The End Is Near

Brace yourselves kids, this blog post is going to have even more "lasts" than the last blog post... so it's about to get real sappy up in here.

Tuesday December 6

Dollar lunch was kind of a disappointment, I am not going to lie. I walked into the institute so psyched because it was the final dollar lunch of the semester, and as per tradition I expected there to be pizza... well my hopes were clearly up way to high because I think an actual tear rolled down my face when I saw that it was not pizza, but instead sub sandwiches. The sandwiches were still very good, but they weren't pizza... and it's really hard to shape up to pizza according to my standards.

After dollar lunch I had my final RPA class of the semester... it lasted twenty minutes because the three people that still needed to give their presentations didn't even show up... so it was cut real short. 

After class I went to the Daily Wildcat for my final production EVER. I think Chastity had a hand in there being a basketball game that night, so I would have to stay much later than I usually would. I had heard many horror stories of late nights/early mornings as an editor at the Daily Wildcat, and when I became assistant photo editor I made it my goal to never stay past midnight. I had successfully done so in the spring, summer and fall semester thus far. There was the potential that I could not reach my goal on Tuesday night. First of all, there was the basketball game that started at 8 that wouldn't end until after 10 that needed photos for the paper... so that was going to keep me there until at least 10:30/11. There was also the final photo desk meeting (pot luck style) around 7 pm that prevented me from going home when I got all my other work done, and just coming back when the basketball game ended. And finally, there was Simon, one of my photographers, was shadowing me after the meeting because he was applying to be photo editor for the spring semester. So I didn't really wanted to stay around so I could transmit all my knowledge of photo editor to him.

But don't worry everyone even with all those factors, I left right before midnight. I honestly could have easily stayed until midnight, and it's not like people weren't trying to distract me, but I started to feel the feels and so I actually needed to get out of there if I didn't want to see anyone cry. But I didn't leave the Wildcat with making my final mark on the place (photo cred to Simon):

Wednesday December 7

During work on Wednesday we had our end of the year peer mentor party. At these things the Project FOCUS team recognizes any peer mentors who won't be returning for the next semester. I have seen many different goodbyes during my seven semesters at Project FOCUS, and I could never really imagine me being in that spot. Holy cow was it hard to hold back tears when they called me up. I have worked at Project FOCUS for the entirety of my college career. I came to the UA unemployed and my brother's roommate Taylor had this great job working with students with intellectual disabilities. I had absolutely zero experience with special education so I felt extremely under qualified, but also extremely desperate for a job to pay rent. So I applied, and the Project FOCUS team took me in even with my zero experience. It was one of the greatest decisions I made. Not only did Project FOCUS provide me with money to pay my monthly rent, but it gave me so many friendships with students and other peer mentors, and overall made me a more tolerant and supportive person. These past seven semesters have definitely had their bumps in the road, but I am grateful for every one of them. I started working there when I was 17 years old and there's no doubt in my mind that the program has shaped me to be the person I am today.

Here is me and Chase on his last day of class with some cookies he made me

I had to leave the party a little bit early to make it on time to my final ASN class... and actually my final college class ever (and possibly last class ever? who knows!). My professor, Joe Sharkey, bought us an ice cream cake to celebrate the final day of class. Unfortunately the people messed up the year on the cake, and instead of them fixing the one number Joe just had them do an editing mark on the cake instead... journalism humor.

On Wednesday evening Steph, Brittany, Jenny, McKenzie, Derrick, Rory, Sam and I went to Native to celebrate the last day of classes. I feel like the last day of classes deserves to be celebrated even though it's technically not the end of the semester yet... one last celebration before the stress of finals. And there is no better way to celebrate than at the restaurant that I have frequented during my college career.

After dinner Brittany and Derrick came back to the Beezies house and Abby came over once she was off work. We went really wild and played phase 10 and listened to Christmas music late into the night. Phase 10 is one of my all time favorite games... but it's definitely not a game free of frustration. It also goes on forever and so the frustration really escalates for everyone after a couple hours of playing. Luckily we survived the evening without killing each other.

Thursday December 8

Derrick and Kenzie joined me early in the morning to take Taylor and Natalie's graduation photos. Once upon a time I took one round of their engagement photos and I was actually so amateur back then, and now I have improved tenfold as a photographer and provided them with much better photos.

A photo ruined by a blink... dang it haha

After taking their photos I had to run to the journalism building because I apparently did not turn in my final for my publication design class correctly. I was hoping that since the computers hadn't been wiped yet that the file would still be on my account and I could just resubmit it... but alas it disappeared and I needed to completely redo the project, but I knew exactly what I did on Monday so I was able to replicate it in a matter of thirty minutes. Thank goodness for chill professors who don't automatically fail me for being dumb and turning in a final wrong.

After I finished my project I went home and conducted an interview for my in-depth article for RPA, and then I got ready for my day spent at Gentle Ben's.

Arizona Student Media (The Daily Wildcat, KAMP radio and UATV) had their end of the semester bash at Gentle Ben's with free drinks and appetizers (well free for the students, not free for Arizona Student Media). All my photo peeps congregated to a table outside because we are the socially awkward kids that can't be part of the party completely... and yet somehow also the life of the party because everyone else followed us. During the bash I won a $25 gift card to Brushfire BBQ and was honored with the Arizona Daily Wildcat alumni award for working at the Wildcat for four semesters, which has been the highlight of my college career. I am so grateful for all of the people I have met during my journey at the Wildcat starting as a photographer, then assistant photo editor and now photo editor. It's been a wild adventure and I couldn't have asked for a better group of kids to work with for four semesters.

Just some of my fabulous photo desk that made it to the bash

My babes with my babe (the award)

My glamazon co-editor 

Out of all the photographers I will ever come in contact with in my life Beka and Alex will always be my favorites #TeamNikonForever

After the bash on the upper deck of Gentle Bens I walked downstairs to the lower deck for the journalism school graduation send off, also with free appetizers (but we had to pay for our own drinks, so I opted to have water). There is a very small amount of people graduating in December this year, and an even smaller amount of people actually came to the send off, but all the homies were there (Michael, Ciara, Jessica, Elizabeth and Emily). The school gave us all a fancy notebook and a pen to send us off into the real world... only a little disappointed after the fancy award and $25 giftcard I got from the Daily Wildcat.

After that bash I went with Abby and Steph to Andrew's open house thingy for the house he designed and has been building all semester. This house might not be solving world hunger like Andrew always tells me he is going to do as an architect but it is pretty dope.

After walking around the unfinished house and watching Queston's rad video he made of the process, the beezies plus Deezy started making our way to a gas station, then to In-N-Out and then to Brittany's for Thursday cookies. Along the way Derrick revealed officially to me and Steph that he got his mission call to the California Redlands mission! I am super psyched for him!

At Brittany's she made us all delicious snickerdoodles while we watched Hairspray Live! I don't think it was as good as Grease live was, but it was still very well done.

I had to write my in-depth that was due at 5 pm on Friday that night (because I knew I wouldn't actually write it Friday) so I left Brittany's early to work on that. I did about 98% of the article and finished just a little after midnight.

Friday December 9

I woke up on Friday to an email from my RPA professor saying that our in-depth deadline was extended until Monday morning.... I had mixed feelings about this. I was happy because I had more time to add the finishing touches to my article (which I admittedly didn't end up doing after all) but I was also very frustrated because I stayed up the night before writing the article all in one sitting... not my favorite thing to do. But alas, the deadline was extended so I didn't work on it at all on Friday.

I went to lunch at No Anchovies with Tom in the afternoon as a final not-farewell to the guy that hired me as his assistant photo editor. Tom will always have a special place in my heart even though he really knows how to drive me up the wall. We had a great talk at lunch just about life and what we were planning on in the future. Tom made me feel oddly comforted about my lack of plan beyond graduation, so I thank him for that.

After lunch I went home to find my lovely boyfriend Zach was at my house (I did know he was coming). We hung out with McKenzie for a little bit before he went out and ran errands with me and I mailed out even more graduation announcements. When we got back to my house I was surprised to find Brittany and Abby sitting on my couch. One of my favorite things about my house (which could easily be something that bothers other people but not at all for me) is that it's the place that people just come to. It's actually very rare that people are invited over to our house, but it's even more rare that there's not a non-beezie in the house. Eventually Derrick showed up, and even later Kara and Hailey showed up as well... and even later than that Travis and his friend Carlos showed up. 1320 is a magnet for people, and I love it.

In the evening we played some Phase 10, watched some of the Gilbert temple cultural celebration (which 90% of the naked strippers were in), and then went to go get dinner at Costco (because really, it's hard to hate a dinner at Costco).

Even later in the evening I took Zach with me to the Daily Wildcat party party at Sam, Dom and Alex's house. At this party for the spring semester I came in with my mountain dew and probably stayed for 20 minutes tops. Beka somehow coerced me earlier in the week to committing to staying for an hour and playing beer pong with her (don't worry she drank for me). For my first time playing beer pong.... I was very horrible at first, but then I kind of got the hang of it. Beka and I almost made a really great comeback against Chastity and Courtney even though they were the victors in the end... but neither of them were drinking when they were supposed to be so Beka and I count that as a forfeit.

At the party Chastity the most perfect human being to ever walk this planet earth gave me the sweetest gift in the world. I was seriously tearing up when she gave it to me. It honestly wasn't even the gift itself that made me want to cry, it's the sacrifice she made each week in order to get me that gift. Chastity is the most precious human being, and my life gets a little bit better every single day I see her. I don't know if I could have survived this semester without her, she's my homie forever.

Eventually my hour glass ran out and I said my final farewells to many people at the Daily Wildcat even though most of them were very drunk or completely high and probably couldn't remember me being there at all. I am in no way a partier by the general population's standards, but I am very glad Beka got me to stay awhile and enjoy the people of the Daily Wildcat one last time.

The person least likely to be drunk in this photo actually looks the most drunk

Yes, Zach and I did come fully equipped with a Polar Pop filled with Mountain Dew for the party

I never want to leave her

Saturday December 10

Steph and I woke up bright and early to take her friend Nicole's graduation photos. I love that Steph has friends who just naturally look good and know exactly how to pose themselves, makes my job amazingly easy.

After taking Nicole's pictures I went with Zach and Rory to the store to buy food and drinks for Stydory's (Steph, Sydney and Rory) graduation party later in the evening. Once we got everything we needed we dropped everything into our fridges, I took a short nap and then it was party prep time. We cleared the living room, Steph put up all her awesome decorations, we sweeped, we vaccumed, and of course danced while doing it. 

Once we got the bulk of the work done I spontaneously decided it was time to buy an iPhone 7. I ordered it online to be picked up in the store later that day... in the process I also convinced my Dad to upgrade to a better plan with more data, so it was a great day all around. It was quite the complicated process trying to get them to give me the phone since I am not the account holder nor an account manager, and then it was an even more complicated process trying to simply activate the phone, but eventually we were able to figure it all out and I finally had my new phone that I wanted to buy for my birthday almost a whole month ago.

Eventually it was party time for Stydory. We had lots of food and drinks and a whole lot of people crammed into our house. We started the evening with some trivia, one round about the graduates and one round about the UA. McJeezus ended up winning the round about the graduates and the UA queen Maddy Truman won the round about the UA.

After trivia there was a lot of picture taking with the awesome backdrop that Steph made for the party. And the most amazing thing happened during this part of the evening... the Naked Strippers for the first time in the history of our friendship were all in one room at the exact same time (yes, you are reading this correctly, never before this party were we all together) and we were finally able to get a picture of EVERYONE, it was the one thing I wanted as a graduation present, and we were finally able to do it.

The only normal picture we took and it was out of focus, actual story of my life.

And of course there were a lot of other photos with the backdrop:

Then the Karaoke kicked off. Some of the featured songs were: Pony, Before He Cheats, Baby It's Cold Outside, Shoop, Guess Who's Back and of course Party In The USA.

Then the dance party ensued and remained for quite awhile. Once the party started to calm down and we started running out of food people started leaving which meant it was time to play silent football. And what happens in silent football stays in silent football, but I promise you it was a grand old time as it always is.

The party was rocking and it was the exact party I wanted to have in order to end my college career at the UA, the 1320 beezie parties never fail, and that is something I am definitely going to miss when I graduate.

Also biggest shout out to Chastity for being the last person to leave at a mormon party, she's literally the best.

Sunday December 11

Sunday was actually a very exciting day at church. Steph and Rory gave AMAZING talks during the Christmas program (and Rory cracked open the door for the Ward to see how crazy my family gets when we reenact the nativity each year on Christmas eve). Then in the second hour Derrick and I combined classes and played jeopardy with the entire ward for Sunday School. I was very concerned that it was going to totally flop and that it would go by way too fast, but it was actually perfectly timed and a lot of fun. Since Zach was still around and I didn't want to leave him for the third hour, we decided to head home after Sunday school... and apparently so did half the ward hahaha. There was just so much excitement in the first two hours that everyone needed to rest during the third.

Pretty much the remainder of Sunday was spent sleeping or playing card games or watching a ghost show. Really nothing that exciting, but it was super relaxing.

Kara did come over in the evening to talk about everything under the moon in her life. I seriously love this girl so much, and I'm going to miss her a lot when I leave, but luckily she is from Chandler so she can't really escape me, I will make her hang out with me and talk about life with me for the rest of time.

Monday December 12

By some stroke of luck Zach stayed until Monday so it was a literal non stop party all weekend long with him. He came to work with me Monday morning and we hung out with Chase for quite awhile. After work we took my car into the shop to get the radiator flushed and then went to Reid Park to play some Pokemon Go BECAUSE TOGEPI HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN RELEASED AND SHE IS MY ALL TIME FAVORITE POKEMON.... I haven't hatched her yet, but I am just so so psyched about it.

In the evening a bunch of people went to Krispy Kreme for their 12/12 dozen deal and to send Hailey off because she was going back to Idaho on Tuesday and never coming back. UA seriously rocked in the freshman department this semester, and Hailey was one of the top notch ones. Even though I am leaving too, I am bummed she won't be in Tucson next semester for when I come to visit. But she will love it up at Utah State being closer to home!

After Krispy Kreme we went over to Winter Haven for FHE. This was Zach's first time at Winterhaven, and my third time. I pretty much have the neighborhood memorized at this point, but I still love it each year.

After Winterhaven Zach unfortunately had to finally say farewell to Tucson.... until Thursday, so I only have to survive two whole days without him.

Tuesday December 13

I worked my final shift at Project FOCUS with Chase on Tuesday. We took did a little bit of studying, then took his final and then talked about Pokemon GO and Minecraft for the rest of the shift. It was a stress free shift, which was the perfect way to end my career at Project FOCUS.

After work I picked up my car from the shop... turns out the bill was three times higher than they anticipated it to be... so that's a fun thing. And then I went with Derrick to play some Pokemon.

Later in the evening I went to Wing Night with Queston, Mandy, Andrew, Abby, Travis (on his 22nd birthday), Natalie, Taylor, McKenzie, Jenny, Steph, Rory (the man who organized it all) and Derrick for a final Wing Night in Tucson. I probably can't count on two hands the amount of times I went to wing night at Native on Speedway during my 3 1/2 years in Tucson, and I have no shame saying that. 

I spent the remainder of the evening writing my essay for my stupid GenEd class that I really shouldn't have taken in the first place this semester. Now I only have to take two quizzes for this class and then I will officially be done with college... INSANITY.

Wednesday December 14

Steph, Kenzie and I woke up early this morning so Kenzie could take some Steph and Syd graduation photos with confetti and the Old Main fountain. The fountain was freezing and there was a learning curve with Kenzie on how to take confetti photos, but they turned out pretty great.

The remainder of my day is being dedicated to doing laundry, taking those two dumb quizzes that I really do not want to take, finishing this blog post, and packing up my room #crycrycry