Tuesdays and Wednesdays have been difficult these past few weeks. For our office we hold consultations on these days, and I typically answer questions from people wanting to know if they can petition their spouse, their sibling, their child, etc. Mixed in with all that we've had people coming in asking about citizenship. I sometimes love these consultations because I get to tell people that they're ready to become American citizens. Their eyes light up a little, and though they tend to be a little leery about the cost, or the questions that they might have to answer, they get excited.

Lately though I've had too many consultations where paperwork was done by "notarios." In Mexico, a notario has the same recognition as an attorney. Actually, some attorneys are notaries. It's considered to be a special distinction. Here, a notario is a notary public and has no business doing legal work, yet immigrants and their families go to them everyday and have their paperwork filled out incorrectly by these people. Then they come to us asking why they never received an approval, why it's taking so long, why the application was denied, why they're getting deported?

It's depressing.

Notarios, and people who can be classified as such, may be sued under the DTPA thanks to some courageous people in DAs offices around the state and country. However, it's not enough. These immigrants have no recourse other than to sue. They can't get their supposed place back in line, can't really take back whatever was submitted to the government. The damage has been done thanks to the misrepresentation, and unlike victims of crime who have a visa they can apply for, there is no crime to report. At least not that the government will recognize... yet. They basically lose it all, and get some change in the process.

So, it's been a tough few weeks.

After three months I think I'm starting to get when something is up with Ravi. When he's under the weather he tends to get clingy and sleeps a bit more than usual, and the next morning he'll quite suddenly throw up. The first time it happened I freaked out. I was determined to take him to the vet that afternoon and had left him wrapped in this huge blanket in his crate. I asked everyone at work if they thought he had a cold. Was he dying? By the time I got home my provider had got him out and he was jumping on me and licking me and eating everything in sight. He was fine. So the second time it happened I still freaked out a bit, but I realized I would not find him keeled over when I came home. Sure enough I was right.

Today, my puppy has anxiety, or something. He can't stop wanting to bite me! Granted, it's not the type of biting that draws blood. No, he likes it when I scratch his belly and somehow my finger ends up in his mouth. He really wanted my fingers! And when I refused he went crazy. Ravi can get uber excited and run circles all over the condo in hyper-speed, and today he did it a few more times than usual. It was funny and disturbing. I played with him hoping it would tire him out, but that didn't work. I finally had to resort to the spray bottle, and fortunately now he's cutely collapsed on my bed.

I'm just wondering why he's biting again. Oh well, hopefully tomorrow will be better.

An acquaintance of mine from Newsvine came up with this nifty service called Lendle for Kindle users. Add all the legal Kindle books you own to the website (apparently now you can sync) and then you can lend and borrow ebooks with other Lendle users. The service relies heavily on user participation and the publishers' desire to borrow a book, so many books can only be lent once during a 14 day period, and some can't at all.

I have lent three ebooks, bought three since joining, and borrowed two of which I just finished the first one - Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Wow, did I misjudge this book!

It's long. 800 pages + methinks. For the first couple dozen chapters I found myself wanting to choke the main character, Mr.Norrell, because he was just dull, and it was kind of the point. I kept expecting dragons or some twist that would just blow me away! Except this is the kind of book that hits you sideways, and with each nonsensical meaningless chapter, you start to realize that maybe they did have a meaning after all.

Dear blog,

It's not that I can't stand you. Ours has been a love/hate relationship lasting four years now. I started you ages ago, and then quite suddenly I found a job and life became too complicated. I think newsvine can take some of the credit too!

Now I'm just too busy again, though I won this fabulous asylum case that gave me a migraine. I even garnered a mention on Bender's, which is so cool. Mostly, I'm just happy that my client won't be returning to a country where she will probably be killed.

If you had asked me five years ago what I thought I would be doing with my life, it might have included the words "rights, writing, and home." Back then I was still living through hell, but I still firmly believed in civil rights and writing to my heart's content. Never would I have thought I'd be doing immigration...

Oh, and blog, you have been warned. I have a 6 month old Chihuahua named Ravi. He is my obsession, and I have caught myself wanting to write about him every single day!! Seriously, this puppy can do no wrong, and when he does, I can't stay mad. He is just too cute, and too damn smart!

I'm aching for a new layout, and nothing rings a bell.

When god created the Kindle, it could not have forseen the consequences on poor little ole me. That and Netflix. It's like I have my books back in an easy to access and hold gadget that doesn't have to be balanced or strategically placed for the perfect reading light. No, my Kindle just needs a coin slot and EPUB compatibility to help me support my reading habit, because I have a voracious one. When I was younger my mother banned me to the library because I was insufferable. She'd buy me 5 books, and I'd devour them in less than two weeks. This was quite the healthy habit.

Now, I'm back at it, but for some reason work has a habit of getting in the way...

Comments are back up and working again. Sorry, I just couldn't stand the smileys. And since php is so sensitive, I apparently missed something. Oops.

New Moon landed in my mail slot yesterday. I really wanted to see how "Twilight" continued in movie form even though I already know what happens. Wikipaedia is my best friend afterall. So I popped it in the DVD player and OH MY GOD, I was just as horrified as I thought I'd be. Seriously?

I get that it's heartbreaking to be dumped, and for teenagers it just seems to be like the end of the world. I am truely spoiled because Buffy did it better, but seriously? Edward is a creep. A real sadistic creep. "Oh, I don't want to hurt you, Bella. I'm so selfish. Bye." A year passes. He thinks she's dead and suddenly he tries to kill himself??? Please, do it very painfully! The Volturi were more interesting than Edward.

And poor Jacob. The nice guys always get screwed! I found myself pleading for a knock down drag out fight between Edward and Jacob at the end because I thought it would be amusing. Alas, it did not happen. Maybe in Eclipse? I may not be able to stomach more of these.

If little girls want to grow up to be like Bella our society is doomed.

Scientists are reporting that California is long overdue for a major earthquake. It's not enough that other countries have been hit with these quakes this year. Cali has missed its mark by a few decades, though I fail to see how the San Francisco quake doesn't count.

There are questions that are positively easy to answer, and then there are questions that just leave me dumbstruck. The "what happened to you" question always falls somewhere in the middle. Depending on who asks it can be fairly simple to answer even if the answer might be a little complicated. If a stranger asks, they'll regret ever asking that question again.

My neighbor, Mika, asked me the question two days ago. It completely unbalanced me. I think I wasn't prepared even though I caught myself taking the deep breath and reminding myself to keep eye contact with him. The words came out as if I were an encyclopaedia. Automatic and even a bit self-deprecating. Telling him at that moment made me feel so vulnerable, so exposed. I've known Mika for weeks now. He's such a sweetheart, and we have fun together (his espresso is to die for). The most remarkable thing he did after I told him was nothing. No apology. No pity-like stare. Nothing. He just chatted on about this guy he wanted to date and had promised to lift because the poor thing had broken his legs. Simple as that.

Except for me it was the most difficult revelation I have had to make to a new friend in a while. And I know I wasn't devastated. I think I was really just afraid of what he'd think of me after I gave him the whole spiel. Maybe I was even disappointed. He didn't give me the satisfaction of acting like everyone else. And if he did, he hid it really well. No, Mika accepted my explanation and moved on. I looked into his eyes and he was smiling. Mika was thinking about the guy.

So much for easy questions.