2018 Year In Review

Wayne Lapasa

Wow, this year has now come to a close. Another one is in the books! It’s time to look back on what 2018 was for me. I wanted to take the time to recap three highlights in the last 12 months that really stood out for myself.

Dirty selfie from Shake Shack mid-summer 😅💪🏻

Excercise

If you recall from my 2017 year in review post, I mentioned that I struggled to find my footing for hitting the gym. I was in school at the time, I was working two jobs and lacked the passion. Thankfully towards the last quarter of the year, I literally just sharpened my mindset and rededicated myself.

I took that same mindset into this past year and set a personal goal: go to the gym five times a week for 365 days. That’s right…52 weeks! Are you insane!? Wayne…you’ve never done that before lol. The process started in the third week of September 2017 and I’m proud to say that I achieved this for all of 2018. This was no easy task given a few weeks out of the year I was travelling, with the odd week or two I also caught the seasonal sick bug.

What does it take to do some sort of physical activity 294 times in one year like I did? Consistency and lifestyle. As I have said in the past, they are married to each other and you can’t have one without the other. Pushing through the calendar year beyond the September 2018 target date also allowed me to extend my goal even further. As of this writing, I am still going five days a week strong!

Hosting

Most of my friends know that I once used to moonlight regularly as a club MC/host. I’m talking hosting everything from nightlife parties, to stags, weddings etc. In early November, I was asked by my employer to be the master of ceremonies for our annual Christmas party. I constantly refer to this evening as “prom,” the one night of the year where everyone in the company literally dresses up in formal attire lol.

Continue reading “2018 Year In Review”

September 30, 2018April 7, 2020

Dear Summer ’18 Part 2

The second half of my summer adventures picked up pretty quickly from the previous blog post. Now in the month of August, I continued to travel and took a few more trips to some familiar places.

Montreal – August 10-12

One of my all time favourite cities to visit is Montreal, Quebec. It is roughly a six hour drive and me and my friends make the trek for a number of reasons. Primarily we love to go for the food, the fashion and all the cultural elements that make the 514 unique. It was my 11th time visiting and it never disappoints.

We rented this Airbnb loft that could sleep our crew of 11 in Old Port. It was a very nice place, formerly situated in a business building with very modern touches inside the unit. What was pretty cool about the location was that it was within walking distance of the historic Notre-Dame Basilica. This cathedral has been around since the 17th century! I was able to wake up early on the Sunday morning and attend 8 am mass.

The architecture inside is immaculate, so well crafted and visually astonishing. Heck, I only knew the place because Celine Dion famously wed there in 1994 lol. It was my first time going there and even if you are not roman catholic, I recommend you stop by and explore this magnificent church.

Le Bremner Chef Sample Dinner — One of the main dishes served at the Le Bremner chef sample dinner, mango with steak

I also had a chance to take in the fine dining that Old Port has to offer. The first night we dined at the Vieux-Port Steakhouse and surprisingly to my friends, I elected not to order a steak (you’ll find out why later in the blog post). Instead I had lobster linguine and it was alright, nothing special but nothing bad either.

The next night, four of us attended a chef sampler dinner at Le Bremner, operated by chef, TV personality and restaurateur Chuck Hughes. It was my first time experiencing a chef sampler dinner and it was nothing short of amazing. All of the food presented to our table was fresh with the menu being unique for that particular day.

The size portions were not grand, but there was more than enough food to feed our group. After attending this dinner, you learn to have a greater appreciation for culinary chefs and the reasons why they use certain spices and ingredients in their cooking. You can literally taste it in your mouth! Click here to view my Montreal gallery.

Continue reading “Dear Summer ’18 Part 2”

August 31, 2018April 7, 2020

Dear Summer ’18 Part 1

This past summer, I made it an effort to travel and enjoy life. A lot of times…we just work, work and work. I’m no different myself, having worked an average of 64 hours a week for the past year and a half. I wanted to recap and share some of my travels this past summer, which I haven’t done in a while. Let’s take a look.

Monday Night RAW (07-16-18) — Monday Night RAW

July 16 – WWE Monday Night RAW in Buffalo, New York

For those who know me, I am a long time wrestling fan. I don’t get out that much to watch the product in person, instead I follow online and catch up with the recaps through news boards. An old friend of mine from my early dairy industry days, invited me for a one day mini road trip to Buffalo, New York. I agreed and told Eddie that we were due for a reunion,so we caught a Monday Night RAW show.

So I went on Stub Hub, bought some tickets for us (he has no idea I paid above market value for them lol) and got us ninth row ringside. I figured if we were going to travel for an hour and a half across the border, we better have some decent seats!

Overall it was fun night, watching the current roster of wrestling superstars do their thing on RAW. We both agreed that Buffalo was our least favourite town for multiple reasons. But at the end of the day it was about reconnecting, sharing some old stories and catching up on life.

Probably the biggest disappointment for me was the WiFi inside the arena, it was terrible! It kept kicking you out after you logged in. How am I supposed to share social media content with my audience? I’m not using my own data in this town! Lol. Check out some pictures and videos below.