Passport Photo Conundrums

As you know, my family is going to take a trip to Europe this upcoming June, which meant we had to get passports. As everyone knows, identification photos of ANY sort generally suck, and I have to say that mine was by far the worst picture I've ever seen of myself in my entire life.


The man at the post office was frustrated with me because I first wouldn't stop smiling (he told me that if I were getting arrested I wouldn't be smiling), and then he told me to move my bangs (which I absolutely hate to do) to the side, and then I had to tilt my head in a weird fashion.


Anyway, embarrassed and ashamed, I had to sign my passport the other evening for it to be "official." For your information, the photo at the left is a copy of my passport picture, except modified...and oddly enough, it actually looks BETTER then my passport picture does. Do you think the gov. would let me trade this picture out?


Because of my monstrosity of the passport picture, I began to create a list of things I CAN'T do until my passport expires, which is in 2019. My family has pitched in some cleaver ideas as well.


Things You Can't Do With An Ugly Passport Photo
1. No traveling outside of the United States (no brainer.)

2. You can't get married and take your honeymoon out of the States. What if your husband/wife wants to go to the Bahamas, but your photograph is so appalling that they demand a new person to take on the trip? What a waste.

3. Better work for a company that doesn't have any offices out of the States. What if you had to travel overseas? That wouldn't work out so well.

4. You shouldn't move to a different country--they'd have to see your hideous picture, and the result of that would be being shipped back to where you came from.


I'm sure there are more then just 4 things you're not able to do if you have an ugly passport photograph. Unfortunately, my dad foreshadowed that my driver's licence (whenever I get that, which I'm shooting for June) is even worse then the passport photographs are. Oh nelly, I hope that doesn't happen in my case! I don't think you can get much worse then what I've got.


I have two remedies to this I'm conundrum in; I can either get married so I have to change my last name, OR wait the 10 years out, not traveling out of the country any more then I have to. Hopefully, the first option will come before the second one, but you never know. As long as this crappy picture is eliminated from my passport eventually, then I'm one happy clam.