The Journey to Mars: Reflections while Literally Flying to See Not-Literally Mars, Again!
Topics: Reflections, Flying, Mars, Space Travel, Hype, Science, Speeches, Narratives, Schedules, Planning, Skateboarding, Balance
Yes, Surprise!! I'm Mars'in it up, baby! If you go back 100+ blogs ago, you will see that I attended the MARS SOCIETY event last year. It would be really funny to go back and watch highlights of myself, only cause I literally loved that event so much. I wrote about it then and I'll write about it below... but this event was kinda life changing. It really got me obsessed with attending events (and I ended up saying 'F-it' and bought the lifetime membership to the society). Why not, right? I'm young and love science/innovation. So, last year I literally had not thought of Mars for like 30 year of my life... until attending that. Then at the event, I became a 'Mars Girl Superfan' --- and now these days, I don't even think of Mars too often, cause the more I learn about Earth, I'm like 'uh, really wtf is even going on here, too? let's inspire the GALAXY!!!!" so... here we are. I'll attend, learn more, and see what feels concrete vs. a little too galactic to keep my attention. We've got 3 days at this event (though... i'm skipping half of day one and part of day 3 to just go watch skateboarding again. It's really one of my favorite things to do, no joke. I love watching the skaters in the bowls do amazing tricks. PLEASE MOASS, come here soon, then I will move near Venice Beach... inspire, influence, and also probably rollerblade, myself - while watching skateboarding NONSTOP. Okay? Is that too much of a dream to ask for? I don't think so. I will keep working as hard as I can!!!
Why Attend: Well... I'm doing a balance of dreaming/creating nonstop insanely (like trying to be a legit billionaire) while also living in true poverty, strategically, and building my business. So, you know. Part of my work to balance/diversity and keep myself a little 'safe' as i pave this path, is to be ontop of the top trends for hte white house hahahahaah. Why? Cause that is so freaking stable, right? They are getting money involved, setting up things, and then moving forward on their goals. Maybe you could argue it's a little unstable... but if they say "the top 3 things we're working on here now are Ai, Nuclear Power, and Space Exploration"... I mean, it's not a bad/risky idea to lean into those topics --- alongside the Financial Literacy which I've been teaching a while (and learning more about lately, even myself!! i'm learning it all - riches to rags to riches to rags to riches!!! I'm like loving life, learning from life, and living full fledge these days hahaha) you know. The true starving artist on a mission. But, it's working out and things are really coming together more than ever before. I feel like a lot is making me feel more stable than I've felt in years - and it'll keep building. It's actually exciting now that I have more direction than ever.. so you know, just gotta keep being brave, moving forwad, work on my missions, and try to keep up my 'fight' both for my voice (and safety) and to keep pushing through each day to do this great work. I really believe in what I'm doing --- learning all I can first-hand, and making this content. SOOOOO why attend? Well, this ramble explains it all - I'm trying to protect my self, invest in the future, and also help with the future/innovations as they're being built in real time. And if spacetravel is on the list, and i'm a freakin' lifetime member, well - lemme go over and see what they're talking about.
EVENT REVIEW: Venue (5/5), Food (4/5), Networking (1/5), Speaker Content (4/5), Likeliness to Return (5/5)
Photo Collage & Commentary
I put this in the other blog, too - this girl was dressed to impressed and kept doing backflips all of the timeeee!!!
Notes from the Event:
ON THE AIRPLANE:
Hello!! Writing from row 11. I even got a window seat which is kinda amazing --- andddddd am using my new laptotptptptpptptopoppopopop :). Truly thrilling if you ask me. I'm so excited to have this new laptop (its finally working, thank you to my tech-buddy for helping me... that was kinda surprising and amazing I finally got it working in time for this tripppppP!!! hahahah) It's really amazing when your dreams start to come true, you know? And... I'll even say this too... I'm so happy to be learning all of this and really building from scratch. I'm understanding even better how society works - even myself experiencing this low income, these different opportunities for help from the city and different organizations. YOu know? I'm setting up a lot that can take off - just lke my freaking favorite quote by Kevin O'Leary, something along the lines of "if you want to be a millionarire,set up as many seeds/opportunities as possible for it to take off" and I truly am. I'm stretching myself too thin, if you wanna be judgemental, but I think it will all make sense in the end. And/or if anyone ever took the time to look at all of this (which I feel like it's not a huge ask, now that were are jumping into the world of Ai). My point is... i don't even think I'm spreading myself too thin, I think i'm using every moment and all motivation well. Either to jot down these thoughts in the moment (to share with others, because truly I think it could/will add value- and 'too much' is okay because people can pick and choose what they want) - i just know tech is coming, ai is coming - and IP is the new gold. Soon we'll run out of content for Ai to scan, so you know. I mean yes and no. But I think that as long as I can keep surviving, the success will be inenivadable. THen... I see the insane value in my own experience these past two years, too...
- this long time of waiting for change and for the payout (if/when), you realize that you must figure thing out. How to get by/survive/and maybe even thrive, you know?
- and if i can figure out how to thrive TOTALYL on my own path, even pre-payoffs from these sorta 'out of my control' stuations I've set myself up for... but then, once i have those funds, I'll be even smarter with them.
And, it never hurts to get better at cooking, more appreciative of all you have, buying less, consuming less, trading more. I mean, it's just a fun way to live.
So, I think you can get too 'used to' sorta like luxury life, comfort, high income... and then you get bored and addicted to shopping or whatever it may be. It's never enough - and you keep adding on more. Not everyone, but even I myself was doing that at times when income was amazing.
So, this is the other way to do it - you know? I mean, not 'the other' like its the only option... but I am realizing that totally cutting down almost all expenses, living as frugal as possible, and even taking hand-outs (in the sense of free clothing swaps, leadership courses, even this refurbished laptop)... you get so grateful for it all. So grateful for waht you receive. And so much is free out there. It makes me see how people may need a bit more info, but then they can get help, too. Right? So... okay - again, i keep having trouble getting to my conclusion, but I think we're finding it - and its like this: many people feel that 'the rich' are very disconnected from society. So, I'm thinking this MUST be so helpful, if my successes do pay off - this experience of truly having to rely on help to build myself back up and stay afloat. But, at the same time, its not really that bad at all (which, lol, is also a problem, cuase you can live a good life for free, right? some people are pissed that you get literal cash if you income is so low and/or free groceries, etc) so you know? ITs like you learn to appreciate, also see the flaws/problems, but also see the options. And this first-hand experience and understanding makes me better at (1) creating informative content... now I know more of what is available. and (2) understanding the setup, coming up with alternatives, and/or helping others figure out how to use this best. Like.. idk. I feel I've already ranbled lot about this - but you could say, like - you'd rather have a billionaire that experienced literally having to scrape together dollars to figure things out - instead of someone who avoids public transit at all costs, never had this type of struggle - etc. YOu know what I mean? More understanding of reality, empathy, and may even the ability to come up with bigger-scale solutions.
Oof. Idk. I don't wanna get into it too much more, but there are highs and lows to the life experience, you know? Especially involving money. But, I think if you can learn of your resources, keep building longterm, and be calm along the way... you can really do fine... but, only if you really keep thinking of ways to build longterm. Bricks by bricks. you know? I don't wanna say brick, cuase I wanna think that the progress will be faster/bigger, lol... but, okay. We'll go one at a time. Brick by brick, building foundation, stability - and even passive income.
HEY speaking of passive income, these are some of my goals for this upcoming week (while in LA) and then when I return, I have a few other goals, but I won't share them here.
And yes... last time I was in Venice/LA, I was super super introspective, revelation-y, etc... so lets keep that gong. hahahaha omg we are never going to talk about Mars will we? Its okay. We will eventually. Maybe this blog needs to be just like, "the journey to mars" - I think so. I'm going to tell you guys, the OG blog title was: M.A.R.S.: Me Attending (and) Respecting Skateboarding. ANd, if you get that joke.. well, I hardly get it, so. I'll just leave it at that. But, lemme change the title now. Journey to Mars (though I should add the year hahahahah)cause bro, we are doing this for a lifetime now, right? ahhhh hahaha. I don't want to go to Mars. But. I will learn about it and be an Earthling.
What a funny blog hahaha I thoguth this blog would include day 1 of mars. No, I just wanna chat. Okay so wanna know my plan for this trip? I know they always say: Don't share your travel plans for safety, online... but I am not popular right now (kt.c isn't) and... gimme a break, I'm talking about the CRAZIEST stuff on here. So.. as this starts to pick up, I'll be more discrete, but for now, my schedule is so funny that I'd truly enjoy to type it out. I'm packing it UP with two goals (save money & learn!) So, take a look:
WEDNESDAY
2-4- flying on airplane. That's me right now.
4:00- arrive & travel to Venice Beach Skate Bowl
5:00- watch skateboarding for 1-1.5 hours
6:00- arrive at the Ai event. There they'll have free food and some stuff to do.
8:30- event ends, stay in hostel and sleep/work
THURSDAY
6:00am - skatepark opens, so, once i wake up... pack up and watch skateboarding for up to 6 hours, the take a bus to USC and move hostels
1:00pm - arrive to the Mars event (lecture on nanotechnology on mars)
2:00pm - lecture on the politics of life on mars
3:00pm - wellbeing for astronauts + quantum something lecture
4:00pm - mars & ai lecture
5:00pm - dinner break
6:30pm - I found a random 'shark tank' event nearby to check out if i want
7:00pm - discussing the state of NASA (2 hour evening talk with MARS!) also an option
FRIDAY:
9:00am - speeches start (random lectures talking 1hr each)
12:00pm - lunch break/stop by a STEAM Expo
1:00pm - debate on the constitution of Mars!!
2:00pm - DNA repair and congress communications
3:00pm - Mars & Ai
4:00pm - I teach a class on Ai
5:00pm - I teach a class on financial literacy
6:00pm - Evening Banquet for Mars
10:00pm - Rooftop Party (reggeaton, etc./unrelated to Mars)
SATURDAY:
9:00am - speeches start (random lectures talking 1hr each)
12:00 - lunch break/travel BACK to Venice Beach Skate Bowl
12:30 - watch skateboarding for 1.5 hours
2:00 - leave Venice beach and head to the airport
4:45pm - flight back to Seattle
Boom, baby!! it'll be so packed and so interesting. As you can see, I'm mostly interested in the technology (like nanotech, quantum whatever - lol), the psychology a bit, the polictics, the talks of figuring out a CONSTITUTION!, and then lots of other events, too. It'll be a lot of fun.
This whole MARS event has no food included though (at least not last year), so, I brought a lot from home and the first night there's food included. Plus hostels always have random snacks. So, my goal is to not really splurge while I'm here. Just stay nutritious, well fed, frugal, and learning. Keep working on my content, teach my classes, then head back! It's just a great use of time and attention. I think I'll learn a lot aout many useful topics - and can get work done anytime too.
Also, I may not attend ALL of these things, of course! I want to follow my mood and energy. But, it's great to have all of these options. Just makes you feel full and happy to have so many choices.
I also want to note that it's fun/funny how I'm prioritizing Skateboarding so much. But, I do it both as like a rebellious thing (Mars! I don't need to attend all of you!!) you know? Like angsty, if we're being honest... but also, I just truly ADORE it. I love love love love love love love love to watch skateboarding. I just respect the art so much. It's terrifying, stunning, beautiful, methodical, peaceful, amazing, cool. Like, it is so many things, you know? It's so much at once and so amazing. So, it just really gives me so much happiness and I want to watch it a lot.
Really makes me think in the future I should live near here. But isn't that crazy to be the like "skat8r girl!!" hahaha you know? Hahha I bet I can talk it through with Ai and get to a good mental place about it. And it wouldn't be every day. But idk. Just seems like it'd be amazing to be near.
I want to figure it all out, you know? I easily could jump ship and go get a corporate job or wathever and make great money. But that would completly waste all I've built and stand for. So, instead, I must think smarter/harder and figure out how to build a realistic strong business - while not breaking my values... and then maybe able to afford that crazy rent. living next to the beach. And then building, building, buildling.
It's fun and good to dream. But it's even more important to stay realistic. For now, I'm grateful for this opportunity. It'll be fun to learn all of these things and take time for my favorite entertainment, too.
Let's also just write down my predictions for what each subject will talk about, right? I'll just go grab that schedule from above and copy/paste it here - then write. hahaha and can you tell i'm 'bored n teh plane?' - not quite, actually I wanna listen to some music next... but I feel I should add at least one more chunk to this blog to make it feel final. So, let's guess waht each will talk about/be like - okay? :)
WEDNESDAY
2-4- flying on airplane. That's me right now.
--- literally, far going better than expected. THe highlight is that I got an amazing window seat. And had an amazing morning. Great breakfast, good times, perfect transportation timing. So, yeah! So far so great.
4:00- arrive & travel to Venice Beach Skate Bowl
-- arriving will probably be a tiny bit stressful cause its like a 3-part situation. Travel by bus, something,and n something. Part of me wants to just jump on a rentable scooter and ride for 45 minutes to avoid all the transfers, but it's $1.50 for the whole bus ride and probably won't be that hard and the time of travel is nearly hte same. So... let's face the wheels.
5:00- watch skateboarding for 1-1.5 hours
- Yeah! This just certaintly won't be enough!!! But it'll be a fun place to start and stop by.
6:00- arrive at the Ai event. There they'll have free food and some stuff to do.
-- this I'm kinda in no hurry to get to. I'm not sure how the event seems like it'll be.. honestly, looks like 5/10 to me, but - I also get the feeling parts of it will be way better than expected. Definitely a few things that are making me do some side-eyes though. But should be neat, casual maybe, structured, likely not a lot of networking (unless you try) and then, yeah.
8:30- event ends, stay in hostel and sleep/work
-- I've stayed here before and it was decent. I actually met many people here, which surprised me. It was super frineldy,so perhaps this will happen again. But, likely I'll just work and then go to bed.
THURSDAY
6:00am - skatepark opens, so, once i wake up... pack up and watch skateboarding for up to 6 hours, the take a bus to USC and move hostels
--- yeah this will be so fun. I am excited to spend the morning in the sunshine and just watch and watch and watch. I'll just sleep in (lately I can't sleep past like 4am sometimes, maybe 5...) so we'll see if I can sleep in, if not, I'll happily just head over and watch a lot of skateboarding. If it gets boring or whatever, I'll 'go to mars early' but... they just have random talks and then a lunch break, so it makes me think 'watching skateboarding' would be way more rewarding, energizing, and then get me rocking for hte next few days.
1:00pm - arrive to the Mars event (lecture on nanotechnology on mars)
--- yes, this will be cool to learn about and is kinda REALLY in line with the little I've heard about MARS since attending the last event last year. So, this lecture I'm interested in.
2:00pm - lecture on the politics of life on mars
--- bro this one is wild! LEarning about like the politics of life on mars or something, you know? I'm really curious to hear more about this. IT's like the reality tv shows where tehy bring people to live somewhere new and start a whole new society - NEW RULES! you know? haha - this time it'll work/be fair/be different, right? hope so~
3:00pm - wellbeing for astronauts + quantum something lecture
- eeh. Sounds okay. I mean, probably actually amazing cause lots of the stuff that will help astronauts can just help this loneliness crisis we're all struggling with (or at least most) lately here in 2025
4:00pm - mars & ai lecture - i mean, this sounds like it's so predicatable... about predictable learning hahha. but really. I mean, i think they'll just talk about how Ai can be used on mars? like for food and travel? Idk? Problem solving.
5:00pm - dinner break
- well, this dinner break is free-for-all, like go get your own dinner, so that had me looking for other things to do, which is why i found that shark tank event, like I said. May be fun and interesting. Or, maybe I'll make friends and join them for dinner..
6:30pm - I found a random 'shark tank' event nearby to check out if i want
- yeah, this is nearby and has founders pitching/talking about their business or whatever? (I've never actually seen shark tank and kinda thought this was the real one whne I signed up hahha) so, could be fun
7:00pm - discussing the state of NASA (2 hour evening talk with MARS!) also an option
-- or, if i'm full-fledge mars girl again this year, boom, we've got a talk to listen to from 7-9. right? hahah. Then going to my NEW hostel, work/sleep.
FRIDAY:
9:00am - speeches start (random lectures talking 1hr each)
- yeah these + tomorrow morning will for SURE scratch the itch for whatever random, truly random Mars stuff I'm curious to learn. Its like 6 hours of random professional Mars speeches. you KNOW that'll be so unpredictable. Like 100%.
12:00pm - lunch break/stop by a STEAM Expo
- now here, I MAYYYY go to a nearby STEAM event (maybe even leave a speech early to see it) though, the 1pm speech is wild sounding
1:00pm - debate on the constitution of Mars!!
--- yeah, this debate sounds insane (in a good way) A DEBATE OVER THE MARS CONSTITUTION!? HAHAHAH omg i love it. LIke RAW PURE BUILDLING OF WORLDS!? What a fun thing to attend!!!
2:00pm - DNA repair and congress communications
--- yeah both of these topics are amazing. DNA repair!? We can do that off-mars I bet, too. SO... what's the latest in that world? and then for the constitution thing, I think it may be like last year where we heard a pitch on why/how to talk to congress... so I may or may not attend that.
3:00pm - Mars & Ai
- again, who knows. May skip and prep for my class on this related topic after.
4:00pm - I teach a class on Ai
- yeah brah! Ai is the way-i :)
5:00pm - I teach a class on financial literacy
- yeah man, learn about money!
6:00pm - Evening Banquet for Mars
- okay... so this will be interesting. IT's like a fancy dinner and I'm so excited hahaha already. BUT if it's not enough fun, I found a party to attend after, too.
10:00pm - Rooftop Party (reggeaton, etc./unrelated to Mars)
- yeah some club is having a typical weekend night rooftop party, so I found that and may go... i got a free entry (just got on the list, found it online) so I may party like there's no tomorrow maybe (hah but not toally cuase I don't drink alcohol anymoreee you know hahah,so it'll probaby just turn into a sociologiy experience)
SATURDAY:
9:00am - speeches start (random lectures talking 1hr each)
--- then back, up and listening to 3 hours of miscelanious Mars stuff. Classic... and then at this point, I may break away. Cause they have a lunch break. SO I could stay and do nothing for over an hour - wait for ONE more speech then leave... orrrrrrrr:
12:00 - lunch break/travel BACK to Venice Beach Skate Bowl
- travel 20 min out of the way, but back on the way to the airport
12:30 - watch skateboarding for 1.5 hours
- watch more skateboarding before leaving, decompress, show myself some love, and then head back to the airport.
2:00 - leave Venice beach and head to the airport
- then this will be focused but not too rushed. cause i can get there like 2 hours early or 1.5 or so... then boom.
4:45pm - flight back to Seattle
- I mean, what an action-packed trip. At any moment I can break away and keep building/working/creating (and finish my goals list) --- and it's not really costing me any extra money (minus the hostel... $40/night). So. LEt's do it - right? I'm so excited.
Let's see what is in store.
Oh but there's one more thing I was thinking to write about as I was typing and its the "GOALS OF THIS TRIP" - so let me write them down here, I think I may have above, but I will elaborate more here.. and if I didn't write them above, I did write them in my notebook, so that's why)
GOALS FOR THIS TRIP:
1. have my classes ready for Friday + resubmit 1 outschool class
2. make PPTs to go with each class
3. make Lesson plans to go with each class
4. SPELL/GRAMMAR CHECK EVERYTHING
5. Update all Outschool Content (to now include lesson plans + ppts) and then increase prices (though... maybe not)
6. Make needed image/advertisements for each
7. Put EVERYTHING online on Teachers Pay Teachers (each class with the packet)
8. Put EVERYTHING online on ETSY (each class packet)
BONUS (if somehow I can finish ALL OF THAT ABOVE - wow)
9. Start/finish next week's booklets
10. Make commercials for each class + add them for outschool (and TPT or whatever)
11. Start/finish NEXT NEXT week's booklets
12. Make new bundles for online.
YEah.. if I can do all that + the bonus, that'd truly be insane and worth studying and i'll also pat myself on the back and say: wow! balance is truly the answer, huh? cause yo uliterally did it all.
- We'll see how much happens!! :) But it's good to have that plan. When you have the plan, you don't have to overthink. You can just stay in line and keep going. So... with that, I'm going to wrap up this blog here... I'll listen to some music, land kinda-soon, then travel all the way to Venice, blah blah... tonight I'll start on GOAL #1 (probably its already finished) and then we've got GOAL #2 (this one is insane/tough, but not really)... so... okay i'll write out one more thing... just for my sake/why not:
WEDNESDAY - finish goal 1, start/most of goal 2
THURSDAY - finish goal 2, start/most of goal 3
FRIDAY - finish goal 3, 4, 5
SATURDAY - finish goal 6, 7, 8
SUNDAY - 9, 10
That seems realistic and PUSHING IT. I have sunday free, so you know - its a good backup day. But, if I can finish all 8, that'd be great.
And with that - wow. Can't believe if anyone read this (though, I can hahaha its why I write it) and let's see what the future holds. You're awesome, right? Takes one to know one :)
EVENT REVIEW ELABORATE:
Venue (5/5), i mean, my expectations are low with Fronteir (in a fine way, I accept it and even like the 'no screens' a lot!!) but, getting a window seat was so nice, too - and even my timing just worked out so great all day.
Food (4/5), yeah!! I brought good food and don't expect any food on this plane hahaha. So, it's going better than expected.
Networking (1/5), well... i'm talking to no one, my neighbor is sleeping and his girlfriend is making bracelets. so, thats great.
Speaker Content (4/5), the pilot was hilarious and told us we were heading to the wrong city at first, so that was scary and fine. also, they were lenient with my big bag - the airline, it's not THAT much bigger, its literally the KT bag I designed for trips just like this (for sale on my merch page) so, you know - lovin' it.
Likeliness to Return (5/5) - yeah, i like flying budget airlines, saving money, and going great places. of course i'll be back!! :)
Until next time, I wish you the motivation and success to search for opportunities around your area. Search and explore: Who is out there giving talks? There are new things happening all of the time.
Find relatable or interesting topics you like and check them out! Maybe even something hosted at a cool venue, if there’s no other reason to go. Let’s see what you can learn and discover not too far from home. 😊
