Nikki Yeager

It's absolutely beautiful outside. Warm, sunny, dry. It's like the first day of spring (although I know the snowy, slushy, all together icky season is hardly over) and New York has that fresh-out-of-winter smell. I'm sitting at the Starbucks I met Mandy at, working on some new projects and applying for a few art grants. It's perfection.

Strange to think how much has changed from that day between the Bahamas and my permanent move back when I sat here and talked about why I'd like to be hired as an intern. Still, the city feels the same. It looks the same... it's beautiful as always. 

Which made today a great day to get my passport renewed. The whole ordeal was a series of hoop jumping that only the United States government is capable of creating. 

First a little background: my wallet got stolen earlier this year. In it was all forms of identification I own except my passport. Basically, I cannot prove I'm Nicole Ryan Yeager if my life [literally] depended on it and considering my passport expired this week and I have a flight to Houston in 10 days... well, I was pretty much screwed. 

So I looked up the requirements for renewing a passport. In order to get an appointment you need to have proof of international travel within 10 days. Houston is not international. However, in order to get a replacement license I'd need to drive to Ohio, prove residence and show my Social Security card (1. I don't have a car 2. I don't live there 3. I have no SS card). 

After hours of weeding through passport info I gave up- If you don't have proof then haha! you must wait 6-8 weeks of painstakingly slow passport processing. Plus, you have to mail in the current passport so I'd have absolutely no ID for another month or so. Nothing at all. 

10 days to Houston and counting.

Which is when I decided to put on my criminal cap and use a little creativity. I booked a fake flight to the Bahamas that I can later refund. With my 'proof' in hand I lied to the clerks about my travel (apparently I'll be gone for two weeks starting the day after tomorrow and I'm coming back on a boat) and then sat in the passport office for a good 20 minutes. 

When it was my turn I walked up to the window and smiled at the man. Turns out that if you got a passport before 16 you need another form of identification to renew it. With a little flirtation, a bit of hair twirling and a big Ohio smile I got him to bend the rules a bit. After all, the picture was clearly me and I look the same as I did 6 years ago, right? Well, the 30 year old man behind the window agreed, I do look the same... so why not? 

And so my passport was. 

I love how NYC government offices work. Just like the JFK airport- you can get a knife, your shampoo and numchucks through if you have the right smile. It's all about the big Midwestern smile.