Last week was my one year anniversary of moving back to Vancouver.

When I first moved back I didn’t think it was going to be a long-term thing. Well, part of me hoped it would. Truth be told I moved back to Vancouver 60% for a guy and 40% for my friends, connections and history with the city.  Part of me thought I’d move to Toronto for an awesome job in my ‘field’ or move back to London.  A year later I’m still here, I’m no longer with the guy (go figure) but I sure have accomplished a lot.

March 2010 – March 2011

• I moved three times. Which is pretty good considering from August 2009- March 2010 I didn’t stay in one city longer than three weeks.
• I worked an office job for six months. That’s six months worth of commutes on the Skytrain to the suburbs. It was … I learned a lot.
• I started Say Wha?! Readings of Deliciously Rotten Writing in June. It’s been wildly successful. I even got to do the show in the Vancouver Comedy Festival and have Tig Notaro do the show!
• I’ve been a guest on CBC Radio’s On The Coast show four times: for Dance Dance Party Party, for Say Wha?!, for hosting the VPL’s Vogon Poetry Slam, and for bringing back Teen Angst Nights.
• I got called “A talented and charming mover-and-shaker.” – Vancouver Courier. “An actor and all-around social do-gooder” and “Comedian and Vancouver culture maven.”- by the WestEnder. Why the Georgia Straight won’t cover my shows I don’t know. (Fans please start your letter writing campaign now.) Which meant a lot considering I’d left town for a year and a half.
• I worked on 100% Vancouver with the PuSh Festival. It was such a wonderful and beautiful experience and I wish it had gone on longer.
• I performed in the Vancouver Burlesque Festival – with my clothes on.
• I was on a bunch of awesome shows including Talent Time (twice), The Hero show, The Flame (twice) and I ‘won’ the Vancouver Literary Death Match – a show I originally saw in London.
• I joined the Rookie League at Vancouver Theatre Sports and have been learning so much about improv.
• I went on trips to NYC and San Fransisco and had a blast!
• I went to two weddings of dear friends: Tara Jean & Derek and Breanne (aka Soupy) & Craig.
• I dated. I dated a lot. Then I put myself on a manbatical.
• I had back issues, they got better, they got worse, I went to the ER at two a.m. because I was in so much pain and they gave me two shots of morphine, then I got physiotherapy and I haven’t had any back issues for nearly four months! (Knock on wood.)
• I made the finals of Crazy 8s with a film about Sparkle Bunny. We didn’t get to make the film for the festival but we’re going to do it anyway.
• I’ve finished my novel as far as I can on my own and am finally ready to show it to agents and publishers!

Wow, Vancouver, you sure have been good to me. But who knows if I’ll still be here in another year? I’ve got that work Visa for the UK now and it’s good until 2013.

There’s lots more I want to accomplish and I can do a lot of that anywhere in the world, but the one thing I’ve learned in this past year is that I’m happiest when I’m busy doing my own work and Vancouver has been a wonderfully responsive place for it.

Thank you to all of you* who I’ve experience this past year with.

*Except for that one guy, I’m still a bit bruised.