Ready to Get Arrested
February 04, 2009
Yes, that’s right: I am ready to get arrested. I took a practice mug shot the other day, which tells me that I am ready because there is no way that the passport photo I took could be construed as anything other than a mug shot. No one’s going to let me into their country with that picture, it’s the slammer and that’s it. What was I thinking not putting on makeup and doing it at the end of the day? Yes, my punishment for not taking this picture seriously enough is the picture I got.
It has not always been this way. On September 12, 2001, I went to donate blood (the Pentagon is not far from where I live). But the Red Cross was only taking blood from approved donors (or at least those who already knew their letter). Since I couldn’t donate blood, I stopped at the DMV that was on the way home. For some reason the picture they took that day was the best photo that I have ever taken from a machine. Last year when I renewed my license they took my picture away; they made me take another practice mug shot. I wanted to keep the picture as a reminder of 9/11 and, well, for vanity’s sake. But it is gone.
The passport photo, it’s not as if I’m planning a vacation on some exotic beach or a stroll in Paris, it's just that in my current passport I still have my old married last name and I want to be rid of that name. I am who I was before I was married (at least in name), and my passport needs to reflect that reality. Unfortunately, the picture is a bit of reality too. I told the cute young guy working in the store that I look horrible in it, he said it’s okay. Yes, I wanted to say, for a mug shot.
I hate getting my mug shot taken. I cringe whenever it comes time to renew my license!
Posted by: Lori | February 04, 2009 at 06:47 AM
The picture on my debit card was taken after riding in a car on the interstate with no AC in July for thirty minutes. Dishevelled is beyond an understatement. I try to reserve the DMV on days I have nothing else planned so I don't get stressed or dishevelled. I had a mug shot with a scowl b/c I wanted to punch the clerk after a 4 hour wait. I hate that place.
Posted by: Liz A. | February 04, 2009 at 12:32 PM
Why is it that the pictures we're stuck with, our license and passport pictures, are always the worst? Actually, I had one license picture that wasn't too bad but had to part with it for my current less than fabulous one.
Posted by: JC | February 04, 2009 at 01:38 PM
If you take a bad enough photo, then you will always look better than the passport shot...that is really a good thing. Isn't it?
I am really trying to understand the female mind.
Would you be upset if your passport photo, when you were going through Customs, was better than how you looked on that specific day?
I thought I had most of the answers and now I am simply lost again!!!!!
Posted by: morethananelectrician | February 04, 2009 at 02:13 PM
Lori, maybe with budget cuts they'll cut it down to a new photo every 20 years. Then, in 20 years I'll be feeling mighty fine about how young I look in the photo.
Liz, what an image! I guess that dishevelled highway look works for the DMV, they can relate. I think people who work at the DMV are all meditation practitioners and are devoted to teaching us to slow down and calm down.
JC, stuck photos, maybe they are like the refrigerator pictures that some people put on their refrigerators to encourage them to diet. But in this case to take more time to tend to our appearance. You see, there's a moral.
morethananelectrician, you are not so off. When I looked at the picture I said to myself: well, you don't wear make-up when you fly so you won't look much worse than this photo. So maybe you have accumulated some insights.
Posted by: Laura of Rebellious Thoughts of a Woman | February 04, 2009 at 02:26 PM
I hate my mug shots, I hate being photographed in general. And because of that the photos are always more horrible than they could be! Going through Passport Control is always painful for me. I always have the feeling that they look at my photo and then laugh at me. Inferiority complex? Maybe. But only caused by mug shots. All the best. Ciao. Antonella
Posted by: Antonella | February 05, 2009 at 02:18 AM
If you could see the new DL I had to get you would feel a LOT better. Good thing is when people say, "Wow, that looks NOTHING like you." That feels good.
Other days they DON'T say that and I know I need to get out of the public eye.
Posted by: D'Arcy | February 06, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Antonella, the one thing about the inferiority complex served on a plastic platter by mug shots is that they seem to be an equal opportunity cause for pain. I'd like to see Anjolina Jolie's pic.
D'Arcy, when people don't commit it's because they don't want you to feel bad about the picture, not that they think you look like the picture. ;)
Posted by: Laura of Rebellious Thoughts of a Woman | February 06, 2009 at 12:45 PM
No worries, everyone says I look like a terrorists in my passport photo.
Posted by: Ricardo | February 08, 2009 at 10:32 AM