Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

So for once my irrationality didn't doom me. I sat on it a few days, and showed up at his door. Before you knew it, our Friday night date was restored (and Saturday, and Monday, and . . .).

Ponder this: Claudio (yes, that Claudio, whose probie I was) was my male ideal's best friend on their missions and at BYU. The last Olympics, I was at one of Foreman's music parties, where we all first met his future wife, so of course I say, "why weren't you there?!" He had graduated (like a normal person) and was about to go abroad to graduate school (like the epic nerd that he is). I was like "I don't care if I'd been seeing someone, if you had been at that party, I'd have noticed, and I wouldn't have been dating anyone else for long."

I feel that we owe it to the world to reproduce crazy genius children (he's the only man I know, ever, who can match me at meaningless standardized test scores), but on the other hand, it's like - ah! emotional intimacy! out-of-state job interviews! out-of-state job OFFERS that you apparently were seriously considering taking!

I feel like I spent so long advising all the Lonely Hearts out there, and now this . . . perfect person, someone who is so ideal in every parameter (but, you know, human - grad students are not wealthy, people), just waltzes into my life. Geniuses don't need love, thanks.* : P

*and yes, of course any best friend of Claudio's shares his unhealthy obsession with the Beatles; I'm well aware of certain statements made in re love, money, and its purchasibility. : )

I hate immigration. I'd also just like to complain for a second about how the International Services website does a terrible job of putting relevant, important information in places where I might actually see it.

/rant

It's because we want to keep all those Canadian illegal immigrants out.

Giovanni Schwartz wrote:It's because we want to keep all those Canadian illegal immigrants out.

Haha. The problem is, your system does a terrible job of keeping illegals out. However, it does an excellent job of totally screwing over people who really should be here legally, were it not for stupid things like the date their bank statements come out. (I have to prove I have enough money for the next year of school, and I do, except I just barely earned it and my next bank statement comes out 4 days after classes start, and they won't let me just print out my online summary as proof. (Sorry for the rant, but nothing stresses me out as much as immigration)

Yes, the immigration system in this country is centuries outdated (hell, it was outdated when it was brought about) and does a terrible job of deciding who ought to be here and who oughtn't. It is messy, bureaucratic, and mostly based on random chance. It would be a fairly straightforward job to eliminate quota systems, streamline paperwork, reduce waste, and make the country more inviting for people who can come and boost our economy.

But we want to keep the smelly Messicans out, so we can't change anything (except maybe wasting billions of dollars on pointlessly reinforcing our porous southern border.)

Oh come on... Porous is not a good word to use. That means that there are HOLES. Our border is unpassable, unless you have a valid visa. Just ask the 3 foot high, hurdle shaped, PVC fence I saw along the border on my way home from California today!

Giovanni Schwartz wrote:Oh come on... Porous is not a good word to use. That means that there are HOLES. Our border is unpassable, unless you have a valid visa. Just ask the 3 foot high, hurdle shaped, PVC fence I saw along the border on my way home from California today!

Ha.... one of the employees helped build that part of the fence.

BayesianConspiracy wrote:

Giovanni Schwartz wrote:It's because we want to keep all those Canadian illegal immigrants out.

Haha. The problem is, your system does a terrible job of keeping illegals out. However, it does an excellent job of totally screwing over people who really should be here legally, were it not for stupid things like the date their bank statements come out. (I have to prove I have enough money for the next year of school, and I do, except I just barely earned it and my next bank statement comes out 4 days after classes start, and they won't let me just print out my online summary as proof. (Sorry for the rant, but nothing stresses me out as much as immigration)

Marry me, never have immigration problems again. And you'd get to be part of a REAL democracy, one without a queen invested with hypothetical dictatorial powers!!! Consider this a proposal.

Portia wrote:So for once my irrationality didn't doom me. I sat on it a few days, and showed up at his door. Before you knew it, our Friday night date was restored (and Saturday, and Monday, and . . .).

Ponder this: Claudio (yes, that Claudio, whose probie I was) was my male ideal's best friend on their missions and at BYU. The last Olympics, I was at one of Foreman's music parties, where we all first met his future wife, so of course I say, "why weren't you there?!" He had graduated (like a normal person) and was about to go abroad to graduate school (like the epic nerd that he is). I was like "I don't care if I'd been seeing someone, if you had been at that party, I'd have noticed, and I wouldn't have been dating anyone else for long."

I feel that we owe it to the world to reproduce crazy genius children (he's the only man I know, ever, who can match me at meaningless standardized test scores), but on the other hand, it's like - ah! emotional intimacy! out-of-state job interviews! out-of-state job OFFERS that you apparently were seriously considering taking!

I feel like I spent so long advising all the Lonely Hearts out there, and now this . . . perfect person, someone who is so ideal in every parameter (but, you know, human - grad students are not wealthy, people), just waltzes into my life. Geniuses don't need love, thanks.* : P

*and yes, of course any best friend of Claudio's shares his unhealthy obsession with the Beatles; I'm well aware of certain statements made in re love, money, and its purchasibility. : )

Let me tell you this Portia: my best friend and her now husband did long distance for three years while she finished her degree at NYU. Then she moved home to marry him. This was before Skype and video chats were really popular, so they only saw each other on breaks. Is there something REALLY important holding you where you are, or is it possible to move closer to him when and if he moves? Or to do the distance thing for a while? It really can work if both people are invested in it and there's a set end date in sight.

BayesianConspiracy wrote:

Giovanni Schwartz wrote:It's because we want to keep all those Canadian illegal immigrants out.

Haha. The problem is, your system does a terrible job of keeping illegals out. However, it does an excellent job of totally screwing over people who really should be here legally, were it not for stupid things like the date their bank statements come out. (I have to prove I have enough money for the next year of school, and I do, except I just barely earned it and my next bank statement comes out 4 days after classes start, and they won't let me just print out my online summary as proof. (Sorry for the rant, but nothing stresses me out as much as immigration)

Have they actually asked you for your bank statements at the border? I always carried mine with me because I was supposed to have it and they were supposedly going to want to see it, but in the seven years I was down there not once did anyone at the border ever actually want to see mine.

Border crossings have stressed me out since they decided I was being kidnapped and being taken to Canada. Just because I'm pale and blonde and quiet in unfamiliar situations. My traveling companions were my brother and sister. Sister has tanner skin than I do, and her hair is nearly black. Brother is Mexican. And since the three of us look so different the border agents didn't believe that we were siblings.
The next time I had to cross the border I got pulled aside again, although it was just for a random check (few people are trying to cross the border in the airport at 6 am)

NerdGirl wrote:

BayesianConspiracy wrote:

Giovanni Schwartz wrote:It's because we want to keep all those Canadian illegal immigrants out.

Haha. The problem is, your system does a terrible job of keeping illegals out. However, it does an excellent job of totally screwing over people who really should be here legally, were it not for stupid things like the date their bank statements come out. (I have to prove I have enough money for the next year of school, and I do, except I just barely earned it and my next bank statement comes out 4 days after classes start, and they won't let me just print out my online summary as proof. (Sorry for the rant, but nothing stresses me out as much as immigration)

Have they actually asked you for your bank statements at the border? I always carried mine with me because I was supposed to have it and they were supposedly going to want to see it, but in the seven years I was down there not once did anyone at the border ever actually want to see mine.

Well, this is my first time crossing again since vacation, so I don't have a lot of experience. It just seems stupid to NOT have all the stuff they tell you to have. So the solution we came up with was just to say that my dad's paying for everything and provide HIS bank statements if they ask.

I picked a random word and appended '.com' to see what would be there. I went to burger.com, thinking it might be a food site, or maybe that Burger King would have bought it out. No. Some lawyer in Texas named Donald Burger has had it since 1994. In addition to law, he has subpages for his interests, which include Gardening, Model Railroading, Cherokees, Books, Wine, Fireflies, Food, Opinions, History, Turtles, Etc.(with even more under the Etc. page).

Digit wrote:I picked a random word and appended '.com' to see what would be there. I went to burger.com, thinking it might be a food site, or maybe that Burger King would have bought it out. No. Some lawyer in Texas named Donald Burger has had it since 1994. In addition to law, he has subpages for his interests, which include Gardening, Model Railroading, Cherokees, Books, Wine, Fireflies, Food, Opinions, History, Turtles, Etc.(with even more under the Etc. page).

I like that he felt the need to include "Rainfall in Houston", "Beekeeping in Houston", and "Collective Nouns." Haha. Also, I'm pretty sure I made a webpage in Grade 7 in Dreamweaver that looked more legit than this.

Ok, the longer I spend on burger.com, the more amused I become. This is like 16 years of every random hobby or interest that's popped into his head, all on this hilariously bad website. I especially liked his essay comparing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to police states.

haha and the writing is kind of terrible sometimes... how is this guy even a lawyer? I'm a terrible, judgmental person...

at the same time it's kind of cute that he put all this effort into making his own site!

BayesianConspiracy wrote:
Well, this is my first time crossing again since vacation, so I don't have a lot of experience. It just seems stupid to NOT have all the stuff they tell you to have. So the solution we came up with was just to say that my dad's paying for everything and provide HIS bank statements if they ask.

Oh, yeah, I fully agree that you definitely want to have every random piece of information that they say you need to have just in case they want it. I was just wondering if they had actually started asking to see all those things, since it's been over 5 years since the last time I crossed the border as a student.

Imogen wrote:

Portia wrote:So for once my irrationality didn't doom me. I sat on it a few days, and showed up at his door. Before you knew it, our Friday night date was restored (and Saturday, and Monday, and . . .).

Ponder this: Claudio (yes, that Claudio, whose probie I was) was my male ideal's best friend on their missions and at BYU. The last Olympics, I was at one of Foreman's music parties, where we all first met his future wife, so of course I say, "why weren't you there?!" He had graduated (like a normal person) and was about to go abroad to graduate school (like the epic nerd that he is). I was like "I don't care if I'd been seeing someone, if you had been at that party, I'd have noticed, and I wouldn't have been dating anyone else for long."

I feel that we owe it to the world to reproduce crazy genius children (he's the only man I know, ever, who can match me at meaningless standardized test scores), but on the other hand, it's like - ah! emotional intimacy! out-of-state job interviews! out-of-state job OFFERS that you apparently were seriously considering taking!

I feel like I spent so long advising all the Lonely Hearts out there, and now this . . . perfect person, someone who is so ideal in every parameter (but, you know, human - grad students are not wealthy, people), just waltzes into my life. Geniuses don't need love, thanks.* : P

*and yes, of course any best friend of Claudio's shares his unhealthy obsession with the Beatles; I'm well aware of certain statements made in re love, money, and its purchasibility. : )

Let me tell you this Portia: my best friend and her now husband did long distance for three years while she finished her degree at NYU. Then she moved home to marry him. This was before Skype and video chats were really popular, so they only saw each other on breaks. Is there something REALLY important holding you where you are, or is it possible to move closer to him when and if he moves? Or to do the distance thing for a while? It really can work if both people are invested in it and there's a set end date in sight.

Haha, that's where he got his master's degree. We live 3 miles from each other at the moment (in SLC); he's considering going back to NYC for a job, and I'm considering going to the Upper Midwest for one (a great one, with benefits and everything, in my field). He has applied for some jobs here in Salt Lake; I have not so much but just finished one, and if I go back to school I'd want it to be at BYU or the U of U.

Both of us probably need to continue our educations anyway sometime. And we both love SLC and grew up here. We probably ought not to bum off our families too long. I think that it really could be worth it to stick it out; I have no idea if I will get this job or not, and what useful thing I could do in SLC otherwise.

Portia wrote:So for once my irrationality didn't doom me. I sat on it a few days, and showed up at his door. Before you knew it, our Friday night date was restored (and Saturday, and Monday, and . . .).

I'm confused. Is this a third guy or is this one of the original two?

I hate those times when I have very specific goals in mind for the evening (i.e., get everything off floors so that our carpets can be properly cleaned tomorrow, and also maybe do laundry) and I end up reading the rest of my book instead.

Especially now that I'm done and still have no desire to move furniture/pile absent roommates' belongings.