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Earlier this week I returned from a 3800km cross-Canada road trip. I’d moved to Calgary back in late January but had decided to fetch my stuff in Montreal during the summer. To make it a little bit more interesting (and cheaper), I chose to Uhaul it back DIY-style.
And it was indeed an interesting drive. I figured I’d capture some of that interestingness by snapping photos through the windshield at random intervals along the way.
When I look at the pics in my photo library, they seem kinda boring. But dropping them into an animated gif seems to show off the charm and mix of Canada’s beautiful landscape.
13 years ago today I moved from Calgary to Montreal, and one month ago yesterday I returned. I figured I’d take this moment to reflect on this huge chapter of my life and offer some tips to the many other hopeless romantics drawn to la belle ville. 13 years, wow. It was quite a ride.
As the story goes, it started with a couple trips to Montreal for concerts – first in 1998 and then again in 2001 – as well as a summer roadtrip in 1999 from Toronto where I was interning at the time. Montreal is a charming city by default but it is an extra special place in the summer – and I fell in love with it. The diversity, multiple languages, ever-present festivals, delicious food, gorgeous girls, great music scene, stunning architecture, magnificent street art, history, vibrant street life, and, yes, a certain joie de vivre. It all captivated me and at some point during one of those trips I promised myself that I would spend one full summer of my life there.
A couple weeks ago I caught the Fujiya & Miyagi show at La Vitrola. Four or five years ago I licensed a couple of their tracks for background on the overview videos for Cinemin Swivel and Slice, (just a warm-up for their “Uh” appearance soon after in Breaking Bad) and have loosely kept in touch since. Great musicians, great guys! I chatted with David and Matt after the show and, despite being a fan, I left without asking for a group photo. Partly I forgot, but partly I’m just not into the starstruck fan thing. But a memento would have been nice – oh well.
Likewise, a few weeks ago I hosted a casual patio happy hour with some old colleagues from my time several years ago at Airborne Entertainment/Mobile (loved that team!). It was a smaller group than years past but it was nonetheless a nice visit. Alas, none of us remembered to take a picture.
Then yesterday at Montreal ComicCon I was within a few metres of Hulk Hogan. I’m not really a fan, and they were discouraging renegade snapshots, but I suppose I should have captured proof of my proximity. Right? That’s the internet thing to do, yeah?
Anyways, these “incidents” reminded me of how bad I can be at the whole “pic or it didn’t happen” game.