this post is brought to you by the letter V

First, through a relatively pain-free DMV session I am now the proud owner of NC license plates, 10 1/2 months later. 

Second, I was driving today around 11 a.m. and took note of the car in front of me while at a red light. There were three distinctive bumper stickers. Then around 3:30 p.m. I see the same bumper stickers in the same configuration: I was driving behind the same person!  Hours later, about 12 miles away! I thought this the oddest thing, and then realized this probably happens much more frequently then we're all aware. It reminded me of something my mom said when I first started driving. Being a typical teenager I was self-conscious everywhere, apparently even behind the wheel of a car. I remember asking her something about what do you do if you see someone you know in another car, or isn't a strange to see so many people everyday. I remember my mom saying 'I think of them as cars, not people.' I thought that was so odd then, but now that I've been driving nearly half of my life it seems odd to think of cars as people. My point being that I wouldn't be too surprised to see the same people if I walked around a town a lot, so it shouldn't be that surprising to see their cars too. 

Third, since August I have lived in an Apartment V.  Countless times I have given my address to people in person or over the phone, and invariably - as in without one exception - people say 'V as in Victor?'  Always. Victor should be proud, it has emerged victorious, ha ha. But today in the DMV I had an almost uncontrollable urge to reply 'No, V as in (something else)'. Something silly like V as in vroom, or V as in vacuum. Or something inappropriately polysyllabic like V as in verisimilitude or V as in vermillion. And then of course I thought of this in the DMV line and giggled out loud.... and I swear just once before I move out of Apt. V in 6 weeks I will say to someone 'Apt. V, V as in vagina'. Or venereal. Just to shake things up a bit.