dragonimp

Okay, weird. I just went out to go run errands, and the driver's door on my car was no only unlocked, but unlatched. Locking it is a pretty automatic habit for me, but the last time I drove it I got in pretty late. Not likely - very unlikely - but possible. I noticed the glovebox was open, but I'd just gotten gas and filled my tires, so I could have left that open. But again, not very likely.

Then I noticed the ashtray was open. I don't remember the last time I've even touched the ashtray.

Then I sat down, and found the seat had been moved back.

Last time I took the car out was Saturday. Mom and I were both home all day Sunday, I was home Monday, we were both home yesterday. That doesn't mean we would have noticed if someone had gone through the car, but - why was the seat moved back? Maybe they were thinking I'd stashed something underneath?

It's kinda amusing, though, because 1)I'm not in the habit of keeping valuables in my car, and 2)it's such a mess you'd never find them anyway. They probably took one look at the glovebox - which is stuffed with napkins, mechanic's receipts, and old tapes - and gave up. The only thing that might remotely be of interest to anyone is the car charger for my phone, and it was still there.

I want to talk to my mom so see if she's noticed anything, but she probably would have told me already.

Still don't get why the seat was moved.

Edit: The only things that were in the ashtray - two years-old parking stubs from the Renaissance Faire - were between the seats, like someone had swiped them out of the tray. This seems like teenagers and enough kids go by our house to make it likely, but I really don't think I left the door unlocked.

Back at Dominican, it wasn't unusual to find a worm in certain veggies, and I've never quite been able to get rid of the urge to inspect a plate of broccoli or cauliflower. Well, it turns out this was a good thing; I just found a little green caterpillar-thing in a head of cauliflower we got at the farmer's market ^^;;. You can bet I inspected those pieces really carefully before dropping them in the stir-fry.

Ah, Dominican. You've helped us in ways we could never imagine...

County officials in at least two California counties say they'll stop performing all wedding ceremonies by next week, arguing that they don't have enough resources to marry both gay and straight couples.

Full story here

That has got to be the biggest pile of bullshit I've heard in a long time. I don't even know where to start.

So apparently the old school Sesame Street episodes, now available on DVD, are for grown-ups only, and may not be suitable for today's preschoolers. Because it has, y'know, kids playing on unpadded surfaces. With animals nearby. And Cookie Monster, who's headed for type-2 diabetes. And Oscar the Grouch has untreated depression. Oh, and we can't forget Bert and Ernie, two men living together in a run-down apartment.

I think the saddest thing is, there probably is a real danger of the company getting sued by today's parents if they didn't put that warning on it.

Justine Larbalestier mentions in her blog that she's been criticized for making the main character in her YA trilogy (Magic or Madness) black when 'Reason being of Aboriginal ancestry doesn’t “add” anything to the story.' In other words, why make her black when the story isn't about her being black. To which I say: Why make her white when the story isn't about her being white? Sometimes race really is just a side-note. In this case, while a critic might argue that it doesn't "add" anything, it does make sense, because Reason's mother spent a lot of time among the Aborigines. (Actually, go read her post about it, she says it much better than I could.)

I think back to some of the concepts I developed as a kid and, my god, I would end up with the Multi-Cultural Group from hell. That's almost worse than having an all-white cast. It's not something I pay much attention to in Silver; the characters are all just there. Sometimes I worry that there's too little attention paid to race, but I'm using a first person POV, so if it's not something my narrator would take note of, it doesn't get mentioned. I think I get all the way up to, oh, chapter eight before I mention that one character has "coffee and cream" skin, and a few chapters later the narrator mentions that he has a Chinese last name. The only character who gets any significant amount of physical description is the one who physically stands out. Really, I'm much more concerned about making the characters believable to their environment.

Not everything is a racial issue. People get hung up on the weirdest things.

I woke myself up the other night by biting my tongue. I have no idea why. I just woke up in pain and realized my front molars were clamped into the sides of my tongue.

I'm going to get back to work now. I have a couple major things due next week. (Like, a final.)