Procrastination and disorganization
I am a bit of a procrastinator, particularly when it comes to my personal life. For example, two weeks ago I knew I needed to mail in my credit card payment (why I don't just suck it up and do online bill pay, I have no idea -- I guess I just haven't gotten around to it). I'm all paranoid about mailing it from home because of identity theft, so I tossed my little slip of paper and the return envelope into my work bag on Wednesday night so I could mail it from work on Thursday.
And, of course, I never went into my work bag at work on Thursday, but on Friday, I remembered I needed to get my act together, and...nothing. I found tons of memos, a goodie bag from a holiday party, a parking receipt I forgot to expense, but no credit card stuff. So I called the automated system to figure out how much I owed, and then couldn't get back to the main menu to get the mailing address for the payment, so I just hung up and called back. And got connected with a human. Which startled me -- I guess they tracked that I'd just called, and figured I needed human assistance? -- and annoyed me because I kept telling him, "I just need the payment address" and he kept insisting he needed my password in order to disclose that information, blah blah blah.
And in the end, the human totally gave me the wrong mailing address. I found the correct one online in the end, and sent off my payment on Friday, but it was a whole rigamarole, and I got all anxious that it'd be late because of the extra day of no mail in honor of Gerald Ford. For someone who's so anxious about following the rules and doing the right thing, I'm awfully good at tripping myself up and making it as difficult as possible, although the authors of this new book (thanks, A and L!) tell me it's not the worst thing to be messy and disorganized...again, moderation.
But where I was really almost screwed was when I started filling out my passport renewal form in October. My current one doesn't expire until April, so I was really proud of myself for being so on the ball, even though I have no international travel coming up anytime soon. Except, I totally do, because of the new rules that require you to have a passport to go places that didn't used to require one. And I totally knew about the new rules: I even got all supercilious and "duh" with a co-worker who'd gone to Indonesia with an about-to-expire passport and got detained, who claimed ignorance of the policy that you can be denied entry to certain areas if your passport's less than six months from expiring. That was in November, when I'd had my paperwork filled out for a month, but hadn't gotten around to getting the photo and sending it in.
And I was only holding off on the photo because I wanted to wait until I'd gotten a haircut, which is another area in which I'm a ridiculous procrastinator.
Anyway, I finally got my act together, and got the pictures, and carefully ran through the State Department's checklist to make sure I was sending a complete package of materials, and sent it on its way, still five months before my passport expired.
Shortly after it was in the U.S. Postal Service's hands, the "Oh, shit! SHIT! SHIT!!!" kicked in.
The Smelmooo: Did you do a return receipt?
Me: Uhhhhhh...no. I'm sure it's fine. They'll get it.
[later]
Sharico: Didn't you have to send back your old passport?
Me: Uh-huh.
Sharico: Aren't you going to Dominican Republic in January?
Me: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh...F&%K!
Sharico: [silence, kindly stifling a "You are such an idiot."]
Me: Oh, I'm so screwed.
Miraculously, though, despite all my missteps and flightiness, the State Department web site assured me that my passport should arrive "on or about January 9, 2007." Phew! Almost three weeks to spare, two if "about" means longer.
And then, late last week, their record of my passport disappeared from the system, and then popped up again as "on or about January 6," and then January 7th (maybe they shipped it out, and recalculated based on the unanticipated extra day without mail? It's hard to believe they'd be that on the ball in terms of updating their system).
And, when I arrived home yesterday from Albuquerque (that's another entry...), awaiting me in the mailbox was a lovely envelope from the U.S. Government (return receipt requested, of course), containing my old and new passports. I look kind of stoned in the picture -- even moreso in the laminated, hologrammed version on the actual passport than I appeared in the plain photo I sent -- but I don't particularly care. I feel like I've caught a break to have it in my hands exactly two weeks before leaving for our trip. And I'll leave myself extra time before heading to the airport, just to make sure all my things are in order.
And, of course, I never went into my work bag at work on Thursday, but on Friday, I remembered I needed to get my act together, and...nothing. I found tons of memos, a goodie bag from a holiday party, a parking receipt I forgot to expense, but no credit card stuff. So I called the automated system to figure out how much I owed, and then couldn't get back to the main menu to get the mailing address for the payment, so I just hung up and called back. And got connected with a human. Which startled me -- I guess they tracked that I'd just called, and figured I needed human assistance? -- and annoyed me because I kept telling him, "I just need the payment address" and he kept insisting he needed my password in order to disclose that information, blah blah blah.
And in the end, the human totally gave me the wrong mailing address. I found the correct one online in the end, and sent off my payment on Friday, but it was a whole rigamarole, and I got all anxious that it'd be late because of the extra day of no mail in honor of Gerald Ford. For someone who's so anxious about following the rules and doing the right thing, I'm awfully good at tripping myself up and making it as difficult as possible, although the authors of this new book (thanks, A and L!) tell me it's not the worst thing to be messy and disorganized...again, moderation.
But where I was really almost screwed was when I started filling out my passport renewal form in October. My current one doesn't expire until April, so I was really proud of myself for being so on the ball, even though I have no international travel coming up anytime soon. Except, I totally do, because of the new rules that require you to have a passport to go places that didn't used to require one. And I totally knew about the new rules: I even got all supercilious and "duh" with a co-worker who'd gone to Indonesia with an about-to-expire passport and got detained, who claimed ignorance of the policy that you can be denied entry to certain areas if your passport's less than six months from expiring. That was in November, when I'd had my paperwork filled out for a month, but hadn't gotten around to getting the photo and sending it in.
And I was only holding off on the photo because I wanted to wait until I'd gotten a haircut, which is another area in which I'm a ridiculous procrastinator.
Anyway, I finally got my act together, and got the pictures, and carefully ran through the State Department's checklist to make sure I was sending a complete package of materials, and sent it on its way, still five months before my passport expired.
Shortly after it was in the U.S. Postal Service's hands, the "Oh, shit! SHIT! SHIT!!!" kicked in.
The Smelmooo: Did you do a return receipt?
Me: Uhhhhhh...no. I'm sure it's fine. They'll get it.
[later]
Sharico: Didn't you have to send back your old passport?
Me: Uh-huh.
Sharico: Aren't you going to Dominican Republic in January?
Me: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh...F&%K!
Sharico: [silence, kindly stifling a "You are such an idiot."]
Me: Oh, I'm so screwed.
Miraculously, though, despite all my missteps and flightiness, the State Department web site assured me that my passport should arrive "on or about January 9, 2007." Phew! Almost three weeks to spare, two if "about" means longer.
And then, late last week, their record of my passport disappeared from the system, and then popped up again as "on or about January 6," and then January 7th (maybe they shipped it out, and recalculated based on the unanticipated extra day without mail? It's hard to believe they'd be that on the ball in terms of updating their system).
And, when I arrived home yesterday from Albuquerque (that's another entry...), awaiting me in the mailbox was a lovely envelope from the U.S. Government (return receipt requested, of course), containing my old and new passports. I look kind of stoned in the picture -- even moreso in the laminated, hologrammed version on the actual passport than I appeared in the plain photo I sent -- but I don't particularly care. I feel like I've caught a break to have it in my hands exactly two weeks before leaving for our trip. And I'll leave myself extra time before heading to the airport, just to make sure all my things are in order.
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