I'll try to blog while I'm in China at:  http://www.travelblog.org/B...

Pumpkin and his mom were able to pick up my VISA without a problem yesterday morning so YAY!  I'm leaving on a Jet Plane at 8:52 am tomorrow!

With my new passport in hand, it was time to race to the Chinese Consulate Passport Visa Office.  This is where my luck ran out.  Stupidly I followed the map from yahoo maps even though the place was just off Wilshire, but near the Hollywood area.  I directed Michael to the 405 (yes, I had him drive, again) then to the 10 - "Okay, take the 10 and this time you can go toward LA" - The traffic was so horrible, what should have taken 15 minutes took 40.  The office closes at 3, I ran into the building at 3:03 ... just hoping!  Up the elevator, into locked doors.  I asked the janitor if they had just locked them.  She smiled a little smile and said in broken English "Go stand by that door, people come out"  I did hear people inside, and sure enough the door opened and a slew of people came out with numbers in hand.  At the same time a father and daughter had stepped off the elevator and were angry that the place was closed, they had been told to come pick their passport up after 2:30, not that they closed at 3.  One of the ticket holders said they had locked the doors and given out tickets right at 3, there was no way they'd help us.

The daughter pulled her dad through the exit door "Oh yes they will!" ... I followed, got into line behind one other girl, and just pretended like I'd been in there all along.  I get up to the window ...

"Do you have num'ba?"

"No, I don't"

"You were late?!"

"Yes, but only a couple minutes!"

"We close at tree."

"I understand, PLEASE I'm flying out next week, I drove all the way from Bakersfield"

"Give me"

"Okay, I'm just writing my passport number in, thank you so much!"

"You no passport?!"

"Yes, yes I have one, right here, I just got it ... thank you so much, I really appreciate this"

I hand her the application through the hole in the glass.

"Give me photos, give me passport, when you want to pick up?!"

"Tomorrow"

"Okay, you pay when you pick up"

She threw my application onto a stack and yelled "Next!"

I left, relieved I had turned it in ... only to have my relief turn into sickness as I realized I may not have signed the damn thing.  How could I be so STUPID?  Oh, because it was 3, I hadn't ate since 9, and my hypoglycemia was setting in.  Oh and the Chinese lady was scary.

Pumpkin had snuck in along with a woman who had been banging on the door, we walked to where he had parked as the sickness and thought dawned on me.  Too late to go back, I'd already pissed her off by sneaking in once.  It was just going to have to be done another day.  Pumpkin or someone is going to have to hand carry my application to them on Monday.  He asked me how I could do something stupid like that.  I told him to shut up, I already felt bad enough.  I was angry at the traffic, I was angry at the sun, I was angry at myself.  Normally I am so "Together" ... I needed food and I needed it now, I was becoming irrational Queen Bitch. 

We are in the ghetto, a bit lost, I was spaced out, stressed out, in a hypoglycemic daze.  Pumpkin spots a KFC and says "KFC, we'll get you some mashed potatoes, okay?" (I love potatoes).  "Okay", I sigh,  I felt defeated.

Inside we order, the man at the register was super nice.  We get our food and sit.  There is a mother with all her bambino's also dining ... okay, one rather chunky big boy was wandering around the restaurant with his scooter making a clucking popping noise with his mouth.  I couldn't take it anymore, sensory overload.  I snap I just had to get out of there, I want to go, I'm not hungry anymore - I'd barely touched my chicken, had had a few potato wedges and half the mashed potatoes.

He grabs our food to take to the car so we can eat where it is quiet.  I'm demanding him to just get me out of the ghetto, I can't take it anymore, just get me home!  I got him to the freeway, told him the way home.  I directed him to the 170 and told him to take until it merged into the 5 and if he couldn't find his way home from there he was helpless.  Then I went to sleep.

I woke up as he pulled off for gas in Gorman and said "Oh, we need gas?  Okay.  I want M&M's"  So he gassed up, I got my chocolate, began to feel human again, and we made it home.  Somewhere along the way I told him I appreciated all he had done today, for driving, for the panties, for putting up with my grouchiness - that I was just mad at myself.

The first thing I did was run a LUSH bath, he went to the store for groceries for the dinner I was going to make, and cleared off the dining room table.  I finally got out of the tub smelling like chamomile, citrus, and roses, and was a much happier Kindra.

I'll get that VISA yet.

Yesterday I woke up at 4:45 in order to leave by 5 am to get to the Passport Agency in LA on time.  My appointment was for 7:30, the website says not to arrive 15 minutes early or 15 minutes late.  Pumpkin played chauffeur so I could sleep on the way, I'm not a pretty Princess when I haven't had my sleep.  He does much better than I with only 6 hours of rest.

I woke up when the car slowed to a near halt.  I sleepily mumbles "Where are we", he told me we'd just come down the mountain.  It was like 6:30, I sit up, the sun is now up, and I'm completely disorientated.  I thought we were coming down the mountain right before Castaic, eek!  I panic, how could we only be that far in 1.5 hours and only one short Starbucks stop for him before the Grapevine?!

He then explains himself, we'd come down the mountain AFTER Valencia ... Oh ... we were close to merging on the 405.  Phew!  So I apply my makeup then begin to navigate him.  Maybe I should have taken over driving at that point - I didn't know he's not an experienced "LA Traffic" driver.  Should have guessed since he's really bad with listening skills anyway.  So after several near misses, and miles of backed up traffic we manage to get onto the 405 and get off on Wilshire ... I'm panicking again - it's 7:25.

Fortunately the Federal Building is close to the freeway, we parked, then ran to the entrance (Pumpkin ditched me for the Cafeteria Bathroom, he had to pee so bad he could almost taste it, but then caught up to me)- only to be told to go stand in the back of the line of people waiting to be let in through security.  AUGH!  I'm afraid they are checking appointment times at the door, I won't make it through security until 15 minutes after and they'd send me home.

But alas, after Pumpkin ran our mobiles to the car, we were let inside.  The next officer stopped me to ask for my confirmation number, then let us into the waiting room where we stood in line to check in and take a number.

I felt safe once I was in the doors with my number in hand, the place was set up like the DMV - you sat with your number watching a screen that would call them out and tell you which window to go to.  I figured it was a good time to relieve myself, so I left Pumpkin in the waiting room, did my business and returned.  We waited less than 10 minutes when my number was called, YAY! 

The gal behind the glass was very nice, I explained my situation to her, that I was leaving next week and still needed my VISA.  She asked a supervisor if they could expedite it for that day, he agreed!  So I gave her my credit card, she gave me a receipt, and told me to come back at 1:00 pm to pick my Passport and Birth Certificate up at Will Call (which is outside).

It was only 8:05 when we left, so we had time to kill.  I planned in advance for this, so we headed to Santa Monica's 3rd Street Promenade ... again I did not drive and again I wondered why.  What part of "Okay, get off on the 10 and head toward Santa Monica, NOT LA" is hard to understand?  I was looking down, then looked up and he's in the LA only lane!  I'm like "AUGH! Santa Monica, Santa Monica!!!"  He swerves across lanes and medium just to barely make the ramp. 

Finally we safely made it to the Promenade, parked in the 3 hour parking building and went to find something to eat.  The first place we stumbled across was The Crepe Cafe.  Good choice!  I ordered the breakfast sandwich, hold the scrambled eggs (ick eggs, petrified chicken shit, hahah!) the waiter looked at me kind of funny and said "That's going to be a small sandwich.  The eggs make it ... can I replace them with something for you?"  We settled on just adding lettuce, more tomatoes, whatever.  I ordered Pumpkin the 3 egg breakfast, scrambled of course, with sausage, and an apple sauce crepe.  He had water, I had fresh OJ.

The food came, YUM!  My sandwich was on a baguette - bacon, lettuce, tomato, basil, melted cheese!  Unfortunately it was supposed to also have avocado on it, but they were out.  Bummer.  Still it was SOOO good!  It was also very large, which I expected, so I knew Pumpkin and I would be sharing. 

He ate his eggs, I ate my half of the sandwich.  We each had some of the best sausage in the world!  It taste like what I buy at the Farmer's Market when I'm there on the weekends.  He tried some of the crepe, then we traded plates so he could eat the other half and I could eat the crepe.  Yum yum yum yum YUM!

We were both completely stuffed by the end of the meal, it was only 9:30, the shops didn't open until 10, so we just decided to walk and look around.  There was a homeless man sleeping on a bench, you couldn't see his chest move, he looked dead.  We were going to poke him and run if he growled, but then decided not too, even though he was rather large so we figured he wouldn't be able to catch us.

Finally the shops opened, I convinced cheap ass Pumpkin to buy me new undies at Victoria's Secret (5 for $25).  I told him it would make me happy and nice to him, that I wanted to be a Princess, then I gave him my pouty look ending with a sarcastic smile.  Sometimes I have to not act like myself to get along with him.  I don't normally pout and stamp my foot, but I was in a Veruca Salt mood.

We moved onto Brookstone and played with all the fun gadgets then sat on the massage chairs, I told him he HAD to try the foot massage thing, that it totally just eats your feet and is freaky, but feels good.  It's like putting your feet and legs into ski boots, then you turn it on and it starts to massage your calves and feet, then inflates like a blood pressure machine and steals your feet from you, even if you wanted to get out you couldn't!  I bought some certified luggage locks, then he sat on the rodeo exercise chair thing, did his best Yee Haw, and I think he broke it, cause it stopped moving. 

Now it was time for my favorite store, LUSH!  I bought a few more bathbombs and another puck of solid shampoo and the gal cut off a perfect square cut of my favorite solid conditioner (Jungle) to fit into one of their square tins.  Yay!  Now I'm all set with stuff for my carry on.

By the time we left LUSH it was 11:15 - time to make it back to the parking garage to retrieve the car.  Now what to do?!

Drive around!  And again ... I let him drive.  Am I a glutton for punishment?  We ended up taking Santa Monica Blvd. to Beverly Hills then just drove around and stared at houses.  I was so happy when we stumbled upon the "Witches House" which is being restored.

Finally it was close to 1:00 so we headed down Santa Monica Blvd to Wilshire, he totally missed the turn, so I found an alternate route, made it back to the Federal Building and remarked at the line of people out front "Well at least we don't have to stand in that line!"

Was I wrong!  Even with a ticket to pick up you still have to stand in a very long Will Call line, well, not stand, there are stone benches all the way around the area so everyone just sits then does the wave and moves down every so often.  We waited about an hour and fifteen minutes, I was afraid I'd get to the front of the line just to be told my passport was not ready and be sent to the back of the line like so many other people.  But luck was my lady! 

With glee we ran from the federal building, me clutching my new gorgeous passport.  I did my best Veruca Salt again as we passed a tree with crazy red flowers, we'd seen a few in Beverly Hills too.  I want one.  "But Daddy!  I want a tree with RED flowers!" - but honey you already have 2 massive oaks trees, 3 pecan trees, several camellia's, a pathetic stump of a palm tree, and a slew of other trees - "But I want a RED one!"

Really I was just happy to have my passport in my hand at last!

I got through and was able to make an appointment! 

Still, I'm going to continue the search in my house to try to save the money.  Twinkie suggested a "Find my Passport Party"  if anyone is interested let me know!  I'll even provide some alcohol and pizza, lol!  We can play "FBI" and search my house for "drugs"

The appointment at the Passport Agency is for next Thursday the 22nd at 7:30 am - cutting it close, but since the appointment is so early I might just walk out of there that day with the passport.

The ideal scenario would be - I arrive, explain my situation and how I live in Bakersfield.  The clerk is SO sympathetic and winks at me and says "Just a moment" then comes back and says "I'll have your passport to you in (oh let's say an hour) so you'll have time to go to the Chinese Embassy and get your VISA today!"  Wham Bam Thank YOU Ma'am!

I can get my VISA in one day if I pay the expedited fee and show up at the Embassy before 11 am. 

Wait, the ideal IDEAL scenario would be - my passport is found, I can cancel my appointment and just send someone down with my current passport for my VISA!

I can have someone else go do that for me because you do not have to be present to have a VISA issued, so I will only have to miss 1 day or no days of work!

OMG this is horrible, I'm about to go nuts.  I'm on hold with the Passport Agency hoping to beg for an appointment from a customer service rep since the automated system says the earliest appointment available is the 29th and I need my passport and VISA by the 27th.

What's making this complete f'ing hell?  Well could be the fact I've had to hear the same classical song clip over and over and over again and the fact my co-worker just started smacking an apple.  OVERLOAD!  I

Oh yay, the computer voice said now they estimate my call will be answered in 3-5 minutes.

Not to mention I have a headache, the meds I took are making me very sick to my stomach, I am having a hot flash, and am really freakin tired because I was on the automated Passport hotline for 2 hours last night trying to find an available appointment.  I started at 10 pm - when I was finally able to get into the system due to high call volume.  I practically fell asleep with the phone on my head as I laid in bed to finally be told no appointments were available, to call back and try to get a cancelation!

OMG someone answered!

AUGH!!!!!!!!!  He told me the only option I have is googling "Passport & Visa" and having a company rush it for me!!!!  That's going to cost about $150 on top of the $157 for the passport!!!!!

HELP!!!!

Of course you haven't heard about this ... and to sum up why ...

"The next step is to run clinical trials of DCA in people with cancer. These may have to be funded by charities, universities and governments: pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to pay because they can't make money on unpatented medicines."

Fucktards.

I watched my Popo slowly die of Pancreatic Cancer, my Nana survived Breast Cancer, Pumpkin's Dad nearly died of Esophageal Cancer, my mother's friend's husband is dieing of Brain Cancer, Pumpkin's Mom and I both survived Cervical Cancer.  Cancer, cancer, CANCER! 

I've been searching for my passport for a week and 3 days now.  Is there anyone out there who is good at finding things?  I moved into my house last year and originally put it on my built-in bookshelf in my living room, then thought "oh, that's not a good place" so I thought I put it in a photo box, then my desk, then finally in my room ... but it's no where to be found!

So anyone with good finding skills or a psychic ability HELP!!!  PLEASE!  I'm supposed to go to China on the 28th and I still need to get my VISA.

larger view

The other day I received a mailer about new upscale condos that ranges from the low to mid $100k's.  After I viewed the website I decided to take a look myself.

These places are NICE!  It is a renovated apartment complex on Q Street between 34th and Columbus.  The Condos are completely gated, gorgeous pool, lots of lush green grass, a huge furnished rec room with gym equipment and a kitchen, and a built in BBQ to use by the pool.

You know how typically new homes gouge you for upgrades, the models are always so much nicer than that base model that you can actually afford?  Well these are "what you see is what you get".  Granite counter tops, tile floor, nice cut Berber carpeting, stainless steel modern appliances, and instead of gaudy gold accents, it's all stainless steel - nice ceiling fans, decorative lighting, framed mirrors in the bathroom, blinds, etc.

Check them out www.thestonemark.com, if you do decide to go by and fall in love with one to purchase ask for Neil and please tell them I referred you!  They have great incentive programs to move in, including paying your closing costs, and you can move in for as little as $500 down with 100% financing. 

I would sell my house and purchase one myself, just to have the all new features ... but unfortunately I have too much stuff and don't want to downsize, I've become spoiled ;)

An old friend, okay an ex, messaged me through myspace today.  Said he'd called, I hadn't answered, he didn't leave a message because he wasn't sure if I'd want to hear from him.

Quite the contrary, he'd even ignored my Myspace friend request.  I think about him on occasion and remember the good times and his funny sense of humor.  I was actually digging through my basement today and found a few photos of us together ... I thought I'd given them all to him, guess a few stragglers remained.  Last night I found a letter he'd wrote me towards the end of our relationship 5 years ago, so it was kind of funny to get a message from him today with his phone number to call him.

So, I did ... nice to hear his voice, I always liked how dry he is.  I've always looked back fondly on our relationship, unfortunately I was young, and really not ready to settle down at all. 

Anyway, we quickly caught up, I told him I'd seen the Blue Man Group when they where in town and that they've always reminded me of him.  He laughed and said "Why, because I'm weird?"  No, he's not weird at all actually - he's just himself.  So I explained that it's because well, one he's bald, and he laughed and said "Well, I was going to say that's funny because my heads shaved and I'm wearing a blue shirt right now" ... then I continued that it's really because of his eyes - he doesn't show a lot of expression on his face, but I could always see the expression in his eyes.

Finally he got down to it, he asked that question ... "So, are you interested in any kind of money making opportunities"  Awww ... I see ...

Once upon a time a long time ago I pulled him into 2by2.net ... an ISP provider that did the whole team building downline thing.  He was much better at it than I was, but eventually we both just bailed.  He wanted me to come to his brother's tonight to see what this opportunity was.  I can't, I don't feel well, and Aidan needs to be picked up from Girl Scouts.  When I asked what it was again he said "Well, if you really want to know you'd drop Aidan off at your mom's and come to my brother's house at 8"

Again, I laughed and said "Aww, you sound like us back in our 2by2 days" to which he replied "I'd never do that again."  So what can it be ... Arbon?  Mary Kay?  Tupperware?  Pleasure Parties???

He has peaked my curiosity, so we planned to meet up sometime in the following week - but let it be known I'm not walking into one of those group rallies - been there, done that, bought the t-shirt, cd, and dvd. 

I was a bit sad as the BPD pulled away last night with the trailer that had sat in front of my house for the day.  Also sad that the people going over 40 didn't get put into my Hall of Shame because the speed would blink and my digi camera wouldn't take the photo fast enough, so it would catch it mid blink when the screen was blank.  Err.

Then this morning, on my way to work, there it was ... another trailer - parked across the street from the shopping cart graveyard at the end of my block.  Holy COW!

Hopefully this evening between Girl Scouts and such I'll have the chance to sit and snap offenders before they haul it off at 8.  Last night I had to take the sprog to Yoga, so I wasn't able to sit in front of the trailer at the peak hour.  I'll post those photos up when I get home :)