Garazon’s Den

I used to think patience was one of my virtues and that anything good was worth waiting for, I still do believe that. but I have to confess my patience is being stretched with waiting for our I-129F (K1 visa) petition to be approved. Yes I know there’s a huge backlog and we have to wait our turn, but it just puzzles me sometimes how the government can be so quick to want and demand things on a certain time from its citizens or else face the wrath of fines or threats of punishments for failing to comply and yet at the same time can bide its time in providing the the services that those same citizens view as equally important issues to them.  For example, let your tax payment be posted one day late and see what happens! Or fforget to check the little box on your tax return stating you are filing jointly with your spouse, even though you have the spouses name and social security # and W2 listed on the return, and the govt will recalculate the return as yours alone and send you a quite official sounding mail stating you have 30 days from the notice to pay the reconfigured tax amount or face penalties up to x amount of dollars, possible jail time, and confiscation of property among other things. (yes this happened to me and I of course sent them a reply straight away begging their almighty forgiveness for not checking that freaking box and for assuming they had the common sense to realise it was a joint return when both of our names were on it and both signed the damn thing. Sheesh… ) sorry its still a sore spot with me almost 15 years later…

Well is it too much to ask for at least the same consideration when we as tax paying citizens want at least an approximate date to get an answer to our petition, or at least to get some other response than “the case is ‘pending’ ” ? Now honestly I realise there is a backlog and insufficient staff on hand to handle the amount of visa requests that have been submitted in record numbers this past year. On the other hand if i owe them back taxes(which I don’t by the way) do they give a shit if i have the money or not.. NO! … sorry again, just venting… and be prepared, it likely wont be the last vent either in this post ;)

Anyway I just think we are entitled to some semblance of human compassion if they realise that for two people who are truly in love to be separated any longer than we have to be is just morally wrong, plain and simple. Its not like we can afford to fly back and forth for visits every so often, and even if we could its not what either of us want. Do any of these people have the slightest clue what its like to say goodbye to te love of your life at the airport, not knowing when the next kiss will be, or the next time you can wrpa your arms around your other half? they are clueless in that area, or uncaring. maybe you think I’m being harsh as I do realise there are plenty of fraudulent applications made and for probably nefarious reasons too, but there still ought to be some kind of method to take the obviously genuine cases and take the as priorities. No I don’t profess to say how that would be ascertained, but I’m sure with enough thought about it something could be worked up. After all the US govt already has more information on me than I probably know myself! it started accumulating the day I was born didn’t it, with the birth certificate~ then when I was old enough to work, a social security number.. they know where I live, what car I drive, my email address, any criminal record or lack there of, you name it they know it, whether they say they do or not. Oh I’m just frustrated and venting tonight, missing Alison and wanting our days together to start now. Just hate this waiting or wasting one more day apart, even though we are always in touch one way or another, its not the same is it. All i would really like to know is about when we can expect a decision so that we can make some sort of preparations and get things moving. she has her house there to rent, her job to consider, her children and family, and then the actual move. And if we had some idea of a general date it would be of some help as we could at least maybe manage another holiday together if its going to be more than a few months, Yes she could come here on a travel visa for 6 months, but still when the petition is approved she has to be in Cyprus to get the visa! And its not like she could fly back and pick it up, she has to go for interviews and medical checkups etc, so that’s a few more weeks i imagine. Just doesn’t seem right to me to make us go through all this, and they say this is the easiest way to get your foreign fiancee here to the US legally so you can get married. for what its worth to them i am married to her already, in my heart and before God. Bureaucracy … baaaaa

Like I said just venting tonight out of frustration of not having my angel in my arms yet again one more night. it does make it easy to see why there are so many illegals here in this country though, a whole lot easier to do it that way it appears than the route we took :(

so just in the event anyone from immigration should ever read this , I really don’t fault the govt (too much) , I just want my wife by my side, I miss her. please help us and HURRY!

Well i try to keep positive and keep patient , we both do. Sometimes it gets us down a bit, but never enough that we aren’t still amazed and loving each other more with what we have. We try to keep humour in our relationship too, its a large part of it. we always still find things to laugh at and lift each other up. So in that vein I thought I would post this email I got from somewhere, not sure now where it came from or who sent it, but it made me laugh and although its written from a British perspective I think you could change the particulars in it and it would sound just like it was written here in the States..

Dear Minister,
I’m in the process of renewing my passport but I am a total loss to understand or believe the hoops I am being asked to jump through.

How is it that Bert Smith of T.V. Rentals Basingstoke has my address and telephone number and knows that I bought a satellite dish from them back in 1994, and yet, the Government is still asking me where I was born and on what date?

How come that nice West African immigrant chappy who comes round every Thursday night with his DVD rentals van can tell me every film or video I have had out since he started his business up eleven years ago, yet you still want me to remind you of my last three jobs, two of which were with contractors working for the government?

How come the T.V. detector van can tell if my T.V. is on, what channel I am watching and whether I have paid my licence or not, and yet if I win the government run lottery they have no idea I have won or where I am and will keep the bloody money to themselves if I fail to claim in good time.
Do you people do this by hand?

You have my birth date on numerous files you hold on me, including the one with all the income tax forms I’ve filed for the past 30-odd years. It’s on my health insurance card, my driver’s licence, on the last four passports I’ve had, on all those stupid customs declaration forms I’ve had to fill out before being allowed off the planes and boats over the last 30 years, and all those insufferable census forms that are done every ten years and the electoral registration forms I have to complete, by law, every time our lords and masters are up for re-election.

Would somebody please take note, once and for all, I was born in Maidenhead on the 4th of March 1957, my mother’s name is Mary, her maiden name was Reynolds, my father’s name is Robert, and I’d be absolutely astounded if that ever changed between now and the day I die!

I apologise Minister. I’m obviously not myself this morning. But between you and me, I have simply had enough! You mail the application to my house, then you ask me for my address. What is going on? Do you have a gang of Neanderthals working there? Look at my damn picture. Do I look like Bin Laden? I don’t want to activate the Fifth Reich for God’s sake! I just want to go and park my weary backside on a sunny, sandy beach for a couple of week’s well-earned rest away from all this crap.

Well, I have to go now, because I have to go to back to Salisbury and get another copy of my birth certificate because you lost the last one. AND to the tune of 60 quid! What a racket THAT is!! Would it be so complicated to have all the services in the same spot to assist in the issuance of a new passport the same day? But nooooo, that’d be too damn easy and maybe make sense. You’d rather have us running all over the place like chickens with our heads cut off, then find some tosser to confirm that it’s really me on the goddamn picture - you know… the one where we’re not allowed to smile in in case we look as if we are enjoying the process!
Hey, you know why we can’t smile? ‘Cause we’re totally jacked off!

I served in the armed forces for more than 25 years including over ten years at the Ministry of Defence in London. I have had security clearances which allowed me to sit in the Cabinet Office, five seats away from the Prime Minister while he was being briefed on the first Gulf War and I have been doing volunteer work for the British Red Cross ever since I left the Services. However, I have to get someone ‘important’ to verify who I am — you know, someone like my doctor…
who, before he got his medical degree 6 months ago WAS LIVING IN PAKISTAN…

Yours sincerely,
An Irate British Citizen.

I can see us in this :)

The only car shows I get to attend this time of year are right here in the parking lot of the place I work! I have seen quite a few that worthy of being in a car show, especially this one, the paint job was immaculate. Wish  got a closer look.

Not sure what the make or model of this car was but it sure caught my eye, wish I had the regular camera with me to get a better picture. Glad I have the iPhone now as it does a fair job anyway.

Wonder why it made me think of Alison instantly? ;)  I can see her behind the wheel of this. :)  I’m absolutley clueless to what kind of car this is and I was in too much a hurry to get away from the store to stop and look closer, wish I had now. if anyone knows or recognises the make and model give me a shout!

Yes I know this is Independence Day but there is one Brit I wont ever lose my dependence upon, my beautiful bride, Alison Michelle! Happy 4th of July baby! :)

I can’t help but think that if the US had lost the Revolutionary War Alison and I would both be Brits and we wouldn’t be going mad waiting on this immigration and paperwork to get sorted! We’d likely already be together. well no doubt of that.

Well at least one or two things good came out of the US gaining independence, we dont have roundabouts or spotted dick! well not any that i know of anyway, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of a few cases ;)

And for those inclined to comment about the Union Jack on display, just know its not the first time I have posted it on the 4th, last years post was having a very special one included :)

Happy 4th of July everyone!

I was noticing the other evening when I was writing a mail to Alison that I now automatically seem to use the UK spelling most all the time now. Well specifically those words that here end in ‘or’ where there it’s ‘our‘ such as humour and colour. Well that in itself isnt that uncommon. But I got thinking about it more and realised I also use phrases and words now that 2 years ago I wouldn’t have ever imagined saying.. simple things really like ‘petrol’ I am often sending my love a text kiss from the petrol pumps, (the romantic man that i am!) :) Well here we say ‘gas‘ of course and even that is showing how lazy we are to shorten it from gasoline. And then not only do we use ‘gas’ for that, we call propane ‘gas’ too! And on top of that we call just about anything in a gaseous state that we use for fuel or burning, such as acetylene and such… yes ‘gas’ again! well in polite circles a fart is called ‘gas’ too but I dont want to go rambling on too much in that direction… lol

I now also ring someone instead of call. I can remember well watching those BBC sitcoms from the 60’s and 70’s and hearing them saying to ring someone and laughing at how absurd it sounded to me at the time. Now I don’t think twice about it, either writing it or saying it~ And car park… there’s another one! I dont know when that slipped in really. Well I still use parking lot often too, but its about 50-50 now. Well I don’t know when but I do know how I got to using it. Ever since Alison and I have been texting we have got into the habit of sending some at very specific times during the day, well in addtion to those off and on just to say hi. Theres the wake up text and kiss… well they all have a kiss in them! and then one when we leave the house for work, well naturally the one after that is the car park text! Well as I said I still say parking lot just as often too. It was just so funny the other day someone at work was asking me if I had an extra box cutter, and I said ‘No, but I’ll go out to the car park and get one from my car’ and it was only after I got a funny look from him that I caught what I said!

(continue reading…)

Well I finally made it back a day late. My first flight was delayed for a couple of hours, and they wound up having to shuttle us to another airport to catch a larger plane for some reason. So that made me miss my connecting flight. I finally managed to get some new flights and the airline put me up in a hotel for the night, which was nice but I was very anxious to be in a strange place all by myself. They did take care of me and I had transportation to and from the hotel. Caught my new flight the next morning and was back on my way. I wound up going to Newark and then another flight to Norfolk. which actually as far as the flying time it was less than the flight over. Finally made it back in the door to my house about 36 hours after leaving Alison’s house on Friday morning :( It’s worn me out and I was in bed not long after getting home.

I have a lot of stories to tell when I get some energy to sit and think clear and write. The one thing I can say right off is that even if we have some nice airports and all the latest technology, the US has some of the rudest airport workers than any place I have been. Actually the Brits were the most helpful of anyone even if they have a maze for an airport at Gatwick! Well the dutch were ok too, just they weren’t as visible as the Brits were.

My body is still on Cyprus time I think, I’m feeling so sleepy at the moment but am trying to stay up long as I can to get adjusted as I go back to work on Tuesday. My boss was nice and gave me a couple more days! Thank goodness, even though I was up and awake early this morning I feel drained still. I’ve got all the pics uploaded but not all labeled yet. I had a wonderful time, well I was sure I would, just being with Alison was all I wanted. there was lots to see and I’m sure Alison is glad to be getting a break from me dragging her around almost every day to see more “rocks” ! ;)

Well I will try and post tomorrow and give you all some details. I’m just going to take it easy today and try and get back on schedule. It was nice in a way coming through customs at Newark to be greeted by an American saying “Welcome Back” , but my heart is still in Cyprus. Wish I was there now.

I love the Brits!  Well one in particular!

XXXXXX Happy 4th of July! XXXXXX