And the Beat Goes On

Okay, so I was off yesterday, and planned to spend my day in the passport office. As I mentioned earlier, I did not get an epass, so I had an old fashion application.

Everyone was telling me to be there at least by 6 am. Now, if you know me at all, you know that I just don't do mornings. When I had to be at work for 6:45 am, by 11 am, I had no friends. So, I decided that I was going to aim to be there at 7 am. My friend (who succeeded with the epass) who had tried once before to process her passport, but didn't have her birth certificate (that is another story in itself - we thought that she lost it and would have to wait for a new one to arrive!) gave me her passport to bring in as well, as she had to work.

Okay - here is the time line.

7am - arrive at passport office. 2 cars in the lot, nobody outside
7:05 am - start bundling up to go outside (I should mention that it is -30 with the windchill!)
7:06 am - car pulls up beside me; another lady getting her passport so we walk in together
7:08 am - there is a line-up; about 10 people in front of me.
7:15 am - Laura arrives with a hot cup of coffee in hand for me; wishes me luck and leaves for work
7:30 am - A wonderful government employee comes and starts separating the lines into passport applications, online applications and passport pick-ups
7:40 am - we are all moved upstairs in a cattle- like fashion
7:55 am - we are all handed numbers - I am lucky #11
8:02 am - the doors open, and the online applications, the passport pick-ups and the first eleven, yes 11!!!, people are asked to proceed forward. YEAY! That is me!
8:03 am - I approach my wicket and the lady is wicked!! She does not smile, she barely answers me when I say good morning and she starts processing my passport without even looking at me. She starts to give me a bit of a hard time with my guarantor, but decides against it.
8:07 am - my passport has been processed and I begin to hand her Laura's. She tells me that she can not process it because we are not blood related nor do we live in the same house. I beg for several minutes and see that I am not getting anywhere.
8:10 am - I pay and am ready to walk out the door. I ask one last time about Laura's passport, but it is a no-go.
8:12 am - I am back in my car. Yes, the ordeal is over. It took 12 minutes and about 6 years off my life.

I should mention a couple of things here:
1. Laura got her passport this morning. She was on her way to work by 8:15 am.
2. She was told that I should have been able to do it for her yesterday and that the lady probably just didn't want to - NICE!
3. We were both told (me yesterday and her today) that our passports should arrive the week of Feb 26th; which gives us two weeks before we are scheduled to leave.
4. Because I was done so early at the passport office, I had a very productive day - including getting my car checked for the 70,000 kms.
5. I will need new brakes and new tires in the spring/summer. Damn car - is this what it is like to have a car longer than 3 years!??!?! (I need an entire separate entry to explain why I have never had a car longer than 3 years...)
6. The work-out continues - we are all being very good about it, and I really feel that I will make my goal this time.
7. The working out gives me something to think about so I don't stress about the passport.

I will let you know when I have my passport in my hot little hands!!

Ang - if you are reading this - Since the song was in my head in the truck on the way to the PET place and it just seems fitting, I used it as the title of this post! See, I can be creative sometimes!