Act IV: FriendsOver50.co
Unbeknownst to me at the time, at the very same time I was borrowing $10 a day from my mother to eat and slowing building a $9,000 debt to the AgB Trust to keep my benevolent Social-Network for Baby-Boomers and Senior Citizens - FriendsOver50.com alive; my "GodFather" and primary male influence since the day I was born, Bernie Sahlins, was introduced by another friend, mentor, & Co-Christmas Carol-er of 30 some odd years, Sheldon Patinkin - to the stage.
In this commencement address to the graduates of Chicago's Columbia College, another of my my mothers closest friends - implores young artists (like myself at the time) to take risks and create their own opportunities for themselves.
What hits me as so horrific begins at the 2:23 mark. Note it as you listen to this brilliant and compassionate monologue.
The tragedy today, said Faulkner... (is too long to transpose)
"What is important he says (Faulkner) is that The Artist's voice can help man prevail and endure"
"ARTIST MAKE ART !!!" Bernie decries..
Make your own
If you can't hired to perform, open a theater
Musicians, Start a band
Designers and architects, start a firm. Have a cousin that successfully did that (fyi)
Movie makers, make a movie.
Stay in motion. Keep creating.
Remember.., The Artist is the person who worries about The Important STUFF !!!
Having been screwed over at every job I had previously, that's EXACTLY what I did by building FriendsOver50.com Until ML-T single-handedly shut it down after a single year of operation, at a total cost of only $29k, 34,000 users and rapidly growing and the prior 18 months of development and my life in that time; completely wasted.
Why was this advice considered good enough for everyone else except for me?
Why was there NEVER any encouragement let alone any offers to help.
Just the opposite. "Get a job, start paying taxes..."
The Video below starts at 4:27 to skip though a belabored about me, where I grew up tour via google earth. It does start off with an ok, Ladies & Gentlemen of the jury voice intro concept if you want to go back and catch it.
This VIDEO loosely chronicles the rise and subsequent demolishing of not just a dream, but years of hard work, sacrifice, & generosity to the community of 34,000 and rapidly growing.
The audience base consisting of Parents & Grandparents having meaningful and worthwhile conversations about Again.
Remember, this is 2005/6. I had how much did I have in Trust #1 at the time?
I do not know. I have asked and have been REFUSED an answer. Over $1m+
My brother the same.
From my best guess my mother had roughly $5+ million dollars before the Crash of 2008.
I also ask, at the time, How much was the dollar worth and how much did a house cost?
Granted this was the peak of the real estate bubble that I knew was going to collapse, asked for out so I could BUY when it did. Again refused and dragged into the collapse. AGAIN.
I digress. Point is I borrowed $9k from my trust over the course of a year to keep FriendsOver50.com alive in its first year online as I grew the user base and attempted to sell advertising to support the Site/community/myself.
So with a combined FAMILY NETWORTH OF over $7,000,0000.00+ ($7 Million Dollars)
Considering how much The Barnett Foundation has "donated" to Aging & The Elderly, there seems to be a ridiculous amount of hypocrisy & unnecessary back stabbing that took place.
Then months later, after suggesting automated trading bots and Algorithms; my trust is re-written for my enslavement and eventual bankruptcy.
Mom dies, I am swindled and bankrupted as is my mother's Trust and Foundation.
Nothing to see here. SHUT UP.
The Barnett Foundation, while MCB,MD. was alive did in fact donate to Aging and Senior causes. The Foundation has never donated to CJE SENIORLife, but I find it extremely interesting & hypocritical to find that when searching for where ML-T actually donates to;
I find this:
There is no way to know this but I was involved in a project trying to bring VR headsets into nursing homes. How would you, No one cares or asks about what I am currently attempting to accomplish.
When I first moved to Las Vegas, after yet another failed attempt to leave the country for the first time since I was 17 years old; I Went to a VR for Good conference in Phoenix and is how I met the folks from ParacosmaVR that I currently represent.
What adds insult to injury when seeing this is that in 2017/18 I was pissing away $7k a month on Rent and Bills in an apartment with black mold growing in it.
Three (3) YEARS before this article was
I said, I am taking that $7k to Sri Lanka and building a VR Development Team.
With that Team I could sell Vr Training & Educational Simulations to Schools, Universities and corporations.
I have a free palace to stay in Colombo. I can make better use of this money and prepare for the/my future. There is gold in the future Virtual reality hills.
ps. Invest in ar/vr & wearable tech companies. Nothing happened. Bought some Microsoft way too late and has been sitting on it since 2016. Not what I was talking about. Should have done that in 1998. orApple or FB as ipo. Let alone gold or silver.
2018
"Resign your lease." said ML-T
"But there is black mold growing in here and I am an asthmatic." I cried..
"Resign your lease", ML-T repeated
"NO, I refuse !!!", I declared.
That wasted $7,000 a month was IMMEDIATELY cut to $600/week
