Saturday, January 12, 2013

Ir con música

TuneList - Make your site Live I have always been a huge fan of mixed cds and enjoy making them for special occasions such as weddings and birthdays. I have made a Christmas cd for family and friends every year for the past few years. For me, music has been an excellent way to describe (or remember) times and places in my life. In addition, it's only a matter of time until the whole idea of a CD is history (compact disc? what is this? you mean like a bank account?) so I gotta try to keep the vintage alive (and I'm not so sure how to make a vinyl mix tape, t'would be dope). That said, it is the digital interweb age, so dude here found out how to make a playlist and post it on this here blogamajiggerdigipod thing.¡Disfrute!

This past Christmas, the mix had a vibe of change and departure. I still have a bunch of copies, so anybody who gets wind of this and would like a physical copy, let me know and I will do my best to get one to ya as I trek back and forth from Toledo and Columbus throughout the next month.

Hope to see as many of you as possible in the coming weeks, and if not, our paths will cross soon enough : )





Tuesday, January 8, 2013

En Tránsito

It's about time I kicked off this cyber journal to archive my experiences post-college. OSU was a blast and Columbus has become my home because of the amazing friendships I have found in diverse circles around the city. I applied to the Peace Corps October of 2011, was nominated last spring, and accepted my invitation to serve as a TEFL (English teacher) volunteer in September of this year. Toward the end of undergrad, I decided that service abroad would be the perfect opportunity after college to really experience the developing world first hand. Studying abroad in Spain summer of 2011 was a blur of exciting travels and memories, and caused me to be very restless for more rambling during my senior year. I am incredibly blessed to have been surrounded by incredible family and pals for the first 23 years of my life, and every one of you have impacted me in a positive way and led me to this awesome opportunity to live in Panama for a couple years. My success in the Peace Corps will be determined by my adaptability and ability to build strong relationships of mutual trust and respect, and I am totally ready for the challenge. I am excited to experience a new culture in a new environment, and I hope to continue to see how truly similar and interconnected people are in very different places.

So, before I begin chronicling my Panamá adventures and loony ramblings about life, literature, music, etc., I would like to give a recap of 2012 (what a wild year!) from my shoes:

-Spring 2012: Road Trip to Nashville/Appalachia/the East Coast with the Timmy, Eric, and Maxwell, some super cool pals who I happened to live with throughout college and have been buds with since the SJ days. Awesome trip, got to see many parts of the States that I have not been too, thus quenching some of my thirst for adventure and new lands.

-Graduated from The Ohio State University June 2012......but instead of receiving my diploma at commencement (lo siento, Mama!), I was groovin' to Phish (y mucho más) at Bonnaroo with some very special funkadelic friends. Such an inspirational transition out of undergrad ; )!

-Summer 2012, Clark Lake, MI: Got a job in the kitchen at the Beach Bar and lived at Grandma Scott's cottage. Pontoons, lake baths, books, bike rides, bonfuegos, family, friends, sunshine....truly lived the dream!

-Fall, Return to Columbus: I returned to Columbus to continue working for After School All-Stars, an after school program for at-risk youth. I work at Moler elementary in the south side of Cbus as program leader for my 6th grade class. My kids rock! I also have had the opportunity to return to my volunteer commitments  I became involved with in undergrad. I mentor with Hispanic Big Brothers and Sisters, and my match is a super cool 3rd  grader named Jeremy. I have also been able to visit the ESL class where I volunteered and see my friends, refugees from Ethiopia and Somalia.

-Beer School: I continued my lifelong quest for knowledge by getting a job at World of Beer Easton, which included 2 weeks of mandatory beer school training. It has been awesome learning about beer from all over the world and bartending is super fun. I have met a ton of really cool people and love sharing in the popular human passion for brews!

-Anne and Greg's Wedding in Sayulita, Mexico, November 2012: Received the best birthday gift ever in the form of a plane ticket to Mexico to see mi prima Anne get married. Sayulita is one of the most incredible places I have been (a well-kept secret paradise, no doubt), and it was awesome to get a taste of Latin American culture and Spanish! Bomb fish tacos, scuba driving in pristine Pacific ocean water, lots of hippie surfers (and other gringos who have relocated permanently), and wayy too much authentic Mexican tequila...memorias locas con la familia!!

I have tried to take advantage of this "limbo" period to enjoy my life and the people in it. I have enjoyed having time to cook, read, learn guitar, grow the hair out, go to concerts, get in to mischief with the very special Kristin "Yoko" Eberts and others, see mi hermanito Thomas Vetter hoop with the CCHS Varsity basketball team, etc. Again, so blessed, so fortunate. I see no other option in this time of my life as a young, passionate fella than to take my gifts, talents, experiences, etc., to a new community, find my role, and bring some development to the lives of a few Panamanians, no matter how small or visible.

2012 has been a volatile year with a lot of intense ups and downs. Incredible advances in technology and feats for mankind have been shadowed by war, tragedies, natural disaster, and landlocked politics. I see the change facing the planet reflected internally in my own life in transition. I am incredibly excited for the future and optimistic because of the cool stuff my college friends and peers are doing and the incredible people I encounter every day, doing simple acts and gaining simple perspectives that will truly change our world.  Patience, humility, sense of humor, empathy--these characteristics will help me succeed in the Peace Corps and in life, hopefully leaving the world a little better off than when I entered. Positivity. Buenas Ondas. Peace!

p.s. "'...& only as you gasp your dying breath shall you understand, your life amounted to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean!'"

"Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops? "- Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell