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Summer Satisfaction

The past week has been a whirlwind for me.  We were invited to a friends of a friends summer lake house for the weekend. I had two jam-packed days of sun, jet-skiing, boating, tubing, water slides, trampolines, and lots of BBQ. On the second day we spent a good chunk of time just sitting on the dock or on the water mat, our feet dangling off the sides into the water. We barely spoke for long periods of time. We stood in awe of a beautiful hawk circling mere feet by the tree canopies. It was a weekend where I often left my phone in my bag, and the times I did take it out I forgot I had it on me. Luckily my waterproof pouch worked. My utmost gratitude to the family that invited us to enjoy a beautiful weekend on Connecticut’s Candlewood Lake. tubing on candlewood lake

 

We arrived back home at midnight, and on Monday morning we were up bright and early to visit my grandma and enjoy her beach. My mom met up with a bunch of her friends. I was feeling fatigued so I mostly sat under the umbrella and napped, too sore and sunburnt from all the activity I had enjoyed over the weekend.

My week of fun didn’t stop there. Last night my cousin called me up and asked what I was doing in the evening. Nothing was my answer. She just so happened to have two extra tickets to the Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins game for her friends birthday. My sister and I met up with cousin, trekked up all the way to the Bronx (I was there on Monday for my grandma’s house), and we ended up having an amazing evening. Our tickets were for the Champions section, we were six rows from first base. We pigged out on food and drinks. A-Rod hit an amazing Grand Slam to pull the Yankees into the lead after being down a few runs. The ball boy gave the birthday girl’s daughter a foul ball. We danced the 7th inning stretch YMCA on the jumbotron. After the game ended our connections took us on the field. We delighted ourselves with a ton of pictures and videos. I cartwheeled on the Yankees grass, tossed around the foul ball, and stood among the spotlights to feel just a touch of greatness.

It has been an amazing week and just goes to show how wonderful summer can be. If every summer could have a week just as perfect as this past one was, I would have it made.

My mind feels at ease, my body is recharged, and with a new flurry of energy I’m about to annihilate all the writing projects I currently have going on.

 

 

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No Summer Break

I thought I would take a few minutes from my busy Monday to relay on some happenings. All day today I’ve been editing articles, researching for my own and working on setting up interviews with some cool industry creators. There are so many things I want to do- for both my comic book sites and The Outcask (craft beer), it’s just a matter if I could grow a few more hands and decide I don’t actually need sleep to live.

But I do, most unfortunately.

It’s also strange for me to be doing so much work during the day. I’m a nighthawk when it comes to getting things done. For one thing it is a lot quieter at night and my focus is zeroed in on whatever I’m working in. During the day, especially a day like today where I could only describe it as perfect, I’m charging through the workload with tenacity.

At the end of the month my brother is coming in for a week. He’ll be here for my birthday which is a present in itself. I miss that dude! I’m definitely working on getting a lot things done before he comes in so that my week is free. We are already heading into mid-August, so I’m feeling the crunch.

Last week I spontaneously stayed over my friends apartment in Queens. We went to a bar down the street and left a little after 3 in the morning. We lallygagged our way back under the train trestle where we laughed at our voices with the echo. When we got back to her building we climbed up top of the roof and the result is the picture I chose to accompany this post. I’ve been thinking about that night a lot and it’s been helpful to alleviate some of the stress I’ve been under lately.

I think tonight I may open up a notebook and start scribbling a comic idea that I had when I took the Smithsonian and edX’s Superhero history course. I miss learning everyday. I try to, but sometimes the day just gets so cluttered with other things and I don’t get a chance to sit down and read about something new. I’ll work on that. Our coursework was learning about the history of comics and then to create our own alongside the themes and principles we learned about. I really like the idea I had, and want to flesh it out. For the past several years I’ve done all my writings on the computer, but I realized how much I love the feeling of paper and physically turning pages and scribbling in margins…. There’s a very romantic feeling to handwriting something for me.

One of my favorite quotes is that if you fall in love with a writer you will never die.

I’ll leave that as my last thought as I want to tie up this post and run away from the spider that just crawled up the back of my laptop.

 

 

 

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Wrap up of Week 2

My, my, another week bites the dust. Time is such a silly thing, the days feel slow for me here, which is something I thought I’d never experience again.

The day was spent helping with the chores as usual.  I also binge-watched a television series on my laptop. Sometimes you still need to stay connected to your daily routines to feel normal.

Last night my family threw a surprise graduation party for my cousin at a restaurant with just his friends. It was a lovely evening, and I cannot believe how much food there was. The amount of antipasti alone just filled me up. There were plates of carrots, rice, prosciutto, mortadella, croquettes, peppers, zucchini, salad, bruschetta, and I’m definitely missing a few. The pizzas came after and they were just as fulfilling.

After the dinner he opened his presents and we took a stroll around the streets of Sora to help walk off the extra pounds. Mamma mia, I am still bloated today!

Some hooligans lighting firecrackers next to the church
Some hooligans lighting firecrackers next to the church

 

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Sunday Snoozeday

I love how in most countries Sunday is the day for ultimate relaxation. Sundays always have a quietness about them, the timid day of the week. And in Italy, a quiet Sunday after a late night Saturday was well received.

Few people who travel get to actually experience it like the locales. Travel guides will always tell you to check out the local spots and visit local places, but that is not the same as returning to a home filled with family. Oftentimes, we romanticized the places we dream about going to. We imagine them as fairytales and as we wander through the storybook streets we miss out on our individual experience.

This trip, thus far, has given me a great insight to the lives my family here live. It’s not always that romanticized version, it’s similar to my life at home, the house chores and errands. And that’s what mostly this Sunday was about.

I woke up late again since my cousin, his friends and I had a late night. We went bowling, which is something a tourist (especially from America) would never do in Italy. As explained to me, Italians do like to bowl, especially in the winter when there’s little else to do. I’ve noticed my family spends a lot of time outdoors, which makes perfect sense since it is ridiculously beautiful. The wonderful (meraviglioso) thing about going bowling is that there is no explanation needed and the universal enjoyment precedes the language barrier. After a game, we went upstairs to the arcade. I played foosball which is something I’ve maybe played twice in my life. My skills were pretty bad but I started to get a better grasp at the end of the second match. We moved on to air hockey and to be honest I am quite dope at it. I can handle an air hockey table like no one’s business.

My cousin and his friends played a few other arcade games, from a sorry attempt of a DDR-like game and also a shooting game. I noticed all the arcade games were in English. Take note Italian companies, create Italian-language arcade games could be an untapped market!!

We left the arcade/bowling alley and headed back to Sora which has quite an abundant nightlife for young people. We grabbed a table in a piazza, ordered beers, and people-watched. There was a lot of people-watching to do because there were, of course, a lot of people. If there’s any generalization I can make accurately about Italians it is that they are born with two things: natural impeccable fashion sense and a built-in GPS for traversing the multitude of narrow windy roads.

Our drive last night was lovely. It was a bit foggy (nebbioso) and the clouds masked the mountains, but you could still see the little villages (borghi) lights. They looked as if they were floating in the night sky. A little piece of heaven.

We got back to the house just after 2 in the morning and even though I tried to wake up early, I couldn’t.

Sunday was spent meandering around the house, helping with laundry and other small chores, and plenty of time playing with the kittens. I also Skyped with my dad to wish him a happy birthday. My aunt and uncle took me to visit some other family, their house was even higher on the mountain. I regret not taking a picture but I’ll probably be back there in the next few weeks anyways.

Two things about this Sunday: No church and we had 3 meals. Now, personally I’m not very religious and consider myself more spiritual, but I know religion is big in the family so I was surprised when we didn’t put on our Sunday best and be on our merry way. And also, I ate 3 meals today, which every Sunday of my life I’ve had 2 because “that’s what we Italians do.” Well, perhaps no. I had breakfast; cereal, yogurt, and of course an espresso. Lunch was fettucini with mushrooms (i fungi) and meat, and for dinner we ordered pizza.

I want to wrap this post up because it’s getting too long, but I did want to make a quick mention of a conversation I had at lunch. Now, at every meal it is insisted that I just keep piling food on my plate, so today when I tried and failed to communicate that I was full and I didn’t want to gain weight, my aunt told me not to worry. She told me no one is going to judge you if you gain weight. That was nice. Hand me over those seconds (and thirds!).

 

Italians have welcomed the sport with open arms. My cousins tell me they bowl often in the winter when it's cold and there's nothing else to do, sounds familiar.
Italians have welcomed the sport with open arms. My cousins tell me they bowl often in the winter when it’s cold and there’s nothing else to do, sounds familiar.
Woo second place!
Woo second place! And clearly the girls got this down.
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End of Summer Stretch

Hello all,

A brief reminder that my writing samples (I hate the term ‘samples’, they’re full published works!) are under the Featured Publications page. Pretty soon I’ll have a page up for self-published work.

So we find ourselves at the end of another summer. It’s a humid day here in New York, but rather than the balminess that usually accompanies this awful form of heat it’s complemented by a nice breeze. I enjoy these moments, sitting at my computer, listening to the ticking of the ceiling fan, the speeding cars on the main street I live on, and the occasional visit from my cat. Summer rolls, from heatwaves to thunderstorms, it’s a time of easy living. It reminds me of the two weeks I spent in Europe my senior year of high school. I learned more about the pleasure of a simplistic life than I have in my entire life. Summer is coming to a close, but just because we sip on pumpkin spice lattes and snuggle into wooly sweaters doesn’t mean we don’t have to stop our enjoyment and zest for life.

 

Hope you all enjoy the last few days of summer, autumn will be here soon. And life goes on…

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Who knew?

Who knew I’d be so busy at home?

I’ve barely been on my computer which is such a drastic change for me.  I’m still trying to get settled in to living at home again.

 

Fear not.  In my absence I have been getting a taste for the world.  And whenever that happens the ideas start popping out of the old noggin.  I’m already waist deep in story ideas.

On a side note, I’m going skydiving on June 30th.  One of the biggest pieces of advice I got from my professors were to go out and have experiences, because that is the only way you can write.  I can’t wait for this.

Just two years ago I would cry if I had to climb up a ladder because of the height.  Last summer, nipped my fear of heights in the butt by ziplining. And in January I went indoor skydiving.  But next month it’s the REAL deal.  And I cannot wait to talk about it and its impact on my life.