Furenzu = Fun with Friends

Good food and good times with your friends is what Restaurant Furenzu is all about. If you're not familiar with the restaurant and their 'New Wave' Asian tapas, here's a review I wrote on Yelp. For those of you that haven't yet seen the news plastered across the media, the restaurant right across the street from me on Adeline at 39th here in Emeryville was robbed at gun point two night ago and most of the patrons as well as Cynthia and Simon had all their cash taken.
As a big fan of the restaurant and as an eye-witness to the crime - yep, I was there with no cash in my wallet - I want to publicly thank Simon the manager who took the brunt of the abuse but kept his cool throughout the entire ordeal, which seemed like an eternity even though it was probably not even five minutes.

After the gunman realized that there was not more than $40 in the cash box, he repeatedly told Simon that he was going to shoot him while his cowardly accomplice sheepishly went around collecting the all-too-ready cash in hand from the stunned patrons. Then the gunman took Simon into the kitchen with the gun pointed at his head shouting, "Nigga, I'm gonna fucking shoot you right now unless you give me the money!" Simon calmly answered again and again that there was no safe and no more money.

Returning into the dining room, the gunman made Simon lay down on the floor with the pistol pointed directly at the back of his head, repeating that he was going to shoot him and then the tow thugs left. Thanks again Simon for keeping calm while your life was at risk, setting the tone for the rest of us, letting us know that we were safe because of your cool-headed poker-like rock steady nerves. You the man!

Bang, bang, bang...

... that's what I awoke to, the construction crew, working inside the loft, the penthouse loft in which I'm sleeping, high above the city. Billie's place. It's an awesome place with spectacular views, especially when it's not under construction.

Brush my teeth and head out onto the cold wet streets once again, officially homeless this time. Everything's different now, but I'm the same. No money, no work on the horizon, no girl, no home... but some good people here in BA that I call my friends.

Maybe Brazil, or Colombia... I'm begining to think of an exit strategy. It's time to go, or is it? Fashion week is next week, just as I'm wrapping up this huge project for RG, which has been rough, to say the least. Freezing cold rain, the snow, very little light during the day in between the city buildings and a lot of pressure to produce great images without fail. Ran out of my helicopter money, still need to go to an Estancia outside of the city... falta, pero llegando.

And then, today is different, yet again. I'm no longer homeless, found a brand spanking new studio in Palermo and moved in with... no money! A friend of a friend of Tommy's hooked me up big time. Maybe I'm the first gringo in Argentina that has ever moved into a flat with NO MONEY?! And my new landlord is an angel, divina, actress and puppet maker extrondinare. Who knows what's next, just 'walk on'...