Spring 2023!

What a difference a day - and three years - make.  

The pandemic is officially over. (Says me.  And officially, as of May 2023, says the CDC and the President of the United States.)  Masks off.  Back to the office, hybrid-ly.  Employment is up, way up.  The economy is booming.  (Except for inflation and a few bank failures.)  And spring is in the air.  (As are bombs over Ukraine.  But that's another blog.)
 
Apologies for my several years absence.  It's been a busy pandemic and post-pandemic. For example:  in 2021 and 2022, after a many months of "sheltering in place", of sitting at home on our expanding butts in front of our screens, of not traveling anywhere but from home to the corner grocer to the refrigerator and to bed, I took 17 trips.  Fifteen were via airplanes.  Seven were two or more weeks in Europe.  Four were domestic, including Alaska.  Four were to the Bahamas, Mexico, Costa Rica.  It felt like, "If it's Tuesday, it must be Santorini."  I loved every minute of it, despite the excessive covid protocols, the vaccinations, the international forms attesting to vaccinations, the quarantining, the testing testing testing, the masking, the endless hand-washing.  After a year watching my town go from bustling utopian metropolis to empty ghost town to exploding, imploding dystopia to crumbling wasteland, I was so ready to get the hell out of Dodge as quickly and as often as possible.  I needed to Go West, Not-So-Young Woman, and sit on a mountaintop in Sedona; then to Sicilia to eat, drink, dance at my friends' kid's dream wedding, watch Etna erupt;  work on several new and refurbished cruise ships still in the shipyard and sailing to glorious ports; roll on the rivers down south; take a romantic vacation to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica with the most wonderful man ... My travels continued on a heavenly Alaskan expedition to fjords and glaciers and icebergs, watching whales and seals and bears and eagles before heading back to the Mediterranean - twice - to swim in her warm waters, climb her glorious hills, visit her ancient wonders, drink her fine wine, eat her peerless cuisines.  

And equally awesome:  Laurie, Joe, Jose, Brian, Theresa, some actor friends and I finally got it together to shoot the indie film, Bigot.  Jose edited it in record time, and it's good.  Laurie, our heart and soul and engine, is submitting it to appropriate film festivals.  Fingers crossed.

Oh, I made up for lost time.  Did I ever.   

Thank you thank you thank you.

2020, that Year of the Rat I spoke about in my last post,  that first year of the Chinese astrological cycle ushering in a new era of growth, development and enlightenment. but not before dishing out some truly brutal and tumultuous challenges, is now in the rear-view.  Mostly.  Indeed, it expedited this Brave New World where we spend even more time diddling on our devices, experiencing each other and the world and life electronically, virtually, rather than physically, actually.  More via algorithms than our senses, more in our brains than our bodies. However, Consciousness has been raised; the long-entrenched Establishment called out on its racism, sexism, classism, ageism (on both ends), xenophobia. There's no going back to "the good old days", no matter how many rallies the MAGA crowd holds or coups they attempt or laws and civil rights they undo. Social upheaval is inspiring fundamental changes.  Which take time.  Though the world feels like it's returned to the "before times", in reality much has changed.  And hopefully will continue to change

My Brave New World far exceeds the Old World Order in every way, shape and form.  Michel Verdure, world-famous photographer of cruise ships, is ready to retire.  Which means my crazy pre-dawn days photographing new cruise ships as we sail the seven seas are coming to an end.  Which makes me sad.  But I still get to sail to amazing ports of call!  This summer I'm off to Scotland, Norway, Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Iceland in June, then Venice, Croatia, Greece and Turkiye in July! - now with my beautiful, brilliant professor.  I can sleep in, work out, sightsee to my heart's content, and enjoy his lectures on the history, culture, mythology and theology of destinations.  Oh, the places we'll go -

My acting career has shifted primarily to working collaboratively on meaningful indie films with talented people I know, trust and respect.  A dream come true.

And I'm still coaching.  My clients continue to dazzle me daily with their strength, determination, brains, flexibility, insights, bravery, and willingness to face - and overcome - any challenge.  

Life is good. Doing what I can to help it improve further -

Fall/Winter 2019, Spring 2020
 
After a harrowing, life-altering, holiday-season-that-It wasn't and a chilly winter that numbed the psyche more than the body, March has arrived more like a lamb than a lion.  For a moment it felt like we were turning a corner into better, brighter days - until, suddenly, it became clear that we were skidding off course onto a scary, unchartered detour.

Without getting into too many sad details here, the whys and wherefores and whos and hows, the end of 2019 brought an end of an era, a long chapter, a major phase of life:  I lost my mother.   I am no longer anyone's child; I now must be the adult in the room.  (I have blogged about the experience of her passing and serving as her medical proxy at https://a-muse-in-manhattan.blogspot.com.)
 
Endings are never easy.  Letting go is always fraught, bittersweet, unnerving.  Closing a chapter, releasing the characters you loved who chaperone you through important times can feel unbearable, impossible, frightening.  Sometimes we chose to move on; we're prepared, we decide what's next.  Sometimes life insists we do, ready or not. This was one of those ready or not times ...

So now, ready or not, a major ending creates the pathway to a beginning.  A gaping void creates the space for the new, the next, the novel.  Saturn continues its return, with a vengeance.  Insisting that actions be initiated, decisions be taken, moves be made.  I am no longer anyone's child; I now must be the adult in the room.

These changes - this closing of a chapter and researching the next - required quite a bit of air travel, nearly a month in Florida, several weeks in Europe.  Which gave me a much better idea re where I don't want to live (SW Florida!) and where I certainly might (the Iberian Peninsula!)  The search continues, as it feels like time to spend more time abroad, away from home, outside of New York City.  Still in flux, waiting for the Universe to concretize the vision  ...

And then, BAM!  Again life decided to grab hold of the wheel and take over.  Not just for me, for about everyone on the entire planet.

It became clear a week or so after my return to New York that Mother Nature was sending us to our room - literally - until further notice, lest we suffer some very dire consequences.  She's pissed, very pissed.  She had already punished China for its profligate ways, its excesses, its greed, its arrogance, its insensitvity; she moved on to Europe and gave it a good thrashing, especially to Italy and Spain; she crossed the Atlantic to give us our dose of fear, humility and loss.  We now have to surrender to a microscopic force that for the moment is much stronger and more clever than we are.  Or perhaps die.  So any plans were to be put on hold until further notice.   Talk about a one-two punch, directly from the Universe.

We're still in the throes of the novel coronavirus which continues to alter our world in so many ways.  Talk about disruption.  We seem to have turned a corner - hospitalizations and deaths are beginning to fall in hardest hit areas - and we may soon be able to get out of the house, back to work, back to life.   It remains to be seen how the world will rebound.  
 
Interestingly, I discovered that per Chinese Astrology, this is indeed a very telling moment in human history:
The 2020 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Metal Rat
According to Chinese Astrology, the rat is the first animal of the zodiac, symbolizing the start of beginnings, renewal, new experiences, and, ultimately, positive outcomes. New beginnings require change, big change, which frequently means a period of chaotic and difficult transition. This one certainly has been that. The first half of the year will be challenging for everyone, requiring patience, forbearance, creative thinking, kind consideration, informed action, and sacrifice. By the second half, we will emerge energized, stronger, wiser, kinder, ready to face a new day, a new world, a world made better from lessons learned and work done.

Here's hoping.  Sending love, comfort, peace, good health and happiness as we look with optimism to our "what's next."

2019 and back "on-site" after an extended absence, thankful that many long-running, stressful sagas have resulted in overwhelmingly positive outcomes.  Hallelujah!  

Last year mostly ended an all-consuming, frequently frustrating, hellish 15-year legal and financial and familial roller coaster ride.  And 2019 has ushered many unexpectedly dramatic, surprisingly traumatic transitions to fill the void.  The year's reoccurring themes so far:  Out-with-the-Old, In with the New.  I write about them at greater length in A-Musings, my long-neglected blog, in a multi-part series called Saturn Returns.  (Warning:  the material is something of a departure for me, more personal in nature than the more social/global/universal themes I usually address.)  I try to make some sense of the mess of change, which we face even when change is for the better:  The drama of letting go of that which no longer serves on the physical (thank you, Marie Kondo!), emotional, and spiritual planes; and the conundrum of figuring out what to invite in when you've finally cleared space for Something New, when Something New doesn't come with life's usual road map  ... Click on www.http://a-muse-in-manhattan.blogspot.com to follow along as I ping-pong through the overwhelm of "overchoice", of unlimited opportunity that can cripple us with indecision!  (I know, I know - Don't hate me because life no longer sucks!)

I've also reconnected with friend and writer/producer/director Benson Lee; we're exploring the resurrection of Parallel Universe, our screenplay of a topsy-turvy world mirroring our own with a few very salient tweaks ....  We started this project 20 years ago as a film; now, in the age of #MeToo and #NeverAgain, its themes have more relevance than ever, and we're looking at turning it into a television series.  To be continues ...

And this summer Laurie, Joe, Brian, Suzie and the cast/crew will reunite to shoot additional scenes for Bigot. an independent short film written by Laurie Ziel, which explores the tragedy of hatred and bigotry, and how their tendrils ultimately touch us all, especially those of us who hate ...

Winter 2018/2019, Fall 2018 and prior!
End October, after a week in Paris, I joined Michel Verdure and his dream team (Daniel Fortier, Guillaume Perret, Julien Rambaud and Michelle Latorre) on board the cruise industry's latest and greatest new marvel, Celebrity's The Edge.  The Edge, complete with a luxurious and spacious modern design, as well as the highest tech advances on the high seas, ushers in a new era of cruise travel to delight both seasoned sailors and those diving in for the first time.  We crossed the Atlantic so that The Edge could reposition from the STX shipyard in St. Nazaire, France, to its new homeport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with quick stops in Porto Delgado, Azores, and Freeport, Bahamas.  Again I served as production manager, liaising between our crew and the ship's crew/staff, as we photographed deck after deck of the most exciting cruise news in years.

On the acting front:  Was so happy to be back on set, in the Law & Order SVU squadroom, shooting Season 20!  Yes, Season 20, in line to become television's longest running drama!  And what an explosive, thought provoking 23 episodes this seson brings ...  Tune in and be prepared to be challenged, thrilled, moved, angered ...

Last November and December, I was thrilled and honored to join the Innoleaps team (http://www.innoleaps.com), a branch of Startupbootcamp (startupbootcamp.org), "the innovator and accelerator for corporations" from Europe, on an exciting project working with several marketing teams from Heineken USA and Unilever/Lipton as they prepare to present their research results and recommendations.  It was my job to make sure the groups were ready to get up in front of peers, co-workers and executives, and deliver their findings confidently and clearly, persuasively and powerfully, memorably and meaningfully.  And each presenter represented their group famously, and absolutely rocked their presentations -