Social Security

As in “I went to their office today,” and not “I’ve been thinking about it generally.” I went to the Social Security office to legally change my name. Pretty exciting stuff, in a rather dull office. I guess that’s the beauty of bureaucracy, they can pretty much add a form and suck the romance out of just about any situation you could imagine. I’d tried to go on Friday afternoon, to the office in Campbell. Call it a knee-jerk reaction, but if given the choice to carry out some important bit of paperwork, the kind of thing that could follow you around and haunt you if something went wrong, in either San Jose or Santa Cruz, my gut reaction says “San Jose.” I feel like they take their form filling out more seriously on that side of the hill. However, they also hide their office in a mess of expressways and streets that aren’t where they seem they should be. Even leaving work two hours early on Friday, I didn’t make the Campbell office before it closed. So today I tried my luck in Santa Cruz. Rock star parking, lovely office on Walnut street, which is always where you think it should be, and very minimal wait. I should have my new card, and my new married woman identity in less than two weeks.