Hey friends.

It’s been a while. As in, almost a year. I actually wrote a post in June, but for some reason, I never posted it so it’s a bit null and void now.

In this past year, I’ve done a lot, but most importantly, I graduated college on December 14, with a degree in English and a minor in Creative Writing. I basically got a degree in words, which means these words are officially good ones. My degree says so.

If you’re interested in the events of my final year of college, here’s what I’ve been up to.

February

I got my first freelance writing job with the local Visitors Convention Bureau. It was a lot of research and writing, but I really enjoyed the process and got my first taste of contract work. Plus, it paid really well, so that’s always a plus.

February 18: My birthday

I turned 21 this year. To celebrate, I was blessed with a lot of love. I went out for dinner and drinks with my closest pals. My girlfriend, Ray, took me for a ride on her lovely horse, Gus. The following weekend, she surprised me with a trip to Magic Kingdom. It was my first time going since our freshman year trip together with the school. We had a really wonderful day and prepared for our spring break trip the following month.

March

March 12: Alpha Chi induction

I had the honor to be inducted into Alpha Chi National College Honor Society with a few of my closest friends. We had to dress fancy and hold a candle and find a faculty or staff member to sponsor us. Aside from the part where I stood so long I almost passed out and my hands shook so badly that my candle wax started melting onto my fingers, it was really cool!

March 18-22: Spring Break

For my final spring break of undergrad, my friends and I planned the perfect spring break trip to Disney World. We got that Florida resident discount on a 4-day pass and visited a park a day. We did just the right amount of planning with fast passes and food, while still leaving room to be impromptu and do things as they came up. It was the best vacation I’ve ever been on.

April

April 17: Honors Day

I had the opportunity to present at my school’s Honors Day, which is a showcase of undergraduate research. I presented on a literary journalism paper I wrote about Seminole war leader Osceola for a Creative Non-Fiction class I took the previous fall.

May

My final spring semester was really rough. I got good grades, but only after major exhaustion and stress. I had to take an “incomplete” for one of my classes, which meant I had to take an extra month to finish the class. It worked out well, as I got a good grade in the class, but it was extremely humbling.

I moved into an apartment with Ray, which resulted in an entertaining vlog on our channel. I started working two summer jobs with Flagler College, one with the News and Information department, where I worked during the school year, and the other with the Digital Services department. I had a pretty busy summer working both of those positions.

Mid-May: Visiting family

After my semester ended at the beginning of May, I visited Tallahassee for a week for some doctors appointments and to see my friends and family. It worked out that I got to be home for Mother’s Day so I got to celebrate with my mom, grandma, and the rest of my family (including my aunt’s chocolate cake).

Late-May: Dogsitting

For 2 weeks, I dogsat Ray’s mom’s dogs, Pi and Fern. Our apartment didn’t allow pets so the closest we could get to having an animal was petsitting. Pi was really Ray’s dog when she was in high school so he felt like our own pet, even though it was temporary. Having grown up with a dog, getting to spend time with pets was refreshing after three years in the dorm.

June

Happy Pride! Ray and I went on a date to see Booksmart to kick off pride month and I have to say it was phenomenal. It was a hilarious movie that features plus-sized and queer leads whose struggles are human rather than marginalized. It was both funny and heartwarming. Plus, queer content? I strongly recommend it to everyone.

Also, remember how I said Pi felt like our dog? Well, he may have returned for an extended vacation that lasted all summer and the following semester. Once he felt like ours, there was just no way of living without him. He even celebrated Pride with us!

June 30: Boca trip

The three of us also took a little trip to visit Ray’s dad in Boca Raton. It was a short visit and mostly just so Ray could see a doctor at her dad’s office about some knee pain, but it was still our first family trip all together!

July

As a way of keeping up with my Honors capstone (you know, the one where I was writing a novel set during WWI), I decided to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo. Not gonna lie, I did not do great with keeping up with word counts, and frankly, I never do. But I tried and I managed to make progress on the novel. I also made a vlog, which I’ll edit someday.

July 4: Independence Day

For the 4th, Ray and I celebrated with her family. We spent time on the beach, sang karaoke, and witnessed a classic firework display. While I’m not the most patriotic person, I can certainly enjoy an excuse to party with family.

July 7: Going purple

I finally got to fulfill my lifelong dream of dyeing my hair purple. My dad always had a rule that I couldn’t dye my hair anything “unnatural” while living in his house. I appeased the desire for color with some more moderate reds while in high school and early college, but since I was living on my own (not half in a dorm and half in my parents’ house) for the first time this summer, I went for the dream. It turned out amazing, thanks to Ray, and lasted a couple weeks before beginning to fade out.

July 19: Young the Giant / Fitz and the Tantrums

One of Ray’s Christmas presents from her dad were concert tickets of her choice. She used the opportunity to take us to the Young the Giant/Fitz and the Tantrums co-headlined tour. Both artists were tons of fun and the concert was an all-around summery good time.

August

August 4: New tattoo

Having finally saved up enough money, I wanted to get a new tattoo. My favorite animal is the fox, and I’ve wanted a tattoo of one for a while now. I wanted to give the tattoo some significance, so I spent a long time pondering why I love foxes so much. I remembered one of my favorite childhood movies was Disney’s Robin Hood, which is probably where my love for foxes comes from. I decided to use Robin Hood as the basis for the tattoo to attribute some meaning to it. I worked with an artistic friend of mine to come up with a design I love and got it tattooed on the back of my arm. Now I have one of my favorite foxes with me wherever I go!

August 11-12: Savannah

When I discovered I had an expiring AirBnB credit to use before the end of August, Ray and I decided to take the tiniest vacation to Savannah, Georgia. We stayed at a 1920s duplex with an eclectic, vintage style. We drove down in the afternoon, had dinner that evening, and took a walk to Kroger for snacks. We checked out the following morning and spent the day downtown, visiting SCAD, the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home, and several yummy cafes. There’s even a vlog on our channel if you want to check out the sights.

August 26-27: Ray’s birthday

For Ray’s 21st birthday, we celebrated the way all adults do: by taking a day-trip to the Universal waterpark, Volcano Bay. We went on all the tube rides, the coaster, both lazy rivers (several times), and even lounged in the tidal pool. The following day, Ray’s mom took us to Margaritaville for Ray’s first drink.

August 28: Last semester begins

The day after Ray’s birthday, we began our final semester of college. This semester, I only had 3 English classes left, which were the English Novel, Florida Writers, and Senior Seminar. I had 2 classes left to fill so I took Sexual Orientation and History of Disney Animated Films. And of course, I had to finish the Honors Program.

September

September 3-6: Hurricane Dorian

Literally the week school started, Hurricane Dorian began stirring in the Atlantic. Because Flagler has been massively impacted by hurricanes in the past couple years, the school decided to take as many precautions as possible and gave us the week off so everyone could travel to safety. Ray and I traveled with our friends Lucy and Madison, as well as our collective dog and 2 cats, to stay in Sanford with Ray’s mom. It was extremely packed but we were all safe, and that’s what mattered. The storm hit in the night and really didn’t affect us at all. We were able to return to campus on schedule with no major damages to deal with.

September 17: Finish Ticket concert

Our freshman year, Ray and I saw her favorite indie band, Finish Ticket, perform in Jacksonville. It was the first concert we attended together, and they hadn’t toured since then. This year, they came back to the same venue, and we got to see them together as a close to our college career. We even got to meet with them afterward to tell them how they’d been part of our love story!

September 21: One-year anniversary

On the 21st night of September in 2018, Ray and I confessed that we had feelings for each other. While we took things slow and didn’t officially become girlfriends for a while, that is the day we consider ours. We celebrated one year as partners this September, the first of many years to come.

September 25: Rick Riordan

For the first time in my life, my favorite author Rick Riordan came to a town near me. My first tattoo was an homage to the Percy Jackson series, but I’ve never had the chance to see the author in person. My mom got me tickets to go see him so I headed down to Orlando to witness his authorial divinity. While the event was obviously geared toward middle schoolers and was meant to promo the fourth book in his newest series, which I have not had time to even start, it was still amazing to see him and hear him talk about writing.

September 26: Started freelance internship

I was offered an opportunity to work as a contracted copywriting intern at the same place that contracted me in February. This was my third job of the semester, but it was worth the struggle. I got freelance experience, learned new skills, and discovered new opportunities for post-grad work.

September 27: President’s List

After my hardcore semester in the spring, I was pretty surprised that I made the President’s List, which meant I got a 4.0 for the semester. I had received this honor once for my first semester in college and never again until now. The event was a little unnecessary, but it was cool to hang with the school president.

September 28: Bartram Frolic

My Florida Writers class this semester had lots of fun opportunities to interact with the literary culture of local areas through field trips. The first trip we took was to Palatka, Florida for the Bartram Frolic, an event which celebrates the impact of travel writer William Bartram. We took a boat ride, met reenactors, and dined at the oldest diner in Florida. All around exciting and informative.

October

The major event of this month was finishing my Honors capstone. I fully intend on filming a vlog about the experience, as well as uploading some older videos detailing my process. Stay tuned into my Capstone Chronicles playlist on YouTube for updates.

To boil it down to the most important details, I had a very intense time finishing the novel. I turned it into my committee on October 7 and defended on October 21. My final stats were: 42,135 words; 170 pages; and 44 chapters. I was the first to defend of my cohort, and I was the first to pass!

October 11-14: Fall Break

In a surprising twist of generosity, my school gave us 2 days off for Fall Break, which is code for Columbus Day, which no one really wants to celebrate but everyone still wants off. I traveled to Tallahassee to celebrate my mom’s birthday with her and our family. I also went wedding dress shopping with my cousin and her bridal party (no pics, for obvious reasons). I had to return to St. Augustine a day early for my internship, but I got to use that whole day off to catch up on homework.

October 17: Oliver Tree concert

One of Ray’s favorite artists, Oliver Tree, went on his farewell tour this fall. Since Ray had gotten me into his music as well, we took a few friends to go see him in Orlando. The show was a fun, casual time, complete with lots of merch at the end.

October 20: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings House

Another Florida Writers field trip involved traveling to Cross Creek, Florida, and visiting the Yearling Restaurant and the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings House. The restaurant served all manner of Florida Cracker vittles. I decided to try some food for the culture and ate gator tail, frog legs, duck, and quail. It was… an experience.

We went to MKR’s house afterwards, which included her barn and orange grove. Marjorie has easily become one of my favorite writers, and I was thrilled to visit the site of so much of her writing. Plus, her property inspired some ideas for the dream farm of my ideal future. 

October 26: Bastille concert

Another artist Ray introduced me to our freshman year was Bastille, who has become my favorite band. We were lucky enough to see them at the end of our first year and made a vlogof the experience. This October, they came back to our area to complete our college concert experience. It was amazing to see them again and indulge in the nostalgia.

October 31: Halloween party

As we finally lived off-campus, Ray and I worked with our roommates to throw a Halloween party. It was our last opportunity to go all out for Halloween while in college so we decorated the apartment to the max and invited more people than should be in such a small space at one time. The whole event was a blast.

November

November 2: Irontom concert

When Ray and I saw Finish Ticket in 2016, the opener for the concert was Irontom, a band we both now love. This year, they opened on the DREAMERS tour and returned to Florida. We attended a concert in Jacksonville, rocked out to Irontom’s set, chatted with the band afterward, and frankly, left before the headliner. It was late and this was our third concert weekend in a row. We had priorities.

November 12: Colloquium presentation

I had the honor of presenting at my college’s English department colloquium. Every semester, professors of the English department nominate and select essays from their students to read at a public presentation. My paper, ironically, was the one from my incomplete class. After spending extra time lengthening the paper to 15 pages so I could pass the class, I had to trim it back to 10 pages for the reading. The title of my paper was “The Phallic Fixation of Fitzgerald’s Dick Diver” and, no, I don’t want to elaborate any more.

November 21: Senior Sem presentation/Lucy’s birthday

Literally, the week after I presented for the English department, I had to present my paper for my senior seminar class. The class’s topic was Nathaniel Hawthorne, so we all had to write papers about his work. Mine was called “The ‘Nature’ of Hawthorne’s Puritans.” I talked about The Scarlet Letter for 10 pages. And that was just the intermediate draft.

My best friends, Lucy and Madison, presented with me on this day. Afterwards, we hung out and then went downtown to celebrate Lucy’s 21st birthday. I saw an armadillo with a piece of his shell missing at a bar. Crazy night.

November 22-24: Riptide Music Festival

In an annual tradition, Ray’s dad took us to Riptide Music Festival in Ft. Lauderdale. Highlights included K.Flay, Tan France (weirdly), the 1975, and the Killers. The festival lasted two days but we only went on Saturday. Still, we saw the most important artists to us and we just needed to relax the following day.

November 27-December 1: Thanksgiving break

For Thanksgiving break, I headed home the Wednesday before and hung out with my cousins that evening. We tried to make brownies for the holiday but forgot to spray the pan, so we just ate them straight out of the pan. Thanksgiving was delicious, as always. I also got to see one of my best friends from home, Meredith, before I left. Mostly, I spent the break doing homework, as I always do.

December

December 14: Graduation

After my last, and perhaps most intense, finals week, I graduated from Flagler College with a degree in English at 9 am in the morning. Not gonna lie, I did not feel well all morning and thought I was going to pass out or throw up or worse the entire ceremony. I’m pretty sure I had some minor food poisoning.

But I made it! I graduated! I spent time with my family and friends to celebrate. It’s all still very surreal, but it’s been hitting me in waves.

December 16-22: Moving

With the lease up on our apartment at the end of December, Ray and I moved into Lucy and Madison’s house. Lucy is moving to Spain to teach for six months, so we took her room when she moved out. The house is already an improvement from our small apartment. Pi has a yard (and is allowed to live here). And he’s gotten to bond with Lucy’s two cats, Ruth and Alex, whom Madison is looking after while Lucy is in Spain. It took about a week to move everything because we got overwhelmed, but it’s a work in progress.

December 18: Impromptu Disney trip

In a spur of the moment decision, Ray and her mom helped me pay for a ticket to Disney so I could visit for the day with Ray and her sister, who are both passholders. We park-hopped from Hollywood Studios to Epcot to Magic Kingdom so we could see all the best Christmas decorations. It was great to take a day away from the chaos and celebrate the end of an era.

December 22: Christmas party limo

As part of the Christmas celebration, I joined Ray’s family on a party limo sponsored by her grandparents. There were snacks, festive tunes, and a tour of the Christmas lights at the Daytona International Speedway.

December 24-25: Christmas Eve and day

This was my first Christmas away from my family, but I spent it with Ray’s instead. She and I scrambled to get together three types of cookies (dark chocolate peppermint, hot chocolate with marshmallows, and sugar with Royal frosting) and a bread bowl dip before the trip. Christmas Eve was a night of buffet food, Christmas charades, and Yankee Swap. I had the pleasure of taking home a set of wooden serving trays, which will admittedly be helpful for entertaining. Ray won a collection of Star Wars mugs, hot chocolate, and pancake mix. We watched Snowball Express with everyone, then A Christmas Prince when the extended family went home.

At 2 am, when we debated settling down for the night and Ray’s mom started filling stockings, she asked if we wanted to go ahead and open presents. So we had Christmas at 2 am, and saved our stockings and Christmas movie marathon for the daytime.

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If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with this eternal post. These reflections are just a way for me to preserve my favorite moments and share my life at the same time.

2020 marks the start of a new decade and a new chapter in my life. I am no longer a student, meaning my identity must be recrafted. As a full-blown adult, I will be freelance writing for several clients, most of which I interned for as a student. Freelancing is a little unstable so I am a little nervous, but I’m excited to learn from this experience. Hoping to look for a more full-time position in the future.

I intend to post more frequently now that I’m not a student, so I can hopefully break up these long posts. Until then, that’s all for now. Thanks for reading, and happy new year!