gah. no post for too long.

a) my sweetie got his thesis done last friday. finally. the three days leading up to his deadline were brutal for both of us; the first night i stayed up until 3am editing his thesis, then got up at 9 to help him implement changes. the day after, i got up at 6am to do a final round of editing, while he'd stayed up all night writing. when he went to submit his thesis to the faculty of graduate studies at the eleventh hour, he found it especially nerve-wracking, as the two people in front of him were sent away because their theses didn't conform to the rather arbitrary formatting regulations. fortunately, they accepted his thesis, which means that he won't owe the university a few thousand dollars in returned scholarship money and back-tuition, and that he'll be graduating with me.

we went out with S&A that night and had a three-pound crab to celebrate, marking the beginning of a string of fine (expensive) dining.

b) i am babysitting HG's food processor for the summer while she's in montreal. i pledged to use it at least once over the next three months, but haven't really thought about it yet. we went out to dinner and saw some of my publishing friends for one last time on sunday night.

c) monday was my first day of work as an intern -- or, as it turns out, the undersecretary to the administrative assistant -- at douglas & mcintyre. the d&m sales conference is tomorrow (a sunday -- and i'm going for my own *cough* edification), and in preparation, we had to put together these massive sales kits, which meant that i got extremely well-acquainted with the office photocopier. i spent the day doing menial tasks, like putting books in the mail for review, photocopying, cleaning cardboard boxes out of the back room, photocopying, recycling old catalogues to make room for new ones, photocopying...the rest of the week was more of the same, with occasional bouts of covering at the front desk when the receptionist had to go away, sorting reviews, filing stuff...which i don't really mind; doing mindless labour is fine after eight months of school, but i wouldn't want to do this all summer. the higher-ups tell me i'll be given some more interesting stuff to do after this sales conference. we'll see.

what really blows me away, though, was that i was constantly busy while i was at work; i always had something to do. and before i'd arrived, the poor receptionist had to do all of what i did plus go through the slush pile and man the phones and deal with couriers and apply for book awards. whatever they're paying her, it's not enough.

some of the submissions they're getting in the slush pile are pretty amazing: of course, you've got to have the indignant arrogant authors who think (ahem, know) they've created the best book ever written; there is one writer who stapled a ten-dollar bill into his submission of humorous christmas stories (...yeah...), and the little old ladies who write their memoirs of growing up in buttfuck, saskatchewan and expect everyone to be fervently interested in their story. part of my project is to figure out ways the acquisitions process can be made more efficient, and i already have a few ideas...

d) i wrecked a pair of jeans and a skirt riding my bike to work this week.

e) on monday night, i saw dmac for quite possibly the last time, or at least the last time in a long while, anyway. i'd found out a couple of months back that he'd decided to go back home and not return to vancouver for school. ubc wasn't really doing him any good, and it's probably for the best that he's pursuing other interests now, but it saddens me that a good friend is leaving the city.

f) on tuesday night, my sweetie and i went out for dinner to celebrate our three-year anniversary. it was just overpriced pizza and pasta, but a nice dinner nonetheless.

g) on wednesday night, we went out to feenie's for the first time, the (arguably) more affordable bistro next to lumière. my sweetie had the $14 crab ravioli appetizer that helped feenie win on iron chef america, and i had a bite -- it was amazing. incidentally, douglas & mcintyre is putting out a new cookbook by rob feenie; his picture on the cover allegedly took two rounds of photoshopping to fix the man's lazy/wandering eye.

everybody's leaving!

*cry*.

when i didn't feel like doing work earlier today, i googled the names of a bunch of random people i knew, from high school and even elementary school. it always shocks me how quite a few people just don't seem to have any web-presence. i'd think that every name i typed in would turn up at least one major hit.

i went on my googling spree after trying to find the contact information for some old friends, actually. in these few days before i have to start my job at d&m, i'm taking some time to reconnect and catch up with people i'd been neglecting. it's awkward (so...i know we haven't talked in two years, but...) and a surprising amount of work. i'm hoping or expecting to wake up tomorrow morning to an inbox full of new messages, and i'm fully prepared that the gratification i'm hoping to feel from people wanting to get in touch with me probably won't materialize in any meaningful way. at least i'm not talking to these people after years of silence and asking anything of them.

so it's my birthday today.

i'm not doing too much; i just invited S&A over for gyoza and fried rice. since last weekend, i've developed a tenacious addiction to the frozen gyoza from capers. i suppose it's not that expensive a habit, since i have to eat anyway, but those mid-evening cravings for vegetarian dumplings can be distracting.

i was asked whether i'd be going to the ubyssey party at wreck beach tonight. i'd thought about it before i made my plans, but i didn't really want to spend my birthday with a bunch of volunteers i don't know. i only found out later, though, that A is bringing a friend who's staying with her, which means that i still have to clean my house, which i thought i could avoid.

this past week has been a bit bizarre; it's felt like i've been working non-stop while i've somehow also managed to do a bunch of leisure activities.

monday, we had to head to school for a seminar on how to write a good internship report. our prof kept talking about how the internship process has been relatively free of problems, with the exception of one firm, and everyone knows that one firm is the one i'm heading to. it was at once sort of funny and disconcerting. i headed straight home that day while the others went out for drinks, i think. i still had my last paper to finish up, and i did a rather shoddy job of it. i am so beyond caring about it, though. the instructor's marking seems completely arbitrary, anyway; it doesn't seem to matter how much effort i put into his papers.

i had my one-on-one self-evaluation with JM on tuesday. afterwards, SD, WF and i headed out for noodles, where we basically gossiped about people in our class for two hours. when i got home, i worked on putting together the contract for the newsletter redesign that i've somehow shafted myself into doing. i've got to learn to say no, although i haven't heard from the old boss since tuesday, so it may be a non-issue.

on wednesday, we had a group photo taken at school, and our yearbook was ready. it was just a side project a few of the students took on for fun, and it's absolutely amazing and rather hilarious. when i got home, i started putting together my year-end report for the production post at the physics journal. i think this is the last big transition report i'll ever have to write. i wrote all day and still wasn't done by 2am, but in one day, i'd already accumulated more words than the history paper that took me three solid days to complete.

thursday, SP, HG, my sweetie and i went to bowen island for a short hike around the lake. it was more of a walk than a hike, but it was really all my decrepit body could handle. we got there at about 10:30 and left the little island of 3500 at 3. i had plans to do work when i got home, but ended up napping and sitting around catatonic for the rest of the evening.

yesterday was pretty cool but sort of bittersweet; i met with AW to talk about the future of MOMENTUM, and pretty much secured the contract to compile their style guide and writer's guidelines, which i'll be starting in a couple of weeks, i think. after my meeting with her, i headed down to an herbal bliss to get some rooibos for my uncle. starting the 16th, the lady told me, everything in the store was going on sale for up to 75% off. it was closing at the end of the month. it was surprising and sad news, but SD and i have pledged to go on a tea-buying binge early next week. i'll also ask the mother-in-law if there's anything i can get her.

i headed over to the greenhouse by my place to pick up a plant for LC; she had originally intended for her party last night to be a garden party where everyone was required to bring a plant of some sort for her yard, which had been dug up when the flood restoration people had to fix her home's drainage problem. i eventually decided on a heather bun evergreen, but as i was picking it out, it kept running through my mind that LC's boyfriend is a landscape artist. i had visions of him taking the plant and saying, 'oh. one of these.'

the party was great; we all got our yearbooks signed high-school style. it was also kind of sad when we left, though. i know i won't see some of these characters again. for a while, anyway.

lords of dogtown?!

allow me to be the first to say: bluuuurrrggggh!

the movie looks disgusting. and it doesn't even look like they wrote peggy oki into the script. what, the asian chick doesn't get a part in your precious knock-off of a movie?!

vomit!

i don't generally use so many interrobangs, but i think this heinous travesty really warrants them.

i've been negligent in my updating, and it certainly isn't due to a lack of material. okay, here goes:

1) i was working late at school two mondays ago, as is often the case on mondays, and my sweetie came over to school so that we could have dinner together. he had with him a coupon for a restaurant on the waterfront, aqua riva. the coupon seemed to read that, with the purchase of one entrée, a second entrée under $20 would be free.

i raised the concern that, in my cons, black jeans and t-shirt, i wasn't exactly dressed well enough for fine dining. he replied, 'do you think i'm dressed well enough?' as he pulled on his torn jeans and loud top. for some reason, that was enough to convince me to go.

we headed into the fancy restaurant, where the bread is served in these specially made conical metal sculptures, and already i became self-conscious about us being utter riffraff. we were shown to our table, where i looked at the menu to find that only one entrée was priced under $20.

to alleviate the confusion, but also to out us as riffraff, jeff asked the waitress about our coupon. she patiently explained that up to $20 would be taken off the price of the entrée, and brought us some bread in a fancy conical metal basket.

we ordered, and as we waited for our meal, we were trying to have a normal conversation while being starkly aware that we sorely stood out from the rest of the restaurant patrons. at one point, my sweetie was telling me about how he had to take out the garbage because it was "stinky. highly stinky," and just as he uttered those words, our waitress came from behind him to refill our water. i buried my head in my hands, desperately trying to stifle my laughing. the waitress seemed bemused as she walked away.

after we finished our meal, the waitress brought the dessert menus; i wasn't planning on having dessert, since the meal was going to be expensive enough, and the desserts were all about $8 each, but she sort of shamed or bullied us into it. my sweetie decided that he'd go for the cheesecake, and when the waitress came back, she said, "i recommend the tiramisu, the crême brûlée or the berry crumble."

"oh," said my sweetie. "and i'd already settled on the cheesecake."

"i wouldn't recommend the cheesecake. in fact, the cheesecake and the pecan pie are my least favourite choices."

"um, i guess i'll take your second choice, then."

"the crême brûlée? sure."

she smiled and walked away, and i started laughing at our continued riffraffery. "they should just put a sign on our table that says 'riffraff,'" i said, just as, of course, the waitress came from behind me this time, to refill our water. my sweetie sort of lost it and started laughing fairly hard at that point.

we paid for our meal, left the waitress a substantial tip, and eventually bussed home after i concluded upon returning to school that i wasn't conscious enough to do any more work on our tech project.

2) we went to victoria on thursday for a field trip to see trafford publishing (a print-on-demand/vanity publishing company) and abebooks, both of which are making bucketloads of money in an industry that, as we keep being told in management class, is continually losing cash. i went on wednesday night and stayed with HG, whose father and stepmother have a lovely bed-and-breakfast-type home in metchosin, a half and hour's drive from victoria. our history instructor booked a conference room at the quality inn for our thursday lecture. afterwards, a few of us stayed behind, walked around victoria and had dinner together. it was loads of fun, especially since there were several among us who were getting to that delirious stage of exhaustion where everything is funny. it was also kind of bittersweet, 'cause we knew that we'd all be parting ways in a couple of weeks.

3) i am so grateful that christians think jesus died and came back to life; the four-day easter weekend was something i really needed, not that i did much beyond work on my history paper. the thing's a piece of shit, but i don't want to think about it or work on it any further.

4) we more or less finished our tech project document yesterday. i'm pretty happy with it; it's quite comprehensive and its 70-page length really drives home how much work we did on it. now, we just have to plan our presentation. we have a few things in the works. in anticipation that our project would be pretty much impossible to execute, we called ourselves 'sisyphus solutions,' so at our presentation, we're going to start off by pushing a giant papier-mâché boulder up the stairs of the auditorium to the the of rocky. when we get to the top, we're going to hoist the boulder up above our heads.

we also have plans to dress like techies: black jeans hiked up to our nipples, black t-shirts tucked into our pants, socks with sandals and tape on our glasses. it'll be totally hot.

5) so begins the week from hell. two exams, one paper, one big presentation. oy. i haven't even picked a topic for my last tech paper. i'm sort of discouraged by the fact that i didn't do particularly well on my last one. but, when it's all over, we all get to head over to our prof's house in coquitlam and get sloshed on his vineyard's bad wine! i can't wait!

6) i was planning on taking the two weeks off i have in april off -- that is, no work on anything. much walking outside and vegetating. unfortunately, that doesn't appear to be possible. i have a backlog on editing i have to catch up on, a bunch of physics journal stuff i need to take care of, and just a couple of days ago, i heard from my old thesis supervisor completely out of the blue. he wants me to help design an easy newsletter template for the physics department.

if i'm to make any money in freelancing, i have to stop feeling guilty about charging people for work that i do. i don't know why i have that problem.