Find my car: the photo series

It's still weird and novel to me to have a car, specifically associated with me, for my own personal transport needs. I find it especially striking that the car is like an indicator, an anchor of my physical location; to a first-order approximation, it says, "Lila is nearby."

"... and easily findable."

I find myself taking these photos to document the bizarre idea that keeps repeating in my mind: "I know what that is, that's my car. That's my car. That's my car."


This post's theme word is chatoyant (adj), "having a changeable luster like that of a cat's eye at night", or (n), "a chatoyant gemstone, such as a cat's eye." My car is not chatoyant, but it is nevertheless easily distinguished from other vehicles and the surrounding environment.

Pride in teaching

SCENE 1: to the victor the spoils, to the curious the puzzles

Interior hallway, mid-day. LILA is walking purposefully to a meeting.

STUDENT 1: Will you be around later? I think I solved that puzzle you told me but I want to check and see if you can break it with more counterexamples.

STUDENT 2: How are you giving out secret puzzles? This seems unfair.

LILA: Anyone can come ask me for puzzles, I have a lot of problems I want to solve. Come to my office hours!

SCENE 2: wherein educational goals are satisfied

The scene is set: office hours, Friday afternoon. The campus is quiet as students flee for the weekend. Only the truly education-seeking students remain, winnowed down to their scholarly core.

ENTER a student.

STUDENT: I am confused about topic X which we learned two weeks ago. I remember it was confusing then and I'm not sure what to ask you, but I'm confused.

LILA: [quick explanation of topic X, reframed in terms of what we've done in the past two weeks]

STUDENT: Oh, it seems so simple now! I have no idea how I was ever confused, this is totally straightforward and easy.

LILA explodes in delight and absolute teaching fulfillment. Bystanders are scalded by beams of pure joy, campus security must be called, paramedics are deployed, the area is cordoned off and several students are rushed to emergency medical services.