Remember that part where I said I was busy? Since I last wrote anything at all on here right before Guadeloupe, I went to Guadeloupe, proposed to my girlfriend Amy, traveled out west to Utah and met my long lost cousin on my mother's side, got married to Amy in October of that year, landed a voice over agent, scored another film, went to Nicaragua again, voiced the open for a documentary on CNN, started performing with Lacy James again and have almost finished a novel I've been writing.
A lot, I know. It's been over a year though so it probably sounds more impressive than it is. Nah, never mind, I think it sounds pretty awesome. First of all, Guadeloupe was fun and amazing and gorgeous and deserves it's own entry. Here are some pics.
However, like many things that you build up in your mind, it sort of left a bit to be desired. Finding gluten free (for me) and vegan food (for my wife) that was interesting and worth going out of the way for proved to be damn near impossible some days. The people were nice but, since it's a French overseas department, we spent most of the week keeping to ourselves, driving around to see various sights on the island, going to rum distilleries and hiking. We did manage to meet some fellow Brooklynites on the volcano hike which just blew my mind. We've even stayed friends with them and hung out a few times in the city.
The craziest moment of the weekend, though, came when I got super sick from eating the local food and threw up all over our Airbnb. Craziest because it managed to stop me overthinking how I should ask Amy to marry me and just do it. She took care of me immediately after without batting an eye and it dawned on me how lucky I was to have her. Not because she simply cleaned up after me but because of all of the other times I've seen how caring she can be and how I've lacked that in other relationships. I called her into the bedroom and as we gazed out the window at the sun setting over the Caribbean Sea, I asked her and she said yes.
We took it easy the rest of the night and spent the next day, just browsing through Etsy for engagement rings. Later that year, we got married at the marriage bureau in downtown Manhattan with two of our friends as witnesses.
That summer, I finally got to meet my cousin from my mom's side, with whom I'd recently connected on Facebook. He lives out in SLC, Utah and is always having outdoor adventures with his pals out there. Having just bought himself a river raft, the plan was to take it down to a stretch of the Colorado River in Castle Valley, near Moab, Utah and float for a day and a half, camping overnight on the river.
It was incredibly fun. So much fun, in fact, that I went back to visit him again this summer the weekend of the total solar eclipse. We didn't get close enough to see full totality but it was still a good trip in itself. Here are those pics.
Both trips deserve their own entries and there's far too much to include here. Same with the Nicaragua trip. My good friend Angela led a retreat there at the same lodge I keep going back to (on my recommendation, of course), so, naturally, I had to go again. The crew that went was immeasurably fun and we had an incredible time. We even went back to the Masaya volcano, where I went in 2015, and managed to catch a glimpse of the lava cauldron churning at the bottom of the crater, which had been blocked by too much steam last time I went. Here are those pics.
Best part? I'm still hanging out with these guys back in NYC.
So, you've probably noticed that I've caught the travel bug. The new job at CNN (relatively new...going on three years now!) has allowed me to take more time off for these adventures and that's sort of inspired me to do more and perhaps make something out of it. After Guadeloupe, I compiled all the footage we'd shot with the GoPro camera I found on the ground outside the Barclays Center and edited together a kind of glorified vacation video, complete with my voice-over and music selections. I can't post it obviously because I don't own any of the music. It was more of a proof of concept. I wanted to see if I could shoot video on a vacation, then bring it back and edit it together to tell a compelling story.
I eventually do want to produce videos. In fact, what's on the horizon for me is I'm putting together a YouTube channel for Celiacs that are newly diagnosed. I've already got most of the first episodes scripted. Once I cover all of the important topics regarding adjusting to the gluten free lifestyle, I plan on moving on to other kinds of content. Likely, this will include interviewing health professionals such as nutritionists and doctors on topics ranging from new research to debunking myths about the disease to legislation about food labeling. Ultimately, getting back to the notion of travel, I'd like to interview my viewers from other countries about how they handle being gluten free where they live, with an emphasis on questions like, "are there gluten free versions of traditional things you used to eat?" and "how aware are people in restaurants about your diet?" The idea being that people with my dietary restrictions don't travel or have difficulty traveling because of it. I hope to change that and allow people the means by which to get over any fears they might have about traveling abroad with regard to their diets.
Obviously, this is going to be a great outlet for my music composing and voice-over work as well. Which leads me to the next thing. Back in mid January, I got a phone call from my voice coach's assistant telling me I'd probably be getting a call from an agent. Floored, I waited, but what came was not a phone call but several emailed auditions, a few of them in person at various production houses throughout the city. Excited but panicking that my full time job wouldn't allow me to make all of them, I talked to my boss, who is always supportive of these kinds of ventures. Ultimately, I worked it out with my agent that I would get mostly mp3 auditions (the kind where you record at home and send them in) and worked it out with my boss that whenever I had an in person audition, I'd just have to let him know. In the months that followed, I went to something like five to seven auditions a week, maybe got one second round audition, but have been keeping at it, determined to book something soon. I've been having a blast and learning a lot more about the industry and still seeing my coach every once in awhile. I even took an improv class the other day to get out of my skin a little more and tried to get even better at auditioning. Last month, I officially signed my contract and am now represented for the next year. So, wish me luck there.
Film scoring? That thing I moved here for? Yes, I still do that. Here's a trailer for the film that just had its first screening a few weeks ago.
https://vimeo.com/215764480
I hope you all enjoyed the update. It's been a while but I'm going to try to keep updating you. So much exciting shit. And here's a bonus, the open for the Carolyn Warmus Story, featuring my voice!
And, lest I forget, since she's coming over to rehearse soon, Lacy James and I have a gig at Sidewalk Cafe on October 26th at 7:30pm. All donations to the tip jar are going toward hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico, so come out and be generous! Would love to see you there.
No comments:
Post a Comment