This school year has been awesome. I've been playing with some really talented guys in two bands here in Charlotte: A Flash of Alchemy (AFOA) and Member's of the Sea. Interestingly, involvement in both bands came from random interaction on campus or in town. I was having lunch with my dear friend Jessica when I met Reid, the songwriter and guitarist from AFOA. He had a musical tattoo on his wrist that brought on the topic of musicianship. We found that we both played music and exchanged information. After a few myspace messages, AFOA was formed. It's a lot of fun. It's Reid, Phillip, Henry, and myself rockin' every week. If Reid will forgive me for saying, the content is like Jimmy Eat World while the music is very 90's alt rock. Check us out at http://myspace.com/aflashofalchemy
Picking up the accordion and playing with Member's of the Sea also happened through random conversation. During an awards banquet in 2008, I was talking to a friend and advisor of mine about instruments and music. I brought up my love for Yann Tiersen and intent on picking up the accordion someday. He mentioned that his kids were planning on learning the guitar. It turned out that he had an accordion sitting around while I had an extra guitar that was collecting dust. We did an instrument swap and I practiced up a storm. His kids got pretty good too.
Member's of the Sea is packed with talented multi-instrumentalists. Andrew, a fellow resident where I live and work at UNCC, was walking around with a guitar, a ukelele, and a trumpet one day. Making small talk, we found a shared love for Beirut. We made plans to jam.... soon. From that point, we played music weekly and covered quite a few Beirut songs. It was wonderful. In a strange coincidence, AFOA and MOTS were playing a show at the same house. After seeing Member's play Superclap at a house show, I was really impressed. Claudio invited me to come out and jam and I've been playing with them since. Claudio has since gone to serve in Afghanistan and I wish a safe time overseas! Thanks for your service, Claudio. http://www.myspace.com/membersofthesea
I've been blessed to play with both groups this year.
As for being an RA, it's been a constant interpersonal workshop. Some really interesting stories have been shared by my residents during lunch, at programs, or in the halls. Several of them are very involved in clubs and intramural sports on campus. Some of them are international, and have shared a great deal about their country of origin. My coworkers are funny and supportive. My supervisor is hilarious, encouraging, open to feedback, and gives it as well.
Last semester, I moved on from being an advocate with Guardian Ad Litem. It was a worthwhile cause and experience..... so worthwhile that I needed to leave until my schedule and time management skills would allow me to contribute what the program needed. After three years, I responsibly handed off my case and moved on. There is a lot of need in Charlotte. I can't wait to contribute in the future. It allowed me to interact with all sorts of professionals like social workers, attorneys, mental health professionals, and foster placements. In other areas, I'm still involved with the Levine Museum and Toastmasters.
With that news about GAL, I'm trying to manage my time a little better this semester. Getting things done is no problem but making time for friends and fun has been tricky. A workbook on time management is in the mail. Hopefully it will be worthwhile. In the next year at law school, time management will be necessary for sure.
Several friends and I have been in the graduate/law school application process. News on that will be coming up next. Thanks for reading. Feel free to chime in!
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