In the immortal words of the great Rafiki of “The Lion King”: “It is time!”

Graduation weekend is upon us, like we always knew it would be. Caps and gowns have been distributed, awkward interactions between students and members of the alumni association (give it a rest, guys) have been had, final projects have been turned in about 1,000 words shy of the demanded word count and it’s time to walk across that stage.

I know very well how frightening it is to think too far ahead of this weekend, into what post-graduate life will hold, so for sanity’s sake, let’s not do that.

First, let’s concentrate on actually surviving graduation weekend.

It’s not as easy as you might think. This is because of the unique combination of a potent desire to leave behind all inhibitions one last time as you let loose with your friends, and the very pressing concern that your family is in town for the weekend.

I know from experience that this combination can have some complicated results. Last year, I lived with two graduating seniors in an off-campus apartment.

The night before their convocation, we had a bit of a social gathering in our apartment and didn’t think much of the fact that several of our friends passed out half-naked on mattresses that blocked the entrance into the rest of our apartment.

We didn’t plan ahead for when my housemate’s grandmother had to walk over our undressed buddy because she had to make an emergency bathroom stop before sitting through convocation in the Carrier Dome. Sorry, Grandma.

In general, I think the plan of alcohol attack for the weekend is a tricky one. You want to walk a fine line; establish a delicate balance between sober and inebriated. You don’t want to have to sit through convocation or commencement hungover, but there is some credence to the theory that you don’t want to sit through them completely sober, either. The key is to maintain a constant buzzed level across the three-day span.

There may be moments when you’re tempted, out of habit, to spend your own money this weekend paying for food, drinks or other life necessities in the same fashion you normally would, but this is not recommended. If there was ever a time to hold your head up high while you mooch money from your parents, this is the weekend to do it.

It should also be acknowledged that this is the weekend to live out all of your wildest fashion fantasies. If you want to wear pajamas the entire weekend, you should feel comfortable doing so. If you want to walk around ass-naked the entire weekend, more power to you. If you want to don a purple jumpsuit like Prince al la Purple Rain, you absolutely should. You are wearing an enormous cloak the entire weekend — the world is your oyster.

And if you want to wear an elegant dress or suit underneath your cloak, that’s fine — but you’re boring and awful.

The future might be scary, exciting, happy or sad, but we don’t have to worry about all of that just yet. For one last weekend, let the craziness of campus life distract you from the world around you.

 Chelsea DeBaise is finishing up her time at Syracuse University. She gets anxiety when she thinks about a world where you have to pay for a gym membership. She can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @CDeBaise124.

Published on May 8, 2014 at 1:00 am

Contact Chelsea: [email protected] | @CDeBaise124