What happens when The Big Bang Theory & Commencement speeches collide:

Larry died.

Larry dies at least once a month, but this time, I know he's not coming back ... my roommate tossed him in the garbage while I was away. She left his pot on the counter. Larry was my plant. The only living thing I have ever been entrusted with. And he ended up in the trash. Awesome. It was a *great* return from a truly *great* weekend.

Ever have one of those trips where everything that could go wrong, does? This weekend, my Mother & I took the 5 hour trip to Potsdam, NY to watch my little sister graduate from SUNY Potsdam.

It's appropriate that as I'm writing this I'm watching "Two and a Half Men" ... because besides seeing Sister graduate, Chuck Lorre was her commencement speaker.

Chuck Lorre is a producer & writer, currently known for The Big Band Theory, previously, Charles in Charge, Roxanne, Two and a Half Men and many others.

I didn't pay too much attention while the President was introducing him, I was busy trying to put feeling back into my toes.

He caught my attention though. His first words were "Is anyone Twittering, Blogging or Texting this speech?" and the theme was "personal reinvention, or how I stumbled ass backwards into a job where grammar was ignored and neurosis, fear, desperation, childhood wounds and mediocrity was richly rewarded"

Throughout the course of his speech I heard the words condom, sex, pissed, pubic hair, sex, wasted, drunk, asshole, dickhead and oh so many more. The ASL interpretor was doing a lot of finger spelling ... most of his language didn't translate any other way. He commented "Notre Dame had the President of the United States at their commencement. You have me ... that just goes to show, you get what you're willing to pay for."

A SUNY Potsdam student for 2 years before dropping out, he made sure to mention that he learned nothing and in retrospect was the biggest waste of time he'd ever spent. "This is sort of like revisiting the scene of a crime, the crime being that I learned nothing here. For me, Potsdam was two years wasted — with the emphasis on wasted."

There were a few nuggets of, inspiration, in his speech. Or as much as we were going to get. He encouraged students to look beyond the classroom, get out into the world and LEARN. "Smart by itself doesn't get the job done, but experience can kick Smart's butt so go out and start gaining it."

Chuck also said that the one thing he has learned is that in order to get anything in life, you first must be willing to give something.

How true.

Life ... relationships ... it's all a two way street. Be willing to open yourself to others. Share resources and knowledge. Introduce friends, fight for what you know is right. Educate, inform, LEARN! That is a key to success. (Ok, that is my own interpretation and most definitely not his, I think he might be angry to think someone could have taken something positive from that speech.)

So congratulations to my beautiful sister who is sure to go far in life.

And RIP Larry.

EDIT! You can now watch the full speech on YouTube here. Make sure to watch all 3 parts!