Hey, guys. It's been a while, eh? For those of you who don't know, I'm an editor here on CBM, and even though I haven't been active with posting and editing articles, I still very much visit the site on a daily basis. I've been a member of CBM since February 2009, and since then, this is the first page I open when I go online. It's basically a routine for me. I've seen old members of the site leaving, new members joining our community, editors taking on other writing projects, etc... In all this time, I've made some rather great (online) friends and contacts and even though we have never met in person, we do talk via email, Facebook and Twitter. We all share the same passion for cinema and comic book movies, which is something that I want to talk to you about as well.
The reason I haven't been active that much, is because during these last 365 days, I decided to lose weight. I was a big fella before. It all started when I was kid... a car hit me and left me immobile for a year. I couldn't walk, so I spent a whole year in bed, basically. My left leg was broken in various places, and doctors even talked about cutting it at one point. But luckily, they didn't, so I had to do a lot of physical therapy and just be patient. It wasn't easy, I can tell you that. Years later, due to my weakened legs, I had other accidents and couple of years ago I had a knee surgery. Point is, I spent a lot of time in bed, healing... and eating. I just never managed to get fit again. Films have always kind of been there for me, ever since I was kid and helped me get through a lot in life. Way more than I care to admit. Watching superhero movies somehow always stayed the same. Whether I was kid or now as an adult, I found them incredibly inspirational and wildly entertaining. It's the majestic stories and characters that give these movies weight and meaning. I started loving the idea of working in the film industry very early on, as my folks took me to cinema every week. It was my favorite part of growing up. I started reading about films and what it takes to make one, who directed what, who wrote the screenplay and all that. I went back do the classic movies and watched as many as I could. I'm still exploring this vast world of cinema, which keeps getting more and more interesting as I get older.
As I mentioned above, a year ago I decided to lose weight. I just wanted to feel healthy again. So, last week, that one year has passed. I managed to lose 59kg (130 pounds). And let me tell you something, it was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. While I was very successful at this, this journey was quite lonely and I felt lost many, many times during this transformation. That's not to say my friends and family weren't there for me. They were. But, no one really knew what I was going through. I had a friend who I talked to on a daily basis and she helped me a lot. I'll always be grateful to her for that. Couple of months ago we had a fight, because she told me I changed to worse with my behavior. Lately, I'm starting to think she was right. I tried apologizing but it didn't work. With losing weight, your ego will get bigger and you will change mentally. I see that I definitely changed. It's the way it is. What I'm trying to say is that you should control your environment. Don't be controlled by it. I learned that the hard way and a little bit too late. But, during this journey, CBM and other film websites (like
SlashFilm.com,
FirstShowing.net,
ComingSoon.net,
SHH forums,
Collider and others) always helped me get through my day. Reading movie news every day, as well as editorials and reviews, made it easier for me to not think about weight loss all the time. Because that can be frustrating and you'll just lose track of what you're trying to do. Having some hobby, like writing, drawing, reading, can help a person with these stuff. I still have some work to do as far as my training goes, but I'll try to be more active on the site. In the end, I just want to say thanks to all of you members on the site who keep CBM getting bigger and bigger, as well as other film lovers who support the media in any way. And to those of you who want to lose weight or transform their physique, but are afraid to start because they know they will fail, I tell you this -- nothing is easy. Find your inspiration, whatever it is and go for it. It's a process, just like filmmaking.