Thinkity think think

So a few days ago, I received a package from my university.

Said package was your standard slightly squashy padded envelope, bent in half because our mailman does this thing where he is determined to fit everything into our very small mailbox, even if it involves, like, origami. ANYWAY. In this envelope I discovered two tassels. You know, the kind you wear on your cap when you graduate. From college.

Maybe this is just further proof that I'm actually slowly losing my mind, but ever since I opened that goddamn envelope and pulled out those two (two? why two? do they think I'll lose one?) knots of silken cord, I have not been able to stop thinking about them. I think it's because they are the first tangible proof I have that in a month and a half I will be done with school. I don't have a class ring, after all, or a cap and gown (yet), or a diploma (also yet, you know, in theory) - but those fucking tassels have like invaded my brain. I abandoned them on my desk for a few days, refusing to deal with them - yesterday I hid them away in a drawer of my dresser in the hope I would forget about them, but had dreams about them anyway. Now they're hanging on the corner of the mirror of my makeshift vanity. I still can't stop thinking about them.

They're soft, real silk or something like it, and heavy - not like the crappy ones we wore in high school. In all honesty, they sort of look like they really belong on cushions or curtains - certainly not on something that goes on my head, I mean. Each one has a little purple, white and gold medal on it attached to a metal band that ties all the little strands together. They are so innocuous yet I am so preoccupied by them. I'm sure a psychologist could give you a bullshit reason regarding the fixation; my reason is that my mindset right now is "Eek I'm graduating - better not fuck it up now!" and that's what the tassels represent. Or something.

So, yeah. I have tassels. I'm graduating. The world is increasingly bizarre, and I'm not sure I know how to deal with it.