Monalia's World

Blog
JANUARY 2019
17 fly here to L.A.
22 = go to writers club
5:00 date with Marcus to meet a young curator and dinner later
25 lydia lunch
26 – Marcus gender reveal performance
31 – Mark goes to visit Heather (his mom) for 5 days
FEBRUARY
5th – Art opening at the Broad
6-  Marley exhibit with Ivy
8 Mark visit Poppo Frank for 5 days
12 – Dinner with Nancye
16 -23 Hilo/my birthday, reunion with Surf Punk Drew and also sculptor Laszlo, both of whom had lost everything in the big volcano.
29 – leap year bbq
MARCH
Go see a horse sculpture in L.A. located in the garage of Laszlo’s sister’s house.
3rd Mark thinks he has Covid, but its just a 3 day cold
8 – Joshua Tree, where we shoot 2 Guarro Martinez videos, the music recorded at Earthstar Studios, recorded, engineered and produced by John X Volaitis.
12 – After naming the horse sculpture by Laszlo I bought Pegasus, it is delivered to my 2nd floor terrace in Korea Town in L.A.
13 – cancel dinner with Zoos, 15 – cancel dinner with Lauren
18 – our flights home to Barcelona have been cancelled,
21

<b>- Lockdown -</b>

If you are reading this you are in lockdown. You are the lucky who have survived. You have entered
a 5th dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. 2020, the year humanity’s worst fears came to fruition.

Its name, Covid 19. Its origin, we are told, is it sprang into existence from a wet market in Wuhan China, from a bat soup or some such meal. This original animal to human bacteria became a virus more virulent than anything like it in over 100 years. From China the virus jumped to South Korea and then Italy, which is credited with contaminating the rest of Europe. Suddenly all countries are infected many are dying and the world has a burgeoning pandemic. No country is spared.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, Mark and I are in quarantine in Los Angeles indefinitely. Our house sitter in Spain, Ricardo, is quarantined at our beach pad and girlfriend Cristina, who only planned to stay at our place for 3 days, is quarantined in our studio/apartent in Gracia, about 3 kilometers from our beach pad.

As I write this the whole world is in lockdown.

It all began… mid January we came out for an intended 2 month trip to L.A. We had a good itinerary:

AS I write this I am grieving, not just the loss of 2 dear friends this month, but of my life in Barcelona. Mark and I came to L.A. for an intended 2 month visit, to reconnect with family and old friends. Our first month was splendid, with a trip to Hawaii and a road trip to Joshua Tree. It was right around Joshua Tree that the Corona Virus started hitting the news big time. We all know the story – like a weird game of musical chairs, the world locked down and all countries went under quarantine. Many people found themselves trapped in countries where they were only meant to stay temporarily. Our flights back to Spain was cancelled. We are not allowed to leave this land of the free. We have been living in Barcelona for 15 years now and have to places. The funny part is that we have 2 friends in Barcelona, one was house-sitting for us, the other was meant to stay at our studio in Gracia for 3 days. They are both in lock-down at our places, which in a way is good for us in that no one will try to break in or squat at our places, but is really unfortunate for the friend in Gracia who had big plans that were totally aborted by the lock-down.
Everyone knows the story, how it started in Wuhan and spread to South Korea, Italy, Spain and then the USA, which reacted slowly and as a result the whole country went into crisis. STAY AT HOME, WASH YOUR HANDS became the new normal.

And now I grieve for our lost life, our happy, simple life full of doable goals and fun loving plans. I miss swimming and I miss all my lovely neighbors.

But let me digress and tell the story of the first part of our journey here in L.A., before Corona Virus was the only topic of conversation. We were so happy, Mark visited his parents up north, we had an awesome BBQ jam on Leap year, and an interesting trip to Hilo, Hawaii.

Part 1