Mazel Mazel

Good things. Good things. Mazel Mazel (rhymes with 'nozzle').

Good things have been keeping me from updating my Blogspot. The problem is that if I am busy doing a lot of things I find it difficult to make time to sit down and update my friends. But, if I do have time to blog, I end up running out of information to blog about.

Well, I have indeed had quite a bit happening that has limited me to insufficient twitters and facebook status updates. Today I fill you in.

The National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) is an organization that hosts conventions, conferences and festivals every year. College students from across the country, from many different schools get together and select the talent they want to have at their schools. Musicians, artists, comedians, magicians, and other forms of talent present their best for the students and advisers who attend.

The NACA National event this year was held in beautiful Nashville, TN. Elizabeth and I celebrated Valentines Day early this year because I had to be in Nashville on February 14th. And the National convention ran for several days at the massive Opryland Hotel. If you have never been, I highly recommend it.

There were thousands of students representing hundreds of schools at this event. It was incredible. Amazingly, I ran into some people from my humble little hometown (Blissfield, MI).

Well, the event kicked off on Saturday with musical performances and emcees and a few comedians. They were all very talented. I did not perform at this event, so my main focus was meeting people and beginning to get connected to the NACA world.

The Marketplace, or Campus Activities Market Place (C.A.M.P) was my whole reason for existence that week. If you've been to a bridal show, this is similar. If you have never been to a bridal show, this is still similar. I was set up with some CDs and flyers in a booth (among hundreds of booths) so I could chat with the representatives (students) from different schools as they walked around and "shopped" the different talent. It was awesome! In addition to musicians and comedians, there were companies who had inflatable games and even a synthetic ice rink!

The Marketplace only happened a couple times a day for about an hour each time, so I ended up with quite a bit of free time in Nashville. I was able to catch a show at 3rd and Lindsley, hang out in a few of the 'honky-tonks' on Broadway, and visit with my Nashville buddies. I also performed at the Commodore Grille on West End.

A few cool people I met include: John Bataglia (Beauty and the Geek - image consultant), Ralphie May, Zac Brown Band (ok, didn't actually meet him, but he was there), Brian Brushwood (Bizarre Magic), and other great artists, magicians and comedians!

It was a great time in Music City, to say the very least. It was also a very busy one. I made it home to Atlanta on Thursday at about 4 a.m. Then, I geared up for a few performances on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Needless to say, my health got a bit poor but, it was all worth it!

My first NACA experience was fantastic and I met a lot of cool people. Let me rephrase that. My first NACA experience was fantastic BECAUSE I met a lot of EXTREMELY cool people!

Expect to hear more good things from me.

Mazel Mazel!