Been tagged for a meme (whatever that is) by my Jonnielein. Guess I have to fill out the following questionnaire thingy. OK, here goes:

Four jobs I've had:
1. Blah, I only had boring jobs so far, I bet you don't want to read about them...
2. let me think, there must be something that is at least somewhat funny...
3. oh yes!
4. I once had a job where I had to walk through Hamburg's most popular shopping street with a ton of balloons I had to give to children. Not funny? You should have heard my voice after I inhaled the helium that was meant for the balloons! Still not funny? Ah, screw this!

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Dirty Dancing - I have these strong conflicting feelings towards "Baby". Half of me hates her, the other half of me wants to be her
2. Titanic - I have these strong conflicting feelings towards "Rose". Half of me hates her, the other half olf me wants to be her.
3. Silence of the Lambs - best movie ever!
4. Das kleine Arschloch

Four places I've lived:
1. Braubach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
2. Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
3. Hamburg, Germany
4. ummm, there are only 3 places. OK, to make it 4: I lived one wonderful summer in Orange, CA, USA

Four TV shows I love:
1. Simpsons!
2. King of Queens
3. South Park
4. King of the Hill

Four highly regarded and recommended TV shows I haven't seen (much of):
Same as Jonnie:
1. Lost
2. CSI (in any city)
3. The Olympics
4. Any dramatic series about lawyers, doctors, or cops

Four places I've vacationed:
1. California
2. Maldives
3. Barcelona
4. London

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Fuji Grill's Half and Half Combo
2. Pizza "Chef" from "Pizzeria Laguna" in Braubach - Pizza with pepperoni salami, hot pepperonis and gorgonzola cheese
3. potatoe chips
4. Pam's Thai coconut custard desert

Four sites I visit daily:
1. Rebel Leady Boy
2. The Real World...Blogger Style
3. uscis.gov (to check if something happened in the visa process)
4. Boz' site

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. California!
2. Braubach
3. at the lottery company's headquarter, cashing in my million dollar lottery prize
4. in bed

Four bloggers that I am tagging:
1. AmyJo
2. Björn
3. Rosa Posa
4. ummm... #4 is a wildcard

Gaaaahhhhhh!!!!!! I'm starting to lose my patience. I hate waiting. I'm usually a VERY patient person but the visa process me and Jonnie are currently going through is starting to annoy me big time.

Unfortunately, our petition is processed by (one of) the slowest Immigration Service Centers (California (CSC)) and it bugs me to see how people in other Service Centers fly through their application process and ours is taking so long.

Hey, I even have a ticker counting the days since we last heard from them.



We can track our case status online. Our papers haven't even been touched since dec 2nd. Gaaahhrkjlkgjkgjteögkdfhrutiotegrrrrrrggggg!!!!!

And we're far from being done.

OK, I have things to do in the meantime:
- get a ton of vaccinations (already got 2, #3-5 are scheduled for the next 10 days)
- gather documents and have them translated (started doing that)
- cancel rent contract (did that - will have to leave Hamburg in april)
- cancel work contract (ditto - will work until mid/ end of march)
- sell stuff
- throw away stuff (started doing that and it feels SO GOOD).

Yesterday I realized that some of the States (e.g. California) don't accept my German drivers license. Shit, do they think that after surviving almost 10 years on the German Autobahn I can't handle California traffic?!?!

And the California DMV is so generous to allow me a full 10 days upon my arrival to take their tests and get a US driving license. Funny thing is, if I'd only be a visitor to California then this would apply: "Adults Visiting California - Visitors over 18 years old with a valid driver license from their home state or country may drive in California without getting a driver license as long as their home state license remains valid.[which is FOREVER].".

So I started reading the California Drivers Handbook. The lesson I learned yesterday was how to behave correctly when approaching a railroad crossing. Like so:



And today, I plan to get a little deeper on the signaling subject.

SIGNALING

Always signal to other drivers when you plan to turn left, right, slow down, or stop. Signals may be given by hand-and-arm positions or by using the vehicles signal lights. If bright sunlight makes the signal lights hard to see, use hand-and-arm signals also.

LEFT TURN

RIGHT TURN

SLOW OR STOP

APPROACHING CSC OR DMV EMPLOYEES


What was the point again I was trying to make with this post??? Bleh, forgot... .