Met my sister from another mister in 2017 at Camp Kennebec. We clicked right away after playing a game of spoons during training week, where I accidentally headbutted her. Our days off from camp were simply the best - Kingston was our town, Stages was our dancefloor, and Johanna’s house was our afterparty spot. We became close friends quickly, and it’s no surprise why - we’re both tiny, loud, and crazy ladies who are always down for an adventure! It’s no wonder we’re often referred to as the Minions! I’m also looking forward to travelling to Mexico in February 2025 to stand with her as her bridesmaid when she gets married to the love of her life. 💗

Met this amazing lady at Camp Kennebec in 2016. She worked as the nanny for our camp director’s sons. She must have taken a liking to us nurses, because she frequented the infirmary with the boys, and we became quick friends. After our first summer, we stayed in close contact, and I travelled to Britain just a couple months later to go visit her (and of course she was just the best host around). Despite being way across the pond, we still keep in touch over messenger and Facetime, and have been on a trip to Ireland together. And soon I’ll be travelling to the UK for her upcoming wedding in April 2025!

I met Kaylee in 2019, after getting the job on the Concurrent Youth Unit. She’s the Tweedledum to my Tweedledee. If I remember correctly, I think we became close thanks to TikTok. She was one of few people willing to try out TikTok trends and challenges with me. We even spent our whole lunch break at work one day trying to master a challenging TikTok dance (we were very dedicated). Our friendship grew from there, and we’ve even travelled to Mexico together! We make fun of each other all the time, but at the end of the day, I have nothing but love for this lady, and she’s genuinely one of the most caring people out there.

We started working at CAMH on the exact same day back in 2017; talk about kizmet! She is one of the most bubbly people I know, and can bring the energy to any party (however, please be cautioned, she struggles to stay up past midnight). Though she no longer works with me, we’ve stayed close, and travelled to Mexico together! We clearly enjoyed ourselves, because we continue to do regular taco and margarita dates. She is also the person who came to the nail salon with me for my pre-engagement manicure, because I was telling her about my suspicion that Ian was going to propose soon (and sure enough, I was right). Fun fact: I took her out for another manicure date a few months after this, and then later that night - it was her turn to get engaged!

I’ve known this special lady since grade 6. That’s 20 years of friendship! 😱 We’ve come a long way since middle school, but I’ll never forget when we used to think playing heads or tails all recess long was the best form of entertainment. Yorkdale Mall was also a frequent destination for us - movies, Kernels, and bubble tea were always part of the equation. Though we’ve shared a lot of amazing fun memories, we’ve also dealt with shared heartbreak - with one of our best friends passing away too soon in 2023. We shared tears, reminisced about the good old days, promised to live long lives (god willing), and to be there for each others weddings. We both wish you could be here for my special day too Jacob; we’ll love you always.

I first met Emma in grade 9 English class when I started at a new school. After coming home after school one day, my mom decided to take it upon herself to introduce me to the kid across the street so I might have some company on walks to and from school. Though I resisted and begged her not to embarrass me, that’s how I found out Emma, my English classmate, was my neighbour. We became good friends throughout all of high school. We continued to be neighbours for a long time after high school as well, having chats at the nearby park every now and then to catch up on life. Though she’s no longer my neighbour, she’s still a dear friend who I’ve shared a lot of precious moments with.

This is my younger, taller brother, Shawn. It's tough for me to call him my little brother when he outgrew me at age 8 and, judging by the size of that bicep, is still way bigger than me. I'm afraid to guess how many hours we spent growing up playing Mario or Pokemon with each other, but he's working for Nintendo now so it all paid off. It's hard to describe Shawn in one small paragraph, but he mic-dropped his coming out announcement in a Grade 12 presentation on same-sex marriage, which I always found pretty badass. He's had Type 1 diabetes since he was 8 and quickly became the healthiest one in the family by far. He's a pretty great dude...the best, man, some might say.

I've been stuck with this guy ever since I decided to sit next to him in Grade 9 English class. We never shut up back then and we still haven't developed that skill yet, 18 years later. If you've never met Sabesh, he's one of those guys everyone kinda gravitates towards. Anytime I introduce him to a new set of people, he immediately fits right in, then everyone always asks for the next gathering "is Sabesh coming!?" His approval rating tends to be way higher than mine, which is fair. He's a fun guy, easy to get along with, a GREAT host for any event, not to mention he has the deepest freaking voice I've ever heard - and he's had it since he was 12. It's creepy.

You just met Sabesh. This has been his BFF since back in the high school days, and we all still try to keep in touch. You'll meet Tejpal in a minute, they've been my three Indian boys since back in the day. We used to be soooo obsessed with the NFL - my fantasy football league with them was basically the only thing I cared about in my teen years, including girls. We used to play hallway football (HFL) all the time after school, but the bigger guys always went easier on me since they were a solid 100 pounds heavier than me (I hit puberty at age 20, it was awesome). Now Aftab is happily married to a lovely Filipina woman, which is basically the blueprint for me here, so I'm hoping this works out.

This is Tejpal kicking through concrete. It's always fun to say I'm buddies with a guy who can kick through concrete (that's me filming in the background on the right, about to lose my mind). He earned his 2nd-degree blackbelt in Taekwondo that night, then he went on to run the place for a few years. Then he made Polio in a lab for a few years (I'm not kidding), and now work has dragged him to the state of New York, so we don't get to see each other as often. When we do, it's just like the good old days. The same old stupid jokes, all of us screaming about a sports video game (Madden or 2k), Tejpal going on about how much he's in love with J Cole. Extreme guy energy, but I love it, these have been my boys for a solid decade and a half.

Fun fact: I met Theo at frosh week in university after volunteering to be in a hypnotist show, because I thought they were all frauds. It turns out I'm highly susceptible to hypnotism, eventually turning into a male stripper by the end of that night. The next day he walked by me on campus and yelled "Yo stripper!" and weirdly became my best friend throughout my time at university. We ended up starting a nerdy Leafs podcast together after graduating, which I eventually took over once he became a hotshot law student at Queens. Now he's a hotshot lawyer downtown, ripping off everyday people so he can make more money for the billion-dollar insurance companies. Good things happen to you when you sell out, kids, just ask Theo.

Full disclosure, this isn't actually what he looks like. I'm not quite sure why I have a photo of him on my phone looking like a Palestinian Mr. T, but I'm glad I found it. Faris and I have been friends since we met at a 2013 Leafs playoff game at Boston Pizza. Since then we haven't stopped talking about nerdy sports stuff, politics, or whatever show we're both obsessed with (right now it's The Bear). I helped kick him out of the province when I drove the moving van with all of his stuff from Toronto to Montreal, where he's been for a couple years now. We both try to make time to visit each other once or twice a year so we can do what's most important in life: drink beer and talk nonsense to each other.