…my extraordinary parents gave me and my sister excellent DNA to pass along to future generations, along with great love and values that have served me well throughout my life.
..I grew up in a small town in Venezuela, with my beautiful sister, where I learned to forge long standing relationships with family and friends.
…my strong spirit and imagination that comes from a maternal Spanish ancestry as my mother’s family chose Venezuela when my grandfather was exiled during the Spanish Civil War. I keep in touch with my maternal relatives (godmother-aunt and first-cousins) on a daily basis.
…I won a Venezuelan academic scholarship that allowed me to study Information and Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine and that would define my adult life as a ‘Californio’,
…I still keep in touch with my high school friends (In Venezuela the professors come to your classroom and one gets to know a good part of 40 classmates fairly well during crucial teenage years); We have a WhatsApp group and post all kinds of stuff on a daily basis.
…I achieved two great adventure feats in my youth with some of my best friends: Climbing the most difficult peak in my country, Pico Humboldt (snow in the tropics where the Andes begin) and crossing the Pacific Ocean on a racing sailing boat from Hawaii to California.
…I was fortunate to have several beautiful girlfriends prior to my marriage, many of whom I still keep in touch with.
…I have great friendships with my UC Irvine College Buddies; We didn’t take any classes together but know each other because most of us were in sports teams. We have kept our friendships throughout all these years and even though we are scattered all over the US, we keep a daily SMS thread and have an ABT (All Boys Trip) once a year were we proceed to mostly make fun of each other for several days of great camaraderie.
…I had an idyllic marriage for 37 years to beautiful Mik (alas now my ex-wife) that brought into existence two outstanding human beings: My techy-artist son Xavier and my bona fide model daughter Sasha.
…I had my own software development and computer business (Intra Automation) a few years after college and during the computing heydays.
…I am still alive after suffering a catastrophic skiing misfortune that almost cost me my life and left me severely handicapped. I wouldn’t be alive without the love and attention of my ex-wife Mik and the support of family, friends and complete strangers.
…I am able to maintain a good standard of living and a rewarding professional life, even though I live alone, because of all the help from my caregivers and assistants.
…even with my disability and my mature age, I once again have found what makes life worth living: Romantic Love.
𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍; 𝑨𝒍𝒐𝒉𝒂!