To my friend D

I talked to you all morning after I got engaged. You giggled at the details of the proposal, and were so excited about the wedding, which was still 7 months away. We talked about you finally meeting M, and getting the girls together again. You immediately appointed yourself as my bachelorette's party coordinator. You said you were coming to my wedding no matter what.

Except you never made it.

In the months leading up to my wedding, our texts were peppered with you complaining about your doctor's visit, "they gotta biopsy some lymph nodes", "getting platelet transfusion", "I don't want to take steroids!". I texted you when I landed in LAX on December 17th, complaining about the terminals. After a few exchanges, you broke the news: "Hon the doctor is not letting me fly. I need to start chemo treatment tomorrow." I told you not to worry about not making the wedding. Just come visit us in Texas. That was our last exchange. You passed away 5 days later in LA.

C.S. Lewis on Love

Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all.  Knowledge can last, principles can last, habits can last; but feeling come and go. And in fact, whatever people say, the state called "being in love' usually does not last. If the old fairy-tale ending "They lived happily ever after' is taken to mean 'They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married', then it says what probably never was nor ever would be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships? But, of course, ceasing to be 'in love' need not mean ceasing to love. Love in this second sense - love as distinct from "being in love' - is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by (in Christian marriages) the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even at moments when they do not like each other; as you love yourself even when you do not like yourself. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be 'in love' with someone else. 'Being in love' first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it. - C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

It is here!

There lay a beautiful package by our door today. I opened the package, and alas, behold the beautiful sight of my new cookbook "What to Cook and How to Cook it". Beautifully-bound, colorful, lots of pictures of raw meat, of eggs, of flour, of butter...

*swoon*


The love at first sight only a foodie will understand.

The first... of many (I hope)!

What to Cook and How to Cook it
By Jane Hornby

I have never won anything.

I mean, I won a speech contest in high school and even got a full four-year scholarship to come to the US for college and all that, but I've NEVER won any sweepstakes - contests that are based purely on probability and luck.

But alas, that all changed today! I got an e-mail saying that I won a cookbook from Savory Sweet Life, a food/cooking blog that I enjoy reading. Last week our newly-married small group had a Christmas potluck and I used a recipe for "No roll pie crust" from Savory Sweet Life. My hubby made the pumpkin pie filling and topped it with crushed walnut and brown sugar. The pie crust was incredibly easy to make (with my Black Friday Costco purchase - a Cuisinart 14-cup food processor!!) and came out beautifully. The walnut/brown sugar topping was a fine touch and made the pie look oh-so-delicious.

Anyways, I can't wait for my cook book to come! This cook book (What to Cook and How to Cook it by Jane Hornby) sounds exactly like the type of cook book that I enjoy - basic instructions, tips and techniques. Maybe I'll write a book report after I try a few recipes... after our last exam next week.

What's a real job?

I've worked one way or another since college, but it has always been at school (stipulation of the F-1 student visa) or related to my major at school (stipulation of OPT). So it goes without saying that the real job I got out of college was also related to my major (H-1b). Although each job I had were "real" jobs in the sense that I got paid, but because they were always in some way related to my education and/or school, they didn't feel quite "real" to me.

Those that felt more "real" were the ones completely unrelated to my major: working as a shuttle driver during reunion/commencement (getting tipped was the best part!), server at an alum dinner event (bonus: a bag of dinner rolls and one apple pie), and working at the library during summer times.

In a sense, I was never free to choose whatever job I wanted to do. I always had to choose from the options I had given my visa status.

But it's different now.

For the first time, I have choices... and lots of them! Almost every day in the months after I got my green card, my husband has had to listen to me think out loud about working at different places (and gently remind me of the reality). I've thought of working at Costco, one of our favorite stores (too far), Starbucks (probably tiring), REI (a bit far, and I hate folding clothes, so that also ruled out a lot of clothing retail stores), B&N/Borders (my hubby had to remind me that working at a bookstore does NOT mean I that get to read all day), Maggiano's (plates are too heavy for me considering that I have trouble pushing open doors most of the time) and the list goes on and on. In the end, I realized that I have no skills other than my professional skill, and skills = pay. So despite all these exciting possibilities, I'm going back to what I know best and probably do best - teaching a test prep course once (4 hours) a week.

There, my first "real" job. I start in a few weeks... and I'm excited!

Life post-green card

You know, the funny thing is... it doesn't feel that different! It's certainly nice to have all restrictions removed on my driver's license and such, but it doesn't matter so much in day-to-day life. I look forward to finally being able to use it when I return from abroad next year. Or... if I can convince my hubby that JUST BECAUSE I have a green card and can go to Canada without a visa, we should take a trip to Canada, then I'll get to use it earlier :)

Post-Green Card Update

Things accomplished:
1) Official name (and immigration status) changed at: 
- School: This involves going to the registrar, international office, and a few e-mail exchanges with the information technology folks to change my school e-mail.
- Social Security office: Went there the day after Fourth of July and it was crowded! Showed them my spanking new green card and marriage license that that was it. I received the new card (without conditions!) in a week.
- Department of Public Safety (DPS): This is for my driver's license. I was dreading this one since I've had bad experiences with them insisting that my name should be a certain way when it's not (see this post). Well, since my new name is on the green card, they had nothing to say this time but to let me have it the way it is. They also removed the 1-year temporary visitor status on the DL. However, I was told that my home country Taiwan is listed as "Taiwan, Province of China." That is so ridiculous. Taiwan is not a province of China and even the U.S. Department of State recognize Taiwan's official name as Taiwan or Republic of China (see here). Anyways, I've been e-mailing DPS, state senator/representative and what not to seek to correct this issue. Urgh! This is so frustrating. Last time they messed up my name and this time they messed up my country's name. Oh and I still don't have my new driver's license yet. Double urgh!
- Banks/Credit Cards: Together we have quite a few accounts so I had to call each of the credit card companies. None of them required me to send in anything since this is based on marriage and my hubby is the joint holder of the account/card in most cases. We also have two online saving account. With one of them, a phone call suffice (since they don't have physical banking locations) while the other asked me to go into the bank. For those that I do have to go into the bank, I just show them either my temporary driver's license or the marriage certificate and voila, it's done. I've received a few new cards with my new names on them! So right now it's a mess in my wallet with at least a few versions of my name. I look forward to the day when they all have my correct new name on them!


2) Figured out financial aid/federal loans:
My hubby and I are in school. He's on fellowship while I'm going to have to start paying (looong story for another post). The green card couldn't have come at a better time since I need permanent residence status to apply for federal loans. I've got that all figured out since I received the green card. Yay.

Happy Fourth of July!

So NOT according to plan (see my last post), my green card arrived on Saturday, 2 days after when I had predicted that it should arrive. However, it did come in time for me to celebrate Fourth of July with my green card in hand! Okay, fine, I didn't even bring my green card with me when we went to watch fireworks let along having it in my hand... just to be sure though, you're supposed to have your green card with you AT ALL TIMES, but since my hubby and I were just driving down the street to the roof of our school's parking garage, I figure it'd be okay. Besides, no one has ever pulled me over for ID, why would they suddenly do that on fourth of July?

Anyways, that aside, the new green card is cool-looking! First of all, it's actually green. Not a bright one, but kind of like the US bill/currency green. Then it's got this black shiny bar code looking thing in the back that has my picture and info engraved inside! (I'm sure I'm describing this with all the wrong technical term, but hey, I'm doing my best.) It's packed with security features that makes it look very important. However, all these cool features are blocked by a white paper/foil cover you're supposed to put it in to "prevent wireless communication with your card" (this is printed in English and Spanish on the cover, adding to the uncool factor of the cover). That's kind of creepy. Someone will want to talk to my green card? What if someone already talked to it when it was being shipped (since it wasn't shipped in the cover)?! Alright, that's just my paranoia... I'm really not that paranoid in person. Really.

I'm not going to put a picture of my green card up since I don't want USCIS to hunt me down for disclosing the new looks of the green card.

What do you mean I'm paranoid?

Happy Fourth of July folks!

According to plan...

So if my green card moves along EXACTLY like my EAD card (which is has so far), I should get the 3rd final e-mail (approval notice sent) tomorrow and my green card should be in our mailbox on Friday. We'll see...

List of things to do once I get my green card:

1. Change name/remove condition on social security card;
2. Go get new driver's license with correct name/remove condition;
3. Change name with banks, credit cards, school, etc.

I'm excited to get started! Can't wait to start using my new name!

Approved!

Everything went smoothly! The only glitch was that there are discrepancies in my name.

I have two names recorded on my passport - one is my legal name translated from Mandarin, and one "as known as" name which is the English name my parents gave me when I was born. I have used my aka name my entire life. When I applied for college in the States, I never even mentioned my translated legal name anywhere. Since that name also appears on my passport, I had no problem obtaining an I-20, visa, school ID, and even my social security number/card in that name. Thus my bank accounts, old driver's license, credit card, etc. are ALL in this name. My translated name only exists on my passport.

I first encountered a problem when I tried to get a new driver's license. They refused my aka name despite it being on my social security card and old driver's license AND passport. The DMV lady basically told me, "Look, if you want a driver's license, then THIS is your name." Well, fine then. It would've been really fine until she insisted that the 2nd syllable of my first name is, in her professional opinion, my middle name. I tried to explain how it's just a syllable of my first name and that I have no middle name. All she said is, "if you want a driver's license, then THIS is your name." I asked to talk to a supervisor but she said that the supervisor is on break and he's going to say the same thing anyways. Besides, "here in America, this is how we write names."

I was pretty upset by that point but decided that it's probably not worth making a scene about. I gave up, took my new driver's license that bears a name that's not ANYWHERE in any other records and left. I just needed to be able to drive before my old out-of-state one expires. For fear of getting stop by the cop and carrying a wallet full of credit card/debit card/atm card with my aka name on and a driver's license of another name, I photocopied my passport info page and stuck it in my wallet. Just in case.

Anyways, I'm totally sidetracked. That DMV lady is why I have a weird name in the database. Our immigration officer was very understanding, "Our database doesn't allow hyphens. They have to leave a blank." At the end of the interview, she said she'll change the names to what I submitted (my aka name plus my new last name) and send the letters through the mail.


I look forward to the day when I can walk into DMV to demand that they correct my name to what it should be.

Model US Citizen Husband

So our green card interview is on Monday and although I've gotten all the supporting documents organized and ready to go, I've been a bit worried that we'll get a scary mean officer. So yesterday my darling husband told me not to worry because on Monday, he's going to be the "model US citizen husband." Whatever that means.

I'll keep you posted!

When they say card production, they meant card production...

So while I was anxiously awaiting my EAD card, I actually received my AP instead. OK that's great but where's my EAD card?? As it turned out, I got an email from USCIS yesterday about a status change. I thought it's another card production notice (since they sent it twice last week), but alas, this is what I saw:

I hope this means that they've finished producing the card and have already put it in the mail! While I've been waiting for the EAD and AP, our interview is creeping up on us! It's in less than 2 weeks. Now since I did everything for the application, I think I need to help my hubby review his role in the application otherwise he'd be very confused about what or who he is "sponsoring"... (I did all the forms and all he did was sign where I told him to.)

Something in the mail...

We received another envelope from USCIS, and to our surprise, it's the advance parole (AP) papers! I got two copies of it. I'm not sure if that means I can use them to get back in the country twice. Anyways, I haven't read the papers carefully since my hubby has a test today so I went out to dinner last night with some girlfriends so he can concentrate on studying (since I'm like his big toy when I'm home).

Anyways, just want to share that news! Hopefully I won't even need it b/c I'll get my green card soooooon!

雞屁股先生與阿P系列搬家了!

有鑒於雞屁股先生與阿P系列越寫越有趣，加上中文英文混在一起有點雜亂，所以從今日起此系列將搬到新家! 請繼續多多指教!


雞屁股先生與阿P的新家
http://thechickenbutts.blogspot.com/

An e-mail from USCIS...

Yay! I can now go apply for my dream job at Costco :P

*** DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS E-MAIL ***

The last processing action taken on your case

Application Type: I765 , APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION

Current Status: Card production ordered.

On May 21, 2010, we ordered production of your new card. Please allow 30 days for your card to be mailed to you. If we need something from you we will contact you. If you move before you receive the card, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.

If you have questions or concerns about your application or the case status results listed above, or if you have not received a decision from USCIS within the current processing time listed*, please contact USCIS Customer Service at (800) 375-5283.

*Current processing times can be found on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov under Check My Case Status and Check Processing Times.
*** Please do not respond to this e-mail message.

Sincerely,
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

來去夏威夷(1) - 該去哪個島?

有鑒於雞屁股先生與阿P系列越寫越有趣，加上中文英文混在一起有點雜亂，所以從今日起此系列將搬到新家! 請繼續多多指教!

雞屁股先生與阿P的新家
http://thechickenbutts.blogspot.com/
------------------------------------------------------------- 
七年級生可能對金門王跟李炳輝的這首「來去夏威夷」有點印象。那俗又有力的歌詞跟MTV裡逗趣的動作，讓我當年每次在電視上看到MTV，就一定要巴在電視前跟著金門王與李炳輝一起唱到完。我那有點無厘頭的老爸如果在家的話，還會跟著我一起唱，兩人一起「來去~~」「來去~~」「咱來去go to Hawaii!」，一搭一唱的可開心的咧!

我跟「來去夏威夷」這首歌的緣分並非到此為止... 因為十年後，這首歌居然成為我們的婚禮送客音樂。

我們訂婚後，連婚禮婚宴日期都還沒選，就已經決定要去夏威夷度蜜月。我們兩個都沒去過夏威夷，但自從我認識雞屁股先生以來，老兄他就老是嚷著要趕快畢業搬去那有山有海的地方工作(德州地大，但就是沒山沒海)。這回趁蜜月旅行，怎麼能不去看看夏威夷的究竟呢?

Texas wildflowers

Last weekend my husband and I went down to the Hill Country of Texas to visit a good friend (my hubby's ex-roommate) who's living and working on his grandparent's ranch. We arrived a few weeks after the bluebonnet bloom, but we were welcomed by other beautiful wildflowers.

上周末我跟雞屁股先生開車去德州中部拜訪他的前室友。我們雖然錯過了德州州花 Bluebonnet 的盛開時期，但仍在朋友的農場上看到整片的野花。誰說德州不美?

Whoever says Texas is ugly has NOT been to Texas hill country.

Biometrics... DONE!

Got my biometrics appointment done today! Getting there was actually the hardest part. I never knew there are so many people out and about in the streets at 2pm on a weekday. Anyways, there were about 7-8 people in line before me. I handed my documents (ASC appointment notice, passport, and marriage certificate since I'm changing my last name) to the receptionist, she gave me a form to fill out (eye color, hair color, height, weight, etc.) and then I just wait. I got there 5 minutes before my appointment time, and left 40 minutes later. All they did was take my fingerprints and a picture. No questions asked.

Anyways, since my appointment was in the late afternoon, nothing has happened to my case yet. You can bet that I'll be checking somewhat compulsively all through tomorrow! :P

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

Okay, this song has nothing to do with my post except the word "tomorrow." I just like this song. That's all. So if you haven't heard of this cheerful classic, I hope this will brighten your day/afternoon/evening :)

Anyways, I'm gonna go get my biometrics done tomorrow! I thought the 2-week wait would be harder than it actually is. Turned out work was very busy and hopefully I'm making some real progress. I'm trying not to get overly excited about the progress because I'm afraid of a letdown in the end.

I am excited about what's gonna happen after I get my biometrics done though! Stay tuned!

With this ring I thee wed...

有鑒於雞屁股先生與阿P系列越寫越有趣，加上中文英文混在一起有點雜亂，所以從今日起此系列將搬到新家! 請繼續多多指教!

雞屁股先生與阿P的新家
http://thechickenbutts.blogspot.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------  
"With this ring I thee wed..." 是美國婚禮中交換戒指時講的話。我們沒在美國結婚，所以很可惜的沒講那句了。至少牧師開恩沒用台語主持婚禮，不然我們要重複他的話可能會讓台下的人笑倒。(太久沒講實在是不輪轉...)不過呢，說到戒指我就得來稱讚一下雞屁股先生的創意跟細心。

話說我們附近的 mall 有很多珠寶店，有連鎖較平易近人的 Zale's，也有高檔的 Tiffany & Co., BVLGARI, Cartier 等。最特別的是一家來自夏威夷的珠寶店 "Na Hoku"，裡面的珠寶多以夏威夷特別的花草動物為主題，做出的珠寶很有自己的風格(有些也有點怪啦!)。去年初從台灣回來美國，雞屁股兄就突然對珠寶產生興趣，還把我拉進了幾家店去問我喜歡什麼款式，不過都沒試戴。唯有進去Na Hoku這家店時，他讓我東看西看一段時間後，就請店員拿出其中一款小花鑽戒讓我試戴，又問我喜不喜歡同系列可成對的另一隻(沒有小花只有碎鑽)。我這輩子沒戴過戒指，所以試戴時總覺得手指頭好閃亮，好不習慣啊! 總之，那天看完後我們就晃出去寄續逛街了，爾後偶爾會聊到珠寶飾品等，也沒再去看。

Will you marry me?

有鑒於雞屁股先生與阿P系列越寫越有趣，加上中文英文混在一起有點雜亂，所以從今日起此系列將搬到新家! 請繼續多多指教!

雞屁股先生與阿P的新家
http://thechickenbutts.blogspot.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------  
A post in Mandarin about how my hubby (then boyfriend) proposed. My apologies if you can't understand Mandarin. The dialogues are actually in English, so hopefully through the pictures and dialogues, you'll at least get the gist of it.

其實我本來是想用中文寫這個部落格的，可是講到移民相關的東西還是寫英文比較快，於是從第一篇用英文給他寫下去... 就懶得用中文懶到現在。今天星期六早上幫自己放假不去工作，家裡也整理好了，那就來生出第一篇中文網誌... 求婚記!!

出場人物介紹：
男主角 - 姑且稱他為"雞屁股先生"吧!
女主角 - 我... 請叫我阿P!

Biometrics!!!

So after a fairly long wait (at least compared to what other people were sharing on visajourney forum), I finally got my biometrics appointment letter. The letter was dated 4/9/2010 and we received it on 4/14/2010. The appointment is for 4/29/2010. Since I've been waiting for it for so long, I was very tempted to run to the Application Support Centers (ASC) the very next morning to attempt an early walk-in. Well, I didn't try in the end. Sense (it's a 30-minute drive there), laziness (*yawn* I have to wake up early?), and reality (urm, miss, you've got work to do) got to me so I think I'll just wait until my appointment day. I think. Until another wave of panic hits me, that is. (Ahh! I should be "doing" something, shouldn't I?)

Anyways, waiting resumes. How anti-climactic.

Where is my biometrics letter?

We took a road trip to St. Louis this past weekend for a friend's wedding. It was a long long drive but my hubby's old roommate rode with us so we had some great conversations along the way. I've been hoping the letter for my biometrics appointment will arrive soon but alas, it's still not here. The online case status says that my I-485 was last updated on 3/25/10 while the other 3 were last updated 4/1/10. I wonder why they are not looking at all of them at the same time. I hope that doesn't indicate trouble. We'll see.

Oh and I traveled without my passport this weekend. I do have a driver's license though. While the DL itself is not expired, my "temporary visitor status" on it had. I'm holding off the renewal until I get my EAD or something from USCIS so I can maybe get rid of the temporary visitor status and change my name back to what it should be (long story for another day, but "arrgggh!!" pretty much sums up my feelings towards DMV). Probably wasn't a great idea to travel without my passport but we were no where near the border. I also always carry a photocopy of my passport's ID page in my wallet because the name of my DL does not match any other ID or credit card that I have. Anyways, I ought to be more careful next time.

Gonna go home soon. Hopefully the letter is waiting in the mailbox already.

A day to remember...

Took the weekend off from work and blogging because... yesterday was my birthday! We celebrated on Saturday though. My hubby planned a day trip for us to a mysterious destination which he wouldn't tell me beforehand. I had to guess where we were going as we were driving there. We stopped by a small town diner for lunch and then went on to our destination - a wildlife/safari park! We drove our car through the park and these wild animals just come up to the car and greet us (of course it's b/c we have food for them). Some were kind of scary/odd looking but some are just adorable. We got to hand feed a giraffe! That had the be one of the coolest experience EVER.

The ostrich poking his head into the car to check out what was in the feed bag (nothing - we were out of feed by this point).

On the immigration front - no new development. I'm waiting for the biometrics appointment letter but no sign of it as of today (day 17). They did update ("touch") my application a few times last week though with the last one on 3/25/2010. Must... be... patient...

[GUIDE] How to check your case status on USCIS website

Once you receive your notice of action (I-797C) in the mail, you can use your receipt number to check your case status online on USCIS website. The receipt number can be found on the top left-hand corner of the notice of action: "XXX-00-000-00000" (with X being letters and 0 being numbers).

Or alternatively, you can sign up for electronic notification by submitting form G-1145: E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance. They will e-mail you your receipt number (I think - I didn't know of this form when I submitted my applications!).


How to check your case status
 
1) Go to USCIS website: http://www.uscis.gov/

2) On the left column on the page, under "AFTER I FILE", click on "Check My Case Status (red arrow below)."

Day 10: Notice of Action Received in the Mail!

Wheee! We received four envelopes containing I-797C: notice of action (or lovingly abbreviated as "NOA") for all our applications today! The received date on the form says 3/12/2010, while the notice date is 3/19/2010. So it took about a week for the NOA to be generated and sent out. Pretty good so far!

One of the added benefit of receiving our NOA is that now I have the receipt numbers (top left hand corner of the NOA). I can go online and check the case status AS OFTEN AS I WANT!!! I'll write a separate post about how to check your case status and how to sign up for notification if you have not already done so (i.e. send in form G-1145: E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance with your package).

In other news, I gave my talk today. It went well - of course it could always be better, but I'm just happy and relieved that it's over with. I have another talk to give next Tuesday for the other program that I'm in. I'll be giving the same talk but just a bit shorter so the preparation should be much easier. As always, I wasn't hungry before the talk so I didn't eat (one of the symptoms of me being nervous). Halfway through though, I suddenly became very hungry and somewhat light-headed. I still have a stomachache now. Urgh.

Whoa... USCIS cashed our checks!

They cashed our checks! They cashed our checks! Yay! We had to transfer money to our checking to make sure we don't go into the red, but this is the first sign that they are doing something with the package I meticulously assembled! Yay.

P.S. The $1,010 is for form I-485 ($930 for the form + $80 biometrics fee) and $355 is for form I-130.

Winter delight

NYTimes: Taiwan’s Steaming Pools of Paradise

A college friend (a through-and-through New Yorker living in Taiwan) posted this. Hot springs are just so wonderfully wonderful in the winter times. So if you've never been to one, I recommend that you try it out the next time you're in Asia (Japan or Taiwan - I'm not sure what other countries are fans of hot springs).

I'm keeping this short because I'm meeting with my adviser in the morning to go over some slides for a talk I need to give next Monday. Off to bed to give my brain a break from science.

Numbers, contrary to popular belief

Study Finds Cohabiting Doesn’t Make a Union Last

Stumbled upon this article in NY Times today (I get my news from nytimes... well, more accurately, from the most e-mailed list on nytimes):

"The likelihood that a marriage would last for a decade or more decreased by six percentage points if the couple had cohabited first, the study found."

 "In general, one in five marriages will dissolve within five years. One in three will last less than 10 years."

This is interesting because the logic of my generation goes that if you've seen the good, bad, and the ugly BEFORE you marry, then you're making an informed decision. Well, the numbers tell another story, and I happen to be quite a fan of statistics. I think what it comes down to is that love is a commitment - me deciding to love you no matter what - rather than a contract where I will love you only if you do such and be such. We're a selfish generation. Everything is about me. Even loving someone else has to be on my terms. For my benefit. That's where everything goes wrong. That's not what God had intended love to be and that's not the love that He has shown us.

Anyways, another quote:

"Couples who marry after age 26 or have a baby eight months or more after marrying are also more likely to stay married for more than a decade."

We meet criterion #1 so I guess our prognosis is happier. We're working on criterion #2 as well - much to my mother's dismay.

Where to begin?

Well, since I'm waiting on words from USCIS and based on what I've been seeing on visajourney forum (great resource, btw), I won't be hearing from them for at least another week, I figure I might as well go back in time and fill in some background.

Let's see. Where do we begin?

I'm Taiwanese. Born and raised in downtown Taipei. Had a pretty average childhood, I would say. Went through the public school system for elementary school and middle school, and then got into a public magnet high school that's also nearby. All three schools are located within a 10-minute walk from the apartment I grew up in. Then when I graduated from high school, I moved 8,000 miles away to the US for college (more on that later). What I didn't know then in my naivete was that I was leaving the only home that I had ever knew, that I would slowly become used to this new country's way of life, and that one day, I will come to call this new country home.

Safely in Chicago!

I sent my AOS (adjustment of status) package off to the Chicago lockbox last Wednesday (March 10th). Someone signed for it Friday morning!

Yay. Now the waiting begins.