Missouri loves company...

It has been a bit since I verbally threw up online. My apologies for those that anxiously await notification that I have updated this blog with fascinating tidbits from my extremely exciting life, but it has been a bit of a madhouse here at work. :)

We have entered the notorious (well, notorious for Immigration lawyers) season of H-1B filings which must, MUST be in the fedex box on Monday, March 31, 2008 to arrive on the doorstep of Immigration on April 1, 2008 in the small chance that your application sneaks in and is picked for H-1B eligibility. I can't remember if I wrote about this last year, but at the risk of repeating myself, I will provide a brief explanation. H-1B is a temporary work visa which is available generally for 6 years (but must be renewed after 3). It requires a bachelor's degree, a job offer, and approval by the Department of Labor. The government allows about 65,000 H-1B applications to be accepted a year, last year, something like over 300,00 people applied. What this means of course, is many people did not make it in, and that the 65,000 spots were taken up in the first day! So, this is why it is so important that your clients application be there on the first day that they can apply, to try to increase the chances of getting picked. Of course, all our clients waited until the last absolute moment to tell us they wanted to apply, and I have been scrambling around the last week or so trying to track down clients and their employers to get all the needed documents compiled and organized into a neat little package to be mailed out. Today, I will finally finish my last ones.... phew!!

So, that is why I have been a bit M.I.A. lately, but do not worry, I am back to once again take precious moments away from your day to tell you about what's going on with me!!

Back tracking a bit, a few weekends ago Denise and I made our way to St. Louis for my grandmother's (nani as all the grandkids call her, which I invented as a child cause I'm a genius) 80th Birthday. As it turns out, Vince was going back to St. Louis that same weekend, AND his mother had booked the EXACT same round trip flight as us! We discovered this information late one night while discussing coordinating a ride to the airport, and we were all extremely excited (and perhaps a bit worried that this might be some omen for disaster? well, maybe that was just me). Anyway, we were able to finagle it so that we all sat together on the way there AND back. We watched movies, got drunk, and as I said, I think pretty much had more fun than anyone else on our flights.

As for our actual time in St. Louis, it was great, but too fast as always. We stayed the whole time with our friends Kate and Joe which was really nice because (1) they are just awesome, and (2) we could escape family for awhile and just chill for the night.

We arrived Thursday around 5:30, picked up our rental car (which was a PT Cruiser... Denise's FAVORITE ;), dropped Vince off, deposited our things at Kate and Joes, and went out to Thai food which was amazing and SPICY!

Friday Kate and I took Denise around the city to various high-lights. We went to lunch at Blueberry Hill (a famous restaurant where Chuck Berry still plays!), later went to a Bissingers chocolate bar which was amazing but also a tad sickening at the end, and finished with a coffee at Coffee Cartel, an old hang out of Vince and I back when it was more gay (before those damn straights took over;). One other thing was that day, it was FUCKING COLD!! It was so cold in fact in prompted deep discussions about why midwest winters just seem to be so biting cold. It is like pins are hitting your skin as the wind blows against your face. It is definitely unlike the cold we have here in the West. St. Louis was definitely much colder than Tahoe, even though there was like 3 feet of snow in Tahoe and it was just as cold temperature wise. We decided that it must have something to do with the humidity in the air, but what do we know... anyway, moving on. That night, we went to see the movie Juno for a low key outing event. The film was cute, but I think I had just heard too much hype for it to live up to. Also, I had a bit of an issue about the way they approached the idea of abortion, and the way the clinic was portrayed. I heard an interview with Ellen Page where she discussed this briefly, but I still don't think her explanation was convincing. Still, Ellen Page was adorable and the characters were well written, so as far as movies go I felt it was pretty successful.

Saturday was the big day. The party was at a community center in an area called Shrewsberry and started at 3PM, so we got there around 2:30 or so. It was supposed to be a surprise party, but I guess there had been a few slip-ups, so she was a bit suspicious. However, when she entered, I think she was shocked at the amount of people that were there. She started to cry when she saw me, which of course made me cry, and it was a love fest all around. The party was nice. Lots of catching up. My brother was there with his wife and little boy Brendan who is so cute and smart, but was having a hard time not throwing a fit every time something did not go his way. I got to see my cousin Rachael who I have not seen in many years, which was great. Also, my other cousins Angela and Laura were there, and Denise and I spent most of our time talking to them and catching up. They are really amazing girls.... seem much more together than I was at their age. My aunt Marcia brought some wine, so there was actually some alcoholic beverages at the gathering (my family usually has dry parties), which was nice to cut the nerves a bit. The room was only reserved until 8:00pm, so we wrapped it up around 7:30 or so. I was tempted to go back to my Nani's to hang for a bit more, but I thought it was time for a break from family, since we would see them again tomorrow.

Instead, I took Denise to this lesbian bar called "Novaks" in downtown St. Louis. I had heard they had moved to a new space since I had been there and it was much nicer. Well, the rumors were true! The Novaks I knew was this small narrow bar that had a small triangle stage at the end for the periodic Drag King show (which is why to this day I cannot hear "It's gettin hot in here" without seeing a drag king gyrating his hips in a girls face). The place it has moved to is a really cool warehouse type space with exposed ceilings, red brick, and a large round bar in the middle of the room. In the back room there are plenty of pool tables and draw poker machines because that's what the les's like to do in the midwest. We were actually given a pleasant surprise when we learned that there was a drag queen/king show that night, AND even more surprised when we saw once again how cheap drinks are there!! 4.50 for a rum and diet! However, the thing which eventually drove us out was all the smoke. St. Louis has yet to institute the no smoking in doors policy.... COME ON people, get with it!!!

Sunday was the Science Center with the my Nani, mom, Jeff and Sara, Brendarn, Denise and I. Brendan was SO excited to go there and see the dinosaurs. However, I'm not sure he realized that the dinosaurs there are animatronic, which means they move and roar. The closer we got to them, the more he freaked out, and eventually had a melt down. We decided that perhaps it was in our best interest to explore other areas of the Science Center, which was a lot of fun. Towards the end of the day, we made it back to the area where the dinosaurs were, my brother tricked Brendan into getting in an elevator which deposited them downstairs right where the dinosaurs were. Brendan realized he had been tricked, was pissed for a second, but then cautiously made his way closer and closer. We even stood under them to show him that our heads were safe below the T-Rex jaws. He actually ended up getting pretty close, and I was proud of him because I don't know if I would have done that at his age (I was afraid of Halloween until I was like 7, and don't get my mom started on the story of me screaming in the bank at the moving dolls in the window). After the Science Center we stopped by the Zoo to take pictures of this incredible metal sculpture of animals they recently added to the outside of the walls. When Brendan was told we were only looking at the outside of the Zoo and not actually going in, he decided this was yet another reason to loose it. He recovered after he saw the sculpture and some horses in the park, but it was pretty obvious it was time to go home.

We all went over to my Nanis' for conversation and Pasta House take out. It was good, but I barely ate any because I knew we were going to the most amazing Vietnamese food in a few hour with Kate, Joe and Vince, so I wanted to save my appetite. At about 7:30 we said our emotional goodbyes (it is always so hard for my mom), and met everyone for dinner at Pho Grand. The meal was fabulous as always, and I have decided we must try to eat there at least once whenever we get back to visit. After we went for ice cream at Ted Drews (a famous custard stand there) and decided that all we wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch embarrassing videos of me in my youth, and watch the penguin surfing move which I can't recall the name of right now, which we did.

Monday we said a sad goodbye to Kate (Joe was at work), and departed for the City that is Los Angeles. It was a lovely little trip, and I can't wait to see everyone again. We are thinking B-town for Christmas, but that always involves a brief stint in the Lou, so we will be back again soon to the gateway to the west!!! oxoxox

ps: hopefully i will post some pics later