Monday August 29
Monday was like the biggest work day of my life and it really just never seemed to end. Project FOCUS wasn't too bad, I think Chase is getting over his excitement to be around me and is now remembering that he sometimes gets annoyed with me, but there have been no chasing Chase incidents happening yet.
I got a text during work that all the photos needed for the Football Guide photos have officially been listed in the budget and that they wanted to start designing it as much as they can tonight. Unfortunately designing is hard to do without photos being in, and also unfortunately I had work and class all day, so I didn't have time to hunt through all the archives of our football photos. After my night class though I was able to knock out 90% of the photos within an hour, only leaving a few to do for the next day.
Now that I have a night class on Monday's I can't go to FHE, but I heard it was pretty exciting judging by the massive bruise that is present on Steph's leg right now.
Tuesday August 30
Chase and I had our first little brawl of the semester on Tuesday. He was having a rough time transitioning in the morning, and tried to avoid me by sitting somewhere else in the Union when he arrived at school. I know his game though so I found him pretty quick... he wasn't too happy about it, so I tried to back off of him while we did his work and let him do it his way.
After working with Chase I went into the Wildcat to bust out the final photos, and then I went to dollar lunch at the institute. On the menu was Hawaiian Haystacks which are super delicious but also just super plain so I felt like I needed to eat 20 pizzas afterward. I met a couple new people at lunch so that's always a good thing, and Andrew asked everyone some "deep" get to know you questions.
After dollar lunch I went to my RPA class where we were prepped for the election party that was happening that night and the article we needed to write about the elections. We also went over all the jurisdictions in government... which just brings me back to the one history class that I did not take for honors in high school and all the really ignorant people that were in that class. I know that I am a government minor so I tend to know more than the average Joe about the government, but it truly amazes me how little people know about the government.
After class I worked production at the Wildcat. I was able to get a lot of my photos done pretty quickly, which was good because I needed to go the election party that night.
During production we had our first biweekly photo meeting for the fall desk (it was a miracle that we were able to find a time that worked for the entire photo desk). We were able to get almost the entire photo desk there... with the exception of those that forgot smh...
I was eventually able to escape the newsroom and go to the Democrat's election party. I met Tessa and a few other RPA students there. I went in knowing that I wanted to talk to the superintendent of schools (turns out the guy I have been wanting to report on is a guy that Steph has been telling me about and is using her on his campaign... and I had no idea), and a few other people decided to hop on the train so we all interviewed him together. I was able to contact Dustin Williams (the one I wanted to report on) who ended up winning and his opponent Michael Gordy, so it was a successful night. i also ran into Mamta from the Star, so that just made my whole life.
Wednesday August 31
Same old same old work and class. One exciting thing did happen though. For my capstone class I have kind of sort of really been stressing about all these articles I have to write and coming up with good enough ideas for them... I'm just a much better photojournalist than I am journalist (I like to use my camera to get the info I need from people, and it works). But my professor emailed me and said that I should write a personal odyssey about my adventures traveling to all 91 cities/towns in Arizona... AND Y'ALL I DID THAT ANYWAY WITH THIS BLOG! So I am psyched! I now have 3/5 stories picked out and assigned, so I don't have to start stressing about 4 and 5 until later in the semester.
After class I hung out at the institute for a little bit (someone told me that waiting for a missionary is the worst decision in the world... I backed away slowly and awkwardly).
I needed to go to Target to go buy a few things, so Steph came along with me. While we were there we talked about how she needed a new phone case, and I that I needed one too from Fossil. So we quite spontaneously decided to go the the outlets out in Marana to go buy a new phone case.... turns out this outlet mall is a PEASANT and they do not have a fossil... We walked away without phone cases, but it was still a good adventure.
So I am not sure if I mentioned this in the last blog post... but I finally invested in a telephoto lens. I wanted to buy it in time for the BYU game on Saturday so I made sure to purchase the express shipping that would guarantee the lens to come on Wednesday. I had been checking the tracking obsessively since I bought the lens, and the only update was that the lens was shipped to UPS, but that UPS had not received it... so I was freaking out quite a bit about it... this was a very expensive lens and I wasn't about to risk it being lost in the mail somewhere. BUT GLORY GLORY HALLELUJAH there was a package at my front door for me!!! Except... I was also really pissed because I made sure to check the box to make sure someone had to sign for the package... because I live in a house that's visible from the street and packages are easily stolen (it's happened before)... but luckily the package was there and everything was inside. Greatest. Purchase. Ever.
Thursday September 1
Since I had an article due in my RPA class on Thursday, class was cancelled to give us more time to work on it. It's also Courtney's turn to do Thursday's productions, so I had a really early end to my school/work day on Thursday.
Kenzie, Jenny and I hung out at the institute for a long time though with our new friend Chandler. While we were there I realized that it was September which meant that it was time to make the event for the first 1320 party of the school year. I have been wanting to do a 70s themed 21st Night of September Party (you know... Earth Wind & Fire)
Friday September 2
Friday was good. Chase and I got along great. I went to the first EBoard of the fall semester for the Wildcat (even though I technically have a class at the institute at that time). Then I went to the free lunch and had many delicious sandwiches, and invited everyone around me to come to the party.
After the lunch Steph and I went to do a little shopping for the 70s party, but the shopping was halted when I realized I had a meeting at the Wildcat to go to, we were able to fit in one Goodwill though and get some ideas for costumes for the party.
Then I had my meeting, and that was good.
Then I met Rory on campus to drive him back to our houses when he was done with work so we could quickly pack and then make our way to Mesa.
My Canadian cousins had all come down to Arizona for the Arizona/BYU football game on Saturday. Most of them went to a Highland's football game to see what an American high school football game was like. My Aunt Tobi and my cousin Lizzie stayed behind, so we went to Target with them and then to Bahama Buck's afterward. That was Tobi and Lizzie's second time at Bahama Bucks that day, but they still got a shaved ice, because really how could you resist?
Once we got home I went over to Sadie and Parker's really fast so she could give me a present (I forgot mine for her in Tucson, like an idiot). It's so crazy that they're married now, but they're so happy so it's the best.
When I got back the rest of the McLeod fam had come back from the game, but the party didn't last much longer, we had a big Saturday ahead of us so sleep was a necessity.
Saturday September 3
My parents had originally planned for all of the family to go to SunSplash on Saturday before we went to the game, but the park opened later than they thought it did and my Dad likes to be at game reeealllllyyy early, so we decided against SunSplash. Instead people were able to sleep in a little bit and do some shopping.
Eventually Mary-Margaret and Blake arrived, so the whole clan was officially here and ready to party.
We were divided into two groups for the day.
The advanced group: my Dad, my uncle Sean, Emma, Lizzie, and Sam.
The normal group: me, my Mom, Tobi, Avery, McKenzie, Mary-Margaret, Blake and Rory.
The advanced group left while the normal group was getting ready. They went straight to WestGate and ate lunch there. The normal group decided to eat at Costa Vida and then mozy our way over to WestGate to meet up with the advanced group. Then there was a lot more shopping happening at the outlet mall right by WestGate while we waited for the gates to open for the game. It's an interesting experience being in Arizona surrounded by asphalt with a bunch of Canadians, while they thought they were melting, it felt like a nice day for the rest of us.
While we were at the mall we took the opportunity to take a picture of all the cousins, the cat mixing family:
Eventually the gates opened and it was time to go into the stadium. I was shooting the game, but I thought I would be able to hang out with everyone before I went and checked in (the gates opened at 4:30, and the game didn't start until 7:30). Unfortunately I couldn't go in with the family so I had to walk over to the complete opposite side of the stadium for my media check in. But the press got to live the high life for this game. There was unlimited popcorn and pretzels to snack on. Then for dinner there was salad, spicy mac and cheese, pulled pork and pulled chicken sandwiches and lots of cookies. Press life is good people... at least in NFL stadiums it's this good.
As media, I had a special vest that I had to wear onto the field, it was cute as can be:
I went on the field a couple times before the game started and spotted my family. I also saw lots of old Tucson missionaries, which was super cool!
I wasn't surprised at all to see that there more BYU fans than there were UA fans. The Phoenix valley is like the mini Utah of BYU fans, and the UA fans are mostly in southern AZ and northern AZ. So even though this was technically a neutral ground, BYU had more of a home advantage.
This was my first time shooting a football game, but luckily I was shooting with Beka who is a seasoned football photographer. She gave me all the tips and tricks she could before I went to the BYU side and she stuck on the UA side. I definitely like shooting basketball more (especially since my telephoto lens is a baby and does nothing compared to these other people's 400mm lenses) and I don't have to run as much in basketball. But it was fun to shoot football and I am satisfied with how my photos turned out (for it being my first time)... but not so satisfied with how the game ended. It was an interesting experience shooting on the BYU side... When BYU was winning (which was most of the game) they just couldn't stop talking about how they got this game in the bag, and then when UA scored that second touchdown they were SILENT... it was hilarious. I just wanted to jump up and do an "in your face" dance around all the trash talkers.. but you know I am a professional so I couldn't. It would have been really funny if BYU had lost... but they won, so they were all annoyingly happy.
There are people who are somehow lucky enough to watch the game on the field, but they are honestly so annoying and get all up in my business. Media gets priority on where to stand on the field and the fans have to accommodate to us... but sometimes they just are so clueless and so absorbed in the game that I have to literally just step right in front of them in order for them to move.
Lauren took this photo of me (she was sitting on the BYU side with her boyfriend's family. Don't worry she still wore a UA shirt), so this is proof that I was there:
After the game ended I started editing some photos and uploading them for the website... but I was pretty exhausted so I relieved Beka and myself early so we could both get home at a decent hour without dying.
Nick Wilson is the bae of Arizona offense
Sunday September 4
Everyone woke up and ate breakfast and then the McLeod/Pilling's were off to make their way back to Utah and Canada. It doesn't happen to often that the Canadian cousins come to Arizona, and it's always so much fun when they do come! I guess that's one good thing about BYU if it gets our family down to Arizona.
The rest of the day has just been a really chill day. I am supposed to be doing my online class, which I have been dreading for a very long time, but it needs to be done eventually. Rory, Kenzie and I are heading back to Tucson tonight even though we don't have school tomorrow. I just like to have one day where I can transition back into the real world... I'll probably do nothing, and that's what labor day is all about.
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