the picture on my blackberry/"Where are you going again?"

Yes, I have a blackberry. It's kind of cool really. After a year of dropping my phone, watching my rottie/shepherd puppy (Ares) carry it around in his mouth, well it survived. Yes, I was shocked, but not for too long. Of all the hell I put the phone through, a tiny little piece of plastic broke off in the charger, and thus, my phone died (RIP, sniff). So now I have a blackberry with a global setting (and paying hansomely for it). But, that little precursor is not the reason I write to you today. No, what the point was is that on the face of this little dipped in gold tool, is a picture of London. A reminder that all the crap that I will be writing about next was all worth it.

Every time I look at it, I remind myself why I am doing what I do. You see I despise the easy road. If it is stressful,and most people would give up on it, rather than begin to attempt it, well...that's what I do. Yesterday it involved Visas.

I had to drive to Orlando to get fingerprinted for my student Visa. This isn't so bad, right? Sure. Well, it was interesting. After a two hour drive (which I didn't really mind), I had to find the immigration office. I found it, but I missed a piece of paperwork that included a bar code. In the novel that I had printed off, I forgot one piece of paper. So, naturally I had to find a library and spend $5 to print off one sheet of paper. I was seriously pissed at this point.
Then, after the officer did the fingerprinting,and swore I would be married in a year, I thought I had it all figured out. WRONG.....
"Did you know you have to send your info to L.A.?"
No, thank you, I didn't. Apparently you have to send your paperwork out to be processed. Uh huh, cause it can't be easy, right? Well, after a $12 phone call to the British visa whatever, I found out the address. I was seriously upset by this point, and about to buy ice cream (something I truly never do).
As I was in the drive through at Bruster's (amazing place), my phone rang. All the zeros in the number meant it was a call from a friend in Korea. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself at this point, so I very much welcomed the call.
I launched into a pathetic, sob story about how miserable my life was at the moment, and how much trouble I've had to go through, and boo hoo hoo (and so on). As I did this I began to realize how stupid it all sounded, but not before I was silenced by his retort to my childish pity party, "And, where are you going again?"
Yes, where was I going? "Oxford." I replied like a little girl. England. I was, am, going to England. Suddenly the picture on my blackberry and that one remark was like hitting a brick wall. Exactly what was I complaining about? So the visa process was a nightmare. Yeah, and? In a little over a month I'd be in England.
It's amazing how little we actually pay attention to the big picture, and obsess about the details.