Inspection Expectation

Once again, I fail at game theory. I really need to start studying it, because this would help me avoid sitting outside an inspections bay at 7:00 A.M. with no one behind me, and probably no one behind me at all when the bay opens at 7:30 A.M.

I wanted to try to get here to be first in line, so I could get to work not much later after 8:30 A.M. Since I sat around with nothing to do, I figure I would just drive up and sit. However, after 10 minutes, still the only person in line. I wish I was not swayed by the last Saturday I drove up, when four cars were waiting. To be fair, the bay probably has multiple garages, allow for multiple simultaneous inspections, but the signs imply there is only one inspector.

This is part of my reliance on vehicles. It's roughly ten miles to work now. If I were to receive a bicycle from a random source, would it be feasible to bike there and back? If there were a shower, I'd rush that down like a fighting game champion.

What about running to work? Lot of training required, and not something I could do both ways in a day, or more than a few times a week.

I'm still a fan of the point-to-point catapult system. Pay your $20, strap some padding on, and launch to waypoint. Unfortunately, any catapult strong enough to hop me to LockMart would also likely constitute a blight upon the landscape.

I suppose flying might be an option, except first I would have to drive to Dulles International Airport, then fly out of Dulles International, fly into Dulles International, and drive to work. Somehow counterproductive, again. Not quite what I intended.

7:20, still no one behind me. Better safe than sorry, but better rested than safe.

***

I've been toying with getting inked. Nothing elaborate, just a lower-case X on my left shoulder, toner-black, Times New Roman, 12 point font. It would be pretty small, and from a distance, might even resemble a birthmark or other identifying market. But it wouldn't be one of those meaningless tattoos that people get.

So the joke goes, do you see people in Asian countries get tattoos of random words in English, since people in America get random Chinese words tattooed on their bodies? I could be a semi-punch line, and at least I would know what the damn thing stood for (the 24th letter of the alphabet).

I sign my name on occasion with an X where my middle initial would go. As my cousin A.L. told me all those years ago, X stands for "no middle name."

X is the unknown.

X marks the spot, here there be pirate booty. Though mine doesn't quite rise to the level of pirate booty, I'd like to think the junk I carry in my trunk is not a bad substitute.

X fits into so many of my favorite words. Exasperate. Exit. Excellent. Exactly. Exacting. Annex. Extemporaneous. Ax. Axe. Exult. Exalt. Maximum.

I'm a fan of the lower-case letters. None of the excessive capitalization that German touts.

X is a simple design, two line segments intersecting at the midpoint.

X is also a universal design. We all call it different names, but we are all familiar with it.

You can form an X with your forearms. You can form an X with your legs. You can form an X anywhere.

I probably won't get it, but it's something to toy with if I have too much time on my hands.