Snapshot

I see striking signifiers as I commute every day through Redmond: the quiet dignity (read annoyance) of a person waiting for a bus, or someone walking who, by their gait, I can tell is pushing through painful locomotion challenges.
Then there are the neon green Italian sports cars, the Teslas, the Smart cars, and the Northern European status triad–Audi, BMW, and Mercedes Benz–each jockeying for social pole position. In my rear view mirror today was a shiny black Mercedes sedan with a silver grille and silver medallion on the nose of the hood, as classy as you would expect of the marque, but precariously tacked onto the bumper, far right of center, was the license plate, at the same 45-degree angle as the bow on Hello Kitty. I think someone forgot to read their style guide.