Human beings must be the only living beings on earth that take so much crap with them whenever and wherever they move. Honestly, I’m amazed at it myself. And I envy nomads just a little for how little they have to pack when moving because they move all the time. There are all these little things that make it so hard to travel from one place to another: memorabilia, books you think you may never find in stores, clothes, cooking supplies, etc… I try my best looking at this junk with a fresh eye in mind, telling myself that if I don’t see myself using this item in the next 6 months, I should probably part with it now and not be the hermit crab with an oversized shell on my back all the time.

I like the Feng Shui philosophy that you need to dejunk once in a while because if you hold onto things that no longer serve a purpose, your beliefs are also holding you back from reaching your full potential in life. Besides, by thinking that you may need it again in the future and therefore you don’t want to part with it, you are confirming to the universe that you don’t believe in your own capability to earn the money in the future that would enable you to buy that item again if need be. Not a very Western way of thinking, is it? “Got too much junk? Buy a bigger house!” “Got too much junk in your garage? Buy organizers to stash all that away!” I didn’t do enough dejunking when I moved out of my mom’s. I just literally opened up my desk drawers and threw the contents of each drawer into its own box. And now I think it’s time to let go of old MAC lip glosses, mismatched earrings, and so on.

I knew the moving day was fast approaching but it kind of crept up on me too. I tried getting a two week head start on organizing and packing but there’s still some stuff to sell and still lots of things to find a proper classification system for. What to store away, what you can’t live without – very difficult to decide. And wow, I never realized my “crafts” category took up so much room! Fabrics, notions, felt, yarn… and guess what, I need that stuff at the most random of times too!

I’m a little anxious to find out how much stuff we’ll need to move in a year for the three of us together. Ayye..

Apparently you need nerves of steel and an abundance of determination when it comes to changing your name!  The easiest part was changing my maiden name at work – I brought in my marriage certificate, filled out some forms, and within two weeks I already had a new CareCard. Silly me thought that everything was going to go just as easily, but I was wrong. I thought the whole thing could be done online probably with a few clicks but I had to go out of my way to visit Service Canada during work hours to change my SIN card. The process for the citizenship card seemed to be too difficult, so I skipped changing it. Although if I had a choice, I would definitely change it because the photo I have on there is of the 15 year old me with a surprised look on my face and bangs that are too short for my own good. But since you have to hunt after many people to have some little thing signed on the form and *then* ship it off God-knows-where with the card itself, to receive it God-knows-when, *and* pay $75 regardless of whether the application is successful or not… well, it wasn’t that appealing to me. So I thought I would now change my passport since I need the Canadian passport changed before I can change the name on my Russian passport in time for my spring trip to Russia. It clearly states on the Canadian form to provide a picture ID with signature and write into the form what kind of ID I would be providing them to prove my identity and what is my name on that ID. Since it doesn’t say anywhere on there that if you’re changing your name, your picture ID also has to have the new name, I thought that it would be faster if I applied for my passport first with the current license I have and then go and apply for a new license after I’ve submitted my application.

Remember that holiday week I was super sick for? Yes, I actually managed to tear myself off the couch and go all the way to Surrey on the last working day before New Year’s, so I could submit my application. And after standing bent over in the line-up from the sickness, they turned me down! Because their useless application says nowhere on there that you need your ID to be in the new name! Think about it. You go to the licensing center and they take from you the old driver’s license, look at the marriage certificate, and simply change the name in the system. What difference does it make? None. The passport office could just as easily look at the marriage certificate, see my old name which matches the name on the driver’s license, and simply accept my new last name to take effect in the new passport. It’s counterintuitive.

So now I’m waiting for my driver’s license to come in, so that I could take half a day of work (out of my own vacation bank – oh Joy!) to go and apply again. I think Passport Canada should pay you personally if you have to follow through this bereaucratic nonsense for no good reason, instead of you paying them to look over some papers. If we all pay taxes, wouldn’t you say you have already paid out that fee to them? An anarchist thought for the day.

And after I get my Canadian passport renewed, I get to go through an even deeper pain of renewing my Russian passport and fighting with the embassy, who won’t even return our calls or emails when asked what is the process for the renewal if you just want to change your maiden name. It’s like you’re stuck in limbo: you need to travel and they make you have all these papers and Visas straightened out before you can do so, but when you try to make it all legal and appropriate for them – they don’t return your call! There should be such a thing as OCCUPY THE STATE because with all the bs we have to put up from them, like the increased lack of privacy, tracking internet activity, raising taxes, and so on, you start to lose perspective on why we need the state altogether.