Today I applied for my first-ever passport. The last time I traveled to the US a passport was not necessary but eight years after 9/11 it was determined that causing extra inconvenience to Canadians would protect the US from terrorists that never came through Canada to begin with, but who am I to argue with paranoia and excessive (and false) security?
The surprising thing is after getting my photos taken to the required specifications at the drugstore-that-shall-not-be-named and filling out the three pages of the application and having Alison help out as my guarantor (“This guy is not an evil clone, I swear!”) I went to the passport office downtown, winced at the huge number of people waiting but was pleasantly surprised at how efficiently they were processed. Before long I was speaking with a nice young woman who told me my passport would be ready to pick up in just two weeks. Nice!