Tired.
Sooooo I haven't blogged much recently. There are a few reasons for that, some of which some of you know about.
1. Personal. James and I have decided to split up. It's mutual. It's terribly amicable. It is the right thing. We ♥ each other, but we're both adults and we have independently come to the realization that things just weren't working out. We made the decision over a month ago now, and are living separately, and we're enjoying being friends. It's sad, but we're happier. And that's all that matters.
2. WORK. Crrrrrrraaaaaazy. For lots of complicated reasons, the person managing the technology side of the Big Pharma Project I'm on was needed on another project. Thus: I am in charge. I am also the lead developer for said Big Pharma Project. Lead developer + tech manager = busy busy bee. With lots of job satisfaction, but still.
Personal is hugely complicated and tiring, but honestly, it's the tons and tons of work that have been keeping me from posting properly. It can all be summed up with one word: Tired.
Tired but... but okay. Good, even.
For the record...
... because I haven't said it in a while in such a public forum:
My husband is the best. In so many different ways.
♥
Recently...
I've been sort of MIA, I know. James was out of town ALL last week in India and it resulted in a lot of trouble sleeping and just a general ennui. Now that he's home, the ennui is gone, but the trouble sleeping remains. Annoyingly.
There isn't much that's happened of note. Mostly, it's been work and (while James was gone) general tidying and stuff. (Now that he's back, of course, the tidying is out the window - gah.)
Obviously, this weekend promises to be fun: the Bears are in the Superbowl!! We're having a thing at our place. If you know me and are in the area, consider yourself invited. I think more formal invites will go out a little later this week.
In other news, we finally chose a sofa! We're getting this sectional in "Heather Seagrass," which sounds a whole lot greener than it is. We chose the color a couple weeks ago and went back last night just to see... I'm impressed with my original judgement. It is indeed, just right.
We've also ordered new Mac Pros - matching! Ooooo. It would rock if those came by the end of the week.
AND I really want a pair of these (the DNA Portraits) to hang on my living room wall. I like Firesky, James likes Matrix. Although our sofa is technically green, it's really more neutral than green and I'm not sure the dark green of the picture would work. Yes, we could do one of their side-by-side ones, but I'm just not sold on any of those color combinations. I encourage comments on this - help!
I guess that's it for now - nothing too exciting over here. Time to get ready for work. Bleh. :P
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday, Jamiesaur!!
New York
Guess what? I'm in New York!
Surprised? Yeah, I know. Pretty much no notice at all. Not even a week. But our interview is on Friday, and we'll have to prove, circumstantially, that I'm taking steps to re-establish domicile in the United States. Things the the INS believes qualify are selling your house in the UK or buying a new one in the US. Obviously that doesn't apply, and since there are no hard and fast rules about how this should be done, one of the things I'm doing is going on this scoping out trip.
Incidentally, James's new employer is footing the bill. Their relocation program is pretty cool. I got to fly over here business class (whee!) and am staying in a supertrendy hotel. The hotel is more a function of James's boss than the company - it's where he stays when he's staying at a hotel in NY - hence the uber coolness. My mini-bar has a brass mini cocktail shaker and all of the fixings for a cosmo. It's like it was made for me! ;) Not that I'd ever pay mini-bar prices for one of those.
So yesterday, I met with a relocation specialist. She picked me up in a limo (not stretch, of course, just a nice big Lincoln) and she and Roni (our driver) spent about three hours driving around Tribeca, Batter Park City, SoHo, NoHo and Brooklyn Heights. I got to see all of the types of housing available (on the outside, at least) - from brownstones, to old buildings, to brand new high rises. I got to take a look at what the dining scene was like and the commute scene for James and all that.
It was great, really. After finishing off with the relo lady, I met up with a friend (and a bunch of his friends) and did a bit of shopping, then we went back to his place to figure out how to use his new camcorder, and ended up going out to eat.
Although I've been to New York a few times, it's never been for very long (my longest trip was when I was like thirteen) and I've never got on with it, to be honest. It's not a place I've particularly liked. Well, after yesterday, I can gladly (and with much relief) say that's changing. I really enjoyed it. I liked what I saw. I liked the energy. I liked all the people. Manhattan has surprised me by not being as sprawling and daunting as I remember it. This is a good thing.
I met up with a high school friend (Joe) for cocktails last night and I have to say, we had such a blast. It's so nice to know that we'll soon be able to do this more often.
Today, I go to HSBC at 11:00 to open a bank account. Then at 1:30, I meet up with a real estate broker to look at flats. I'm not going to be renting, but I will be getting a lot of comparative legwork out of the way, so when we go looking in earnest we can just sign on the line when we find something good.
The moving day looks to be the 26th.
This Friday: Interview
Next week: James waits for his passport to come back from the embassy
The week after: James goes to India
The week after: Move on the 26th to corporate housing for 6 weeks
So. Fast. So. Soon.
At. Last.
I am very pleased to confirm that we have been successful in obtaining an immigrant visa interview at the US Embassy in London for James Ballingall. The Embassy have confirmed with me that an appointment has been made for *8 September at 9am*. The extensive liaison with the Embassy to ensure the quickest possible turnaround of the application and earliest interview date has paid off. The Embassy is under extreme pressure at the moment due to the volume of applications submitted daily. Therefore we are very pleased with the quick processing of the application.
The 8th of September. Upon realising that fell on a Friday, I balked. Two and a half weeks!!!
Except it isn't two and a half weeks.
It's like 10 days.
Two business days after the interview, James will get his passport back. Then we will be able to get on a plane to the USA. This may get pushed back a few days because James has to go to India that week. But...
... it is very likely that in three weeks, I will no longer be a Londoner.
I am stunned. I am speechless. I am both excited and devastated. And yet, this is what we've been waiting for. Our lives can move on.
At long last.
Edit: Londoners, save the 9th of September. I think we're having a partay, and you'd all better be there.
So pathetic
I'm going to the States in a couple of weeks, to return on the 21st at 11:00AM.
James is going to India, to leave on the 21st at 2:00PM.
We might not even get a chance to see each other at the aiport. :( Awwwww.
Update
1. I am disgusting. I just took a shower and am already sticky and sweaty. It's 8:30PM and it's still 81°F. It got up to 90°F today, again. Ew. Just, ew.
2. On the visa front, we have a case number. This is key. Things can now move forward... but we don't really know exactly what it means for the short term.
3. My gym is not properly air conditioned. One word: gross.
4. My tutor took one look at my designs and basically told me to do the leafy one. So (surprise, surprise) I'm doing the leafy one. Here's what the first hour and a half looks like:
And the other side:
I also have another ring to do - in silver. So designs for that will be worked on tonight.
Complaints department!
We complained.
And by complained, I mean a strongly worded email was written pretty much demanding a new attorney. This percolated through all of the proper people and got back to our attorney's firm.
James got a call from Charlotte's boss, Tuesday afternoon. She was very apologetic and conciliatory, though she did tell us the paperwork that was all fubar wasn't actually important paperwork and it wouldn't have messed up our application. She also told us that she would be looking over Charlotte's shoulder, from now on - CCed on all future correspondence.
We were pretty happy with this - we felt like we'd gotten a good result. James's boss, however, wasn't. He told Charlotte's boss to call him on Wednesday morning to discuss this further.
She didn't... her boss did. So we've moved another rung up the chain. Apparently that conversation was acceptable (I didn't really hear anything about it), because James's boss was placated and all of a sudden we're not CCing Charlotte's boss (Lisa). We're CCing Charlotte. All communication is now directly going through Lisa.
Also, couriers. Every last bit of paperwork that's going back and forth between us and the law firm is now being hand-delivered. Sometimes several times a day.
So where does that leave us? Good question.
We're waiting for a case number. I think the paperwork was submitted yesterday, and it should be something that's dealt with in a couple of days. Then we can submit the rest of our paperwork and start the long wait for an interview date. So, we're getting there. As fast as we can. I only wish it were faster.
Fucking Appalling
So. We have visa news. I haven't blogged about it, because it's not fantastic news and I've sort of been annoyed by it. But it is news, just the same.
Our petition has been accepted. Yay! This means that we now have to submit another tranche of paperwork - like an affidavit of support and information about James's parents and stuff like that. I need to prove I can keep James at 125% of the poverty line. This is sort of amusing because James earns lots more than I do, but I'm his sponsor and responsible for him in the States. Still, it's not a problem.
We submit this paperwork. Then, according to our attorney, we wait for about two months. In about two months, we get an interview date, which, we're advised, will be about three weeks later. Then, the interview, at which James gives them his passport. He'll get his passport (with green card) back two days later, at which point, it's sayonara London.
We're frustrated. We're tired. We don't want to be in limbo anymore. I don't really want to leave London, but now I know that that's what's going to happen, I'm ready to do it.
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We understand that this stuff takes time. There is no fast track, though we muse that there should be. After all, the longer James is working in the United States, the more tax he pays. The more money we get to pump into the economy. If we could give them a couple of grand to expedite our application, Lord knows it would save us money. But it doesn't work that way. It's painfully fair. We don't get treated any differently than anyone else petitioning to bring their family into the United States.
We understand that. We're cool with it.
What we're not cool with, is our attorney, whose sense of hustle seems to have been surgically removed at some point. We told her we wanted our paperwork submitted before we went to Australia. She said she understood, but in the end, she forgot to give us a form and we had to have it faxed to us at a hotel in Sydney, and in the end it was all submitted three weeks later than we had hoped. Because of that mysterious month where nothing happened at the Embassy, we would've gotten in before that break and I imagine we'd be about a month ahead of where we are right now (AT LEAST - maybe two) in the process.
We asked her to send us the paperwork we needed to sign at the beginning of last week. Monday morning and it wasn't there yet. James had to call her and ask her wtf before she agreed to courier it over. And now that it's here, I've been looking through it and the mistakes in it are INEXCUSABLE!
She spells our surname wrong multiple times. Our surname (spelled by us) is ALL OVER the other documentation. She spelled it right on the fucking envelope she sent the stuff over in. It's unbelievable. It's careless. Maybe we're not her most important clients, but shit. There is no excuse for stuff like this. She also put James's name in a box where the sponsor's (me) name should've been.
It's careless. It's unprofessional. It's deeply discouraging and disappointing. I can't help but think if we were doing this on our own - without the help of a lawyer - we'd be way further along than we are now.
Edit: It should be noted that our attorney is specifically an immigration attorney. It is her job to get immigration paperwork together and push it through. It's a trade. No, no two immigration situations are precisely the same, but there isn't THAT much variation. If this is what you do, you should know how to do it. You shouldn't put the wrong person's name on a form.
We asked her at one point what we needed to do to prove our intent to move to the United States. Her answer was completely vague and useless. We had to have a conference call to another guy - in the US - to give us more information. I'm sorry, but if your job is to do US immigration day in and day out, you should know the answer to such a SIMPLE question. We are NOT the first people to ever go through this process. If she can't do her job, she needs to find someone who fucking can.
</invective>
