what's up?

out of touch

hello. just to be dull and repetitive, super busy at work, so nothing too much interesting to write about just now. back behind the orange curtain, leaves nothing but either souped-up hot rods or packards fixed up to showroom perfection. basically, i’m jonesing for the classics.

lots of changes at work, with people leaving, fewer joining. big workload. probably most people dos-si-do-ing to better employment options for a while. working half at the office and half at home sort of does suck, but better than all at the office.

yet, i still see no time to get to any shows for a few weeks. i’ve yet to set up my computer at home still, so there’s that problem. i think i’m just burned out from work, and just can’t.

flipping through some oldies, and found this shot from a show three years ago in montebello, which i missed today. mmm. master deluxes.

benefit show for the christian school, it usually fills the front and back parking lots.

i’d have gotten there when they are still setting up, and the sun barely rising. shoot the cars in the street, then inside the fence as it filled up. outta there by ten, when it would get too hot.

oh, and the pancakes…let’s just say, not my favorite, the one year i ate them.

i also popped or strained my leg at this show once too, so it kinda gives me the heebeejeebees if i think about it. made it hard to walk for a while. probably just pulling the camera bag into or out of my trunk did it. i dunno. the thing is kinda heavy when it’s loaded up.

hoping to get to a ruby’s show, or even the wednesday show in norwalk in the next couple of weeks. promised someone i’d shoot their car, but they didn’t show up last time i was there back in may.

i might have to do jury duty in santa ana, so i’d be halfway there already. i do not miss that afternoon drive…

baby, it's cold outside

twenty-sixth of may, cold, rainy, gray. i love it. memorial day weekend, and haven’t really ventured very far from the house, except for my search for avocados yesterday.

i don’t want to deal with holiday traffic, so typically don’t travel to anywhere. better half can’t hardly get out to the supermarket while tending to his mom, so i feel guilty when i just take off to do whatever.

my kid seems to hit up solvang for an overnight every memorial day. something about picnics at vineyards. not sure if he went this year or not, since it was supposed to rain. i only know that he didn’t ask me to watch his dog, and if they did go, it was going with them.

other kid supposed to hang out with my mom for a few hours, so i don’t feel under pressure to not leave her alone for all three days this weekend.

trying to talk her into going to vegas later this summer, but really she’d be on her own there for several hours a day, while i attend some classes.

i want to take a vacation, but don’t want to go alone. i mean it’s great to go off on your own, and sleep in or do whatever without taking into consideration of another person. but there’s that desire to share the experience with someone else, and pictures don’t do whatever justice when you get back.

i’m feeling the itch to go back to canada, climb the mountains, sit in the meadow and look down over one of the many turquoise blue lakes. wondering how many more trips i have in me.

corvette hood from last year’s old memories pancake breakfast in montebello. used to be one of my favorite kind of cars as a kid, nothing unique.

was an overcast day there as well, but the clouds had a little more definition than today.

pretty sure i was attracted by the reflection for this shot at the time.

ponderings

as i was walking uptown to get a quick dinner, i had a thought bounce around my head. i haven't been to many car shows lately because i haven't been feeling good. should i really be thinking, i'm not feeling good because i haven't been to many car shows lately?

also, i've had to go to the market and drugstores a few times this past week. i don't feel the need to park as close as possible to the store doors.

i am finding it somewhat thrilling to walk the parking lot slalom: the midday heat has people sitting in their cars, motors running, air conditioning on. the exciting part is guessing which cars are actually going to back up on you, and which are just lazy a-holes waiting on significant others to walk the short distance from the store entrance.

the store would be far more cool, and your engine wouldn't have to work so hard, if you just get out of your dang car.

sold one of my fair pictures. i don't make money off of them when they do sell at the fair. i prefer to let them go at cost and enjoyed, than to have them piling up in storage. or only enter pictures i wouldn't mind having on my wall. but then, i do...i just don't have enough wall.

someone asked if i'd taken a picture of this convertible, after they'd seen it in the distance of another shot. yes i did, so i dug it up for them. pretty sure i've posted from other shows in the past.

family first

so many car shows yesterday, and i did not go to a one. sucks. as my better half says, "responsibility is a heavy responsibility." meaning, work and family before fun.

family is in town with a new baby - one that was kept secret from us until i noticed a facebook post on another family member's post. better half's mom just had her ninety-first birthday, so i guess the baby was somewhat of a surprise visit.

at least having other people in the house, allowed my better half and myself a chance to go out to dinner for the first time in months.

better half's mother still a priority. so i made another batch of enchiladas.

better half bought a new carpet cleaner. it really sucks. i mean it really cleans. literally did half of the carpets to see comparison of before and after and wow, even on this old crap carpet it's like night and day. wish the landlord would just tear it out and let the wood floors be.

meant to go to pomona this morning, but we were up so late last night, it didn't happen, and now it's already too hot for me. i am considering maybe a show in lakewood, where i know there is some shade, and better half can go shop at costco. i suppose next month the fair is in town, so no swap meet, right? maybe by the next one, it will be cooler? ha!

cool bike from the bomb club show. out in the parking lot, waiting for the go ahead to head to the infield. interesting airbrushing, and leather seat - is it ostrich? slap a few skulls on it and call it done.

random thoughts

last full day here in the cold north. maybe another time, i will go even farther, up into canada.

i've spent the day wandering around art museums, taking all the time i wanted to read about the artwork, or sit on my ass and watch the videos in the little display areas that loop about various pieces or art. was a decent mix of classic, native and local art. not anything too modern, which i find terrifyingly stupid, or maybe it's me, and i don't have my head far enough up my ass to appreciate or pretend to understand. maybe i just missed that class in college. i do enjoy the artist statements to try and explain why that crap is of importance, or justify it's existence, or price.

still trying to finish off this cold, especially before i get on an airplane tomorrow.

during my tedious hours on the road, i had plenty of time to ponder:

captain crunch is like broken glass when you have a sore throat
not one fast food place between home and here had fountain drinks that weren't flat, even those that used to be reliable. at least most had clean 'facilities'
while most of said dining establishments couldn't serve up meals that were quite right or edible, at least the employees were polite and friendly. just couldn't cook or do a sandwich for crap
i satisfied my daily wish to just keep driving, instead of going to work. maybe i should be a trucker, but then i'd grow to hate that
i do miss big trees and forests, rain and snow of my childhood, and glad i got to see it all again this trip
some people really shouldn't be given driver licenses and/or should study physics when deciding to swerve in front of eighteen wheelers.
oregon has xmas radio commercials selling guns. thirty bucks off on glocks for him or cute conceal carry purses for her. not to mention the adult edibles and smokables commercials. plenty for those last minute stocking stuffers.

i suppose there were other things, but i was driving and couldn't jot them down. mind like sieve sometimes.

deferred

i guess my impromptu roadtrip will be put off until the end of the month, or even to next month. looking forward to it even less them, as the weather will only get worse through oregon and washington. i wonder how much it is to just ship a car north. or my ex could just fly up and find something local, but he doesn't have time or trust the cars up there for some reason.

at least my boss is cool with whatever i need to do, whenever i need to do it. so many things intersecting, i don't know how i'll get through, except to just do it.

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pretty bel air out on the street at the old memories' pancake bfast a couple of months ago. almost kinda want one, just this color. but then i remember i'd rather have a fleetline.

got out

went out to the old memories show this morning. close enough, so that if i didn't feel good, i could get home quickly. on my own, i waited until the sun was already coming up, as it was overcast and there wasn't going to be any dramatic lighting happening.

this one was down the street on the corner, and i wasn't sure if it was going to be moved later, so i walked over and shot it first. love me a master deluxe. this one is a beauty.

i did manage to stay and shoot pictures for about three hours, with a break after a couple. the sun came out, and i started to overheat. sat in the auditorium to cool off. really wanted a water, but didn't want to buy a ticket, i assumed for the entire breakfast, which i didn't want.

the front lot got too packed, and so many people in the way, so i made my way to the back parking lot. veteranos parked back there, and no people in the way after they all went off to eat.

i was done after that, and packed it up and called it a day. went home and took a nap.

saw you

was out for lunch today, mostly for the air conditioning. went to chipotle, because i guess i'm looking to get food poisoning once in a while. should have gone to vallarta market and got my carnitas fix, but some other time.

anyway, had a book with me—i know, who reads books anymore, right? read a few chapters in the back corner, while enjoying said air conditioning and a coke. finally decide to leave. on my way through the parking lot, this here car drives by me.

i guess he turned the wrong way, because his friends in another old chevy were honking at him. ya, he did a u-turn, and headed back the way he had come. my hands were full, or i'd have snapped a pic with my phone.

saw them all parked out back of pollo loco, on my way out of the lot.

figured, since i'd just seen it last night at a nearby park, i'd just post that one. if i remember right, i think he showed up relatively later than the other cars, but i still got a few shots before my better half came back to pick me up. i wasn't sure about the parking sitch, so he offered to drop me off/pick me up. it all worked out, even if he did get himself lost or something, coming back for me. thanks d.

countdown to game of thrones...now if i can get my sister-in-law away from nascar on the big screen...

line up

first bunch of cars i saw when i got to the imperials show. a line of old memories. i have a lot of old memories—and pictures of the cars too. took the opportunity of being there early and no crowds to block the view. sort of wishing i'd used my other wide angle lens, though maybe it would have gotten the same quality.

all stuff i like, i can't not shoot each and every one. way to start my day.

picking coins out of a bear's butt

fourth of july. sitting at my puter watching illegal fireworks through the window. was going to walk uptown, but my better half said that there are a-holes throwing m-80s in drive-bys. interesting city, whittier and los angeles. hate living somewhere, where you have to worry about something stupid like that. could be anywhere now-a-days, i guess. where i grew up, the worse to worry about was eggs being thrown.

there's been some jerk in the neighborhood spending time late in the evenings driving around tossing the things here and there, playing cat and mouse with the cops. i have a hard time falling asleep as it is, so thanks bozo. he just went by, and five seconds later, a cop, lights still dark following at a fairly quick rate...hope he catches him.

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here are some random cars, the right colors for the day. red, last night at ruby's; white, last april at chicano park; and blue, march at the unidos show at walnut high school. all chevy's, all beauties, all, i wouldn't mind having.

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oh, if you're wondering about the title, i've spent the last two days rolling all the spare change in the house. i don't have a piggy bank—i have a bear. he was stuffed so full of coins, i had to keep poking him in that little hole on the bottom to get them loose enough to shake out. i've had him for like thirty years, so i really didn't want to smash him.

found a 1945 mercury dime in my bear; a few other silver dimes in other jars.

between my change and the buckets my better half uses for his, we hauled over a grand to the bank. damn that stuff is heavy! but hey, all we need now are a few days off at the same time and a road trip is in order.