Latin -” Through hardship to the stars...”
- Sized up the Amazon and hopped ships from Colombia into Brazil exploring the beauty of a simpler life and admired how differently people live (We city people have no idea)...
- Lived illegally in Brazil and almost became a resident thanks to Lula offering amnesty
-Snowboarded the French Alps and Purenees (& tore my rotator cuff when my board skipped on a rock at the bottom of a black diamond)
-Worked as an international courier to deliver motherboards twice to Guadalajara City, and film reels to Vienna for the Last Samurai- so healthy to get out!
- Flipped airbnbs for friends in Williamsburg & Bedstuy, and painted apts in Harlem and Bushwick when i was “freelancing”...
- Lived in a 3000SF loft in one of the last affordable live-work spaces in the Downtown LA Arts District that should have been landmarked- where we paid less than $1/SF- but were then subjects to Eminent Domain thanks to the City of Los Angeles and the monster machine of gentrification severing off our end of the building, widening the 1st street bridge so as to incorporate a lightrail- where my bedroom, kitchen and bathroom use to be
- Received a $500 tip and a glass of Cristal Champagne- and could almost pay my rent after working that night in Hollywood
- Jumped on a last minute light to Miami to deliver missing hardware (screws) for an installation project that needed to be finished b/c FedEX wasn’t working over the weekend- but got to visit my aunt & uncle for 3 days
- Sold a 5 ft. schooner ship sculpture I built from parts from 3 disassembled pianos (Wurlitzer & Steinway), which paid for January rent in a Bushwick loft and my trip back to LA to deliver to an inspiring collector.
- Drove from Dallas to LA straight in under 24 hours 4x- even breaking down on one of those trips only to be towed by twin brothers who helped replace my timing belt and got me back on the road to make it under 24 hrs. There ARE kind people out there!
-Drove from Denver to NY in under 24 hours only to arrive for my move and to watch the 2009 World Cup Final- Spain beat the Netherlands! Who needs sleep?! Naps are the best!
- Trekked the Salkentay trail for 5 days to climb Macchu Pichu & not only looked like a spotted cow (severely sunburnt & peeling in the face) but a map of constellations due to the 50+ bug bite trail left on me. All despite, what a TRIP!
- Volunteered at a school in Port-Au-Prince for 6 weeks only to understand how complex Haiti’s history, how so many live piled up in camps with no hope, children going hungry unless they make it to school, and how there’s discrimination even between shades of color / “blackness”
- Moved 3x in 5 months while in crutches due to a horrible soccer injury (nightmare) and resorted to messing around with graphic design and designing fake album covers in my sedentary stage- only finding a depressing job at a non-profit in Chelsea scanning medical documents of disabled children. Eye-opening to be temporary disabled working for the disabled.
- Climbed part of the Great Wall with both my parents (!!!) after talking about for more than 2 decades- Hello dreams!
- Watched my very sick pitbull/boxer Einstein slip off a chair, vomit blood, slip in it from exhaustion, and have a heart attack while my cat Zen intensely meowed and circled the scene. #HORRIBLE
- Worked as someone’s personal driver for 2 months driving them around in a Porsche Panamera 2015 ( It was 2014, and I realized I know more about sports injuries than I do about sports cars...and am more of an SUV/mobile locker kind of gal)
- Formally said goodbye to my grandmother - perhaps the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. First it was the walker, then the portable toilet, the hospital bed, the wheel chair, the oxygen tank, creating an excel spreadsheet to organize her medication, and then writing her eulogy. They don’t make grandmas the way they use to.
-Fallen asleep on the train only to have my bag stolen with my laptop, external hard drive, camera and watch- only to get my laptop back (which no longer resembled mine) but working with an NYPD and Lowjack investnro- and informing them I had figured out that the IP address showing up thru Dropbox could be googled to locate the one of 2 addresses/buildings where my computer was being held hostage. Turns out the kid had bought the laptop from someone in Union Square- who needed $ for a suit to attend a job interview. My laptop was full of WIP cover letters...
- Been attacked by a guy with a knife in Bogota the night Obama won the election ( My English friend was more afraid I was going to be the #~!@#! out of the guy. I had thankfully just trained with an El Salvadorean boxing coach for 3 months only cuz my neighbor was dating him. He was also already training his son.
- Helped a lovely Russian lady with stage 4 cancer find an apartment rental in Bedstuy. She reminded me of my adopted Russian grandmother Helen (who spoke Chinese). It wasn’t easy jumping thru so many hoops, The lease signing was conducted bedside in a a Park Slope brownstone where her daughter had years before apprenticed with a painter. She had also just shaved her head. Stella invited me over for dinner twice while her daughter was visiting from London. Sadly, 3 months into her lease the Landlord wanted to sell the brownstone, so there were difficulties. I tried to visit, but saw her thru the window sleeping. 2 weeks after minimal & delayed responses and a text of “I’m dying”, the Listing Agent called me to give his condolences and to inform me she had passed. )o: #RIPDearStella
- Met a musician at a wine bar I was working at in Fort Greene, whom I later recommended to an Argentinian multi-instrumentalist to secure a collaboration and help produce a music video! (Scenes on Hancock St- behind where I lived, and recruiting my boss’ kids seen playing on the sidewalk, and a Turkish taxi driver friend’s friend #HELLOPOTENTIAL #JAZZHOP <<<”Cause there ain’t no stopping us...”
“Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.” - Emily Dickinson
#MeasureYourWingspan #GoBigOrGoHome #Flotsam&Jetsam
