So....where are you from?

Yes, my skin is brown... Yes, I dont have blue eyes or light hair, and YES, I have curves.... so I know I am different that the ideal image of an 'american' ... then why do I get annoyed when people ask me... 'where are you from?' hmmm what do you mean where am i from? I am sitting here in front of you ....sitting with you ... in this place, city, state, country... hmmm ... i dont have an accent... neither does my husband.... we have US passports.... so u still want to know where we are from?

just a short story - as we were crossing the Canada - U.S. border ....the well paid officer for the country asked me... to see our passports and I handed him two US passports and then he asked me... .after looking at the passports, 'country of citizenship ?'...hmmmmm should I tell him what i am thinking? - 'you freaking dumbass, you have two US passports...what the freak do you think is our country of citizenship?'... but I bit my tounge - probl for the better and said... 'United States' and I thought that was it...But he continued to ask - 'Both of you?' .... wow what should i say? he is getting paid from my tax dollars...they really do pick them right huh? Would he have asked the same question to two individuals who are white with blue eyes and blonde hair? Probl not...not knowing that most blue eyed-blondes are russian or french... but that wouldnt be a concern for him...since it fits his mold for 'american'....

And then again on our first anniversary trip at the B&B, at the breakfast table...another lodger asked us - so where are you guys from? polite enough...right? and we respond nicely enough - 'Philadelphia' ....and she responds 'Oh, I would have thought India'... what the heck?

So I have an advice for folks who would like to know our nationality.... ask something like - 'What country is your lineage from?' or 'What is your ethnicity?' or something like 'What is your ancestory?' but u get the idea.... just frustrating...honestly! or even better keep asking everyone you meet, regardless of color where they are from and wait for them to explain how their great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents came to the country on a boat and landed on Ellis Island...and then I will be happy!

What time is it???

So most people work a 9-5 job.... or some variation of that.... get up, leave for work between 7:30 - 8:30, leave and come home by 5:00 - 5:30 on average... atleast that is what I have been used to... so anything that we need to do needs to be done after those hours or on weekends ...unless we are all rich celebrities who could afford to have whatever I need to be hand delivered to me....while i got a massage in my personal mansion... ooh...only if... time to get out of la-la land....

So imagine my suprise when we started to build a house and needed to make an appt for the design center and found out that they are only open M-F from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm... hmm so how do we do this? how do I get my options chosen for my house? do I end up with crap that I dont want in the house? how do I???? Do they want working adults to buy thier houses or bums who sit at home all day? How do they think we are going to pay for all the options they want us to pick...if we cant go to work? I mean loosing 8 hours of pay, just to pick options that is going to cost us more money doesn't seem fair...does it? So after some probing we found out that they maybe be able to make exception and see us for a 8 hr appt on satruday... but wait... i dont want to sign up for another day of work on saturday.... urgh...guess we dont have any options...

Then came the need to see a doctor...for my dear hubby's knee... his dear knee that was injured in our rafting trip... we needed a doc who was open past 5 pm...someone who would look at a hurt person after business hours... just a doctor who is able to sacrifice one evening a week to see his 'working' patients after leaving work - the same work that pays for the insurance that pays for the doctor... hmmm....maybe i am asking for too much! After calling about 15 docs...i found a doc that is open on thursdays till 7 pm.... and i thought that my search was over... i was on the 9th cloud.... with joy... I told the nurse...that I need to make an appt for my husband who hurt his knee ..... and then my dreams were shattered... when the voice on the other side of the phone said... ' sorry maam, but this is a womens' only facility'....urgh... there i was ...hugging my phone in despair...what ...wha...do I do now???? So after calling about 30 more docs offices in the raleigh area...i decided to give up.... I guess we all will need to quit our jobs so that we can get any sort of service... work around their schedules, and then not be able to pay any bills... or even them!

I guess... until a brighter day when there are actual docs who can find it in their hearts to see a patient one day a week in the evening... we will all suffer...the awkward request to have a couple hours off... or suffer ino ur pain....