Leon Picha and everything to do with his life

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Ramblings: Raw thoughts that may or may not have been proofread idk


For as long as I can remember I've written stuff down. Like, my notes app is a wild mess, my Instagram close friends is pretty well my diary, but also I just generally love to share. Here, I'll have entries that I want to share. Maybe they're in a moment, or maybe they're from the past, or maybe they're looking to the future. I don't know how this is going to shape out, but I'll include the index below.


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2025 - 01 - 22 | Some of My Favourite Things


I've been stewing over this for a bit, and I promised myself after I went out for a walk I'd be able to write this entry - hello!

A long time ago, my grandma said "your life must be exhausting." She said that to me because she said that she was raised under this idea that you are supposed to surpress your feelings; sweep them under the rug and only address them if they must be addressed. She went onto say how exhausting it must be for me to feel things so deeply, to think about what people say, to feel everything, and to process everything, too. I thought about it a bit, but I told her an Adele quote that I love (less the expletive): "if you're not feeling everything, you're fucking missing everything."

SO HERE WE GO! I want to share some of my favourite things with you. Some specific, some more general, I'm not sure where this will go. But here's some things that come to mind and I'll put them through as I think of them.

Lorde Singing Writer In The Dark in Vancouver in 2018



I was actually at this show. It was one of the first concert (I think it was the first) concert that I went to on my own will. My dad and sister are big music people, and they'd take me to all these concerts that they wanted to go to, but this one I went to own my own accord. Albeit, I did bring a McDonald's colleague that I wasn't too familiar with, this concert was so special to me.

I won't even go into specifics about what she said in the fireside chat, but I just enjoy it so much. She speaks with such heart, she speaks about the city I grew up in (IN the city I grew up in), and I remember so vividly hearing her say something in real time and giggling. It was when she says "I was doing my, special things, in New Zealand" at 3:30 ish in the video, I remember actually laughing aloud like she was talking with me. It was a special moment, and one of the strongest person-to-person moments I've had at a concert. Listen to it if you can, and imagine sixteen year old Leon, in the lower bowl of Rogers Arena, pretty well directly to the right of the person filming the video, holding both of his hands together resting under his chin pressed to his chest, just happy. It was one of the first moments I thought that I could really do whatever I wanted in the world, that the world is magic, and I want to see all the magic there is in the world.

When it comes to the actual song though, towards the end, she did this thing that she didn't do in the studio versions, nor has she really done in other live versions that I've been able to find (around 9:13 of the video). She sings the chorus once again, in a lower key. It's so vulnerable, it takes a step away from the "song" and makes it more conversational: "I am my mother's child I'll love you 'till my breathing stops. I'll love you, 'till you call the cops on me. But in our darkest hours I stumbled on a secret power, I'll find a way to be without you, babe."

And don't even get me started on the line "I ride the subway, read the signs, I let the seasons change my mind I love it here; since I've stopped needing you." Because you know what? Yeah! I have loved it here since I stopped needing you. Not telling you who "they" are, but it changes depending on if they're taking up space in my mind.

SNCF Class BB 15000 Locomotives

Why do they look like that lol love them



The Neon Sign in St. Pancras Station That Says I want my time with You



I first saw this sign in Grade 12 on my school's Europe trip in March of 2019. Our first city on the itinerary was in London, and we took the Eurostar from St. Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord, but I was so excited to be in a European train station. I've always liked trains (substantiating the previous favourite), and being in a European train station was just so exciting for me. That time though, was very strange for me. I had just received the Loran Scholarship, I was in grade 12, and I had zero idea of what my life was going to look like in 4 months time, let alone a year. It was a bit scary, honestly. I was freshly eighteen (I actually bought a vape in one of the tourist stores beside Tottenham Court Road tube stn), so I was curious about this new life that I was going to live. One of adulthood, responsibility, and making decisions for myself. In reflection, I got in my own head. I was going too fast and I was only thinking about me and what I had to do. We walked into the station from a side entrance on Midland Road just off the A501, so I walk into the station, and see the sign. It caught my attention immediately.

I WANT MY TIME WITH YOU. Who? Well, my family. I knew I was going to have to move away from British Columbia because to accept Loran I had to leave my home province. I want my time with my friends because high school is about to be over and we're all going to different places. I want my time with London because the city is so beautiful and I didn't know when I'd ever be back. I want my time with myself because the world is going to fast I just want to be with me. But it's simple: I want my time with You, whomever that may be.

I've been to London three times since then, and each time I'll sit in St. Pancras Station and just look at the sign for a while. Look at the big statue of a couple saying their goodbyes, I'll look at the clock, I'll look at the ceiling, but I keep coming back to that beautiful pink glow saying "I want my time with You."

I love going back to see this sign because every time I see it, I want my time with a different part of my life. I get to be reminded of how I've grown, what I've seen, what I've done, and how far I've gone. That sign has stayed there and seen thousands, if not millions, of people from all over the world and it keeps on coming back to me. It's like the sign is saying it wants its time with me (of course I'm kidding, but let me be a little artistic for a second). This sign, to me, stands as a memory of my past, present, and future, and reminds me how valuable the gift of time is and how much of an honour it is to give and receive time.

Moonlight (2016) and its Final Scene

!! CAUTION: POSSIBLE SPOILERS !! I ASSUME NO RESPONSIBILITY IF THIS SPOILS THE FILM FOR YOIU IT'S BEEN OUT SINCE 2016 !!



Moonlight came to me in a very strange part of my life. It was June 2020, I had moved back to Richmond to live with my grandma after the pandemic had started, I was very bored at home, there was nothing to do with the pandemic, and worldwide tensions were at an all-time high. After the murder of George Floyd, Cineplex (Canada's national cinema company) made a select number of black films available for free streaming on their website. I had always been curious about Moonlight, I knew that it was about queer identity but nothing else about it. Little did I know it sorta changed the trajectory of my life.

Once again, it was a very strange part of my life. I still wasn't "out" to my family yet, and I was fighting a battle within myself of accepting my queer identity, and finding a balance of my masculinity. With me still being in the closet, I leaned into more of the masculine side of things (as much as a soft-boy like me could). The movie so beautifully captures the delicacy, the care, and the tightrope walk that young queer men from racialized backgrounds experience as they navigate their queerness at a young age. Before this, I had never felt as seen in a piece of media - ever. The relationship he has with his mom, his masculinity, his upbringing, it still stands as the only piece of media where I can see the version of myself that once was, before I determined and decided who I am.

Another cool thing that I just want to share, back when I was with my ex and he was trying to "woo" me when I was in Florida for the first time, he actually took me to the diner where the diner scene takes place. He actually took me to a lot of the places in the movie (perks of being in Florida), and he still gets a lot of credit for that. I went to Florida in June of 2024, more than a year after our break up, and I still went to that diner - Jimmy's Eastside Diner, and to me now it stands as a memory of who I was. How naive I was, how far I had to go, and where I was going to go. The food is great, and I love that it stands as a community meeting place today. It's a fully functioning diner; one of those places where the staff know the regulars by name. It's a special place that reminds me of my development and the things that got me to where I can look back. It's hard to forget when they have a full-sized movie poster of the film on the entryway corkboard.

I could go on about Moonlight, but I want to share the last scene. This scene is one of the most vulnerable, so well-executed, and human scenes that I know. Of course, I haven't watched all too many movies, but this one means so much to me. The emotion, the orchestral background, the vulnerability, the display of masculinity, it's just so so much. The end too, where young Chiron is looking out to the water but looks back at the camera. It can mean so much, but this is what it means to me: he could go into the water and swim away from who he is, but he's stopped by himself... his older self. He's brought back to the warmth of the world, the land, and is here. Part of the scene, Kevin goes "you're here, Chiron." and it shows that there's of course him, connecting with his younger self, but it's also the community of people bringing him back, too. He can be that young version of himself again, he can dance, he can smile, and he can be him again. It felt like that happened to me when I watched the movie. If you watch the clip I've shared, please watch it in its entirety, and with full volume. I promise there isn't a jumpscare, but the music is very important, too (including the end as it transitions into the credits I promise)

I actually got the chance to meet Barry Jenkins, the Director of Moonlight when he and Nicholas Britell (the movie's composer) recreated the movie's soundtrack at the San Francisco Orchestra. He walked by where I was sitting (it was a sort of lounge-style, back-stage studio), and started talking with someone he knew. Next thing I knew, I slid out of the high stool I was sitting on, and I went up to him and exchanged pleasantries before saying "thank you for making Moonlight. It's been so helpful for me and my development into who I am today." I don't really remember what he said, but he for sure thanked me for sharing my words, and he used "I appreciate you" in a very thoughtful way. I haven't shared this with anyone before, but I've watched a lot of his interviews, and if you ever catch me saying "much love" it's because of him. I really admire the way he communicates, and I have a lot to thank Mr. Jenkins for. Thank you, Barry Jenkins, for making and believing in the story and doing everything in your power to make sure the story was told.

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Well, that's all I have to share for now. I'll do this again, or at least I intend to. I hope you made it to this point, and I really appreciate you getting to know some more about my favourite things. Find a way to contact me if you like, and share something that you consider to be your favourite. A song, a locomotive, or a piece of art. I'm all ears ♡