![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Tuesday needs to be set aside from the rest of my last week, I think. What a long, tiring day. I had got myself scheduled to go through a cattle-call screening process for Security Screeners at the airport. This is to create a pool from which the Transportation Security Authority can hire people, but the screening of applicants is being conducted by private security companies. Of course they ask that one not talk about the details of the process, but I don't think it was much different than what I expected, aside from the fact that all the people were much nicer and more pleasant than I thought they would be. But here's the outline of my day...
Monday afternoon I had to finish the forms they wanted, and that was like the application from hell. I had to scramble to get the addresses (and permission to use their names) of people who would know that I lived at each residence for the past 5 years, people who could verify that I attended school, and people who could just vouch for me in general. I didn't want to include my friend who's moving to Paris because I didn't think they'd be able to get ahold of her, and a couple of other people for various reasons, so this cut down my available pool of references quite a lot. It made me realize how much I suck at keeping in touch with people.:(
Tuesday morning I was up by 4AM, left at 4:45, and drove north, arriving at Fairfield about 6AM. I drove around the campus of the technical college where they told me the screening was to take place, then went to find a hearty breakfast to carry me through this ordeal, and got back there at 7AM, as I'd been told that if I was 15 minutes late they would not reschedule me for 6 months. I saw some other people getting out of their cars, so I followed them and asked if they were there for the screening process. They said they'd never heard of it. So, I began wandering this deserted campus looking for someone who would know. Following some noises, I found my way into a storage room and found a young guy, who kindly took me to the building where they had been holding the screenings, and found me some people who worked in that building, a man and a woman. These people told me that the location of the screenings had been changed, and gave me the new address, in Augusta - south by probably a half hour. Naturally, I was livid, and the woman agreed with me that they were happy enough to have these people off their campus, as they were 'like that' (scattered, I guess). And then she addressed me by the name I used when I was a kid, before I went to college. I stood there and stared at her. I couldn't imagine who the heck she could _be_. I sort of stalked around her desk and just looked at her ID badge.
It was my stepsister.
Yes, I lived with her for the 4 years of high school, and I did not recognize her at all. Granted, that was ... a long time ago, but I also saw her at my brother's wedding only 4 or 5 years ago and recognized her at that point. Now she's lost a ton of weight, and she said many people don't recognize her, so I don't feel quite so bad. She assured me that the security people would still let me do the screening that day, and I almost felt like saying "phone them up, big sister, and make them do so!"
So, shaking my head over that, I went south to Augusta.
The first person I saw who looked as though he might be associated with this screening thing (I'll admit I made that assumption at a distance because he was wearing an American flag tie), told me I might as well go back to my car and leave off any nail-clippers or anything that might be construed as a weapon, just to save me the trouble before I went upstairs and they asked me to do so. So I went back and dropped off my Swiss Army knife (I don't think of it as a weapon - it would be pretty frikkin useless in a fight - it's a tool, but I'm not going to act willfully ignorant of their intention). Then I went upstairs and they asked me to empty my pockets, and I found a metal fork in one of my pockets. I was mystified for a moment, then remembered I had found that at our friend's store on Saturday and recognized it as belonging with the set which is in our camper. So, since they said they couldn't keep it for me, I ran back down and threw the fork in my car, and came back all breathless, and had to tell the same guy at the front door as I went by him again what had happened.
He said "did they make you fork it over?" Okay, it's kind of a lame joke, but you can't know how much that helped relieve my tension, that he not only said that, but then went upstairs and repeated the joke to the guys who had asked me to take the stuff out of my pockets. Somehow that made me feel more like a human, right at the start of the whole process. They laughed, and I laughed, and I knew they had some idea who I was. Someone who's attatched to my cutlery, apparently. It belongs with a set, I didn't want to lose it.
Anyway, the rest of the day was filling out forms, and waiting, and doing tests of various sorts, and waiting. Lots of waiting. I finished the book my friend gave me for my birthday. It was somewhat reassuring to find out that my left ear has almost perfect hearing. Eor said this just proves that I am really ignoring him when he talks, and I said that what it proves is that he mumbles.;) Caw thought this was hysterical - she was at our place hanging with Eor when I got home at like 6:30pm, and she stayed to dinner. I made veggie curry for her, and she says she likes mine better than at the Indian restaurant she goes to downtown.;)
And after that, I slept for like 10 hours straight. I spent yesterday morning walking with Caw - it was perfect weather, we walked about 4 miles and talked (about how annoyed she is over one of her jobs, and the potential romance which seems to be going sour before it got properly started) and had breakfast and lots of tea, and then split a piece of carrot cake. That's the definition of a good day for me.;)
Monday afternoon I had to finish the forms they wanted, and that was like the application from hell. I had to scramble to get the addresses (and permission to use their names) of people who would know that I lived at each residence for the past 5 years, people who could verify that I attended school, and people who could just vouch for me in general. I didn't want to include my friend who's moving to Paris because I didn't think they'd be able to get ahold of her, and a couple of other people for various reasons, so this cut down my available pool of references quite a lot. It made me realize how much I suck at keeping in touch with people.:(
Tuesday morning I was up by 4AM, left at 4:45, and drove north, arriving at Fairfield about 6AM. I drove around the campus of the technical college where they told me the screening was to take place, then went to find a hearty breakfast to carry me through this ordeal, and got back there at 7AM, as I'd been told that if I was 15 minutes late they would not reschedule me for 6 months. I saw some other people getting out of their cars, so I followed them and asked if they were there for the screening process. They said they'd never heard of it. So, I began wandering this deserted campus looking for someone who would know. Following some noises, I found my way into a storage room and found a young guy, who kindly took me to the building where they had been holding the screenings, and found me some people who worked in that building, a man and a woman. These people told me that the location of the screenings had been changed, and gave me the new address, in Augusta - south by probably a half hour. Naturally, I was livid, and the woman agreed with me that they were happy enough to have these people off their campus, as they were 'like that' (scattered, I guess). And then she addressed me by the name I used when I was a kid, before I went to college. I stood there and stared at her. I couldn't imagine who the heck she could _be_. I sort of stalked around her desk and just looked at her ID badge.
It was my stepsister.
Yes, I lived with her for the 4 years of high school, and I did not recognize her at all. Granted, that was ... a long time ago, but I also saw her at my brother's wedding only 4 or 5 years ago and recognized her at that point. Now she's lost a ton of weight, and she said many people don't recognize her, so I don't feel quite so bad. She assured me that the security people would still let me do the screening that day, and I almost felt like saying "phone them up, big sister, and make them do so!"
So, shaking my head over that, I went south to Augusta.
The first person I saw who looked as though he might be associated with this screening thing (I'll admit I made that assumption at a distance because he was wearing an American flag tie), told me I might as well go back to my car and leave off any nail-clippers or anything that might be construed as a weapon, just to save me the trouble before I went upstairs and they asked me to do so. So I went back and dropped off my Swiss Army knife (I don't think of it as a weapon - it would be pretty frikkin useless in a fight - it's a tool, but I'm not going to act willfully ignorant of their intention). Then I went upstairs and they asked me to empty my pockets, and I found a metal fork in one of my pockets. I was mystified for a moment, then remembered I had found that at our friend's store on Saturday and recognized it as belonging with the set which is in our camper. So, since they said they couldn't keep it for me, I ran back down and threw the fork in my car, and came back all breathless, and had to tell the same guy at the front door as I went by him again what had happened.
He said "did they make you fork it over?" Okay, it's kind of a lame joke, but you can't know how much that helped relieve my tension, that he not only said that, but then went upstairs and repeated the joke to the guys who had asked me to take the stuff out of my pockets. Somehow that made me feel more like a human, right at the start of the whole process. They laughed, and I laughed, and I knew they had some idea who I was. Someone who's attatched to my cutlery, apparently. It belongs with a set, I didn't want to lose it.
Anyway, the rest of the day was filling out forms, and waiting, and doing tests of various sorts, and waiting. Lots of waiting. I finished the book my friend gave me for my birthday. It was somewhat reassuring to find out that my left ear has almost perfect hearing. Eor said this just proves that I am really ignoring him when he talks, and I said that what it proves is that he mumbles.;) Caw thought this was hysterical - she was at our place hanging with Eor when I got home at like 6:30pm, and she stayed to dinner. I made veggie curry for her, and she says she likes mine better than at the Indian restaurant she goes to downtown.;)
And after that, I slept for like 10 hours straight. I spent yesterday morning walking with Caw - it was perfect weather, we walked about 4 miles and talked (about how annoyed she is over one of her jobs, and the potential romance which seems to be going sour before it got properly started) and had breakfast and lots of tea, and then split a piece of carrot cake. That's the definition of a good day for me.;)