As I sit here trying to recap what has happened over the last year I am amazed and yet shocked how amazing 2008 really was. 2008 seemed more like a few months, rather then a whole year. I started off the year in Japan and ended it in India, that statement alone is good enough for me. 2008 was filled with new adventures, new faces, new lessons in life and the best of all spending time with my family in Canada.
I used to be able to say where I would be the following year, work or a lease on an apartment or debt, always seemed to tie me to a planned future. Now it’s really hard to say where I will be this time next year. A year ago today I was in Tokyo Japan, and if you asked me at the time where do you think you will be a year from now, I would never have guessed I would be sitting in a bed at my friends house in LA at 3am due to jet lag from a trip to India writing this blog.
My trip to India was the prefect end to a prefect year, and more importantly a prefect start to a new and promising year. The catch phrase from our new leader of the free world “Yes we can!” is becoming my mantra for 2009.
I get a lot of emails asking what I have learned from each little adventure, so the lesson learned from my 2-week trip to India is… “It’s not the place, it’s the people that make a place amazing!”
So far 2009 looks very bright. I am wrapping up a show for MTV at the moment and I’m in the process of starting my own company, which we will start shooting our projects in April. Also it seems that my heart became alive again on New Years Eve, which is a good thing as I thought it had frozen over and lost its capability of functioning properly.
Here are a few images of my last few days of 2008.
Growing up in Florida where the average temperature is 73 degrees Fahrenheit, one could say that you truly don’t know what summer really means. I mean how could you? For many, summer is a time of year where you can take off the winter coat and let your pasty white skin feel the warm rays of the sun. A time where people take up all sorts of outdoor activities, a time that makes even the oldest, grumpiest person, feel just a little bit younger. For most, summer is a time that comes and goes in the blink of an eye.
They spend 9 months waiting for those blissful 2 or 3 months of beautiful warm weather. In some cites I hear that if it’s a sunny day out, you can count on half the people calling in sick, and then hitting the beach or the local park. I am now starting to realize how lucky I was to grow up in such a tropical place. It has taken me 31 years to actually realize what the word “summer” really means. I never knew summer was more then a word, I didn’t know that it was something you could feel, something you could smell, and even touch. I guess that’s the one and only bad thing about growing up in a tropical place, “Seasons” don’t mean a whole lot. It took me spending 6 weeks in northern Ontario Canada to learn my first lesson in summer.
When I arrived in Canada it was early July, pretty much the start of summer. A time where people where opening up their summer homes, and getting things ready to enjoy summer. There was something in the air, a feeling of things coming alive. After traveling the world for nearly 5 years now, I must say I have been to some pretty sweet place, and seen some really amazing things, but my 6 weeks in “Cottage Country” has been by far one of the most amazing times in my life.
There are a few reason why I feel I enjoyed it soo much, #1 The fact I was able to spend some time with my family, which I have neglected for the last 12 years of my life. #2 the pure fact that I was truly living in the “moment”, there was no other place I “felt” I needed to be, no other place seemed better, the “now” was prefect. I think I am starting to get the hang of the whole idea of living life that way. It truly is amazing how it can affect your outcome. I only wish I would have known this 5 years ago when I started traveling. I have spent the last 5 years, totally screwing up my trips by being on a beautiful beach somewhere dreaming of being somewhere else, somewhere more “fun” or a place where friends were etc…. there was always somewhere else I wanted to be, the present moment was never good enough. Read more…
This has been my longest break from my blog since its conception. Over the last month I have been busy working on some other projects (which I will talk more about later) and for the most part just enjoying my time up here in Canada. Cell phones and the Internet are two words that are not in the Muskokian vocabulary (and I think I just made up the word Muskokian).
Life up here is pretty simple, people come here to get away from the hustle and bustle of the real world… so when in Rome. The song “All Summer Long” by Kid Rock has been the soundtrack to my Canadian Summer. They play the song everywhere, and it does a good job capturing the essence of this place. My birthday and the fact that my Canadian experience is almost over, has brought me out of hiding. I figured if anyone of you has seen my latest video, you would have put 2 and 2 together and realized I have just slip into the swing of things up here. Read more…
If there is such a place called “Heaven”, I believe it would be filled with the sounds from the Icelandic band Sigur Ros, and beautiful sights like the ones you see here in Muskoka Canada. Here is some quick shots I slapped together from day 1.
Stopping off at the Famous Hamburger joint “Webbers” is a family tradition for my family and it seems like everyone else that are on their way up to cottage country. You can count on the line to be out the door and the burgers to be fresh and tasty.
For some strange reason (some might call it dumb luck) I always end up going to a country or place right in the middle of some sort of festival or party, and this trip was no different. What’s the chance I would arrive in Windermere on Windermere day? In my case very good! As we pulled into town, fireworks started going off… I thought for a second wow… are these for me? I missed the parade, but I was lucky to catch the fireworks over the lake. I have a good feeling that this trip is going to be a great one! Here are a few photos from that night… as the fireworks went off without warning, I didn’t have time or I should say I forgot to change some settings, so here are the best photos I could manage! Read more…
As I sit here trying to recap what has happened over the last year I am amazed and yet shocked how amazing 2008 really was. 2008 seemed more like a few months, rather then a whole year. I started off the year in Japan and ended it in India, that statement alone is good enough for me. 2008 was filled with new adventures, new faces, new lessons in life and the best of all spending time with my family in Canada.
