Life Happens, Wear a Helmet

 Dear Readers: 

Birdie and Sparrow have the pleasure of presenting another guest blog for your reading pleasure. This is quite a journey that this individual has been on and it goes far in proving a valid point: if you want something, and you're open to it and willing and capable of doing the work to achieve it...It can be yours. Don't be afraid, at least, don't let fear hold you back...

Thanks G., Can't wait to see you on the big screen!

Red Bird and Sparrow

Greetings fans of Red Bird and Sparrow! It is my humble honor to bring this post to you at the request of my beautiful friend Red Bird! Before I go on with my guest blog I wanted to extend a warm hello to Sparrow! We have never met but our common friend Birdie speaks very highly of us so it’s like we are friends…

My name is Glenn. I am 42 and I am also on a journey of self-discovery. My journey differs from Birdie and Sparrow's, but then again everyone’s journey is different. My journey started 3 years ago with the ending of a long term relationship. It was devastating to me because of all the after effects a break up like this causes. I had to move to a new place…I had to change my son’s school…and I now had to be an “alone” adult. The hardest part of the whole deal was being alone…or so I thought. After a year of mourning the loss of said relationship something occurred inside me. No, it wasn’t a fart….I have keen fart recognition skills which is loosely based on other people’s facial expressions….but that’s another story. What occurred in me was the faint calling of change. My journey had begun.

I first thought that the call for change was more about restlessness. It was like having caffeine overload but from the time I woke up til I went to bed. I hated it and myself for feeling this way. Maybe it was the cold Saskatchewan winter effecting me….but I was about to embark on an ambitious journey of rediscovering what made me happy. Now, to know me is to know this one solitary thing. I have a lot of energy! To say anything different would be understatement. I decided that my first goal was to do something that would seem the impossible. Now being it was winter, there’s not much that I could do to test myself…..well, there was 10 pin bowling. Yes…I am a 10 pin bowler. Before any of you judge me, let me tell you this…..is a hard game that can be as frustrating as golf. Perfect I say. It was February and I had qualified for the house round of a tournament event called the National Classified. To make a long story short, I qualified to make the 4 man team. I lost the year before so already I was feeling a sense of accomplishment. We went to provincials and won! What did that mean? A free trip to Ontario and a chance to battle other bowlers on a national level. This was my turning point. We went, had fun, and won a national title and in exciting fashion. This was the start of my journey.

After the excitement of what I had accomplished had faded away, I started feeling restless again. A friend of mine who was just starting out in the film industry showed me a picture of her part in a movie. She played a corpse..yes she played a dead person. I was taken in on how real she looked. I wanted to be a corpse too! So, with my friend’s encouragement I embarked on a new direction of my journey. My first taste of my new life came to me in the form of what they call “background acting.” It was the art of looking natural while acting natural. It was on a CBC show called InSecurity. I had found home! I was so fascinated with how filming a show was choreographed. It was filled with an eclectic mix of quirky personalities…..it was perfect! It calmed me. I actually channeled my energy, listened to how the director set up the scene…how the lighting crew moved things around to make it all perfect. I learned about how to make a conversation in the back ground look natural by mouthing the words watermelon and grapefruit. I learned….and I learned…and I learned more. I was ready to up the ante. 

My next show was a war documentary series called Edge of War. I was to play a Cuban rebel.  Before I go on, I must tell you something about my appearance. I have long hair. When I arrived on set, the first thing I was told was that because of my long hair, I was only going to be in the background. They didn’t want to cut my hair and I was very thankful of that. Right in the middle of shooting, the director wanted someone to fire a “Tommy” gun yelling “Never surrender boys” in Spanish. He picked me…and from that point on my nickname on set was “Chico” and so that made me memorable. 

Now, in Saskatchewan, as in other provinces, the local film industries shut down for the winter. So a lull happened in my journey…or so it seemed. In the off season, I honed in on my acting skills and performed a few murder mystery dinner theater events. It was from these events that I met people that would widen the road for my journey and take me in another direction. I met one guy who ran a stand-up comedy show. Another of my cast mates, who was adamant that I was a talented actor, asked if I wanted to collaborate on writing movie scripts. I said yes but my mind was saying “WTF!!!” But never being complacent I moved forward and started writing a story about a zombie infestation in WW1. “Wow” I said to myself, “where did that come from?” That first story has now led to three others…all works in progress.  After I started writing, I got the notion that if I could write such a cool story why not try stand-up. So I wrote a routine, stood up in front of a full house of strangers and a huge contingent of friends (my fans and supporters) and actually made people laugh!

I know this is long, and if I bore you please know, that this is my introduction to the world of blogging….and that my journey has been a very enlightening journey. As I read over what I have written it has occurred to me that I have done a lot in such a short span of time. I am a positive man and totally believe in karma. I never shake my fist at the bastard….err, gentleman that cut me off on the road the other day. I also quit smoking during this process and have stayed a quitter for over two years and counting. And the best thing that could ever happen occurred last fall……after a 20 year absence from my life my dearest friend Red Bird came back into it and is now making me feel the joy that only Red Bird can make you feel! Thanks Birdie!! Our visit in September will forever be a source of happiness! Saturdays will never be the same. And I promise not to selfishly promote my first feature length movie called Bread Thieves. I promise I won’t post the movie website (http://breadthievesthemovie.com) and not to tell everyone that I am the meth head character. I promise…

Thanks for reading this…..and always remember that life happens, wear a helmet!

G.