paranoia

I had a terrible blinding headache this morning. The kind that just makes me want to pull the blinds down and bury my head under the pillows. Add to the fact that I was in need of some premium sleep time being post call. But no can do. I had the most ingenious idea of booking my US visa interview this same day. Arrggghhhh!
Gulping down three advil with a shot of milk, I somewhat functioned. Showered, dressed, made myself up to look far from what I felt. And then I was off.
Normally, I would just walk to my destination, the US consulate office was just about a couple of blocks away. I took the subway instead. When I got there, a single security officer was standing outside. A far cry from the usual mob scene outside the embassy in Manila. After checking my passport and papers, he asked if I had a cellphone etc. As a force of habit now, I had absentmindedly clipped my pager on to my belt loop. "Well, I have a pager." There was a faintest trace of irritation in his reply. "Why do you have a pager? Pagers aren't allowed. Do you have ID?" Goodness, I felt like I was to be charged with a federal offense. Are they paranoid or am I? He led to me to another security officer who was seated behind a window. "Show him your ID." Good thing I had all my three work badges. The second officer seemed impressed and said, "So you're a doctor. Are you on call?" In my mind, I was thinking that would be the farthest thing I wanted to be right now. "I actually stepped out of hospital to come here." "Oh, okay. So you are on call then." Fine. If that was how he wanted to put it. As they allowed me through, there were two other security officers inside who singled me out and said, "Ma'm, you're the one with the pager, right? The doctor on call." Yes. Yes. Guilty. Doctor post call more like it. My head was dull and heavy.
I waited for my turn with the consul. There was a roomful of people. Great. I wondered how long this was going to take. My mind half asleep, I heard my name called. I got up thinking that I was going to be done soon. Wrong. I had myself fingerprinted. No messy ink here, only a direct print scanner which I guess inputs it directly to a computer database. OOOooohhhh...scenes out of CSI. I now have a permanent record with the US government. Somewhat I had felt my privacy had been invaded. I took my seat again. One and a half hours later, "Philippine passport...Donna Capili." For all that wait, my interview was done in three minutes. Yun na? Anyway, who am I to complain? The moment I got home, my head was buried deep again in the pillows. Ah, blissful sleep.