THE BEGINNING

I was born and raised in Northern California. 

Good kid, good student. I played instruments, read books, learned languages and ate my vegetables. Blah, blah, blah…

In a desperate attempt to distance myself from my overprotective family I attended U.C. Santa Cruz where I received a degree in psychology. At one time I was a double major with American Studies as my second. I even finished ¾ of the requirements until I dropped it because the school kept canceling the classes I had previously gotten approved for completion.

Kids, listen to your Uncle Derrick. Don’t choose a major that has a concentration in African-American Women in History and Literature when you’re attending the richest and whitest UC in the University of California system. Also, stay in school as long as you can. There’s no need to rush. The world is a cold and ugly place. 

Even with that little hiccup I managed to graduate in three years and move on. Snap!

After struggling back in the San Francisco Bay Area for about four years working as a customer service representative for a credit card company, an insurance broker and a fundraising program salesman I finally got the guts to go against everything that I was taught and live my dream. Without a home or a job lined up I bought a one-way ticket to New York City, a place I’ve always considered my should-have-been birthplace, to try my luck out. 

The year was 2000. 

THE MIDDLE

It’s nine years later and I’m still here baby! There’s no other place (in the United States) that I’d rather be.

I first got a place to lay my head in the East Village paying a large sum of money for a room the size of a walk-in closet in an apartment with a 47 year old, twice-divorced alcoholic and her two cats. Boy do I have stories! 

I also got a job as the Senior Account Manager for a start-up dotcom company that went under within a year. Remember, it was 2000.

After that I move on to the world of advertising Account Management where I stayed for almost five years, hating every minute of it. 

Kids, unless you’re a heartless, mindless drone who cares about no one, especially yourself, avoid working in Account Management. It makes you dumb. Take it from your Uncle Derrick. He’s wise! 

Right now I'm working for an Interactive Marketing agency as the Associate Creative Director and it’s all good. I've been here for over three years and for once I don’t hate walking into work every day. They even have my picture on the website.

I live for traveling. If I don’t have a ticket in my hand and a future trip planned I get a little nervous. I may even be growing a disorder because of it. The room starts closing in on me, I get dizzy and my heart starts to beat faster.

Growing up, I lived with a very religious, Southern-born family who believed that if you left your home to go anywhere other than church, school or work that you would get killed so I was always discouraged from it.

Luckily, right before I moved to New York, I overcame that fear of retribution from the sky above, booked my first trip to Europe and haven't stopped traveling since. 

Kids, if you’re reading this and you want to travel, listen to your Uncle Derrick. Ignore the rest of your family and just do it!  The younger you start the better. Be free and adventurous and don’t let anyone keep you from it. You’re never a true American until half of your friends speak English with foreign accents.

THE END

What can I say? I’m happy. It took a long time to get here. Now I have all my bags unpacked, I’m comfortable and I’m not leaving.

I'm back in Manhattan with my partner, Marc. With him I've found love, which is a feeling that I never thought I'd have again after so many years. It's great.

Together we have a home in New York that we share with out little baby cat "Dudley Fernando Hurljackberson" as well as a vacation home in South Beach Miami where we travel to get away from the New York winter cold.

My future possibilities are endless and I’ve finally opened my eyes to realize that. 

For the future I’d love to keep up this traveling bug, work to live instead of the opposite, become more fluent in the languages that I speak (French, Spanish and German), maybe pursue a MBA degree somewhere down the line, but above all, I want to remain being happy in my own skin. 

When I retire (I’m trying my best to make that happen before 60 years old) I want to move to a Spanish-speaking place to spend the rest of my days. Barcelona and Buenos Aires are my top picks so far. 

And who could forget wine? I want to try every wine that’s out there. Even the bad ones, just to appreciate the good ones that much more.

As far as everything else goes, you ask? Who knows? I'm going to take one day at a time and work hard to realizing the Buddha within.

Also, be sure to check out my blog. I try my best to update it once a week or so.

Thanks for reading.

-Uncle Derrick