its JSP.... um no its GSP actually.

As the song goes: Im in Mont Royal bitches! (Montreal).
The city is the second largest city in Canada and is the largest city in the province of Quebec. Its primarily french speaking, which makes it a little hard to navigate as almost all of the signs are written in French. It also has the highest number of churches per capita, and these are OOOOOOOLD churches. They look really nice and are pretty freaking large churches most of the time if you ask me.
Took the Megabus there for 35 bucks. Bargain! the earlier you get your tickets the cheaper they are and the bus is actually pretty nice. It has sockets to charge your laptop, theres enough space, you don't have to turn off all your electronic devices for landing/takeoff and theres internal wifi that you can connect to.
Once we got to Montreal it was pretty late so we crashed for the night before getting up early in the morning to head to training.
I've been learning Savate for the past couple of months but haven't really had anyone my size to spar with. At the gym in Montreal though, there were plenty of people to train with. I got knocked around a bit and had an awesome time doing it.
Afterwards we went to one of the two brunch restaurants that we did on the trip. It wasn't the best of the two but it was still pretty awesome. My favourite was Holder (http://www.restaurantholder.com/) affordable and freaking awesome! best food I have had in a while.
after brunch we to the gym where there was a Muay Thai tournament on that one of my trainers was supposed to be in. The fights were pretty intense between some of the people.
After that it was off to a pub to watch the UFC. On the way we discovered that it was Nuit Blanche in Montreal (white night). Its a night where they turn a lot of the city into works of art. The one that we passed was a whole load of lit up domes. they were constantly changing colours and had random shadows dancing across the surfaces of them. Got some great shots of it that ill post up here later.
Anyways we eventually got to a pub that showed the fight. we ordered a massive 4Ltr jug of beer (yes I did get a photo of that one too), some wings and some poutine (poutine is a Canadian favourite, its chips, gravy and cheese curds and it tastes freaking amazing)
When we woke up the next morning it was pretty hard to get out of bed but we managed, grabbed a bite to eat and headed home.
Au Revoir Montreal. Til next time

Wine me, Dine me... take me to a Protest

Last weekend there was a protest in Hamilton against US steel co and the promises that it broke. Underlying it all was basically the fact that the laws governing foreign investment in Canada aren't strict enough to prevent companies from reneging on what they said they would do. If you want to learn more about it head here : http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2011/01/29/17084716.html

So J and I decided that we would make up our own signs and head over to Hamilton on the ACTRA (actors union) bus. As usual I didn't dress as appropriately as I should have for the cold weather and ended up freezing my nads off walking the streets protesting and waving around our awesome signs. Met an actor who worked on Nikita and whose girlfriend is the stunt double for the actress who plays Nikita (yes I am totally getting to know the rich and famous... or the almost rich and famous). I also had the best felafel ever after the march.

J is cleaning whilst I am sitting on my lazy ass blogging and I just asked her what I should add to the blog and she said "chello, definately talk about the chello!". It has been a bit of a running joke for the past few weeks that I can't actually cook or more that I can't cook properly. I seem to have a knack for ruining all the dishes that I attempt to make.
The first dish that I tried to produce was chilli as it tastes awesome and its healthy. Because we are both on health kicks I decided to make it as healthy as I possibly could. All was going well right up until the end, I tasted it and I'm not trying to be modest or anything but it tasted freaking awesome! I thought that it could do with some more health, as I was searching through the cupboards I came across a container of psyllium husks (which I had previously come across, consumed, and listened to J say that I shouldn't put it in cooking cos it doesn't go well). I thought 'hey as if a tiny bit will make much difference'. Threw some in and immediately regretted it cos it turned into something that had a jelly like consistency (more like phlegm but hey), thus it was named chello and I ended up choking down about 3/4 by myself until it was thrown away.
The second dish that I tried to make was chicken soup. To cut that long story short, I ended up making a soup that tasted like you were chewing on a christmas tree because it had waaaaay too much pine in it. Needless to say, I think i'll have to withdraw my application for masterchef now.

Birthday

Hey guys,

It's been a while since the last blog but I have been a busy man so you can't really blame me. Currently I'm still working at Starbucks and Mysteriously Yours but now..... drum roll..... I am also a dog walker for a business called "pup and the city" (http://pupandthecity.com/) . It's really good because I get to hang out with heaps of animals all the time and cruise the streets getting even fitter than I am with kick boxing plus making the dough that I need to survive the urban jungle.

As you may know, last week was my birthday and I was able to get in contact with heaps of people back home, especially my family who are always great to hear from. I got the best present from them which I am now using to write this blog :).

From my pseudo Canadian family I got the sickest dinner at Wild Wings restaurant, totally check it out, it's the best freaking wings you'll ever have! (http://www.bestchickenwings.com/) I would even say its better than getting my all time favourite supercharged zinger burger. The presents that I got that night were crazy too. I had my eye on these great checkered sweat pant overalls from adidas but I just couldn't bring myself to buy them.  Lo and Behold! they were all wrapped and ready for me to unwrap and squeal like a little school girl at Wild Wings over. Really topped off an awesome day. I should also mention the sweet as shirt I got and the dope Canadian gloves. They are gonna be killer when it gets colder. I have already worn them many times on my way to work.

I really want to talk about the protest that I went to today But it's one of my cousins birthdays tonight and were going out for dinner so I have to get ready. I'll post another blog tomorrow some time and put some more photos up too.

Christmas in Nova Scotia

me pushing my limits at curling

So, it has been a while since my last post and that is mainly because for the past week I have been in Wolfville NS and there was little to no opportunity for me to connect to the internet over there, I wasnt really looking for it though as I had a lot of things to do.  It was my first chance at a white Christmas and I'm sad to say that it didn't snow until Boxing day but it was still a really surreal Christmas.

Highlights of the week would have to be the food, I had a plethora of traditional Christmas food mixed in with a slightly asian flavour. Wonton night was my absolute favourite.  I went on a Skidoo, went and did some curling, Tabogganing, created an ace ginger bread house, made loads of shirts and finished 4 books. It was all in all a very productive, relaxing and surreal semi- white Christmas.

The very best activity would have to be Frenchy's. I had so much fun there that I made my cousins take me twice check it out here: http://www.guysfrenchys.com/our-story.html.

For those of you who are following my gradual rise in fame, here is a link to my first video appearance: http://www.kangoojumpstoronto.com/about/.

A day in the life of...

Random Craigs list Ad about me!

So the past week has been quite hectic, although I have found quite a bit of time to do some reading and get myself around to the gym.

Highlight of the week would have to be the day that my cousin came back from Mexico and we were browsing the 'missed connections' section of the craigs list website. We were having a laugh reading some of them until this one popped up (see image above). I skimmed through it and moved on but then something in my head clicked and I went 'hang on a sec', went back to the post and realised that it was about me. Did a massive song and dance and we all commented on how random it was that someone had posted about me and I had actually read it. So I responded to it, and the person in question has gotten back to me. We have yet to meet up as she has finals but I'll keep everyone posted on how it turns out.

I also got another job. This one is at Starbucks on King and Shaw, come down and see me if your in the Toronto area. Starbucks seems to spend an inordinate amount of time training people on the itty bitty technicalities of the coffee making business so the past week has been massively boring at my shifts. Basically I have been sitting out the back going through all my 15 training manuals and doing some stretches  (last shift I ripped my jeans down the crotch and now I need some new ones before Sunday).

Now to the weather: Cold as all hell, thats about it! haha nar not really, it has been pretty easy to adjust to the cold and the snow is amazing! Really looking forward to having my first 'white Christmas'.

Me in 'Wardrobe' practicing my moves before getting ready for shooting

So Today was pretty uneventful, Did some Savate training (French kick boxing for those not in the know) and also the snow is starting to stick to the ground which is making it look pretty cool with all the flurries and what have you. Feels quite surreal when you look outside through a semi frosted window in the morning with a nice hot cup of coffee and you see all the ledges covered in snow, piles of it on the shrubbery and cars, plus the odd person shovelling loads of it off the side walk (suckers). Anyways I said I would let you know when it really started snowing, so there you have it.

Now YESTERDAY on the other hand was a wicked day. It started off with breakfast with Grundy and Kristie who I hadn't seen since I got back which was awesome and we had a laugh catching up at this place on Dundas which was run by semi comatose waitresses that really had no idea what was going on. It was all pretty darn confusing but hilarious too, especially trying to tip them for service. They were so confused and wouldn't really take the money, maybe they knew that they were bad. Or maybe they thought they were too bad-ass for tips.
Anyway I went straight to the gym from there and hot-footed it home after that to get ready for my big film debut as an extra. My role was as a scientist and I assumed that what that entailed was looking at some beakers for about 30 seconds and MAYBE getting on camera... How wrong I was.
It turns out that I was in multiple scenes and that this was for an up and coming talents new song. So to sum it all up, I was in a music video, my role was as a mad scientist who brings to life this super hot chick who then escapes etc etc. Met some great people on set, there was even a food van. It was all very hollywood and exciting. We had one hickup though, halfway through one of the mad scientist scenes the smoke detectors set off the sprinklers. To me, a few other guys, and the singer it seemed as though a freaking water mains had burst and was gushing all over us. Our white coats had turned grey and her shiny lycra suit was black. The wardrobe people had epileptic fits it was hilarious, they brought in PizzaPizza to appease us extras and after a couple of hours, shooting resumed.
My favourite part of the filming was the fact that it was done in the same warehouse that they filmed the Saw 2 movie, they were even some of the set materials still hanging around. The place is huge so there are still old sets up, it's really pretty interesting walking around the place looking at all the stuff that was left behind.

So I have been in Toronto for a week and a half now and I finally have a job that i am happy with.  The first job that I got was as a welcome mat at the 24 hour restaurant down the road and they were planning on only paying me minimum wage for a 10pm to 5am shift. I was feeling the pinch so I reluctantly took the job... FORTUNATELY the night of my first shift I got a call from an employer that I reeeeeally wanted to get a job from because it was serving work which meant tips galore. So I hastily contacted my previous employer (even though I hadn't worked a shift) and basically said, 'sorry but I can get more money shoveling poop at the park ciao'.

The best part about about this new job is that I can potentially get loads of money and it's only really night and weekend work which is 'da bomb' as they say.  This also leaves me time to pursue my career as an extra in any and all types of work. Currently I will be in a music video this Sunday which means as soon as there is a link to the video on YouTube, I will post that shizzle up here for you guys to point and laugh at me (also on FB in case your not reading my awesome blog). My next gig is on Thursday and it's a matrix style film where I will be in the background of a party/fight. I will probably be way way way way in the back, but if there's even a skerric of me on film I will be posting a link about it. So that's all so far on my road to extras stardom, but I will be watching some of Ricky Gervais 'The Extras' just to get some wicked awesome tips on how to get in there.

Also it's been snowing off and on for the past week and I am as yet to see some serious flurries, but when I do I'll be sure to mention it on the blog and maybe include some sweet photos on here. I'll try and get a photo of me at my new job for the next entry and you can guess where I'm working from that.