Date Archives July 2011

Getting Mugged in Colombia

34 Comments read Travel

I got mugged in Colombia. And it was all cause I was trying to get some.

Before you judge, let me back up and explain.

So it was my last night in Colombia. I had spent 31 incident-free days living it up in Medellín (the city made famous by it’s legendary women, Pablo Escobar…and Entourage) but now it was time to say adios.

My buddies Sol and Sean threw me a Despedida (farewell party) and I swear, it was like out of a movie. The whole night, all these characters I had met over the past 4 weeks showed up to send me off.

My salsa dancing teacher. The crazy, tri-lingual Swedish sisters. The Reggaeton producer who became my closest parcero (‘friend’ in Medellín-talk). The backpacking Canadian fiance’s. My Brazillian and Dutch guitar-mates.

Man, it wasn’t until the Despedida that I realized how much I was going to miss Medellín.

The night was a whirlwind of dancing, pizza cooking, and Aguardiente drinking (not necessarily in that order) and before I knew it, it was already 4am and time to bounce.

After a few heartfelt goodbyes, I grabbed a cab with the Colombian girl I’d been dating and we booked it out of there. And this is where I started to make a series of mistakes.

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My Epic Struggle with Creativity (and How I Finally Ended It)

35 Comments read Creativity

Are any of you out there struggling with creativity? Is it not fun anymore? Maybe even frustrating as hell? Does it leave you wondering, “Maybe I was never meant to do this shit in the first place”?

Trust me, you’re not alone.

Here’s something most people don’t know about me: even though I’m a professional filmmaker, I’ve been struggling with creativity all my life.

Maybe “struggle” isn’t the right word. It’s been more like a “vicious, hair-pulling, bloody battle” with creativity.

But I’ve finally gotten past it. Thank the lord, finally. And just like my struggle with sticking to a workout routine, it wasn’t anything wrong with me. It was just a simple mindset change.

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How to Make Working Out a Lifelong Habit

19 Comments read Health

All my life, I’ve been one of those guys who could never stick to his workout plan.

I’d always start off with plenty of enthusiasm. I’d research the hell out of my workouts, set strict meal plans, have a specific goals of X pounds of muscles within X weeks…

But by week 3, I’d already get bored. Start slacking. And once I miss a workout or cheat on my meal, it was all downhill from there. And yes, this happened many, many times.

Was I just lazy? Did I just not have any self-discipline? At the time, I thought the answer was most definitely “Yes…you just suck at life.”

But let’s fast forward to now. I’ve been working out consistently for the past 2 years. I’ve been eating a healthy paleo/primal diet for the past 8 months. I feel better and look better than I ever have before.

I finally f#%*ng did it! But how? Did I miraculously become a self-disciplined, non-lazy, ass-kicking machine? Hell no.

The only difference is that I changed my reason for working out.

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