So, the first bit of news is that US Immigration (USCIS) has received my application for Permanent Residency and have given me a Biometrics appointment for early April. It's in Boston so I'll have to get a ride in with my father-in-law and then wait around until he can get away from work to take me home again. I had a look on a map at how far the Boston Museum of Fine Arts is from the USCIS office is - 20 minutes by bus or about an hour walking - because I've wanted to go there since my first visit here in 2010. That museum lent a collection of Monet paintings to the New Zealand National Museum in Wellington called Te Papa and I had the pleasure of seeing them with my Mum and little sister a few years ago so I think that's what's really tempted me because I've had a taste of their collection and I want some more! I'll get there eventually. I need to study the road rules here so I can get a learner's permit. It's frustrating for me, being so used to independence in most matters, to be reliant on others for transportation.
Speaking of cars; there has been a navy blue car with black tinted windows acting suspiciously-like the driver inside it is spying on our house. We live at the corner of two quiet suburban streets with a col-de-sac off the intersection of them and so there isn't much traffic from people other than residents and their guests. But this car I saw one morning when I went out to check the mail and let the dog relieve himself. It was just sitting on the col-de-sac with the right side of the car parallel to our house and it stayed there while I got the mail in and waited for the dog to do his business. Then when I went back inside I told hubby about it and he peered out the window at the car which then drove off as though uncomfortable with the scrutiny. That would have been strange enough but the car came back another day soon after that! This time we had just come home from the grocery store and hubby said he saw the car drive slowly down the street past our house and then, once the car had passed our house and turned into the next street so the driver no longer had a good view of it, it sped up and drove off. It definitely looked like the driver was trying to get a good look at us.
Now, I would brush this off as paranoia from watching too many crime dramas but apparently it is very common practice for insurance companies here to hire private investigators to video tape and photograph clients who have made insurance claims with them to try to find evidence that they are not actually injured or physically disabled. It's actually happened here, at this very house, before. My later mother-in-law was physically disabled for at least 20 years with terrible back injuries and pain. The insurance company followed her with P.I.s for a long time before finally giving up since they couldn't find her doing more than she had claimed to be able. Apparently this is all legal but heck if it isn't creepy. It's possible that the Social Security Administration (US equivalent of Work and Income for my NZ readers) has hired a P.I. to investigate hubby since he is on disability payments with them due to his mental health problems but it's also possible that it's a hired goon of the Immigration department making sure that I am living here and having a genuine relationship with hubby. The latter is a little more creepy to me as it makes me wonder what type of evidence they would need to gather. Both scenarios disturb me in the fact that it would be US tax-payer money paying for these spying operations and hopefully it's not standard practice. Then again perhaps it saves the government more money in immigration/benefit fraud than it costs to hire the P.I.s. Who knows! The US is actually, in some ways, more kooky than the portrayals of it I've seen on TV.
And I've been watching a lot of TV lately. Back in NZ I barely ever, if ever, watched TV because I was terrible at being available/remembering when a show I wanted to watch was on. I also had no interest in watching whatever prime time had to offer unless I actually liked it and lacked paid/cable TV along with the means to conveniently record it for later viewing. Here I have use of a Tivo and a TV in our bedroom (always a bad idea but we do what we can with the space we have) so it's disturbingly easy to consume TV in a convenient way. I have found, though, that I've quickly caught up with programs that I only saw a little of in NZ and tired of them already. The majority, and I am not exaggerating when I say this, of television in the US is made up of reality shows. There are trashy ones like Jersey Shore, 16 and Pregnant and Toddlers in Tiaras but also shows about Hoarders dealing with their problems and even reality shows on the history channel. I'll admit that some of these shows are watch-able (hubby likes Myth Busters for example) but the majority are atrocious. There are plenty of House Wives of [Insert Affluent Suburb Here] and even a show about a psychic from Long Island. Her accent from the ad for it is very grating to me. It really is that there are so many channels and nothing on.
But I've become very wasteful with my time. Not that playing Skyrim is a waste of time, banish the thought, but it is a little unbalanced if I play that for 12 hours in one day. Oops. It's just that I have so much time now that it's become a valueless commodity. I am aware that my days of time abundance will come to an end once I have my visa so I can start looking for work but the thought makes me less inclined spend my time wisely and more inclined to squander it. Damn you, brain! Do what I tell you! Be motivated to write and clean and cook and organise. Then again I can't really blame myself for feeling a bit burnt out. Back and forth between NZ and the US 3 times (2 return trips and a final one-way trip) in the space of 10 months while completing an IT Diploma and moving my entire life over to the other side of the world then getting married and dealing with US immigration at the same time would be taxing on anyone. I've never been very patient with myself, though. I guess this is a good opportunity to practice. I feel like now that I've been allow to slow down that I've come to a halt. I need to get outside and exercise more. It's getting too hot for me to be out during the middle of the day now that Spring has arrived but the evenings aren't too bad so I'm sure the dog would appreciate more walks. That's enough rambling for now. I might go play Skyrim after I get hubby some breakfast. Then walk the dog tonight.
