A Year In The Life Of Mike
So it was a year ago today that I first started up this little blog.
Let’s see. At the time I was bartending at a sweet ski resort in the Alberta Rockies called Sunshine Village. Living at my folk’s condo in Canmore. I miss those mountains. My girlfriend had just left me, so I was looking for some kind of psychological outlet. Figured I’d give writing a try.
Girlfriend came back, but I was enjoying the whole blog thing, so I decided to keep it going. Enter “Mike’s Drinks and Links”. I was having a blast inventing daily drink specials, this gave me a cool way to share them with the world!
Ski season ended, drove to Montreal. Girlfriend left me again. Go to Ottawa. Back to Montreal, tried to get girlfriend back, not happening, go to Toronto.
Enter W. C. Fields Restaurant and Bar. Or, I guess, I enetered W. C. Fields. “We don’t need a bartender, we need a manager. And you’re it.”
Nice to meet you Lewis. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Lewis. David. Howard. Paris. Logos. Menus. Parties. Wine. Food. Film Festival. Celebrities. Politics. Designers. Hire. Fire. Manage.
Some people make my brain hurt. Quit Fields. Gonna head back out West, get a real job.
Uh-oh.
Girlfriend arrives in Toronto, wants to get back together. We’re back. She gets a job in Montreal. She leaves. We try the long distance thing, doesn’t work. We’re done.
New biz idea. Consult to major hotel and resort chains. High-end restaurants. Travel the world, make lots of money. Exciting enough possibility to keep me in town. For now. New partner, new issues. Enter Centro. Enter Armando.
Enter The Waterfall Group.
Big ideas, lots of talk. Bartend at Centro for December. WAY too much attitude, I like to work where I can have some fun.
Register biz. Design logo, biz cards, first marketing pieces. Need money in the short term to fund plan.
Wine and Wellness. Exclusive weekend retreats for business executives in Toronto. Guest speakers, fine dining, wine appreciation, all kinds of fun stuff.
January. Bartend at The Strand. Yikes. Enough of that.
I’m ready to go. December’s too busy. Then January’s too busy. Then February’s too busy. Nothing happening. I’m getting frustrated. Screw it. Time to get a real job, stop playing around. Should I stay in Toronto? Probably not, let’s see where the jobs are.
“Hey Mike, wanna make a movie?”
“Sure Lewis, sounds like fun.”
Geek time. Actually produce and film my own movie… how cool is that! We decide to go for a documentary for our first time around. Get Ian on board. Sony decides that now that I’m getting into the movie biz they’re going to come out with a kick-arse new HD prosumer cam. Arrange financing, pick out hardware (including tricked out new dual-proc G5!!). Cooooool stuff!
Word’s out, Mike’s back on the market. Invites and interviews start flowing in. Once again, projects active in Toronto, don’t really want to leave. But I’m still committed to getting back on a career path. Been slacking too long. I’m just not myself if I’m not being challenged. Splitting between two big-league financial institutions at the moment. Let them fight over me. It’s nice to feel wanted. It’s even nicer to know I haven’t burned all my bridges yet.
How would I describe these last 12 months? Adventure, heartbreak, humility, epiphany, potential, new beginnings. I’ve had three job interviews this week, all looking very promising. This morning we picked up our camera and shot our first bit of footage a few hours ago. Within a month I hope to have a job, my own apartment, my own movie under production, at least two side businesses active, I’ve even got ideas for a couple books I’d like to write! Life’s looking up in a big way, I can’t wait to see what happens. It ain’t gonna be easy, but nothing worth having is.
“Just remember what ol’ Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big old storm right square in the eye and says, “Give me your best shot pal. I can take it.”"
