Carnaval Part 2: The Bagual

What is a Bagual? A Bagual is wild, tough horse that cannot be conquered.  A man from from Southern Brazil that is fierce and brave.  Eu sou Bagual…

Something I hear from people, magazines, and television shows all the time is, “It’s hard to meet people after college.”  Not only do I hear it, I experience it on a regular basis.  Remember when you could just go walk out to your quad, your cafeteria, your dorm, and simply walk up to people and introduce yourself?  Something about doing that as an adult is extremely weird.  Understandably so.  By now, you should already have your core friends (Wish I could have them here with me), a direction, a goal, etc.  Right?

The truth is, most of us don’t.  And even if we do, when does it go exactly as planned?  I thought that coming to Brazil, things were going to be easy.  I would have a place to live, jobs would be coming in left and right, and ladies would be on me like mosquitos have been.  Within 2 months I found myself alone, broke, and feeling empty.  It is now 4 months in.  The Halfway point of my time here in Brazil.  I am better, stronger, wiser, but still a long way from where I want/need to be…

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Carnaval was one of the best weeks of my life.  The partying was the best I have experienced, don’t get me wrong; but what made Carnaval truly amazing was it’s aurora.  For 5 days, I was surrounded by people my own age who come from all different parts of the world.  There were no problems, no stress, no worries.  Just a beautiful beach, beautiful people, beautiful souls, and beautiful fun.  If there was a paradise, I was just there.  And you bet your ass I’m going back.

For now, Carnaval seems almost like a dream.  Did that actually happen? As I step back into reality, I wake up to the World Cup less than 3 months away.  Wow.  My main obstacle is right in front of me, and I need to be at my best in order to conquer it.  This is a lot easier said than done.  For one, I do not have a solid job yet.  My Portuguese is very good, but I still need to improve my writing.  And my plan; well, let’s just say, what plan?  And I thought things were hard in the past… What am I in for?

I can’t say I know what’s coming.  I wish I had a solid plan, but I don’t… yet.  For now, I will have to take whatever punch is thrown my way, and take my shots when I have the opportunity.  Carnaval is over.  Time to get to work.

-freakifabi

The Beginning

 

Every story has a beginning… and here is mine.  I moved to Brazil in order to learn portuguese and begin a world cup documentary.  I thought it would be easy.  Turned out it was not.  Turned out it was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.  Turns out it was the best thing I’ve ever done.

After so much positive feedback from my blog, I decided to start a Kickstarter in order to take my blog to the next level.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/6603337/finding-adulthood

To you, the reader/viewer: Thank you.  You are the reason why I am doing this.  I hope that you are feeling something through my journey.  Happy, funny, nostalgia, drama, anything.  Who knows, maybe I even inspire you to take your own quest to Finding Adulthood.  Regardless, thanks for watching/reading and please continue to do so.  Because as long as you’re there, I will continue to be here.

-Freakifabi

Sao Paulo Part 2

 

So just incase you didn’t know, I released the episode early (before the post) because I had spent so much time/energy on it and just wanted to get it out. I was going to write a detailed breakdown of how things shook out, but after the reaction I received from the episode, I have come to the conclusion that it doesn’t really matter.   I was really low.  I wanted to tell the world to go F itself.  But what good would that have done? None. Quit feeling sorry for yourself and figure out a solution.  Fortunately, I was not alone.  Big ups to Rafael and Cadu in particular.  Without you guys, I would have been nothing.  I knew this episode was going to be good, but did not think it would receive the response that it did.  So much support, so much love, so much to be thankful for.

While this was a great win, the season’s long from over. Build off this and move forward. On to the next one.

-freakifabi

Sao Paulo Part 1

After being super jacked up about having my first big job in Brazil, everything seems to go wrong for me in one email.  While it might seem like I am overreacting, here is a breakdown of why this was such a big blow:

Marcelo had agreed to come with me only if I could get him back to Curitiba by Wednesday at 4pm.  He had a big time Mercedes exec flying in from Rio to meet with him about shooting a commercial for them in the next coming weeks.   Because practice got switched to Wednesday, Marcelo can’t assist me because he has to be back in Curitiba.  With Marcelo leaving, so goes his equipment because he needs to do a shoot on Thursday morning.  He has a Canon 7D camera which is superior to my Canon Vixia HD Camera.  While my camera is solid, it cannot manufacture the professional quality that a DSLR camera is capable of.  It’s like comparing wooden bats to metal bats: it’s still possible to hit the homer, but one is clearly a lot better to hit with.  With his equipment so goes his car (our main source of transportation).

About that whole driver’s license problem… So because I have to drive him back, I will lose a full day of shooting and barely make it in time for the practice.  I am only in Sao Paulo for a short period in which my hours are extremely valuable.  Time is money, money is time….

Speaking of money, I was given a 250 dollar budget for this trip for what was supposed to be 2 nights and 3 days.  250 dollars is not a lot of money especially when traveling to the New York City of South America.  Add in a couple extra bus tickets, taxis to get around the city, meals/expenses and I in fact am losing money (that I don’t have to begin with) on this trip.   One of the main reasons for this trip is to make much needed money. My producers in NYC can’t send me any more money because the MLS hasn’t approved the full budget yet.  So for now, I need to figure out how I am going to financially making this job happen.

While transportation, time, equipment, and money are all extremely important, the biggest loss was easily Marcelo.

It’s not complicated. Doing 2 things at once is better than 1.  Not having a second cameraman is a big blow.  I will now be doing twice the work as I had planned on.  Doing the actual job will be tough by myself, but what about just being alone in Sao Paulo (11.5 million people)?  Imagine being from another country and going to NYC for the first time without speaking English.  My communication skills and general knowledge are simply not enough to get me around this cement forest.  And if I encounter a problem, I will not have anyone to lean on. Feeling alone is the worst.

I really got my work cut out for me right now.  As you saw in the video, I was really stressed out.  But where there are problems, there are solutions…

-freakifabi