Thursday, May 31, 2012

things are starting to come together..

for the trip, and it's DEFINITELY about time.. we leave in 12 days, and i still need to pick up my passport from San Diego (doing that tomorrow am) and i need to APPLY for miss M's passport (doing that on Monday)
I am cutting it rather close to the departure date for her passport, not thanks to any of my doings, but.. other factors. Hopefully I'll have the missing document tomorrow midday, and HOPEFULLY the passport agency feels like cooperating with me.. :) fingers crossed. Just in case, I've got a full travel cancellation protection, that will repay the cost of the trip if we have to cancel for any reason.
I really, really, REALLY don't want to cancel the trip...
My own passport drama.. cost me a new job, and a very expensive trip across the country. I had gotten a job offer from a different studio, and I had actually accepted the offer, already found a new apartment closer to the new studio, found a new daycare for miss M, and I had even given a tentative notice here at my current studio that i was thinking about leaving... Then.. as the new studio was about to transfer my work visa (yes, i am still here on a visa...) we realized that they'd have to apply for a new visa, as the kind of visa i have isn't really transferable... That, in itself, is a process, but.. right as they were about to start that, my current passport expired, and they couldn't even submit the application w/o a valid passport.. I knew my passport was about to expire, but.. I was also working 6 days a week, 10-12 hrs a day, and I just didn't have a chance to travel to DC to get it taken care of. But, facing the risk of loosing my new job, i finally contacted the Swedish Embassy in DC, and made my appointment.. this was at the beginning of April.. Earliest appointment they had was May 7th. :(
I was supposed to start my new job on April 16th.

I contacted the new job, explained the situation, and apologized profusely.. they said the timing might not work out any more, but that they might have an opening for the end of May, if i was still interested. Unfortunately that didn't work out either, as it would take 2-3 weeks to get my passport shipped here from DC, taking us thru end of May, then another 3+ weeks to apply for a visa, once they immigration lawyer had all documents, so.. that would take us well into mid June.

argh.

but.. sometimes you get the reason to why things happen, sooner than later.. turns out that an old friend of mine just returned to LA to work for my current company, and her soon-to-be husband was looking for a job down here, and 'my' new job contacted him and offered him the position that opened in late May. AND.. second day on the job, he found out that they'd be expected to work 6 days a week, and 11'ish hour days until mid September, when the show delivers..
What in the world would i have done with miss M working those kinds of hours? She would have had to be at the daycare 6 days a week, a minimum of 11-12 hours a day.. She would have called her teachers 'mom' and not recognized me at the end of those months. ugh.

But.. fortunately my current company had been begging me to stay, and so I did. We're having a couple of months with a little bit less work at the moment, and that's quite wonderful. I get to catch up on things i should have taken care of a long time ago, and I get to further my knowledge about the pipeline here, and I am an integral part of setting up our new workflow on the current show. Quite nice.

I think that's it for today. Fingers crossed i get the required documents tomorrow!!!!

C

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