Author: Lucky Stripe Designs

what I’ve created –

• bergamo
• cdmx

what I’ve watched – 

• A Real Pain – top 100 films I’ve ever seen.
• Idiocracy – unfortunately accurate and fortunately hilarious
• Anyone But You – would recommend to just about anyone
• Game Night – great watch with the siblings

what I’ve listened to –

• O Death – Ralph Stanley
• What Kinda Music – Yussef Dayes
• Luna, amore e no – Piero Piccioni
• Because of You – Kelly Clarkson
• Prepare – Stimming

what I ate –

Bajel in Mexico City – one of the best meals I’ve ever had. Michelin star 9 course experience with the theme of Clarity and Depth. Our meal featured Hibiscus foam paired with Lobster, beetroot, and grapefruit. Braised flat iron with beer cocoa and parsnip puree. Green apple and wasabi-shiso sorbet pickled cucumber and yogurt. Mole blanco with cauliflower and nutmeg. All set in one of the most beautiful high-rises in CDMX.

Mas o Menos in Joshua Tree – is a lovely coffee shop and cocktail bar. Worth the pitstop and the interior design / overall aesthetic is flawless.

travel hack –

Befriend everyone you meet, if only to be kind.

Always pack an extra layer and drive yourself if you can.

quote I liked –

“Mt Sinai in Egypt is 7497 ft.⁣ Estes Park, CO is 7522 ft.⁣

If elevation is the main ingredient in meeting God, then keep an eye out for an ominous cloud strolling the streets of some Rocky Mountain town.⁣”

what I’ve learned –

• Steve Blank compared working in a startup to marines fighting in a war. He put it bluntly: “Startups are inherently chaos. As a founder, you need to prepare yourself to think creatively and independently, because more often than not, conditions on the ground will change so rapidly that the original well-thought-out business plan becomes irrelevant. If you can’t manage chaos and uncertainty… and if you wait around for someone else to tell you what to do, then … you will run out of money and your company will die.” If startups are “inherently chaos,” then it makes sense why early childhood adversity can help build the muscles necessary to handle that chaos.

what I wouldn’t try again –

tattooing myself is more painful than having someone else tattoo you. It’s impossible to ignore the pain and you know when it’s coming which makes it difficult to focus on the art. While I’m proud to have stretched my own limits and grown in ability with tattooing I don’t intend to give myself more.

how life is beautiful –

Coming back from the Channel Islands with a herd of dolphins swimming next to the bow of our boat close enough for each of us to touch one was a tear in the heavens that I’ll always be grateful for.

Being surrounded by 60 of my closest friends in a city I moved to 2 years ago for my birthday was pure love. Gratefulness is the key.

what I’ve created –

• vegas ghost town video
• 30 minute Italy Ambience

what I’ve watched – 

• The Gray Man – big budget action

what I’ve listened to –

• Thug – Slim Thug
• GORE-TEX COVERS MY SOUL – Blksmiith
• Start Here – Damu the Fudgemunk (listen to the album)
• Tired of Fighting – Menahan Street Band
• Jammin – Rubii (Billie Eilish meets Aaron May)
• Open Air – Meditor (ambient / peaceful)

what I’ve ate –

three beef patties with cheese is always cheaper and more filling than a burger

where I’ve been –

Apache Canyon is great for single night camping

quotes I liked –

“You’d rather play checkers on a leopards ass than mess with a guy in overalls”

“I went to school to get my MRS. degree, it just hasn’t happened yet”

“Nerve is a matter of defiance and control. Like: I refuse to acknowledge that. I don’t agree to be intimidated. I resist the temptation to declare this a failure. But nerve is also a matter of acceptance: Well, I guess it’s on me then. I don’t have the luxury of being shaken up about this or replaying close calls in my head. I’m too busy and too many people are counting on me.”

“Each win, big or small, is important, and the more you do the activity of identifying your daily wins, the more you’ll see greater and greater opportunity for wins”

“A disorganized and non transformed past is chaotic and confusing. another word for this is trauma. Trauma happens when your expectations are violated such that you lose your sense of meaning for life and worth as a person. It is a dysfunctional belief about an experience that creates ongoing dysfunction in the present and future.”

what I’ve learned / discovered –

• book the trip.
• pay for audible.
• the prioritization of physical health activates much more in life than expected. the overall mental, emotional, and physical health booth it creates is incredible. it’s the maximization of life and time and the place you live.
• interior design principles: multiple light sources, layers, varied heights, varied materials, varied colors

things I wouldn’t do / try again –

75 hard would be much easier in summer months.

ways life is beautiful –

Biking up the closed mountain road to Pine Mtn climbing nearly 1800ft with no one around was beautiful… until I got a nasty flat 5miles from the trailhead. Within twenty seconds of getting my tire off two older bikers rolled up and helped with the repair then disappeared. The Lord provides.

what I’ve created –

end of 2024 video 

vegas ghost town video 

what I listened to –

• Piano Sonata No.2 in B flat minor “funeral march” – Chopin
• Poppin my Collar – Three 6 Mafia // Project Pat
• To Build a Mountain – Crowbar
• TAKE UP – Caleb Conley
• Hard to Choose One – Future

what I watched –

• The Turnaround (Sundance) – Real film is taking a topic you don’t care about and making you cry about it. This is on Netflix now, go watch.
• Love, Brooklyn (Sundance) – Beautiful portrait of humanity, no trauma, crime, or weaponization of black people, just raw human beings learning relationship while their home changes around them.
• Deaf President Now! (Sundance) – do whatever you can to watch this beautiful film. eye opening.
• Subservience – thought this was going to be an ethical / psychological black mirror type story and turned out to be exactly that with a lot more sex and a thriller ending? Could’ve been better but still fun.
• Butterfly Effect – felt too dark for my taste but then felt like the first time you listen to Radiohead, not sure if it’s your style but describes your life in a way you’ve never experienced before. The butterfly effect concept is one I think about weekly and to watch a film about it just hit.

what I ate –

La Buchetta in Florence- “the wine window” hands down the best gnocchi pasta I’ve had in my life. Was alone for the first 45 minutes and the host gave me lots of history on the building & area and showed me the back rooms and gave me 3 shots of their favorite alcohol. 10/10 experience, perfect spot for a date with yourself, your mum, or your love.

quote I liked –

“you are an artist with business prowess you are dangerous

If you are a business person with emotional intelligence you are dangerous”

what I’ve learned / discovered –

• Hoes don’t get cold”
• I discovered Glorilla. She is now my entire Instagram feed. 

travel hacks –

• Any of the YellowSquare hostels in Italy are top notch. Would highly recommend to anyone traveling in Italy . 
• Find the nearest art gallery or museum and go. It’s always worth it. 
• Stay close to wherever you have a competition / race. Staying in downtown Houston for the half marathon was a must.

ways life is beautiful –

Got to sit in mass in the Florence Duomo and hearing the voices singing in Italian and leading service was beautiful. Makes you realize “why”

Running the streets of downtown Houston along with 30k other people was surreal. Waking up at 5am in 28° weather was crazy. Sitting in the corral waiting for our turn to go as the sun rose then suddenly everyone is throwing their layers to the side and it started.  Running next to people in wheelchairs with no arms or legs, blind people, and folks with bad limps you could taste the sheer determination flowing through those streets. You couldn’t run 100ft without there being more people cheering you on. I  was hoping to hit a dark mental state and force myself to push through but I smiled for 13 miles. Sharing the first 7.5 mi with my brother was beautiful, we would talk or silently weave between people. I cried at the end.