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December 5, 2005
And Not a Moment Too Soon...
As it turns out, they're changing the law so that come Dec. 31, you can no longer get into and out of Canada without a passport. Yes, this entire time, I have been using my driver's license and birth certificate to get into Canada. It suddenly dawned on me that I would need a passport for my Christmas time trip to Canada, but I've been so busy every single day at work that I hadn't made it over to the place where you can get passports which is open only 10 - 2 M - F. However, it takes two weeks, so I was getting down to the wire. And my old passport photos were too old -- I smiled, which apparently you're not allowed to do anymore, we must all be very serious in our passport photos -- so I had to get new passport photos.
So this morning I abandoned MR to the breakfast dishes (I usually do them cause I don't mind it at all and he appreciates it so much) and ran out the door to go to Kinkos before work to get my passport photos, then to drop off some dry cleaning so that I can wear something that is both snappy and casual for the Three Hundred member dinner, and then to the grocery store so I could end the reign of no nonfat plain yogurt at la residence d'Avril et l'Orange. All went relatively well: MR scraped the ice off my car after Sunday's snow, and while I got stuck behind a city bus on my way to Kinkos I got there with enough time to get my photo, make it to the cleaners and the store, and be on my merry way to work before any of my staff had arrived. The unspoken rule at my workplace is that the bosses always arrive first, so most mornings it's just me and my executive director and the administrative assistant. I beat him to the ofice this morning, put my lunch in the fridge, lit my office candle, and got some stuff done before anyone else arrived.
I had, however, forgotten to bring my birth certificate, which I needed to actually apply for the passport. So I made plans to run home during lunch, grab it, run to the passport place, apply for the passport, and run back to work.
Then my executive director informs me that we have a lunch meeting with our lawyer to talk about a case related to the campaign I'm running.
Hmmmm. Problem. I have to get this application in so that I can a) go to Canada b) return from Canada c) spend Christmas with the family of my Orange One d) try the recipe for sweet potato souflees that the Orange One's mom is going to make us. Yet, I need to be at a meeting over lunch with our lawyer, a meeting that was unplanned until twenty minutes before I was planning to leave for passport errand land.
My executive director suggested that I run out and call him when I was on my way back, so I could meet them at the restaurant. I called him as the extremely friendly and helpful post office employee processed my passport application, and he said they were at the Gypsy Saloon and had already ordered food. Could they go ahead and order something for me?
Hmmm... the Gypsy Saloon. Home of many of my seventh day lunch out high calorie seafood fests. Home of a great pinot noir. But this is not the seventh day, this is a normal CR day on which I had planned to eat my delicious quotidian lunch.
I said to order me a salad of some kind with chicken on top, and dressing on the side. And I hoped for the best.
When I arrived (miraculously only about half way into lunch) I saw the two men chowing down on fries, but I was served a tuna nicoise salad, which was very good, though I am no doubt drowning in mercury from the tuna even as we speak. I asked for some vinegar and had just a bit of the olive oil vinegarette, along with the olives in the salad itself for fat. Diet Coke with lime to drink. Not a single french fry. No, not one bite. Not one little tiny bite. Yippie!
All in all, vaguely Zoned, decent protein, some veggies, and a little olive oil type fat. Not too bad, for short notice.
And my passport will be delivered no later than December 19. Not a moment too soon.
Posted by april at December 5, 2005 2:39 PM
Comments
Hooray. Michael and I would miss you on our trip.
Posted by: Marti at December 5, 2005 6:06 PM
Well dear April,
Some of us humans, like all of us from Turkey for example, need a freaking visa, thus of course a passport for every country we visit, except for Pakistan perhaps, and who wants to go to Islamabad anyway?
So, when I was on a student visa (I-20 for those who are familiar) in the U.S, we went to Montreal as a group of friends in my freshmen year at the University of Rochester, and I was shocked that I could obtain a visa on the border, just as a mere paper-clip attachment of paper to my passport. Just because I came from a U.S border in a car, the guy just didn't car that ı was from Turkey originally.
I was like, "wow! My easiest obtained visa ever!"
I still keep that old passport.
That was in the 90's, during those good old times when U.S was still cool and o.k. Well, after all that happened, it's not o.k anymore, it's not liked anymore. Like every empire past, It started it's downfall. So, of course a much more liberal and sophisticated and intellectual country like Canada will start issuing visas to American citizens. It's just another one of the long advanced examples of America going down.
Welcome on board!
It will not be lonely for long.
Posted by: zeynep at December 6, 2005 7:27 PM