#83: Check Out a Black History Month Event

            PATRICK WINS AWARD FOR BEST FRIEND! When no one else was willing, he was a beam of sunshine that asked to join me on my adventure to the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library downtown! In my planning and spacing preparations for ensuring accomplishment of the 111 things, it slipped my mind that February was such a short and busy month, so I almost ran out of days to go to a Black History Month event! 

            Ohill claimed to be celebrating on Wednesdays and Fridays by playing jazz music instead of pop, but I didn’t think that merited a “check”. I scoured the internet and was dismayed to find that according to the Office of African American Affairs, the “closing ceremonies” or whatever had been this past Thursday! Yet thanks to the wonderous technology of search engines, I finally found one event that fit in my schedule:

February 27, Sunday

DRUM CALL AND FRIENDS!
JMRL - Central Library.
Celebrate Black History Month! Groove to the beat of African drumming with drummer extraordinaire Whit Whitten and friends. Central Library.  Directions: 201 East Market Street.  2pm.  $free.  All ages welcome

Close, free, for kids of all ages?! HECK YES. There was a trolley stop right in front of the library, and when Patrick and I made it up to the third floor, there was no mistaking the room it was in. There was a woman in full head to toe African dress, at least a dozen different sized bongos and drums, and a man who had been to Ghana himself (“back in ’92”; he thought some of the 7 year olds might have been that old haha) It was super fun, and while 90% of me wanted to get up there and steal a drum from a 3 year old or start dancing with the older woman, I controlled myself—partly because Patrick wasn’t goading me too hard and partly because the number of parents there was intimidating. One of my favorite parts was the kid in the Batman shirt next to me who couldn’t take his hands off his ears!

            It was such a lovely day that we decided to walk back to Grounds and grab something to eat at Mel’s (because we were starving and it was on the list). It’s closed on Sundays for future reference. But we DID make it to Arch’s to get not only a free sample of Angel Food Cake (#41: Get a Free Sample at Arch’s), but to chow down on their delicious paid for fro-yo concoctions. What a lovely afternoon, thanks Patrick!!

"I bless the rains down in Africa." - Toto

#104: See a Show at Old Cabell Hall

            Thanks to V-Dubs I’ve sung on stage at Old Cabell quite a few times, but tonight I went to the UVA Jazz Ensemble’s concert featuring the Free Bridge Quintet. While I rearranged a lot of my schedule to fit this one event in for my History of Jazz concert paper which is due in the matter of days, I’m glad I had the opportunity to go. John D’earth (the leader of the ensemble AND lead trumpet for the quintet) basically co-wrote my textbook and we see samples from the famous band members (Jospe, Decker etc) practicing all the time in class.

            Probably my favorite part of the whole experience was reading the song titles and trying to imagine what the composer was going for…any shift in your perception makes a world of difference in what you “hear” from a song. This particular concert spoke to me as they played “Dolphin Dance” by Herbie Hancock and then actually dedicated the concert to Rachel Carson! D’earth wrote a new arrangement for this Green Chemistry movement that’s going on in the sciences right now… I just felt like it was the perfect concert for an environmental scientist named Emily to go to :D

            And there was a girl with adorable cheetah shoes and a pretty fine trombonist. I went by myself. I’m tired of going to these things by myself. More tomorrow I suppose.

“OOoooOOh Carrie likes the JAzZ man. JAZZ man.” –Big, Sex & The City

#59: Sing Your Heart Out at Baja Bean Karaoke

            I’m not even exaggerating when I say the twenty-second birthdays this year are giving those little 21^st girls a run for their money. Last night was Heather’s, and in honor of celebrating her life rather than her emergence from the womb, we delayed a day and went out on Thursday! We started the night off SURVIVING with about 3 2-dollar doubles each at Bilt and then stumbled over to Baja Bean for karaoke night!

            I love Baja. They have DOLLAR tacos on Friday and Saturday nights that are actually pretty delicious, comparatively cheap margaritas, and the Green Card system where you get points for trying different types of tequila shots! But Thursday nights, the Corner just shines, and Baja is no exception…they couple dancing upstairs with tequila and karaoke below. What had been earlier proclaimed a “vaginas only” group was temporarily amended as our new friend Thomas joined us in the ridiculous, timeless tradition. We got there a little after 9:45 though, and by then the wait-list was pretty lengthy as we sat or stood at the front tables through some heinous singers. Finally, my name was up, and Heather helped beat-box to my “Right Kind of Wrong” rendition in tribute of her birthday! After Heather and Jade did another Leann Rimes song, Heather and Molly transformed into Britney and Madonna for their “Me Against the Music” duet…Lauren featured as a sick backup dancer. We all fled the scene immediately in order to avoid more embarrassment, but the guys I talked to seemed to love our performances (probably our ensembles and current state of mind more…). But I had so much fun and am so glad I can officially cross this off my LIFE LIST too!

Ted: Why do they call it karaoke anyhow? Was it invented by a woman named Karey Okee? These are the kind of things I think about

-- How I Met Your Mother

#62: Make the trek up to Observatory Hill

     The Groundhog says that spring will come early this year, and so far I’m pretty happy with how quickly the weather has cooperated! Sunday the weather warmed up to about 52, an enormous difference from the everyday 20’s Charlottesville had been battering through. TJ’s ladies and I had had a wine evening the night before and agreed to get out and be active, so some of us packed picnic lunches and the other half grabbed Take It Away, and we began the journey up Observatory Hill! I’ve attached a map of the area; we found it would have been very helpful after a wrong turn headed towards the nuclear reservoir plant!

            Meagan and I had been up there for ecology labs back in the day, but it was a different trail entirely where we’d experimented. This week, the girls and I walked up the road to the back trails and took the upper one. We literally sat in the middle of the trail to eat our lunches until we felt like fatties and had to step aside when a group of runners came up the path! But we pressed on and made it up to the observatory and the cute little house (Alden House) that’s boarded up there. Check out this article…the professor is my own and apparently this little place is more historic than I imagined! I was so happy the girls and I got to go on the hike…it made me feel super productive and was a great variability in my workout routine! Our next hike is going to be at Crabtree…I’m excited.

"There's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing." – Alfred Wainright

#88: High-Five Dean Groves

            So, I didn’t win anything at Casino night, but if we’d been playing for real money Joe would’ve been SO rich after his 45 minute roll of craps! The night was really fun, way better than the regular Corner bars, and a lot of fourth years came! I got a whiskey sours and headed to a blackjack table where an associate dean was dealing. I thought I’d ask him if Dean Groves was here and it turns out the man was at the next table over wearing a white tux! Couldn’t let an opportunity like this pass me by: I went over and straight up asked for a high five! In return I got a grin and the most solid high five of my life. I call that a life win!

Cameron:  “I remember once at a New Year's Eve party, stroke of midnight, he high-fived me. Two problems with that: One, gays don't high five. Two, gays don't high five.” – Modern Family

#106: Join the Alumni Association

I straight up have the best father in the world. As you may know he follows UVa very closely because he went here for undergrad! It slightly offended him that I mentioned I probably wouldn’t be able to buy the lifetime Alumni membership straight out of college (because I’d heard it was super expensive and took installments out of your paychecks or something crazy like that. Don’t know how true that is, but that was my line of thinking). He surprised me right after this semester started by giving me the gift of my life membership!

While the discounts the card offers you are minimal and mostly restricted to Charlottesville I believe, it does make me feel good to be able to support Alumni Hall. They’ve been great sustaining my livelihood with free class dinners, maintaining my enthusiasm for events like Taste of Charlottesville, providing me with presentations that helped me realize I really didn’t want to go to grad school right now and shouldn’t force myself into it, and finally supplying me with most of the cups we use in my kitchen! Actually, I'm on my way to go to Casino Night at the hall tonight. Maybe this little shoutout to the Universe will bring me luck in winning prizes! Stay classy, Alumni Association.

“I find that the three major administrative problems on a campus are sex for the students, athletics for the alumni and parking for the faculty.” –Clark Kerr

#64: Make an Impulse Buy in the UVA Bookstore Checkout Line

When buying my padres gifts from the University Bookstore, I saw this in one of the checkout lines. I know I’m the fan of Alice in Wonderland, but I was hoping Charlotte would like to find it in her stocking. She didn’t and made me take it back to become incorporated in my collection. They’re ENCHANTmints!

“I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!” – Alice