Visa

I renewed my passport for my China trip. The good news is that passport renewal has gotten much faster: I got the new one about 10 days after mailing in my application. The bad news is that the new passports are hideous. Where the old passports look dignified and old-fashioned, the new passports bear a chip that allows them to be read through your pocket, quotations from the likes of Lincoln, and pictures of cowboys and cacti. I think my collection of souvenir pigs is less tacky than this passport.

Though the Chinese visa I picked up this week is considerably less ugly than my passport, the application process put a different form of patriotism on display: A video of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony plays on a loop on large-screen TVs in the waiting area of the visa office. Apparently listing my occupation as "science writer" raised a red flag, because I had to write an sign an affidavit stating that I wouldn't do anything work-related while in China.

California girl

Just got back from a week in San Francisco: part work, part play. I hadn't been to the West Coast at all in two and a half years (except for Peru), so it was very exciting. There are myriad things I could blog about from the trip, and maybe I will if I'm feeling ambitious lately, but I think for now I'll just say that it was a fantastic trip, and that I got to catch up with friends from college, friends from grad school, friends I met in Ithaca, and people I've met at various meetings, so it was action-packed.

NSCV was there, and got me a new tacky souvenir pig. It's official: I am the pig lady. But please do not send me any ugly pigs. It's only cute if NSCV does it.

Irony from an unexpected source

Pig
Originally uploaded by ChezShawna.

Today I got a box of cookies from my parents. It also included a small tissue-paper wrapped bundle with a note shown here (it says "I am a housewarming gift. Don't throw me away!").

I have nothing to say that would do this pig justice, so I won't try.