job-related expense

Now I’m actually going to have to go and buy some real commencement regalia: the kind with DePaul colors and appropriately colored trim. I’ve been using the generic black ones here all along, having not gone to my own Ph.D. commencement in 1999. And while this stuff costs less than an iPad, it’s still surprisingly expensive. Then again, they do tailor it to your exact size.

I grew up despising regalia, just as I despised neckties at that age. But I really started warming to academic garb once I read up a bit on the medieval history of it. As for neckties, if you’re male they’re just about the only item of formal clothing with which you can do something interesting, so they’re forgiven too.