Shiney- An Imperfect Circle

• Event: An Imperfect Circle, ArtCar Rally around Loop 610
• Activity: SHINEY, ArtCar Scavenger Hunt
• Location: Houston, TX, US

They say we used to have wings. Not the polished, museum kind—ours were ragged, clever, oil-slick black. We were free-range crows, collecting the world in fragments: a lost earring, a chrome bolt, a candy wrapper that caught the sun just right. Treasure wasn’t about value—it was about shine.

We didn’t walk. We hopped. Sideways, forward, for no apparent reason except that movement felt good and the street belonged to us. When we saw each other, we screamed and honked joyfully, echoing off buildings and startling dogs.

But something changed. Maybe it was the city permits, the rules, the slow creep of “doing it right.” Feathers turned to fenders. We didn’t stop being crows—we just forgot how to recognize each other. Now we are ArtCars, misfit machines stitched together from memory and metal, still carrying the instinct to collect shiny things.

There’s a half birthday coming. Not official, just a crooked little milestone that doesn’t ask permission to exist. Let’s celebrate—not perfectly, not competitively, just honestly.

• Be like a crow again:
  • Collect something pointless and beautiful.
  • Hop—figuratively or literally—down the street because you can.
  • Scream and honk when you see your people, even if it’s just with headlights flashing.

Let’s draw a huge circle—38 miles around our 610 loop, like the paths we used to take through the sky. Save the date: September 27th. No grand stage, no trophies at the end. Just motion, presence, and the shared understanding that we’re still here. Still strange. Still shining. Still ours.

The only rule? Drive safe and mostly lawful. Leave just enough room for mischief to breathe. We may not have wings anymore, but we remember how to fly.