An Alter-Ego Kissed By God

Seja bem-vindo alegria: welcome joy

It’s a blessing to be a good vibe for someone else. I really appreciate those who remembered my birthday and reached out, so I gift you a joyful and absurd character backstory for the effort of your attention. Pay it forward, people-watchers.

Birthday Backstory

For my 40th birthday, when large gatherings were still considered risky, I took a day off work, dropped the kids off at school, and enrolled in my very first surfing lesson at La Jolla Shores. We stopped by a dispensary, put on wet suits, learned the basics of how to time the wave, and, fingers-crossed, stand up.

Movie Reference

In Things We Lost in the Fire (2007), Halle Berry’s recently widowed character takes in Benicio de Toro’s character, a recovering heroin addict, who was the best friend of her late husband. During the course of the story, he relapses and she attempts to help him get clean. In one scene, the characters are sitting on the floor, physically and emotionally exhausted. In a moment of resigned curiosity, she asks him, “What does [the high] feel like?”

He responds sincerely: “It feels like you’ve been kissed by God.”

Del Toro’s character later repeated the line: “accept the good.”

I’ve never done heroin and don’t plan to. However, I’ve stood up 4-5 times on a surfboard. If that high is 50% of what it feels like to be kissed by God, I understand why surfers and addicts do what they do. And if so, catching all the right waves and riding a boogie-board all the way in feels like 10% of being kissed by God.

A Birthday Alter-Ego

During Pandemic Summer 2020, I shaved my hair and decided to not get a haircut until I received a vaccine. Given production ramp-up, my age, and general population health risks, I predicted that would be sometime in Thanksgiving 2021. I almost stuck to my plan, making it to the week of my birthday.

Lorenzo Banderas is the alter-ego birthed by an Asian caricaturist in Times Square during Fall 2021.

Origin Story

Lorenzo is inspired by Napster Generation memories of Lorenzo Llamas from Renegade (1992-97) on USA, and Antonio Banderas in Desperado (1995).

Lorenzo Banderas is a professional boogie-boarder and capoeira teacher, with a PhD in applied biostatistics from CalTech.

Originally of Mexican and a Cherokee descent from East Tennessee, he stayed in Chula Vista after serving as a Navy SEAL.

He eventually launched a successful career as a comedy writer and venture capitalist. With his dog Max, he currently manages the billion-dollar Accept the Good fund.

He is living the dream as the Foursquare Mayor of La Jolla Shores.