Shortly after I arrived at Chris Connolly's East Vancouver domicile with a few coldies, the topic of obscure qualities came up: "I love awkward moments - when something weird is happening and someone is put into a really uncomfortable position," he mentioned with a laugh. "But only when it's not happening to me. I just like to witness them." Fair enough. Hanging with Conns, even if he's just doing some car shopping on Craigslist, fails to disappoint.

The 27-year-old high-speed roller transplanted himself from Ottawa years ago, and wound up a certified Hastings park loc, while also collecting some good sponsors along the way: Converse Canada, Blood Wizard skateboards, BLVD Skateshop and LOWCARD gear.

Dangling off a building with a paint gun, working as a carnie, getting scouted by elite fruit booters as a child, appearing on billboards nationwide, and finally getting a chance to use "Thug Love" as the soundtrack to a video part garnished with nudity and light vomiting are only just a few of Conns' magic moments. Experience them for yourself...

First off, let's cheers to your promotion. Can you explain the gig?
I've never had a promotion before, it was pretty cool [laughs]. I work in the Olympic Village painting all the metal parts of the balconies - they're called mullions. I have a dude who tapes them all off for me then I go up and paint them with the same unit they use on cars - an air compressor and paint gun. We've got harnesses so we can hang off the side of a building.

How far up have you been?
I've hung off the 10th floor before...

When were you a carnie?
When I was 18. My dad used to be a carnie on the road for a few years, and I think he still has my carnie pass that would get me into the fairgrounds [laughs]. I worked at one for a couple weeks in Ottawa and they asked me to go on the road with them after, but I just said no. Nobody in the carnival has teeth [laughs].

While on the job topic, what's the most amount of money you've made from skateboarding?
$2000 doing a Nokia billboard ad about 7 years ago. Went to Toronto for the weekend, brought some homies, and stayed at a sick hotel ordering room service and partying. We went to the Mississauga park for maybe an hour and I did a melon grab over a rail. A couple months later there were billboards all over Canada with my picture. I used the 2 Grand to move out to Vancouver.

Someone told me about your pro blading stint as a child...
First of all, I wasn't a pro rollerblader [laughs]. When I was around 10 I played street hockey and had rollerblades for that. I went to summer camp to play roller hockey, and they brought us to a skatepark one day. This rollerblade team did a demo and because it's super easy I started jumping around on the ramps after and doing 360s [laughs]. They were like: "You're pretty good, wanna come hang with the team?"

You were recruited by that rollerblade troupe?
They hooked me up with some new blades and a bunch of gear. For the next couple weeks I went and did demos with the team. I always skated, even before that, so at the end of the summer I caught myself in the wrong and took a step back: "What am I doing? I'm not a rollerblader!" I was young enough to get away with it, but even at the tender age of 10 I could tell that was not the right path [laughs].

(keep reading for Chris's take on Cows & Cousins)