Today I was sworn in as a US citizen and promptly registered to vote. The ceremony was at the LA Sports Arena for over 5800 'swearees' plus their friends and family. I was at the 3rd of the ceremonies that were held there today. Traffic getting there was horrendous. It took me nearly 2 hours from Burbank and I was totally stressed out trying to even get there on time. Directions were minimal and really not well organized. When I finally got to the arena, they had us check in with one of many people seated at a table. These folks take your green card (bye bye green card) and check your appointment letter and then write down the table number where you will go to pick up your certificate after the ceremony. Since I was running so late, they quickly got through that whole deal and I scurried over to get a seat in the auditorium. Lucky for all of us, the judge was also running late because he had to preside over a trial in which the jury had unexpectedly come back with a verdict. The ceremony opens with a representative of the Immigration service asking for the judge to name us all citizens. The judge has us recite the oath and then we are considered citizens. Everyone waves the little flags we were given and cheers. The judge talks a little bit about himself and how his family came to be in California. He is the first Chinese American judge in the US District Court, which is kind of cool. After the judge speaks, we see a video of W congratulating us. Then they show a video of Lee Greenwood's version of God Bless the USA. Then they have a guy sing the national anthem (nice voice) and the judge asks him to also sing God Bless America. Many in the audience try and sing along. The feeling I had during the ceremony was that it reminded me of how the country felt right after 9/11, when we all were trying to pull together, and supporting the USA felt right and not hokey or fake. After the ceremony was over, we all waited until the guests left, then they ushered us out in groups so we could get to the tables to pick up our certificates. They also had blank voter registration forms and you could get your passport application in right there. Outside, there was a table set up by Democrats to register voters so I went and handed them my form. There were also a few people with McCain/Palin signs.
After I got out of the parking area ($15 to park!) I headed to Casa del Mar, where I had invited some friends to gather to celebrate. There were a bunch of people from ballet, some people from work, and some people from knitting or book group. It was neat to get everyone together and we just hung out there and chatted, ate, drank. It was a nice way to end a milestone day!
