Expectations
Sunday, March 6, 2011 at 10:08PM Expectation 1:
We were on a plane back from Dallas to San Jose..
Little One: How long is this flight?
Jr. : 4 hours (right daddy?)
Me : yes. it is almost 4 hours.
Little One: FOUR HOURS ?!
Me : yes.
Little One : If we have to sit in the same seat for 4 hours, we should at least have our own TV! There is no TV on this plane. What am I supposed to do for 4 hours? It is not night. I cannot sleep either! This is not fair!
Me to San : Ellam Neram di! (closest translation is "this is all a sign of the times") 5 year old girl has an expectation of fairness for a 4 hour flight.
Expectation 2:
We are at a friends place and I am showing them a picture of the Black Mamba which was posted in Bigstockphoto. Daddy Narayanan is trying to make some money from Photography to pay for his 70-200 zoom lens.
San : These days he takes photos only of animals, flowers, insects..
MIL : and takes portraits of the kids. We don't show up in photos any more
Me : Come on now! You guys never come pose during the day. You always show up when I am tired or after dark. I get great photos when there is daylight.
MIL and San : We need more photos of us!
So to meet this expectation there is going to be a Saree party at our place with a photo session.. all lady friends of wife/ MIL who need new Facebook profile photos are to be invited. Yours truly is building a small studio made of white foam walls and white LED lights.. a home made light box setup. Let us see how this shapes up!
Expectation 3:
We are looking at tickets to India. A narrow time window when kids do not have school, when parents are in a frame of mind and are in better health to see the kids, when work can allow a break. So usually the ticket prices don't factor into this equation.
We watched prices go from 1380 to 1700 in 7 days and we are talking cheapest tickets. Why? Libya, Egypt crisis causing Oil prices to go up.
Why would a few days of unrest in a few countries affect oil prices for summer? What is happening is a drop in the bucket compared to fuel consumption over time. So, obviously someone is using these events to make money and is price gouging.
Decided not to wait anymore. What if the prices go to 2000 a ticket? So we got tickets now. Then realized that we have a passport that is expired.
Me to San: Why can't we mail it in?
San : I would love to but if the kid is <15 you have to go with both parents and stand in line!
Expectation 4:
We went to the San Jose Post office Passport section at 10 in the morning. (we went to Mountain View office and it was closed. so by the time we went to San Jose we were an hour late). Our token was 876. they were serving 796 when we got the token. It was moving at 7 numbers per hour. No, not kidding. 7 numbers per hour.
It is noon and they are attending to 811 and the lady announces "we are closed now, but if you have a token we will serve you as long as you are here when we call your number"
So we wait and wait and wait. Some folks who thought they could go out, have lunch and come back in time missed their slots.
My expectation was that the ladies at the counter tell the people who did not wait that they did miss their turn to give the benefit to folks like us who sat there with starving kids to get their chance. They DID ! They actually told folks who showed up after missing their numbers that they have to come back another day.
We finally got our turn at 2:45 and came out just before 3PM. The little one was totally dehydrated and complained of knee pain. Once in five years we go through this ordeal.
They should make this less painful and have more people to serve on Saturdays. How many people have the luxury of taking half a day off (both parents) with today's work pressure ?
The blogging has taken a backseat as have many other things. Have had a change of jobs within the company last week and that meant more time at work.
Planning to get a fresh start on the health front by joining a Yoga class at 5:30 AM. Time will tell if this will last or join the list of failed attempts to stick to a health routine.
Well, the expectations continue.
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Reader Comments (6)
"San : I would love to but if the kid is <15 you have to go with both parents and stand in line!"
one parent is enough if the other signs a form and gets it notarized. we did that a couple of weeks ago. now waiting for the passports ... :-)
also, you can get an appointment at the post office (not all locations offer this facility) you don't need to stand in line (or only until the previous dude is done).
- s.b.
yes we too paid 1700$ for our trip in summer :(
Expectation 5:
If you come to Dallas with the family, you schedule in a 2 hr trip to the north.
Expection 4.5 [following true desi tradition of line cutting :)]: 2hr trip podavendam...20 mts trip porum...:))
...sundar anna adhutha vaati enga areaku varumbodhu...oru email podungo...:)
appointment only M-F s.b.
we don't have vacation or time off right now. had to go on saturday and only waiting walk in's!
Lak,Me, we went from st. Louis to Dallas and had a 2 hour wait at the airport there and continued to san jose.
next time will definitely visit. this was a 3 day trip to meet my sisters family.
why don't you guys come over here and we can have a blast!
:)
How utterly exhausting, and frustrating:(