Greetings

I'm Andrew. This is a picture of me before I paraglided off a mountain in the Alps. We stayed in a scenic village in Austria called Itter and our guide was an enthusiastic gentleman named Helmut. It was an unforgettable experience that I’ll look back on (and laugh about) for the rest of my days. Thanks for visiting AFNC -- I hope you enjoy the content.

Hello, folks. If you don't already know me, my name is Andrew. I have no idea how many people this blog will reach or how long it will last, but for now I'm going to try to be serious about it and post things on a fairly regular basis. What sorts of things, you ask? To put it simply, I don't really know. In general, what usually inspires me to write are emotions and memories. Music does that for me, basketball does that for me, traveling does that for me...perhaps those are decent places to start.

I've always been an emotional thinker and decision-maker. I'll deliberate over multiple options and weigh pros and cons, but ultimately my decisions are based on "what feels right". Don't get me wrong...there is plenty of value in hard logic and numerical evidence if you're into those sorts of things. I respect that stuff as much as anyone, perhaps even more than most. I do work in finance, after all. In the business world, concrete substantiation is paramount and indisputable, whereas emotion-based analysis (sometimes folks in the biz call it “anecdotal”) typically ends up being associated with an often negatively-viewed activity: "speculating". But I'm going to take this opportunity to flex the other half of my brain and do exactly that. And in the process, hopefully I can encourage people who stumble upon this blog to do the same.

You see, the beauty of emotions and memories are that everybody has them. At first, that seems incredibly obvious. But considering what that implies is what makes it a powerful concept. It means there is no exclusivity, and everyone has credibility (with a few "extreme" exceptions on a global scale who seem to operate solely on emotional impulses, let's just say). Even if you choose not to outwardly express your emotions for the world to see, you still have that same credibility -- you still have reasons for feeling the way you feel.

I've always found it interesting to consider what triggers certain emotions or memories. Undoubtedly that's why playing/listening to music has become somewhat of an immersive experience for me. I tend to associate even the smallest details with places, people, feelings. Usually I end up rambling about this topic, so I'll stop myself there to say one last thing. Valuing your own emotions and memories is cool, but the best part of it all is when someone else is comfortable enough to share theirs with you. Whether they feel similarly or the complete opposite, that particular corner of someone's thoughts is an extremely intimate and private one, meaning those conversations imply a sense of trust. And having someone trust you is a pretty dope thing.

So thanks for stopping by. If you're at all intrigued, feel free to join me on this little Internet adventure and offer up your thoughts (respectfully, of course). Also, feel free to provide any suggestions as I attempt to figure out this whole blogging thing.

-AK