this is not my best week ever
aside from all the other college-vs-highschool-vs-suicide related dramallama rampaging through my life, I bring you this little exciting public service announcement: Homeland Security has invalidated both copies of my birth certificate. This not unfixable, just kind of frustrating.
My parents want to go Europe over the summer (ehn?), and since I've never left the country or needed any official form of identification, I don't have a passport. In trying to apply for one, there have (obviously) been a couple of hitches.
1. The original copy of my birth certificate is an 8x11 black-and-white printout with a great big LA county stamp on it. When we showed this to the man at the University District Community Get Me Official Documents office, he said it wasn't real. My mother assured him that it was exactly what she had been given at the time of my birth, and he said "No, it should look like this," and pulled out a 8x5 piece of blue and white engraved cardstock, with the same big LA County stamp. "Try harder, come back, reapply."
2. Two days and many file cabinets later, we went to the Ballard Community Get Me Official Documents office with the birth certificate my parents got when we came back to Washington and they were concerned about things getting lost in the move (for the record, its a 8x5 piece of blue and white engraved cardstock). When I gave it to a different man with my application, he said this one wasn't valid either because--no, really--I was born in California. Due to the immigration problems in both California and Texas, all birth certificates issued before 2005ish have been invalidated. If you want something like a passport(or, I guess, a real job), you need to request a "new, revised" birth certificate from the county you were born in. How did they propose we do this? "We don't have a number or fax, but you could go online, or just take a trip down there over the weekend--it shouldn't be too hard." Mm, yes. Its just that easy.
(There was also a problem with my social security number--its registered in the right name, but the dates in the computer database match the issue-dates on my 'fake' birth certificate and not my plain old 'wrong' one, but thats just dumb. And nevermind that I am disgustingly Americanized and both my parents have 'valid' birth certificates, which would make me a citizen of this country regardless of where I was born...just--sigh. grr.)
Time to go to LA.
("What is your nationality."
"I'm a drunkard."
"And that makes Rick a citizen of the world."
/geekery)
I really want my passport now. If I don't get out of Nova in June, self-exile to a different continent sounds like a damn good option. I have the official meeting about that tomorrow morning. bring it on.
In other news, people tell me Halcyon Days is going well. You--yes, YOU--should come see it.
This coming Saturday at 2pm, Sunday at 7pm. Weird times, but free. Well worth it. Join us.
- Harker
My parents want to go Europe over the summer (ehn?), and since I've never left the country or needed any official form of identification, I don't have a passport. In trying to apply for one, there have (obviously) been a couple of hitches.
1. The original copy of my birth certificate is an 8x11 black-and-white printout with a great big LA county stamp on it. When we showed this to the man at the University District Community Get Me Official Documents office, he said it wasn't real. My mother assured him that it was exactly what she had been given at the time of my birth, and he said "No, it should look like this," and pulled out a 8x5 piece of blue and white engraved cardstock, with the same big LA County stamp. "Try harder, come back, reapply."
2. Two days and many file cabinets later, we went to the Ballard Community Get Me Official Documents office with the birth certificate my parents got when we came back to Washington and they were concerned about things getting lost in the move (for the record, its a 8x5 piece of blue and white engraved cardstock). When I gave it to a different man with my application, he said this one wasn't valid either because--no, really--I was born in California. Due to the immigration problems in both California and Texas, all birth certificates issued before 2005ish have been invalidated. If you want something like a passport(or, I guess, a real job), you need to request a "new, revised" birth certificate from the county you were born in. How did they propose we do this? "We don't have a number or fax, but you could go online, or just take a trip down there over the weekend--it shouldn't be too hard." Mm, yes. Its just that easy.
(There was also a problem with my social security number--its registered in the right name, but the dates in the computer database match the issue-dates on my 'fake' birth certificate and not my plain old 'wrong' one, but thats just dumb. And nevermind that I am disgustingly Americanized and both my parents have 'valid' birth certificates, which would make me a citizen of this country regardless of where I was born...just--sigh. grr.)
Time to go to LA.
("What is your nationality."
"I'm a drunkard."
"And that makes Rick a citizen of the world."
/geekery)
I really want my passport now. If I don't get out of Nova in June, self-exile to a different continent sounds like a damn good option. I have the official meeting about that tomorrow morning. bring it on.
In other news, people tell me Halcyon Days is going well. You--yes, YOU--should come see it.
This coming Saturday at 2pm, Sunday at 7pm. Weird times, but free. Well worth it. Join us.
- Harker