Yeah, right. Like I�ll ever become a famous writer. (But I will photocopy it anyway.)

Last night I pulled out my senior thesis and re-read some of it. I had forgotten some of the content. To my credit, it was well-written, cohesive, and it made a lot of good points. It even looked pretty. I spent a lot of time making sure the layout was aesthetically pleasing; I even designed the front cover.

I was impressed with myself. I consider that thesis one of the biggest achievements in my life.

Looking at it brought back many memories.

I spent the first half of 1995 working on it. I worked on it probably 30 hours a week for those six months, while simultaneously attending school full time and working my internship part time. I honestly don�t know how I did that.

I loved working on that thesis. All the research I conducted, the meetings I attended with my committee members, the scientific data I created, and the writing I did was actually fun. It was the highlight of those busy six months.

Part of the thesis requirement was to bind the finished product with a technique called "perfect binding". This type of binding makes it look like a real book. Spiral binding and tape binding were unacceptable. I paid $150 dollars for this binding, which was exactly $150 more than I could afford. But I did it, somehow. My graduation partly hinged on this thesis. I didn�t want to give the faculty any reason for not giving me a degree, especially for something as silly as not conforming to the binding requirements.

But wouldn�t you know it, in the spirit of UC Hell, the environmental design college accepted many thesises (plural: thesi? Hahahaha!) from my classmates that were not perfect bound. In fact, I think I may have been one of two or three people that followed the binding requirement. And they still graduated. I�m still angry about that.

Worse, some of them were slapped together at the last minute. Some were shoddy. Some were short on information. It was disheartening to see how many people blew off the whole thing and also disturbing to see how many people didn�t really care about the work they submitted. The thesises we submitted were going to be placed in the environmental design college library. I didn�t want my name attached to an embarrassment, but obviously some people felt otherwise. So sad!

(Side note: But apparently my thesis is a memorable one. About three-and-a-half years ago, someone came through the company on a job interview. He had just graduated from UC Hell. When he was introduced to me, he said, "For some reason, your name sounds familiar." When I told him that we graduated from the same alma mater, he said, "Oh! I remember now. I read your senior thesis! It was the one about how rock music depicts the suburbs, right? I really liked it." I glowed.)

I had plans to publish my findings when I was finished, but soon after graduation I became busy with my job, a new boyfriend, and a bout of clinical depression. Time passed and I never pursued the publishing. Now I fear it�s too late. My data ends at 1995. If I were to publish it now, I would have to compile seven years� worth of new data. I�m not sure I�m up to that.

I�m also deterred by the fact that all the electronic files are in outdated Mac format. There is probably no computer around today that will read those files. Translation: I will have to painstakingly re-type all 86 pages. I don�t think so.

In other news, I�m getting increasingly worried about our wedding guest list. Two of my coworkers who are getting married as early as next week and in August told me that they�re having problems involving guests who insist on bringing their uninvited kids. One particular guest they�re referring to is also on my guest list so I�m sure I will inevitably have the same problem.

I�m going to have to stick to my guns about having non-family kids there. I can�t be making exceptions for some people and not others. M and I are going to have to discuss (and rehearse) exactly what to say to these people so that we�re prepared when it actually happens. Apparently, it will (based upon my coworkers� experience and seeing this topic all over the wedding planning sites). It�s just a matter of time.

I�m just shocked at how rampant rudeness is. At this point, I�m even thinking that hiring an on-site babysitter might not be such a bad idea in case people simply show up with an uninvited kid in tow. My blood will boil if this happens, so I should probably prepare myself in advance. I don�t want to go ballistic at my own wedding.

Tomorrow is my Friday off. Thank my lucky stars! It�s been one hell of a week.