the best week yet

Might just be the happiest person in Byron at this very moment.

let's get into why......

I have been sitting in Byron since my last post feeling quite anxious, despite the chilled out vibe that defines this town, to get up and do something. II hit the 2-month mark on Wednesday and I haven't lifted a finger in that time. which isn't a bad thing, it's a good thing, I needed and deserved it, but there's not a whole lot to do in Byron so I was just feeling the urge to make something happen. so on Wednesday, I put the wheel in motion... worked on my resume all day, re-formatting it to fit the type of jobs I'd be looking for here. went for a run that night, first time in 3 weeks (:)) and hit the hay early.

got up at 6:45am the next day to put my name on the campsite waiting list ($13/night rather than $26 to say in a dorm). first day of trying to get a camp site, and I landed a site and a job working at the hostel cleaning the kitchen (working for accommodation - free camping) at the same time. score. good day. felt that it was a bit of good karma being sent my way, as I had been so positive and motivated about it.

celebrated with an 8am yoga class then off to town to finish off the resume, print a bunch and hit the pavement handing them out. started with the places I'd like to work - funky cafes & restaurant/bar combos - and a few others like kebab shops and clothing stores. got good feedback from some and not such a good feeling from others. I definitely had to get my RSA before following up with a few places (RSA is our Serving It Right course). the last place I dropped one at I didn't even know existed, but I had one left and it looked cool. girl said they weren't hiring, but 2 hrs later I got a call from the manager to do a trial on Saturday.

which brings us to today. I've just come from there. my 3-hr trial turned into a 1 1/4 hr trial, at which point he gave me the job.

which brings us back to why I AM SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW!

tomorrow I do my 7-hr RSA course, and Monday I go for my first real shift at the restaurant!

it's called "one one one", fairly small-ish (only 17 tables - some inside, some outside), brekkie & coffee & lunch 7 days a week (so I would be off by 4/4:30 most days), dinner Fri/Sat/Sun nights.

I have xmas eve & xmas off so I can still head north to the Sunshine Coast for 2 days to spend xmas with Kate Duffy and her family.

on another, also very exciting note, last night I went to a Tarot card reading class. I'd been wandering to the beach last week and saw a sign for it - $25 for 3 hrs on a Friday night, 6 weeks in a row or you can just do 1 or 2 classes if you want. didn't have any specific expectations of the class, except to learn more about Tarot & the philosophy surrounding it, learn a bit about how to read the cards, if it came to that, and just have fun. it was AWESOME. 3 middle-aged german ladies who live in Byron (all friends), 1 older gentleman who came to Byron for 2-wk vaca and has been here 2 months deciding whether to move here, the wonderful lady teaching the course and her partner who has been reading Tarot for 15 yrs and has a background in psychology, and, Me.

when I did my first reading, for the older gentlemen, I thought he was being kind when he said it totally applied to his situation. but he was being sincere. what was crazy about it was that it was exactly my situation as well (the card was "Aloneness" and the explanation behind it was the difference btwn Aloneness and Lonlieness). The last card I had read for me, by one of the German ladies, I had asked the question - "When I get settled, should I start a business around food". The card I pulled was "Success". The illustration was 6 of the major planets/astrological symbols forming a circle. The symbol underneath the big circle was Taurus. The fact that the 6 major planets aligned meant that I would have all of those supporting me. she explained that Taurus sort of stands for the senses, like a sensory experience, which is exactly what food is to me. she was 110% sure that I should do it. she just said it with so much confidence, like there was no question about it, and I would be silly not to, because it won't fail.

There was more to the course than what the cards said, but it's hard to explain, so let's just say I am even more fascinated with Tarot than I was after I had my first reading back in May, and I do think it's going to play a role in my future. at the moment I feel like landing the job in a type of restaurant that I really like the vibe of, is the first (of many) step(s) in getting to where I want to be in the future. I also don't think that it's coincidence that when I got home after the course last night and checked my email, I had an email from The Arts Institute of Vancouver. I'd requested information from them about culinary courses last September (when I got the gut feeling sitting by myself on my day off on my birthday watching Anthony Sedlak's program on the Food Network), and had been receiving emails from them like mad following that, for about 9 months until I unsubscribed. I haven't received an email from them in months, and there it was last night.

so anyway, that's enough about me. I always feel like I'm blabbing on on this thing! I'll now be in Byron until at least the end of January, and after that, will meet up with Jamie and Corey as well as hopefully Rob and Sheena, and travel more of the East Coast in a campervan! who knows what March will bring, but I can't wait to find out.

must go celebrate now! I have a mini-bottle of champagne in the fridge at the hostel...which I suppose I will now start calling home...waiting for me. it's Pink, which my fabulous friend Jen introduced me to on my 24th birthday which also happened to be around the time I was celebrating my new apartment in downtown Van. it's Friday night at home, so have a drink for me tonight kay? as the aussies say to everything......CHEERS!