First Day in a Big City

The most independently exciting period of my life was when I first move to Toronto for school.
I was no longer bound to household rules and I could go where I wanted and when I wanted. It was a time to create an identity, a time to find what I was really interested in and I couldn’t be happier. I went to a high school where everyone knew who I was, but none really got to know me. Now I was in Toronto, I could walk and see a new face and never see that person again. So much commotion everywhere in a city that rarely slept and I loved it. Back then, I walked everywhere. Listening to my CD Player or sony walkman playing music from bands like Millencolin, Face to Face, SNFU and MXPX and just walk around with this bounce in my step.

I can still recall the city smell and how different it was from back in fresh air Timmins, Ontario. A world was out there and I was at a school where books and numbers weren't the number 1 concentration. Finding your talent and learning how to use it to express yourself was the foundation of my education. And I had 4 years of it ahead of me!
I knew I had a talent for something but I had to fine-tune it and practice. That’s the part I loved, practicing. Back then I wasn’t inundated with the media channels we’re all hooked on today. I only had a radio, my guitar and a drawing board. I’d spend half my time listening to late-night radio (sometimes even calling in with my two cents) while drawing or the rest of the time, putting a CD in my ghetto and trying to play along with it. Music and Art were my world, and as long as I had a pencil in my hand or a guitar laying around I was happy and I could keep busy.
Recently I found a website called Gigposters.com. I found some old posters from these bands that I listened to back in college and remember from seeing some of these posters got me right back into that excited feeling I had. Here are some posters from that site that made me want to draw for a living. At that point I really didn’t know how I could make a living doing it, but I knew I just wanted to draw.







Anyways, sorry for being all nostalgic and shit. I just sometimes wish I could go back to when I was naïve and start it all over again and do it with the people that are important to me now.

In other news, I just got engaged! Haha Exciting times!!