Let the emotions begin

It's about two weeks to go before I leave Vancouver, and already the emotions have begun to take over.

Everything feels like a 'last'. Yesterday I landed at YVR and noted that this would be the last time I say, 'I'm home' when touching down. I went to my favourite sushi place today and wondered if this would be my last visit.

I feel like crying at almost every turn, and have been.

I was offered the job in September, and it's been many months of me wondering when my 'lasts' would be, but now it seems they have begun, and that really sucks.

Should you see a tall brown girl wandering the West End of Vancouver intermittently crying, avert your eyes - it's just me facing reality.

15 days and counting.

Quick, Catch Up

I'm a bad blogger. Quick catch-up:

So much beer!

March - Portland with the boy. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Portland! The drunken train ride down was awesome, the city was lovely, the people friendly, and the beer was flowing! Eric and I hit six different breweries while we were there, and we were only there for two days. Seriously, Portland rocks! We also ate under a bridge, like homeless people. It was uber romantic.

Hey kids!

April - Hawaii with the family. Holy hell are my nieces and nephews cute! We frolicked in the sun, a lot. I love hanging out with kids, but good lord are they tiring. I don't know how parents do it, I was exhausted after my week in the sun.

Seriously, no dumping. 

June - LA with Lis! I love Lis, but still don't love LA. The Getty Museum was fantastic and some unmentionable adventures occurred. Unmentionable adventures seem about par for Lis and I.

Jarod, frolicking in a glacier-fed lake.

July - Valemount to visit my boyfriends with my boyfriend. The village is beautiful, we dipped our toes in a glacier-fed lake and strolled alongside waterfalls. No big deal.



August - My view came in handy. Both the Celebration of Light fireworks and Pride Parade were visible from my balcony, so parties were had. Yes, apparently I have parties now. Weird.

The past five months have been pretty great. My life in Vancouver seems to have finally settled into something awesome. I credit that, in equal parts, to the boy who changed my outlook on boys and the apartment that (literally) changed by outlook on Vancouver. It's hard to hate on a city when it has produced two of the best things in your life.

So thanks Vancouver, I'm finally starting to get you.

Moving on up!

For the past four years I have lived in a huge garden suite in Kitsilano. I love the size of my apartment, but hate how little sun it gets. Also, I actually dislike Kits as a neighborhood, though I really enjoy how quiet it is. I have never really spent much time in my neighborhood, often living my life in downtown.

While I was being all flakey over the summer, I decided that come what may, the new year would mean a move--either to another city or a different apartment. I knew I wanted out.

So come January 1 I began looking. A couple of days into the apartment search process, I stumbled upon the unimaginable: an unobstructed view of the ocean!

You read that right.

It's the size of a shoebox, but within my budget, and it gets a ridiculous amount of sun. I sign my lease papers later this month and then start the moving process. I'm sofa king excited it's silly.

Listen, I can move to any city in the world, into any building in the world and look into another apartment -- that is likely my future -- but I can only live in one city in the world and have a view like that.

How excited am I? I voluntarily sacrificed (a lot of) closet space. That means there is going to be some serious consigning going on.

No seriously, anyone looking for a dining table? It's really nice.

Today I knew, I made the right decision

Obviously I didn't really talk about the happenings of the past month or so. They have been a little complex, so I needed to get my head straight before I could articulate what's up.

After today, I think I'm ready, so let me try.

A few weeks ago I had a job offer in Toronto.

Yes, I said Toronto. I wasn't necessarily looking to leave my current job, I've talked about how much I love it after all. But I do like the idea of getting some interview experience and keeping your resume fresh. So whatever, I randomly applied for a job in Toronto that I wasn't qualified for.

But I was given an offer anyways. Apparently, I'm marketable.

This job offer was lovely. The firm seemed great, the people super nice and the work interesting. It would have been a lateral move - no doubt - but it wouldn't have been a bad move. In fact, I think some people believe it would have been a really good move.

I digress.

I received this offer, thought about it, talked to my bosses about it - after all, for the past three years, they have been my most tangible mentors - but then chose to decline it.

In seeking advice from all fronts, my friend Josh said "Whatever decision you make, it will be the right one."

I thought it was nice advice, but didn't fully believe it until today.

You see today, I found out a stupid, uncharacteristic mistake I made almost got us fired. A client was so upset with my work, that it almost resulted in us losing the account.

I wanted to die.

While I like to pretend that I have a pretty pulled-together life, in reality, the only pulled-together thing I have is work. It's the only place I am confident, capable and moving in the right direction.

My personal life is a mess.

Again, I digress.

I haven always prided myself on being good at my job. I have never been fired from anything and the idea that something I did put my agency in a precarious position really got to me.

I spoke to my boss about it in general terms, as this information was given to me in confidence. As she reassured me that the loss of a client will not result in the loss of my job and that this company believes in me, I knew:

I definitely made the right decision.

So, for the first time, I chose Vancouver. I chose it over the bright lights, big city of Toronto, which, in turn, means I may have chosen it over New York.

Who knew that would ever happen?

Day 1 - Who expected THAT!?

Week 1 was intense. I knew the city was going to be crazy, but I had no idea how crazy. By the end of Day 1 I was exhausted.

On Day 1 I got to see the Olympic Torch Relay! I was incredibly excited when I was sent on assignment to work with a photographer to get some pictures of the flame as it was in front of one of my clients' buildings. So I got to go and actually see the torch!

I have no idea who was running with it at the time, all I care about is that I got to see it! WOO HOO!

I also got to do a little geeky photoshoot with all of my Canadian gear, just in case anyone didn't believe me.

I watched the Opening Ceremonies with one of my bosses at BC Canada Pavilion, just above Robson Square. Robson Square was one of the Live Sites and they broadcast the events and stuff on the side of a big white building, with the ice skating palace and zip-lining going on just above it.

At the start of the evening, the area below looked like this:

(As taken from my Blackberry)

By the middle of the Opening Ceremony, it looked like this:

Do you see the difference! And that wasn't at it's worst.

The crowds were insane. I thought the Opening Ceremony was nice - I mentioned who I wanted to light the cauldron, but that didn't happen. C'est la vie. I thought they did a good job at representing Canada, and I loved that they had an outdoor cauldron, because it was right by my work, and I got to see it all the freaking time!

The party was cool - free food and free booze and the venue was awesome. I got to see the da Vinci exhibit without all the crowds or waiting in line because the event was at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Those were amazing.

So, that was Day 1. Day 2 was super fun too!

The Big Finish

After the awesome-sauce that was the YYYs, Sarin and I drove like mad to make it home for Franz Ferdinand.

Well, I drove, but she was a great co-pilot.

SHAMELESS BOAST: We made it from Seattle to Vancouver in under 3 hours. We were in Surrey at 2.5 hours. I drove the shit out of that car bitches!

We pulled into Vancouver, with plenty of time for show #2 in country #2. Franz Ferdinand at the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park.

Have I mentioned how cool Sarin and I are? Because we are. Really fucking cool.

All of my concert-cohorts had been to Malkin Bowl before and told me how great it was, but seriously, that shit is amazing. An outside concert venue in the forest.

Say what?!

The show was super good. Only the second best show I had seen that day, but the competition was unbeatable.

It was a very fun little dance party - made kinda magical by the rain.

After the show, we got lost in Stanley Park, and then I went to the Cambie with Josh and some of his friends. We drank, we laughed, good times all around.

The really strange part of the night comes after we leave and are heading home.

I have seen a live porn before, in Coquitlam on a pubcrawl. And last night, I saw another one.

There, on the sidewalk, in front of the whole world to see, a girl was laying down, spread eagle (pants still on) as her considerably larger boy / girl (we couldn't really tell which) partner layed on her, thrusting (pants on).
Then larger one apparently decided it was time to go home and proceeds to stop traffic to hail a cab. And the poof, they were gone.

Weirdest shit ever!

I got dropped off at home, in safe Kits, and as I am walking to my building, some dude starts making random conversation. As we're walking, I turn to go to my building and he makes the same turn.We live in the same building, and on the same floor. So we had a smoke in front of the building and talked about yoga.

Random.

And that is the second part of my Sunday.

holy fuck, that was a good weekend.

Stereotypes Galore!

Tonight, my evening consisted of meeting some friends, walking around the West End, going to yoga and then for cheap Thai food.

Plus, I'm a visible minority.

I think Vancouver is seeping in, and I am not so sure that I like it.

Seriously? Yoga? What the fuck?

I don't know what has happened to me. First climbing, now this.

If anyone knows where 'normal' Iris is, please let me know.

On the Verge

Tonight, I saw Dan Mangan at the Eastside Cultural Centre.

If you haven't heard of Dan, well, I am confident you will soon.

He has been the week's media darling, being everywhere from CBC Radio 3 to the cover of the Georgia Straight. His new cd - Nice Nice, Very Nice - is fucking awesome, and has been on heavy rotation since Josh gave me the cd a few weeks ago (which I promptly went out and bought because it is so good).

It has also gone into heavy rotation on the computers of my cubicle-mate, another co-worker and Sarin.

There is something just totally likable about this dude - he seems like a genuinely nice guy and well, who doesn't want to root for the nice guy.

But back to the show - holy moly was it good. Two encores (well, one was mini, but still), like an 8 piece band backing him at times and all in this really lovely location.

Now, this may be all glow because it was HELL getting the tickets to go to the show. I forgot to buy them, my friend Ash came through, we drove to Aldergrove to get the tickets. Josh came through at the last minute, like the rockstar he is, and Sarin was able to come too.

Fucking brilliant and I really think, this dude is going to do some really cool shit. I just don't see how else it would work out.

Seriously - this video is from two years ago - he has only gotten better.

Wake-up Call

I used to set them all the time. But I always hated receiving them.

I hate waking up. But today, I kinda got an unexpected wake-up call.

Today, something happened (I won't go into the details here) that made me think about my life and my immediate future.

Not in a deep, reflective sorta way, but thinking nonetheless.

I was thinking about Vancouver. Whether or not this is the place for me. Whether or not I would be willing to leave it tomorrow, if the situation warranted. Whether or not I would be willing to apply and take the job for $60k a year - despite that being considerably more money than I will see for years. Whether or not I am ok with losing the ties I have here, however loose they may be.

And when I was done thinking, I realized I am not really ready to leave Vancouver. That I am starting to have a little life here - with people I generally quite like, things I enjoy doing, and routines I have gotten used to.

For so long, Vancouver was tied to P3 - and that isn't the case anymore. No longer does every god-damn-thing remind me of him.

Thank fucking god.


Oh, on a lighter note, I was outside for my afternoon ciggie today and received a you-can-be-saved type pamphlet.

heh.

Know your target audience.

Maybe Vancouver doesn't suck

This week has been brilliant here in Vancouver.

Here's why.

1) As I mentioned before, May was super busy at work. We were down a couple of key people and while the rest of us couldn't pick-up all the slack, we did a pretty fucking good job. So, as a 'Thanks for working your asses off in May' my boss took us on his 98-year old wooden boat.

Fuck is it pretty.

We went along the harbour and lunched by Lonsdale Quay. We saw a yacht with a helicopter wrapped up, and well, it was awesome.

Best. Lunch. Ever.

2) I have been at the beach three times in the past week, or at the very least been by the beach. My walk home and subsequent water taxi ride are still in effect and rocking my world, but I have started to bring a sarong and just sit in the sun for a bit.

So fucking lovely and relaxing. You can't be stressed out about your day after you sit for twenty minutes and just chill out.

3) Friday rocked!

My mission on Friday night was an early evening drunk. I am talking public drinking, with friends, right after work. Now, while the 'right after work' part didn't happen that way, the early evening drunk did.

I met Josh at Kits beach, he had awesomely brought some beer for us, and we sat, drank, chit-chatted, and gawked at the scenery surrounding us. Priscilla soon joined with some friends, and then Sarin met-up with us.

Sitting there, drinking, chatting with friends, I said it out-loud:

Vancouver doesn't suck.

At least right now.

But this week, this glorious week, Vancouver didn't suck.

It's about fucking time.

Also, I have friends, did you notice? I met up with three, yes three people at the beach! And they don't suck. That is pretty fucking cool.