I’ve been bad in not keeping this blog up to date. I tend to twitter more than anything else now, but have avoided making my tweets a part of the blog (sometimes there are too many).

Anyway, as I mentioned in my last blog post about my visa, there was some good news, and finally on September 26 (two months later), I received notice that I was approved, and could start working with BBBS again. Yay!

The visa is good for two years, and also removes the concerns I had over travelling back to Australia on my student visa. I’ve received all the paperwork from my attorney, and should be right to get my new visa in my passport when I head back down under next year.

During the time that I was in limbo, I returned to UNT to continue some studies. Unfortunately when I found out that I had to get into UNT quickly, it was the Friday before classes started, so there was not a lot of classes to choose from. I did get a couple that I ended up really enjoying, and I think when I return to continue my graduate studies I will take these classes again. Of course, when news arrived about my visa, I dropped all my classes like a hot potato.

I’ve been back working now for just over a month, and things have settled down, and life is returning to normal (actually probably more than normal).

Life Updates immigration

So Senator Barack Obama is now President-elect Barack Obama. There is an energy in the air since those words were first mentioned last night around 10PM (CST), actually it has been there for a while, but at that moment I felt different.

Chris and I celebrated this moment in history with friends, some good wine, and lots of political banter. We celebrated the victory of Barack Obama, and the words of John McCain. We celebrated the gains in the U.S. House, and I celebrated that the Democrats did not get the 60 seat “filibuster-proof” majority in the U.S. Senate. I’m not for blanket coverage government, and have long said that – at least in the Senate – there needs to be some accountability, and nothing provides that more than not having the “absolute majority” in that chamber.

In listening to Obama’s victory speech, like so many others, I was again impressed with his ability to talk about the future that we as a community need to work towards creating. Obama recognizes that just winning isn’t the answer, as there is a lot of work to be done to continue the momentum forward. In his speech, Obama said,

“[t]his victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It can’t happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.”

I, for one, am ready to see where this new journey to this country’s future leads us.

Politics election2008