And the beat goes on

It's my last semester at ID. Last of 6. 6 loooooooong semesters. Semesters where it's not uncommon to work over 100 hours a week. Where I've actually clocked in at 6am and clocked out 24 hours later. My longest meeting ever stretched 14 hours; it was for Demo. The second longest, only an hour shorter, was Systems -- I never thought anything could beat a Systems meeting. The longest I've ever slept in one night? 17 hours - 8pm Saturday to 1pm Sunday. Apparently I needed it.

I've lived and breathed by my Google Calendar, and have shared it with many friends. I used to tell them to look there first before asking when I was available to hang out. These are the friends who wouldn't take no for an answer when I said I was too busy - they just kept asking. :)

I've taken thousands of pictures, but wish I'd taken more. And I still don't own a damn point and shoot.

As I'm looking through the pictures in the ID flickr group, I'm overwhelmed with a sense of nostalgia; there is something very... ID about those pictures. Maybe it's the presence of all that food. Maybe it's the miserable gray backdrop that is ID. Maybe it's the clear sense of bonding that occurs because of the misery.

Over the past 3 years, we've cried and fought - as teams and individually (I've personally lost count of my own breakdowns). But we've also laughed. A lot. And at some of the most inane and incomprehensible frivolity that can only be shared by someone who's as sleep deprived as you. We developed a unique sense of camaraderie that I don't think is found in B schools, or law schools, or med schools. We were here to help each other out (You can do that in InDesign?? Why didn't I know that yesterday...). We worked together, ate together, procrastinated together.

Now, as we graduate and are flung about the country to "spread design thinking" (if you've drank the kool-aid) or to simply find a job where we can somehow apply user-centered-ness, (or to move to Canada), I'll be sad to see my friends go. I'm glad to be out; but for all it's worth, I'll miss it.