Visa Blues

So J went to the American Consulate to attend the immigration visa talk and found out that the whole process takes 8-10months.

We started scrambling and getting our act together to start applying for one.
Step 1: Application for petition for alien relative.

I hate how countries use the word "Alien".
I hate how many steps and how long this process takes.
I hate all the paper chase.
I hate how much money this is costing us.
I hate how all the instructions are so vague (or the more I read them, the more I doubt I'm doing them right)

Yesterday was the start of the whole thing. One week to go before I get my notarized Chinese documents. One week more to get the translation. And then the photos. Oh yes, I had better start assembling the photos that prove our marriage genuine. Oh yes, I forgot the photos were all gone when my external hard disk crashed.

I need a huge dose of positivity now.