Growing coffee addiction?

My addiction to coffee is gradually increasing. It is just so damn good!

What is to be said for that?

Some have stated that caffeine addiction is as harmful as nicotine addiction, but I can not help my taste for coffee. My countless hours of work at The Olive Garden do not exactly help to provide a cure for this addiction. Starbucks coffee is really good, but some would argue that it is expensive. Others call it Charbucks, noting that their coffee has too much of a burnt taste to it. Their Caramel Macchiato is sinfully sweet; it really wakes me up when I am tired or have a long trip ahead of me.

Starbucks teas, however, are pricey, but I find that their coffees are sold at reasonable rates that rival other coffee companies. Coffee Beanery, which is located at the Rockaway Mall by my house, is a terrific little coffee shop. I always get their Caffe Mocha- it is the best one I have had from any of the coffee establishments. Starbucks, however, has a nice variety of seasonal coffees, like the Peppermint Mocha Latte.

What else is new?

As many of you already know, Howard Stern is moving to Sirius Sattelite Radio come January 9, 2006. Yesterday, while driving down to Stockton, I listened to Howard's final free radio show on K-Rock. Too bad his show is no longer going to be free to the general public. I really enjoyed listening to his radio show on K-Rock, when I would go on trips to school or work early in the morning. I think the man is brilliant and I am not sure if I can go without being able to have access to his radio show. Perhaps I should pay for my own Sirius activation and installation come the new year?

Onto the topic of my current mood and scene...

Here on the campus at The Richard Stockton College of NJ, there are very few students present at this time. Most of them have departed to go home to their families for the holidays upcoming. This campus almost has a desserted look to it. Last year, at this time, I was a student who had a bedroom, in an on-campus apartment, that belonged to me. Times can really change.

Yours truly, however, is here for the big day coming up tomorrow. After years of attending college, a journey that began at the County College of Morris in September 1999, I am about to participate in a ceremony that concludes such an extensive journey... one that transferred me from County College to Stockon in September 2002... and will finish with me graduation from Stockton tomorrow on December 18, 2005. I can not wait to have that diploma in my hands. The past three months have been pretty tough for me; the challenges of assuring this upcoming Fall Commencement ceremony were immense. Between holds, difficulty in registering for the internship I recently completed, denials of approval for graduation, and loan disputes, I was beginning to wonder if this stage of my life was ever going to let me go.

From about October 2005, up until now, I have been stuck in somewhat of an indeterminate state. Uncertainty plagued my life those last few months, but hopefully tomorrow's ceremony marks the beginning of a new phase in my life, and the end of the Autumn wasteland where I was restrained in one massive bubble of ambiguity. Heading into this graduation ceremony, I long to discover a decisive conclusion to the six years of hard work and dedication that I put in. Afterall, if one does not know where one is coming from, where is one supposed to go?

Where do I go after tomorrow?

Job search? Did that not begin over a month ago? Hopefully I land a decent job in due time. I plan on talking to some of my professors from Stockton about job prospects very soon.
Moving out of the household where I currently live with mom? Whether or not I find a high paying job that can be earned with a bachelors degree, a move away from home is inevitable in the very near future! I need to once again move out, as has been covered for almost two months here on this website. I would like to move sometime in the month of January. Hopefully Jaime can move out of her house and come live with me, should she find a higher paying job than the one she has now.
GMAT registration and preparation? I would certainly like to take that test sometime in April so that I may further earn the opportunity to attend graduate school. Graduate school, in my opinion, is a MUST. Scoring high on the GMAT serves as a form of redemption for any bit of slackage that I may have done in those years of college.
Partying like there is no tomorrow??? HAHAHAHA!! That has happened an insurmountable amount of times prior to this ceremony and I do not see it coming to a halt afterwards.

Before all of that happens, I desperately want to see tomorrow. I am ready to walk in that graduation ceremony right this moment! There will be a strut. There will be a swagger. There will be a loud applause. There will be many folks and college graduates present. College staff - professors who lived through those fruitful years with me - will be present to watch me move onto the next chapter. There will be a ceremony - one for which I will be a part of.

There will be a proud young man - who will finally be a college graduate - tomorrow.