Those who don’t adapt, who don’t evolve, are doomed to perish—and since I trust natural selection, I’ve striven to adapt, to evolve. I’m not the same I was ten years ago, or fifteen. Hell, I’m not even the same I was last week (world events notwithstanding). I have learned, adapted, and hopefully improved, too.

Nonetheless, there’s a constant throughout my entire life that I can’t deny and that can be traced back as far back as I can remember, even to a time writing was for me more of a compulsion than a willful passion—muses have always driven me and steered my life in mystifying ways. Literally, almost every single passion and accomplishment of mine has been inspired by a muse. Always.

I don’t exaggerate when I say that mystifying muses have been the constant of my life:

• I learned computer programming and made my own videogames and programs because of Melissa Joan Hart in CLARISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL back when I was still in grade school.

 

• Also while in grade school I developed a deep interest in science and engineering and started doing plenty of DIY experiments at home because of Elisha Cuthbert in POPULAR MECHANICS FOR KIDS. After a few months I was researching particle physics at the library of the university where my mother worked.

 

• Classical music and musical showtunes were my only territory in the music world at age 9, until I discovered Shakira, who broadened my horizons and taught me how to use celebrity for the greater good (re: Pies Descalzos).

 

• I set my sights in becoming the flag-bearer of my elementary school’s honor guard (highest privilege granted to the “valedictorian” of 6^th grade class, to put it in American terms) because I developed a huge crush on (and sort of healthy rivalry) the previous flag-bearer girl, VH, and she would have to train me for the post. Later, in middle school, I became the flag-bearer again because by then it was a fucking habit.

 

• By then too I had put my mind into filmmaking instead of my childish presidential aspirations. So I went to see LOST IN TRANSLATION, and Scarlett Johansson got me hooked on art films ever since. Marylin Monroe and Martha Higareda did the same shortly after for classic films and Mexican cinema, respectively.

 

• VH, while in high school, inspired my first two short films, which kick-started my career, in a way.

 

• But that crush passed, and DNA sashayed into my life, my Serena, the Zelda to my Fitz, to inspire me not only to become more social in general (in order to spend more time with her), but also inspired my first novel, my first scripted TV series, a musical, two stage shows I directed, two co-authored plays, made me fall in love with the glamour of Hollywood rather than the pseudo-artistic appeal of Cannes, and cemented my determination to get the hell out of my hometown because the whole world would barely be enough for me—all within a year and a half. I succeeded and followed my dreams into the US…

 

• My freshman experience and the stage for my college rise were primed by KB, embodiment of cautionary tales and vicarious craziness.

 

• My next muse taught me how to ride bikes, but her name shall be forgotten in my history…

 

• The concept for my first feature film was heralded by LC.

 

• My worldview was revolutionized by EAO with statistics and numbers as a lens for life, an expanded taste in music, and the inspiration for a second feature in times of uncertainty.

 

• Ongoing discoveries of literary jewels and philosophical self-examination have been fostered by ELC for half a decade…
• MSR unleashed the dancer in me, a feat that had gone unbeaten for two decades…

 

• I took on fitness and healthy habits implacably because/after JC.

 

• After years of steeling my heart and mind (since I’m naturally cold-blooded), I learned how to re-humanize myself thanks to LK.

 

• I became more vocal and active about feminism and environmentalism as issues to be both studied and “fought for” because of OGR and Emma Watson—neither of whom I know in person of course, but the distance interactions suffice. And the former must also be credited for steering me towards HAMILTON.

 

• I reconsidered my position and have renewed my interest in European-type  filmmaking and art films because of CF.

 

• And of course, my own current Renaissance and personal Golden Age has been inspired, awakened, and bestowed upon me by my extraordinary and most terrific muse ever, whose name I dare not write out of respect for both Heaven and Hell…

 

In retrospect, not all my muses have been equal or simple iterations of the same with different names and faces. They’ve all been special, but only a few truly unique. Most of my muses awake the romantic in me, but not all have. All my muses do share my admiration and respect, and I owe all of my inspiration and success to them. What all of my muses have done equally, and will confidently continue to do, consists of stirring my spirit and stoking my talents when they arrive in my life, thus making me as unstoppable as a hurricane and as smart-ass and determined as Odysseus. It’s because of my muses that I have a drive to improve the world, if only to impress and make myself worthy of the favor of the muse who inspired the deed.

Ultimately, Ricardo Arjona has always been right:

Mujeres                                           Women

 Si nos lo piden, lo hacemos       if they ask us, we can do it

Si no podemos, no existe            if we can’t do it, it doesn’t exist

Y si no existe lo inventamos      and if it doesn’t exist then we invent it

por ustede—mujeres!..                for you—women!