ThinkSoul25
Virginia
Parkour, Freerunning, & Awesomeness | Ninja Warrior Night @ Urban Evolution in Alexandria, Virginia
Not too long ago, my best friend had told me about this gym in Alexandria that teaches parkour and freerunning. Now I must admit, that upon hearing his excitement and the dire urgency in his voice for us to check it out, I was skeptical and nervous. Me, doing parkour? Okay, I gave in and did rock climbing (which I loved,) but the idea of me doing parkour & freerunning is something completely foreign to my agility.
Yet, in the midst of my apprehension, a coincidental series of mingling and meeting people by going to Sunglass Sundays , I heard about Ninja Warrior Night @ Urban Evolution. And get this, it was the same gym my best friend was telling me about. Apparently, Urban Evolution is the only parkour and freerunning gym in Virginia, and the DJ I met at Sunglass Sundays (Eugene aka DJ Skinner,) actually works there. So I had the chance to come out on Saturday night and check out the gym’s Ninja Warrior Night.
If you don’t know what Ninja Warrior is, then shame on you! Seriously, how on earth could you not knowabout one of the greatest competitions that tests the strength and agility of human beings. If you think gladiator challenges back in the day and the Olympics are tough (which I can’t wait to watch,) then you surely haven’t had a chance to see how difficult Sasuke aka Ninja Warrior is.
Basically, the Urban Evo gym contains a smaller version of the course(s) typically seen on the popular G4TV show, Ninja Warrior. The gym’s setup allows participants + students to enhance their parkour and freerunning skills; one must possess agility and strength to truly be a ninja warrior.
So what exactly should you expect to see at one of Urban Evolution’s Ninja Warrior nights? Well, you’ll see a variety of young kids and adults being cheered on by the crowd as they attempt to complete the course in a set amount of time. You don’t have to be a student of the gym to compete, you can pay a fee, register, and give it a shot to see if you’ve got what it takes to be a Ninja Warrior. And it’s not one of those cocky environments where you’ll feel horrible if you fall or mess up; the people at Urban Evo are so nice and supportive, they do their best to make sure everyone feels accomplished.
Even though I was the farthest thing from a contestant (yeah, doubt I’ll be trying to do parkour anytime soon,) I did have a lot of fun as a spectator. It was amazing to see the young kids passionate about competing, and it was nice to see so many adults that were thrilled to come out and test their might to see if they had what it takes to be a “Ninja Warrior.”
I’m not quite sure when the next Ninja Warrior Night @ Urban Evolution will take place, but I do know that Urban Evolution is a super cool place worth checking out. If you want to learn parkour, freerunning, breakdancing, aerial acrobatics, gymnastics, or Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu, then I highly recommend you check out Urban Evo, a critically-acclaimed gym in Alexandria, Virginia.
Who knows, maybe you can train and become the next American Ninja Warrior. 
More info: http://urbanevo.com/
Check out the pictures from the Ninja Warrior Night @ Urban Evolution. Pictures taken by my best friend, photographer and graphic designer Samuel Famoyegun.
Sounds of Berlin: DJ/Producer/Singer Fritz Kalkbrenner
My mom and dad raised me to let the world be my home, and to never limit myself to a “hometown” mindset. Physically I may have been born in Columbus, Ohio and grew up back and forth between Maryland, Virginia, and Colorado, but my home is the cultures and sounds of the world. I couldn’t imagine staying in one spot my entire life and not broadening my horizons mentally. Even if you don’t have the opportunity to yet travel and see different places, it’s important to be socially aware of the world outside of the US.
World music is one of my favorite genres, which includes house from around the world. The US has a 
lot of good house music, but abroad their is a unique international flair that goes beyond electro & dance. I’ve heard some pretty good music from artists over in the United Kingdom, but I will say that right now I’m intrigued by German DJ/Producer Fritz Kalkbrenner. He’s an artist on the German label Suol and his music is a mixture of house/club and a few hints of subtle electro beats. A few of his songs feature him singing in soulful vocals accompanied by guitar melodies and harp like synths.
Fritz Kalkbrenner is quite the household name over in Berlin, and I’m glad that YouTube is such an international platform. Once again I have found yet another amazing artist in the endless waves of video on YouTube. As I continue to get immersed in the reservoir of world music, I find myself more anxious to eventually travel the world and soak up as much culture as possible. I’ve begun writing for a travel site and helping build their destination guide, but I can’t wait for the day to come once I’m in a position to embark on my first trip abroad.
The music of the world is beckoning my soul to catch a flight and come enjoy wonderful sounds live. But until that glorious day arrives, I will continue to discover more artists of the world and post them here on my blog to share with other nomads; so welcome to my nomadic playlist.
©Jasmine McGee.ThinkSoul25. http://thinksoul25.com
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Words and Photos: Finalizing My Visual Narrative
It took me a few days to mentally gather my thoughts and begin work on my visual narrative. On Saturday night I grabbed my laptop and began typing away. My initial thought was to begin my story at the moment before we picked up the moving truck and sad our final goodbye to the state of Colorado. Once I started with that aspect of the story, everything else seamlessly followed.
I wanted the story to be a glimpse into my life as an urban nomad. Every year I’m moving somewhere different or taking a road trip back and forth across the country. The difficult thing about working on this narrative was trying to incorporate the important details without writing a short novel. I could have easily wrote an entire book about every hilarious thing that happened on my trip and all the mind blowing conversations my mom and I had while trapped in the truck for five days. But in order to meet the word count and stay within the guidelines for the assignment, I focused on the important moments and the emotion I felt.
The photos I selected where pictures I had taken during the road trip. Each photo was strategically placed within my visual narrative to convey a message that emphasized the journey. At first I only used a few photos in certain sections of the story, but then it felt as though something was missing. The photos were place in chronological order through out the story and I like the result. The first image is a shot of the highway ramp in Colorado and the last photos are pictures of Washington, D.C. and me spending time with my mom and dad.
The conflict/tension in the story is honestly the moment when I found out how long are road trip was going to be. I couldn’t stomach the idea of being trapped in the truck for five days instead of three, but my mom’s great personality and my wild sense of humor mad the time bearable. Once we got through out journey and the agony, everything finally came together when we crossed over into the Virginia state line. I was finally back home in the DMV and Colorado was becoming a distant memory.
©Jasmine McGee
ThinkSoul25
