+ Old Art
+ Old Songs
+ Old Boys
+ Old News
Nades & Jafronda & Mary & Nicram & Bo Bara
+ Pitas
+ Haloscan
+ Et Tois ♥ !
+ 03/18 - 03/30 Spring Break!
+ 03/28 - 03/30 SakuraCon
+ 03/28 / 03/30 Back to dorms
+ 03/31 First day of classes
THURSDAY
After a call from Zack and the encouragement from Nadine, then Lunch with my mom and my brother at Chung's, dinner at Famous Dave's and Brawl and karaoke at Nadine's with Kevin, Julius, Kelsey, & Daniel, I resolved that, yes, I would go to Sakuracon the next day. I wanted to go for just one day, Saturday, but that would have cost $45, when going to the whole shebang would cost $60, so why not?
FRIDAY
Packing and leaving in the morning, Nadine and I head to the ferry and meet with Megan and her boyfriend, Jon. Randomly saw Olivia Gass, who was ALSO going to Sakuracon. So amazing. We all sat together in the ferry and it was fun to catch up and realize how lives intersect and weave in and out of each other. Sometimes I would just sit and watch everyone talking and laughing and it all seemed like an out of body experience, a good one. Not the first in a series of amazing chance occurrences.
The ferry arrives in Seattle and we four of us part ways with Olivia. Megan wants to ride a taxi, which I thought would be pretty sketch, and a man came up to us, asking if we needed a ride to Sakuracon, and takes us across Alaskan Way, under the highway to his black car. Sensing that we were a little apprehensive, he carefully, kindly assured us that it was all legit, and showed us all the taxi stuff inside. Turns out, he's AMAZING. He was so nice and the trip to the convention centre was a blast. He taught us Greek and Ethiopian, we Megan and Nades taught him Japanese.
We get to the convention centre, and the three go off to get into costume as I wander around a little with Nadine's camera. My own costume was just to wear the glasses Arabella gave me, hoping someone would come up to me and tell me what I was. Didn't happen though, too bad.
I come back and Nadine is outside, and I go up to her and she whispers to me, "Hey, is that Jeff?" I turn to the direction she was pointing and my eyes are already horrible so I think it's him, but I remember that he left for California a little while back, so I tell her it isn't. Just then, a pink figure emerges from the restroom and it's Bill, so I do a double take and realize that it WAS Jeff, just a little sunburned from skiing over break. Zack immediately follows Bill and we all cheerfully greet one another and I was introduced to Ana and Tay(Ty? OMG NOT AGAIN I keep forgetting!!)ler, Zack's friends from Spokane who are awfully, awfully nice. I was so happy to seem them all again, it felt like ages since last Thursday (h)s it only been a week?!). Just wish that Tim had woken up in time, haha.
Registration was fine, except I didn't know that I needed a pre-registration form, so I had to stand in line twice, but, strangely, since it was the line for people who didn't already register online, it was much smaller than the official line. At least it wasn't like with Bill and Zack who had even more registration issues.
Galavanting and lurking around, we take pictures then split from Megan and Jon, as Nadine, Zack, Bill, Ana, Tay(Ty?)ler, Jeff, and I all go to Westlake for lunch, Which was fun since we walked the four blocks to Westlake with Bill, Jeff (who had put on Tim's green squirrel), and Zack in their costumes. For a while they got to wear them in Westlake, we even got to see Arabella at her work while they were in them. Then the popo told them the jig was up and they had to take off the face masks. Pleasant lunch, then right back to Sakuracon.
We walked around more, I got to take pictures of everyone and the three squirrels were immensely popular and everyone wanted their photograph. It was so cute how everyone reacted, especially people who weren't from Sakuracon on the walk to the convention centre. I saw an old lady visibly gasp, having a kanipshin. They were asking me to try on a squirrel too, but I don't think I'm brave enough to go through with it. Maybe later, haha.
So Ana and Tay(Ty?)ler wanted to go to a "Flirting at Con" workshop, which was, err, awkward? Just random advice giving, ridiculous questions and overwrought responses. It was funny when Jeff participated. Too bad he wasn't one of the panelists. But still, it was alright I guess. I mean, everyone just wants love, right? Even Sakuracon cosplayers. Love love love.
So we left in the middle of the workshop. HAHA. Tim finally arrived and was wearing a black squirrel. We walked around a bit more, walking by people, and I heard at least a few exclaiming "OMG there's a FOURTH one!" HAHA. Yay!
We went to Gameworks for dinner, Ana showed me this game that dispenses cards and it was hilarious. She's also amazing at Skeeball. Like, amazing. I thought I did well, I even made a shot into the elusive corner hole but even still, Ana DESTROYED us. Gosh. Zack used the tickets we Ana won and bought us all parachute men. We have to save them for an amazing event, ok guys? Like when we have a roadtrip to Mt. Everest or something.
We had dinner and had a really nice waiter, who hates his job and wishes he were doing his own thing of stand-up and moving to L.A. We explained the squirrels and Sakuracon to him and he was thinking of starting up a Comedycon, which actually wouldn't be a bad idea. He actually had conversations with us about our lives and what we were doing in terms of job/futures. It was nice. The first in a string of really good waiters. Yay!
It was late by then, cold and rainy/snowing, so we all went back to U-District and parted ways. I stayed over at Bill's and we played Brawl and the Pokemon Card Game and read stories in German. More Brawl, then sleep.
SATURDAY
So Bill and I wake up at around 11? I don't remember, actually. Even more brawl then he made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while Zack and the others went to eat Dim Sum. Bill and I made our way to Sakuracon so I could meet with Nadine and get my stuff so I could freshen up for the day. We arrived and I found Nadine who was with Matt, who I was excited to see since it had been forever since I'd seen him last. Nadine, her brother, Bill, and I walk over to Nadine's hotel room, which was gorgeous, but to my dismay, turns out that my stuff was still in her car, which was out being used by her parents. I did what I could in her room's restroom, and out we went for day 2 of Sakuracon.
Less epic this time, I think, maybe because the novelty of it all was passing. The three squirrels got into the costumes and it was fun walking around with them again since Zack taught me how to use his amazing camera. After a while, Bill left to meet with Spencer, and Ana and Tay(Ty?)ler called telling us there was a "Lolita Fashion Show," and if we wanted to go we should go now since the line was understandably long. Tim, Zack, and I go to the fashion show, and it turns out to be a upsetting disappointment of epic proportions. I mean, wow. Haha. Oh well. I felt bad since one of the panelists, as she was talking, was incredibly nervous and started sounding like she was sobbing as she talked on the mic. We left with others, but it did not help that I felt horrible as I left. I bet they hoped it would be huge and amazing, as did we, but sometimes expectations fall flat, I guess. No one's fault, but still meh.
Ana and Tay(Ty?)ler go and do their own thing as Tim, Zack and I checked out Brawl again. I was feeling tired so I didn't play much when Arabella called at 5:45 asking if she could borrow my pass to look around the shopping area. I meet her and she goes off and I go outside and just wander around the block, make my way to a convenience store to buy a vitamin water. At 6, when all the shop stands at Sakuracon close, I met up again with Nadine, Matt, Arabella, Derek, and Nadine's brother and we try to sneak up to the sixth floor, but they were cracking down on checking people's passes, and since the Costume Contest was going on at that time, the sixth floor was packed and they were limiting the number of people who could go up. The line was HUGE so we try to find an alternate way up, but they closed off all alternate routes. Foiled again, instead we all go to Derek's hotel room and watch some TV. I got to ride Matt's fixed-gear bike in the hotel and it's so so so nice, and I can't wait for my bike, which is in the shop right now. Hopefully it'll be done by April 2nd, when my dad can deliver it to me.
Anyway, I call Tim and Zack and tell them where I am, and to call me when they wanted to leave the convention and get something to eat. I was supposed to go to The Cheesecake Factory with Sarong, Nadine, and others, but since I would have only have known Nadine, I went to eat with Zack, Jeff, and Tim on Capitol Hill instead. It was snowing again, so we were glad to get on a bus. I left my jacket at Bill's so I was FREEZING, so the bus ride was amazing, except for the part when Tim and Jeff were stalled and couldn't get off the bus in time and missed exiting. Zack and I turned around as we stepped onto Broadway and had a WTF? moment looking around for wherever they were. Zack gave me an umbrella and we called Tim and Jeff, telling them to get off on the next stop so we could meet them halfway.
Next is quite possibly the best part of my weekend. We chose to eat at the closest, respectable restaurant because Tim was angry at the bus driver and the weather was awful and it would be awful to go any further than necessary on Broadway. We end up at DeLuxe, a place that specialises in burgers, which I was a little iffy about, thinking it would be mostly meat and I was actually craving Thai food, but it was no big deal, however, and I wanted to get out of the rain (sleet? snow?) as much as everyone else. It was very fun, even if a little dim. The food was good, the conversation was good. The waitress was the best waitress I've had in a while. So sweet, "Too Sweet," feared Tim, who said it meant it would lead to her heartbreak. I hope not, though I feel the same worry for her. It means that eventually she'll be exploited for it, be trampled on. It means there will be something that comes into her life and breaks her, makes her jaded, won't there be? Too sweet for her own good, you know? It means everything I hope won't happen to me, that I'll lose the side of myself that loves love and happiness because I've been there before. People like her make me fear for them, because they're so RARE, aren't they? Otherwise, why can't we ALL just meet nice people, love them and be loved, and never have to mess with all the riff-raff nor ever be scoundrels seeking to undo us and others' happiness?
And, the best part, her name was Cynara, the name of the girl from the poem I just remembered and wrote about in this blog a few days ago. I JEST YOU ABSOLUTELY NOT. It's a sign, people. It means that no matter the stupid things I've done, the emotional rollercoaster I've been on, the spontaneity of leaving home early, of life, of strangers, all these individual timelines: my own, all my friends, all the decisions we make, Cynara's parents who may have fallen in love with the Ernest Dowson poem at one point in their lives, who loved each other and the poem it so much that they might have named their daughter after it, Cynara's own life that led to her impossible kindness, the location of the diner, missing the bus stop, the freezing cold, my own hopeless situation, every pause and start, every stupid mistake and every regret, all of everything, good or bad, has ultimately led me to meeting this person. I found out her name from reading my receipt. It said "Thank You, Cynara" on the top. Is this just chance? I don't think it CAN be, you know? Who can be sad that Cynara lives?
Who can be forlorn and hopeless when the culmination of so much love, so much the interweaving of timelines and choices led me to be sitting amongst new friends, in a dimly lit restaurant, where a waitress, who probably doesn't get paid enough, can still find a reserve of kindness for strangers? It's life and it's just, it's funny, right? It's the realization that the sun doesn't go down, that it's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round. Would I have known her name if I hadn't left my ipod and jacket at Bill's? I might have been too busy listening to my ipod to check the receipt. Would I have arrived at this point if I hadn't met Nadine in 7th grade and told her that her cat pictures were nice? Would I have known the poem ITSELF if I hadn't been horribly, embarrassingly heartbroken in, ughhhh, High School? Would I have been sitting in that restaurant if I had been with other people? Life is funny like that. Life is amazing like that. How can you be sad, guy? Happiness is made for those who want it enough. Optimism is a cure-all. People just CAN'T be "too sweet," because even if she is heartbroken over and over again, it has to result in SOMETHING right? We Learn and that's important too. Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Too sweet for her own good? No such thing. Because she has EVERYTHING, doesn't she? Don't we all? And there ARE people like her. Nice people AREN'T RARE because we're all sweet, we're all NICE and there are NO scoundrels because all we all want is love, right? All we all want is happiness and safety and stability. Like Sakuracon people who show up to a "Flirting at Con," and not just for the irony. Like the girl sobbing from nervousness during the Lolita Fashion Show, who may have would have felt better with a hand to hold, metaphorically or literally. Like you, like me. Cynara, I don't even know you, but you should know how much you have affected me, opened my eyes in a series of eye-opening moments I've been having. It's not that I don't care anymore about the predicament, nor that it's totally over because letting go is always hard and reluctant. But it's easier, now, right? Life is easier. Softer for the fall and focused, besides. I can, we ALL can do everything. Fucking everything. Fuck it. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck all goddamn it because life never ceases to amaze me and I don't have to bear or live within it all on my own because I've got so many people to help me along the way and everything is good and everything is better and everything is the way it should be because I met an angel named Cynara and Cynara shows that love and life is possible, even when you're "too" nice, or "too" sweet.
So back to my day, haha. After dinner we leave for the bus back to the U-District to meet Bill and Spencer, to rest before the rave at Sakuracon. If I had neglected to mention, Tim, Bill, and Zack all also wanted to go to Neighbors that night also, after the rave. Tim went back to his dorm, however, and I went to Zack's apartment for a while, still in a dream after the whole Cynara incident, and a little shocked and a little wistful and, uhh, not exactly sad, not bored, not hopeful, not crazed, not tired, not lonesome, not unhappy but somewhere in the middle, maybe content? Zack made bubble tea and I had a really good time with Ana and felt like I had known her forever while Bill and Spencer came over and eventually left for the rave, while I opted out for some rest. Zack told us the Ninja Turtle Story, which I'm glad he trusted us enough to tell us. Oh, Zack! Haha. Seeing Ana and Zack made me so happy that friendship exists, made me hope that after all is said and done, we would all at least have each other, right? We all need a friendship bracelet day. Pinky swear, alright?
Tim arrives a little while later, excited for Neighbors since people he just met wanted to go also. Turns out he met Monica's Andrew JUST that night and he was coming too. What are the chances! Life never ceases to amaze me. Tim got so many people to come and I was shy at the idea of meeting everyone, but they all turned out to be nice and funny and better than I could have hoped and they had CARS. In SEATTLE. For PERSONAL USE. Definite deal-sealer. We all met at 1:50ish and left at around 2. Tim and I rode with Thomas, his boyfriend Marcus, and their friend Sarah, three people I had just met who were the definition of friendly. Zack rode with Andrew, and two other people I just met, Zereck and Kenny. We arrived and met with Bill and Spencer and it was so, so, so fun. Even though I didn't know most of them, I felt that I knew them all for years afterwards. In the coat check, I checked someone's coats for them and they gave me 10 dollars, meaning 8 dollar net profit. Yay!
At first I felt awkward because the whole thing of going clubbing was (and still is) ridiculous, though still fun. Actually I promised to dance on stage with Bill, but after a few minutes of up there with Spencer and Zack, I went back to the main floor with the group with Zack (If you're reading this, Bill, I'm sorry) which didn't help the whole "this is awkward" feeling. It might have taken a few minutes for me to loosen up and to get over the repetitive techno and it took Sarah and Andrew a while to coax me out of my comfort zone, but once I realized that the ridiculousness of it all was necessary and that everyone was awkward anyway, I finally started dancing and dancing was amazing. It was cool to see Zack finally dance too, haha. Also, it was funny cause Andrew knew EVERYONE there. Jeez. Every other second he was saying "hi!" to someone he knew. Crazy! And everyone was a good dancer! Good golly. Everyone was amazing! Dancing really is a great thing, Lorraine. I totally agree. It's just VITAL. Even if it's to cheesy techno, even if it's funny and silly and awkward. So fun. When the whole group wanted to go on stage later, I finally went up and we all danced and it wasn't as awkward as before. Just fun and laughs and jokes and friends and life happening and happening. Amazing.
As neighbors finally died down around 4 in the morning, the group of us plus a few more all decided to go eat at the IHOP by Seattle U. just around the corner. It was so great just to be sitting in a restaurant filled with people, with a group of 13 all just enjoying each other's company. The waiter, again, was funny and nice, though his name wasn't Cynara, haha. I just wish that Bill and Spencer were a little more awake, but I wouldn't blame them since they had been at a rave beforehand and must have been completely out of it. Eat eat eat, then goodbyes and more laughs and as we gingerly avoided the spot in the parking lot where we saw someone throw up the Horton-Hears-a-Who pancake special and made our way home, happy, filled with warmth, and food. It was so sweet when Sarah said, "Ok, now that we all know each other, make sure to say hello when we see each other on campus, ok?" with a look of so much earnest on her face. I hope I get real glasses soon because I tend not to recognise people from far away. It was also sweet when Marcus, or was it Thomas?, proclaimed to the group at the end of eating that he had a blast, more fun than he'd had in a while, and that we should all do it again some time. Yes yes yes.
This night I spent in Tim's dorm, with Zack and Tim. I hope Tim's roommate didn't mind that I used his massively tall bed, and I'll make sure to thank him when I finally get to actually meet him. We talked and talked and I told them about my miraculous brilliance that was meeting Cynara. We talked about love and life and love and our families and love. It was so, so great. Just talking like that after a night like this recharges your soul, you know? Despite the sadness and the awfulness I was feeling, it's like remembering who you are, being where you are, going through what you're going through and the shattered feeling coalesces into a crystalline whole. Everything was more real and for such great kindnesses I was happy. I found out so much about them, that I hope they felt they got to know me more also. The world is funny, isn't it?
SUNDAY
Woke up at 3 and Zack had already left to work. Tim and I read Post Secret then went to buy our textbooks for our classes. We actually saw Sarah on the way! LIFE HAPPENS. Holy fuckshitgoddamnbananamuffin does it ever.
Brawl at Zack's, with Nadine, Jeff and Tim. We all ate at Little Thai with Kevin. more brawl at Zack's with Tim and Bill. Walked back to the dorms and saw Doug and we had a good chat. Walked home, thinking, as I do in moments like these, moments I had been having all weekend, that if I were to die right then, it would be okay. If only I could always be in a perpetual state of bittersweet happiness like I felt then, that I feel now, enough ache to know I'm living, enough bliss to be fit to burst, that would be worth everything. I'll get over it the way anyone ever gets over anything.
When I got back to Haggett, Nadine helped me bring my stuff from her room back to mine, and my floor lounge was filled with balloons all over the floor, like a dream, like the planets aligning. Life. Never. Ceases. To. Amaze. Me. I got to my door and where before my alien name tag with "Bernard" on it had an upside-down smile, thanks to Kevin, my R.A.s replaced with a big, GIGANTIC grin. It makes you want to just explode, break down with happiness, gratitude, and awe, does it not? The jokes between friends, the kindness of strangers.
I'm going to wake up tomorrow at 8 AM, five hours from now, since this post took two hours to write and remember. I'm going to do laundry and eat breakfast--a bagel, which I've been craving for days. I'm going to ready myself for the day and I'm going to pin up the receipt I saved with Cynara's name on to my wall. "I have loved thee, Cynara! in my fashion."
It's better to regret what you've done than the things you haven't done.
+ A Valediction Forbidding Mourning by John Donne
+ Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae by Ernest Dowson
+ To An Army Wife in Sardis by Sappho
Some say a cavalry corps,
some infantry, some again,
will maintain that the swift oars
of our fleet are the finest
sight on dark earth; but I say
that whatever one loves, is.
This is easily proved: did
not Helen --- she who had scanned
the flower of the world's manhood ---
choose as first among men one
who laid Troy's honor in ruin?
warped to his will, forgetting
love due her own blood, her own
child, she wandered far with him.
So Anactoria, although you
being far away forget us,
the dear sound of your footstep
and light glancing in your eyes
would move me more than glitter
of Lydian horse or armored
tread of mainland infantry.+ I Carry Your Heart With Me by ee cummings
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
Also: Spring Quarter, I've got you beat. I'm free at 1:20 daily and the sun will be shining and the leaves green and the music playing and the days longer. I will do better and I will breathe easier.
OMG YES. It's crazy how much time I spend (waste?) on SSB. Oh well. I guess I should spend time working on a portfolio for Design, but whatev. I can always just major in English, right? I mean, I speak the language, don't I? Architecture = meh. Maybe comparative literature? I was thinking linguistics also, because Noam Chomsky is the ultimate BAMF, but everyone is a Linguistics major and learning languages is hard. Brawl brawl brawl!
Working on fixing up Kevin's Mom's bike. It's soo yellow and soo amazing. It costs $160+, though, to tune it up. There's a bike for sale at Costco for $200, but it's tres fugly. Anyway, the bike Kevin gave me has character. Ah well. I've decided to hold out on fixing up the bike until I get to check out Recycled Cycles in Seattle. Maybe I could go tomorrow to check them out. I dunno, I just want a bike really, really bad. I don't want to wear a helmet, however. So awkward-looking.
I woke up at 6 PM today. Shiznotright. Too much Brawl. Yay!
Yay! Layout revisions FTW. Who needs actual designs when you have type? This furthers that idea that I'll never actually need to buy photoshop or illustrator, though it would be good to have those though. Any extravagantly rich patrons out there that care to dote on me? Meh.
Sleep for two hours now then wake up and meet Nicole & the Gang? Sure thing.
I'm gonna go back to one of my earlier posts, one my favorites from Tuesday, January 1st, 2006. I said:
"
In a year, 98% of our cells are replaced. Our skin, teeth, hair, muscle cells, our heart and even brain cells are being made anew. We literally aren't the same people we were last January. What is it that makes us, us, when what we were just falls off?"
I think that I'm an entirely new person and it's exciting. Life is good. I'm at UW and since starting last fall, I've learned more about what I'm capable of--though the jury is still out on whether or not I've found out who I am, but that comes with more time, right? I've met amazing people, I've done amazing things, I've stayed up every night past 2:00 AM only to wake up feeling more alive than ever. Things are getting better at home, in life, in love. On the whole, I'm very, very content.
Another of my favourite parts from that post:
"
The first movie I watched this year was The Exorcism of Emily Rose with my cousins. Laura Linney's character (yes, she's in it; I was shocked too) came across a gold locket on the sidewalk with her initials on it. Out of all the people, she said, that walked on that sidewalk, she found it. She went on about how she felt that no matter her mistakes in life, no matter what she's done or the choices she's made, it felt like she was at the right place. Where she was meant to be. I know this is from The Exorcism of Emily Rose, for Vishnu's sakes, but still. That's amazing to comprehend, is it not?"
To what have I been brought to? Finally getting over it, Mariela visiting us, Homecoming, more music, more art, life as whatever I want it to be, new friends during senior year, old friends, acceptance letter to UW, scholarships, the best senior project EVAR, going to my first high school dance (Tolo) and enjoying it so much that I went to Prom as well, Scattergories, kidnapping Chase, Journey, "What you COULD have had!," trip to the Philippines and really appreciating where and who I've come from, the best pair of jeans for only 16 dollars, DOTA, the catharsis of finally reading the seventh Harry Potter book, Macbooks for everybody, summer at Point No Point, camping and enjoying it, Bumbershoot '08, the Night of a Thousand Tears, Rainbow Raybans, Rummy Tuesdays, movies, movies, movies, summer orientation, leaving home for college, meeting my FIG, NorCampers, SoCampers, getting wrongfully accused of violating quiet hours, living as who I can and want to be, Laser Queen and water games at the Seattle Center, walking alone at night, good days, bad days, late night trips to the Ave for food, going to Benaroya Hall to both success and failure, Gustav Klimt, The Audition, Hansee Haunted House, amazing free concert at Meany Hall, Hub Crawl, Smash Bros. Melee, Smash Bros. Brawl, midnight release parties, Rock Band, Oblivion, meeting so many amazing and talented people who love what they do, getting my first job, the Hunting Club, Secret Santa exchanges at Cafe on the Ave, free breakfasts at night, the GOOG!, Spinal Tap, Intro to Film Theory, snowball fights on campus, snowball fights in Bremerton, New Years Eve with friends, Valentines Day Extravaganzas, "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea," helping others, cramming, talking about love lives, getting work done early, Todai and Neighbors for my birthday, foosball, ping pong, longboarding, loving/hating architecture, loving/hating graphic design, inappropriately priced art supplies, Kapangpangan, losing my wallet and learning about the kindness of strangers, Little Thai, Beth's, Greenlake, gasworks, squirrels and intimate moments, smash tournaments, twelve egg omelettes, Yunnie, the other place for pho, Yummy Bites, UT, World Wraps, Thai Tom, Barnes & Noble, the Mac Store, guitar, the Band, piano, Irish Potato Famine, the 8, the Hub, sitting in on CSE 143, sleeping during CSE 143, Lunar Eclipse, Rick's Cafe, winning the title of Best Portfolio from my FIG, Moleskines, Apples to Apples, the Bagel Deal, the Dessert Deal, Longchu, LOLcats, Zoolander, "A Center for Ants," Justice, Music Swapping, Ian's Domain, "Crimson & Clover," McLounge, the Grey Lounge, the Spot, the awkward 8th floor dance party, flooding in Bremerton, The Future of Chick Lit, salsa dancing, Capitol Hill, Fremont, Downtown, Marakesh, belly dancers, whale bones, Talaga, Guanaco's Tacos, Nadine's Christmas Party, Fashion Police, "What are you doing?!," "I'm Sorry? Sorry?! Well EVERYBODY'S sorry, so why aren't you DOING anything?!," Steak N' Fries, Elephant Love Medley, Revolutionary Road, the IMA, badminton, frisbee, racquetball, getting beat up by a wall, "Earth To...," cowboys and their rhetoric, Wallace, fashion shows, grilled cheese tuesdays, talking through computers, Guitar Hero, Westlake, Gamestop, Daiso, a billion free snack bars, the career week that didn't happen, buying my first raincoat, never using umbrellas, sleepovers, the Humanities road trip from Germany to Platform 9 3/4, krumping, David Blaine, Walk It Out Fosse, Nadine's Anime Dancers, late night conversations with my roommate and his friends, Half-Girl Japanese Boys, flowers, listening to everyone's hopes, trying to make them feel better about they're future but to no avail, jokes, insults, gay serial killers and heteronormativity, the male gaze, philosophy, theory, facts, fears, dancing, Meet the Robinsons, sitting on a park bench with Lorraine one night, finding the perfect pair of pants and pretending to be a married couple with Nicole at the U-District and talking to her the night of the Charmander Picture til 3 AM, sitting and talking with Nadine for hours about love and life as we were the only two left at UW before winter break, frantic late-night phone calls from Arabella that leave me worried only to have her call the next day and hear her happy again, buying Dara food when she hurt her ankle and her amazing hair, walking back to UW with Kevin at 2:00 AM after being awake for 24+ hours and walking in the middle of the road, listening to Kelsey sing and her amazing dance movies during the Party at McCarty, the embarrassment and pride that I've known you guys since high school, the excitement of getting to know new people better, Love Love Love.
In case I forget, Nadine, Mariela, Nicole R., Lorraine, Arabella, Kevin, Dara, Chase, Kelsey, Julius, Janelle, Misha, Monica, Reslyn, Nicole F., Andrew R., Bill, Tim, Zack, Aileen, Erica, Michelle, Eva, Kelsey C., you're all amazing and it makes me believe in fate and even blessings that I know you all.
What and who did I forget? There's nothing worse than your memory slipping away from you. Daily journal entry is a necessary function and I suggest you do the same. Just yesterday, Kevin, Chase, Kelsey and I played Boggle and Jenga, or rather, Uno Stack-O by strobelight. When will we remember this next? When will we forget it?
I think it was all worth it and now I'm here at this point typing to the limited, imaginary audience and it's all good. We're all so mind-numbingly, gloriously, ecstatically good.
