Monday January 18
MLK Day so no school. It was also my first day officially on the job flying solo as assistant photo editor. It wasn't as nerve racking as I expected it to be, and Tom was there to help with whatever questions I had, so it all worked out. I didn't get fired, so I mean that's a great day.
There was FHE on Monday also, we played a game to get to know the new member of the bishopric, their wives and the institute missionaries. The game was in the form of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Since no one really knows them, it was all a guessing game. Luckily though, my team used logic to win, and logic worked out almost every time.
Tuesday January 19
I had school for most of the day, learning fun things, trying not to fall asleep during class. Other than that, the events of what happened on Tuesday are really a blur... I mean it was a whole week ago... how is a sober college student supposed to remember what happened a week ago?
Wednesday January 20
One of the most depressing things about no longer having a television in our household was that I missed the High School Musical reunion on Disney Channel. Richardson girls are big fans of High School Musical, so you can imagine how devastated I was to not be able to watch it (don't worry though people I watched it on YouTube this morning).
Other than missing the reunion, I had work at Project FOCUS, then I had work at the Daily Wildcat. Then I had to start packing for my big California trip, and that packing included going to Target and getting travel sized things of all liquids. Imagine my frustration with Target when I go to their travel section and look for some eye contact solution and they do not have any solutions that fit with TSA standards! Their "travel size" bottle was still bigger than the maximum requirement. I just think that's the strangest thing in the world, am I wrong? Don't worry though TSA didn't take my solution away from me.
Thursday January 21
So for people who didn't know, I was chosen to travel, as a photographer for the Daily Wildcat, to northern California to shoot the Arizona basketball games at Stanford and Cal. The flight was paid for and the rental car was paid for, I just had to pay for a hotel (which I split with the reporter who was traveling also) and for food and whatever else I wanted to do that weekend.
So Ezra (the sports reporter who travelled with me) picked me up in the morning to drive to Phoenix so we could fly to San Francisco. The flight was good, I got a window seat so that's always perfect. I'm a small human so I don't mind sitting in the middle seat, so I never pay extra to pick my seats. I just lucked out this time around.
We arrived in San Francisco, got our rental car, and attempted to drive to the hotel. Ezra and I are no pros to the California driving scene so we missed a few exits... maybe broke a few laws... but we finally made it to our hotel in San Mateo (shout out to Julie Smith for hooking it up as always). When we checked in, we quickly threw our things into our room, and then started on our drive to Stanford. We had to pick up our press passes at the hotel the team was staying at, and as soon as we pulled in all the team members were walking toward their bus... I'm never going to get over how tall basketball players are... After we got our passes we drove to the school. I was pretty bummed because everyone tells me that Stanford's campus is the best in the country but I only got to see it at night, so I didn't get to see it in all of its glory. Their basketball arena is not very impressive though, McKale has definitely got them beat. Also we beat Stanford, so we are just the better school I guess haha. It was funny, everyone in the media room HATED Sean Miller. Living in Tucson, I only hear praises of him... no one speaks ill of him. It was an interesting change.
**To the people who were making fun of me for both the pictures from this game in the paper being of York (cough cough Rory cough cough Taylor), I didn't pick the pictures that made it to print. And even if I did, York deserved to be in it a thousand times haha.
Ultimate high five for Babe York
After we beat Stanford I had to hang around to send photos into Tom for print, then eventually Ezra and I went back to the hotel for a good nights rest before a crazy day on Friday.
Friday January 22
The best part of traveling for these games was that there was a break day in between, which meant I could do whatever I wanted. I had never been to San Francisco before so I wanted to spend the day there. Ezra and I drove into downtown, parked the car in a garage and started walking around downtown. You always hear about how California is in a drought and that it doesn't really rain there... but of course it POURS when I go #thankselniño. I was quite unprepared for the day, so I decided to buy a hooded jacket. Also California rain is so weird... it's like really soft rain but there's a lot of it... so you don't feel yourself getting soaked but trust me you are.
So our downtown adventures included the Nike store, Macy's, China Town and more wandering. We also walked along the piers, ate some overpriced lunch, went to Fisherman's wharf, watched some sea lions snuggle, bought a souvenir... you know tourist things.
Look at them snuggling cause it's cold
This is Ezra's back... so artsy
So people, keep in mind all of this was done the good old fashioned way: walking. I did a whole lot of walking this day... but it only gets worse. I was not going to leave San Francisco without seeing the Golden Gate bridge. Ezra wanted to go to a Warriors game, so he left me and I started trekking alone.
So look at this map:
This is from Fisherman's wharf. I saw that it was only 3.7 mules and I was like... oh it won't take me a whole hour to walk to the bridge... it took even longer... But I was determined to get there so I did. I planned to hang out with Kirstin at night so she could be my official tour guide of the bay, so I was just going to have her pick me up from however far I got. My phone battery started to dwindle very quickly so I got to as close as I could to the bridge and sent Kirstin my location and just hung out there hoping she would eventually find me. Luckily the spot I chose to stop at was a great place to get pictures of the bridge, so although I didn't actually make it to the bridge I was satisfied. I have also satisfied the amount of physical activity I need to do for the year, you can catch me on the couch from now on.
White balance is a crazy thing...
Thank goodness for Kirstin. She found me practically dead... just kidding... but I was very tired and she picked me up in a car and took me to Fisherman's Wharf (where I walked from L O L) and it took us a hot second to get there via vehicle. She's literally a life saver. We ate dinner at this pizza place called Luigi's, we watched a sassy man do a balancing act, we went to this heavenly candy store where I spent way too much money on candy, and she took me to Ghiradelli square to have the best hot fudge sundae. It was awesome. But what was even more awesome was that she took me to the Oakland temple across the Bay! When I was planning this trip I wished that I would be able to go see it but I didn't expect to be able to go, Kirstin is the best ever for fulfilling my wishes!
The best view of San Francisco, is from the Oakland temple. Mormons are smart cookies
After partying with Kirstin in Oakland she drove me back to the hotel. It was awesome hanging out with her especially since she just recently got back from her semester in Orvieto, Italy. We got to talk all about her time there and I was actually able to relate because I was there in the summer. It was awesome reminiscing.
Saturday January 23
In order to avoid traffic and tolls Ezra and I decided to take the BART to Berkeley for the game. We are much better at navigating BART than we are freeways, so I'd say it was a good choice. We actually got to spend the day in Berkeley so I got to enjoy everything it had to offer, unlike my experience at Stanford. I LOVE BERKELEY. It's so beautiful, especially since it has been raining there were streams all through campus, oh just so gorgeous.
I did unfortunately have to spend some time doing my duties as the assistant photo editor while I was in Berkeley, so I situated myself in a pizza place and did some work while Ezra went and explored with some of his friends. After I finished most of my work I walked through the downtown and through the campus, and I fell in love.
Also don't be fooled by those blue skies. Berkeley weather is way more bipolar than AZ. One second it's a down pour the next it's sunny, the next is another down pour
Look at the form, Allen is a star
The game itself wasn't all that fun and the final score was actually quite heart breaking. If only York didn't mishandle the ball, we would've won... I also wouldn't have almost gotten trampled on by the Cal band storming the court. But such is life. Amanda was at the game with her boyfriend, she found me and sent me a snap and then I found her and took a picture of her. Roomies for life.
When the game was over I finished up my editing duties, and then Ezra and I slowly made our way back to our hotel.
Sunday January 24
Time to leave California #crycrycry. In true San Francisco fashion our flight was delayed an hour so we got more time to relax in the morning. We did eventually make it back to Phoenix and then back to Tucson. I was surprised to see EJ sitting on my couch when I got home. I guess he was just passing through Tucson on his way to Las Cruces. Super fun.
I had to turn in the rest of my basketball photos into the newsroom that night, Steph came along and got to meet Tom and see the newsroom. Apparently there is a reporter who works there who's name is also Steph Shaw, I had no idea.
Monday January 25
MONDAY WAS SADIE'S 21ST BIRTHDAY! Let's just talk about how sad I was all day because I couldn't be there to celebrate with her. But I am super psyched to see her on Friday and go on a super fun trip to Six Flags! It's going to be a party. On her birthday I always post a picture of us on instagram and I always struggle to choose just one because we have taken many pictures together. This year as I was looking through old photos I decided I wanted to mix it up, and do a video we made on the day we ditched school to go to Sedona 3 years ago (I seriously cannot believe Senior year of high school was 3 years ago, aren't I still in 8th grade?)
The rest of Monday wasn't all that exciting. I worked, and worked again and then went to FHE and we played a mix between Never Have I Ever and Musical Chairs. I didn't play because I had work to do but I sat on the outside of the circle and listened to everyone get to know each other.
Tuesday January 26
First day back at school since I got back. Since I missed school on Thursday I didn't really think that there would be homework so there were quite a few assignments that I did not do.. so that was fun. But I got them all finished so i can turn them in for reduced credit wooohooo. Missing school in high school is so much easier than missing school in college.
I had an insane amount of homework to do on Tuesday that wasn't make up. It was for my Wednesday class. There were three readings, two of the readings had to have ten take away points and the other had to have 5. You're thinking "wow that's not such a big deal" except for each of those key points has to be a full length paragraphs. So if you are a math whiz that means 25 paragraphs. Absolutely ridiculous amount of homework, especially if you procrastinate and do it the night before. But don't worry I did get some sleep that night.
Wednesday January 27
Work was kind of a tender blessing because my student forgot her pants so she wasn't able to to go to her internship so we had a lot of chill time. I had a lot of work to do that I wouldn't be able to do while she was at her internship so although I was sad she wasn't able to go, I was happy because I got work done.
After Project FOCUS work, I had my editing class which was long and boring as usual, and then work at the Daily Wildcat. Same old same old.
Thursday January 28
It was your typical Thursday of lots of school. After my classes I had to interview someone for a position at the Wildcat so that was kind of fun. Then I went straight to the Oregon game. This was supposed to be our 50th home game win, and Sean Miller's 300th win..... but alas Oregon just crushed us in the second half. I mostly blame our loss on the girls sitting behind me because of how obnoxious they were... and I guess our defense... but mostly the girls. I am hoping that losing these games will somehow get us further in the March Madness tournament. In the past when we were ranked higher we couldn't make it past the elite 8, but this could be our year, who knows!
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