I’m not quite sure if it’s the cloudy, misty place somewhere ‘up’ or the burn-y place somewhere ‘down’ that guided the course of this past week, but it was by turns fantastical and brutally exhausting – mostly both.  Aside from mind-numbing exhaustion, very sore feet and a supposed single-day-bike-repair that stretched to nearly a week, though, it was pretty damn cool.  First week free of school-related obligations!

Monday saw me  in the basement of the Wall Centre stuffing gift bags with decidedly un-fun ‘gifts…the bags themselves gave of an aroma that had half the girls heads’ aching, and the only really exciting item they were to hold was a rather delicious chocolat from Xoxolat on Burrard.  However, this was the down side – getting to catch up with a few ladies that I’ve met at various CPRS/IABC events or volunteer gigs was actually pretty neat, and Simone and Gwen from Elettra are absolutely lovely (both as people and as formidable professionals).

But this was only the warm up – the main event was Tuesday, and the Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards.  Confession – I just wanted to get up close and personal with a giant roomful of like-minded foodies.  It was a success!  Also, perhaps a little telling, how many people remembered me as I checked them in (like the manager of Salt…not that I go there too much…especially now that I work a block away…).  The event itself was stunning (and bacon chocolate filled…), and came off without any noticeably hitch.  I can’t say too much on the actual event, as I observed most of it from behind either the registration table or the coat check, but they did give us wine at the end!  But LORD do I wish I had brought along flats, no matter how ridiculous my skirt would have looked.  The balls of my feet were screaming by 7pm.  Of course, now that I’ve nabbed a list of the winners, my list of ‘must visit’ establishments is growing unmanageable.  I’d sigh, but I’d be lying.

No time to stop and recharge, Wednesday was the first day of my internship with Tartan.  While considerably lower key (and with less standing involved) than Tuesday, it was nearly as tiring, in a mental sense.  I so want to do well and impress everyone, but at the moment I’ve little clue as to how to go about it.  So, in the meatime: do what I’m told, do extra when I can, and do it all very, very well.  In this case, it meant proofreading for several hours…that, at least, I know how to do.  From now on, I’ll be in the office Mon-Wed from 10-3 until the second week of may – after that, I haven’t the foggiest idea of what I’ll be doing or where I’ll be.  Here’s to hoping I can spin this into a summer job!

Friday and Saturday were at the job that pays the bills, and there’s little enough to say on that topic.  Things are picking up into the last 2 weeks of tax season, so Liberty Tax – North Vancouver is happy, which means my dad is happy, which means I don’t get growled at when I ask for a lift home.  Win.

Alex is trying to convince me to renew my WoW account after my last final (this Wednesday), just so we can finish what we started and hit 80.  I’m resisting – I lost way too much of my life to that game, but I understand why he wants to do it.  If I think I can manage to control it, and cancel once again one we’ve hit what he wants, then I might do it for him.  It was fun, after all, and I am a geek, so…we shall see.

Speaking of Alex, he picked up Bella the Big Pink Bike at Simon’s Bike Shop for me yesterday (though I thought she’d be done early last week).  Get ready to cheer – her front caliper brake works now!  Here’s to me not doing a face plant into a parked car when the coasters fail me.

Michelle, a friend of ours, is coming in from Calgary this evening and will be, as far as I know, crashing on our couch.  We’re thinking of using that as an excuse to check out Au Petit Chavignol up on Hastings.  Not that I really need an excuse for a cheese pilgrimage, but it might be nice to be able to justify the expense (as I’m currently working for free).

I’m hoping updates from here on out will be a little more cohesive, and not so much of a technicolour explosion of “here’s-everything-that’s-happened-in-my-life-lately”.  Then again, who am I kidding?  I’ll forget to blog for a bit, then I’ll get worried that whatever I update with won’t be good enough, and put it off.  Then the pressure grows and grows until I finally break down and just spit out whatever’s in my head in no logical order.  So…that’s that, then.

Cheers!