Wheels just keep on turnin'

FINALLY some GOOD NEWS!!!!!!
For a couple of weeks now we have feared that the job I have is not good enough to sponsor Daniel for his Green Card. The first letter Daniel took into Immigration from my Employer he was told was useless. "This means nothing" she said!!!! We freaked out. We thought that I would have to quit my job and get a nine-to-five (which would have taken me a LOT longer). So, we held our breath, Daniel had an appointment to go to at Immigration and take with him a REVISED letter from my Employer, a copy of my payslip and an Affidavit of my Financial Support of him. We only PRAYED that he would not be told the same thing again. We prayed and hoped but had absolutely NO idea if it would good enough!!!!
So, yesterday, 8am Australian Eastern Standard time, Daniel walked into the US Consulate for his interview. He waited, he went from line to line, being told to get into another line (go to this line and pay your $500 fee... then, go to that line and show them your receipt... then, wait over there for your interview). Finally, at 9:40, he was standing infront of the man who would decide his fate.... The one man who, if having a bad morning, could say "This is not good enough for your Visa. Your wife needs a guaranteed income, a salary with a signed contract of Employment".
What Daniel heard was, "well, this all looks fine. Everything seems in order. I just need her to file a tax return for last year, in America, and for you to get health insurance. Send me those two documents and I'll send your visa right out to you"......
Hear that?? "I'LL SEND YOUR VISA RIGHT OUT TO YOU"!!!!!!!!!!!!! He has been approved. APPROVED!!!!!!!! Well, tentatively, I know. But, approved, none-the-less.
So, I file a tax return tomorrow (which technically I am exempt from paying... as in paying taxes, because I filed in Australia and did not work in this Country at all) which should only cost me between $50-100. TOTALLY doable. Then we are only one step away!!!!!!
It is, however, the hardest step. I do not have health insurance through my job. I am not quitting and hunting for a job in which I COULD have insurance. That could take me half a year or MORE to find such employment. So, we are looking at paying. Health insurance is not like in Australia. It's not $150 a month for the two of us.... it's $917.47 a month for the two of us. So far that is the cheapest quote I can find. If it were just Daniel being covered, I could get him insurance for $360 a month, but he can't apply for that until he is here and has a social security number... and he needs the insurance to get here. So, in reality, that isn't an option. We can get both and then I can just sign off it after he gets here... Or, we can get both and once he gets a job here we can just discontinue because he'll get insurance through his work. Technically we just need him to have insurance when he enters (we figure we don't need to keep it), but that still means forking out a Grand.... in US dollars. There is no WAY we have that kind of money. Sucks so hard. So, it's back to the brainstorming. We have to find a way. I need to spend more time finding quotes (they really have been extortionate, though) and trying to find a workable option.
Please, all of you, keep us in your prayers. Pray that we find a cheap health care option, or that a wealthy benefactor, ala Great Expectations, just magically decides to help me get health insurance. We are so close. Please say a prayer for us.
Thank you for all your loving messages and thoughts.
We both love you all (and I miss you all terribly!!!)
Keep well.
Love always, Taliesen.
p.s. This is actually really great news, I didn't mean to end on a downer.... I celebrated last night (Ice cream sundae)... It really is YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
p.p.s Also, yesterday was a great Sunday. I found a church. The priest is SUCH a cool dude. He wears a lapel mike and after he reads the bible passage, he comes down into the isle among the congregation to give his Homely!!!! He was really cool. Told jokes and has a very modern, yet spiritual, view of the Church and religion. Also, there is a choir every Sunday mass. It was Awesome!!!!!
p.p.ps. I am really happy here, guys. Really happy. Daniel and I are going to have an amazing life here. This city is fantastic. I can't wait for you all to see us here!!! Start planning your trips!
Love you!!!!!
bye.

Taking Care of Business

Well, here I am at the end of a LONG and very productive day!!!!
Yay me!!!
Today, I put credit on my phone and calling cards so I can communicate with the land of Oz.
I opened a bank account (two actually, checking and saving accounts) with the Bank of America!!!!
I got on top of my written correspondance, e-mails etc.
I met a lovely gay man at my work (I didn't even work today but I stopped in for a cup of coffee... it was SSOOOOOOOOOO cold and rainy... MISERABLE weather) who not only wants to advise me on all the best Jazz Cluds to go to in Manhattan, but also wants to help me find a job... I am meeting SUCH helpfull people in this city. Everyone is like "so, what did you do in Australia, and what are you looking for here?...oh, really...I think I may know someone who could help you....". They're EVERYWHERE!!!! People are just so NICE in this town.
O.K. My day....
I tentatively joined a gym (they have a 7-day cancellation period) that looks AWESOME just around the corner from my work in Times Square (also, when Daniel get's here, he can join too for less money because I'll already be a member)... such an awesome gym, too...
And last but not least, I FINALLY bought an adapter cable for my camera so I can download the pictures from the camera and start adding THEM to this Blog, too!!!!!!
YAY ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As a side-not, I'm also half way through The Da Vinci Code, which I started reading about 4 days ago....
Anyway, just thought I'd let you all know how wonderfully productive my day has been. I'm really starting to feel like I'm starting a life here, what with a job and now a bank account.... it's a great feeling... Now, all I need is Daniel to arrive and I'll really feel like this is my new life... It's all so exciting!!!!!!!!
As always, I send my love to you all!!!!!
Love, Taliesen.

I found this picture of Me and Jen on New Years... Yay!!!

This photo was taken by a friend of ours, John Kung. He's a very good photographer. Check out his site...

www.fibrowalls.com

Love, as always, Taliesen.

Ups and Downs

Hey All,
Sorry it's been a while since I got on the net and left a post... I know how you all hang out for them SSOOOOOO much!!! hehehe...
The reason for my absence is that I have moved to stay with a new person, my mother's friend - Michele, and she has a very old and slow computer so it just isn't as easy and fun to get on the computer and write away and do heaps of stuff.
But, here I am, writing from a friend's place... yay!!!
Firstly, I need to say to all you mothers out there - Merilee, Josephine, Debra, Bianca, and all of you - HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!! I hope you all had a lovely day and please know that Daniel and I were thinking of you all and wishing you all a happy mother's day.
Secondly, Happy Birthday to John Kung and Sarah McIntyre. I miss you guys and hope you had/have a wonderful birthday!!!!!!!!!
So, Daniel and I... Well, I won't lie to you all. It is starting to get really hard. The worst is just not being able to chat. Like, we talk quite regularly but we can't just sit down and have a big old gas-bag for hours because it's just too expensive. I'd say that's the hardest... As well as, I must say, missing the hugs. It's really weird, but of all the physical interactions a married couple may have (I won't go into details, don't worry), more than kisses, more that anything else, I miss the hugs. Just the way Daniel gives me a big, strong hug at the end of a hard day or in the middle of an afternoon we're spending together, just out of the blue. Big Daniel Hugs!!!! That is what is the WORST!!!!!!
So, the stress of not being able to just chat, and of no hugs, has led to us to starting to have, not fights as such, but just not nice conversations. As most of you know, Daniel and I have survived many an all-out-row, so we will be fine. It's just really tough at the moment. But, so you all know, the process of Daniel moving over here is going fine (if not a little slower that we'd like.... however, still faster than I anticipated, so THAT'S good). We are in the last stages of proving my job to the government so they can give Daniel his Greencard and in two weeks he goes into the Embassy for his, hopefully, final interview. We are looking forward to the likelihood that he will be able to fly over in early June.
Speaking of my job, I am actually really enjoying it... It's nothing permanent and I have met a few contacts that could pan out into something full-time, 9-5 sort of thing. But, for the time being (especially because of all the extra things I'm trying to organize) I'm really enjoying the flexible hours and ease of working in a nice restaurant. For those of you in Sydney, I'm working in a place that is very similar (though MUCH smaller) to the James Squires Brewpub down near Cockle Bay. Except it's all Belgian. ALL Belgian beers, mostly Belgian, but also some French, food and GREAT desserts. All of the people (actually, I should say guys because apart from one of the owners, I'm the ONLY female who works there) who work there are really lovely and most of them are European and very protective. It's really wonderful, I've gotten a great job, that'll pay quite well, and have immediately been adopted by about 4 big brother's. I really do feel like the little sister in a big family business (none of the guys are related to each-other, it's just the feel of the place) which is perfect for me, because I can be myself and be really friendly and bubbly and I'm treated wonderfully. So, yeah, I have really got NO complaints about where I work. I am really loving it. I feel really lucky to have landed that job.
So, all in all, I'd say I'm doing A-O.K. In fact, both Daniel and I are. It's hard and there are bad days but overly, YES, we are doing JUST FINE!!!! Keep us both in your prayers (or whatever your particular version of saying a prayer may be) and remember that we both Love and Miss you all!!!!!!
As Always, Love,
Taliesen.

What we're both doing

It has occurred to me that I have been telling you all a lot about what I'm doing and not very much, if anything, about what Daniel is doing. Furthermore, I realized that most of you care greatly about how he is, too. So....
I have been gone for a week and 3 days, and Daniel has actually packed a lot in. He finished packing up our house, sold most of our stuff, moved boxes over to a garage, cleaned the house and moved out. He did this, by the by, limping half the weekend because he'd hurt himself walking back from the truck-hire place seeing as he couldn't find anyone to help him... (see? He really does need me...)
He stayed with a friend of ours from my old job for all of last week, which was great because even though our computer is packed up, he was able to get on messenger every night and one time even use a web-cam so I could SEE him... It was the BEST thing EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He then went down to Canberra for the weekend to see his family, which I am told was very nice. Apparently, he showed them all the house I am staying in and the area I'm staying in, on Google Earth.
He will now stay with one of his work-mates who lives up close to his work so he doesn't have to spend all his money on petrol.
Daniel will be heading down to the American Embassy in the city on Thursday Morning (Immigration Day at the Embassy) to give them a letter from my employer saying that I have full-time work. Our understanding is that is all the Embassy needs to finalize his green-card. So, he'll go down there, give them the letter, hopefully be able to be interviewed that same day, and hopefully be approved by the end of Thursday (with his visa coming in the registered post Friday or Monday). THAT is a best case scenario, so if any of you are praying or wishing for us, hope for THAT!! I won't go into the ways in which this plan can go wrong as I don't really want to put all the negative possibilities out there. Suffice it to say, all of them involve it taking a LOT longer. As it is, we're hoping Daniel can join me in just under a month. So all, keep your FINGERS CROSSED!!!!!
As for me, I have to leave the wonderful house I've been staying in. I've been staying with my friend, Desmond, in a part of Queens called Astoria. It is really pretty and he lives in a big free standing house with a porch and garden all around and a well in the front yard - you know, one of those really cute ones with the white little roof?? They have a guest room and everything, with a whole bed and a door. It is so sweet. However, the landlady who lives downstairs is REALLY fussy about people staying. She doesn't like them having guests all the time because it runs up the water bill (apparently she yelled at one of them that the water bill was so much last month... but THAT wasn't me, I wasn't even HERE last month) and she keeps getting paranoid that they are going to start sub-letting... She seems not all that nice. So, I have to leave.
I am being saved by my mother's friend, Michele. She has a place up the top of Manhattan and I was going to house-sit for her when she went over-seas in about a month and a half, but due to my predicament, she has insisted I stay on her couch in the mean-time, which is REALLY sweet of her (she only met me on Wednesday). This is really good, however, because it means I can sort-of settle. I'll be in the same place for the next couple of months and I can get into a routine. So, YAY!!!!!
Anyway, I'll keep you all posted.
Much love, as ALWAYS!!!!!
Love, Taliesen.

Money in my Pocket

Well, it's been four hours of job-hunting and I have my first job posability all lined up... YAY!!!!!
It's nothing great and it's not long term but I start at 4p.m. tomorrow, a training shift at a resterant at Times Square, across the Road from Henry Miller's Theatre. I've been told that once my training (three training shifts) is over, I can start full-time. Which is all I should need to get Daniel over to this Country... YAY!!!!
The shifts should be varied enough that I still have time to look for a real job in production, also. I still do want a 9-5 so I will keep looking but in the meantime, this job should be some good money, in a great location (meeting all sorts of awesome people), and enough hopefully to get Daniel to New York.
The other good phone call I got today was from my mothers friend, Michele, who lives here in New York and has all sorts of FANTASTIC conections in the Arts. She and I are having lunch on Wednesday and she has also invited me to a Cocktail Party next week. There should be some really interesting people there and hopefully some very good contacts for me to make. Either way, it should be exciting and a bit of fun... My first New York Cocktail Party.... ooooohhh, what to wear?????
Anyway, things are looking up this bright Monday afternoon!!!
Sending my love to you all, As always!!!
Love, Taliesen.

First day of "working"

I'm calling my job-hunting "working" because that's how much time and energy I need to put into it. It's Monday morning, my time, and I got onto the computer to send off my resumes to places, only to find out the disk I have with my resume on it, is corrupt. I need to find another way to get my resume from Australia, so freaking out just a little. I spoke to Daniel on Messenger this morning and he had access to a web-cam, so I could see him smile and see his reactions to things I was saying. When he got off the net (to go to bed) I broke down into a crying mess, for the first time, really, since landing in New York. I miss him so much right now...

I'm really missing the familiar at the moment...
I even miss the daily routine of Steam.... I'm really feeling like a fish out of water at the moment, which is weird, because at the same time, I constantly feel like I've arrived home. It feels weird not having Daniel here and I hate that feeling. I also find myself in emotional overwhelm so that when the LITTLEST thing goes wrong, I feel like the world is ending!!!
I hate this feeling, I just want to get a job, I just need work, something to take my mind off it on a daily basis...

I've met a few people who I believe will become good friends. Friends of my friend, Desmond, who I'm staying with. They are all really helpful and I think when I get to know them a little better, I'll have a fantastic support network, here.

Anyway, I have to go, so much to do and so little time...

I send my love to One and All,
Taliesen.