Every girl's crazy about a sharp dressed man

It's true. Gotta love concert days. 

Sharp Dressed Man - ZZ Top

Second Floor

Doing some boring GenEd homework can be pretty rough. Doing boring GenEd homework on the jazz floor - sooo much better. First of all, listening to the guy (well it's jazz so I'm assuming it's a guy) down the hall jam out on sax in his poorly soundproofed practice room reminds me how freeing the genre can be. (Ohh baby, now he's got a set with him. Music-gasm - aka music orgasm, the overwhelming pleasure one achieves while listening to incredible and passionate music. Damn.)
Circling back, interesting people hang out here. And by interesting, I mean the most creative and diverse menagerie of twenty-somethings from every ethnicity and sexual orientation.  Yes, I went there. Because it's true. There's a guy wearing pants twice as tight as mine.
Can't wait for someone to finish up in their practice room so I can go use it...

 

On a foodie note, I finally visited the crepe truck parked right outside the music building. It boasts #1 ratings in Philadelphia for street/food-truck cuisine. I got one of their "savory" varieties with all the veggies, grilled chicken, melted cheese, jalapeños, taziki, and Sriracha hot sauce. All wrapped up in a delightfully but not overpoweringly eggy crepe exterior. Mmmmmmmm. On your next visit to Philly, or particularly Temple University, a trip to the Creperie is a must.  (sadly I cannot take credit for these photos. a big thank you to whoever did)

Birthdays

Korean Style Chopsticks

So I may have taped Korean-style chopsticks all over my room mate's walls for her birthday...

As part of my cultural education here on the global floor, I learned that Koreans do not use the same type of silly wood chopsticks as the rest of their Asian neighbors. Instead, they use a shorter, stainless steel version. 
I have 2 Korean room mates in my apartment. Both from Seoul, both from traditional Korean families. As I had mentioned in a previous post, there is a lot of cross-cultural education going on in our little hole in the wall that we call home. Getting to the point here, one of my room mates remembered to bring her chopsticks from Korea, one forgot. Over Korean dinner one night, these funny little chopsticks came into conversation and how much the girls here missed their utensils from back home. Sounds funny, yes. But what if someone told you that instead of eating with a soup spoon you had to use a ladle? So for her birthday, I found 10 sets of Korean chopsticks on Amazon and taped them all over her walls. There was a lot of excited clapping and laughter :)

That is all for now, and I leave you with some popular Korean music (even though American tunes are most common there)

C.N. Blue - I'm a Loner (that's the translation)

Unexpected Encounter

While walking to my usual practice spot this evening, I passed the same homeless man I do every day. Every day he asks me for a dollar. I don't carry cash with me, so I can honestly say no to him. But what can a dollar do for a homeless man in a wheelchair with one leg who only travels backward? I've taken to carrying a protein bar with me during the day, but when I do, of course I don't see him. 
This particular evening while taking my usual route, I saw him wheeling down the street perpendicular to me. To avoid the situation, I ducked into one of the many learning centers on campus where a man stood in the lobby washing the windows.  Immediately he asked if I was ok, if I needed help, etc. I explained my situation to the man, and he like many others  knew of the man in the wheelchair. I feel awful, I explained. What could be done to help this man? His response: "Pray for the guy. He needs it."

Philadelphia - the city of brotherly love. 

No soundtrack for this one. Take a moment to be thankful for what you have, and pray for those who don't have the blessings you do.

Quote Today

When you're feeling down, you can pull him out of your pocket, and he will say, "I want to return to my country and help. Music changes lives." - and this is yet another reason as to why I am positive I'm at the right place.