Vidding and Citizenship is Bananas!
Apr. 27th, 2010 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccatoriaDudes, I'm sorry it's been so long since I posted anything. Nothing's really been going on. But! I did want to link you all to this post! Because Vidding is Love and YOU CAN DO IT TOO, if you want to. And you might hate it, and that's okay, but you might looooove it and the world needs more vid love. It's basically a great post about how vidding Isn't That Hard.
I mean, it can be and it can certainly be frustrating, like every other aspect of or activity in fandom, but what I think the post is really about, and what I wholeheartedly agree with, is there's this perception that the tech entry level to vidding, either in terms of owning a computer that can do it, or being able to do it creatively yourself, is SUPERHIGH, which is really isn't. Most computers sold after 2000 are going to be perfectly able to run a simple vidding program; most probably already have one.
So what I'm saying is - and I'm sure anyone who ever reads my journal already knows my opinion on this - if you want to try vidding, try it. You may not fall in love with it like me, but I guarantee you it's completely achievable.
IN OTHER NEWS:
My mother is currently in the States in phase one of what she claims is Operation Live On Two Continents but I'm convinced is Operation Move Back To America By Stealth.
Since this was kind of on my mind, I decided to look up exactly what rights I had as a US/UK dual national and learned one depressing fact and one hilarious one:
Depressing fact: the immigration laws are insane. Even though I'm a natural-born US citizen I wouldn't be able to get my husband of more than two years a green card without proving I have x amount of income per year, preferably via an American work history (which of course, if I were moving TO America, I would not have), or a family member willing to provide said cash, which is unlikely since all my close relatives are retired. This is not exactly a crippling issue since I had no plans to move to the US and if we really wanted to I'm sure we'd work it out. But, nonetheless, odd.
Hilarious fact: I was born in the US, lived there until I was a year old, then moved to the UK and have lived here ever since. I am a US citizen by virtue of birth (and my mother) and a UK citizen by virtue of being the child of a natural-born UK citizen. Fair enough. Nothing hilarious there.
Where it gets funny is if I ever had kids. America allows you to pass on US citizenship to a child born outside the US if you are (a) an American citizen (which I am) and (b) have lived in the US for at least 5 years, two of which must be over the age of 14 (which I have not). So, no dice there. Excluding issues of paternity and location, my kids will not gain automatic US citizenship.
Meanwhile, the UK allows you to pass on UK citizenship to a child born outside the UK if you are a UK citizen who was born in the UK, regardless of how long you lived there. This is not true of me. So again, were I to have a kid outside the UK, excluding issues of paternity and location, the kid would not be British.
I mean, practically this will never be an issue, and also in both cases, I could apply for my kids to be naturalised via my parents or...something confusing.
But I just think that it's crazy. If I'd done it the other way around - been born in the UK and grown up in the US, I'd get to pass on both wherever I was living when/if I had kids.
But because I did it this way around?
WHAT IF I WANTED TO GET KNOCKED UP BY A STRANGER AND THEN GO HAVE THE KID WHILE ON HOLIDAY IN FRANCE, HUH? DIDJA EVER THINK OF THAT, INTERNATIONAL CITIZENSHIP LAWS?!
Seriously, I could theoretically have a stateless child. That's kind of ridiculous.
I mean, it can be and it can certainly be frustrating, like every other aspect of or activity in fandom, but what I think the post is really about, and what I wholeheartedly agree with, is there's this perception that the tech entry level to vidding, either in terms of owning a computer that can do it, or being able to do it creatively yourself, is SUPERHIGH, which is really isn't. Most computers sold after 2000 are going to be perfectly able to run a simple vidding program; most probably already have one.
So what I'm saying is - and I'm sure anyone who ever reads my journal already knows my opinion on this - if you want to try vidding, try it. You may not fall in love with it like me, but I guarantee you it's completely achievable.
IN OTHER NEWS:
My mother is currently in the States in phase one of what she claims is Operation Live On Two Continents but I'm convinced is Operation Move Back To America By Stealth.
Since this was kind of on my mind, I decided to look up exactly what rights I had as a US/UK dual national and learned one depressing fact and one hilarious one:
Depressing fact: the immigration laws are insane. Even though I'm a natural-born US citizen I wouldn't be able to get my husband of more than two years a green card without proving I have x amount of income per year, preferably via an American work history (which of course, if I were moving TO America, I would not have), or a family member willing to provide said cash, which is unlikely since all my close relatives are retired. This is not exactly a crippling issue since I had no plans to move to the US and if we really wanted to I'm sure we'd work it out. But, nonetheless, odd.
Hilarious fact: I was born in the US, lived there until I was a year old, then moved to the UK and have lived here ever since. I am a US citizen by virtue of birth (and my mother) and a UK citizen by virtue of being the child of a natural-born UK citizen. Fair enough. Nothing hilarious there.
Where it gets funny is if I ever had kids. America allows you to pass on US citizenship to a child born outside the US if you are (a) an American citizen (which I am) and (b) have lived in the US for at least 5 years, two of which must be over the age of 14 (which I have not). So, no dice there. Excluding issues of paternity and location, my kids will not gain automatic US citizenship.
Meanwhile, the UK allows you to pass on UK citizenship to a child born outside the UK if you are a UK citizen who was born in the UK, regardless of how long you lived there. This is not true of me. So again, were I to have a kid outside the UK, excluding issues of paternity and location, the kid would not be British.
I mean, practically this will never be an issue, and also in both cases, I could apply for my kids to be naturalised via my parents or...something confusing.
But I just think that it's crazy. If I'd done it the other way around - been born in the UK and grown up in the US, I'd get to pass on both wherever I was living when/if I had kids.
But because I did it this way around?
WHAT IF I WANTED TO GET KNOCKED UP BY A STRANGER AND THEN GO HAVE THE KID WHILE ON HOLIDAY IN FRANCE, HUH? DIDJA EVER THINK OF THAT, INTERNATIONAL CITIZENSHIP LAWS?!
Seriously, I could theoretically have a stateless child. That's kind of ridiculous.
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no subject
Date: 2010-04-27 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-27 10:37 pm (UTC)1) have stateless child.
2) train child into ruthlessly awesome and expensive assassin.
3) live off proceeds in old age.
I SEE NO DOWNSIDES TO THIS PLAN.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 08:32 am (UTC)So long as you implant very strong subliminal control messages to ensure ruthless assassin child never turns on you.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 01:34 am (UTC)But you still have the out of bearing said hypothetical child on US soil, right? That is, if you wanted to give it US citizenship, for whatever reason. (Just make sure you're in the country for your hypothetical third trimester!) *g*
no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 07:50 am (UTC)Indeed, that would be an option technically since they can't stop me from going back, husbandless though I might be! However, there's still the practical issue of how in the hell to get health insurance to cover costs for that stuff. So probably finance would rule it out. Though hey, since I'm not planning on having kids for years by the time I do, perhaps EVERYTHING WILL BE DIFFERENT! ;)
no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 01:24 pm (UTC)As you say, hopefully in a few years the health care landscape will have changed for the better. But certainly it can be done - a single-mom friend of mine had to deal with this (she identified a midwife practice with a payment plan and started making payments before the baby arrived). Even with that, probably still cheaper than hiring an immigration lawyer, all told. :P
no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 01:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 07:53 am (UTC)Seriously I should just up sticks and try to be Canadian!
no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 02:34 am (UTC)That citizenship stuff is whack, yo. Though I giggled every time you said "excluding issues of paternity." International citizenship laws are very inconsiderate when it comes to ambiguous paternity. Sexists.
MOVE HERE, YES. I WILL GUARANTEE YOU $18,000 A YEAR. Okay that last part's not true.
JAZZHANDS.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 07:58 am (UTC)MOVE HERE, YES. I WILL GUARANTEE YOU $18,000 A YEAR. Okay that last part's not true.
STOP LEADING ME ON. :p
I tell you what, I'll consider it when you guys have a functioning health system so I don't have to worry about dying because I'm underemployed. Deal?
(Except we would probably have to live on Staten Island because for some reason Kev thinks it's the most awesome place ever. I don't even.)
In conclusion, I BET JAZZHANDS BROYLES WOULD GUARANTEE ME $18K A YEAR!
no subject
Date: 2010-04-28 05:27 pm (UTC)Staten Island is...not that cool but it would be improved if you lived there! Ferry > transatlantic flight.
(Work is stupid. Testing out replying from my phone.)