Presto change ... no?

Down to the courts this afternoon to file our request for name changes.

The district clerk's web site reveals almost nothing about how adults should go about changing their names. So when we filed our petition downtown, we didn't expect the office to be quite so surprised that we asked how we would know when our court date was. We had to rephrase the question three or four times (and suffer through some are-you-just-stupid stares) before they finally wrote down a number for us to call. But upon calling the number, we were informed that the case number we'd been give wasn't even a valid one.

So back to the first office, where another employee told us that we weren't supposed to be given any information over the phone. The phone number they had given us was, in fact, quite useless.

The only option was to go straight to the source for an in-person interview. We headed upstairs to the court, wandered around in confusion until a kind woman pointed us in the right direction, and, finally, learned that we have to send our fingerprints off for a check before anything can get underway. And then, of course, we need to come back to the court in person to see how things are going.

It occurred to me that perhaps their persistent refusal to help is their way of encouraging us to keep the names we already have.

Although our attempts to work some magic on our names failed today, every respectable magician needs a black bow tie. I did indeed wear a black bow today, but unfortunately I removed it before going to court (it seemed the professional thing to do). Maybe that was my mistake.