My friend and I had a perfect plan for getting to the UCF Graduation at the Addition Arena (12777 Gemini Boulevard North Orlando Florida). I had to teach a virtual class until 6PM and the ceremony would begin at 6:30PM. The commute from Lake County would mean I would be far too late getting to the Arena.
My friend let me teach at her art studio which was about 5 miles off campus. We packed her electric pink scooter and my red mountain bike in the back of her car. She would scoot and I would bike to the arena from the art studio.
As I was starting class, she was steaming wrinkles out of her graduation gown and a beautiful shawl with an multi national flags. It was a magnificent sketch opportunity, but I was drawing cartoon characters with my student. The full regalia looked amazing. Draped over her shoulders was a shawl and hood which signified her accomplishment as a master. Doctorates of which there were a few, could raise those hoods after graduating. There was a religiousness to the ceremonial customs. I stepped away from the class for just a moment to shoot an iPhone photo of my friend in front of the SVAD studio sign.
Then she took off on her pink scooter. With her long hair and graduation gown sleeves flapping, she said she felt like she was flying like a witch to the arena. She got compliments as she got close, from people who felt her mode of transportation was a perfect alternative to battling the long line of cars trying to crush into parking garages. She locked her scooter to a light pole near a Barnes and Noble and sent me a picture along with the code for the lock. I was going to lock my bike to the same pole.
When my class was over I excitedly got my mountain bike out of the back of the car. I had just repaired the bike and replaced an inner tube. I had tested the bike for several days by biking around the neighborhood. When I got on the bike and tried to peddle for the first time, I heard a strange crushing noise and the bike barely rolled. I looked down and was shocked when I saw that the back tire was completely flat. AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! A long stream of expletives gushed out of me. I had fixed flats on two other bikes as well, but those were sitting back in Lake County. I considered riding the bike with the flat but I would have destroyed the rim.
There was only one choice. I had to hike to the Arena. I was wearing a nice yellow suit shirt and tie and my black leather dress shoes. I had used my phone as a hot spot so I could teach the class and my phone battery was very low. I looked at Google maps briefly, turned it off to save the battery and started clomping my way towards the arena. It was hot. There are many streams and natural alcoves along the route. I looked down at my dress shoes as I walked and discovered the soul at the tip of my left shoe had flapped open. I cursed and ripped the flapping soul away.
When I got to the arena the ceremony was well under way with introductions and a guest speaker at the podium. My friend’s family was somewhere in the crowd but there was no way to find them. As the Star Spangled Banner played I was searching for a seat. I was searching on house right for a place to plant myself but a guard explained that all the seating over there was for people who had paid extra for suites. I searched in each section but never saw a single seat unoccupied. I ultimately went to the nose bleed section and stood in a back aisle in front of the lighting and sound booth.
I started to sketch the 10,000 guests and all the graduated on the court. My friend was up in the front rows of the house right phalanx of the Masters Graduates. I couldn’t pick out her multi national flags. I was searching for a grain of sand on a beach. I did see her on the postage stamp sized jumbo tron when her name was called and she picked up her degree. I let out a guttural yell and turkey call like I had heard at the Cacao dance. I am so glad I went to the ceremony. There was a visceral, vibrant energy to the crowd.