Today I saw several things that gave me pause, and while I failed to see many more, as I still have not perfected that 360 degree vision, what I saw brought me joy, in some strange way. Maybe it will you, too.

So now (and I’m allowed to do this, because I went to law school), I enter into evidence, the following:

Exhibit A. Chileans dressed in traditionalish Japanese garb, accompanied by a man in some sort of an exaggerated mortarboard or tophat. Perhaps this is related to a movie I know nothing about. I often know nothing about movies. Any thoughts?

Exhibit B. A poor soul whose job it is to dress up as the emblematic red circle of Santa Isabel (a supermarket) and wave at people on the street. I think it’s bad enough to dress up as a mascot that actually is something, but to dress as a red circle must be particularly demoralizing. But wait! perhaps it’s a disk, not a circle. That’s better, right? Oh wait, I just noticed the boots. It’s all bad.

Exhibit C. A beautiful street art mural behind a fence in an empty lot which has a tree in the middle. But it’s not just any tree, it’s an orange tree, which has dropped tons of fruit. How sad is that, all the wasted oranges and the tree trying to grow and the mural looks on, helpless to eat any of them. Also, the fence looks too hard to climb, which means I can get neither a better picture of the mural, nor the oranges. Got a ladder?

Exhibit D, which I did not take a picture of is an apartment in a dreamy neighborhood (Lastarria) which, and I am totally not kidding, is the EXACT SAME apartment that I already live in, except on a lower floor and with a slightly larger kitchen. Seriously. It’s the same. Same windows, same floors, same detail on the building. I’m pretty sure it’s the same architect. Which means that for 90,000 CLP (about $170) less a month, I guess I’ll just stay where I am for now, which brings me some joy, or at least less outgo of cash.

What’d you see today? (oh, and by the way, loving your private vigilante commentary, keep it coming!)