The day I came back though, I could NOT wait to get back to Bellingham. All of my Tacoma friends had since gone off to whatever corners of the earth for school, spiritual enlightenment, travel, etc. However, I spent my time at home trying to be productive and spent some time with my family. I was really only there for nearly two days, but when you're SUPER excited to get back to Bham, to your friends, new awesome house, and life, two days can seem like a very long time. Wednesday night I went out to my favorite Indian restaurant with my parents and then jetted up North. I arrived at nearly midnight, but was sooo excited that I ended up staying up until 4:30am sitting by the window in my new room with a view, just staring at Bellingham Bay with Wesley. There is a building somewhere down hill from my house that produces a large steam cloud out of a vent. We just watched the cloud column change shapes and pointed out what animals we could see. When I was finally relaxed enough to become sleepy, I curled up on my hardwood floor in my wonderful sleeping bag and slept for a couple of hours until my excitement woke me up again.
[Mr. Zeus]
My 21st birthday just so happened to be the first day of school AND the first day of Fall this year. My day started out pretty normal. By normal I mean, me yelling "FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!" at all of my friends on campus or through text.
After all of my classes and I did a bit of homework, a couple of my girl friends came over and then we all went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Jalapeno's. I used my 21 year old ID for the first time and ordered myself a Big Mama (a big margarita). Here in Bellingham, getting your first Big Mama on your birthday is kinda like a right of passage and almost necessary for you to be considered 21. After dinner, we went home and I took a small power nap and then rallied and went downtown with my friends that are old enough to do so.
[Photo Cred: Mom]
The last Saturday of September, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis returned to Bellingham to play another show. My friends and I went, of course, and then ran back home in the rain after. Again he put on a great show and we even hung out with his very talented trumpet player Owour Arunga (I recommend looking him up, he does a lot of very nice side work).
[Moose and I after we all ran home in the rain]
The next day, Jane came into town to run the Bellingham marathon. After she was done, some good friends and I met at the Mckay Taphouse
During the next week, I finally found a dresser on Craigslist. Up until that point, I had been living out of three boxes and two duffel bags of clothes. Jamie was a homie and let me borrow her truck. Wes was a homie and came with me to pick it up about 30min out of Bham. The guy I was getting it from lived in a really nice house in a small community outside of Ferndale called Sandypoint. Basically this place is on a really thin peninsula. It was absolutely gorgeous. After we picked up the dresser, exchanged some cash, and said thank you to the man, we headed out on an adventure to see what this place was all about. Luckily I had my camera with me.
[Mt. Baker hidden among the low clouds]
The next day, I drove home for a doctor's appointment and then turned right back around to drive to Seattle with my brother. We met up with Hashi and some other homies at Chris's frat house and got ready to head to the Showbox Market to get whompy at the Rusko show. We all had SUCH a good night! We rolled deep to this show, literally taking up a whole city bus just to get all of us there. One of the best parts was that both Bellamys AND Paschalls were whomp whomping together! Our group took up a good section of the front and center area for the whole show. We seriously danced forever that night. It was sooo needed! Once the show ended, we all walked/bused back to the frat and foraged for food (rice and more rice haha), watched late night ski movies, wandered around, and eventually got to bed. I have no idea where my brother ended up, but I eventually found him again back in Bham haha. Hashi, Chris, and I all crammed into his bed and slept like 3 sardines. I was in the middle and definitely fell asleep and woke up in the exact same position (like a stick). That just proves to me how exhausted my body was from dancing.
[Photo Cred: Laura Maruhashi- cell phone]
So ever since I've been back from Alaska, I've been really thinking about the tattoo that I want. There are two factors that are holding me up: placement and color. Originally I wanted to get it in a more private place on my torso, but after drawing it out there several times I'm not sure that it will fit how I want. Also, I think that it would get morphed as I grow older. My second choice has been on my left forearm. I've drawn it there many times and I like how it looks, but I'm just not positive yet if I want it to be that public. Not that I don't want people to see it, its just that it is a very wise quote that I live my life by and its kind of my mantra. I would be getting these words submerged into my skin for me, not for anyone else. I was first exposed to this quote during my junior year of high school in my english class. It has now been planted in my mind for four whole years; I, again, am a junior. When I moved back to Bellingham in September, the ONE thing left in my room from the previous dweller was a birthday card (made by my favorite stationary company) written to someone I don't know. The quote on the cover though, I believe was written to me. I couldn't believe it. Not only had I spent twenty minutes earlier that morning thinking about tattoo placement, but this card was left in my room with my mantra on it. It was definitely a sign. Wes enlightened me to the idea of synchronicity. I'm not one to just go out and get inked when I see a sign, but this has pushed me to think about what it would mean to me a bit more. Anywhoo...
So, when we moved into this house I really wanted to throw a dance party here. I believe that EVERYONE gets the right to dance when they want, not just the people who are 21 and old enough to go downtown. One week, we finally found the time to pull it together. Luckily our neighbor downstairs is a DJ and was totally down to do a collaborative whomp whomp. The only requirement being that people dance. I gathered up some speakers, bought a couple more blacklights to add to my collection, and we threw one of the best parties I have ever been to. Actually, I think it was the best house party I have ever been to. My brother and I got up on the speakers and danced our silly selves out together (it has become very obvious to me lately, that we come from the same crazy Bellamy blood. We've just gotta dance!). I am sooo incredibly proud of my house for doing such a good job. Everyone I talked to who came had a blast. Still to this day, random people come up to me and tell me how much fun they had and that it was the best dancing they have done in years. Goal accomplished: bliss through movement!
[DJ Ryo (AKA Max, our neighbor) and I at the end of the night]
The next night, the dancing continued downtown at the Wild Buffalo with my brother and Logan. A funk band was playing and they ROCKED! Seriously, the stage was filled with like fifteen older dudes rocking out on trumpets, tubas, drums, guitars, etc. One of the only young guys was the same trumpet player from Macklemore. After the show, I went up to talk to him and he totally remembered me and said he recognized me giggin in the crowd. He remembered that my birthday was a couple weeks earlier and asked how I liked being 21. What a homie.
That Sunday, Jordie, Maddy, and Hayley came over for a bunny date. I'm pretty sure that the photos do better than words.
[A birdy that flew in my window]
The next Thursday, two DJs were spinning a Daft Punk vs. Chromeo night at the Wild Buffalo (AKA the B. Wild). I had seriously been waiting for this night all week. When Jen, Fallen, Sam, and I had arrived some people were bobbing around and kinda dancing, but it wasn't bumping yet. Soon enough, the other Bellamy showed up, we acquired lots of glow sticks (thanks Alex!) and we decided to get things started! We jumped up on stage with the DJ tables and started dancing Bellamy style. Everyone was stoked and soon enough the stage was packed with people dancing all over the place! The rest of the night was AWESOME and I had a blast with my friends, brother, and the random people I met. For some reason, I got into a cleaning mode and helped the bartender by organizing the empty cups by shape and size for him. I also decided to grab all the empties off of the DJ tables so that their equipment wouldn't get spilled on. Sometimes, you've just gotta clean. haha
The next weekend, we played our annual alumni lacrosse games. Then we had a BBQ and gathering. Again, a dance party broke out. Chris, came up for a visit from UW and we got breakfast in the morning. Later that day, Wes and I got out of town to return to Sandy Point to get some photos of the fall leaves and go on a longboarding adventure. We met a really silly old man who told us all about his life, about how to make fireplaces, his dogs, and he told us not once, but twice what year he moved there. I really wanted to get a picture of him. It would have been perfect with his Budweiser trucker hat, old Sandy Point yacht club wind breaker, and old whithered hands.
I had a couple of midterms to study for last week. One day I was awake for 21 hours and on campus for 15 of them. It was horrid. But I did well on my bio exam, so I'm okay with it. Once I was done with exams for the week, I went over to the Nunnery to carve pumpkins and let the animals play. I made a raccoon pumpkin :)
Last weekend, I had a really good night of dancing with some of my housemates, friends, both of the Chaffey's and my brother. At the end of the night, we kicked it at my brother's house for a bit. The next morning, Peter, Carter, Hannah, Hashi, Tristan and I went out for breakfast at Little Cheerful. Peter was partially homeless haha. It was also Fallen's birthday! Happy birthday girl! On Sunday, I did some studying in a cafe in Fairhaven. Being there made me realize how much I miss Port Townsend. My family goes there every November and I'm really hoping I can get there this year. That evening my house carved pumpkins. The pictures explain themselves!
This week I had a psychology of gender exam and I couldn't believe it when I got a 49/50! I was really glad that my studying paid off. I don't usually get that satisfying of grades from my science classes. On Thursday, I worked on Halloween costumes with Amy and Wes. During that time, we watched four movies and got a lot done on our rad costumes! Amy made a lion outfit, Wes was constructing Man Humping Bear (a statue we have on campus) and I was fabricating a shark. On Friday of Halloweekend, I went to a couple of house parties, saw some friends, and ended up downtown at the Buffalo to listen to Fresh Espresso and Hella Dope. Its funny because, this year at Sasquatch we camped next to Hella Dope and talked to them a couple times and we also saw Fresh Espresso play one of the days. After the show, one of the Hella Dope guys complimented my costume and actually remembered the Wolf Pack (my friends and I at Sasquatch) when I asked. Pretty funny really haha. Yesterday, I studied downtown with Scott, fell on my bike (literally, fell from a standing position all the way backwards onto my bike.. outside the cafe....) went climbing and hot tubing, and then went to a costume dinner at Headquarters (AKA Jamie, Amy, and Schu's place). We ate yummy chicken, mashed potatoes, cider, and other fall foods. I wasn't really in the mood to go out, but my brother rallied me eventually by standing below my window and yelling my name until I got out of bed. We went to a dance party at this house we danced at a lot at the beginning of the summer. The DJs had their tables set up on top of a pool table and were dressed up as Daft Punk. It was awesome! I talked with some friends and dodged cobwebs. The night was cut short when my friend fell out of a window that he leaned up against. Luckily, in the end he's okay. It really freaked me out and I ran home before the ambulance got there. Now it is Sunday, the real Halloween, and I am sitting here in the Woods coffee shop updating my blog. I'm not dressing up tonight because I am too sleepy and ready for life to return to normal. Lame, I know. I am however going to go see the annual Thriller dance downtown.
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