It was Thanksgiving in the USA, a holiday that’s pretty much bigger than CHRISTMAS down there i.e. pure Holiday madness! So in the spirit of the US Thanksgiving, a holiday that means so much to so many, here are the five things that I am the most thankful for in my everyday life.

MY FRIENDS

The journey that we call life can be a beautiful yet merciless and difficult one. And no matter how strong one is; having good friends to back ya up can sweeten the deal. So big thanks to my close friends (you know who you are) for being great company, for being there for me in moments of hardships and for knowing how to rip it up real good when it comes time to let loose. True friendship for me means loyalty, honesty, thinking beyond oneself, being there for one another without a personal agenda while respecting one and another’s differences. That’s a rare recipee to find in this world and I feel lucky to have a fistful of friends who fit that bill.

THE HABS & HOCKEY

Movies used to be my numero uno hobby; then they became my job on oh so many levels, somewhat killing the hobby aspect of them. For a long time, I had nothing outside of work that I focused on and was passionate about, until my brother introduced me to the Montréal Canadiens (aka The Habs) and Hockey about a year and a half ago. Now when I need to forget work, my worries, crazy dames or I just need to have a good time and smile easy, I attend a hockey game, follow it on TV, read up on it, play it in the streets and tackle it on my XBOX 360. How refreshing to have something to love that has NOTHING to do with work.

MOTHER NATURE

Yesterday I was in a funk, the biz on the internet was slow and my bud was going to the mountains to take some pictures, so I decided to tag along. Once up there, the calm of it all, the awe inspiring beauty and the fresher than fresh air made my soul right again. Then I came back to society with less tension on my face and clearer thoughts. If there’s one thing I can always count on to lift my spirits; its being with nature. The genuineness of it, the simplicity, the serenity… no amount of money, booze or loose gals can reproduce what i get out of it. So thank you Mother Nature for being the true and gorgeous lass that you are.

ALL KINDS OF SPORTS

When the club/rave scene got played out for me, I needed something else to do with my off time. So I focused on sports: the gym, martial arts, snowmobiling, sea-dooing, hiking, skiing, ice climbing, boxing, playing hockey, tree climbing (don’t ask) etc. Becoming a sporty guy is somewhat new to me (maybe 3 or 4 years old). Outside of the Gym, boxing and lifting beer cans I wasn’t doing much of that shit.. But now I’m all about it and it helps keep me out of trouble and keep me sane. I am thankful for that.

MY PASSPORT:

Half of my years is spent by myself, between 4 walls, sitting behind a computer working, working and working. It can be a bitch and not the most uplifting of work structures. But on the flip side the nature of my work also ALLOWS ME to travel the world lots (being that I can run the site from anywhere via a laptop) and you bet your ass I take advantage of that. This year alone I have been to the States, to Australia, to Barcelona, across Canada, Sitges and more! I always say that the more I see of the world, the stronger and wiser man I become. So thank you Mr. Passport for allowing me to make that go down.

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Haven’t written something personal here in a while so here it goes. What’s up with fucking John Fallon? Well as you know I went to Vancouver BC for over two months. Loved the city and its scenery. The ocean and the mountains wowed me but business wise; it wasn’t really what I was looking for. I would’ve stayed longer to fully figure that out, but a little snag went down that prompted my return: I almost had a stroke.

Ya see a doctor prescribed me these pills to help one thing that HE THINKS is wrong with me (we still don’t know whats up) but the pills had a sour side effect on me; they augmented my blood pressure so high that my whole left arm and left of my face went numb – I talked like Stallone at that point. Anyways, at 3AM in the morning, I rushed out in the city, found a cab and got my ass to the emergency. Tests and injections ensued and they managed to bring my pressure down. The doctor told me that a couple of minutes longer with no treatment and it would’ve been stroke time for Johnny. NOTE TO SELF: Punch that first Doctor who gave me them pills…hard… fucking jerk…

As we speak whatever is wrong with me is still somewhat up in the air. I recently came back to “film industry graveyard” Montreal and underwent a series of tests and am now awaiting the results. This is all new to me. I never get sick or ill. Till now. Getting old blows! As I type this, I am pretty messed up physically (my body is fighting something, always adjusting to something) hence I often feel drained. Needless to say that mentally this whole NOT KNOWING what’s wrong while my body is going through some kind of inner war with itself is not doing me any good. So I haven’t been in the best of moods…  my tolerance for bullshit is definitely at an all time low and I struggle daily to be “up beat”.

On the upside, this is the second time in my life that I flirt with death and I got to say it, it gives you a fresh perspective on things. You see things differently after the Reaper back-hands ya. You recognize more what are the positive and negative elements (and people)  in your life, hence able to make decisions that you wouldn’t have made before. When I got back to Montreal, online interaction aside (have to cause of the job), I shut lots of the world out, just because I needed privacy and needed to be with myself. So I am now in the process of using this new found perspective to make yet more big decisions as to my personal life and career path. It’s a work in progress.

Other than all this doctor, body saying screw me crap – am writing my next script at the moment, it’s a giallo and its going to own. Am also finishing up the sound mix on THE RED HOURS which will FINALLY be put out by the end of the year. OLD NUMBER 7 just played at the Filmets Festival in Spain and it did well, so am happy bout that.  RECON 2023 played in Australia, went fine, happy there too. Am now looking at Gyms around the city, am going to join one so I can train while here.  I also bought myself an XBOX 360 and am killing NHL 2010! Fun times!Finally, thank Crom for hockey season being on, been going to lots of games and it helps keep my spirits up. So that’s it for now, back to the fight I go!

Being back in MTL has a couple of perks – GO HABS GO!

GREAT SONG

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