Grandma (OP)
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March 14, 2013, 10:53:28 PM |
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A little about me:
1. Sailor, Surfer, Woodcarver, Classical Pianist, Brass, Flute, Harmonica and Accordion Player
2. Sold my first film at age 13, played a stage for two weeks in Las Vegas at 16.
3. Bought my first home at age 19, have always lived within 1 mile of the ocean, have always bought houses with a pool and spa (or installed them - its my religion) - and can barely tolerate a week - not a day more - in an inland location.
3. Have worked with Disney, Penny Marshall, Madonna and lived and traveled with John Trovolta and Kelly for 6 months.
4. Have therefore stayed at plenty of Ritz Carlton and other Fine Hotels, developed systems for the Ritz/Marriott Corp., and was once told by a 20 year Ritz "Veteran" that I have "Ritz Carlton in my blood" because of the way I treat everyone - first class hospitality - always. Yet I still prefer cheap hotels, creaky, leaky sailboats and even cheaper taco stands, Chinese restaurants and "fast food" cooked by a good "fat woman" who laughs a lot and probably has a lot of neighborhood kids in her lap every day after school: they are usually the finest, smartest, best, first class happiest hosts of all.
5. I eat most of my fish raw with a special mix of kelp, nori seaweed, onion, garlic, cilantro, jalapeno peppers and sometimes a bit of dijon mustard or vinegar, and while I do cheat now and then with some fried chicken and fries or a steak, I rarely enjoy it as much as ripping into a fresh, raw, red bit of Hawaiian Ahi spread on crisp tortilla chips, and chasing it with something good to drink.
"You don't need to spend $100 to get $100 worth of sushi; you just need to pick $10 worth of the right fish and $2 worth of the right seasonings.
6. Was raised by Navy Seals (uncles) in a miltary contractor home where 20 - 40 top brass would bring their wives and negotiate radar and aircraft contracts over Jim Beam, poker and bridge until 4am. The Seals used to boobie trap my bushes with blasting caps to catch me sneaking out at night; that stopped when I learned to disassemble them and rig them to their car doors - great fun. I began prepping and serving 3am "early morning" breakfasts and pots of spaghetti at age 3, handling the entire kitchen duty for 40 guests by age 8, and today can single handedly pour the cocktails, prep and serve the chow, and play the classical, jazz or rock piano in between for parties up to 500 without breaking a sweat.
7. Some coffee stains furniture. Mine is known as "PAINT" and its a passion of mine to make a cup that you can cut it 50/50 with cream and its still stronger than anything you've ever had before.
8. My loving sister's job is to travel the world, deliver millions of dollars to universities (primarily Latin America), and return home with the finest wines from all over the planet. As a result I get a little spoiled when I visit her, but frankly prefer just a kiss - a splash - of wine on a good fruity tea. I don't drink like I used to and probably average a six pack of beer a year. Drinking a half gallon of coffee a day nearly every day is probably enough abuse.
9. I spent 20 years serving the legal industry as I began a 30 year career writing financial software for Fortune 500 companies, traveled the world, raced huge sailboats (and little lasers and cats), and retired dead broke after a roller coaster ride of rich to poor and back again - several times.
I've found its not the money in the wallet or the Porsche in the driveway that count, though they are always nice to have, rather its the friends you have (especially those that can cook and care for others), and the ability to "Get Wet" every day, crack jokes that are at least "half-funny half-the-time", and listen to good music or enjoy fine art - or make some of both - that all makes life worthwhile.
You are only POOR if you can't CREATE (and don't TRY) or don't SHARE what you CREATE with OTHERS.
It doesn't matter what you have in terms of money or real estate, gold, diamonds or jewelry. If you lack those artistic, humanistic, angelic qualities, you're still a second rate human being and the second you begin to develop those qualities, you ascend to the rank of "Angel in Heaven" in an instant.
10. Spent 30 years teaching hard-core kids in East L.A., Hunters Point San Francisco and East Palo Alto PC skills in free labs where the kids get to take home a computer free - that they built and configured from parts on the bench in under 20 minutes. I love seeing a little 8, 10, 12 or 14 year old learn a skill that few techs can do. I dare any tech here to completely disassemble a PC - motherboard, power supply, drives - everything on a table - and then stuff it in a box, run BIOS and FDISK to get the HD ready, then FORMAT it it - any OS - doesn't matter - and stop the clock in under 20 minutes...its a tough hat trick, but over 1,000 kids can do it today (some of them over 30 years old by now), because we served a lot of PIZZA and PCs in all my classes...always 100% free.
A lot of parents would shove their kids in our free classes, thinking it was a perfect "day care" center...so we had a little rule for parents whoo would show up late instead of at 5pm. The poster on the front door always said "WARNING TO PARENTS: Children left here after 5pm will be given a triple espresso and a free puppy." They didn't believe me - HA! - I absolutely LOVE delivering on promises you'd never expect to be fulfilled. It creates "MAGIC MOMENTS" - something I learned at the Ritz.
11. Several hot-shot New York Bankers asked me to develop an international currency and private banking system. I told them about Bitcoin and they laughed, yet it is exactly what they needed and asked for. I understand she's worth around $20 bucks at this point and believe that by promoting this through multiple web sites, electronic and brick and mortar businessess, not only will that value appreciate, but whether Bitcoin remains the defacto "alternative currency" or others emerge inspired by this fine example; at the end of the day, as we all like to say, its got to beat Central Bank Fiat Currencies in every little, itty, bitty way.
My two cents - er - "bitcoins" on that topic.
Have fun. Get wet often. Pat a good chef on the bottom every now and then and never serve weak coffee to guests: I could be one of them and you won't want me to embarrass you in front of the family in the kitchen after that little mistake.
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