My NY's Res

Did your New Year resolutions make their top ten list?
1 Quit Smoking
2 Lose Weight
3 Quit Drinking
4 Go back to School
5 Spend more time with your family
6 Try something new
7 Work on Your Spiritual Growth
8 Take a trip
9 Pay off that Christmas Debt
10 Get a better job

Speaking of resolutions, I only have 1 in my list, and that is to have more patience. I can proudly say, mas humaba na ang pisi ko ngayon. I think? It was challenged yesterday when Hubi and I went to DFA to renew my passport and apply for Kimi. I was informed last December that San Fernando hasn't started issuing machine readable passports so we went there with the usual requirement - 3 photographs with white background. We were early anticipating a winding queue, but there wasn't any. We were only greeted by this guy who answered: "Nung December 3 pa ho nagsimula yung machine readable". I wasn't in the mood to make taray the people around so Hubi & I went straight to a desk outside the building. When I verified the requirements (as if I didn't know), the man seated there said, we will have to come back on March 3 to file our application. WHAT?!? The reason? Backlog! in that there were lotsa people who have filed before us. May schedule pa silang nalalaman para sa machine readable passports. So I merely handed over our application forms and he stamped the date when we will return.

We couldn't afford to wait that long. Time is gold as they say. We had no choice but to look for the friend of our kinakapatid and extend the letter of referral to a certain employee who could give it to him. We were barred from going up...strikto kuno sila. When that certain employee came back, he asked our forms and reviewed the requirements. He reminded me to have my photo and Kimi's taken there with the royal blue background, return to him all the papers plus the referral letter attached. Dadaanin lang pala sa kakilala! Kung wala ka palang kilala, babalik ka ng March 3. I don't like the idea; however, you have to join the band if you want to survive.

*note: Just imagine, 6pcs cost Php120.00, and it's just a simple procedure. Oh btw, "xerox" is P5.00/pc at sobrang labo pa. Some parts of my face were missing. =)

After acquiring my pics, next is Kimi's. So what on earth can we do? Drive back home and pick up Kimi? It would be time consuming if we did that. It would also be complicated if we used Kimi's pic and edit the background to blue. Sooooo, Hubi requested a friend to take Kimi's pic at home, use a blue cloth and email it to us. We drove around to look for an internet cafe and hurriedly rushed inside. We waited for a few more shots..the 3rd attachment looked better. We asked them to transfer the data to my SD card so we can ask the people where I had my photo taken to print it using their paper, but looks like the card is protected. It was strange as I had been using it to transfer stuffs to and fro my PC. *sigh* pag minalas ka nga naman..

We had no choice but print the pic there. The background deviated a little pero pwede na yun! It was already 11:30am, and the office shall close at 12. So, dali dali kaming bumalik sa DFA. Pinaakyat na kami sa 2nd floor and the lady there browsed over our forms. Pumasa na yung akin sa wakas! Yung kay Kimi ay, questionable pa rin daw. WHY? sobrang liit daw ng mukha sa picture at yung papel daw ay hindi pareho nung sa akin. Ang sabi ko eh, kuha yan sa Baguio at andun yung baby. So ang suggestion nya, instead of re-take, i-zoom na lang at palakihin ang mukha. And that's what we did. Balik kami sa cafe at nagpaprint uli. Haay...nasan ba ang laptop kung kelangan mo..grr! Malay ba namin na ganun ang mangyayari!

We burnt the remaining minutes inside the cafe before going back to DFA. Sa kahuli-hulihang balik, a different employee greeted us. He again commented that the background and paper were different and even added: "Tignan na lang natin kung papasa". I transferred to Table 2 (encoding data) then to 3 (fingerprinting) and received the same remark from this girl. Nagmamagaling na naman sila eh di naman makikita yun pag na-scan na sa passport. Umupo na lang daw ako at antayin na matawag ang pangalan para sa bayad. And so we waited. I heard my name so I approached the counter to give the payment. They said I have to pay for my application only as Kimi's papers weren't with them yet. I went back to my seat but felt a little anxious. What if they rejected Kimi's application? As the thought was running across my head, they again called my name. What a relief! *yipee* Papasa rin pala sa Grade 5! =)

I signed their logbook and had been kidded by the people there that my signature looked kakaiba. I just smiled.

As I walked away to Hubi;s seat, I just said to myself: "Lokohin nyong lelang nyo!"

It had been a tiring day. Disappointing yet fulfilling even if you have to use power. Pano na lang yung iba?

Well, nasa Pinas ka..

..It's given.

PERIOD!