[hydrid]

Here is my unfortunate story... please don't do what I did, for your own sake:

Thursday 14th, June: My dad comes up to me... "Sophia, your passport expired a few months back. Remember, you are going to Lebanon in less than two weeks. We have to go renew it soon." I tell him we'll go next Monday (since, after all, I used to live in Oman and it took the US Embassy three days to renew a passport; why would it be different in the US of A itself??).

Monday 18th, June: My dad has a meeting and can't take me (I'm a minor still [two more months], need his signature for everything *fume*). We decide to go on Wednesday.

Wednesday 20th, June: We go get some passport photos done at a place downtown (they look great for passport photos! I'll post one later maybe). We go to the local post office. The lady says we have to go to the main branch and we need a birth certificate bla bla bla. So we go back home. While gathering the necessary stuff, my dad goes online to check if we had everything. He stumbles across something that made us just stop for a moment: Normal processing of a renewal passport takes 5 weeks. Expedited processing takes 2 weeks. Ummm, yeah. Shit. Fortunately he also stumbled across this place that "hand carries" your stuff to DC for processing.... meaning you can get it in two business days. Hell yeah, that's us!!! Unfortunately, the total mulah spent to get your passport done in two days is $300.00....

Friday 22nd, June: My passport arrives via Fedex at an ungodly hour (9 AM... hey, I'm on break ok?)

Moral of the story: check to see if your passport needs renewing like ten weeks before you need it. In my case, I knew about the trip like three weeks before it was going to happen and I was screwed somewhat, but I could have saved a little money. Shit. Now I'm going to have to design another stupid site to afford my   8290 and all the cool crap I was going to get with it. Not to mention pay for college. Oh yeah, that. Grrrrrrr.

[Lunatique]

How often are you suppose to renew it? I better check mine. *runs to go check*

Well, I hope you have fun in Lebanon.

I see from your site that you'll be going to University of Indiana. I was just in Indiana last month doing a photo-shoot! (I'm in Louisville.)

[J Bradford]

do you every go to #3dsmax on IRC?

[hydrid]

Lunatique: Every 5 years until age 16, every 10 years after that. I think I'll have fun. It'll be ok anyway. I'm definitely looking forward to IU. College seems vastly superior to high school.

Bradford: No, does someone use hydrid as a handle there? That'snot cool I came up with hydrid years and years ago for a D&D character. Poo.

[J Bradford]

No, hehe. Someone was talking about the exact same thing you were on the IRC channel. Hence my question.

[[weevil]]

You dont need $300, you just need the flollowing:
a scanner
photoshop
some passport photos
a colour inkjet printer & glossy paper
a razor blade & glue
a steady hand
patience

presto! a new passport in just a fraction of the usual 5 week waiting period and at a fraction of the cost!