Passport woes

I just renewed my passport and I was shocked to see how fugly my new passport photo is. Sigh.. My photo for my old passport was taken during my NUS final year and I thought my life was super duper miserable during the final year project. It is unbelievable how much (working) life has taken its toll on me for the past 4 years. I specially made the effort to have my haircut hoping for a better looking passport photo. That does not help obviously.

Currently I am in a relapse state for my diet control. I am happy that I managed to go below 60kg again!! I have no problem with fast food or bubble tea but I am back in my addiction of eating potato chips and eating out at restaurants. I know they are bad for my face, my body, and my wallet but I really have difficulties avoiding them :( I keep finding excuse like I will start all over again in August etc. I have about 1 month before my Japan trip and I hope I will look good for photos there. After seeing my new passport photo, I am feeling down again.

My passport woes do not end there. I thought after year 2012 or 2013, newer passports would be e-passport by default. I am very wrong. My new passport is still normal. Bleah.. I asked the woman if the passport would be biometric and she said yes so I thought that was it. I don't understand what's the point of taking fingerprints when the passport is exactly the same as my old passport when no fingerprints were taken back then. I emailed the Embassy of Japan here if they could give me a visa waiver for my e-passport but they told me that I could only do that in the Embassy of Japan at Jakarta. Well, it does not matter now since my new passport is not an e-passport. I am fated to apply for normal visa.

Sian lo...