Week Eight – Adaptability is the name of the game!

If you are one of those people who likes to plan your day or week and stick to your plan… this blog will make you uncomfortable!

The ever chaining London! a view from my plane this week!

 This week I was reminded of the importance of being able to adapt and change in order to survive in this fast evolving world. And although most of us like to have a plan, plans are made to then change and work on a new strategy! This change or adaptability is by all means not easy and requires a great deal of work and effort, as generally you have to change everything related to this change, and as with most plans, everything is connected so if you have to change something it beings a chain reaction of things that need to be looked at and move, cancelled or re-schedule! Most of all we don’t like changes to our plans because they cause stress and bring the “un-known” hence why most people would rather stick to what they know.

But I guess that if you want to stay ahead of the game and live your life a little easier, you have to accept that change is inevitable and you have to adapt or risk loosing control. And what prompted me to write this week’s blog on this subject were the simulations changes that were happening in my life within the space of a few hours.

This is how it all began; my workweek was all planned and I was to be in two different countries having to travel back and forth through Heathrow on Wednesday. During my first visit suddenly I found out I had to stay longer and need to change my plans. At first this seemed easy enough, and I went ahead and started the “chain reaction” to this change! By having to stay longer in my first destination I needed to find someone to replace me at the next place I was visiting, and before I could change my flights I need to confirm this (there was also the possibility I may need to somehow squeeze it all in!). Unfortunately time was of the essence and I was relaying on getting someone to substitute me in order to change the flights. I think you can see where I’m going with this. Then there was also the matter of the second flight, to cancel it would mean to loose the money so it would be best to re-schedule the flight for a later visit, this meant to get agreement from the people at the destination I was going as well as looking at who was to replace me and at the same time having to change the current flights (two different airlines) before the re-booking window was over! Now if reading this has not stressed you out yet, I’m not sure what else would! At the same time, back at home, we have a room we rent and my wife had call me saying that the agency was sending a student on that day! She was at work, I was away and he was arriving at 5pm! We needed to print some documents for the lodger, which I had in my computer, and I had to find them, send to her so she could print them. When I finally located them, I sent and guess what? She could not print them! So now I’m trying to do a “Remote Desk Help Support” role to print these documents, change my flights, find a substitute and get agreement for a future visit dates! Not forgetting that I am still working and trying to remember if I forgot anything with this change! Actually I did forget, I had a conference call, which I was meant to take in my new destination and I almost forgot to attend! It’s amazing how a really well planned week all of the sudden is up side down and looks nothing like what you thought it would be! But like everything in life, and referring back to week six where we talked about laughing, that’s what you have to do, laugh at the face of change and adapt, deal with it and move on!

When you reflect on this, although not overly complicated, the events of this week were a reminder of how difficult any type of change is. Of course change is going to happen, it’s like the morning sun, you know it will come (even if it is behind think clouds like in England! It’s there) the challenge we face is that we don’t know when it will hit us and we need to be ready for it.

If any of you have attended any seminars or classes on change management would be familiar with this subject, what its important to remember is that no matter how much we know about change, its never easy. What helps us is not to sit comfortably and think that change won’t happen, especially for those who don’t like change. If you don’t prepare and accept it, you will end up like the analogy of the boiled frog; If you put a frog in water and gradually heat it up, the frog is so comfortable that it does not realise that the temperature is changing, and will not react, it will not jump out and when it knows the heat is too uncomfortable, it’s too late to get out and eventually it will get cooked! The frog knew something was up but it did not react to it. This is gradual change and as things happened the frog did not deal with it and that was it! Nice frog legs for dinner. (I want to assure you that no animal was hurt sharing this analogy J)

This week’s experience was perhaps like being dropped in boiling water rather than heating it up; I had to react to it. But there are many changes happening in our lives every day, which we must identify and adapt quickly. A good example of this is technology, this is of course the biggest constant change in our lives and those who don’t like it tend to avoid it and sit like the frog, thinking it will not get to boiling point and cook us! But believe me when I tell you that it will. There are many other examples, all of which tells us that adaptability is the name of the game, it is what will keep us afloat and see us through life, making sure we don’t get cooked!

Think of some of the changes you have gone through? Think of situations you where dropped into the boiling water, how did you react? Are you one of those people who likes to have it all planed and changes bother you? Or are you, like me, a person who thrives with change, even though it can be stressful but enjoy the challenge of having to adapt to what life has thrown my way.

Either way, you have to deal with it! Remember change is inevitable and it will come, it will be facing you every day, from having to change your plans because someone let you down to adapting to new ways of living in this constant and ever chaining world.

Week Seven – what drives you to get out of bed every day?

This week I found myself standing in the middle of Heathrow Airport at 3 am with no one around me and I thought, “I must love my job!”

A lonely Heathrow at 3 am!

I had to leave my house very early this week (12.15 am) to catch a flight at 6 am. I’ve had to do this a few times in the past, travel to and from the destinations I visit in with my work but it had never dawned on me how early it is until this morning when somehow I seemed to be the only person at Heathrow Airport! Most of the time when you do this crazy o’clock flights in the early hours of the morning there are others around you and it doesn’t feel as bad but when you realized you are the only one then it becomes obvious that I really love what I do as I have never mind traveling at these very unsociable times.

And a colleague of mine remarked this week that I do have more energy than the average person, which I am not sure I do, but his comment was as a result of us talking about my experience at the airport and the fact that I do not mind at all doing it. However, I’d like to attribute this more to the fact that I love what I do rather than just energy, and when you love what you do then you do it with passion and 110% commitment. I reflected on this, as I was also finishing one of my daily runs this week at almost midnight and I updated my status on my run with the phrase “it’s easier to say NO but harder to say YES”

So this week’s blog I want to focus on what drive us to do things.  What do we feel passionate about and what makes us say yes!

Think about this for a moment. Take a typical day, what makes you get up and go to work? Often we work to survive and support our families, I think must people do this. It is a matter of fact, in life most people go to work to earn money. And our job drives other activities around our lives. They say we spend 80% of our lives working! That is a scary thought. And if you don’t love going to work or what you do for a job, essentially you will be spending 80% of your life hating what you do!  This surely drives our attitude and outlook in life. It must have an effect on the way we behave at home, with our friends and any other activities that we do. So when someone says “I must love my job” it’s a sign that what you do drives your attitude in life.

Ok, we cannot all have our perfect jobs, the jobs we dreamed about when we were kids, but surely we can end up doing something that brings us satisfaction every day we get up and go to work. No job is perfect, and there are always ups and downs in every profession, but if we have the right attitude, if we do something worthwhile 80% of our lives, then we had a pretty good shot at having had a great time while we were here on this planet.

Because I love what I do, I also love everything that revolves around my job. So this surge of positive energy gives me the boost to do other things with passion. Long days on the job do not stop me for going to the Gym at 11 pm and do a quick run to stay fit. The stress of the job does not stop me for taking time to go out for dinner and catch up with old friends and people I know. The frustrating moments of my job do not hinder me form smiling and solider on ready to face the next challenge. And even today as I write this blog, I have been traveling for over 24 hrs (my flight got diverted back to Vienna due to high winds in the UK!) but yet I’m looking forward to seeing my family and go and have some KFC time together! (yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken!) Yes my job is not perfect but I make it perfect! I make sure that I keep a positive attitude and drive to allow me to then get on a plane and have the energy to write this blog even if I had to be divereted because of the wind!

Having said all this, you may say to your self “does this mean I am in the wrong job?” and trust me some people are, but no, I think that sometime the attitude we take to the things we do is instrumental to how we approach those things and life. I used the phrase at the beginning “I must love my job” but you can apply this to anything in your life, your relationship with someone for example. We say to someone I love you and our relationship with that person may not be perfect, no partnership ever is. But those who can claim that they have a perfect partnership, have to work hard at it and take the same positive attitude we’ve been talking about. We don’t get into a relationship without thinking this may be for life (or at least not when we are slightly more mature and we want to settle down! J) we chose a partner with the same passion and conviction we take a job! In both you commence very enthusiastically and soon you will start to find the “imperfections” of that relationship/job. But you know you love that person/job and you want to make this work. The parallels of a loved one and a job are incredibly similar in many ways and when you are successful at both you know you are fulfilling your life with passion both at home and at work. You just simply love your life!

I guess the message for me this week is simple; love what you do and do everything in your life with commitment and conviction. Nothing that is good or great is easy, if it was it would not be that great or good. It’s easier to say NO and harder to say YES. Keep that positive outlook and find that oomph that gets you out of bed every day, that oomph that gives you the energy to live your life at 100 miles per hour. It is you, the 1 person who can get that oomph in live your life and live your life at 1oomph!

Week Six – LOL! (laughing out loud)

They say the best cure for anything is laughter, and laughing gets us through all sorts of tough situations and moments in our lives.

This week I went to Israel; this is my fifth trip to this amazing country. And it is exactly a year ago I first landed in Ben Gurion Airport for my first visit. Anyone who has been to Israel will know that to get into the country can be a difficult affair especially if you have any Middle East stamps in your passport. And being the well travel person that I am, of course I had a stamp from the Middle East, and non other than Libya. There was also confusion as I have two British Passports (for this very same reason) and so they kept me at the airport for 3 hours until about 4 am when they finally decided that it would be ok to let me into the country.

Ever since then, each visit has got better and the time I spend at the immigration booth is shorter, and on this last visit I actually went through in less than 1 minute! And I want to attribute this to good humour and laughter! As I approached the immigration officer she looked at my passport and asked me a couple of routine questions; what are you doing here? How long for? Is this your first time in Israel? And what is your name… yes they do ask you that! The fifth question she looked at me and said “do you have any friends in Israel?” to which I replied without bating an eyelid “All Israelis are my friends!”  Now this answer could go two ways… she can think that’s not funny and send me to the naughty room like last time and be there for 3 hours, or think it’s funny and laugh. By the way I did a similar joke some time ago to an airport security guard as I went through the metal detector and I biped, he said as he set to search me “do you have anything sharp on you?” to which I replied with a straight face “nothing, just my sense of humour!” – He didn’t laugh and gave me a good searching which I even thought had reach places no one else had! Luckily for me the immigration officer at Tel Aviv found my remark funny and with a smile on her face she handed over my passport and said “welcome to Israel” and I was through, in what I believe is the shortest time yet!

I think that humour and laughter is a very powerful thing and we don’t do it enough! We take ourselves way to seriously and this makes out lives harder. This experience made me observe people this week, I wanted to find out how we behave in public and how many of us laugh or at least smile when we are travelling or interacting with others. I often find myself as I read my faceBook and see funny postings LOL! Yes laughing out loud! And I am sure some people think I am mad, sitting there by myself LOL!

Often in airports you see people rushing to get to their plane, so it is hard to interact with others, but I saw how people react to a smile when you give them one, even if they are in a rush. Every person I interacted with, whether it was the checking in person at the counter, the man behind the boarding pass scanner, the lady at the executive lounge or the person who checks your boarding card before you get on the plane, all of them see thousands of people every day who don’t smile or interact with them and so it’s only natural they do the same! So my mission; to gave them all a smile, a greeting and tried to crack a joke with them.

“Good morning” I said with a smile to the man who was processing my bags at the security control at 3 am in the morning. His reply was not of my greeting but a serious of scripted responses he has to do with every person he comes in contact with, “any liquids, laptops, please take them out”. So I looked at him and again with a smile I said “shall I jump on the belt to be scanned?” and he looked at me as if I was mad and said “sorry?” I repeated my statement with a smile and he just looked at me and said, “have a good flight” I don’t think he meant that but it was part of his script, his job. What was interesting about this experience is that I think he is so used to not having a laugh with his customers that he didn’t know how to react to me. I think a bit of humour would make his job better and more enjoyable.

But the most interesting moment this week on my quest to make people laugh was when I was on the transfer bus from the airport to the airplane at Frankfurt, it seemed we were being dropped off miles away from the actual terminal, I am sure this was the longest bus journey of my life. We stood there, I reckon 100 people in a bus, no one taking to anyone, everyone just looking at their smart phones and trying to hold onto the rails. I looked around and a man looked at me and smiled and I thought this is my chance! So I smiled back at him and I said “this is going to be a long journey back to London on a bus, I thought we were flying!” and the magic happen, the man laugh and said “Yes, I hope they give us more than a sandwich” and then a woman standing next to us chucked and said “I wish I had reserved a seat now” and we all laugh. For a moment we had interacted and made each other feel better in an unpleasant long journey to the airplane. It then started a polite conversation, each of us telling something about each other. We got to the plane, boarded and never saw each other again. That’s ok, I was not expecting to become the best of “bus” friends, but at least we made each other laugh!

I think the world would be a better place if we all took the time to make each other smile. It is a contagious thing, smiling; try it. If you see someone and smile, most of the time they can’t help it and smile back at you. It is a normal reaction, it just happens, I urge you to try it it’s fascinating.

And you know what they say about smiling?, it take 36 muscles of your face to frown and only 18 to smile, so it is less hard work to be happy! Try to crack a joke when you can, and if you think you are not good at telling jokes, buy yourself a book! Seriously it’s not that hard, try it; there is always a gag waiting to happen. And if you can’t think of anything then just smile and make that person’s moment a pleasant one!

To close off this week’s blog I will share one of my many favourite jokes:

What do you call a Spanish man when he comes out of hospital?

Manuel!

(if you don’t get it, try saying Man Well… J) LOL!

Week five – Defining moments

Have you ever caught yourself in a moment where you thought, “this is it”? This is what we call “Defining Moments” in our life.

 

O2 Arena Young Voices Concert, spot my daughter out there!

This week the inspiration for my blog comes from one of those moments, a defining moment in my life. And it is important to talk about this in week five as many of us will find ourselves this year facing these moments, many times, changing the course of our lives.

I guess these moments can be describer in many way as the “aha” moments, and they may come to us in different ways. What it is important is to know when you have that moment, as it will play a vital role in whom we are and what course our lives will take.  But let me give you a couple of examples of what I mean.

This week I had the privilege of attending a concert at the O2 Arena in London. I have never been to this venue and it was an exiting moment for my family and I to see the monumental dome build back in 2000 to commemorate the millennium. But there was something special about this concert and a visit to this arena, which made it even more special for us. My young daughter was taking part in this year’s Young Voices concert, which has been running for 8 year, and choirs of schools around the country participate. Amongst the seven thousand school kids was my daughter, singing her heart out with her school. So this was a very exiting and proud moment for any of the seven thousand parents attending this concert. We sat on one side of the stadium and the kids on the other, and to be honest we spent the first 30 minutes trying to workout where our kids where.  Across this gigantic arena all we could see was tiny specs, all dressed in white T-shirt, singing along and making lots of very exiting noises. Some parents even had binoculars, which we shared amongst us, desperately trying to spot our very own stars! After awhile we all gave up and sat back to enjoy the concert, with the occasional glance and wave in the hope we may still be spotted by our child.

And as I sat and reflected on what was happening around me, I realised this was one of those moments, the defining moments I’ve been telling you about. And this was a defining moment for many people that night. One of them was my daughter who was out there signing at the O2 Arena in London for the first time in her life, and it dawned on me how important this was for her. She loves signing and wants to make a career out of it, and this was the moment that gave her that taste of what its like to be out there in a venue, singing her heart out. I know that she was out there amongst seven thousand other kids, but for her this was her moment, the moment she had been waiting for several weeks. A defining moment in her life that will stay with her forever and shape her future.

Another person to have a defining moment was my son who sat next to me looking at the massive arena and soaking the atmosphere of this event.  His dream is to become a basketball player and he sat there looking around and said to me “dad wouldn’t it be cool if this was a basketball arena and I was playing here?” I guess the electrifying atmosphere of the place and all those thousands of people gave him that feel of what it would be like to be playing in a massive venue. Again a moment for him where his most inner desires to be successful in what he enjoys where ignited by the moment, a defining moment in his life.

And this magical place, I am sure, sparked the most inner being desires in every person who was there. For both of my children it was defining their desires to achieve something they are both passionate about.

This got me thinking of my own desires to write and become a full time writer and as I listen to the music I looked around me imagining what it would be like to have one of my plays staged or one of my musicals produced. But more importantly it was a defining moment in my life, to know that my own child was out there singing and my son was imagining being a basketball player, it showed me how powerful and influential a moment like that can be and I will always treasure this, I know it will help them both achieve their dreams. After all remember, our dreams are our realities of tomorrow, we just need to make them so.

Sharing this experience with some friends also sparked a conversation about what our defining moments in life were and to hear their stories really brought home how true this is. Whether it is that moment when you leave home and start your own life, wake up one day to realise this is not where you want to be, or find yourself singing at the O2 Arena with seven thousand other kids, these moments help us to be who we are and why we are here.

I encourage you all to think back at those defining moments in your life, may be the day you met your soul partner and fell in love, or the day you took that train to University and never turned back, and even that moment when you know you have made a wrong decision and you may regret it for the rest of your life, those moments makes us who we are.

And the great thing about defining moments is that they just keep on coming, they never stop until the day we die. So grab those moments and treasure them forever.

Week Four – Trains, Planes and Coaches!

Week four of my blog is all about transport! 

Yes it doesn’t take long into my 52-week writing journey for me to address the subject of the different methods that I use to move about. As an integral part of my life and many of you out there, it is only right we dedicate the next few paragraphs to this subject.

And this week my journey began with facing what many experience every Monday morning in London and I am sure in other cities around the globe – The rush hour in Underground system!

There is a very funny YouTube video which I included above, that shows people in Japan who have been employed specially to push commuters into the trains during rush hour, and if you haven’t see it take a look, believe me, it is an art! And for those of you who commute in the London underground system (or any similar train organisation around the world) will agree with me that it’s about time we employed “Train Pusher” in the Tube!

I arrived at Victoria Station in Central London after two and quarter hours in a coach to face hundreds of people standing still outside the station. The doors were shut and they were feeding us through a tinny crack in the metal railing gates. It took me about half an hour to get into the station to then face further queuing to get onto the platform and wait for 5 trains before I was able to get on and be on my way. Remember week one? Stay in control? It is hard to do this when you are pushed and shoved and squeezed just to get on a train! And by the way the scariest moment of this adventure is when you eventually get to the front of the platform and you are now facing the empty space between you and the wall on the other side and you look down at your toes, which are an inch away from the edge. You suddenly feel like you are in one of those arcade machines that you drop a coin and it pushes the next coin and then it pushes the next coin etc.  You look behind and become aware of the sea of people and the fear factor kicks in knowing that if someone pushes the person behind you, you will fall onto the rails like that coin! If you’ve never experience this let me give you some advice, don’t move and when the train comes shut your eyes! Especially if you are at the beginning of the platform; it is a frightening experience to see the train, about 3 inches away from your nose, pass by at high speed! You feel it’s never going to end and you get quite dizzy! Anyhow, I digress. The point here is that I believe it takes so long to get on a train and as a result creates a mess of people who need to be filtered into the station because we don’t have “train pushers”. It is frustrating how commuters will not move to the centre of the train and, as the platform master announces when the train arrives, “use all available space”! I’m taking this idea to London Underground Transport Headquarters, so watch out for the add in the job section of the news paper that says “good with your hands? You like to push people around? Good at getting things into small spaces? Join the London Underground Train Pushers today!”

So after a somehow frustrating start of my week going into the office, I was looking forward to Tuesday to catch my flight to Yerevan via Vienna with Austrian Airlines.

My third method of transportation this week was to be the trusted metal bird. For those who have heard my story about British Airways would know that I don’t flight the “World’s Favourite Airline” since two years ago after they treated me like dirt and showed very little customer care. I would like to add to this list Austrian Airways!

As a frequent flyer I have some advantages earned through the endurance of being on a plane every week. One of those benefits is that I get to choose my seat, free of charge, when I check in on line. And in the majority of my trips I chose the aisle seat on the exit row, it gives me that little extra leg room which comes in handy specially when your flight leaves at 10 pm and arrives at your destination at 5 am the next day.

I had an unfortunate bad connection in Vienna and I had to wait 10 hours in the lounge for my flight to Yerevan. On the plane from London to Vienna I had my usual aisle seat that I had chosen when I checked in. When I came to board I was stopped at the gate and informed that my seat had been moved. This some times happens due to a change on aircraft but in this occasion I was told I was moved because I had not paid the 40 Euro charge for seating at an exit row. Yes you are reading this right, it is not Ryan Air, and it is Austrian Airways! Apparently they have introduced a new policy where they charge you if you are on an exit row! I, of course, protested at once and informed the lady at the gate I wanted the exit row. “if you want the exit row you have to pay 40 Euros” she replied. I argued that this was wrong as I had been allowed to check in on this seat and I wanted the exit row. “You will have to pay” is all she kept repeating while my fellow passengers where getting irritated as I blocked the gate. Conscious of this I let it go as I did not want to cause a scene, “remember week one Sergio, Stay in Control” I kept on saying to myself. As we boarded the plane and everyone was seated I looked around to see the exit row and guess what? It was empty! I called the person in charge of the flight and I expressed my anger and disappointment at how they were treating a frequent flyer and I wanted to sit there. And here comes the extraordinary part, when I asked if I could move she said, “you will have to pay 40 Euros if you want to sit there” I kid you not! The short slightness of the airline and their staff has cost them more than the 40 Euros they did not make with me this week, as if this is the attitude towards loyal customers, I no longer wish to be loyal to them and will look for alternative airlines to travel in the future. My only worry is that the airline industry is so bad at customer service and loyalty, because let’s face it they don’t give a dam about us, I will run out of companies to travel with!

Anyhow, I do have to say that as I write this blog on the Austrian flight back from Yerevan, not on the exit row!, my week ends up on a high note and this is thanks to an immigration officer in Vienna. As I handed over my passport for inspection to board the Vienna – London leg of the journey, she takes her time and looks at my picture several times. She then starts a series of questions, which are un-usual, and keeps me there for about 3 minutes. At the end she looks at me and says, “I’m sorry to have kept you sir but you have lost a bit of weight and you look quite different to your picture in the passport” and I replied with a cheeky smile “that’s ok, you probably thought that was my fat brother’s passport” and she laugh. As I parted she said “well done, you look much better”. It is always nice when you get complements from an immigration office that usually hardly smiles.

I guess the learning for me this week has been that no matter how much you hate public transportation; it is an integral part of our lives and some of us use it more than others, you just have to remember that in the end is not the journey but the destination and as long as I get safely to where I’m heading, I’m ok with being pushed into a trained or taken my favourite seat on the plane away from me. All I asked is to get there safely to see my family and share with you all my adventures!

Week three – A tribute to a great man

“Talent and Imagination are to a Human Being what the hands are to a clock, without them it has no meaning”

Maestro Sergio Snyder

This was a phrase my father said to me the day I turned 18 and he told me I was going to London to study English for 3 months. It is a very emotive phrase because encompass two things my father had – Imagination and Talent, and those where what he was hoping I would develop as I left Mexico City in October 1985. We boarded an Aeroflot plane bound for Moscow where we would spend 5 days together. He was on a business trip conducting meetings for his travel agency called “Magallanica”. I had the opportunity to enjoy seeing the fascinating and intriguing USSR. At that point in my life I had only made a few trips outside of the hustle and buzzel of Mexico and this was all an amazing new experience. Moscow was an opportunity for my father to show me something new, completely different to what I was used to. And I was so amazed by this mysterious country and city that it left a mark in my mind, an imprint that would never fade away, a time with my father in a strange yet fascinating place. He was at this point cultivating my imagination.

After the five days in Moscow we flew to London where I would make my residence for 3 months. But his first task was to settle me in and he rented an apartment in Mayfair. 17 Audely Street, London, I still remember the very fashionable address. And it was only two minutes from Selfridges in Oxford Street. Remember I had never been so spoiled in my life and it was all like a dream, something I had never experienced before, and I was enjoying it with my dad, a man that up to this point had been I figure I had always admired because of his flamboyant and elegant life style, a man who lived with Imagination and a man with tremendous talent, someone I aspired to be. It was just the two of us; for five weeks, father and son time that we never had before. He was a busy man who travelled a lot and I saw periodically when he was back from his trips.

And at that moment as we shared a flat in London I thought he was being a great dad giving me the opportunity to see Russia and to go to England to learn English for three months, that was the plan, that’s what he told my mum. It was fun, exiting and different and I was set to return to Mexico after that, I had a very “busy” acting career back home and this trip was just a break from it. Little did I know that his plans where more than that. If the truth be known, I was an unemployed actor who had left school when I turn 17 and was getting no acting jobs. Instead I was hanging around with my best friend in an “acting and dancing” academy, waiting for something to happen, drinking and going out perhaps too much.

What my father was setting for me back then was not just a trip to the USSR and to visit England to have fun and learn a few English phrases. He was concerned that I had lost my way and focus to be an actor and this trip was his way of cementing my new life, my new future. This trip would help me refocus and pursue my dreams, my ambitions to be an artist in a country very close to his heart. My father was educated in England and he spoke a flawless English. He admired the English and relished the culture. And he knew that the best school for a young actor was here in London. He didn’t know at that point if I would return to Mexico after the three months, he would not be able to stop me. All he could do was to show me what there was on offer and hope I would make the right choice.  I myself did not know at that moment if I would stay or return, I don’t think anyone knew, but his vision of a better life for me was all he could seed into my mind, the choice at the end would be mine. And I did not disappoint him and after three months I asked, “Could I stay longer?” and he immediately said yes. I think back then he felt he had accomplished what he had set himself to do, to give his son a new lease of life away from his routine and what seemed back then a wasted youth. He knew I had desires to become a famous actor, and yet I was doing very little towards it.  My father was a very talented artist, a great piano player and it hurt him that none if his 4 children even played the flute, so when I had shown signs of wanting to be an actor, he knew he had to do everything he could to help me follow my dreams.

I was probably a rubbish actor as today I’m not on the silver screen, but his efforts and vision for me did not go to waste and thanks to him today I have a great life. Living in England gave me the platform to develop my talents and imagination, the two things that he so much wanted to cultivate in me, and here I am today writing this blog in his honour, 28 years after he took that boy out of Mexico wanting to give him a better life.

I entitled my blog this week “a tribute to a great man” and it may seem a little unusual how I am writing it as I have spent so far the majority of the time talking about me rather than him! But this is for a very important reason.

Anyone who had the pleasure and privilege of knowing my father better than me could share more intricate stories and anecdotes about him. Some people may even claim to know him better than I do. And they would be right. I cannot tell you hundreds of stories about my dad, as we did not spend a lot of time together. I cannot share with you anecdotes about my father and I; we had little adventure time together. I would not be able to tell you what he liked or disliked, what side of the bed he slept in, what was his favourite chair in the house or what he always had for breakfast. My father and I did not play football on a Sunday or watch a movie on a rainy Friday afternoon. So I cannot give you the usual tribute most people would give about their dad. But what I can give you is better than that.  Yes I may have missed all those moments most people have with their dads when they grow, but my tribute to my father today is to thank him for giving me a chance to change my life and become what I am today. I sometimes wonder what my life would have been if I had not stayed, if I had returned, if I had not chosen what my father had given me. There is no better tribute to a great man than to share with you who I am.

And I don’t mean to imply I did not know him at all. I do have memories of my father, an exiting, adventurous and exotic man. He knew people from all walks of life, from high society in England and India, to hard working honest people around the world. He was a true artist, and an accomplished pianist who moved people with his talent. He had the ability to make you feel good and special, he could tell stories and tales that would keep you entertained for hours, he knew about wine, food, sent, seas, cities, civilisations, countries, history, religion. He could hold your hand and make you feel safe even after he let go. He had a smile that said humble and loving yet powerful. He had time for everyone, even if he did not agree with you. He could cook, sing, write, swim; I don’t think there was anything he could not do.

His love for travelling and his desire for exploring the world led him to be away most of the time. This in itself brought a huge distance between him and I. But he had an ability that not many people have. He was able to make every moment you spent with him special. Every time we met, he would educate me by sharing good food, wine and books. Although the times we saw each other were scarce, he would take me to the theatre or to a concert and infuse that desire for art. The little time we would spend he would read me poems or share phrases to get me to see the beauty of the world. He knew our time together was limited and he try to bathe me with as much culture and fascinating views of the world as he could leaving me behind to process and soak it all in until our next time. These were the formation years of my youth, a time crucial for anyone, and all the time he was pointing me to the right direction, to become what I am today. I often said I could have gone off the rails; I was alone in London, with no one to tell me what to do. And the late 80’s, early 90’s were a time where “sex, drugs and rock and roll” were back in fashion. Yet he was doing something, in those few times we saw each other, which kept me on the right track. He was doing what any great dad would have done; give his son a goal, an illusion and a desire to succeed in life. He believed in me, in my talent. Without his support and encouragement I might have not reached what I have done so far. My values and personality are a reflection of what he cultivated all those precious moments we spent together.

Time with him became less and less and as I matured and became I guess more aware of the world and realities around me, we began to loose touch. His lifestyle was different to mine. I had to become independent and start to look after myself, and life isn’t always as fascinating as my father made it to be, some time life became hard and even cruel and I had to deal with those realities. He was a true artist and in a sense some times not fully in touch with my realities. This was to be the biases of our separation and eventually those 15 years of silence.

Towards the end of his life we kindled our relationship again, we patched things up and it didn’t matter what had happened, we just picked up from where we left. I’ve no doubt that he was disappointed during those 15 years we had lost contact and neither him or I were prepared to make an effort to speak, he had his life and I had mine. But that doesn’t matter, I can never deny that thanks to him I am what I am and I hope he felt proud of me. Thought not a famous actor, I have accomplished a lot, and there I was, in Moscow, doing well, the day he died, just as he wanted 28 years ago.

There are moments in life, which get imbedded in your mind and I want to share one of those moments with you. Sometimes those moments seem magical and for the first time it all starts to makes sense. If you know what I am talking about you would know those moments that give you the shivers, that stand the hairs on the back of your neck, those moment where you finally know why and how things happen. That moment came to me on Monday as I looked outside my hotel window in Moscow after I was given the devastating news of my father passing away. I stood there for a few moments looking at Red Square, I was in Moscow, the same place I had seen for the first time with him 28 years ago, the same place he had taken me to start my new life. Was this fate? Was this a message for me? Was there a sublime meaning to this? There I was standing looking at the first place my father and I landed the day I left Mexico for a new life. Red Square was staring me in the eyes as if to say, “Remember who you are”. The place where my new life began was right in front of me, like a painting that had been hanged in front of me to remind me of where it all began. I was not meant to be in Moscow that day; this trip had been arranged last minute on the Friday. I arrived the day he would peacefully leave us to finally rest after his two year suffering in silence. I was meant to be in Moscow when he died, this would be the sublime moment for the rest of my life to remember my father for who he was, the great man who gave me a chance to build my own life.

He leaves behind a legacy of memories which many people share.

Maestro Snyder touched the lives of many who will remember him for what he was, a talented man who lived with imagination… and now the clock has stopped but the memories will live on.

I love you dad… forever.

Week two – Look back to look forward!

Me with long hair in my past "rock and roll life"

As the second week of 2014 comes to a close, we can already look back at 10 days of a new year!

Sounds melodramatic but one thing is for sure, time waits for no one and the next minute you know we are already shopping for Christmas presents for 2014!

We should not take time lightly and as I have written before in previous blogs, time is a very important commodity we all posses but we need to use it wisely in order to look back and think, “that was time well spent”

And I got thinking about time not because of the last 10 days I’ve already lived in 2014 (though they have already been eventful!) but because through the amazing power of social media and the Internet I was able to spark something magical related to time, something that allowed me to look back in my history and past times.

Most of you who use social media as a vehicle to share experiences, thoughts and feelings with those in our lives would confirm that through this platform we have rekindle with various people from our past. People that perhaps without the support of the Internet, we may have never seen or speak to again in our lives.

For several years I have been doing this very same thing, and since I got hooked onto Facebook I have contacted many friends and family members I had not seen or heard from in years. Being a “foreigner” in my country of residence means I have met hundreds of people who like me, came from other parts of the world to live and work here. Many of those went back to their countries (unlike me who came for 3 months and 28 years later I’m still here!) and we lost touch. I also lost connection with many family members as they were all so far away and I was, believe it or not, lazy to write to them! I blame it on being young! Nevertheless, without social media and the Internet in those days, if you did not write a letter and post it, wait for a few weeks to get a response, you would loose touch with people. But thanks to technology nowadays we can at the drop of a hat let the whole world know what we are up to and know about people’s very interesting and new lives!

And this has extended even within my work environment. I’ve been working for my company for over 22 years and I have also met many people with whom I have worked and shared many great experiences. Because of the nature of the business (hotels) I have moved around and worked in different locations and cities and every time I’ve moved I have left a bunch of great people behind with whom I had form a bond, a friendship.

This week in one of this virtual social media hang outs someone posted a scanned picture of times gone by. This picture then sparked a conversation between a group of people and we wanted to get in touch with one of our work colleagues from the image. Next thing you know, we’ve tracked him down and we are all in touch again. Then someone says “it would be great to get the gang back together” And that one picture in the Internet with some ex-work colleagues of mine sparked a great moment when I thought “you know what, we can bring everyone that worked in that hotel together” and thanks to the magic of the virtual social network we are doing just that! We began a page inviting anyone who worked a certain era of that particular hotel and within hours we were brining them all in.  It was like being in a pub for a re-union (minus the drinks) everyone began sharing thoughts, names and pictures that brought back such great memories. There is even talk of actually physically meeting again but that may not be as feasible as we are finding out that we have people in that group that now live in all four corners of the world! Then again, through the magic of social networking, we don’t need to be physically there, we are all in one virtual Pub reminiscing on the “golden” ear we all enjoyed.

Looking at some of the comments posted got me thinking we had such fun, it was great to work there and did I really have that hairstyle! And I ponder on the importance of our past and how we must look back at what we did, whom we knew and how we enjoyed our time together, these are all important aspect of who we are today. And who we are today is a refection of our past. This is so powerful that we should never take for granted our history, where we came from. For me I have reminded myself this week never lose track of where I came from, because it will continue to help me get better at what I do and cement further relationships with people that I want, in the future, remain in contract with them through virtual networking.

Have you lost touch with someone from your past? Do you need to get your old photo albums out to remember where you came from and what you have achieved? Don’t be afraid of social networking on the Internet, sometime is a great way to look back at what we were to figure out what we will be.