2009

Hello.

First of all, I'm sorry. I realize I haven't posted in months and months on this thing, but I assure you that 2009 will be slightly less lackadaisical.

Where are we at? Well, last time I left you, the green card application had been sent off and I was of the opinion that The Kaiser Chiefs were rubbish. The former may have changed, but sadly the latter is still true.

About October time I was summoned to the shiny new Immigration centre over in Raleigh, where they took my fingerprints and basically ensured I couldn't get up to no good. This was fine with me, as I didn't really intend on getting up to no good. The whole immigration process did seem to slow down after that though, and I finally received my travel documents and work authorization on the last of the day that the government had allotted for this (it was a 90 day limit!). I then had to apply for my Social Security number (which I couldn't have got before as I had to have the work authorization to show them I could work), which involved a miserable trip to the local Social Security office and having to stand in line for a couple of hours next to someone who looked suspiciously like Harold Shipman. That in turn took 6 weeks to turn up, which was annoying as I still couldn't work or drive without it. Finally, once that arrived, I had to apply for the Driver's Licence, Bank Card and obligatory Ebay account. Complicated, no?

Anyway, as I start 2009, I'm beginning to feel a bit more like a human being again and able to do things independently should the need arise. Which is great - especially the Ebay bit...

Next on the list is the job front, but I'll leave that til next time.

Tom