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Fuck HS graduation ceremonies


GhostOfTomJoad

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5 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

Aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. should not be forced to sacrifice a minimum of one day in order to go sit in a fucking gym, auditorium or arena, be inundated with shrieks and screams every 10 seconds for 90 minutes, risk fucking heat stroke PLUS deal with bullshit family drama just to watch the kid walk across the stage. 

Is there a gun to their head forcing them to be there? 

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Just show up drunk to the first one.

Choices should have consequences.  They don't have to be BAD consequences.

"Uncle Ghost, why don't you stay home and watch the dogs next time."

Edited by slorch
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11 minutes ago, AUS-97HORN said:

i mean, it could be worse....

 

you could have forced the graduates to attend the Twilight movie rather than watch Colt's final home game.....

At least Forks, WA is in a beautiful area of a beautiful state. Imagine it could've been in College Station or Brenham. 

 

Edit: I misread your post. Lol that's the worst.

Edited by SimonBolivar
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I’ve never attended any graduation ceremony for a niece or nephew, and none of my siblings ever attended, nor were expected to attend, my kid’s graduation.  My daughter’s graduation was last week and will be the last one I attend until my grandson graduates in 12 years (in the unlikely event I’m still around then).  There were 6 kids in her graduating class.

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What I have determined is that for many things in life you don't do them because they make sense or that you care about them, but you do it because it is important to someone else and that someone else is important to you.

Kindergarten graduations are like this.  My kids put on a play, they danced and they were very proud.  It was stupid, but I went and cheered because it mattered to them.

I will go to my kids High School graduation, but I won't go to anyone else's.  Why?  Because graduating from High School is expected in our family and is not a celebratory event...but it is my kid.   But my kid and almost every other kid doesn't want to be there.  Parties, gifts, sure...but the event itself is almost as bad for them as for everyone else.

Other peoples kids (even relatives) can get a gift or a check, and if there is a party to attend with family in the vicinity I would go if they invited me.

Otherwise...no.*

*Note:  Unless my wife says otherwise and makes it more unbearable to deal with her than to suffer through whatever shitty event du jour I am dealing with.

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Family members graduation ceremonies are one thing. What bugs the absolute shit out of me is kids I barely know mailing an announcement,  i.e. begging for a check.  Yeah, Trevor, I know you're graduating. Go ahead and drive your lifted 2021 F150 to Blinndergarten,  but you could have saved a stamp cause I'm not donating to your beer fund

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6 minutes ago, Dennis Taylor said:

Family members graduation ceremonies are one thing. What bugs the absolute shit out of me is kids I barely know mailing an announcement,  i.e. begging for a check.  Yeah, Trevor, I know you're graduating. Go ahead and drive your lifted 2021 F150 to Blinndergarten,  but you could have saved a stamp cause I'm not donating to your beer fund

I got one via text the other day from the kid of a guy I worked with a few years ago.  It was well done I suppose.  Looked lile a recruit’s commitment announcement.  I’ve met the kid 2 or 3 times.   If I made that list it was a big ass list.  Guessing the kid/mom/dad just sent it to everyone in their contacts.  Saved on postage I suppose.  It did indicate that the number it was sent from was linked to their venmo account.  I am far from old fashioned, but that struck me as a little bit tacky.

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The best piece of advice I've ever gotten was this: "Hey, everyone has a right to ask, and you have every right to say, "No." Send a gift , if you must, but you are not required or obligated to say "Yes" to all the requests for your time."

I hear people say all the time they are overloaded or too busy for themselves, and everytime I dig into it, they are the ones that caused it by just saying "Yes" because they didn't want to disappoint their family/friend/random coworker/etc... Stop saying Yes!

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It’s all what you make of it, like anything else. I had somewhere north of 20 family members show up to my HS graduation. I’m sure they were bored out of their minds. But I remember meeting them outside after and getting mobbed by all my cousins. A really happy memory looking back. 

 

Posted in another thread, but UTRGV showed me the future of graduations a couple weekends ago. 15 minutes of speeches, names called in order of graduation registration, graduates & their families asked to leave after the grad walks the stage. Probably 50-60% of people were out of there in under an hour. Steady exodus meant no logjam leaving either.

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In my lifetime, I have been to my own graduation, and those of my 2 sons.

Gotta admit the one at West Point was badass.

Don't really care to attend any more until grandkids are up.  Then fuck yeah!!!

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I went to my daughter's graduation from UTSA a couple of Saturdays ago.  Absolute shit show.  They combined the College of Business, College of Engineering, College of Education and University College (whatever that is) into one ceremony.  We bailed after she walked...2 hours and 15 minutes into it.  I heard it lasted over three hours by the time they got everyone through the line and that was with only a brief speech by the school president.  

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On 5/23/2022 at 7:47 PM, GhostOfTomJoad said:

Fuck 'em. You know who should be required to attend them? The graduate, the parents, and maybe younger siblings who have yet to graduate. That's it. Aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. should not be forced to sacrifice a minimum of one day in order to go sit in a fucking gym, auditorium or arena, be inundated with shrieks and screams every 10 seconds for 90 minutes, risk fucking heat stroke PLUS deal with bullshit family drama just to watch the kid walk across the stage. 

This Friday will be our 8th and final HS graduation. Nephew in Spring. We've attended them for nieces and nephews in Austin, Houston, Arkansas and Minnesota. I've bit my tongue for almost 15 years now. But fuck the non-stop torture that is HS graduation season.

GOTJ's graduation recognition plan is this:

  • Give 'em a significant book (either by an author as an attentive relative you know that they admire, or if not a classic work that they will appreciate later)
  • Give 'em some cash
  • Promise them that when they're in college they can call you when they fuck up/need to talk about a tricky situation before discussing it with their parents

That's it. And don't get me started on pre-K, kindergarten, grade school, etc. "graduation" ceremonies. 

Let me be clear. Fuck HS graduation ceremonies. The end.

 

Bitter, party of one, please.

 

 

On 5/23/2022 at 7:52 PM, Js1 said:

Is there a gun to their head forcing them to be there? 

This.  100%

 

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On 5/23/2022 at 9:14 PM, demos said:

HS graduation was definitely more about parents and grandparents.

College graduation - didn’t go. Said mail me the diploma. Threw a party instead.

College graduation was attended for the benefit of my parents (first one in my family to get a college degree...this really just means I'm an old); I was so fucking hung over it hurt to walk, to breath, and to keep my eyelids open. I'm sure we went somewhere nice for dinner, I have absolutely no memory. 
Had to pack all my shit the next morning, again/still hungover, maybe didn't sleep that night, huge parties after the 'rents went home. Lucky I survived, elsewise I wouldn't have made it to Houston a week later.

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21 hours ago, Droopy said:

The best piece of advice I've ever gotten was this: "Hey, everyone has a right to ask, and you have every right to say, "No." Send a gift , if you must, but you are not required or obligated to say "Yes" to all the requests for your time."

I hear people say all the time they are overloaded or too busy for themselves, and everytime I dig into it, they are the ones that caused it by just saying "Yes" because they didn't want to disappoint their family/friend/random coworker/etc... Stop saying Yes!

Personal anecdote about this specific topic. When I graduated college it was the first time I met the family of my girlfriend (now wife). Her stupid ass mother comes up to me and says "hey great to meet you, we're going out to dinner do you want to come with us?". Lots of pressure so I felt obligated to say yes. So I got to eat at a terrible restaurant with her family while mine stayed in the hotel and entertained themselves without me. I had grandparents, parents, and siblings there but also had aunt, uncle, and cousins that I hadn't seen in years. They were pissed and never came to another graduation for my family again.

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On 5/24/2022 at 9:22 AM, ABSR said:

What I have determined is that for many things in life you don't do them because they make sense or that you care about them, but you do it because it is important to someone else and that someone else is important to you.

Kindergarten graduations are like this.  My kids put on a play, they danced and they were very proud.  It was stupid, but I went and cheered because it mattered to them.

I will go to my kids High School graduation, but I won't go to anyone else's.  Why?  Because graduating from High School is expected in our family and is not a celebratory event...but it is my kid.   But my kid and almost every other kid doesn't want to be there.  Parties, gifts, sure...but the event itself is almost as bad for them as for everyone else.

Other peoples kids (even relatives) can get a gift or a check, and if there is a party to attend with family in the vicinity I would go if they invited me.

Otherwise...no.*

*Note:  Unless my wife says otherwise and makes it more unbearable to deal with her than to suffer through whatever shitty event du jour I am dealing with.

I was just talking about this with a couple of gentlemen at church.  It's expected and the graduates should not be worshipped like conquering heroes for doing what they are supposed to do. 

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4 hours ago, Catpfish said:

I went to my daughter's graduation from UTSA a couple of Saturdays ago.  Absolute shit show.  They combined the College of Business, College of Engineering, College of Education and University College (whatever that is) into one ceremony.  We bailed after she walked...2 hours and 15 minutes into it.  I heard it lasted over three hours by the time they got everyone through the line and that was with only a brief speech by the school president.  

Lol, I  feel your pain.  I've gone to my kids and grandkids graduation, and to the graduation of my sons bride to be at UTSA. Yep total shit show. All called in alphabetical order. What really sucked was that her last name was......Vied.

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Austin High graduation for my grandson in 2021 was a litany of windbag speeches by various administrators who loved to hear themselves talk. 
 

I had to go to my college graduation because my dad wouldn’t believe it until he saw me with the genyouwine paper degree in my hand.

 

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1 hour ago, HRSchenker said:

Personal anecdote about this specific topic. When I graduated college it was the first time I met the family of my girlfriend (now wife). Her stupid ass mother comes up to me and says "hey great to meet you, we're going out to dinner do you want to come with us?". Lots of pressure so I felt obligated to say yes. So I got to eat at a terrible restaurant with her family while mine stayed in the hotel and entertained themselves without me. I had grandparents, parents, and siblings there but also had aunt, uncle, and cousins that I hadn't seen in years. They were pissed and never came to another graduation for my family again.

The power of saying "No". Hindsight, but could have easily thanked her for the offer and that you'd love to do it another time, but your family came to see you and you should stay with them while they are in town. Everyone is satisfied and you got to do what you wanted. Just because someone had the courage to ask doesn't mean you can't have the courage to say "No, but thank you.".

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1 minute ago, Tylerocks said:

I only walked for my high school graduation.

Didn't attend UT ceremony

Growing up in the 80's we didn't have (at least I don't remember) having multiple grads from Pre K>Kinder, K>1st, 5th grade>Mid school, or 8th grade to high school

 

Kindergarten and High School ceremonies for me.

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Graduation ceremonies can be downright awful.  I agree.

Not liking or attending graduation ceremonies seems a little trivial about now.  There's quite a few folks in Uvalde that won't have future plans after what happened yesterday.  

While sometimes silly and off-putting, perhaps we can take a time out of our lives to do things we don't want to.

Not taking a shot at the OP.  

Perspective, lads.  

Perspective.

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3 hours ago, Wally Fairway said:

College graduation was attended for the benefit of my parents (first one in my family to get a college degree...this really just means I'm an old); I was so fucking hung over it hurt to walk, to breath, and to keep my eyelids open. I'm sure we went somewhere nice for dinner, I have absolutely no memory. 

This sounds very familiar.  I think, it was fuzzy. 

Motherfuck, it was hot on the Main Mall that day too. 

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2 hours ago, Armybrat said:

Austin High graduation for my grandson in 2021 was a litany of windbag speeches by various administrators who loved to hear themselves talk. 
 

I had to go to my college graduation because my dad wouldn’t believe it until he saw me with the genyouwine paper degree in my hand.

 

Bbbbut....you mean they aren't sheepskins?

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6 hours ago, HRSchenker said:

Personal anecdote about this specific topic. When I graduated college it was the first time I met the family of my girlfriend (now wife). Her stupid ass mother comes up to me and says "hey great to meet you, we're going out to dinner do you want to come with us?". Lots of pressure so I felt obligated to say yes. So I got to eat at a terrible restaurant with her family while mine stayed in the hotel and entertained themselves without me. I had grandparents, parents, and siblings there but also had aunt, uncle, and cousins that I hadn't seen in years. They were pissed and never came to another graduation for my family again.

So you likely got laid and never invited to another graduation?

Show me a loss…

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On 5/24/2022 at 5:41 PM, Helobious said:

It’s all what you make of it, like anything else. I had somewhere north of 20 family members show up to my HS graduation. I’m sure they were bored out of their minds. But I remember meeting them outside after and getting mobbed by all my cousins. A really happy memory looking back. 

 

Posted in another thread, but UTRGV showed me the future of graduations a couple weekends ago. 15 minutes of speeches, names called in order of graduation registration, graduates & their families asked to leave after the grad walks the stage. Probably 50-60% of people were out of there in under an hour. Steady exodus meant no logjam leaving either.

UTRGV you say?!

Looke like Abbott’s / Trumps border policy was good for something!

[ducks]

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58 minutes ago, Dnaguy said:

UTRGV you say?!

Looke like Abbott’s / Trumps border policy was good for something!

[ducks]

I don’t get the point/joke you’re making. It’ll probably offend you to know that they did the speeches in both English & Spanish. Still only took 15 minutes total.

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