Post something that made you HAPPY today.

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The sunshine and fresh watermelon!

Visiting my Grandmother and taking her to Olive Garden for her birthday.

No Angela d or Angela w

No rain

McDonald's litterbox

I saw two cool YT videos. One was on social anxiety, and the other was on manipulation/motivation tactics used by CIA agents. I also ate RICE for dinner, so Ephen Stephen came by to say hi.

Having pizza

Kitty and coffee

Another boring weather day.

Bus rides.

Groceries.

Cooking

Music.

The pressure behind my eyes is finally easing

I don't want a repeat of this week ever again

I was able to find Ecco the Dolphin for Sega CD. Since that's the one I grew up with I wasn't going to settle for the regular Genesis version.

I passed the citizenship test. Actually I'm not over the moon with happiness because:

1. They're only saying they'll "recommend" me for naturalisation, and although that's all they ever say when you pass, and it seems to be in the bag, I refuse to do a happy dance till I've got the certificate in my paws.

2. They tell me that after the ceremony they'll cancel my green card and so it won't be wise for me to travel abroad till I've got a US passport, else they might not let me back in, which rather puts the kibosh on my plans to nip across the pond any time soon.

Nonetheless, I'm glad I passed the test. You wouldn't believe the work I've had to do to get here. 4-hour journeys to Memphis and back, hotel room had no coffee maker or microwave, I was up half the night before the journey doing taxes to make sure everything had been filed, couldn't get DHS to give me a document proving I've been living here for long enough to qualify, had to learn the answers to 100 questions. I bet you lot don't have to know who wrote the Federalist Papers and the name of the territory the US bought from France in 1803. I'm worn out with it all.

Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, and Louisiana, no?

Pretty good, though you didn't mention John Jay and Publius (actually they only need you to know one of the names). But the thing is, you don't have to know.

I only remembered Hamilton because I used to live on a street of the same name.

Actually you only have to get 6 out of 10 right, but that meant I had to be sure of 96 out of the 100 possible questions, though the probability of passing is still quite high if you know a few less than 96 of course. And you get a free second chance if you blow it, though that means waiting for another appointment and going through the palarva all over again. My perfectionist, risk-averse brain wouldn't let me rest till I could repeatedly get 100%, and even then I wasn't completely cock-sure I wouldn't forget something. The program Anki was quite useful, but there was nowhere to type in the exam deadline date, and it started hiding some of the questions for 2 weeks when I only had a week left.

Thankfully it's not something I'll ever need to know, but congrats for passing the test.