Gerry Flowers (Ryan’s Dad)
USMC Recon Marine Sergeant, Vietnam Veteran, Helicopter and Jet Pilot,
amazing storyteller and a compassionate friend and father. He’s also very
dangerous when cornered and if you are counted among his close circle, he
will always look out for you. Many years ago, Gerry and Ryan completely
disassembled and restored a 1964 Volkswagen Bus together and Ryan cherishes
it dearly for that reason and continues to sink money into keeping it alive.
Gerry has above-average to excellent cleaning, organization and vacuuming
skills that as many of you know, he passed on to his son. Ryan described him
as brave, charming, very funny, with a life story that reads like a novel,
he has a Short Fuse and a big heart.
Lynn Flowers (Ryan’s Mom)
Lynn is a kind and caring woman, she raised Ryan to be compassionate and
gentle. For many years Lynn was a well-loved education assistant for
students at elementary schools in Richmond, and taught Ryan to love all
people equally and give everybody a chance. She is an artistic craftswoman,
and a gifted seamstress, and has the most adorable dog in Steveston. Ryan
described her as goofy, very hard worker, extremely smart and only snaps
when I’ve really really screwed up. Always believed in me, taught me
kindness.
Regan Flowers (Ryan’s sister)
Regan is a joyful spirit who loves to laugh and smile. She brings happiness
to all those who know her. She is always thoughtful and loves to give gifts
and notes, letting people know how much she cares about them. Ryan described
her as Loud, Goofy, Devoted, and Emotional. Asides from Jimmy Leung she is
basically the only other person who will accept daytime phonecalls from Ryan
as he is out on the streets delivering mail and wanting to talk endlessly.
Most people let it go to voicemail but Ryan loves and cherishes this time
talking laughing and crying with his sister, and wishes she lived closer to
him so they could meet up every single day.
Robert Tornroos (Ryan’s Best Man)
Rob & Ryan have been friends since they were five years old, and people
who don’t know them well often believe they are fighting and arguing but
apparently, according to them, they are expressing a deep affection. Ryan
described him as Aggressive, highly Organized, good at guitar, pretty loyal,
but he scatters in emergency situations. Five days a week they meet for a 1
hour coffee break while Ryan is supposed to be working, and talk about all
the scripts they want to write and how they’re gonna get it together in
Life. They started their first Radiohead cover band together in Grade 10 but
unfortunately their band was absolutely destroyed in a performance
competition by Andrew Lee’s heavy metal band Adnauseum.
Andrew Lee (Ryan’s Best Man)
Former Adnauseum frontman Andrew is now a semi-successful musician and
artist who just moved to New York City. Ryan described him as pretty much
Broke & Delusional, a great driver though, very honorable towards
friends only, very lazy unless it concerns him, good cook, also very
articulate if you can get him to open up. He also said Andrew is the
greatest songwriter of their generation, and they’ve been in bands together
for over 15 years. Andrew also gave Ryan his first motorcycle. He taught
Ryan about poetry, art and honor.
Mike Dawson (Ryan’s Groomsman)
Mike and Ryan have also been friends since they were 5 years old, and they
connect on a profound level about philosophy, computers, and a deep
obsession with the emotional Heavy Metal band Tool. Mike receives a lot of
phonecalls from Ryan during the workday but Mike is a busy programmer and
needs to focus so can only talk briefly, but always takes the time to cheer
Ryan up. Ryan described him as High IQ, no bullshit, very good audiobook
recommends, introduced me to Reddit and has always mentored me about cutting
edge subjects, also very very dangerous when cornered. A big part of their
lives they trained the Bruce Lee style Wing Chun Kung Fu together and Ryan
says it changed his life.
Tyler Hagan (Ryan’s Groomsman)
Tyler came into Ryan’s life when he cold-approached Ryan and Andrew and
asked them to drive him to The Coachella Music Festival in Palm Springs
California, because the girls who were supposed to drive Tyler decided to
ditch him at the last minute and catch a flight instead. Ryan describes
Tyler as extremely stable, smarter than expected, pretty good appetite,
didn’t think he was that good at ice hockey when we first started playing
but turned out to be one of the best players on the team. Also good at
writing essays. They went to Simon Fraser University Film school together
and Ryan said he would have given up and dropped out if Tyler didn’t save
his ass and help him through it. Ryan said Tyler has a huge heart and is one
of the kindest guys he’s ever known.
Ash Poon (Ryan’s Groomsman)
Ash has been the guitarist in bands with Ryan and Andrew and Rob and Steve
Watts for the past fifteen years and was known to flip out on stage to the
point where his glasses would fly off and audience members were trying to
unplug his cables because they were concerned he was being electrocuted.
Most surprising and melodic guitar riffs ever created. Ryan described him as
outwardly appearing to be a dork, yet underneath the Joe Fresh button-up is
the absolute craziest cut-loose nutcase he knows, charming, loving,
generous. Hands down the best guy to go to a buffet with. Very difficult to
sleep beside in a van though due to extreme abnormally loud snoring. He is a
great father and has 2 young children, and Ryan is inspired by him to become
a father.
Paul Hiebert (Ryan’s Groomsman)
Paul is a writer living in New York City now, but for many years he lived
in a single room apartment with Ryan, Andrew, and Tyler. He mostly stayed in
the middle bunk of a triple bunk bed where he had taped up magazine cutouts
of high-end New York fashion models and was known to go to the casino in
sweatpants to earn his rent money. A lot of people think Paul and Ryan are
brothers due to similarities in looks, speech patterns and general vibe.
Ryan described him as very very wise but also clueless at the same time.
Good at Blackjack. Poetic, disarming, endearing, curious. Ryan looks back on
their two weeks being homeless on the streets of Toronto and Montreal as a
transformative life changing experience.
Jimmy Leung (Ryan’s Groomsman)
Jimmy and Ryan cold-approached each other about 15 years ago in a church
parking lot and immediately bonded over a shared love of James Cameron
action movies. Ryan described him as fired up, good at video games, very
supportive, always accepts phone calls, has a ripped Bruce Lee body, large
appetite and deep knowledge of outside-the-box business investment
strategies. They talk on the phone every single day and have a thick duotang
filled with all their Side-Hustle Business ideas which Lisa needs to
confiscate regularly when they become a bit too worked up with it. Ryan said
they can always talk to about their struggles and fears, and Jimmy always
loves him and helps him through it.
(2018)