I finally got around to playing this classic that had been sitting in my Steam library for a few months. What proceeded was a strangely compelling four hours of gameplay.
The scary thing about Papers, Please is how much the grind lulls you into just following orders. Even knowing this is something of a morality simulator, the need to just make a few bucks immediately drove me to compromise. The game may have taught me more about myself than I wanted to know.
My brother and I actually had a good conversation.
The consulate situation started off easily enough, because they granted me an appointment as soon as I walked in. But, somewhat predictably, my lack of readily accessible documentation made any process of obtaining an ID card come to an impasse.
I’m in Fairfax ostensibly to see my brother because we didn’t see each other over the holidays. He’s not thrilled about it. I try not to take it personally. It’s the autism, I say.
But also today I’m going to try to address a curiosity about my Colombian citizenship. World events being what they are, it seems like a good time to have a backup country. I have a memory – very fuzzy – of going to the Colombian consulate in the D.C. and getting registered as a Colombian citizen on account of both my parents being citizens. However, I’ve never received the card nor do I know my ID number.
The Colombian consulate’s website is like a dark pattern nightmare with no evidence on how to actually set up an appointment. So I’m just going to try to show up and see how far I get. Maybe I won’t get very far at all, but possibly I can meet someone in D.C. before I come back and try to actually connect with my brother.