passport....a.k.a. why the government is lame

If you have been following the news lately, there is a huge backlog of U.S. passport applications due the changing laws that will soon require a passport to travel back and forth between our neighboring countries of Canada and Mexico, and the Carribean. I haven't traveled much, but I assume that this just wasn't needed before? And of course it's all the name of security, because we're fighting the damn GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR, DON'T YOU KNOW THAT?

No matter, the real point of the story is that I was recently asked to join B on a trip to Costa Rica for a friend's wedding. Who is going to pass that up? Oh you would? Huh. Not me. But I don't have a passport!! For a few days I was in a panic after learning it was taking upwards of 12 weeks to get the passport when I realized last week was basically the 12 week mark until the trip date, and I had done little to research the passport issue. Panic mode!

I finally got all my paperwork in order (luckily my mom had given me her copy of my birth certificate sometime in the recent past, as she figured I need it more now that I'm well into adulthood, for things like this) and went down to my nearby post office today. Of course I paid the $60 to expidite the whole process up to about three weeks. I've learned that when it comes to matters where a lot is on the line financially, i.e. the cost of a trip to Costa Rica, it's better to pay a little to be safe rather than sorry. But good lord, after factoring in the cost of the pictures (side note, didn't come out half bad) and the express mail to get the passport to me, it was almost $200!! Money is a little tight right now as it is the end of the quarter, and my summer payment hasn't gone through yet. I'm getting to the point where I check my school system every day to see what the status is. I hate money stress. The fact that I wanted to make more money in interest, tying up a lot of extra money into a C.D., is something I'm regretting right now. Not entirely, but it would make things a little less stressful. Money issues could take up a whole slew of entries, but not right now.

So the passport application is off, and if all goes well, I would say four weeks should be reasonable, then I should be getting the passport in the mail right around the middle of July. It all doesn't go well, I should be receiving the passport no later then the middle of August. If things go horribly, and they lose my application or something, I suppose I could spend another $200 and still get a passport by the beginning of September. I really hope it doesn't come to Plan C...

Listening: Esmerine - Aurora