[girl & kat] The trouble with tribbles

Hello May 4th. Departure date for Japan T-5 weeks.

Japanese visa? Check.
Moving company? Check.
Flights? Check.
Passport? .... Ah.

Sad, but true. The Canadians have stolen my passport. In an impressive
act of organisation, I had submitted my visa application for my job in
Ontario this fall at the Canadian Consulate in NYC while there on a
work trip. It was the perfect plan; I'd go to Japan, return to the USA
briefly on a tourist visa to collect cat & car, then speed off up to
Canada with all documents in hand.

Maybe it was the confusion of someone applying for a work permit and
not a permission-to-enter-Canada-having-been-banned like everyone else
who was there (seriously!). Maybe it was the excitement of seeing a
British passport in New York. Perhaps they liked my face, or perhaps
they didn't.

Panic rising.

Suppress it. It's going to be fine. I can just contact the Consulate
and inquire as to my application status, right?

From the website for the New York Consulate:

"Due to Canadian Privacy legislation, individual cases cannot be
discussed over the telephone and must be dealt with by letter, by email
or by fax."

Panic RISING.

Well, actually email is better anyway. You get a record of the
conversation and I actually hate phone. The website continues:

"Any requests regarding the status of an application, MUST be submitted
in writing, either by letter or by fax."

PANIC RISING.

Okay okay, not great, but we can work with this. I'll send them a
letter by fax.

"We are only able to reply within 8 to 10 weeks."

...... I can panic now, right?