orichalcum

Happy Commencement to everyone relevant!

I offer up some good


"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don't much care where--" said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
"--so long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

--Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

"They stood in the courtyard and looked fully on one another,
knowing that they were friends, and would always be. A lot of water under
this bridge too, Mark thought, with something like awe. He was growing
older. Old enough to feel the current of what had been flowing under
him, leading to his future. Old enough to look back over his shoulder, and
see his past behind him, and grieve for what was gone, and honour its
memory.

He felt suddenly, how much it would hurt him if Val died; felt an echo of
that pain, knowing that the Valerian he had known, fluffy and peering
and hapless and altogether wonderful: this Valerian was already dying.
Not physically, of course, but that man he remembered from the first
night would be gone the next time they met, though his ghost would linger
on in Val forever, and in their memories...Of course, Val would be much the
same: better, even...and they would still be friends, excellent friends. It could be even better next time. But it would never be the same.

How much of life is like this? Mark wondered. Is that what being grown up
means? Saying goodbye as often as hello? More to wave back to with every
step. Val climbed into his saddle, pushed his spectacles firmly up his
nose, and grinned at Mark. "Adventure!" The big bay sidled restlessly
beneath him, eager to be moving in the chilly afternoon."Goodbye,
Shielder's Mark." -Sean Stewart,_Nobody's Son_

-I'm not going to do Nothing any more.
-Never again?
Well, not so much. They don't let you. --A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner