I Am A Dumbass.....

I can't believe it's been over three weeks since I last wrote!! Those three weeks were an absolute whirlwind and can be summarized as follows:

1.) Jet lag
2.) Nieces
3.) Peter
4.) FREEZING MY ASS OFF in the frozen tundra of Minnesota
5.) Falling in love with San Francisco (omg...is there a more awesome, fascinating, romantic, REAL place filled with authentic and fashionable people in the entire universe??? I'm madly in love and will spend the next year and a half politely begging Peter to move there)

HOLY CRAP, am I glad that 2008 is over. I feel good about 2009. I feel like 2008 taught me to be impervious and calm, and I'm looking forward to leading a more balanced life in 2009.

It did, however, not get off to a perfectly seamless start.....

My school hires people to help us take care of our visa and work permit stuff. All I have to do is hand over my passport, sit in the uncomfortable plastic chairs at immigration, and sign the appropriate pages when prompted. I am very lucky in this way. However, when I recently had my visa updated, as it had expired, the person in charge of my visa and work permit handed everything back to me and said that I was all set to go. However, I was not, in fact, all set to go. I had not acquired a re-entry permit, which is necessary in order to, well, re-enter the country on this particular visa. For some reason, I didn't think anything of it, even though I had had a re-entry permit with my last visa. I figured that I could put my faith (and immigration status) in this poor guy's hands without checking things over for myself.

I am the Dumbest Person Alive.

I didn't realize my mistake until arriving at the immigration checkpoint here in Bangkok around 2 a.m. after a sleepless plane ride wherein a toddler kicked my seat the entire time. My lack of re-entry permit means that I had to get a 30-day tourist visa, thereby invalidating my official visa. From what I understand, I have to reapply for my official visa at a consulate outside of Thailand, and while the school usually pays for the entire visa process, I will have to (rightfully) fund this little adventure on my own.

I haven't been able to sleep since coming back to Bangkok on account of all of this. While I can be extremely diligent in some areas of my life (like writing papers and planning instruction and wearing sunblock and flossing), it's like I lack complete and utter common sense in others (and frequently these areas seem to always include official documents.....). I never check receipts to make sure that everything is on the up and up, I dropped the ball more than once with my teacher certification paperwork and coursework (which has mostly been remedied at this point...), and I allowed myself to somehow trip and fall into a massive black hole of credit card debt (which is almost completely paid off now, but it has been a nerve-wracking and angst-ridden process). I guess I sort of float through life sometimes, figuring that all of this stuff will somehow work itself out, and that everyone around me can be trusted without any hesitation whatsoever, and that I will always be taken care of. And that's a great way to live your life when you're, y'know, FIVE.

So my biggest resolution for 2009? GROW THE FUCK UP. It's time for Mama to take responsibility for her own ducks and putting them in an orderly row. So the visa situation is going to be very aggravating for me and my employers, and it will most likely be a somewhat costly process for me. And yes, it will probably also cost me a few nights of sleep, waking up with my heart pounding and my inner critic bludgeoning me to death, telling me that I have nary a brain in my head. But, well, this minor crisis will pass, and in the meantime I've learned a very valuable life lesson about, y'know, checking things out and fine-tuning my eye for details (be they small or large).

And from what I could gather from the various visa forums, this lack of applying for a re-entry visa is a somewhat common phenomenon, which does ease the sting of it a little. But only a little.

And now, after another relatively sleepless night, it's off to work.

Happy 2009! May we all grow a little wiser this year.....