturday was so much fun, I couldn't resist heading back down to STL for the championship game. A couple of my friends were lucky enough to snag tickets, so I ended up watching the game with Joe & Wally, who weren't quite so lucky to find tickets. ;o) Despite the lack of tickets, we got front row seats at Al Hrobosky's for game-watching. Unfortunately, the ILLINI's 3 point shooting wasn't there, and the refs were terrible, so it was quite difficult for the ILLINI to pull out a win. UNC ended up beating us 75-70, and needless to say, it was quite heartbreaking and pretty unbelievable. It was a sad drive home, but I made my way back to Springfield late that evening.

April was a pretty hectic month, in terms of schoolwork & other business. There was also the family Easter celebrations down in Tennessee, which are always fun. In addition, I made it over to Chambana for one last night of White Ho karaoke with my graduating pals, followed by sitting on the quad at 2 a.m. and remarking on how much I missed the quad. Ah memories....I love my Chambanites so much :o)

Other than that, I wrote about a MILLION papers, worked on my group project for my Campaigns & Elections Seminar, and went out w/ friends...it was a pretty uneventful month.....fun, but relatively uneventful.

That being said...IT WENT WAY TOO FAST!

It's May now, and I graduate in 5 days. I've been applying for jobs like crazy, and I've had a few interviews, and been turned down for a grand total of 1 job. I'm still waiting to hear back on everything else. SIGH. I know I shouldn't be freaking out so much, but if you know me, you know how impatient I am...I WANT A JOB NOW! Also, I'll be honest when I say that I like school and I don't want to give up the college environment just yet.

But alas, the time has come, and it's time for adulthood. However, I'll be celebrating my last weekend as an official college student this coming weekend, the night before and the night following my graduation. Fun times should be had by all...Friday night is the annual POS banquet, to be held at the Island Bay Yacht Club-if you've ever heard me talk about our POS gatherings, you know we'll have a great time. Graduation is at 2 p.m. on Saturday, and will be followed by an evening of celebration downtown w/ pretty much anyone I've ever called a friend here in Springfield, along with any of my out-of-towners who can make it.

So that's what's been going on in the last month...stay tuned for more details, as I will be posting regularly now that the college work (but mainly fun) is almost done. :o(