My birthday has come and gone. As usual, I had a party at my apartment to celebrate. This year's party was much smaller than those in previous years, but it was still fun. Most of the night was spent in the living room and around the dinner table talking and drinking various types of alcohol. Even though I missed my friends who have left Vancouver, being with the friends I have here made me very happy and made me feel that I made the right decision in returning from China.

Among the highlights of the evening were drinking Jingjiu with Neal and Paul, just like old times in Beijing, receiving the new biography of Mao as a gift from Ashley and seeing the effort that my sister made in being nice to my friends, even though she was sick. As I was drinking heavily throughout the evening, by the end I was very drunk, but also very happy about the great evening I had enjoyed with my friends.

The next dayI had a terrible headache. After making an attempt at cleaning and fielding a birthday call from my parents, Rae and I went out for a walk. Almost as soon as we left the door we ran into Adam Pauls who is spending a few weeks here between coming back from India, going to Italy to work and a comp sci PhD at Berkley. He reminded us about the pillow fight at Robson square so we went back upstairs and got some pillows. The pillow fight was fun. I did not fully enjoy it because I still had a headache and whenever I got it I really felt it. However, the sight of down filling the air and the absurdity of the whole scene was really something special.

After the pillow fight Rae and I went for a walk up to the beach and then around false creek to Yaletown. Vancouver is really a spectacular place when the sun in shineing. I don't know of anywhere else that mixes high density living with a resort like pleasantness in such a successful way. Seeing so many fit, stylish and attractive people out walking, biking and rolerblading is so inspiring, it makes me want to live a "Vancouver lifestyle."

On Sunday I went to see my grandparents. Despite some minor ailments, they are looking remarkably well for their ages. My grandfater, now 95, does not have too much energy, but he is still lucid and interested in what my sister and I are doing. Seeing them is always nice for me because the have lots of interesting stories and they make me feel connected with my family.

After the visit, I payed Rae a surprise visit. She was really not expecting me and was very happy to see me. She is working on her Master's thesis now and as the deadline gets closer she is getting more stressed. I am trying to support her as much as I can so that she can do a good job and be done with it. She showed me the outline of her paper, which was quite good, even though she had not done much actual writing yet. For dinner, we went to the other location of Samuri Sushi. Unlike the one on Davie st which is run entirely by Japanese language students, this location is run entirely by Vietnamese. Somehow, the sushi is still great.

Yesterday after work David, my roommate asked me where Chinatown was. I took the opportunity to show him Chinatown and go shopping at the same time. David is from Mexico City and is staying at my apartment while taking English classes at some language school downtown. Even though we have lived together for over a week now, he is shy and we haven't really hung out. I don't think he was very impressed by Chinatown, but he did like the steamed bun and the cheap fruits. On the way back, we walked through Yaletown which he seemed more interested in. After we got back, David, Natalia (the other roommate) and myself went out for a beer in Yaletown. We talked about Mexico. I would like very much to go and see it for myself. I hope that they will invite me to stay with them after they go back.

Today was my busiest day so far at work. It was nice not having to pretend to work the whole time. It made the time pass faster and it gave me the feeling that I was actually useful. I hope this keeps up... but doesn't increase too much to the point where I am swamped by my work.

I have thought more about my job. I think I will hold onto it until the summer and then leave it to go traveling in July or August. Of course, I would like to go to Morocco with my parents, but that would mean quitting, which would diminish the chance that I would get a good reference and also limit the impact of this job on my resume. Looking forward, some experience in an office style banking job should say "I'm employable" to my potential future employers.

Or at least I hope...

I moved back downtown today. It is nice to be back.

Today was such a beautiful day. It was a real pleasure to go for a short walk around downtown. It is amazing the speed at which this area, especially Robson st east of Granville is changing and growing up. Whole blocks that used to be parking lots have been transformed into neighbourhoods. There are people walking around areas that used to be pretty much deserted. It is nice to see.

Last night I had a date with Rae. At first, the plan was for us to take our learner's permit tests, but because ICBC convieniently stops letting people take the test at 3:30, we were unable. Dissapointed, we went back to my apartment where, after a quick little embarassment, we had a rather serious talk about our relationship. After clearing things up a bit, we went for dinner at a Greek place on Davie st (not Stephos... the other one). The food was good and plentiful and the whole thing felt like a date, in a good way.

This morning, we went to check out what we thought was a new Korean food court on Robson st. It turned out that it was actually a Korean which looked quite high class. I don't think I will go there regularly. Dissapointed, we went to the ramen place near the library. After walking Rae to the bus stop, I went to the sky train and went back to Commercial drive to walk the drive one last time as a resident. Even though it was a pleasant experience, for me, it did not compare to walking around downtown. I was definately ready to leave.

I packed up my stuff and Rachel came over in her new truck to help me move. Unfortunately my roommate was not home and I was not able to ask her about getting my deposit back. I will have to do that soon or else risk never seeing it again. She was a good roommate. Even though I don't think I would have hung out with her under other circumstances, she is a good person and I wish her well. On the other hand, she is not very organized and I am scared that she will not find a new roommate for the beginning of April. She also lets her boyfriend use her. He is not malicious, but she is just begging him to trample all over her. Seeing their relationship dynamic was a little bit unsettling. I am sure she will figure out what she wants to do eventually, but in the interum, she is causing herself a lot of unnecisary grief.

Nice to be downtown.

I got into Queens today. I guess it is not a huge surprise, but it is nice to know that I got in almost two months earlier this year than I did last year. They also offered me a bit more money than they did last year, which makes the whole thing easier.

Getting in clearly redefines what I am doing now from taking a first step on the career ladder to getting experience (and killing time) until I start a Master's in the fall. In some odd way, this is a bit dissapointing. Part of me was looking forward to working my up the CIBC ladder. Of course, I am still very happy to get in and that this will help my in whatever I choose to do, including working my way up the CIBC ladder. I only hope that I will still be able to stay as serious about my job as I have been until this point.

I am moving back to my parent's apartment. I might do it tonight, or I might do it on the weekend, depending on how much I can get done tonight. The problem is that I have do give the apartment a good clean before I leave.

Living on Commercial drive really isn't for me. I think the real problem is that I don't have many friends in the area so I don't go out once I get home. Further, as there is only one street, I don't go for many walks becuase I would just be walking up and down the same street... which does not hold much appeal. Of course, there are things here that have been nice. Going for breakfast with Rae at Havanas, shopping at Santa Barbara, or walking back from the skytrain on a sunny day have all given me an impression of a nice, liveable neighbourhood that I did not have before.

I am looking forward to going back downtown. I know people there, I work there, I bank there, I play there, I hang out there, I walk there, my life is there. It also means that I will be living in the penthouse again. I guess I never really appreciated it as much as I should have, but now every time I go back I am struck by how nice it is. I just hope my parents never sell it. I also know that me moving downtownis good for Rae. She likes the apartment too and it is much more convienient for her to come and visit me there than it is for her to come and visit me here where she has to transfer busses. Even though we won't have Havana's breakfasts anymore, we can still have Japanese food breakfasts and go out to bars and restaurants more easily.

My birthday is coming up a week from today. To celebrate, I am having a party. I know that the party won't be as well attended as my last birthday party but it is important for me as a way to re-establish my social life. It is also the best way I can think of to enjoy my apartment to the fullest. On the plus side, with fewer people coming to my party, there will be less to clean up. My hope is just that my good friends show up and that everyone has a good time.

My job. My job is still getting better. It is not too hard, not too stressful. Lately, my biggest problem has been finding ways of keeping busy. They have been busy and no one has time to train me. I guess as I learn more, they will give me more work, and that will actually be better because I won't have to spend so much effort on trying to look busy or walking around the office and asking people if they have any work that I can do for them.

I don't think I will tell my coworkers about Queens right away. It is a good thing if they think of me as someone who has the potential to stay with the bank and it is a bad thing if they think of me as too ambitious. I guess I will let them know a bit later, when the date comes closer.

Time to go...

So I have been at my job for a week and a half now. It is ok. At first the job was pretty soul crushing. I was doing data entry or "ciffing" as they call it to learn how to use their shamefully antiquated DOS based computer system. It was bad both because it was mind numbing data entry, but also because the system was so user unfriendly. I still can't believe they still use this software.

After ciffing for a week, I started to get a better sense of the system so they moved me on to my real job, assisting underwriters. Underwriters are the people who decide whether or not a lender should take a financial risk. In my bank, what this boils down to is a set of bank-determined guidlines and an assistant like me to ensure all the supporting documentation is in place and says what it is supposed to. The whole process is pretty straight forward. There is not a huge amount of autonomy or creativity in the job. My job its self is mostly just to check the supporting documentation faxed in by the mortgage broker. Not particulary interesting stuff.

I still don't know whether I like this job or not. On the one hand, it is certainly not as good as that month at the UN. It is also not as stimulating as teaching English in China in that I don't have as much interaction with other people. On the other hand, working for a big, well known bank has a bit of cachet and the work I do is not particularly hard or stressful. I am never expected to work overtime and the whole work environment is pretty casual. I guess my major complaint with this job is that maybe it is not professional enough. Rather than being a knowledge worker, or even a knowledge worker's assistant, I am a cog in a machine completing routine tasks. I just hope that this experience can be a stepping stone to something that is both more interesting and pays better.

The people at the office are a mixed bunch. In general, I would describe my office as 'pink collar', that is there are far more women than men. This suits me fine but also indicates that it is not a place where I am likely to stay for an extended period of time. Among my coworkers, there are several immigrants, some Toronto refugees and one girl on a workiing holiday visa. All of this makes the office very diverse and Vancouveresque. Everyone is nice and I am starting to make some friendships. I think that I will pass my time well here.

On the personal side, I have been getting better at being social. I have contacted and seen more friends in the last week than I had until that point. Although there are still people left to see, I am now well on my way to re-establishing whats left of the social networks I had before I left for China. Also, there is the potential to become friends with some of my coworkers. I am still suffering from my lack of social context and a social life, but the worst is over. This side of my life stands to gain a lot from my imminent move back to my parent's apartment downtown. Being near the bars and on all of the major transit routes just has a way of making these things easier.

My birthday is coming up in less than two weeks and I am wondering what I should do to celebrate. My first thought is to have a party, but that is stressful and involves a lot of planning. The party would also not be as good as my birthday party last year as many of my good friends have left Vancouver in the interum. The age, 23, is also a bit of a meaningless birthday. I am now firmly a 20-something and paradoxically, as I get older, I am feeling younger. When I was a kid, I never understood why people who are my age now were considered young but now, faced with an office of coworkers who are almost all older than me, I feel like the young one again. I guess I should enjoy this while it lasts.

I had my first day of work today. I can't say I was super inspired. The whole thing was really laid back. Also, my job seems to be largely data entry and data checking. I won't have much creative licence... but I guess that is ok because I will learn about the mortage industry and about underwriting specifically. It is also ok because I will have something that looks decent on a resume for the next time I go looking for a job. Maybe it also isn't that bad that the work culture is laid back, it means that I won't have any stress.

As for where to live, I have decided to move downtown, but at the middle of the month. I am going to live with some Mexican language students, which should be ok. As long as they don't party too much and keep the place tidy, I don't envision any problems.

It will be nice to live in that apartment again. I know it means going back to my parents house, but at the same time I will be much closer to work and it is a really good place to live. It also means that I can have friends over to my house. In this apartment, we have one sofa, which is used as a bed by my roommate. In the apartment downtown, there are five sofas... Even though I was initially reluctant to leave, downtown offers me more. I have more friends there, I know the area better, I enjoy walking more there, the view is better, I could go on.