TORONTO -- Eva Avila's lip gloss has worn off, there are seven messages waiting on her cell phone and she is going on 45 minutes of sleep.
Then the phone goes off again, Fergie crooning the Black Eyed Peas' Don't Phunk With My Heart as its ringtone. Avila can't answer it this time either.
"It hasn't quite sunk in yet," says the newest "Canadian Idol." "It's sinking in a little bit to see my face on the cover of newspapers. It's like 'okay, I don't believe it yet.' "
Avila left for Toronto from her home in Gatineau this summer a 19-year-old searching for how to find a career in music: Making little money at a series of part-time jobs, wondering whether to go to music school in Montreal but scared to move out of her mother's house, frustrated and unsure how to record a demo or get someone to help her write songs.
"I was so lost, there was a point where I didn't know what I wanted to do," said Avila.
"There was a big identity search at that time."
STARTING A NEW LIFE
Sometime this week, after earning enough viewer votes to edge out Upper Island Cove, N.L.'s Craig Sharpe in the CTV show's finale Monday night, Avila will move into a downtown Toronto apartment paid for by her record company, and start her new, nearly unrecognizable life.
Avila is still wearing her wristband from the Idol bash the night before, speaking to the Sun partway through a day of press interviews at Sony-BMG's headquarters that began at 4:30 a.m.
There is much Avila does not know, including when she will be able to return to her hometown and the temporary embrace of family and friends there; what shape her new life will take, and how her fledgling relationship with Top 4 finalist and Nova Scotia resident Chad Doucette will proceed in the middle of what promises to be a hectic schedule.
"We don't know," she said. "We'll just see what happens. We'll talk about it."
Avila does have a whole new wardrobe and three suitcases full of shoes from the show, joking "I used to only have three pairs!"
Her single, Meant to Fly is spinning on radio and her first duty is to record a debut album due out by December. Avila also knows she'll head out on tour to open for country star Martina McBride next spring.
UP FOR WHATEVER'S NEXT
Performing for people since she was three, Avila says she's up for whatever comes next.
"I think if I wasn't ready to take this big dive into the industry," she says, "then I wouldn't have gotten this far."
Only time will tell if the thing that almost kept her from trying out for Idol in Ottawa last winter -- "a preconceived notion" the contest might lead to 15 minutes of fame rather than the long career she really wants -- will come true.
"Exactly," agrees Avila. "But I'm really confident. I believe this is exactly where I'm supposed to be. I believe in destiny very strongly. I just believe this was supposed to be on my path, every single little thing about this adventure was meant to be."
