it's a free ride, when you've already paid.

ask anyone who has ridden with me (car, golf cart, segway) and they will firmly attest to the fact that at any point in time, i only have the vaguest idea where i'm going. my sense of direction extends to include the knowledge of the existence of north, south, east, and west; but these rarely come into play in my day-to-day life. i use north the most of all, for the system i've developed for getting out of downtown depends on knowing that even numbered street go to one major highway, odd numbers to another, and i can take either one north, for i know i live north of everything interesting.

this is where sign reading has become a vital and irreplaceable part of my life. as i drive down the interstate, mildly lost on my way to a school i attended for a good ten years of my life (i blame the presence of the new toll road confusing my horizons) road signs become the guideposts of my existence. while others may use their mystical sense of direction, i become the instigator of many almost-wrecks as i rubberneck to look at the sign for the exit i should have taken. luckily, that's what u-turns are for.

fun fact: u-turns that go under or across the highway by way of frontage roads without having to wait at the light are referred to as texas turnarounds.

anyhow, through my obsessive reading of signs and my inability to make the correct turn for the occasion has lead to quite the number of discoveries of neat (is it socially acceptable to use that word?) and surprisingly hidden places. the other week i followed signs to a theater across a low-water, one-lane bridge and ended up at an almost completely shaded park (a necessity in texas) joined by a creek, and at that time, swarmed by a child's birthday party.

but sometimes the unintentional irony of signs breaks through, much to my amusement. the following is a project i did to fill a six-part picture frame of 3x3 spaces. i focused on signs that displayed some element of irony, though the fourth one i included mostly because i thought it was a neat sign, but as steven pointed out, it's irony is derived from being the only not ironic photo.



please come to a full and complete stop at normal.
(cape giradeau, missouri, usa)




and a formidable bicycle it is.
(arlington, texas, usa)




because swimming in water is so passé.
(arlington, texas, USA)




the 'p' sound is nonexistent, much like the ffa's presence outside of west texas.
(pflugerville, texas, usa)




the future of the next oregon trail
(pflugerville, texas, usa)




warning: there is a powerline... up.
(arlington, texas, usa)