How It Started

Anna would like to claim everything is my fault; but now, I have the proof that she started it. Of course, if she had only been willing to move to Seattle, we probably would have been married years ago.

From: Anna Piskoz
To: Jeff Watkins
Date: December 13, 2001 5:24:18 PM EST
Subject: Holiday Cheer

Jeff,

Alright, I’ve been silly for long enough.

I truly hope you are doing well, and perhaps we might be able to communicate further at some point. This has been quite a year for me, in more ways than I can squeeze into a little e-mail, but to summarize in brief:

I have moved back to New York (drove cross-country with my sister- ugh), where I am finally getting my life in some sort of order. I have been fortunate enough to work for a time as a screenwriter’s assistant (to a man who wrote for “The Simpsons”), but for the most part, I have been working in that damn video store again, and plotting my escape from Kingston. I have also worked as a software/website tester, and am currently employed part-time as a ground assistant for a tree removal service.

I am enjoying some quiet time with my two kids (read: cats) named Magic and Tim- I’ll have to send you a picture.

Please let me know what you’ve been up to Scruffy, and although I know you don’t celebrate it, have a Merry Christmas. And an even Happier New Year.

Cheers,
Anna

Warning to Single Women

…don’t get married if you live in Jersey City!

Well, perhaps I’m being a little overly dramatic. It has happened before (or so I’ve been told) and it will most likely happen again.

Maybe I’m just overreacting because I am tired- the past five days have been a whirlwind of wedding activity (including both pre- and post-wedding activity with our families), but very little sleep. Or maybe it was something I (over-)ate.

And I don’t much care for standing in line. So I’m certain that probably contributed to my annoyance.

However, the point really is that, in order to become Mrs. Watkins, I had to spend an entire day running hither and yon, from one office to the next.

Not bad you say?

Imagine spending FOUR HOURS in lines at the NJ Motor Vehicle Office/Commission/Hell and Social Security Administration. Two of those hours, I might add, were spent standing in line at Social Security. The punchline of the latter experience was that while I may have stood in line for two hours, it actually took about two minutes for the woman behind the glass to process my application.

I did meet a very interesting white guy with dreadlocks formerly from Queens, who was standing in line for his 8-month pregnant wife and 4 year old daughter formerly from Japan, but the diversion did not allow me to completely forget that I was participating in the most horrific and misguided experiment since the Spanish Inquisition.

Oh, how I pray that someday my new hubby and I will find ourselves in a land where the DMV lines are short, and if not, then at least the comfy chairs are plentiful!

In the meantime, I am happy to say that I may now truly call myself Anna Mary Watkins, and flash the ID to prove it!

More on the wedding soon- probably this weekend I have a moment to tinker on my new laptop, Zoe, the spiffy 12-inch powerbook!

T - 3 Hours…

We just returned from Newark Airport; where we picked up Anna’s little sister, Laura. Now Laura’s napping (she flew all night, poor kid); and Anna’s starting to get nervous…

I, on the other hand, am about to make myself a cup of tea. Of course, I need to press my shirt; but that’s no sweat.