summer of....AWESOME.

i find moving/relocating kind of like getting a tattoo.

the first one is easy.
yeah, it's painful. sure you might wince once or twice...you might even cry a little. maybe you had to close your eyes first and squeeze someone's hand super tight while you did it...maybe even you had to get a little liquored up first before you could commit. either way, you did the deed and like it or not, you learned to live with it.

over time, the memory of how painful the experience was begins to fade. you get accustomed to how things are, where things are, the idea that maybe a butterfly won't look that bad on your hip when you're 80. slowly...you begin to crave something new...that thrill....that sense of adventure...and before you know it, there you are, in the chair....remembering just how much it hurt the first time, wondering just why the hell you thought it was going to be better the second time around, and once again vowing never, ever, EVER to do it again.

a year or two goes by...and maybe you're still cool with that butterfly and his little fairy friend. maybe you're still happy with your dynamic little duo. or...maybe...just maybe...you want another. barbed wire across the small of your back, 'love' in chinese. 'just breath' on your rib cage. whatever it may be...and once again, you're in the chair listening to the hum of the needle gritting your teeth screaming in your head 'for the love of all things holy, i swear this is the last. time.

...until the memory fades once again and....

my history of new jobs and new cities reads as long as my list of tattoos. i've just hit number 14 in the tattoo department, and recently relocated to city number 4.

vancouver:
oh how i love to loathe thee.

new job, new city, 9 months of rain....consider my a$ officially kicked, vancouver.
while the easiest thing to do would be to moan and groan and complain my way back down to the border, i'm taking a stand. no more moaning...no more groaning (although i did do a LOT of both in the past 9 months)

i am hereby declaring that from this day forward it's:
the summer of AWESOME.

Vancouver, you've been consistently named amongst the top 5 best places in the world to live, and damnit, i'm going to find out why.

all you out there--consider yourself warned. because i'm blogging about this awesome summer i'm about to embark on.

starting with....

the dating contest.