January Filers at the CSC - How are you doing?

[BlakeandOlha 0]

Aw, I am sorry to hear work is so stressful for you.

Still very much hoping that you and every else get swift approvals. I want us all to be having our interviews around the same time, too!

So, I'm curious, guys - how did you all meet? I've heard a couple of stories from people but if the question has been asked before it was too long ago for my poor brain to remember!

Here you go, my story:

I had been taking care of my mother who had had a stroke for 9 months, when one of my sisters flew in to give me a break for a couple of weeks. Given a chance to finally take a vacation, I booked a trip to the Ukraine. After a lifetime of studying Soviet/Russian history, military strategy, and economics, the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks wandering the cities and countryside of the Ukraine was an opportunity I could not pass up. Moreover, I wouldn’t have to wait for a visa like I would if I had visited Russia.

My initial plan was to go to Kyiv, swing through the cities of Kharkov and Dniepropetrovsk (try saying that three times quickly) to the east, on south to the Crimea and Sevastopol (Charge of the Light Brigade and all that), up through the Carpathian mountains to the west, and finally back to Kyiv for the flight home. In my initial itinerary I did not even plan on seeing anything in a city called Zaporozhje – but that is where I found Olga. What led me there was a good museum and a re-creation of a Cossack settlement on an island in the middle of the Dniepro river. There is also a huge statue of Lenin at the end of the main street there that I really wanted to see.

It was a typically gray morning when I went to the site of the Cossack settlement on Khortisa Island. The site itself consists of a lot of mud, more mud, and a tall mound of mud where amazing things happened long ago. I had been told there was also a surprisingly good museum, and a recreation village modeled after the original cossack settlement. Fortunately on that morning I wasn’t the only one there…scrambling around on the large dirt mound was a very pretty woman, her son, and her father. After making sure she was not married (note that in the Ukraine wedding bands are worn on the right hand) I asked the question foremost on my mind: Is there anything else here that doesn’t include mud? Surprisingly she spoke English well and, as an added bonus, her father was an amature historian like me. I quickly made her my official translator and her father my official guide. Needless to say, after spending the day with this amazingly witty and funny woman, my plans for taking the train to Sevastopol were quickly derailed. The rest, they say, is history.

[Alex & Rachel 78]

Wow, Blake - that's an awesome story! And you even had the bonus of being introduced to two of the most important members of her family straight away.

[aravis227 1]

Aw, I am sorry to hear work is so stressful for you.

Still very much hoping that you and every else get swift approvals. I want us all to be having our interviews around the same time, too!

So, I'm curious, guys - how did you all meet? I've heard a couple of stories from people but if the question has been asked before it was too long ago for my poor brain to remember!

We met while playing World of Warcraft in the beginning of 2005. We didn't know each other, but Dennis' character cast a helpful spell on mine and I messaged him to say thank you. I was the only person who did and we got chatting. We started talking every day about everything...our families, work, friends, relationships, etc. I was in the middle of a really bad relationship and he was a really good friend that I could talk to. I finally got out of the relationship about a year after Dennis and I met. Strangely enough...I wouldn't have been playing WoW if it hadn't been for that boyfriend, he got me into it.

Dennis had some vacation and asked how I would feel about him coming to visit me. We had talked about meeting in real life, but nothing had ever really come of it. He drove down from Winnipeg (about 23-ish hours...don't believe a word Googlemaps says) and everything just...clicked. We've known since then that we wanted to be together.

[BlakeandOlha 0]

Wow, Blake - that's an awesome story! And you even had the bonus of being introduced to two of the most important members of her family straight away.

Your right, that made a huge difference right from the very beginning. Fortune was on my side that day.

aravis, what server are you on?

[aravis227 1]

Wow, Blake - that's an awesome story! And you even had the bonus of being introduced to two of the most important members of her family straight away.

Your right, that made a huge difference right from the very beginning. Fortune was on my side that day.

aravis, what server are you on?

My main is on Terenas, alliance. My main is Revis and Dennis' main is Gremalure

[BlakeandOlha 0]

Wow, Blake - that's an awesome story! And you even had the bonus of being introduced to two of the most important members of her family straight away.

Your right, that made a huge difference right from the very beginning. Fortune was on my side that day.

aravis, what server are you on?

My main is on Terenas, alliance. My main is Revis and Dennis' main is Gremalure

Ah too bad. I've got my Alliance guys on Haomarush, and my horde palladin on zuluhead (for when I'm feeling anti social)

[aravis227 1]

Wow, Blake - that's an awesome story! And you even had the bonus of being introduced to two of the most important members of her family straight away.

Your right, that made a huge difference right from the very beginning. Fortune was on my side that day.

aravis, what server are you on?

My main is on Terenas, alliance. My main is Revis and Dennis' main is Gremalure

Ah too bad. I've got my Alliance guys on Haomarush, and my horde palladin on zuluhead (for when I'm feeling anti social)

I have some hidden hordies, too...just for those days when you don't want to deal with teenager guild drama. One day I'm going to switch my main over to a raiding guild.

[BlakeandOlha 0]

Wow, Blake - that's an awesome story! And you even had the bonus of being introduced to two of the most important members of her family straight away.

Your right, that made a huge difference right from the very beginning. Fortune was on my side that day.

aravis, what server are you on?

My main is on Terenas, alliance. My main is Revis and Dennis' main is Gremalure

Ah too bad. I've got my Alliance guys on Haomarush, and my horde palladin on zuluhead (for when I'm feeling anti social)

I have some hidden hordies, too...just for those days when you don't want to deal with teenager guild drama. One day I'm going to switch my main over to a raiding guild.

The only character I don't have yet is a shaman, perhaps after my paladin hits 70 I'll start up on Tenaris and look for you guys. Everyone, see how I stay out of trouble?

[Levi_Heather 0]

HELP!!! My patience is wearing thin

[BlakeandOlha 0]

HELP!!! My patience is wearing thin

I'm sorry this thing is getting to you. For me it comes and goes. I've noticed that they've really only been working on the first half of January so far, and you and I filed in the second half of the month. For that reason I'm still on "pause" at least until I see some 2nd half approvals start. I don't check USCIS at all right now, but I know that will change in a couple of weeks. These are the hardest weeks after the initial month because the reality of an approval is so close. Keep the faith, and blow off steam here when it gets too much. Good luck to us all!

[Levi_Heather 0]

HELP!!! My patience is wearing thin

I'm sorry this thing is getting to you. For me it comes and goes. I've noticed that they've really only been working on the first half of January so far, and you and I filed in the second half of the month. For that reason I'm still on "pause" at least until I see some 2nd half approvals start. I don't check USCIS at all right now, but I know that will change in a couple of weeks. These are the hardest weeks after the initial month because the reality of an approval is so close. Keep the faith, and blow off steam here when it gets too much. Good luck to us all!

Thanks. Just gets so frustrating. Levi told me to stop looking at the dates so often because I would go on a rant LOL. Hopefully only a few more weeks for all of us

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

Aw, I am sorry to hear work is so stressful for you.

Still very much hoping that you and every else get swift approvals. I want us all to be having our interviews around the same time, too!

So, I'm curious, guys - how did you all meet? I've heard a couple of stories from people but if the question has been asked before it was too long ago for my poor brain to remember!

How we met...

I went to St. Louis as an exchange student. I arrived in August 2005 and left in December, a few days before Christmas. On Halloween night I went to a club, it was goth night so I knew there would be good music ("good" meaning "that I like", I'm sure some people would hate it). I didn't want to go alone so I asked my only American friend to come with me. He was a guy from my math class, and we had similar tastes in music. He said he couldn't come because he had an exam the next day. So I went back home, sad... and two hours later he came back, saying that he changed his mind. So we went. Of course I didn't have any costume, so I just wore normal clothes (well, short skirt, big shoes, and these nice black gothy things ).

I spent almost the entire evening dancing, and there was that guy, wearing a Hannibal Lecter costume, who started dancing with me. We danced without talking. At one point he removed the mask he had because it was to hot. I could see his nice big tattoo on his back through the camisole.

We talked a little, I told him I was French, he asked for my phone number but I didn't had one, so I gave him my email address, he gave me his.

We met again later, we went to a diner. Then movie night. Then a walk in the park. Then probably lots of other things I can't remember right now (sorry, headache tonight)

We became addicted to each other.

Since we met on Halloween night (what a great anniversary day!), we only spent a month and a half together before I came back to France.

[BlakeandOlha 0]

HELP!!! My patience is wearing thin

I'm sorry this thing is getting to you. For me it comes and goes. I've noticed that they've really only been working on the first half of January so far, and you and I filed in the second half of the month. For that reason I'm still on "pause" at least until I see some 2nd half approvals start. I don't check USCIS at all right now, but I know that will change in a couple of weeks. These are the hardest weeks after the initial month because the reality of an approval is so close. Keep the faith, and blow off steam here when it gets too much. Good luck to us all!

Thanks. Just gets so frustrating. Levi told me to stop looking at the dates so often because I would go on a rant LOL. Hopefully only a few more weeks for all of us

I'm planning on last week May or first week June on approval - we mailed into the CSC only one day apart so we should go around the same time. Don't look at the projected date in your timeline, it's way wrong, probably by 30 days. Just look at Igor's list or the list I post from time to time to see what filing dates are being approved. To pass the time, just post here, it really helps keeping the rants under control...... mostly

[BlakeandOlha 0]

Aw, I am sorry to hear work is so stressful for you.

Still very much hoping that you and every else get swift approvals. I want us all to be having our interviews around the same time, too!

So, I'm curious, guys - how did you all meet? I've heard a couple of stories from people but if the question has been asked before it was too long ago for my poor brain to remember!

How we met...

I went to St. Louis as an exchange student. I arrived in August 2005 and left in December, a few days before Christmas. On Halloween night I went to a club, it was goth night so I knew there would be good music ("good" meaning "that I like", I'm sure some people would hate it). I didn't want to go alone so I asked my only American friend to come with me. He was a guy from my math class, and we had similar tastes in music. He said he couldn't come because he had an exam the next day. So I went back home, sad... and two hours later he came back, saying that he changed his mind. So we went. Of course I didn't have any costume, so I just wore normal clothes (well, short skirt, big shoes, and these nice black gothy things ).

I spent almost the entire evening dancing, and there was that guy, wearing a Hannibal Lecter costume, who started dancing with me. We danced without talking. At one point he removed the mask he had because it was to hot. I could see his nice big tattoo on his back through the camisole.

We talked a little, I told him I was French, he asked for my phone number but I didn't had one, so I gave him my email address, he gave me his.

We met again later, we went to a diner. Then movie night. Then a walk in the park. Then probably lots of other things I can't remember right now (sorry, headache tonight)

We became addicted to each other.

Since we met on Halloween night (what a great anniversary day!), we only spent a month and a half together before I came back to France.

Great story - of course you'll have to explain to your kids someday who daddy was dressed like. At least he'll never forget the anniversary of when you first met.

[Levi_Heather 0]

Aw, I am sorry to hear work is so stressful for you.

Still very much hoping that you and every else get swift approvals. I want us all to be having our interviews around the same time, too!

So, I'm curious, guys - how did you all meet? I've heard a couple of stories from people but if the question has been asked before it was too long ago for my poor brain to remember!

How we met...

I went to St. Louis as an exchange student. I arrived in August 2005 and left in December, a few days before Christmas. On Halloween night I went to a club, it was goth night so I knew there would be good music ("good" meaning "that I like", I'm sure some people would hate it). I didn't want to go alone so I asked my only American friend to come with me. He was a guy from my math class, and we had similar tastes in music. He said he couldn't come because he had an exam the next day. So I went back home, sad... and two hours later he came back, saying that he changed his mind. So we went. Of course I didn't have any costume, so I just wore normal clothes (well, short skirt, big shoes, and these nice black gothy things ).

I spent almost the entire evening dancing, and there was that guy, wearing a Hannibal Lecter costume, who started dancing with me. We danced without talking. At one point he removed the mask he had because it was to hot. I could see his nice big tattoo on his back through the camisole.

We talked a little, I told him I was French, he asked for my phone number but I didn't had one, so I gave him my email address, he gave me his.

We met again later, we went to a diner. Then movie night. Then a walk in the park. Then probably lots of other things I can't remember right now (sorry, headache tonight)

We became addicted to each other.

Since we met on Halloween night (what a great anniversary day!), we only spent a month and a half together before I came back to France.

Levi and I met on a chat site and hit it off right away as we have a similar sense of humor and were great friends from the start. After several months we decided to meet and Minneapolis was a good half way point so that was the plan but my car broke down in the middle of nowhere Iowa!!!! It was a Friday evening by then and an ice storm was moving in so had my car towed to a dealership and they said they couldn't get to it til Tuesday! I ended up staying at a hotel in this small town and Levi had made it to Minneapolis by then and said no way was he going to miss seeing me so drove another few hours in the ice storm to get to me.... So sweet! When we met it was like we had always known each other and the rest is history:)