Green card

It's been a long time since I've really written anything--mostly bitching about work. And when I have written anything, it's been pretty half-assed. For whatever reason, I just haven't been able to put my heart into it. Which would explain why I would easily get bored and stop writing.

Not that anything I write now will be whole-hearted, of course. A lot of it is just a process, getting into the habit of writing. But upon reflection, I think a lot of what I did a few years back, when I wrote a lot, was based on my dissatisfaction with my life and career. My status at work was very precarious, and I felt as though I had been disrespected in a very significant way, although most--students and colleagues--would not realize this as I am pretty good at masking my feelings. And writing on Xanga was an escape of sorts from self-doubt and self-pity. Someday I will write about it (in a protected post, of course).

So where were we...

I think I may have mentioned this briefly before, but since people ask me about it rather frequently, I figure I haven't really discussed it in detail. So without further ado:

Musubichan got her greencard!

Yes, after two years of Hell, she finally got it last May--has it been a year already? Anyway, I'm sure my regular (former) readers remember all the hassles CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Service, formerly INS) subjected us to. Back in July of 2006, we went for an interview and the case officer treated us as if we were criminals. She suspected us of just trying to procure a green card under false pretense and that we were not really married. I had renewed my drivers license late--VA law allows one year for renewal--but the officer insinuated that I got the license simply to make it look like we lived together. Further, she claimed that someone in the office saw M walking from the train station to the CIS building alone, insisting that we had come separately. I was incredulous. I insisted she produce the person who made this "siting" but of course, she backed down. I had heard horror stories regarding US bureaucracy and some of the mean-spirited people who work there, but I guess you have to experience it to get the full measure of there arrogance, an arrogance they exhibit if only to hide their incompetence and stupidity. It was truly aghast.

Fed up, I finally decided to write to my Congressman--I think this is something that Sunjun actually suggested once way back when--Tom Davis (R). I wrote an impassioned letter detailing our journey through the bureaucratic Hell known as the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Amazingly, I got a response from his office within two weeks telling us to renew--for the millionth time--M's metrics (finger printing). We were hopeful that we might, in fact, get an interview by the summer to resolve this fiasco. In another two weeks, we got letter from CIS. Wow! That was fast, we exclaimed. But when M opened up the envelope, we were taken aback. It did not contain instructions for our next interview. Instead, to our utter amazement, out popped the actual green card!

Oh my freakin' God!

Well, you can imagine our glee and our incredible relief. Finally. The first thing I wanted to do was dance a jig, but since I don't know what a jig is, I settled for going to my Google calendar to note the expiration date of this green card in 2017. There is no way I'm going to let M's permanent residency lapse again.