The rest of the semester in pictures.

Nov. 1: Holy crap, so many cyclists! The local Habitat for Humanity hosted its bike ride the day after Halloween, a day I unwisely chose to stay up to attend two parties. This is basically what I saw right after I got there, and I cannot deny thinking of this page.

Mimi and I did the 31-mile route and finished in a little over two hours. Here she is on her trusty Giant bike, purchased in Taiwan and schlepped cross-country since. (above photos by ST)

Happy first birthday, Fiona the bike. You are the best investment I’ve made in grad school.

Thanksgiving 2008: This is my cousin YF’s daughter S, and that’s my dad. They've been BFFs since my dad stayed with YF and his family in Boston after a conference last month. She’s incredibly articulate and wouldn’t stop walking around the house asking where he was or what he was doing.

The new family and my mom’s traditional kick-ass dinner.

S stole my seat and got to play with Curious George. Unfair.

Stan managed to make it home during his final year of rotations. It was awesome seeing him after a year, though I would like to mention the tragedy of having a sibling who does not enjoy “The Mighty Boosh.”

Awwwwwwwwwww yes you can have a million dollars.

Apparently she removes her shoes and socks as soon as she’s in the car. I think we’re going to get along just fine!

Coming to a Christmas card near you.

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Before I end this entry, I want to include a few final photos: pictures from my 10-year middle school reunion. Everyone I’ve mentioned this event to looks at me funny, so I should note I was in a program with a hundred kids who got to know each other really well during the three years we were together. My journal entries from then are hilarious and stupid, but in them I also detect hints of the attitudes that shape my personality today: the ways I seek acceptance, communicate with others, face my shortcomings and process the world. Many silly behaviors fortunately didn’t make it beyond high school. The non-silly ones that did, I am very grateful for. And I have my family, classmates and teachers to thank for tolerating my weird thought patterns and thumping sense into me when needed.

Multiply that relief by the 60-odd people who showed up, and maybe that was a reason it was so much fun. As someone else observed: Hey, we all turned out okay. We are twenty-four years old now, and we are all okay.

(thanks to Kim and Roni)