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I was living with a guy that we will call Linus. Linus drove semi. Linus' brother-in-law asked him to do a trip to Palm Springs, and I decided to go. We borrowed Linus' mother's red ford truck to go from Regina to Calgary to meet his brother-in-law. Did I mention his mom lived in Manitoba and we were only using her truck for a short amount of time?

This past holiday season, my job as a professional actor took me to the picturesque Sun Valley, Idaho. I was to appear in a stage play, a production of the recently published holiday hit, Miss Bennett: Christmas at Pemberley. You know, the old Austen-ian story of high-class British folks running around a mansion - being in love, falling in love, and fighting off love. Feminist-forward, family-friendly fare. A perfect holiday story for this small, yet affluent mountain town. Though the process of building and performing this play was a fun one, it forced me to travel many hours from my home - away from my family, my people, my comforts. Additionally: on a "snow day" I couldn't travel more than a half-mile from my lodging, it was 12 degrees or below most nights, and I was housed in the childhood home of the famous(ly antisemitic) poet, Ezra Pound, which is currently inhabited by at least one ghost (who visited me my third night there, glowing and screaming at me at the foot of the bed, like a menacing and luminescent banshee). All these factors combined made for a bittersweet gumbo of isolation and cabin fever at times. Drinking to calm the nerves was a must most nights, if I'm being real honest.

When I was a young man I read stories about adventure, wild animals, birds, and everything that involves nature. There was something that I discovered that hills and mountains were common in most parts of Kenya. Besides their natural attraction, almost all of them had wild animals, birds and the natural vegetation.

While on my trip in South Korea, I saw and learned many life changing things. For one who has never been out of the country, I strongly reccomend it. Although I personally had interest in South Korea, I believe any country could give the same effect. On this particular day me and my Finnish friends met with our South Korean friend to see a movie. The weather was unforgiving this November day and it was perfect for movies. Throughr my tripaat this time, I was struggling with my insecurity of bad skin. Laugh all you want, but this country has high standards and so do I. All of my Finnish friends were also beautiful so I found myself comparing to them. We all know this is bad, you should never compare your beauty to another’s as it devalues your own. However, I found it increasingly difficult to hold in.

If there's one aspect of my style of writing that I like to believe stands out, it's the attribute of honesty. As I begin to pen down one of the most organic experiences of my life, one that I was lucky enough to capture, I think it's imperative to be genuine about it.

This photo was taken while traveling to the quaint, mountain town of Anapoima, Colombia. Using my iPhone, I was able to capture the beauty that is this hidden lagoon nestled here in the Andes Mountains.