I wonder how many women are going "So if I don't change my name when I get married, I won't have this grief", followed by "If I don't bother getting married at all . . ."

Identity Confirmation Laws are anti-marriage!

My mother had issues with getting an NJ drivers license because some of her ID things had her middle initial and some didn't. They said that they'd need something with the full middle name added to the pile of identity papers if she wanted the ones with just the middle initial to be valid.

In Pennsylvania, in order to get a drivers license, you need a social security card. I'm not sure what people who don't have those do, but I know that I needed one, and I'd just moved to PA and had no idea where my social security card was in the stack of boxes, so I had to get a new one.

There's some state where you need a photo id to vote. And you need a birth certificate to get a photo id. And you need a photo id to get a birth certificate.

There's some state where you need a photo id to vote. And you need a birth certificate to get a photo id. And you need a photo id to get a birth certificate.

There's a woman suing the state of Pennsylvania over the voter ID law there. You need a photo ID to vote. You need a birth certificate to get a photo ID. She has no birth certificate, because she was born 93 years ago at home to parents who never went to the city office to register her birth. She used to be able to use her baptism certificate as proof of being born, but that's not allowed anymore. She went through a whole bunch of offices and bureaucrats and eventually concluded that there is no way for her to vote under the new law.

She went through a whole bunch of offices and bureaucrats and eventually concluded that there is no way for her to vote under the new law.

One might think that theoretically, this might possibly be a violation of her civil rights. Maybe.

Yeah, PA is going to disenfranchise about 9% (IIRC) of their voters. One Republican official actually said that this was so Romney will defeat Obama in PA.

I hate work mini drama-

We have a "Human Resources Assistant" in our building that thinks she has a lot of power. So she apparently spoke to another student worker supervisor about a student who was inappropriately dressed (like a shank) and walked around with a smirk on her face. That person told HR person that the student was mine. She then came and told my boss and I, and we were both shocked, because our student is sweet, and we don't think she dresses inappropriately. She does wear shorts and sleeveless (not tank) tops about 2 days a week, but it is hot and she has to walk a mile and half outside to get here. Also, there is no written dress code in our building for employees, and the student employee handbook says that dress is up to the employer. The only dress code we have is to wear "neat and proper dress".

Now the HR lady is lurking around my offices, waiting for a glimpse of this student, I am am annoyed. My boss says that if she speaks to me, I should ask her for the dress code, because my boss does not think it is inappropriate either, unless there is some rule that we are breaking.

I know there are several wingnuts who bemoan ever giving up the Constitutional definition of who was allowed to vote. Land-owning white men 50 years or older will take wonderful care of us. (I'm iffy on the 50 years old thing.)

Crap, I just realized I'm going to need another copy of my birth certificate, because the DMV is probably going to want to keep a copy.

You know when you have a task that *has* to get done, and you really really don't want to do it? And it keeps you up at night, because you just really don't know how to tackle it--you don't feel you have the tools, or the knowledge, or the resources, or something? And it just becomes an ever increasing source of anxiety?

And then your boss asks you to set up a meeting today to discuss it?

God, this week sucks so bad. The ER visit yesterday dialed the headache down to where I can drive, but I'm not exactly intelligent today.

Maybe that will help. Maybe I'll have to do everything so slowly that it will actually get done--I've been at work just over half an hour and I've already managed to get some other shit accomplished--damned shame the other part of my team is out sick today. We may be allergic to each other. Even though we're not in the same time zone.

Speaking of IDs, I don't have a Jamaican passport right now. I need a birth certificate to renew mine, and I have no idea where that is. I'd apply for a replacement birth certificate, but it requires a birth entry number, and I have no idea what that is. My mother was working on it, but she got cancer instead. Now she's gotten rid of the cancer (and her job--I think she's almost retired), maybe I'll get something.

Look at her, getting shit done, and look at me, still avoiding...

Right. Let's see what happened to my inbox the two days I was out sick.

I have no idea where any of my documents are, so I better not lose my driver's licence!

I really should find them, as I would like to do a legal name change and eradicate the darned "Marie" from my name forever. I use Brooks always, but Marie is on my driver's license, and therefore all my employment stuff because I did not know at 15 when I filled out my permit paperwork, that you could just leave the middle name field blank.

I have my kids' birth certificates, but not my own. Hopefully my parents have it somewhere.