Intermission

This has been an highly emotional week. Not going to go into the deets (oooh... more coolness). Yesterday was probably one of the most stressful and dark days I've had in a very long time. I've not had much sleep. It happens. In the scheme of things, with all that is going on in the world, my little stresses are nothing and it's almost embarrassing to even put them on... screen. But... it's my life. It's what I do. It's what keeps me up at night.

This morning I was up at 4am after a quick and not very restful 3.5 hours of sleep. Out of the house early so I could get into work early. Needed to go into work early because I needed to get out of work early today. I had to be in the Bronx at 2 pm sharp for my biometrics appointment for my Naturalization application.  In English, I was being fingerprinted and photographed again for my citizenship application.  Next step is the interview and them telling me "yup" or "nope". Today though... B I O M E T R I C S. Be there, or forfeit your application.

I decided that before this, I was going to go to the county court house to drop off some paperwork with the county clerk. How tough can that be? Well. In my current state, not an easy task at all. I wish I were a reality show today (but just today) because I'd love to playback the footage of this morning.

I left my job at... 9:30ish. The drive to the country clerk is about... hmmm...  a half an hour today because they were painting lines on the road. Once I got to the location of the court house... it wasn't there! It really was, but I could not find it. When I did, I couldn't figure out how to get in it. Tack on another 15 minutes. 10:15 now. Low fuel light appeared somewhere along the way. Yeah yeah.  Got out of my car. Brought my cute briefcase with a whole stack of paperwork, just in case I forgot anything.

As I was walking to the building, I decided to take a quick peek at my paperwork. Yeah... that's when it got bad. I had all of the other paperwork, but not the skinny little folder I needed for today. Oh nooooo... that was back on my desk. Where I left it.  Made my way back to the car and promptly burst into tears. Almost 10:30 now. Drove past my exit and my gas was getting very low. Burst into tears again. Managed to get myself turned around, get on the parkway and drove like a bat out of... heck. Got stopped with the line painting guys again. For a good 10 minutes. Was sputtering when I rolled into the gas station (thank you, guardian angel!!! I LOVE YOU! <3).  Filled my car ($53?!?!?!?!). Realized I was late for work conference call #1 by 15 minutes... and was rapidly approaching being late for conference call#2, which was with my boss. F*%$.  Barely made it back in time. And 15 minutes later, I was back on the road.

I set my GPS for the address of the place in the Bronx that I needed to be, and kept an eye on it, sure I was going to stand in line at the county clerk, get to the front and then have to leave.. and get stuck in traffic and have my citizenship application cancelled. It just seemed to be my luck this week, you know?

But. I got to the clerk's office in good time. Without speeding. I was walked in right away. They couldn't have been nicer. It couldn't have been simpler. And they wished me a nice weekend about 10 minutes later. I had a nice drive into the Bronx. Found a place to park a half a block from where I needed to be. The neighbourhood was scary and I was pretty much sure my car wouldn't be there when I got out. I was a half an hour early. I was in and out within a half an hour, which is insanely quickly for a process like this. The fact that they let me in the building early for my appointment was surprising. I left there just a little after 2pm. Pulled into my apartment at 3pm. Got changed and went for a 5 mile run at the lake.  77 degrees. Sunny. Mild wind. It was ideal and the best way to end such a difficult week. I am looking forward to a much, much better weekend.

...and more blogging!  Namaste.