I now feel like I belong.

Hi. I’m the Movie Guy at Britannia.

How I got that lofty distinction is a bit of a story but it started simply by volunteering. After years of contract work on the road I realized I had no friends in my adopted home city so what else does one do but head to the community centre and volunteer. I started to attend the Sunday Great Movie Night at the 55+ Centre. When the moderator indicated that he was moving on, I stepped up and said “I’ll take over.” I mean what can be so complicated about pushing the start button and watching a movie? Ends up…a lot. Creating a schedule, selecting movies, interfacing with the Library for the DVDs, creating weekly posters, upgrading the viewing facilities, leading post movie discussions (I love that part), writing pre-movie assessments (I love this part even more) and most of all meeting and greeting the regular and drop in viewers each Sunday night. None of this I do by myself. I have to interface with a host of people in the library, the admin office, other volunteers and the viewers. And, after four years, I have what I want—an infinitely better appreciation of movies, a modest but solid weekly audience and just a ton of interesting friends. I now feel like I belong—I’m the Movie Guy.