This one time, at film camp.
It was the summer of 2001 and I was 17 and I was “Kristen from Beaumont”. I didn’t have a lot experience doing adult life stuff that you’re supposed to do in high school. I was a bit of a misfit drama/film geek and I spent a lot of time walled up in my high school’s editing suite which is part of the reason why I got a scholarship to attend the Galiano Island Film and Television School in the summer.
This was the coolest. Not only did I get to go out to Victoria and hang out all day by myself, I also got to go on a bus tour and to a farmers market! I felt very independent because this was my first trip alone. I was rocking solo travel at 17.
I was proud about getting a scholarship to film camp and traveling by myself but the one thing I really hadn’t done in my life was break away from who I was.
In grade seven I remember asking my mom if it would be okay if we moved away because more than anything I wanted to re-invent myself. I wanted there to be a new first day of school and I always secretly envied the new kids that got to be transferred from another school and got to try something new. I guess that’s how I romanticized the life of “The New Student.”
I boarded the ferry at Schwartz Bay and I quickly figured out who was going to film camp, because there was a girl who looked geeky- but cool geeky and there was another guy who was talking to her and there was a younger guy who was with his Mom. He had a big suitcase and his Mom was getting more and more worried by the moment. We all hooked up and went on the ferry from Schwartz Bay to Galiano Island together.
The little boy was named Devin, and he didn’t say much, the other guy was named Scott and the girl was named Jessikah. She spelled it out for me. I really wound up getting along with her and she was like “Kristen, I just want to tell stories. I just want to be a storyteller.” I thought she was the coolest because that was exactly what I wanted to do too.
She invited me up to the top deck and we stood up there with the ocean wind waving through our hair. She looked at me through her 60’s style glasses and said, “You know Kristen, we’re going to film camp and that’s pretty huge.” We looked out onto the beautiful islands that the ferry was passing by and she continued, “This is your chance to be who you want to be and reinvent yourself.”
I looked at her and I nodded. Then she said, “Hey do you smoke?” and without thinking I spoke- “yes.”
Even though I had never smoked anything in my life, I lit one up and started smoking. She said to me, “I just love cigarettes and coffee.”
“Me too”.
So for that week, I was a chain smoking, coffee drinking film geek.
It came time to do our movie. Jessikah and I decided that we wanted to do a movie about pot. Drugs for me were the coolest things to never do. I thought we were really cool just making this film about two sisters that smoke pot. We needed to make a joint out of oregano for our prop, so I pretended to know how to roll a joint. I tried and was failing miserably and had to make up excuses for my lack of talent. “Hey Lindzi..” I said to this girl from Saltspring Island, “this joint is doing weird stuff, do you mind rolling it for me? I’ve gotta go smoke and drink coffee!”
We shot the film, complete with smoke breaks and when we were done we went and drank coffee and smoked more and talked about how great we are at being storytellers and directors. We edited the film, and then came the credits.
Jessikah looked at me and said “Kristen? How do you even spell that name?” I looked at her and said, “oh it’s easy.” Then I proceeded to spell my name. “It’s K-R-I-S swiggly hyphen (~) asterisk (*) 1 - 0 asterisk (*).
“Kris~*10* McGregor” was what I was credited as.
I stopped smoking the second I left film camp, and laid off the coffee. It still is pretty neat to look back on my life at age 17 and think that I finally got that chance to try something that I’m not.
On my way out from the Island, we passed a knick knack store and I bought some Marilyn Monroe Tortoiseshell sunglasses and this guy named Shawn was like “oh my gosh Kris~*10* your glasses are so great!” I looked at him and said “Oh I’ve always had these.”
I think the fun of re-inventing yourself is telling a lie and making it become a truth. I still own those glasses, and I guess now I have always had them.
Oh, and I’m still a giant dork.
This was the coolest. Not only did I get to go out to Victoria and hang out all day by myself, I also got to go on a bus tour and to a farmers market! I felt very independent because this was my first trip alone. I was rocking solo travel at 17.
I was proud about getting a scholarship to film camp and traveling by myself but the one thing I really hadn’t done in my life was break away from who I was.
In grade seven I remember asking my mom if it would be okay if we moved away because more than anything I wanted to re-invent myself. I wanted there to be a new first day of school and I always secretly envied the new kids that got to be transferred from another school and got to try something new. I guess that’s how I romanticized the life of “The New Student.”
I boarded the ferry at Schwartz Bay and I quickly figured out who was going to film camp, because there was a girl who looked geeky- but cool geeky and there was another guy who was talking to her and there was a younger guy who was with his Mom. He had a big suitcase and his Mom was getting more and more worried by the moment. We all hooked up and went on the ferry from Schwartz Bay to Galiano Island together.
The little boy was named Devin, and he didn’t say much, the other guy was named Scott and the girl was named Jessikah. She spelled it out for me. I really wound up getting along with her and she was like “Kristen, I just want to tell stories. I just want to be a storyteller.” I thought she was the coolest because that was exactly what I wanted to do too.
She invited me up to the top deck and we stood up there with the ocean wind waving through our hair. She looked at me through her 60’s style glasses and said, “You know Kristen, we’re going to film camp and that’s pretty huge.” We looked out onto the beautiful islands that the ferry was passing by and she continued, “This is your chance to be who you want to be and reinvent yourself.”
I looked at her and I nodded. Then she said, “Hey do you smoke?” and without thinking I spoke- “yes.”
Even though I had never smoked anything in my life, I lit one up and started smoking. She said to me, “I just love cigarettes and coffee.”
“Me too”.
So for that week, I was a chain smoking, coffee drinking film geek.
It came time to do our movie. Jessikah and I decided that we wanted to do a movie about pot. Drugs for me were the coolest things to never do. I thought we were really cool just making this film about two sisters that smoke pot. We needed to make a joint out of oregano for our prop, so I pretended to know how to roll a joint. I tried and was failing miserably and had to make up excuses for my lack of talent. “Hey Lindzi..” I said to this girl from Saltspring Island, “this joint is doing weird stuff, do you mind rolling it for me? I’ve gotta go smoke and drink coffee!”
We shot the film, complete with smoke breaks and when we were done we went and drank coffee and smoked more and talked about how great we are at being storytellers and directors. We edited the film, and then came the credits.
Jessikah looked at me and said “Kristen? How do you even spell that name?” I looked at her and said, “oh it’s easy.” Then I proceeded to spell my name. “It’s K-R-I-S swiggly hyphen (~) asterisk (*) 1 - 0 asterisk (*).
“Kris~*10* McGregor” was what I was credited as.
I stopped smoking the second I left film camp, and laid off the coffee. It still is pretty neat to look back on my life at age 17 and think that I finally got that chance to try something that I’m not.
On my way out from the Island, we passed a knick knack store and I bought some Marilyn Monroe Tortoiseshell sunglasses and this guy named Shawn was like “oh my gosh Kris~*10* your glasses are so great!” I looked at him and said “Oh I’ve always had these.”
I think the fun of re-inventing yourself is telling a lie and making it become a truth. I still own those glasses, and I guess now I have always had them.
Oh, and I’m still a giant dork.