The US Consulate Appointment

Today marked the last official thing i had to do for my Visa application to be successful - i hope. Today i ventured, bright and early into the MLC Centre to have my interview with the US Consulate.

Those five words are quite intimidating and threw all sorts of images and situations at me. Interview with the US Consulate. Surely i would be met with an interrogation not unlike CSI. "Why are you coming?", "who are you working for?" and "who will you be giving information to?". And surely i will be met by some massive, aggressive guy who looks like the bad guy on Avatar. An ex-Marine who has an "old school" take on how things should be done and blames the current state of the world economy and rising cost of living on the fact that we haven't nuked anything.

Like a night out at Panthers, opening the batting on a seaming green-top and leading coming to the final furlong at Eagle Farm, such exciting possibilities are often met with disappointment.

For some stupid reason i had to get up earlier today than i would to go to work. my train left the EP at 6:30 to get to the city. That was so stupid. my sleep in day was replaced with an earlier than normal one (and considering i was up late listening to Dave Grohl's SXSW key note address.... i was quite tired, and still laughing a bit). i made it to the consulate at Martin Place in good time. it is such a pretty spot when there are not many people around. They specifically say not to get there any more than 15 minutes early so i loitered suspiciously around the lifts until about twenty minutes before.

The first security check point was on level 10 and there i joined a line of about 8 others to say what i was doing there and go through a metal detector. There was a "special appointment" queue and i considered it but decided not to. thankfully. i saw someone get humiliated when they said they had an 8:15 appointment. "So does everyone else. Please join the other queue," said the unsympathetic security guard. A young fella got turned away because he had a 9:15 appointment!! "maybe go down and have a coffee... come back fifteen minutes before." Security were a bit of a disappointment. no one got tasered. they seemed Australian and almost educated... I was starting to become aware that it was about 8... and my appointment was 8:15. where was i meant to be fifteen minutes early? am i late? will my visa be denied? am i going to jail for time wasting? it is funny how fast your mind rushes to conclusions.

I made it to the front and handed in my carefully prepared and itemised papers and passed my metal detector test. My mobile phone was taken (at this point a security guard made a homophobic slur about his colleague) I then handed in the papers again and they put a rubber band around them (surely this person's job should be made redundant) before being escorted by security to level 57! way up in the sky little darling. I probably would have gone by choice but no one says no to an escorted lift ride. Made me feel like a celebrity... or that time at Kingswood Sports Cl... never mind!

now at level 57 i walked in (after having my documents checked again) and took a ticket. There was about 5 other people already in the room and it was about ten past eight! i was on time!! about twenty minutes later my number came up and i went to the counter expectantly. there was a man there who took my passport, finger printed me and told me to sit down and wait for another call "shortly" for the actual interview. sounds good!!!

The room began to fill up and time passed fast. At 8:40 the first actual appointment took place, i realised. 55 minutes late... suddenly there were no more chairs in the waiting area and a group of three chinese men were asked to not stand in the doorway. I was not interested in reading the few magazines at the front and my only entertainment was watching people walk past me. and trying to know where they are from and what their stories are. I must admit. Numerous, very pretty girls walked in. Some well dressed, some abhorrently. i smirked, watching people pick up the Economist, leaf through three pages, realise they are out of their depth and try to put it back inconspicuously. I judged.

Finally, at about 9:20 my number came up again. I let out a little "yeah!" in the crowded room to muted laughter and went to the counter. There i was met by a woman behind bulletproof glass. She was rather young and asked me five questions. "Why are you coming to America?", "Do you have family in America?", "are you a student?", "What job do you plan to have in America?", and "What will you do when you return to Australia?" I answered them all safely and intelligently.

Then she said i was done. and she had approved the Visa. It took three minutes... No handshake. No congratulations. No parade. That was all it took? Taken aback by the suddenness of it, it took a while to register. Then it did.

I left the Met Centre floating on air. i wanted to take a running jump into Martin Place and knew, at that moment, i would be able to make it. Everything was coming up John. This is happening!! i am on my way!

An added bonus. Mum found luggage in a Vinnies store for $10... $10. My mum is macklemore. Hunting, looking for a come up, she is f***ing awesome.

The Process & Jobs I Refuse To Do

It has been a very busy couple of weeks for me in terms of America and everything is seriously getting real right now. Some people have a lot of trouble feeling disposable. Not me. I know i can be replaced. In fact, you could probably find someone better than me to do most anything. Yesterday my work held some interviews to replace me and, if anything, i think i am glad i will not be around to see this person go above and beyond my standard of work on a regular basis.

As well as this, i have stunted my own independence by selling my car. Ideally, i would have liked to sell it three days before i left but, beggars cannot be choosers so I will have to do without. It was the first person to contact me about it. He turned up. Paid in cash. Drove away. It took 20 minutes and was a bit surreal to be honest and now i am stuck again to trips that are walking distance only.

To acquire my visa i had many, many forms to fill in. I am almost done now with the entire process. Just an interview with the US consulate next week to get my Passport stamped and a pre-departure meeting the following day with my sponsor agency. The questionnaires and forms i had to complete were slightly nauseating. Questions relating to whether i was a terrorist stacked up to the extent that i almost wanted to check "yes" to see what would happen. Surely black hawks would appear outside the window and I would be tied up and sent to Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay or Alcatraz or something to be interrogated. It made me wonder, if you were bothered enough to get to this point, have so many codes to cross reference, pay for things that seemingly do not need to be paid for, and spend hours at the computer looking at questions, why would you throw it away at that point and say you are a terrorist? luckily for me, i am definitely not a terrorist and was able to successfully complete all of the forms!!

My flight is turning into a bit of an epic though. I do not want to  buy a return if i will not be flying back to Australia (you never know... Asia, Europe and the world is calling my name!) but i am unsure whether, as a part of the Visa, i am allowed to only buy a one-way. Questions have been met with vague answers and i may need to wait until my Consulate visit to know for sure. It certainly looks like a horses for courses situation and, if my situation fits, i will be able to do the one way. Let's hope the course is Moonee Valley because i am definitely a front runner.

Flights have also been hampered by ineptitude from travel agents. I have sent emails to four different companies and have received an automated "we will contact you in 24 hours" but to no avail. I had to follow up something i followed up in order to get any response but i am still waiting for any flight, price or boat to be offered to me. it may have been quicker to just get my pilot's license. Now i know why those people travel by boat to get to Australia. the desperation arises due to inept travel agents.

Today was a landmark day though. I applied for a job in San Jose!! It would be an amazing opportunity at a Fortune 500 company with their HR department. I think i am qualified and hope my exotic resume is not detrimental. It would be interesting to see their reaction when, some Australian claiming to have a working Visa applies for a job which is not behind a bar...

It did make me think though. What jobs would i simply refuse to do on my adventure. There are not many. I just want to be able to pay rent and bills and eat. But there are some. They include (in no particular order) one of those guys who ambushes people on the streets trying to get them to pledge monthly donations to greenpeace, NRA talent agent, grave digger, lead singer of Green Day (they're rubbish), didgeridoo playing busker (cliche), bag boy, burger flipper at Carls Jr, Burger King Or McDonalds (In'n'Out is a different story though!!!), cage dancer (Laura would not like it) and last but definitely not least, accountant. Those days are behind me.

27 days until I leave. A lot of great things were done in less than 27 days. I hope i can add to the list in some way, shape or form.