Starting today, me and my little Phi Mu Alpha brother, Troy Moses, founded a new student organization at Northwestern State University called "Symphony of Composers". This organization will help student composers accomplish their dreams by performing their compositions by university musicians at two major concerts every semester, starting Fall 2011! We help the composer finalize their music, give them the experience of conducting live musicians to their own scores, and present the composer live recordings for their portfolios, all in a workshop scenario where the composer will collaborate with the musicians, guest clinicians as we can afford them, our esteemed faculty, and the audience. Once the organization has obtained enough funds, we will also be awarding scholarships to composers and performers for their art.

This has been a dream of mine since I first started something similar to this while I was at Texarkana College. I believe this program will grow quite large, and it is my ultimate hope that it spreads to other Universities to enrich their music department. It is every composers dream to hear their works performed, but not too many get that experience again and again. With Symphony of Composers, not only is that going to be possible, it's going to be a fantastic reality!

This semester of my college career is stressing me out beyond belief. It is undoubtedly the worst I've ever had, by far. I constantly catch myself thinking about this Summer, and what my plans are. Perhaps the largest excitement to my plan this Summer is traveling to Little Rock to live with my partner. While there, I have many musical plans!

I have been talking with a few friends about possibly scoring some more films this Summer, or at least get started with being involved in the project. My good friend Armen Karaoghlanian, director of "Amorosa" that I scored back in 2009, has major plans for a new film he is about to be working on. I'm also trying to get back in touch with another friend who I hear is doing quite well, Matthew Ramsaur (Guardians, 2009) to see if I can't score another of his projects.

In addition to trying to score a few small films, I will also be working on new compositions for Destinies of Eveh. I have had several ideas bounce around my head while at school, and I need a lot of time to sit down and sketch them out.

I am particularly excited about the number of opportunities I have had to work with talented people, both at college and across the world! I work with some wonderfully talented people at BrokenThorn Entertainment, for one, I've learned a lot about working on a team where each of the members live in different regions of the world, have different views on life, work, politics, etc., and how each of them have a different story for why they're there. I also enjoyed working with Armen and Matthew, and am looking forward to doing so again. Working with them on their film projects has been somewhat nostalgic; everytime I watch the film, I think back to the memories I made while creating the music, reading and responding to their e-mails or phone calls, getting extremely frustrated about deadlines or a cue of music needing more tweaking, etc. These are memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life, and the best part is, I've only just started!

I invite YOU to try something like this! Go and meet somebody who is creating something, solving some crisis, writing a book on an issue that relates to you, just...anything! Involve yourself with other people out in the world, outside your neighborhood and your work. I have learned more about culture from talking and interacting with other people than I ever have in a psychology or history class.

You never know when something you do will change your life and create an array of memories you never thought you'd experience.

Our school closed down for the Mardi Gras holiday, and I was looking forward to going to New Orleans for four days to enjoy the festivities and camaraderie. The trip ended up turning into a total disaster, minus a few glorious moments that really made the trip worth it in the long run.

The trip started off bad when I lost my wallet and my ear buds after performing a symphony concert, before the morning we were to leave for New Orleans. Not good. I frantically searched everywhere, but I knew we were running short on time and needed to get on the road as soon as possible. We tried contacting the RA and fellow roommates of a friend who I stayed with after the concert to see if I had left the wallet there. We had no luck in getting into the room, so nevertheless I had to leave for New Orleans without a wallet. While, granted, that may be a safer option for me anyway, it certainly didn't make matters any easier, especially when it came to getting hungry.

The second rough situation was going with several friends whom I know and love, but don't often hang out with, so it made the trip awkward, not having previously hung out with them much or talked with them, so I was already far behind in knowing what was going on with their lives, etc. Anyway, they were out to have a "good time" good time, what with hitting a few bars, shopping, etc. For me, I was just looking to escape, get away and relax from ordinary life at the University here. I never really wanted to partake in the kind of fun that they wanted, so that especially made the first two days of the trip very long and difficult.

Two of my very close friends, Ryan and David, came to pick me up at the end of Saturday night, and I went to spend Sunday and Monday with them at David's family's place in Napoleonville. While there, we managed to get ourselves into a massive argument, to the point we can barely talk to one another. Moods were running high and time was running out, so when we finally got together to discuss what was at the heart of our confrontations, the largest friendship bonding experience of my life occurred with these two gentlemen, and thus was born a new relationship with each of them. Had it not been for those moments, the trip would have been quite miserable. After we bonded, we decided to celebrate and go eat and spend time with each other. It was at some point during our car rides that I realized my iPhone 3GS was missing. After a very thorough search of the car and my belongings, the phone was sadly not found. The next day we decided to back-track where we visited, and we never found the phone. We eventually traced it back to the very spot I last had the phone, but once again it was too late, we never found the phone. I think that either an employee of that particular Popeye's Chicken took or stole the phone, or a customer. Either way, the phone is either lost somewhere, or taken. I just hope that if somebody did take it, I might somehow be notified by AT&T or find it in my mail, or something. But I don't plan on it, actually. I went ahead and called to discontinue my service to the phone and let it go.

Starting tomorrow, I will see about purchasing a Go-Phone with a new SIM card (unless I can find my old phone) and start over until I am able to get a new phone.

So that was my Mardi Gras adventure this past weekend. I hope everyone else had a much more fortunate weekend. If you have an interesting Mardi Gras weekend (or just a normal weekend if you don't/didn't celebrate Mardi Gras) then feel free to share it. =)