Hope I Don't Get Arrested

This has been a VERY long day. Deaner insisted that I be more persistent with our housing situation. I have been given orders to go to housing every morning to see if they have any new listings available. So I got up at 7:30am this morning (which I am sorry, that is early to me!) and took the 8:30am shuttle to housing. I'm pretty sure the lady there laughed at me. I walked in and she said "we don't have anything new". Hummm, I guess they are starting to recognize me. Hopefully it will pay off soon!

After being rejected from housing so quickly I had over 2 hours to kill until the next shuttle was going to pick up and take me on to lunch with Deaner. For those of you who are familiar with what a military base is like, they resemble a prison. Not exactly a ton of extracurriculars to do on base. I did manage to find a library, obtained a library card (not nearly as hard since I have my new I.D.), and got on the internet. Last night Deaner and I decided that we would order a bunch of travel books for cities that we knew we would eventually visit. My favorite website, www.bookcloseouts.com, had tons of travel books for super cheap. We picked out about 9 cities and the total for all of them is like $40. The trick is that none of them are 2009 but who cares? Things don't change that much in a matter of a year! Something was wrong with the computer I was on and I couldn't update my billing information so I knew I would have to wait until I got home.

Finally the bus came to pick me up and I headed to lunch with Deaner. We met at the bank on base to have my name added to our account. I figured it was prudent to have access to our money as well! Y'all know the saying "What's yours is mine and what's mine is mine!" After lunch I headed back to the airbase to get my passport pictures taken. The office is open on Tuesday and Wednesdays from 1:00pm to 3:00pm. Nice hours! The passport office had warned me yesterday that the photolab would only give me 1 set of pictures for my official passport. This was going to be a problem because I needed 2 sets so that I could get my civilian passport changed too. Jokingly the passport office guy told me to tell the photolab guy that I needed another set for a visa. When I got to the photolab there were warnings posted EVERYWHERE that they would not take pictures for civilian I.D.'s. Yikes! Feeling very brave here is how the conversation went...

Me: Is there any way sir that I could have 2 sets of passport photos?
PhotoLab Man: We only give 1 set. We do not do photos for civilian passports.
Me: I know, it's just that I don't have a car and the other photo place on the economy closed. I was just hoping I could get two.
Photolab Man: Why do you need 2 sets?
Me: For my visa (I said the word "visa" very quietly)
Photolab Man: HUH? Why do you needs a VISA???
Me: (very quietly) I don't know......
PhotoLab Man: Hmmmmmmmm

Somehow it worked and he gave me two sets. I will probably be arrested for lying. Oh well. When I brought my application back to the passport office the lady exclaimed "How in the world did you get two sets of pictures from that man"?? Uhhhh, it's a secret! We got all my paper work finished for everything I needed done just minutes after the 2:10pm shuttle left the base. I was stuck until 4pm. UGH. Back to the library. 30 minutes before the next shuttle left my phone rang. In the middle of the library no less. This was odd since NO ONE has ever called me on my phone before. It was the passport office lady telling me that she had proof read my application and that I had typed that I was born in 1908. Since I am not quite 101 years old I had to go back and fix it. Now I was starting to run late for the last shuttle of the day. Luckily I made it just in time.

On the way home on the crowded shuttle the lady in front of me was bragging about her new Mercedes Benz that had "missile proof" glass. Had I been apart of this conversation my first question might have been "if you have that Mercedes, than why the hell are you riding on this bus"? Hmmmmmm. Some people. Maybe her missile proof Mercedes is in the port at Bremen with my car! Also, her grocery list consisted of mayo, water, and pickles. SICK.

Tomorrow should be a fun day! Steph and I are going to go to Sally Beauty Supply where I might splurge on a new hair dryer and straightener. Then she is going to cut my hair. My hair person at home wouldn't let me get it cut before the wedding and it is now WAY too long. I'll need color soon but Steph has that covered too. I'm also hoping to get some nail polish remover, new nail polish, and stuff to give myself a much needed pedicure. Can't wait!