Smog check.

Prior to registering my car in California, I am required to have a smog test performed on my car. After a rather unpleasant experience at one location, where I lost an entire hour of my life, I decided to google "smog test locations in Huntington Beach." After locating a business not too far from my house, I looked at the website, read some reviews, figured this place looked legit. Now don't get me wrong - the smog check was quick, efficient, my car passed, no worries there. I'd just like to point out the waiting conditions I was promised - "Free while you wait: wireless PC connectivity, bottled water, magazines, sitting area" - versus what I encountered -


A couple plastic folding chairs stationed underneath a dingy old tarp, with a rusting overturned boat in the background, and a three-legged dog hobbling around (OK, actually the dog had all four legs, but I think saying he had only three legs paints a better picture).

I don't know where the PC connectivity, bottled waters, or magazines were, but I suppose you could say I was offered a pretty fine waiting area.

Moral of the story: I guess everything you read on the internet isn't true??

Marm.

Last week I received an email notification that my mom had updated her Goodreads account. Three new books with ratings and comments to spare. As I read through her comments I noticed a few small grammatical errors - nothing drastic. Ordinarily, I might have overlooked these slight blunders of the English language. But since these comments were posted on a book reading website where English lovers alike rate their recent reads, I felt it my duty to email my mom my edits of her comments. I just wanted her to sound top of her game. Knowing how very appreciative she would be of my grammar tutorage, I was completely unsurprised when she responded, "Whatever school marm!" Now since I'm not 100 years old, "marm" is not a word often found in my vocabulary. Deciphering the word from context wasn't terribly difficult, but I decided to research the word anyway. My quick google search returned the following, "a british word meaning an old school teacher, usually a bespectacled virgin. somewhat old and stingy. fond of floral print granny panties."

I suppose I deserved it.