**Note: I wrote this on July 7, 2022, and forgot to post it because I was dead tired. Literally said: “I’ll proofread after taking a shower, and then immediately went to bed an hour early. My apologies. Double post today. This one is from “yesterday:**

The list of close friends making plans to leave the USA keeps growing, and I already have more than a handful living outside “the mainland”.

“Why”, you ask?

Well, most of them are professional women, so that already poses a certain type of limitations and dangers. And if you’re willing to ignore gender inequality (for real, don’t), just seeing the American Empire collapse in real time for the past 10 years (some would say even 20 after starting the Iraq war) is downright scary. The country is moving to the far right every year that passes. Women’s bodies are being regulated, there are food shortages, military police, inflation is surging at record paces, and rent increases are out of control.

Oh, and there’s also this HUGE problem, unique to America, where men get an assault rifle, tactical gear and go to a public place and start killing people without any reason nor provocation. Just like turning on a videogame and shooting NPCs. Yes, even children inside schools.

Yea… Getting priced out of your city, while being told what to do/not do with your body and the change of going to the grocery store, park or parade, and getting killed by a fully-armed sociopath in the middle of the day. I get it. They don’t want to deal with that, and I fully support them.

Do you get a clearer picture now? Ok, let’s proceed.

So, they’re planning to move OUT of the US. Of course, Europe is at the top of the list. But damn! Getting a foreign resident VISA is practically impossible (unless you have a shit-ton of money or simply put, get married). Work sponsorship, assets reporting, buying an actual residence (lmao), interviews, submitting quite a few authentic documents and then, of course, waiting and ACTUALLY getting approved. Take my word for it, it’s not an easy task.

I was until recently, on that same boat for the past 2 years, of wanting to leave US (and its territories) but plans change, and now I’m in Ohio for another year. Can’t complain.

Glass half full, I guess, it’s being able to visit them around the globe whenever I can. Instead of having them a 3-5-hour flight away, in less than a year it would be 9-16 hours, so, spending time with my besties is gonna be quite a mission.