Wacky Wendesday (well actually it was Tuesday but that just doesn't flow)

First of all, before anyone has apoplexy from the WONDERING of it all... I am going to...

KAT'S house for Thanksgiving!!! I know, you're JEALOUS!!! And the beauty of it all is that because of the close proximity of Kat's house to Mr. B's house, I will be getting to see him some too, though I'm not sure yet if I'll get to spend any time with him on Thanksgiving day proper.

Can I just take a moment here and publicly thank Kat for what a wonderful friend she has become? It's been a long time since I've had someone in my life that I clicked with so well, who was as interested in me as I am in them, who makes me laugh REALLY hard, and who I really like spending time with. And the thought of MOVING to Atlanta and having a friend like Kat already there just... ahhh... it's a beautiful thing!!!

Ok... onto the wacky.

So, I think I mentioned the drama with legal aid. After thinking and pondering, I decided to go ahead to the noon seminar yesterday, and then again on the 2nd of December. (Since losing $20 of work money is cheaper than hiring a lawyer). So yesterday I drove up to downtown Asheville, where first I needed to stop at the courthouse to pick up a packet of paperwork, and then head to the Legal Aid office. Armed with 2 google maps (one from the office to the courthouse, and one from the courthouse to Legal Aid) I headed out. In the snow. Ha ha God, very funny... I moved to North Carolina to get AWAY from that. Thank you for not letting it stick.

Did I mention that there were... well I'm gonna call them gale force winds yesterday? Apparently the windchill here yesterday was 11 degrees. You know - the kind of wind where you have to fight to keep your car on the road? Though, as I was fighting to keep my car (it's a Honda Accord - I don't know how much it weighs, but... enough...) on the road, I look up and here are these birds flitting in the sky.

How do they DO that??? How are they not just WOOOOOOOSHED across the sky??? I mean, I get that they're aerodynamic and all but STILL? How do they not get blown away?

Hunh.

What was I talking about?

OH - Ok, so I finally get to the courthouse (thank you google maps for your disclaimer "These directions are for planning purposes only. You may find that construction projects, traffic blah blah blah"... yeah... thanks for that... totally rendering your map useless). Anyways... i get to the Courthouse. The 4 building Courthouse complex. I'm supposed to find the "self service window"... in the Courthouse. The 4 buildings with multiple floors Courthouse Complex. I wander (well, not really, since I was walking into said hurricane force winds it was more struggled) to one door which said "Please Use Side Entrance"... so I struggled some more.

Upon finding the side door, I entered and was PLEASED to find that the self-service window was right there. I approached the lady in the self service window (doesn't there seem to be something wrong with that?) and told her I needed the Pro Se Divorce Packet. She smiled and said "Of course. That's $5." Grrrr... no one indicated there would be a fee... and of course they take cash... ONLY. I asked where the nearest ATM was, and she cheerfully said "Across the street, hon." Yeah... you better say hon...

So I turn to brave the cold and wind again and I probably get 5 feet away from her I-Serve-You-Self-Serve-Window and there a little snack bar area.... pop machines... ice cream machines.... ATM.... snack machines.... sandwi.... hold on... back up... what was that?

Yes. An ATM. At most 7 feet from the lady who just told me the nearest ATM was across the street. How much you wanna bet she gets paid twice what I do?

Grrrr

Well, I decided that surly the money that this ATM spewed out would be just as good as the one across the street so I decided to use it.

After receiving my money, I walked back up to her window, where she had the good graces to appear a little sheepish and say "I'm glad you saw that. I forgot about that one." She took my $5 and closed her little window. I stood there. Waiting. Finally I say, "Ma'am, may I have the packet?"

Yeah... probably double what I make.

The trip back to the car took about a nano-second because I had a tail wind.. and the size of your tail DOES make a difference when dealing with tail winds... FINALLY my butt comes in HANDY!!!

This is getting to be a long story... sorry....

I found Legal Aid, went in, sat down, waited for all the other seminar attendees and... waited. No one else showed up. It was me... and the lawyer. Who was very chatty... about everything. There's a million stories I could tell you about him (like his 5 masters and 2 doctorates and all that) but this was hands down my favorite...

On a form he had me fill out, there is a question that says "Would you like to revert back to your maiden name?" I didn't really need to think twice. I don't want that thing back, so I checked no. When he was looking at the paper later, he said "I would strongly encourage you to check yes. You don't HAVE to use your maiden name, but should you want to, you won't have to file a petition to change your name." I kind of hemmed and hawed cause really, I DON'T want it back. So he saw my hesitation, and said "What IS your maiden name?" I smiled and answered "Beaver." He blinked and said "Or, you could get married again!"

Yeah... not going back to the maiden name.

All in all the meeting was good and I have a bunch of paperwork to fill out and bring back on December 2nd.

Oh, and I think he hit on me too... but that's for another post.