dozik

it was a long trip, and it was a good trip, but i must say, it's good to be back.

more when i feel like it. :)

i'm being processed!

I think it's no secret that I've been going back and forth about where I want to be come September.  The two obvious choices have been:

1) stay here in Boston
2) go to England

A little background...I realize it's easy to forget this, but I'm not an American citizen.  So in order to be in this country for the past decade, I've had to be on student visas.  It's been easy enough...save a few hiccups here and there, being here on a visa has been pretty alright.  Now here's the tricky bit.  Now that I'm no longer a student, I need to shift my visa type to a working visa, or, failing that, I need to leave the country.

So, basically, for various reasons that are a bit complicated and I don't so much want to get into, I've spent the last two to three months vaccillating between option 1 and option 2, above.  One week I'd have my heart set on staying, and the next I'd be convinced that the thing to do was to leave, and back and forth and back and forth.

Anyway, long story short, I ultimately applied for a visa to stay.



Well, the first day that visa applications were accepted by the US gov't was Monday, April 2.  By midday that day 150,000 applications had been received, and it was expected that by the end of the following day, that number would be up in the 200,000 or so range.  For those of you less familiar with immigration and visa rules, only 65,000 to 85,000 visas are granted per year, so those are not good odds.  Anyway, the gov't decided no more applications were to be accepted after April 3.  They're going to do a first vetting of all the applications to weed out those that are incomplete or ineligible.  Then, once that first pass has been made, there will be a random lottery for applications that will be processed.  If my application is picked, then I'm pretty much golden to stay.  However, if it isn't then I will have to leave.

It's unsettling.  I've got about a 60% chance of being processed.  And there isn't anything I can do to affect the outcome of this lottery.  So, I guess I just wait and see.  Oh well.

today i had an appointment with an optometrist, and i tried contacts for the first time ever. i was supposed to try to keep them in for 4 hours...i gave up after 1.5 hours. it probably didn't help that i was staring at a computer screen, but my eyes are still itchy, and the damn things have been out for 11 hours! it's not like i want to wear contacts always (i actually enjoy glasses and was thinking of getting a couple more pairs, you know, to change up my look a bit) but it would be nice to not have to worry about them when playing sports, or being a bridesmaid (see, i am thinking of your wedding andrea) and so on.

still, with the way my eyeballs are reacting, this may not work out.

i'll keep trying...see if it gets any better over the course of the week.

in my firm, like many firms, we fill out weekly timesheets. these timesheets run from saturday to friday each week. i try to be good about it and fill time in at the end of each day, just so that i don't forget what it is that i did for which job and for how long.


well, i started my monday morning with 20.5 hours on my timesheet already. (and no, let's not even get into the discussion of why i was at work to begin with on this supposed federal holiday...it's too depressing)


i am le tired.

so todd left for lesotho today.


it's going to be a bit lonely here for the next few weeks. :(


in theory, a deadline at work will keep me busy. also, todd got me some knitting needles and yarn for christmas, so once i master casting on, basic stitching, casting off, fixing dropped stitches, and so on, i'll tackle a hat project. there's woman in black to watch and/or help out with (kristin, let me know if there's anything i can do to help), there's reefer madness to watch, and i guess help out with, though i think the only think i'd be willing to do is box office if i'm asked. there's also a bunch of practical stuff that needs to get done, so i'm sure the time will fly by.


but still, i think it's going to be a bit lonely.

So today I went to Harvard Square to run some errands (which, by the way, why don't people make decent looking address books anymore?) and while I was there, I saw a flyer for A Chorus Line being performed at Harvard.  I thought, ehn, what the hell...Todd's out of town and my alternative is to go home and sit on my ass, so I bought a ticket.  Mostly, I was curious to see if it's a show that a non-professional group can do decently.  A group I was involved with at Columbia put it on and did a pretty good job, but they had quite a few of the roles filled by students from the Manhattan School of Music, so I think that's kind of cheating...

The verdict?  Well, it was ok.  But it turns out, the musical is a bit boring.  Now, I haven't yet figured out if it's the musical or this particular production of it, though I have a sneaky suspicion it might be the production.  The dance numbers were surprisingly polished, but the acting and some of the singing really suffered for it, I think.  Oh, and the over-acting in a couple of spots...seriously cringe-worthy.  Also, I did note that this production had quite a few non-Harvard cast members, though to be fair, their Cassie was a Harvardian of some sort.

It did make me wish I were performing, though.  It's been a while now.  Sigh.  Maybe someday soon...

so, the deed is done. i am employed...contract signed and everything. it was a tough choice, mostly because two of the offers were really good, but also really different, and i kept going back and forth between them. but, as i said, i am now a working person...or at least i will be starting this coming monday. it feels strange, and good. it's about time.

anyway, now i have to figure out how my last 6 days of denim-wearing freedom should be spent. i think at least one day will have to include some shopping for work appropriate clothing, and i may need to head out to the burlington mall for that, as it turns out the galleria, while convenient, is kinda small. but i don't love shopping. not one bit. so we'll see how that goes. other than that, i'll take suggestions or company (that is, if you are reading this, have the time, and are in the right time zone for it to matter). :)

and in other news, todd and i marked our 4th anniversary. :) woohoo! we had a nice dinner downtown and went to see a movie. oh, and he got me flowers (orange ones!) and chocolates (yummy ones!) too. so, it was nice and relaxed. brilliant.

that's it for now!

So these are some flash links that I enjoy watching every so often.  What can I say, they crack me up.  I figured I'd put them all in one place for easy future access...  if anyone has any other flash things to add to the list, let me know!

Animator vs. Animation
Bananaphone
Europe vs. Italy
Kenya
Kitty Cat
Peanut Butter Jelly Banana
So here da earth, chillin'

i know todd is going to make fun of me for this, but here goes:  looking for jobs/interviewing for jobs/deciding which job offer to accept IS HARD!  i know, i know, i shouldn't complain...it hasn't been that long a process...at least i've gotten more than one offer...and it's not that i need to choose between a lesser of two evils or anything....

it's just, this is a big deal.  the (so far) two offers are so different from each other, it's almost impossible for me to make a list of pros and cons for each and have any sort of basis for comparison.  blech. 

in other news, i gave a lecture today.  it was fine.  i'm a bit sick at the moment, so i'm sure i sounded fabulously sexy. 

speaking of fabulously sexy...project runway is on tonight.  it's the bitch session, i think.  i missed last year's, so i'm doubly excited for this year's.  i'll be going over the my old place to watch it...which will be weird since raslyn won't be there and i guess i'll be meeting the new roommate..?  so strange...now the only person left at that house that i have any sort of a relationship with is kelly.  i guess that happens in student apartments.  it's probably stranger that i actually know anybody in that house more so than that i only know one person.  oh whatever...too much thinking is making my already achy head hurt.  anywho.  raslyn should be somewhere on the road in middle america.  i hope her travels are going well.  i'm sure i'll hear about them once she arrives safely to costa mesa.

k, i've rambled on enough for a day.

my best friend got engaged a couple of days ago.  on her birthday.  in new zealand.  i don't have the details because, well, she's still in new zealand and we haven't spoken since she sent me a text message with the news, but knowing the two of them, i'm sure it was extremely romantic and i just know she is over the moon about it.  i've met her husband-to-be before, and he is a great guy.  i'm ecstatic for her.  yaaay!  now i just need to make sure she let's me in on planning the wedding date, location, dress, colors, flowers, etc. because i WILL be a bridesmaid, dammit.  :)

so my thesis got handed about an hour ago.  yay.  it's not genius material, but i don't dislike it, so i'm content.  and as martha stewart says, "it's a good thing."

the last week or two have been pretty much 98% (except for the 4 days spent in vermont...more on that in a sec) spent on thesis-ing, but i did do some other fun stuff.



those are the two main events from the past month that i can think of at the moment.  i'll update again if i think of anything else.

which, surprisingly, is both YAY! and GRRRR!

andrea, this is mostly for you because you asked...

i know i haven't posted in ages, and a bunch of stuff has happened over the last month which i'd love to share, but right now, given that my thesis is due in two days, i'm going to concentrate on that. i promise to post about fun stuff on monday.

over and out.

anyway, end rant.  i'm happy about the win.  now i've got to get work done.  the world cup really lowered my productivity (to, you know, zero) so i'm pretty relieved, actually, to have it be over.  now if i could just pry myself away from the tv...

yaaaay!

that is all.  :)

so i know i've been posting about the same thing over and over again....but i can't help it.

 YAAAAAAAAAAAY!  italy is in the finals!

but i'm not sure how much more of this i can take.  my heart rate definitely goes up during the games, especially when italy waits 119 minutes to score the FIRST goal!!!  but hey...all's well that ends well.  now it's all about the final on the 9th, and really i don't care who they have to play that day...i hope it's a good game.

in other news, today was todd's birthday (oh, and america's, too).  we barbecued both lunch and dinner at my old apartment (with kelly and raslyn), and had some delicious desserts courtesy of kristin and colleen.  it rained everytime i went outside to man the barbecue, so that was, um, interesting.  but things got cooked and it all worked out in the end.  later in the evening,  we went to memorial drive to watch the fireworks...really nice, really loud.  i think that's something i'm going to miss about boston once i'm gone.  they do such a good job with the 4th of july.

anywho...that's it for now.  it's getting late, so i'll likely head to bed soon. 

i'm off to see the italy-ukraine game at a bar. wish italy luck!

oh, and...new icon!


A-FEW-HOURS-LATER UPDATE:

YYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
FORZA ITALIA!

italy is playing australia at the moment. it's fun, but oh so nail-biting, too. the australian coach is the same guy who was coaching the south korean team 4 years ago, and that was the team that ended up eliminating italy from the tournament.

not good.

but italy has had a few chances...they just need to keep the pressure on, and not allow the socceroos any more looks at the goal. let's see how that pans out.

HALFTIME UPDATE:
still 0-0.  australia is playing better than italy.  the azzurri really need to regroup and come out stronger in the second half.  fingers crossed!

EARLY 2ND HALF UPDATE:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

END OF GAME UPDATE:
well, they sure did keep the suspense going until the very last second.  i think i aged about 5 years over the course of that game...
i have no more words...see you all on friday.  until then, i'm just going to practice breathing calmly.  :)

YAAAAAYYYY!!!  i won the award for best female actor at the boston playwrights' platform summer festival!!  woohoo!!

and todd won for his role this week!

so we're both STARS!  SUPERSTARS!