well, I held out until about 6:00-6:30 last night before I crashed mightily. I woke up at around 6:30 this morning, not as refreshed as you would think. Part of this is the virulent strain of swine flu the common cold that I picked up last week, which has progressed to the "hack up a lung" phase(I'm sure that my adventures in lunch preparation the other day had something to do with it, but I actually felt it coming on before that, too). So, together with the aftereffects of the metric century yesterday, I feel like death.
Adding to my misery is the 2 hours I spent at the DPS office replacing my lost driver's license. I was hoping that they might be able to print one same day. Alas, no...TX does not print licenses at the DPS offices, so the wait on my picture ID is 3-6 weeks. It boggles my mind. When I got my WI driver's license in 1991, they printed it while I waited. Same with every other ID I've ever needed for anything--college, Sam's Club, work...And yet, TX can't produce a frickin' driver's license for 3-6 weeks. Sigh.
This wouldn't be a big deal, except that I picked the worst possible time to lose my wallet. I have to get on a plane in 3 days. Not only that, but the reservation? In my maiden name. Why? Because my driver's license was in my maiden name. But now that I had to get a new license anyway, I used my married name...two birds, one stone, etc. When I called the airline to change the reservation, I was informed that the name on a reservation can't be changed. Ever. I did not know this. That's where the call got fun.
"So what do I need to bring then?"
"Well, you could bring your new driver's license and your marriage license."
"I won't have my new license for 3-6 weeks. I have a temporary permit."
"Do you have a credit card in your maiden name?"
"Oh, yeah! No, wait, no I don't. They were all in the wallet with the driver's license. I have one in my married name."
"Social security card?"
"Married name."
"You don't have your old SS card?"
"It was in the wallet--"
"--With the credit cards and the driver's license?"
"Exactly."
So, after some more back and forth, we established that multiple forms of government ID, even without pictures, would be enough to get through security. Just to be safe, I'm going to bring every bit of ID that I still have in my possession. If I lose my luggage on this vacation, I'm totally screwed. :)
I hate losing my wallet...especially since I'm quite sure that I lost it, as in, it was not stolen. I've been checking the balances on the credit cards obsessively since I realized it was missing, and there has not been a single charge to any of them. (Of course, I haven't checked my credit report...I could have 16 brand-new credit cards in my maiden name on their way to a PO box in Houston right now, for all I know.) I held off on canceling them, because I was sure that the wallet would turn up any minute. However, it's been a week since I last used it, and I've looked everywhere. This wallet is aggressively, permanently lost. It has run away from home.
My two favorite theories at the moment are that a) I left it on the trunk of the car when I was loading the groceries into the back seat and it's somewhere in the ditches between the Kroger and my house, or b) I threw it away with the grocery bags, or in a flurry of cleaning. At any rate, it's not in the house, my office, my other office, or my car. It's also not at the Kroger, which I have been peppering with phone calls and visits since last Thursday.
It's time to let go...cancel the cards and get on with my life. The bright side is, I still have one credit card I can get by on, along with my checkbook, gas card, and Starbucks card. So, I may not be able to buy stuff online until my new debit card arrives (probably a good thing--I may have had a Nano by now otherwise), but I can buy food, gas, and coffee, and I can pay the sitter. My world will still keep turning. I just wish I wasn't such a dumbass sometimes.
Posted by Joy at September 12, 2005 03:31 PM