(no subject)
Its been bugging me for a while and I finally figured it out!!!!
After Divaearthmom commented about lunch with them it has been buggin me about something I left out of my last post. I also now realize that I hadnt appologized for the omission....that lunch truly was fun.
This is the story about how I almost never got to go on my trip in the first place. This is the passport saga.
All of you know that I didnt get my passport on time and I was SWEATING it big time. A week before I left I kept calling and calling and calling and it hadnt been mailed or even processed. So I kept the appointment in San Fran that I had to go get the darn thing as a back up.
Now it needs to be said that two weeks before I was to leave I made this appointment. I kept getting a recording about how I couldnt be connected to the system or somethign else was wrong. So it took two days for me to actually get the appointment.
THE FIRST AVALIABLE APPOINTMENT WAS FOR THE DAY BEFORE I LEFT!!!!!!
I was nervous but not scared. I had faith that the universe would take care of me. That I would in fact get to go.
I came home from work on that thursday and packed and over night bag. That was easy as I was almost all packed to begin with. I Drove to alameda to my friend Rachels house and crashed. figurativly....
It also needs to be said that I carefuly checked, double checked and tripple checked that I had all the things that I would need to give them at the passport office. I put them ALL in a nice new bag (purse) that I got from one of my students.
I grabbed all my stuff. NOTE: I used the word all. It was with me in the car I know it.
Friday morning I got ready. Rachel was about 10 minutes from being ready and I went out to to that car to make sure that I had everything and to make sure that Rachel had a garbage free place to sit.
This is when Jenn freaked out. Freaked out in a huge way.
The bag was not there. It was gone. Yea...the bag with my birth certificate, bank statement, a letter from my boss, and my travel itenerary had vanished. In one hour I was to give all this to some government worker who was going to give my my passport and let me freaking leave the country for a week.
All of a sudden I was a wreak. No government agent was going to overlook the rules for me. I was in DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP shit.
Well, I thought....all I can do is go and see what the hell I could do. I knew that all my paper wook was there in the building cause I was told this by no less that three people on the phone. I wouldnt have been hopeful if I had heard it less.
SO we arrive at the office and I checked in at 1045. I waited then talked to a very nice lady who said that all she needed to do was go look for the original application. Then I waited more. I was called to a different counter and talked to a different guy who said he was going to go look NOW for the original app. I waited some more. I went to ask some guy at a window for an update. Which I wouldnt have done except I knew that something was wrong. The passport office was almost EMPTY. He said oh....lemme go look. This was after he had checked the computer. I waited some more. Then I was flagged over by another person. SHE HAD MY ORIGINAL APLICATION AND EVERYTHING THEY NEEDED!!!!!!!!!!! I was given a reciept and was told to come back at 330 to pick up my passport. (it was 230 at this point)
Rachel and I went to get something to eat in the next building over and actually breath for a minute. Untill then we were very tense and wondering what would happen.
We went amd got in line at 300. The line was up the block and by the time the line actually started to move it had turned the corner. We waited. This time in the cold SF wind outdoors.
At 350 ( I noticed the clock as I walked out...I didnt intentionally check...) we walked away from the office to the parking garage with my passport in hand.
Did I mention that the office closes at 4? Yup...10 minutes to spare.
SO....that was how Jenn almost didnt get to go on her trip.
Oh....also....the big hold up on why it didnt get processed on time? Yea...there is only one "bamking center" for the ppta and somehow my check got held up there (for almost 5 weeks) and that was the hold up.
I think this falls in to the category of alls well that ends well. And in the category of...I'll laugh about this later.... and yup I did.
Footnote: The bag with all the info has not been seen or herd from since. So if you see it please metion that it is wanted at home. In addition...I never lost hope/ faith. Somehow I knwo I was going to be ok. Only when it was all over did it hit me that if I hadnt gotten this taken care of and had actually MIssed the trip that I could have been fired for waisting all this money the company had shelled out. Whew!
SO there is the saga.
After Divaearthmom commented about lunch with them it has been buggin me about something I left out of my last post. I also now realize that I hadnt appologized for the omission....that lunch truly was fun.
This is the story about how I almost never got to go on my trip in the first place. This is the passport saga.
All of you know that I didnt get my passport on time and I was SWEATING it big time. A week before I left I kept calling and calling and calling and it hadnt been mailed or even processed. So I kept the appointment in San Fran that I had to go get the darn thing as a back up.
Now it needs to be said that two weeks before I was to leave I made this appointment. I kept getting a recording about how I couldnt be connected to the system or somethign else was wrong. So it took two days for me to actually get the appointment.
THE FIRST AVALIABLE APPOINTMENT WAS FOR THE DAY BEFORE I LEFT!!!!!!
I was nervous but not scared. I had faith that the universe would take care of me. That I would in fact get to go.
I came home from work on that thursday and packed and over night bag. That was easy as I was almost all packed to begin with. I Drove to alameda to my friend Rachels house and crashed. figurativly....
It also needs to be said that I carefuly checked, double checked and tripple checked that I had all the things that I would need to give them at the passport office. I put them ALL in a nice new bag (purse) that I got from one of my students.
I grabbed all my stuff. NOTE: I used the word all. It was with me in the car I know it.
Friday morning I got ready. Rachel was about 10 minutes from being ready and I went out to to that car to make sure that I had everything and to make sure that Rachel had a garbage free place to sit.
This is when Jenn freaked out. Freaked out in a huge way.
The bag was not there. It was gone. Yea...the bag with my birth certificate, bank statement, a letter from my boss, and my travel itenerary had vanished. In one hour I was to give all this to some government worker who was going to give my my passport and let me freaking leave the country for a week.
All of a sudden I was a wreak. No government agent was going to overlook the rules for me. I was in DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP shit.
Well, I thought....all I can do is go and see what the hell I could do. I knew that all my paper wook was there in the building cause I was told this by no less that three people on the phone. I wouldnt have been hopeful if I had heard it less.
SO we arrive at the office and I checked in at 1045. I waited then talked to a very nice lady who said that all she needed to do was go look for the original application. Then I waited more. I was called to a different counter and talked to a different guy who said he was going to go look NOW for the original app. I waited some more. I went to ask some guy at a window for an update. Which I wouldnt have done except I knew that something was wrong. The passport office was almost EMPTY. He said oh....lemme go look. This was after he had checked the computer. I waited some more. Then I was flagged over by another person. SHE HAD MY ORIGINAL APLICATION AND EVERYTHING THEY NEEDED!!!!!!!!!!! I was given a reciept and was told to come back at 330 to pick up my passport. (it was 230 at this point)
Rachel and I went to get something to eat in the next building over and actually breath for a minute. Untill then we were very tense and wondering what would happen.
We went amd got in line at 300. The line was up the block and by the time the line actually started to move it had turned the corner. We waited. This time in the cold SF wind outdoors.
At 350 ( I noticed the clock as I walked out...I didnt intentionally check...) we walked away from the office to the parking garage with my passport in hand.
Did I mention that the office closes at 4? Yup...10 minutes to spare.
SO....that was how Jenn almost didnt get to go on her trip.
Oh....also....the big hold up on why it didnt get processed on time? Yea...there is only one "bamking center" for the ppta and somehow my check got held up there (for almost 5 weeks) and that was the hold up.
I think this falls in to the category of alls well that ends well. And in the category of...I'll laugh about this later.... and yup I did.
Footnote: The bag with all the info has not been seen or herd from since. So if you see it please metion that it is wanted at home. In addition...I never lost hope/ faith. Somehow I knwo I was going to be ok. Only when it was all over did it hit me that if I hadnt gotten this taken care of and had actually MIssed the trip that I could have been fired for waisting all this money the company had shelled out. Whew!
SO there is the saga.