USPS Terror Funhouse Commence

Thanks to Ally for the photo and
extra, necessary, finger emotion.

HEY! CHICAGO USPS. Yeah, YOU. Get over here.

What is this?

I said, WHAT IS IT?

Oh, it's my passport? The one you lost, 31 days ago? But USPS, how will I pick it up at the post office now? I mean, I don't even live in your country any more. How will I go down to the HELL that is the Ravenswood USPS Branch, stand in line for several hours, and then wait for you to pull your head out of your collective ASSHOLE while you attempt to locate this for me? And who says you'd even be successful? I got one of these pink mail slips last time, and you lost it for a month. A MONTH. How do I even know you have it now! Maybe this is one of your TWERPY, DERPY GAMES.

Call for Science Fiction Books About the Developing World

There's not a lot I can say about this book that hasn't been said, except that you should read it (which has
also been said, many, many times before) as soon as possible. And that I walk under trees like that every day now.

So you're probably aware my literary world basically consists of Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction (and, more recently, all things Game of Thrones-related) and little else. Some would construe this narrowness as a weakness - I say... oh, whatever, I don't care what the haters think! I live for excellent science fiction, and I've enjoyed/been horrified to see many science fictional concepts and values come into their own IRL (Mom/Dad: IRL = In Real Life).

Now I'm in a genuine Third World country (albeit a rapidly improving/modernizing one) and I've got a different perspective on life staring me in the face. And not only that, but Vietnam is a communist regime as well. I'm playing around with starting a series of blog posts that review/talk about books in light of my experiences in this new setting.

Passports, the USPS, and the Aftermath

My stuff, just waiting for my passport to arrive.

Today, I finally received my replacement passport!

This meant two things immediately:

1. I now have to go to Vietnam. Like, for realsies.
2. I now GET to begin my traveling adventure!

After ripping the passport out of the express mailer, Thought #1 made me momentarily light-headed. But Thought #2 rushed back moments later - the trip that I've been working on since November 2012 was finally - FINALLY - about to exit the planning stages and take off into the stratosphere!

To backtrack, for those of you I haven't told directly, the USPS lost my first passport on its way back from the Vietnamese Embassy in D.C. Here's a condensed (really, I promise) version of events: