It's been a doozy of a year for roommates Colin Towle and Jeremy Dumouchel, their apartment caught on fire, but they kept their chins up.
"The first one, our spirits were really high even though something like this happened," says Towle. "I guess it's a coping mechanism."
They moved into a new apartment, this time in Verdun and quickly discovered bed bugs, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise when their second apartment burned down as well.
"We mostly got water damage from the fire and all of our things were in plastic bags because we needed to protect them from the bed bugs."
He and his roommate feel like they've been cursed.
The're both freelancers, Towle designs videogames, Dumouchel is a musician and they've had to replace thousands of dollars of equipment twice within 6 months.
He says though it seems suspicious that they've been hit twice - the first fire was an electrical short, possibly from a lightning bolt, the second one neither of the men were home for and it began in a neighbors apartment... they're just at the mercy of chance.
"Most people's reaction has been 'buy a lottery ticket'!" he says.