A couple weeks ago I walked into the International Student Services department at the New School and was informed that I had missed a deadline to apply for my OPT (Optional Practical Training, a year-long extension to a student visa for, well, optional practical training). Thus, since my visa had technically expired when my program ended (late August), I had to get out of the country as soon as possible.
This seemed fine; I figured I'd pop out to clear out my student visa, so it wasn't like I was trying to stay in the country illegally, and then come back, sort out my stuff in New York and move back up to Canada.
Not so, said US Immigration.
It turns out that after having been in the US so long, US Immigration wants to be certain that I am established in Canada before they'll allow me across the border again. This (apparently) means that the next time I try to cross the border (in several months, at the very least, I assume), I need to bring all manner of documentation with me, from bank statements showing a decent amount of money to bills, rental contract/deeds associated with a domicile, and whatever else those capricious immigration officers feel like asking me for.
After I got over my initial upset-ness at being barred from New York (I've decided in the past week that I fucking hate the suburban lifestyle), I realized it's really not all that bad. If I couldn't get any kind of visa after the year the OPT would have lasted (and it looks like I can't), and couldn't really put down roots in New York, then the year spent there would have been wasted (in terms of my career in the long-term) and I would have been looking at moving back up here in a year anyways. Auditioning will continue up here, minus the headache of having to deal with visa issues whenever I do manage to get cast in something. Canadian Equity will actually let me join, as opposed to the American original. The corporate world also beckons, but I'm not quite finished with acting yet. I don't suppose I'll ever be. The only really unfortunate things are that the vast majority of my stuff remains in New York (being mailed out slowly but surely, thanks to my awesome roommates) and that I'll be missing filming the last (possibly the last ever) 3 episodes of the season for my tv show.
I'm somewhat at a loss as to what to do with this. I don't mind continuing to write stuff here, but it seems somewhat ludicrous to have the address "nyactor" when said actor is not, in fact, in "ny". However, I don't know if blogger would let me move my archived stuff to another one, and I'd really rather not have to go clicking all over the internets to find some silly little fluff I wrote in 2005. Something to think on, I suppose. I certainly have lots of time to do that these days.
I close this with an amusing/interesting horoscope of mine for today:
You are a hard-worker, but there is such a thing as working too hard! Although you might want to push in one direction right now and force things to happen, try to resist this impulse. There are some things that you cannot change through sheer force of will. Other people and elements might need to come into the picture before there can be a real breakthrough. Be patient and trust that events are flowing forward at their own pace.
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