CHARLOTTE BEFORE 8
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Wednesday June 3rd 2015
Life had grown mundane. It felt like I was going through the motions just to go through the motions.
I hadn’t slept at all the previous night. I was up tossing and turning thinking of the summer organic chemistry class I was enrolled in. We had a squad. My guy Fletcher (a former football player for UNCC before injury), Isabella (an avid Warriors fan who went to Chapel Hill), Morgan (a dancer who was roommates with Isabella at Chapel Hill), and of course me (a Cambodian kid who hated chemistry). I was wide awake with class at 9:30am. Around 5am, I figured if I couldn’t sleep before 6am, I should catch the city in the morning before class. Sure enough, at around 6:15am, I was on my way towards downtown.
I can’t recollect too much of what happened that morning, but I’ll try. I made my way down between the Mint and the Levine. I took photos of North Tryon next. I loved seeing everybody on their way to work. I had never seen Charlotte like this. For once, it seemed more like a city than a home. The hustle and bustle of men and women in suits reminded me of New York a bit, but the humidity reminded me exactly where I was; in the middle of a summer North Carolina morning.
Fog not only hid the sun away from the city, but the tops of the sky scrapers, too. It was almost as if God was erasing the product and passion of hundreds of architects. In search for another view of the city under the fog, I drove down by the Fillmore to get a new perspective. Ironically, I caught a bird spreading it’s wings in one of my photographs. It is one of my favorite photos I’ve taken because of chance and pure luck.
Once I was done with the city, I checked the airport overlook. I couldn’t get in, but snapped a few photos anyways. It was a quick affair. I made my way back to the university area and had 45 minutes to spare so I got breakfast at the Waffle House on North Tryon. I rarely ever eat breakfast, but I ordered a side of eggs and a waffle, which is what I always order. Sometimes I get a burger as well. I know, it sounds nasty, but the burgers at Waffle House are tasty on a late night run. As I drank orange juice and ate breakfast, I thought of how nice a change of pace it was experiencing Charlotte before 8 on a weekday.
I eventually went to class to be reunited with the crew in room 121 in Burson Hall. Even though I was dead tired walking around campus looking like a zombie, a part of me felt alive.
-Ratha David Loun, 1:22am, 8.8.17