And then I met Al Pacino

March, 31st 2016

It was around 5pm, straight after work, I drove over to Downtown Phoenix to meet with my friend Mike.  He lives in this sick high rise apartment and is the President of the Board, so everyone calls him: "Mr. President"  He is a film Maker by trade and is just great at what he does.. we do a little bit of life and drama together.

Mike is Mike. Let's just say.

He is one of those people who I just "get" - we both see the world from a higher light, there is more going on in the universe than just happenstances of existence.

So, Mike is the perceptual kid. He is a single bachelor with a crap load of money and so his apartment is not only perfectly decorated, but it is kitted out with all the tech gadgets like in the making of a Hollywood party house.

He lights the candles, we drink the wine, laugh and talk about the universe. Play with all the gadgets, watch his documentaries in the making. Dream about life, money and karma.  We Sit out on the balcony overlooking Downtown and the beautiful desert mountains in the distance with his dog, dolly. (or whatever the F her name is lol) and watch the sunset.  He tells me about the men he has loved and lost. What a great night. 

So, 10pm rolls around, and I figure I need to head home to my family, but after a bottle or more of wine, I cannot drive home, so I call Uber.

My phone battery dies RIGHT at that moment. FREAK OUT.

We walk [stumble - *cough* ] downstairs and my Uber is already waiting for me.  Mike and I hug say our goodbyes and he runs back upstairs.  Another black Uber SUV pulls up in front of me and rolls his window down.  I tell my Uber guy, I need to go get my laptop and work stuff out of my car which is in the parking Garage.  

My sentence not yet cold, the Black SUV passenger comes out of the building wearing black pants and black top and guess what, I am not too drunk to recognize him.  I look at him as he is texting on his phone while slowly heading toward the SUV.  I squint to make sure but I am drunk enough to have the balls to talk to him.  

So,picture me,  A lady standing by herself outside a Downtown Phoenix apartment a little wasted at 10pm -  but not showing signs of being psychotic..but you never know. Awesome.  I am surprised he didn't run.


I say: "Excuse me, are you  Mr. Pacino?" trying to be all polite and nonchalant like" I don't really care either way, I am just being curious". 

As he looks up from his phone, he stops and turns to smile at me. I smile back. His smile SO undoubtedly gives away his identity.  He says: " I am"  And he walks over to me, shakes my hand and I start babbling. (trying to look and sound all cool).  "Oh, very nice to meet you. What are you doing in Phoenix?"  He says: " Oh my one daughter lives around here, I come here occasionally" What is your name?" - "I am Delise",  "Delise, very nice name.  Well, good to meet you Delise, have a great night" He said my name twice and AND he didn't call me DENISE - success!

I say, "You too. I love your work. Have a great night." He turns around flashes me a thank you smile and disappears into the SUV with the driver looking very irritated.

My Uber guy WAS irritated.. when I got in he drives me to my car to get my stuff and waits for me,  but not before telling me that he had been waiting and he needs to drive an hour and a half to get home to his family after dropping me - at this point it is already like 10:45pm.

Inside Voice:"Then why are you a freaking UBer driver and why did you answer the "call" if its inconvenient you idiot" - #whatevs.

I went home smiling from ear-ear-ear. :D

Thank you Al, next time you are in Phoenix - lets hang!

My Zumba and Me

Since January this year, I have been doing Zumba for my fitness and loving it so much. I decided my new goal is to become a Zumba instructor. I have been tracking my check-ins at the gym and to date I have done 36 classes. I did realize though, at 41, cardio doesn’t cut it.. Unless perhaps if I eat an egg, lettuce and nothing else.. Nothing is budging. So now, I am incorporating weights in the morning. I mean hell – what does a girl have to do to shed some pounds!

My eating isn’t terrible by ANY means.

Ok so here is my routine – no lies – this is me being real

Morning

Chai Tea (black Chai not Starbucks)

1 boiled egg

3 strawberries

Sesame seed snacks

Afternoon

Salad – Kale, spinach nuts, cheese and chicken (Package says 250 calories)

1 apple, one handful of nuts

1.2 avocado

Dinner

Steak / Chicken and broccoli

1 glass of red wine

Sometimes I will have chocolate or chips

I mean, that’s not awful right?? That coupled with morning pushups and arms with weights and evening 1 hour Zumba 6 days a week. And no, my thyroid is fine, my hormones are fine. But the podge STICKS!

Any advice is appreciated.

In any case, I learnt that I have to do at least 600 hours of Zumba in order to even join to find a mentor LOL  - But I am game. I am dedicated. I wish I could do ballet again too… but alas! I have to give up something, hey.  I have now cut all soda out of my diet and slowly but surely cutting out the sugar and carbs.. hope that works!

The One With the Night I slept in a Train Station in Italy:

When I was 19 years old, Craig and I went to Italy. This was our first trip out of South Africa. I was excited beyond belief.  The journey itself was eventful as we got stuck in Gabon – a French speaking North West African country which we had never even heard of before. After a week of equal parts interesting and horrific [story for another time] – we made it to Italy. 

I was joyfully oblivious at how much I had over-packed and poor Craig had to lug around our suitcases while I skipped and hopped everywhere enjoying the Italian sights and sounds. About two weeks into an amazing adventure, we started to run out of money. Money? What is that – I was 19 and my boyfriend was the one with the money, the car and the job etc. I was just along for the adventure. I think my father paid for my ticket, I don’t even remember – all I know is I was in Italy!

In hindsight, I am not sure how much Craig really enjoyed this little adventure, every time we went to eat somewhere, I think he would hold his breath wondering if the credit card was going to be declined.  We were in Pescara, enjoying this beautiful Southern Italian Coastal town.

It was a long journey on the train from our adventures in Sorrento and St Augustine, we also hopped over to Assisi and spent a night there.  We checked our bags into a hotel we found in Pescara and went to this fabulous Seafood place for dinner. I remember having the most delectable pasta and white wine sauce.  When the bill came we handed the waiter the credit card, it came back declined.

My heart sank.  It was very weird, though,  because the waiter didn’t ask us if we had cash or whether we had another card. He just politely said in a very heavy Italian accent and some broken English that it was “ok”. We left wondering whether we needed to wash dishes or what.

This was our first real meal in a few days as we were budgeting and trying to eat whatever free food we could find.  It was about 11pm and we were exhausted, we went to our hotel and as we arrived there, the front desk had taken our bags out of the room and it was waiting for us out front at reception.

They very angrily told us that the restaurant had called them and that we needed to leave since we had no money to pay! They threw us out.   Waiving us out in Italian with hand gestures and everything.

I cannot remember now how the restaurant knew where we were staying. Once again Craig was lugging our heavy bags. With no money and no place to stay we wondered around for a bit and got to the train station, simply exhausted and disheartened. There was so much activity going on at the train station, as it was World Cup Soccer season and we would learn later that, Italy had won the semifinals that night, hence all the celebrations going on.

We sat in the train station watching the festivities and celebrations until the sun came up. We then got on the next train back to Rome and slept the whole way.

 At this point, we couldn’t go home to South Africa, we still had 4 days left before our flight departed, so we got off the train in Rome and went to the South African Embassy. As much as we loved Italy.  The crazy Italians, trying to understand and be understood.  As much as we loved learning the gruff and romantic lingo and culture of this ancient land, it was great to hear our own language and our own people when we arrived at the Embassy.  It was like an oasis and a welcomed relief.   They greeted us with a smile as if we had come back from the war.  They freely gave us some money to tide us over [which we had to pay back the minute we hit South African soil ofcourse] 

With our new found riches we went to the nearest street vendor and bought and devoured the most delicious cannoli. Smiling from ear to ear. Let the last 4 days of our adventure begin!!