Dve stvari

Today, via email, I was asked these two questions:

1. Little DMV question for you. If the little stickers on my license plate say "NOV" and "2006" have I been tempting fate for three months or am I good for 9 months? The DMV hasn't sent me anything in a while, and I forget about details like this.

2. Gchat. I think I had my first gchat equivalent of an awkward conversation with Karen today. I was so shocked by the novelty of it all, I guess, that all I could think to do was rephrase whatever she had just said. It was like a freshman first date. If I sign on again and Karen's little circle goes grey, is that the gchat equivalent of "That sounds like fun, but I'm getting my nails done that night…"?

I thought I would share my answers. In case you were wondering, too.

My Answers

1. DMV: I think you've been tempting fate. I'd take a stand and soon. My trip today wasn't too bad. Redwood City, pretty close, easy to sit and read while you wait for your number to come up. Pretty cute to be near such a cross-section of the population: the muslim couple in front of me with three ridiculously cute kids running around; the white teenager, his dad, and his lawyer who were near me until they stood up to see, who I presume was some kind of a judge, on what sounded like a drunk? driving charge (the lawyer to the officers they came out of the office with: "On behalf of the boy's dad, I want to thank you for getting him off the road. He was a danger to himself and to the community. You did the right thing. He's a good kid, he just made a mistake [laugh, laugh], as we all do."); and the guy who stood at the counterspace next to me (window #9) who said, "I have a 2002 corvette that I forgot to register..."). Awesome. I'd recommend it.

2. As per Karren (two r's there; it's actually a last name from a progenitor) and her gchatting, she likely just had to leave and leave quick. The gchatting formalities are pretty low. Most of the time, people are in and out of their accounts without much fanfare (going from a colored dot to a grey dot, for instance, means you've signed out or shut down your computer) and without any announcements. Unless you're having an extensive one-on-one chat-to-chat (pretty intense; pretty obviously a real conversation, like a good phone conversation), and then that kind of greying out would be like the phone cutting off, with the same attendant questions and rules of etiquette, etc.

Man, it turns out I have a lot to say about this. My fingers are cold, but it's okay because I'm done with what I need to do today. What's left: brushing my teeth, putting on my pajamas, reading my scriptures, and, if I want to, reading some of the Joan Didion book I began reading last night ( A Book of Common Prayer). (The book blurb didn't sound like something I wanted to read particularly, but everyone says she's a good writer. And you know what? From paragraph three I was sure of it. Man, she is a good writer.)

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I give you that advice, as I give you my love. Freely.