Jhene Aiko | Growing Apart Too

It’s raining today… and I’m working from home… today feels kinda like this.

…we’ll grow together.

“Sundays in Vegas are morbid… its sort of like pancakes…all enticing at first then after a while you get sick of it.”
— Uncle Vinny Lee

“…You can learn a lot about someone and how they handle life, just by watching them explore a cave. What do they take? What do they do? Is reaching the end the goal, or appreciating the beauty of the moment? I encourage you all to take a friend exploring a cave with you. You’d be surprised what you learn about them…”
— Shane Morris

My muse.

NYC… Summer of 2000. My best summer ever. There are way too many reasons to mention, so I’m only going to share two.

One. Running around and discovering NYC with Helena. Our lives were so simple back then. Our only ambitions were to find the best places to eat, to find the best places for music, hanging out on stoops, and hanging out on rooftops.  

Before Helena, I would usually only venture into the city at night to either stuff my face at HopKee or tear up isht with Debbie, Christina, Mikey, and Ant all over the island. But after Helena and I started hanging out, I found myself spending more time in the city during the day, doing things that didn’t necessarily result in recovering the next morning.

It was a great phase for discovery.  The experience of discovering the city and myself allowed me open up my eyes. Which brings me to my best reason… it’s the summer I met your mother. More on that later.

Helena introduced me to Getz & Gilberto that same summer. It will forever remind me of her.

Happy Birthday Helena, love always.

You and Ninang Helena

Napa

A True Ladies Man

Your big bro shares a birthday with your Ninang Helena.  Today is also his birthday.  We had Action Jackson since he was only 6 weeks old, today he turns 8.  He’s gone from a rambunctious bully to a grumpy old fart.  Happy birthday big guy.




The Interlude

So today we embark on a journey to Asia in search of inspiration and opportunities. I am looking forward to adding a few new stamps to the passport. The time has come to put in motion all the planning and work that’s been taking place this past year. I have no idea what is ahead of me. All I can do is pray for strength, guidance, and believe in myself. I won’t lie. I am starting to feel nervous. The unknown that lies ahead is starting to rustle the butterflies in my stomach…  It is stronger than ever.  I can’t tell if that nauseating feeling is coming from the fear of facing the genesis of what can potentially be the biggest challenge of any project I’ve undertaken, or the turbulence from this plane ride. By the way, Cathay Pacific has the worst seats of any plane I have ever been on, and that goes for the C-130’s we used to fly on as kids traveling with fam. The agony of these ill designed seats are only justified by the insanely good on-demand movie selections.

My plane is somewhere over the Pacific on its way to Hong Kong where Mark, Barry, and I will spend a few days getting acquainted with the city. It is my first time so I am pretty excited to explore HK and Kowloon. After a few days there we’ll transcend beyond the borders of China in search of factories. It will be the farthest I have traveled away from home. This trip will be all about learning the manufacturing trade from beginning to end. After hearing all the warnings and first hand experiences from other friends I could not help feel a little discouraged, but I will finally get to see it for myself. I don’t know what we’ll end up encountering; they never covered any of this in any of my classes.  I don’t anticipate manufacturing to be a glamorous industry, especially in China, so I just have to prepare myself mentally.

This will be the longest I’ll be away from you and your Mom. It has only been less than a day and I am already missing you terribly. I’m not looking forward to it, but I think Video Skype and Facetime should hold me over. And as much as I hate being away for so long, this trip is essential. Anyway, you are too young to even notice that I’m gone, but I know your Mom isn’t too happy. But this is the biggest milestone yet, for me and as a company. What we’re about to accomplish in the next ten days can push the company forward a great deal. But first we need to cross this gap; between more than a years worth of planning, designing and working… and the realization of the potential the company can manifest into reality in the next few months.

This is the interlude… and I’m doing all of this for you.

Dad.