= LifE Of a GaL =

Momoko-chan & the Passport renewal

Today was a great an exciting day at the ICA building. Let's see, we shall start with how I began my day. I woke up 11+am this morning (hey i got home at 3+am yesterday, so i am not that late!), read a little of my storybookz, and headed out to photocopy 4 chapters of my textbook. Hrm, the reason for photocopying was cos' the book is like perhaps 5-6cm thick, and I didn't want to have to bring that thick book to school for lessons. Okie, that's not the real reason. The real reason is cos' I 'accidentally' sold the book to someone without checking that it was needed for my module this semester =S. So before I turn the book over on Monday to my buyer, I guess I better make a photocopy of the 4 chapters I need.

Hrm, then I went over to 328 Katong Laksa to eat er... laksa. Haha. Here comes the real adventure. I went to ICA Building to collect my passport, had to renew it cos' it's expiring soon. When I reached there it was like, the whole audience from NDP was there. Haha. So crowded, it's almost hard to move around. Struggled to get my queue number, the time then was 2pm, and guess what, when I looked at the electronic boards with all the numbers, it was like... my number was 4137. And the latest range of numbers on the board was 3000+. Hrm, a thousand people in front of me in the queue, a THOUSAND????

My best idea was to go to the cafeteria downstairs to grab a nice cup of coffee, sit there and read. But alas! No space there. Headed over to the coffee shop 5 minutes away. Went back to the building at about 3pm, still far from my number. By 3.20pm I had finished my book, and the number was 3500+, so by estimation I guess I will have about 1.25hours more to wait at the very least. Decided to hop on a bus to Bugis, return my book at the library, and borrow another. Wow. Took me about an hour to and forth, and cool, the number was just at 3800+. Sat down and read my book, finally at 4.50pm, the number turned 4000+ and I decided to station myself nearer to the super crowded room for passport collection. Finally got my passport at like 5.10pm.

I got my queue number at like 2pm, I wondered what about those people who got their number at 4pm? The building was supposed to be closed at 5pm. haha. The place was still very crowded when I left. Oh well. Taught me not to do anything at the ICA building on a day after National day, where every other family decides to take leave and go there for passports and stuff.

Oh yeah, if you do meet up with this kinda situation, I guess it's pretty safe to walk over to Bugis for a nice cup of coffee, look at the library collection and come back later. Better than squeezing with the families at the building, all camping near the collection room, sitting on the floor. It's like queuing for NDP tickets or something you know.