Hiatus

So ummm… I’m not gonna blog again for a while.  There are a few reasons why.  I’m not telling.  But mainly, I need to relieve pressure from myself, and this is one of the small ways that I’m doing it.  At the beginning of next year, I will make a decision whether or not I’ll start back writing.
In the meantime, you can find me joining the twits, chirping away.  It’ll all be recorded on that nifty little widget to your right.
Brazil was awesome in so many different ways (food, soccer, people, nightlife, monkeys, Brazilian Jewish weddings).  My Paris trip was semi-successful.  I succeeded in sending Passoa and Nicolas Feuillate (plus a beautiful white dress for ONLY 10 EUROS!!) in a box to myself, but I did not succeed in going to Club Silencio.  I and a friend went to a café early in the evening, and one of his homegirls met us.  Four bottles of wine were consumed between the three of us, on my empty stomach.  And I’m already a lightweight.  I was a hot-ass mess by midnight, which is when us peons can get in without being a cardmember.  Maybe one day…
Venice was excellent:  the weather was sexy, Mestre was cheap and beautiful, the Biennale was enriching and fulfilling.  I stayed with some people that I found on airbnb.com, and they were unbelievably nice and lovely.  I just arrived in Berlin this evening.  I’m so broke, I don’t know how I’ll survive until Tuesday.  Soon after checking into the hostel, I went walking and came upon one of the Turkish Doner Kebap places that Germany’s famous for, so I got a strange, cheap, massive one so that I wouldn’t be hungry tomorrow and want to spend money on food.  I wish I were still getting residuals.  And I wish I didn’t get awesome auditions while I’m on the opposite side of the world.
That’s the skinny on me.  Gonna keep my online life to a bare minimum and just lurk a bit, and try and focus on not being down to $100.  Again.  So close to my 29th birthday.  There will definitely be randomness posted here from time to time, so if I’m sooooooooooo important to you, check this space maybe once a month.
Y’all stay sexy.

I’m A Twit

Follow me.

Catch Me If You Can: The Sequel

           I swear, I was on set for 9 hours

NOSSA!!

This isn’t real-time.  I’m writing this on a jet serviced by American Airlines, on my way to Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, August 11th/12th, but by the time I hit “publish”, several hours/days will have passed by.  I want to start by saying:
Me - 3, Mercury - 0
Now that that’s out the way (I am hyper-vigilant when that bastard goes retrograde), WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!  My long-awaited travels have finally begun!
I began saving for this current trip (and the one coming up in September to Europe) in January of 2010.  Waaayyyyy before I had even entertained the idea that I might even submit for a commercial – and even when I submitted, I doubted that I would be cast (and even after I was booked, I was sure I wouldn’t make the final cut for either versions) – I had decided that dammit, I’m going to Brazil in 2011, and Italy too.  Back when I was participating in the CAMAC residency program in 2009, the Venice Biennale international art show/exposition was in full swing, but I was on a strict budget and couldn’t afford to go.  I wasn’t sure how I was going to make the next one, especially considering how flat broke I was for four months after getting back from France, but I was determined to make it for sure.  I had saved up a cool little amount by the middle of last year, but when I was booked for the commercial, and then made the cut in both versions, and the residuals started coming in, I knew for a friggin’ fact that both Brazil and Europe would be a reality for me in 2011.
I’m somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico right now – or maybe even Guyana – finally on my way to Brazil after years of exhortation from my Brazilian friends.  I first met minha amiga Brasilera otima, Renny, in one of my animation classes during my fourth year at USC.  I don’t really remember how, but we befriended each other and started hanging out a lot.  By way of her, I met a whole gaggle of Brazilian kids at USC, most of them super cool and friendly (especially considering the fact that they’re all fabulously wealthy, sheesh), and we all partied together, saw films together, went out together, and such like.  Some of my best college memories include those guys and gals.  Most of them moved back to Brazil as soon as they were done with school, but there’s a few still hanging around LA, and we try and get together every once in a while.  I’m the token poor black friend *wicked grin*. Sometimes I joke with Renny, making her promise to take me to a baile funk party in one of the favelas, and in return I’ll protect her with my blackness and fluency in Brazilian vulgarities (my favorite being “Porra!”)
One USC Brasilera friend in Sao Paulo announced her wedding date earlier this year, and so the date was settled.  I SUPER CAN’T WAIT!!  I hear Brazilian Jewish weddings are quite the event, plus it’s going to damn near be a college reunion, I’m so happy and excited.  Thank Christ the exchange rate works out in my favor for this trip, because for Europe, I’m either going to have to bring pb&j sandwiches or just eat once every other day.  The dollar to euro ratio SUCKS right now for Americans.
I first started learning Brazilian Portuguese back in 2006 using Pimsleur CDs, and y’all, omg, the Pimsleur method is like immediate.  They use native speakers, have you repeat to match their intonation, and you start speaking whatever language you’re learning right away.  I’m learning Italian right now, plus refreshing myself on the Portuguese, and when I get back I’m going to start German.
OK that’s it.  I may or may not check in frequently with updates, I don’t know.  I’m just going to float on, taking in everything as I experience it, etc.  On this trip, I’m just gonna abide, man.
Nossa!  Legal!  Maravilhosa!  SHOW!!!!

Thought for the Day

Percoset > Vicodin

Can You Spot Yours Truly?

Don’t blink – you might miss me.

Fun shoot!

 

I was in a Gym Class Heroes video a couple weeks ago.  Well, mainly my ass and thighs walking back and forth.  Will be posted as soon as it’s available.

The Most Excellent Humiliation That Ever Could Have Happened to Me

I had a catering gig last month for a staffing company I work for intermittently.  It was a commemoration of the 100th year that the Los Angeles Country Club has been at its current location.  I was bartending that evening.  I arrived to work early because that’s how I get down, checked in, was shown my bar, and I started setting up.  There was a stack of boxes that I needed to empty filled with liquors, wines, and sodas to stock the bar with.  I squatted down after a few minutes of working to get a six-pack of Diet 7-Ups (EW!).  The seat of my pants split up the back, from the crotch all the way to heaven above.  I was wearing big white panties.

I gasped with surprise.  I spent approximately seven seconds in disbelief and shock.  I cussed like an old man on meth straight from one of Stephen King’s old novels set in Maine.  I held my ass and looked for someone who could help me.  I found a girl about my age who was a full-time employee for the club, and after she laughed her ass off, she showed me to a room where they kept needle and thread.  I retired to the ladies’ locker room, took off my pants, and thought about how much progress I’ve made over the years with the sewing machine but had never learned how to sew by hand.

After a few minutes of ignorance and ass-foolery on my part with the needle and thread, a woman walked in and gave me a puzzled look.  I laughed and explained to her what happened.  Well, must have God liked me that day because it turned out that she was ten minutes early for her call time and was quite adept at sewing by hand and was more than willing to help me.  I watched closely as she threaded the needle and started sewing the seam.  I had never really seen stitching like the way she had done it, so I made mental notes for, you know, just in case in the future.  She sewed it up really well, and it hasn’t busted since.

Why was this humiliation so wonderful?  Because.  There’s a sculpture project I’ve been working on since December, and I got stalled back in February.  Today was the first time since then I’ve even gone to my art studio aside from making rent payments.  I submitted for an art show that it looks like I’ll be participating in come the end of July, and I decided to get my ass back there and tough out this snag – maybe I could come up with a work-around.  As soon as I picked up the thread and needle, last month’s superhappyfuntime100% came back to my memory, and so did the nice lady’s methodology, so I tried it out.  AND IT WORKED!

 

TRIUMPH!  ART!  YES!

My Kind of House

…helps keep those stabby feelings at bay