In Which I Complain

Life here is... kind of crazy. I mean, I had yesterday and today (Saturday and Sunday) off from training (we're done! Done, I say, done!), and tomorrow is Labour Day so no class yet, but, but, insane.

It's not so much that I have too much to do; there's no homework or anything (yet). It's just... training was long. I go to bed at a decent hour, get a decent amount of sleep, and still feel tired all day.

Mostly it's just that there's a lot of other things going on - things that aren't mine to share here - and I am stressed out. It's either going to get a lot better in the coming weeks as classes take over and suck my soul out... or a lot worse, as classes take over and suck my soul out and everything is still right there being stressful.

I think I'm done complaining now.

Hey, on the bright side, if I decide that the summer flatmate situation wasn't enough drama for a soap opera, I can always plug in the current Details of Life...

(Joke! Joke! Okay, so clearly my humour is not at its high point. I am going to bed.)

I Do Too Much

Excuse me while I go deliver bags and meet with my VP and work on making the Ultimate Planner and crash.

Lake Jump!

Okay, the evening redeemed the afternoon.

(Ten minute pause in which I break a lightbulb all over my floor and clean it - or most of it - hopefully all of it - up)

Anyway. We did a first-year all-house tonight. Later, when everyone's back, we'll do a full one, but first years get the whole spiel about roommates and living in a residence hall and so on and so forth.

Then we taught them all hall cheers - lied our butts off about why they were learning them, but hey, they listened - and sent them to get a towel "for the fire drill".

Then we jumped in the lake.

The lake is - yes - wet. Not that cold, but, well, disgusting and slimy and kind of fabulous. I've jumped in at least once every year since first year, so after we screamed our chants at the other halls (yes, I am loud enough for all of Munger and then some to hear me) I dove right in and joined a water fight against another hall.

Anyway. Now I have showered and am going to bed. I'll hoover again tomorrow in the hopes of not ripping my feet to shreds on stray bits of broken glass.

FY Move-in!

I am tired and my stomach is all in knots.

I can't explain the knots, but I can explain the tired: first-years moved in today. Move-in day is long and chaotic and fun and crazy and long. It is also one of my favourite days all year - yup, it all goes downhill from here - but oi.

Long.

Tired.

Another meeting in twenty minutes.

Bed, please?

(Oh - but on the plus side - I have internet again.)

Still in Training

Hmm. I think I need to change the regional time settings on this thing.

Anyway, still in training. Had a bit of a field trip today - a scavenger hunt in Boston. Tomorrow, I think, we really get down to the nitty-gritty things.

I don't have internet on my computer at the moment (long story - my fault) but at least I'm being a bit more productive than I would be otherwise. Tonight I need to put the backing up on my bulletin boards... actually, first I need to figure out which ones are my bulletin boards, but I'll get there.

Away! Away!

Training

Moved in yesterday - am leaving today for an undisclosed location (the RDs gave us "sketchy details" - am not sure whether they meant sketchy as in partial or sketchy as in, um, not-quite-creepy).

Aaaannnnd no time gotta go vite, vite!

Doing the Unthinkable

Today - well, yesterday, really, as it's almost three in the morning - I did the unthinkable: I bought a dictionary with the sole purpose of cutting it up.

Yes, you heard me right: I cut up a dictionary. I cut up a book.

I mean, it wasn't as though it was a very good dictionary. Pocket-size. Used, though in excellent condition. Nothing special. And I had a good reason for doing so, a Project. And it's not as though I need another dictionary; I have, umm, a lot of them.

...plus, it was kind of liberating to cut up a book.

Anyway. I am home. I will no longer be posting daily - go back to your regularly-scheduled programming! - though I might update less regularly.

Day 74: The End?

So it is my last day in Vancouver.

All things considered, the last couple of days have been very normal. My last day of work was unique only in that my boss was a little more determined than usual to figure out what I am going to do with the rest of my life. Today was weird really only in that I didn't go to work - I did laundry, I went to the Salvation Army to donate most of the books that I amassed in the last two months, I stopped at the used bookstore to get books for the plane ride (okay, I realize that the point was to get rid of books, not get new ones, but I only bought two and I donated about twelve).

I also got a milkshake. Now, this was Not Very Smart. I knew that this was Not Very Smart. I do not mix very well with milk - unfortunate, as I am very fond of milk and milk products, despite the oh-so-wonderful nauseous, stomach-crampy, I-am-going-to-throw-up feeling that occurs about thirty seconds after ingesting said milk products (have never actually thrown up because of milk - fortunate, that, as doing so might actually make me stop drinking milk altogether).

But - but - milk is so yummy. So I keep convincing myself that this time, I will not feel sick. And does it work?

No. But it is worth the pain.

Anyway. I have also packed and more or less cleaned my room out - I need to figure out how to fit one more thing into my bags, but I'm pretty much good to go.

The end?

Day 73: The Final Countdown

Well, I was going to take a shower, but Tim is in there and he takes forever (I thought it was supposed to be girls who took forever in the bathroom?). I don't want to sit around for forty minutes to shower. I druther go to bed and shower in the morning.

Today was my last day of work. I ended up walking to Granville to catch the bus, as I couldn't get into the bathroom this morning either (am I sensing a theme here? Thankfully this isn't par for the course) and so was running early. It's a nice walk, at any rate.

Work itself was more or less normal... lots of time spent arguing with Excel, lots of time spent hunting things down on the internet, some time spent talking with my boss about Where Do [I] Go From Here (errr. Sorry. I don't know what's with me and song titles today.).

I got lunch from the PM - terrible service - and tried to figure out 3D drawing for a while. I am truly terrible at drawing. Then Brian came by... today was my last day to meet with him, too, but we nearly finished typing up the book, I think.

Tomorrow I pack. Thursday I fly.

Day 72: The Ultimate Planner

Work: fun; worked on yet another list - three lists, actually - and checked some things on various different manuscripts.

::blinks::

Sorry, distracted there. I think some of my flatmates are... drunk, or high, or both.

Anyway. Work was fun. After work I went on a quest for the Ultimate Planner. Most of the planners that I saw failed miserably - they were planners, not Planners, and they certainly were not Ultimate Planners.

The Ultimate Planner, when I find it, will have a separate page for each day. It will not shove Sunday down to the bottom of the page. There will be sufficient space for notes on each day - not just in the margin of an entire week - but there will also be slots for time (which must go at least as late as 7:00 PM and preferably later. I mean, let's face it, this coming year I will probably have meetings of one sort or another until nine or ten at least three days a week).

The Ultimate Planner will be sturdy. It will not be pink. It will be arranged in a logical manner. It will be handcrafted by me, if that's what it takes (dammit).

...aaaaannnnd then I went to my relatives' for dinner. Nyom nyom nyom. And we watched some of the Olympics, which was...were...cool, but yikes. And then my step-cousin drove me home. And now I am going to bed.

Day 71: Souvenirs

Today I actually did go get souvenirs - I went back down to Gastown and poked around. There was entire store there devoted to jade: jade necklaces, earrings, statues, pendants, bookmarks, letter openers... gorgeous, but not cheap. I had decent success elsewhere, though (I wanted to get a bright red Vancouver sweatshirt, but it'd never fit in my luggage).

I stopped in a dollar store on the way home and got some very useful craft supplies - I have a bunch of notebooks to decorate when I get home. Then I waited half an hour for the bus (this is why I take books with me).

...and now I have done most of yesterday's checklist, which is good (laundry can wait). My neck is massively sore, though, so I need to find ibuprofen.

Day 70: In Which I Do Nothing

I had planned to shop for souvenirs yesterday, but it was raining and gross and cold when I woke up, and... just... no. There was clearly no reason to actually be productive. So... I was unproductive.

Other things that did not get done yesterday: laundry. Finishing a copyedit for a friend. Reading a manuscript for work. Re-reading another manuscript.

I did, however, finish a book (and then donate it to the library). So we'll call it a day well spent.

Day 69: Picking One's Battles

Hmm.

Boing?

We spent about an age and a half today trying to decide what the house style was for italics - specifically, for italics in dialogue in foreign languages. Ordinarily house style would be "check the Chicago Manual of Style", but we did, and it didn't help. We sort of decided on something, and then an editor came in and disagreed with us, and we debated things some more, and finally we decided upon something that made sense.

People were in and out of the office... I started a list thing for one of our distributors... I talked with the editor about a couple of projects (fun. I think I misjudged her initially. Or possibly we were just both being awkward before). My boss and I spent a long time the other day fixing some foreign-language dialogue, but now the author doesn't like it, so he had to change it again. Why? I don't know. I mean, nobody's going to be able to read it anyway... well, not most of the population. Luckily my boss came up with something he likes better anyway.

Brian came by and we got some work done. I really didn't like the bit we were working on today, for various reasons - but it wasn't my place to say, so I just kept typing. Picking your battles and all of that...

Tomorrow I am going to do the whole souvenir-shopping thing - the Night Market or Gastown or something.

Day 68: Killing the Orphans

Aaaahhh bedtime -

My boss and I went through a proof today several times - first to double-check some dialogue in a foreign language, then to make sure that the designer had put the changes in correctly, then to find widows and orphans, then because I said, "Wait, that's not right"...

It was a lot of fun. Yes, I am serious. Actually, the orphan-hunting might've been the best part, mostly because I can refer to it as orphan-killing (there would've been widow-killing, too, but at this stage widows are really pretty rare because they're so freaking obvious. And ugly. Although some people call orphans widows and widows orphans, so maybe I really was killing the widows...).

Also I like it because it makes me sound evil. Kill the orphans! Kill the widows! Heh. (For those of you who don't speak Nerd,

The rather... odd... intern was in again today. She did get some things done, but - and I don't think it's entirely her fault - she sets my teeth on edge. I think it is largely because she and I have very (very) different working styles, and they sort of... clash. She left after an hour, though, so I relaxed again after that.

I know it sounds as though I'm bad-mouthing her - I don't mean to, really, there are just other people I'm happier to work with.

Anyway. Some stuff should be happening tomorrow with regard to the "squeeee"ness yesterday... so we shall see. And home is still very nice and peaceful, so that is good too. And now - away! Away!

Day 67: "ZOMG"

Today was just a good day.

My boss got the uncorrected proof of our upcoming picture book today. He handed me the proof, a giant pen, and some post-it notes. I went through the whole thing, writing on it (the reader in me was horrified) where necessary, then went through it again. I found a set of GLARING errors and a very small error, so my boss was happy. The glaring errors went something like this (with made up examples, of course):

Correct: It's going to rain.
Problem: It' s going to rain.
Correct: "I don't know," she said.
Problem: " I don't know," she said.

(Edit: blogger doesn't want me to put in more than one space at a time. Basically there are huge gaps after some punctuation - five spaces where there should be none.)

So that was fun. Then another editor came in and we talked about that one manuscript. She was pretty pleased with my take on it, and seemed to take me seriously, so that was nice too. My boss came up with a solution to one of the major (and I mean major) problems with the plot, and we talked about some ways to make the main character more likable.

And then, and then!

...but I don't think I should tell that part. Except that it was hyperactive-making. Err, insofar as I get hyperactive (which I explained to my step-cousin tonight as not being a normal person's hyperactive, but more like a general happiness).

Anyway. It's good.

My aunt called to invite me to dinner. Then Brian came by and we got through about eleven and a half pages. Friday might be the last time I see him, as I'm leaving next week.

As for dinner... well, my family is crazy, but it's fabulous crazy. And now I am home and there is so much less drama than normal right now and it is amazing and I am going to bed.

Day 66: Airing Your Dirty... Dishes

Man. I am sick of living in a house with seven other people. Or rather - I am sick of living in a house with seven other people, one of whom takes forever and a day when he showers and at least two of whom don't clean up after themselves in the kitchen.

...not that the kitchen thing is any different from school, but...

Anyway. The new intern was in today. I sorted out the latest changes for a manuscript (caught a typo! Yay. But there is one change that we have told the designer to make three times already, and it still hasn't been done. Alas!) and dealt with some emails while my boss gave her the overview. I'm not entirely sure why she hadn't gotten it already; probably my boss just got distracted.

She and I stuck around after my boss left, and I gave her a crash course in computers. I guess she hasn't had much cause to do much with computers before, but hey, she learned quickly. Anyway, if she needs to know more complicated things my boss will show her (this was the last I'll see of her, as she won't be in next week and I leave next Thursday).

We got lunch at the Public Market and ran into one of the other women from the class. She paints on glass and has a booth at the PM - her work is really beautiful.

And now I am home, and have had dinner, and done other people's dishes, and am being anti-social. OH and does anyone have tips on chest-binding? I think that some of my flatmates are rather homophobic, and I am feeling evil enough to push them out of their comfort zones.

Side Note: A Tidbit

Tim asked if the people in the class were "cool". Sure, I said. I like them.

Matt, who was making dinner, turned around and said, "Well, probably not your idea of cool, Tim."

I thought about this and laughed. "No, probably not. Definitely not."

But they are good people, and I do like them.

Day 65: The Not-Class

Today was BC day, so no work. I slept in (yay!), returned a book to the library, sat outside in the glorious sun...

There was still class, though, so eventually I took the bus down to Granville Island and sat in a park to do the assigned homework. Honestly? The homework doesn't really matter, as the class tends to get derailed. The class is interesting, though.

My boss (a.k.a. the prof) didn't show, though. The class all showed up, though, and waited outside the building - I have a key for the office, but not the building - until we decided that he had probably forgotten. Somebody suggested a nearby coffee shop, so we used a band-aid to stick a note to the door and headed over.

The coffee shop, as it turned out, was closed, but their chairs and tables were still out. We actually had more or less an entire class, everybody offering input as necessary. It was fun. Low-key. There isn't class next week, though, so this was it for me. They hugged me when we left and told me to keep in touch.

Now I am home, and have showered, and it is bedtime, so I'm off.

Day 64: Freezer Space

Today was boring. But, I did grocery-shop!

Less than $20 for a week and a half worth of groceries. Mind, I did have some staples (cereal, pasta) at home, so I didn't have to buy those. Also, I tend to get lunch out - it's both easy and pretty inexpensive to get lunch at the Public Market. Especially since, uh, I tend to eat like a bird.

Tomorrow is BC day, so I don't have work. I do have class, for which I have yet to do my homework, but at least I get to sleep in.

...I keep getting distracted and going off to do other things, and then I forget about what I was going to write about. I'm going to go away again now.

(Oh but wait: I wanted to mention that now there are eight - eight! - people living in this flat. I am feeling a little more forgiving of people who usurp my fridge space at the moment, so long as they do not take my food.

Though, on the other hand, I have one shelf. I do not put food in the freezer, in the fridge door, on other peoples' shelves... use your own damn space!)

(Oh! And also: it occurred to me that Tim had no right to be surprised that I haven't gone out with guys while here. He's certainly never gone on a date while here (and yes, I would know if he had). He barely goes out. WTF, mate?)

Day 63: "You're Part of Me!"

Evidently Vancouver has malls. Funny; I'd never really considered the idea.

Anyway, I found a mall today and wandered around. It wasn't particularly interesting, as a lot of the stores were more high-end than I care for (I mean, really, I'd rather shop at the Salvation Army), but it was okay.

The thought-provoking part, though, was the guy I saw in the food court. He was on his cell phone, yelling at his girlfriend: "You're part of me! Why are you still listening to other people? Nobody wants us together." The girlfriend showed up a few minutes later and the yelling - well, whisper-yelling - continued in the same vein.

If I ever date somebody who tells me that I shouldn't listen to anybody else because I am "part of them", that will be the end of the relationship. Bleh. I hope she dumps him. Soon.

Tonight was the last night of fireworks - the finale - so I went down to the Granville Street Bridge with a bunch of my flatmates and watched. It was pretty cool, really. I dunno who won the competition, but it was nice.

Okay. Bedtime.

Day 62: Editor Meeting

Change of plans - the editors were in to discuss a completely different manuscript, one about which they all (two editors + publisher) all have very strong opinions. Me? Mostly I agree with them; mostly I also kept my mouth shut. General consensus: the writing has some very good points and some not-so-very-good points; x, y, and z need to be done to make it ready for publishing. Now the author just has to, you know, agree to x, y, and z and then actually do x, y, and z.

It was interesting, to say the least. It would've been nice if the editors had at least pretended to be happy that I was sitting in on the meeting, but eh, at least they were polite. At any rate, my boss wanted me there, which is really all that matters.

Brian was supposed to come by, but he had a meeting. We could've met later, but - Friday - and tired - and three-day weekend - so I went home.

Glad am I indeed that it is a three-day weekend (Monday's BC day - something that I just learned today), because I need the sleep. I don't know what else I'll do with the weekend, though.

Also: I had to walk down to Granville Street this morning to buy an August bus pass... I tried to get one yesterday at the gas station, where all my flatmates say that they buy theirs, but the clerk said that they don't sell them (huh?). Anyway, I took the express bus, since it stops at my stop near work - I got on ten minutes before I usually get on the other bus, got off early to walk part of the way, but still got to work twenty minutes before I usually did.

...mind, when you factor in the ten-minute walk from where I live, it doesn't make a huge difference.