Monday, March 13, 2006
New passport
Had to rush down to ICA on Monday to make a new passport. I had less than 6 months to the expiry of my current passport and couldnt travel on it, and i have TWO trips next week!
Could have sent in the application online or by post, but I didnt have time to take a digital pic and photoshop it according to the specs, and no instant photo shop was willing to take a passport sized photo for me for passport application purposes.
at a photo developing shop:
Me: "Hi, i'd like to take instand passport size photo please"
Girl: "ok, for what ah?"
Me: "huh? for making PASSPORT"
Girl: "oh, like dat ah, then we dont do"
Me: "HUH? you dont?"
Girl: " yeah, nowadays they quite strict, the photo we take maybe cannot pass. we receive a lot of complaints, so nowasays we dont do"
Me: muttering under my breath
Girl: "you go take at ICA lah, take there one confirm pass"
Me: "OK"
and that was how i ended up standing in a photo queue for 1.5 hrs today, clashing with families with kids in tow, taking photo for passport to go on holiday, disgruntled parents with failed photos, near a lift lobby with little ventilation, and bad b.o. all round.
When i got to the front of the queue, i saw why it took so long. Every photo had to be resized from chin to forehead, cropped, brightness adjusted, color adjusted, all glares/ reflections from oily forehead/ chin/ cheek/glasses/ face taken out, even the backlight reflected on the chin line. (i guess if you paid them more, they would have erased wrinkles, large pores and pimples too)And only after the photo was printed was the next person in line allowed into the booth, and only after they switched stools/ chair/ highchair depending on the size of the subject.
Add to that wailing kids who cry at the sight of camera (roll eyes), cant sit still, dunno where to look, and babes in arm (darn cute but lots of work, the lady even photoshopped away the crease line on the cheek of a baby who fell asleep against her mom's sleeve's joint).
I just couldnt bring myself to smile when it was my turn. Maybe i will make time to take a good pic and photoshop it to death the next time, at the end of the year when biomatrix passport are expected to roll out. ;)
in the end, i dropped the application into the deposit boxes in ICA instead of submitting at the counter, which would have cost me s$10 more, and worst still, at least another hour. good grief.
now i'm keeping my fingers crossed that i'll get my passport by this Friday, or i will miss BKK and Shanghai next week. :(
Could have sent in the application online or by post, but I didnt have time to take a digital pic and photoshop it according to the specs, and no instant photo shop was willing to take a passport sized photo for me for passport application purposes.
at a photo developing shop:
Me: "Hi, i'd like to take instand passport size photo please"
Girl: "ok, for what ah?"
Me: "huh? for making PASSPORT"
Girl: "oh, like dat ah, then we dont do"
Me: "HUH? you dont?"
Girl: " yeah, nowadays they quite strict, the photo we take maybe cannot pass. we receive a lot of complaints, so nowasays we dont do"
Me: muttering under my breath
Girl: "you go take at ICA lah, take there one confirm pass"
Me: "OK"
and that was how i ended up standing in a photo queue for 1.5 hrs today, clashing with families with kids in tow, taking photo for passport to go on holiday, disgruntled parents with failed photos, near a lift lobby with little ventilation, and bad b.o. all round.
When i got to the front of the queue, i saw why it took so long. Every photo had to be resized from chin to forehead, cropped, brightness adjusted, color adjusted, all glares/ reflections from oily forehead/ chin/ cheek/glasses/ face taken out, even the backlight reflected on the chin line. (i guess if you paid them more, they would have erased wrinkles, large pores and pimples too)And only after the photo was printed was the next person in line allowed into the booth, and only after they switched stools/ chair/ highchair depending on the size of the subject.
Add to that wailing kids who cry at the sight of camera (roll eyes), cant sit still, dunno where to look, and babes in arm (darn cute but lots of work, the lady even photoshopped away the crease line on the cheek of a baby who fell asleep against her mom's sleeve's joint).
I just couldnt bring myself to smile when it was my turn. Maybe i will make time to take a good pic and photoshop it to death the next time, at the end of the year when biomatrix passport are expected to roll out. ;)
in the end, i dropped the application into the deposit boxes in ICA instead of submitting at the counter, which would have cost me s$10 more, and worst still, at least another hour. good grief.
now i'm keeping my fingers crossed that i'll get my passport by this Friday, or i will miss BKK and Shanghai next week. :(
Labels: to Travel
# posted by yojanjan : 3/13/2006 06:41:00 PM
