Hey Everyone!

Welcome to my new blogging site!  I received a suggestion to use a different platform for my blog so that it is easier for folks to actually sign up and follow me!  So here I am on WordPress!  Hopefully it’s a bit easier for you all!  It’s proving quite a bit more complicated than Google Blogger, but one day at a time and I’ll improve!

So, last Friday (8/4) was my last day at work.  I actually spent most of the day at the doctor’s office (I saw a neural ophthalmologist) in an effort to get a more definite diagnosis and treatment of this issue going on with my eye.  If you don’t know what’s wrong with my eye, go to my Google blog and read the post “Tough Mudder Was Really Tough.”  Basically she told me that yes, I have optic neuritis (inflammation of the optic nerve) in my right eye.  She wanted me to see a neurologist and so made me an appointment for first thing Monday morning.

I saw the neurologist Monday and he confirmed the optic neuritis; likely cause being my body’s reaction to the vaccinations I received in preparing for my travels.  Part of me regrets the vaccinations and part of me doesn’t.  I want to protect myself from risk of infectious disease, but I also am a bit skeptical when it comes to our bodies’ reaction to whatever the vaccines are made from.   I guess I’ll leave it at that; I don’t really want to start a debate… a reasonable conversation yes.

Moving on…

Saturday and Sunday I packed all my things where I was living.  Monday (after the appointment with the neurologist), I ran to the post office to mail a couple of things, then I stopped into a Charles Schwab banking storefront to get some information about opening a checking account with them.  Then, I went to the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission which was such a blast!  (Hah).

About two weeks prior, I had stopped into the NJ MVC to ask what I needed to do to take my car off the road.  I asked them if I needed to mail the license plates back when I got home or what.  I’m almost certain that the officer or another lady at the first front desk suggested that I turn in my permanent plates and get a temporary license plate.  That way I wouldn’t have to worry about it when I got home.  Great!

I get to the MVC and first off, the screws on the back of my car are so tightly screwed in that I broke a piece of metal off of my multi-tool trying to unscrew.  Then, thankfully, there is another guy in the parking lot right in front of me who arrives and starts taking the plates off of his car with a sturdy Phillips head screw-driver (just what I need!).  So I go nicely ask the gentleman if he could lend me his screw driver and he came over and took the plate off for me!  Thank you so much, sir!

I take off the front plate, walk into the MVC, and hand in my plates.  Mind you, I mentioned TWO TIMES that I needed to get a temporary plate to get my car home.  No one thought to check if I had my car title with me to get a temporary plate.  So, I get a receipt for my permanent plates and get in line to get a temporary plate.  The employees were working as slow as a glacier that day and so I stood in line for probably 45 minutes.   Then an employee comes through to check if people have the right paperwork filled out and she gets to me and I say I’m here to get temporary plates since I turned in my permanent one and she asks “do you have your title?”   Well no I don’t have my title, no one mentioned that before I turned in my permanent plates!!!  So now, I have no permanent plates, no temporary plates, and no way to get home to get my title!   AHHHHHHH!!!!

Thankfully, my amazing neighbor Megan was willing to get my car paperwork from my filing box and bring it to me!   THANK YOU MEGAN!!!!

So, I go back into the MVC and wait in line for another 20 or so minutes.  I got up to the desk and start to explain to the lady what I needed.  I said that I plan to take my car off the road and so I’m here to get temporary plates so that I can drive my car home and not worry about it.  Her response “Well why would you do that?”   BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT THEY SAID TO DO WHEN I ASKED TWO WEEKS AGO!”  I was furious and tired.  I got choked up and (in a slightly raised voice) said “You know what!?!! WHATEVER!!!  Just give me permanent plates!  I don’t care! Just give me permanent plates!”  I was at the MVC for about three hours; AFTERNOON WASTED!   End of rant.

Later that day, I had scheduled to have 1-800-Got-Junk to come pick up my twin bed and a couple other things that I didn’t have room or and didn’t want to bring home.  So, they finally arrive and tried to tell me that it was going to cost ~$200 for them to take it away.  My eyes nearly fell out of my head.  Are you freaking kidding me right now?  Maybe that’s why they never mention money on their radio ads!!!  Even on their website they say they’ll provide a nice neat, all-encompassing price to take away your stuff.  What does in encompass?  A ticket to California?   I said forget it!  That’s insane.  So, they said they would call their boss and see if they could give me a deal.  They offered ~$100 for pickup.  I said NO!  Sorry.  So they walk out the door, I head upstairs and turn the light off.  A few minutes later they called me back and said that it would be $20 plus tax (~$1.50) to take the stuff; I said GREAT! Come get it!

NOTE TO OTHERS! 1-800-Got-Junk is ridiculously expensive unless you have a crap-load of stuff you need to get rid of and actually makes the $200 worth it…  But I’d hate to know  what a lot more stuff costs to get rid of.  

I was so glad to have that stuff gone and the car mostly packed.  I slept really well Monday night.

Tuesday morning I cleaned out my stuff in the kitchen, cleaned my bathroom, and packed the rest of my stuff in the car.  I had to go into the city on Tuesday instead of Monday (as previously planned) to get my Vietnamese tourist visa and visit the Indonesian consulate.  I went to the Vietnamese consulate first which is an office inside the United Nations Plaza complex.

I spent probably 40 minutes in the consulate, spent a little extra, and got the visa in my passport before I left.  🙂

After I got the visa, I was right there so I walked over and saw the main United Nations building that is very recognizable.  Little did I know, that literally across the street from the United Nations building… wha’da’ya know!!!  Trump Tower with guards wired up guards foot patrolling.

 

I went to the Indonesian embassy to figure out exactly what I need to do and when to get the social visa before I leave.   Basically, I’ll have to mail my application and my passport to the consulate 4 weeks before I leave for Bangkok.

I then caught a train downtown to the Student Travel Association Office to arrange for a taxi to pick me up and bring me to the hotel in Bangkok when I arrive so that I don’t have to fight with a taxi driver and make sure I’m going to the right place when I’m all jet lagged.  Since I’m arriving a couple days early, I also made reservations and paid for those two nights for the hotel.  So, that is all set!

Now the best part… I caught a train out of the city for the last time, hopped in my car, said bye to my amazing neighbor who rescued me from the NJ MVC, and I DROVE HOME!!! YAY…

Good night folks. Let me know how you like this new blog platform!