Pretty Flowers and Ugly Trucks

Yesterday was supposed to be my "go to the office for a little while" day and today was supposed to be my "go have fun and run errands" day, but yesterday someone above me had a water line leak and water was coming out of my ceiling lights in the kitchen. There wasn't any damage to my apartment since I'm on the bottom and it was several floors above, but I spend about four hours waiting, mopping, and keeping the lights off while maintenance worked their way down. That meant that everything I usually do over the course of the weekend got condensed to today only, and some stuff got dropped.

The trip I would have taken today was one of those things, but to make up for it I squeezed in an hour of walking around the university gardens between going to the office and going to the comic store. Last time I went it was raining, but it was much sunnier today, and I got some pretty shots:



I love that zoom way in setting.









I also saw some strange, waxy berries:



They looked like they were made of plastic, so I touched them while no one was looking and confirmed that they were real. I'm pretty sure they don't actually use plastic flowers at the gardens, but you never know.

I am also super proud of this picture:



I was sure the fly would buzz away before I could get all the way in and get focused, but for some reason he stayed put, and there it is. That's probably one of my best shots ever, and definitely one of the best ones I've taken at the gardens.

After the gardens I went to the comic store, and then was on my way to the grocery store when I saw this in the old K-Mart parking lot:



I turned in to the Taco Bell to loop back around so fast I'm surprised my tires didn't squeal.

"Did that truck say 'homosexual thieves'?"

Not quite, but close.

A few brief notes for the religious panel truck developers:

1) That's way too many words on the side of a truck for a four lane road. People drive fast on that street, and everybody doesn't have the time or inclination to turn around and see what your truck actually says. I got two words off of that, so you might want to trim your message down to that size. I suggest "SIN = BAD!" It's short and easy to read while I'm scanning the road.

2) Location is important! That parking lot is huge, and now that the bank and K-Mart are both closed, mostly empty. Park that thing up by the corner, so that people stuck at the light can read your huge block of text.

3) Spelling and grammar are important.



"Adultry" is not a word, but "adultery" is. If you want to appear to be an authority, appearing educated enhances your credibility. Also, does that part at the bottom say "Hatred is Murder, Abortion" or "Hatred is Murderabortion"? Do the murder and the abortion even have anything to do with each other, or are they two messages with poor spacing between them?

4) Think about your imagery. I didn't even realize that was Jesus on the front side until I'd gotten out of the car, and he looks pretty rough there. Satan, on the other hand, looks like he just got done working his pecs in Hell's Weightroom. If I'm reading this correctly, the truck is trying to tell me that Jesus equals sweaty, screaming agony, and Satan equals Contestant Number Five at the West Hollywood Halloween Party. Mr. Red Abs and McSteamy Facial Hair is not the way to make homosexuality look unattractive.

I'm probably not that truck's target market, anyway, but still, that's my advice.