Yes, it’s October! =D
And until today I didn’t feel much like writing here things about the “2nd TRY”, and the reasons are basically two.
The first is that as soon as I came back home after my second trip to the New Yorker Conference I suddenly found myself through “Changing My Life 3rd Try” (that soon I’ll tell you about), and I just didn’t have the time to think to other things. =D
The second reason is that after these two strange and wonderful adventures in NYC I understood that, even though the people I met there are just amazing, they don’t seem to be interested in the kind of ‘change’ I’m slowly developing in my mind.
Actually it seems to be not a matter of people, but of context.
At the Conference I found all successful people, but the most of them are completely into the ‘social system’ that I want to change. =D
I know it sounds a bit confusing… the fact is that the way I want to change my life now is extremely connected to the changing of the social system, which is incredibly connected to my 3rd Try! =D
But before proceeding with the 3rd Try, I’d like to tell you some of the beautiful things that happened in NYC, because I think that would be useful for anybody trying to find the energy to ‘do’ things for their life changing. =D
First of all I’ve been wonderfully welcomed by Jana, Phyllis and Rhonda, that I use now to think about as ‘my beautiful 3 ladies’. =D
They are so kind to me and they truly love me every time I’m with them!
Jana hosted me at her beautiful apartment in Washington Heights, well actually she completely left me the apartment, because she was going to her mother’s in Texas… so I had a house all on my own in Manhattan! I think this is extremely rare, counting that Jana and me met just two times in our lives and only for few hours. =D
Phyllis and Rhonda were waiting for me at the Conference and they took care of me with their smile and always asking if I was enjoying the event and introducing me to other people coming from Europe. I kind of felt at home in the IAC Building.
I also had a wonderful lunch with Phyllis before leaving, exchanging stories about our lives. =D
Again people were amazed by the changemylife thing, and thanks to it I met some special friends.
Nadinette is a French beautiful girl working at MoMA’s Department of Membership. She’s pure energy and so smart that it’s a delight to talk with her. She also made me live an incredible night, first making me enter at a only-for-members event at MoMA, while the museum was closed to visitors. There was a hi-class party with music and a lot of food and drinks, and she guided me in a special personal visit through the almost desert rooms of the museum, showing me her favorite pieces of art and telling me their stories. And then we went to a birthday party at an Irish pub in Manhattan, where we had a beautiful dinner talking about our experiences and laughing a lot, really a lot. =D
Kai is a genius guy from Amsterdam, a 26 year old red-curly-hair gentleman, dressing and moving like a noble, which I think he is. He’s an Architect and an art-lover, he runs his own company and travels the world analyzing art, urbanism and economics. A polite and smart person you’d always share thoughts with, he also knows all the contemporary art galleries around NYC and he brought me through the ones located on the narrow streets of Chelsie, showing me wonderful art installations. I’ll never forget us running under the rain from an entrance to another and our strange trip on the tricycle-taxi driven by a madly gentle man, riding under the rain to bring us to the Underground station. =D
Antonino is an Italian bio-technology student in NYC, an extremely nice person, so curious about life and beautiful things, with his eyes always looking for people and new experiences and his gentle smile underlining his peacefulness. It was really a pleasure to exchange impressions during the Conference and during the New Yorker’s night party, where I also met Jacqueline. A girl of incredible beauty and a magical way of looking through her nice eyes. She was in a strange mood, I cannot tell exactly what it was, but she was definitely looking for changing her life, that’s why she asked me about my ‘project’. After few minutes I discovered she would love to paint, so I mentioned her a book I was using at an Illustration School in Milan and we greeted with the promise we would have met again during my next visit to NYC.
Kathleen is a social entrepreneur running her own Foundation “Breast Health and Healing”, researching the causes of breast cancer. A bright smile lady, extremely committed to her mission, who was so interested in my ‘project’ that even though we talked only for 5 minutes we are now kind of working together: I’m helping her with a new logo and t-shirts for the Foundation and the future will tell us what else will happen. =D
I also found the time to meet Deb, a sweet friend I knew last year while walking around Brooklyn. She’s a musician and an extremely creative girl, living exactly at the opposite of New Yorker’s lifestyle. =D Between indie music labels, going from a job to another, enjoying a simple (but sometimes harder) life with her friends and her wonderful dog Harpo. We had a long walk in the afternoon light and we had an unforgettable hug when parting at the Underground station. =D
Ah! There’s another unique thing that happened at the Conference! =D
When I came back home the first time, last year, I spent one month thinking and projecting some ideas to propose to Luois Cona. I had some things in my mind and at the end I came up with 3 ideas: a Cartoon Festival with also a big international cartoon contest, a TV channel on streaming for the New Yorker’s website with some idea for the programs, and an interior design idea for the floor of the hall at the magazine’s office in Times Square.
I sent them to Louis, but he never wrote me back, I also sent him a CD with the presentation, but no answer… actually he never answered to any of my e-mails. But we are friends on Facebook now ahahahah =D
So when this year I came to know that Bob Mankoff, the cartoon editor, was one of the speakers at the Conference, I thought I could show him the Cartoon Festival idea.
Yes… why not! =D
So when I was there I asked Rhonda to introduce me to Bob and she gently did it, so I showed him the project. Well, he was amazed by it! He asked me if I had sponsor for it, and I told him: “Well… I’m not a businessman.” =D He told me to send him a detailed document explaining all the things I had in mind for the Festival and we would have talked about it. I was astonished! Isn’t it unbelievable? There were chances that I did a project with the New Yorker… ahahahah… all that just following my enthusiasm! Of course working a lot during the late nights to project everything, but basically I had fun doing that.
So I sent the document to Bob as soon as I came back home, and guess what?… yes, he never answered! =D
But of course we are friends on Facebook now! =D
Well, I’ve to say that he just wrote me a nice message about the fact that we’ll probably meet in NYC in 2 days… but this is another story, and I’ll write about it later. =D
So more or less these are the most beautiful things that happened last May… well, of course not counting the Conference, which is always inspiring and full of information and new ideas for the future. This year my English skill was also better so I could really understand a lot more. =D
Wow! This had to be an introduction to talk about the 3rd Try… but at the end it’s so long that I think I’ll write another post for the 3rd Try, it deserves it! =D
Thank you for reading!
CIAO! =D