Passport Renewal

This one's a bitch. Haha! Pagod-pagod ako nito. ;p

Ever since last December, Verg and I decided to renew our passports when January comes. True to our words, we did went for it last January 8.

It was a Thursday and my car was in coding day. Verg told me to go early nalang since we need to use my car since his car is kinda wobbly that time (he just changed his tire mags and hindi pa pantay sa tires niya).

So as early as 5pm, andun na ako sa house ni Richard (in Pasig). Once we reached Verg, change of plans daw! Gamitin nalang daw namin yung car niya since baka raw abutan ng coding.

And hindi na raw kami sa DFA mag-paparenew... sa "kakilala" nalang daw ni Karen (Verg's gf). It was ok for me at first. Then off we go.

Once we got to the "kakilala ni Karen", it turned out that it was an travel agency! And they were charging us for freaking 1,800php for a passport renewal!

Once Verg told me that it was 1,800php, I couldn't help but blurt something out aloud! I exclaimed, "1,800php! Eh 750php lang yun ah!"... ALOUD... inside the car... with the four of us inside! Hahaha!

Then Richard there remarked that ganon na raw talaga ang price kasi nagpa-renew rin siya last December. Pinagtanong niya pa raw sa DFA. (Turns out, Richard also went through an agency for his own renewal! hahaha!)

Still skeptical, I called up my mom and told her about it. Apparently, she had exactly the same remark as I did! Haha! She was so pissed that she called me back just to tell me na pumunta na raw kami directly sa DFA and use her connections.

Actually, my mom and I were arguing even before I left in the morning. Bakit raw kasi biglaan and why I was having my passport renewed that day without telling her in advance. She could have arranged that for us daw.

So I told Verg about it. I told him na its ONLY 750php! The agency charges 1,800 because they are agencies... they fix everything na. Well since we had connections and wala nang pila pila, why make use of a freaking agency, right?

And so we went to DFA, called up my mom's connection, went up the office... and after 30 mins, we're done.

The catch lang, they made us return immediately the next day for the personal appearance. Matutuwa ka kasi ang bilis ng processing because of the connection, right? I mean, immediately the next day na kaagad ung appearance.

...but the catch is, the next day is the NAZARENO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since its already 2pm, aabutan na ako ng coding if ever I decided to go home, so nagpalipas nalang ako. Richard told us about a great restaurant near Rockwell. The restaurant is SOMS. They specialize on Thai foods. And yes, masarap nga yung food! ;p

After I got home later that night, I was soooo tired. I was so tired but I still needed to do something (which I can't remember now) that kept me from getting sleep.

Jump to the next day.

I left the house around 5:30am. I got to Pasig around 8am na! Grabe na ang traffic along Edsa! Once I got to Verg, he proceeded to drive my car nalang as I took a nap in the back seat. Wading through the traffic, we got to DFA around 10am. It's funny though that once we got there, they called out our names! Sakto! Haha!

And after a while, finally, we were done. We decided to use LBC delivery to deliver our passports in my house nalang kesa balikan pa namin.

After DFA, we went to SM Mall of Asia. Its been a long time when I last went here. Naaliw ako sa parking lot nila. They have those light sensors where the green light turns red once a car parks over a slot. This is great as you can immediately locate a parking space by just looking for a green light.

Looking around for a restaurant to eat in, we stumbled at Fully Booked. I saw a copy of Twilight, which my sister is looking for but can't since its out of stock all over, and bought it.

Ang bait ko talagang kapatid. (self plugging.. haha!)

The two decided to eat in Wendy's wherein I skipped the meal and just slept while they eat (yes, I'm THAT tired). They woke me up after they finished eating. I just bought some burger nalang to eat, while we decided to take the free tour ride around MOA! Hahaha!

After that, we left and went to Greenhills naman (just to pass the time). And yes, tulog na naman ako sa back seat. Haha! We went to GH to canvass for cellphones. I'm planning to buy a Motorola Razr2 V9, while Richard was looking for a Nokia 5800.

Along that time, I received a message from Che that the movie night was moved to that night instead of Saturday so that most could come. And before I could text people for details, I ran out of battery! Shit!

And it was already 8pm na when we're still waiting for Verg's GF to finish her duties in the clinic. It was my car we're using so I just can't tell them to get out because I needed to go. Haha!

And when I got to leave, it was already 8:30pm. Verg let me borrow his car phone charger but it was useless because it didn't work for my phone! And the traffic in Ortigas was a killer! Instead of going out via Shangri-la, I went around Ortigas and went out through the Galleria exit to the highway. Grabe traffic! Once I got a little leeway, I immediately sped just to reach Trinoma as soon as possible!

First thing I did was run (yes RUN, literally) to Burger King where there's that cellphone charger. There was some phone using the Nokia charger which I rudely disconnected, and plugged my own phone! Haha! And thank god I got Che's reply as soon as possible. I finally caught up with the gang on the top floor where they're having dinner.

There was Drey, Jem, Pilep, Che, Donna, Dale, and Myk (who arrived later than me). While waiting for the movie, we decided to go to Time Zone to play some games and saw that fabulous gay host, John "Sweet" Lapus. Hahaha!

Then off we go to the movies! We decided to watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which is a VERY good film! I ended up watching it for a second time, with my mom and sis. Expect a review soon! ;p

...so there! That ends my stressful passport renewal. It wouldn't be so hard if it isn't for botched plans (agency instead of DFA-then DFA nalang talaga, making me bring my car on coding day) and the Nazareno for the appearance day (SUPER TRAFFIC man!). :D