June Bug

I want one of the new Volkswagen Bugs. Mine would be charcoal gray (cuz that's one of my favorite colors), tinted-as-dark-as-possible windows with a CD player (cuz I don't have one in the car I have right now). And the personalized license plate would say "JUNE" (get it? June Bug? cuz that's my birthday month and it's the actual name of an insect). The ones I've seen out on the road have some really cool plates. One said "IN A RUG" and a black one proclaimed "IH8RAID". How cute is that?

Realistically, it's not practical. When I do festivals that require me to bring my own tent, table and chairs, there's no way they would fit. Hell, they barely fit in my own car. I have to pull down seats to get them in there. It's going to be worse, I'm sure, when I have to cart around more boxes of books. I might have to break down and get rid of my little 2-door. And get a 4-door.

I like the idea of personalized license plates, though (the one on my car is a reference to my zodiac sign) and was thinking up some when I first started driving oh-so-many years ago. They make for interesting road trip games. Or when you're sitting in traffic. There have been a couple of times where I've seen a personalized license plate and thought "That's dumb. Why would you put that on your car?" Or I couldn't figure one out. Or where I wanted to roll down my window and ask the driver "What does your license plate mean?" It's funny, but there's a small section in my local newspaper (the AZ Republic) where they print a picture of a personalized plate, track down the owners and find out how they came up with the name.

I've wondered how they do that. Does someone intentionally go around taking pictures of personalized license plates? Or do they just take one if they happen to be out and about? How do they track the owners down? Do they follow them until they stop somewhere? Scary thought. Do they go thru the DMV? Another scary thought. What's even scarier? They print the owners' name and where they live (city-wise, that is, no address) next to the picture. At first, I thought that was kinda neat. "Hey, there's Mary and John's license plate in the paper." And then I thought, "What better way for a carjacker/serial killer/disgruntled employee/stalker/abusive ex-boyfriend or husband to find me?" Yeesh, can you imagine?