1.10.2006

Passportage


Better than 1996's photo, for sure. Posted by Picasa

While going through immigration in Vancouver a few years back (it may have been late 2001, in which case I sort of understand), I was grilled by the agent whose desk I'd approached. He asked me where I was headed, how long I'd been in Canada, what I'd done while in Vancouver (Um, do I have to answer that? In detail?), where I worked, what my job title was, and on and on.

He held my passport open in his hand and kept looking from it to me, then back to the passport and back to me. Finally, he told me he was so skeptical because the photo in my passport looked nothing like the present me. "It's the bridge of the nose," he said. "Usually, no matter how much anything else about you changes, the bridge of your nose will still look the same, and yours doesn't."

I resisted the urge to snidely comment that perhaps the policy whereby adult US passports are valid for ten years was not a good one, as any number of people were bound to look different

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mine expires this year, and I'm going to have to get a new one. Though I'm not crazy about my "current" (that is, 1996) photo, I do like the fact that my passport is not only completely filled up, but double-thick; I had to go to the embassy last year and get extra pages put in. How rad is that?

Sadly, I'll have to go back to a brand-spankin' new, shiny, skinny passport before December. Maybe at least I'll get the picture right.

Which I really like your new passport photograph, by the way. Self-portrait?

Lady D said...

what, no link to your 1996 photo? i feel deprived.

Emily said...

Alas, DG, the 1996 photo will be unavailable until I get my old passport back. I'll be sure to post the picture for your enjoyment as soon as I can, though.

And J, I must give credit for my new photo to the lovely and talented Jackie at the Fell Street Walgreens photo counter. Still working on mastering the self-timer on my new camera.