So...

Born in Hamilton... and I was one of the troublemaking kids, little smart-ass... those up to no good, always getting into trouble ones. I guess I was doing well in school though, so it didn't really matter... well to my parents I guess? I was in Hamilton all the way up til' I finished university, and then college after that. High school... was just a blur. I was there for five years and it was really... it was boring. Literally nothing to do, played some sports and then just hung out with people—partied every weekend. Just chilling with people and partying in the weekend—that was pretty much just every weekend in high school. I was just like, “This is such a waste...” but I was getting above-average grades... yet I wasn't doing anything really. I hear about people in other high schools that go to university and they're like, “Oh my God I have so much work to do!" When they go to university, they're already... they know how to study already, and I'm like, “What? What happened to our high school, where was OUR prep?”

I remember when I was younger I saw in Gore Park... I saw breakdancing for the first time. I kinda asked my mom, “What is that, what are they doing?” She's like, “Ohh it's huk gwei mo,” which is like... black people dancing, and I'm like “What the hell??” So my mom was always... she’s a pretty big dancer too, but she always wants to push me into ballroom, waltz and all that other whatever... contemporary dancing. So I started university and I was like, “Oh my god, there's a breakdance club here!” FIRST thing I did was join it, and before I knew it, I became addicted. Sometimes I say to myself, “Do I go to class, or do I go to session?” You know some of those night classes are like six to nine? Like that’s session time! Session's from six-thirty to TEN... can I spare this one class? I mean I have a seven in this class right now... I think I can do it. So yeah, to be honest, some classes I did skip and went right to session; I was riding high basically, for so long. Because of dance, I started travelling too: I was going to freestyle sessions, we went to New York, we went to Evolution and everything else. Had a pretty bad knee injury though... but I guess we'll touch on that later.

Recently my company shut down... learned a lot there about the movie industry, about 3-D programs and programming in general. So I moved departments—from the art department to the research and development department. To myself I'm like, “Maybe I should just be a full dev now... instead of art... like fuck this art shit, it doesn't pay anything... there’s no freedom, you always have to answer to someone, you can't just make your own things." In the end, I was just straight up learning programming; I wasn't doing anything related to work anymore... just studying my own stuff. It pretty much was like... the second coming of my broken knee, same deal (laughs). I mean if it’s any indication or related to how my knee went, things should be good.

What are some problems that you experience, that you don't think other people might be running into?

Time. Time and effort. We’ll use dance as an example. When you dance, you’re... you only have a limited amount of time before your body starts to give in... you can do as much maitena—... I mean there’s people like Flo Master, Poe One, those guys are old... oh and Storm... those guys are OLD, but they maintain the body—they're still doing all those crazy moves right now to this day. I would say they're the exception, not the rule. I mean how many people do you see come into dance session, they finish and they just go home? They don't stretch, they don't do any body maintenance or anything like that, you know what I mean? Your body, it needs to be... in tune, or else it's not gonna work... like next year, or the year after... but yeah... that's something that people don't really consider.

If you could invite anyone to a dinner party, dead or alive who would you invite?

FOR SURE Anthony Bourdain, that guy is just... he’s so smart and he also knows... he just knows all the foods in the world. Like you have to have him. You can’t have a dinner party now, or even before back when he was alive... you can't have a dinner party without thinking, “Okay Anthony Bourdain has to be there.” I also want Terry Crews: he’s intelligent, he’s got a lot to say, he’s really smart, and he’s... he looks like he’d eat. I actually do the intermittent fasting because he does it. Next person would be... Rosa Parks. It’s just having someone from a different time, and then have them... just talking to them like, “Yo what’s going on here, what were you saying? What made you say this or whatever?” and, “How was that like?"

Last person, probably Steve Jobs... ahh actually naw, fuck Steve Jobs... Elon Musk. My hero: Elon musk. He’s huge, he’s doing things and he’s... I mean with Steve Jobs he was good at what he did, but that guy was a friggin' moron man... a dumbass. You have pancreatic cancer, and they caught it early. Now you’re just drinking vegetables to cure it are you DUMB? You couldn't envision a way for you to like... [laughs] coulda been like “Hey Siri, what’s a good way to get rid of my cancer?” And he, you know... goes to chemo.

Would you like to be famous one day? If so in what way, if not, then why?

Yeah I’d wanna be famous... well I’d be famous more than I’d wanna be rich. You can make money off your fame in whatever way, but you also have influence—you can spread messages. A lot of people who are famous don't really think about that. You have influence over people... so no matter what you say, negative or positive, they’re listening and they’re watching. So I’d say, definitely something positive, something definitely positive... something positive and innovative, how about that?

Can you describe the perfect day?

OKAY, so wake up in the morning, got my snowboard and all my other gear or whatever. Get a helicopter that flies me up to the top of a mountain, go snowboarding for a whole day with whoever wants to go, and then... come home at night, get a nice beef stew going... in like a cabin or like a chalet or whatever. Get all my friends there, and we eat, board games, drink, party and just... just dance. Dance for the rest of the night, and then just wake up, do it all again.

When was the last time you sang to yourself? When was the last time you sang to someone else.

OHH [laughs] UHHH... sang to myself? I guess a boring answer would be in the shower... I was singing this song uhh (looks for the song in this phone, plays it), this song: "Ooh I Wonder” by Dr. Packer.

Now to someone else... Ho-ly... I don't think I've ever sang to someone else... no I'm not that kind of romantic. [laughs] Maybe... maybe one day when I meet that right girl, and I'm like, “Yo this girl is the one.” If she’s that down girl, like she's the ONE... then maybe... maybe. Maybe I'll sing some uhh... I would sing probably like... Frank Sinatra or something, or Paul Anka. [laughs] She can read this and I'll tell her, “You're the first one girl, see how special you are?”

For what in life are you most grateful for?

I wanna say... you know as much as people rag on the healthcare here, I’d say the healthcare... the FREE healthcare. My grandma passed away last year, she went to the hospital and we didn’t have to pay for ANYTHING. She was taken care of, she had her own nurse, like a personal nurse in the ICU. All the doctors came in, did all their procedures and everything, made her comfortable and she just... you know... In the states that would have put the whole family in debt, just to like... and for the rest of their lives? My dad also had a heart attack, he had go through open-heart surgery, and it was a quadruple bypass and THAT was free. He had the heart attack, he went right in, they did whatever and it didn't cost us a dime. Like what, it costs me 13% of what I buy, 22% of what I make, versus getting charged those obscene amounts? I’d say that’s still pretty fair.

And my surgery, everything there was free too. Just went in... doctor gave me props and he's all like, “Yooo what's up man, I'm gonna be cutting your knee open,” and I'm like, “For real man?” And he's just like, “Yeah can you pull up your shorts up real quick?” He just drew on my knee with a marker and he's all like, “Alright! let's go!” Then the anesthesiologist comes in and he's like, “Hey man. uhh... I'm just gonna take your weight and we’re gonna inject some ‘fun juice’ in you.” Then... just... yeah, have all these doctors working around me, and I was in and out under eight hours—in and out of the hospital.

If you could wake up and gain any ability or character trait, what would it be?

Like a super ability? Okay... traits can be learned and unlearned, so I'm just gonna say a super power. I'm gonna go with telekinesis—anything with the mind. You can move things with your mind, you can move people... and the other part of it usually it's like, you know... mind reading. Oh there was a book... uh... what was it called, it was short story actually. It was about someone that could read people’s minds, and they’re saying how it's not actually good—that it’s better that people can read YOUR mind. It's weird... yeah it was one of those short stories you just read. Nobody knows what you’re thinking... but if they knew what you were thinking exactly, they would know how to empathize with you... like, “Oh shit this person’s sad because reason... they’re mad at me, but they’re not really mad at me, they’re mad at something that happened.”

If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you wanna know?

Hummm... FU-TURE eh?... I don't believe in looking into the past and like... that, like, “Let’s just regret.” I’ve already done this and I know what happened. Can I do more than one question? [laughs] If so I would just ask something stupid like, “How many cows I have eaten?” There’s that one stupid question like, “How many cows have you eaten in a lifetime?” People apparently eat something like... eight or nine or something. Anyways... to answer the question, probably looking into my future in terms of the tech industry: am I insignificant, am I significant, am I making an impact? Or am I homeless or something? [laughs]

What is your greatest achievement?

Recovering from that knee injury—that shaped a lot of who I am actually. Cause like, you don't realize how much... how much of a mental impact it actually has on you—when you’re not able to do something that you really love. So I admit that I was like... I kind of went through a depressive state? It was just like, “HO, MAN,” some days all the symptoms are there: I get up and I don't wanna do anything, I don't wanna wake up, I don't wanna go do THIS, I can't run, I can't walk, I can't do this... most important of them all I can't DANCE. I was pretty scared to do the surgery too. I woke up one day, and my knee was locked in bed, and like... I couldn't straighten it. So I'm like, “MOM.. GO... GO to the.. GO TO THE HOSPITAL!” She takes me to the hospital, the doctor... (he passed away recently, rest in peace), he was the one who was like, “Okay, you have two choices: you can try to live with it, or you can get surgery. Either way you gotta get an MRI just to see, but I'm pretty sure you have a torn meniscus." So I was like, “Okay well, lets just try to ride it out and see what happens.” I rode that out for like a YEAR... didn't get used to it. I was just, I tried to continue and I couldn't... I got even more depressed cause every time I tried to dance, my knee would just lock up.

It started taking a toll on me, and one day I'm like, “OKAY, I'm playing a lot of games right now, I don't have a girlfriend, I'm not happy, so how can I even get someone to be happy with me? Well... maybe I should just do it now." Got that surgery, and then... HO-LY SH-. Let me tell you... that YEAR of... I had a YEAR and a half of physio basically. It was a YEAR recovery—trying to learn how to run again. I signed up for the gym, I was doing squats every other day. I couldn't touch my heel to my ass, I couldn't squat down and I couldn't bend over to pick things up. So I just had to work my ass off with squatting like crazy and eventually got up to like...THREE plates. Just squatting until I'm like ,“Okay this is strong enough, now is time for mobility, strength is there... let's work on mobility.” I started going to physio two, sometimes three times a week; that was really expensive but I didn't care.

So I worked with that physio guy for like... SIX MONTHS. Finally I'm like, “OKAY! back to my first session.” I had to relearn everything, I was like, “MAN, I can't do anything right now.” Fast-forward a couple of months... got down with my crew, World Serpent and then... big help was actually this one person, he brought me back to the breaking world. He's like, “Okay this is the shit that I've been working on since you were gone and I'm gonna teach it to you now.” I started learning all of this new stuff and I'm like, “Holy crap, so this is my new take on break," and I'm able to have a fresh new start. I started making new friends again.. and then... pretty much, just new breath of life: now I'm doing moves that I never would've dreamed of trying before, like trying to hit halos and shit. I mean it's pretty good right now. [smiles] I'm just dancing more for fun now, trying to... be ME.

What do you value most in your friendships? What do you expect from a best friend?

You know a best friend is a lot like... a girlfriend... or it SHOULD be a girlfriend, but a best friend first. That being said, I think... a best friend needs to be someone whose honest. Okay first of all honest, and they have to be direct: no beating around the bush, they need to check you, like if you’re being too high and mighty and whatever, they need to check you back down to earth. [laughs] If you’re too low, like all hard on yourself, they need to carry you and push you back up. They should be inspiring, you know? You should be able to be happy when they’re happy, and then kinda like... understanding when you’re not. I think that’s a good friend.

What is your most treasured memory?

Oh, there's a lot. This one time when I was snowboarding, I got separated from everyone. It was at Mount St.Louis Moonstone, and one of the runs is... it faces away from the city, over to a horizon. I just sat there and kind of just like... I didn't know where I was, people just going by me... I was just sitting there and watching the sunset. I didn't feel the cold or anything, I didn't hear anything... I just sat there for like 15 minutes, watching the sunset.

If you knew that in one year, you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way that you are living now?

No. No man, I mean I'm surprised that I even made it this far. I honestly think that I wouldn’t have made it to this age—that I would be able to live this long. I was just like, “You know what, I'm gonna do whatever I wanna do... if i die... then alright.” Now I'm like, “I'm still here, like what the hell?” So now I'm trying crazier things to try and die man! Like... friggin' climbed a mountain a couple of months ago... I'm just... like what's the deal here, are you kidding me?

What roles do love and affection play in your life?

Okay so... let’s be real: love and affection is really hard in my family, for them to like... express. So even when my grandma passed, I was surprised man... I was just like, “Who do I talk to about this?” Nobody's really showing any emotion, my mom didn’t even cry until like the last day... when they were burying my grandma. I’m just kinda like, “Well okay, this is how it is then...” My dad too... really emotionally disconnected so he’s completely out of the picture for that kind of stuff.

I think for me... I haven’t found a girl that I’ve been “in love” with. So like... I mean, my most recent girlfriend she.... I mean we told each other we loved each other, and I mean if we were in love, we’d still be together, right? I haven’t found a girl that I actually was like... I love her, and I’m in love with her, that kind of deal. I think there’s two tiers with this: you need to love, and then you need to be in love. Cause you can love like... you love your friends, you love your family and all that stuff, right? But are you in love with them? I think with affection, you can show it in different ways... affection, I think in the end goes with compassion—it’s about being nice to each other.

Help me complete this sentence “I wish I had someone whom I could share...”

Hmm... long sleepless night with.

What, if anything is too serious to joke about?

You mean in 2018? [laughs] For me, I think it’s all about the context. Sometimes... like you’re not gonna joke about rape to someone that got raped... that kind of shit? But you’re also... it’s hard to say right now, to see who would not get offended, and who would. I would say probably with context, nothing is off limits.

What is something that people should know about you?

I don’t really sugarcoat things. I’m a pretty straightforward kind of guy. I don’t really... it might sound rude sometimes, it might sound brash, but I mean it’s... do you want me to tell you in a nicer way that like, you’re doing something wrong or bad? I don't know, are you gonna learn that way? Do you want me to sugarcoat how you're gonna cut your finger off, instead of me telling you, “Yo, don’t cut your finger off?”

If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you regret not having told someone, why haven't you told them yet?

I’m just gonna die like, tonight? Probably the generic, like last word kind of thing, “I’m sorry, I still love you all, go do something worth your life... don’t be a WASTEMAN.” [laughs] “Go be somebody.”

Your house, containing everything you own catches fire, after saving your pets and loved ones, you have enough time to make a final dash to save any one item, what item would that be?

[laughs] My computer, [still laughing] so bad... YO, my tower man. My life’s work is on there. Even though I have things like cloud storage... it's not enough, I only have like 100 GB of cloud storage man; we’re talking about 2 TERABYTES of information man. Yeah, I’d take the tower.

Can you share a personal problem that you’re going through right now, how do you planning on solving that issue?

I’m at this point where... I think I’m trying to date, but I'm not really? I don't know if it’s because I'm just really focused on work and career shit, and personal stuff. Or I’m just not... emotionally available or even care. I don't know, sometimes I meet girls, I'm like, “Oh, they’d be cool to date,” and I ask them out, but then later on you just kinda lose interest, or I just don’t feel motivated to do it anymore. Sometimes I think that they like me, but I don’t really... reciprocate the feelings or feel like I just need to care more. So, okay... there was a point where I think I cared too much about things, and then I stopped caring altogether, and now... just at the bottom where I don't care about anything. Like literally, don't care, I just care about myself and like... I think that’s pretty bad. Cause you’re all just emotionally unavailable to people, and they kinda wanna talk to you... or they kinda want... they wanna be friends, and you can't even give them that.

That’s the thing... I’m still social, it's just like, “Do I really care what this person has to say?” and that's bad. Kind of like, “Alright, can I speak to this person without... without a personal agenda?” Sometimes I do, sometimes I really enjoy talking to this person, I wanna get to know them, but then it’s like, “Alright, where’s this going?" Am I just trying to be friends with them, am I trying to date them? If it’s a guy, can I hang out with them again? Are we gonna do stuff later? Or it's just gonna be another person on my Facebook friends list? And it's just like... I mean I think I’m actively trying to be more, “I really wanna get to know this person more,” or like, “Hey you wanna hang out?” And if they don't want to, fine.

Any last words of advice?

Just be really open-minded; don’t be afraid to try new things. I’m kind of an impulsive person, so it might be different for me versus other people, but if you think you wanna try something, then go try it. I've only just started rock climbing a year ago, and I’ve never done it before. Always just thought, “Okay, this seems like it could be fun? I mean I liked climbing things when I was younger, who knows, maybe it'll be fun?” And I really got into it. If you ever decide to go into something that you really want to... whether you’re curious about, or like, impulsively got into... DON’T give up right away. Go in 110%, research everything about it, know the ins and outs of everything that you’re doing, know the people that you NEED to know, know the industry. Give it a really solid chance, don't just like... try it once and then, “Oh I don’t like this,” and then be like, “Aww I'm out.” Try it a couple times, and then be like, “Oh, okay, this person does it like this way... this famous person, or someone that's talented in this area... maybe I should something similar, or like try to get to that point.” That's something to strive for.

Yeah, just keep an open mind when dealing with other people. Say, when you label people right away, it closes your mind off to what they could offer. Also, when I say open-mindedness... tryna see... different perspectives, and don’t just immediately close yourself off to other people based on what they believe or whatever. Cause that’s... [groans] So when people say like, “I only date Christians,” or like, “I'm this, and that, and I only date this religion.” You’ve just effectively cut off a huge portion of the world from your beliefs. You don't know, maybe it's someone who eventually wants to convert, or suddenly your faith dwindles, and you need someone who’s NOT a Christian or whatever. And then it’s kind of like... goes back to open-mindedness; take people for who they are. You can control your own emotions, so if they’re like a shitty person, like they’re just gonna be a shitty person, there’s nothing you can do about it. You can’t really change them... they’ve gotta change themselves eventually... for the better OR worse. Just deal with it as it goes.