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.