Making Signs

I promised people last week i'd be bringing my own sign this week. By people, i mean people with signs, cool homemade signs. I asked Clyde yesterday where he got that fine sign board. "Why, at Freddy's," he says. Man, i just got shirt paint and window paint there the week before last. How did i miss the sign boards. So i stopped at Freddy's on the way home from my check up. (The neck and ribs have healed just fine.) I knew where to launch my search for signage, and sure enough... there was a selection. I got 2 sizes made out of 2 different signboard substances just to be safe. Then i looked 20 minutes for an El Marko. I don't think they make them any more so i settled for a 4 pack of Sharpies; black, blue, red and green, with a tip made special for making signs. They weren't with the other pens. That's what took so long. As i unlocked my bike outside Freddy's another cycler (bikes with side bags and big baskets are for cyclers, not cyclists), he asked if i was purchasing art supplies. I told him they were protesting supplies. He let me know of a cool art supply store just up Hawthorne. I might go there if things don't work out with this stuff. Or if i have to change my message. But i have a plan for that. And a plan for traveling by bike with my signs, but i have to do a little tinkering first. Getting everything home in one piece was a bit tricky.

I already had my slogans worked out. "Impeach Alberto, Bush & Cheney" Get it? A B C... And on the reverse "Uphold and Defend the Constitution. I went with the first slogan first and zeroed in on the word "IMPEACH" choosing to make my point in all caps and red ink. The new Sharpie really laid it on heavy. I almost used the entire pen on this one word... red like my fury. I switched to blue for the names "ALBERTO BUSH CHENEY" again using all caps but this time mindful to go easy on the ink. Letters spaced well. It's just that now i wish i hadn't used blue for their names. It looks like a frickin' campaign poster if you don't get the first word, the red word. I should have used black... black like their hearts.

Proof-reading the finished product (spelling errors are a protester's worst nightmare), i noted the need for an "and" or something. I could use the black Sharpie. I didn't have the guts to copy the ampersand from my keyboard so i tried out an old favorite 'n. It's the one that looks like a 3 with a thing up and/or down. It turned out like two boobs... or balls... a boob ball. What a screw-up. And Sharpies are permanent. So i tried to improvise that other 'n ... the one like an upside-down or backwards 4. It wound up looking like something adapted from a swastika with barbed wire. Mission accomplished.

But the A B C gag doesn't stand out well enough. So i'll emphasize these three letters with dots. Another chance to use black... black like my rage, and by rage, i mean depression.