what's up?

aware

i think i’m trying to block the sadness i’m feeling from losing my brother with something that makes me happy—going to cars shows and posting pictures again. it’s a nice distraction. i’ve missed it. i don’t miss the heat.

i am supposed to be scanning old family slide carousels to digital, but the little scanner my older brother loaned to my mom sort of sucks. fifty slides in, i decided to check the quality. i’m not liking the color. i guess i’ll reset the little scanner to the defaults, and just be done with it. but i’d rather work on my cars…

this week, better half and i decided to go to the latin gents’ cancer awareness cruise. forgot to bring my hat, but i did smear sunblock on before we left the house. i am aware that my pale skin and genetics will predispose me to a lovely sunburn, at the very least.

better half had to be out until about one in the morning, so we both slept in a bit later than we otherwise would have liked. we didn’t arrive until after ten, and the sun was cooking already.

we spent about an hour, shooting just two aisles of cars, before i needed a break from the sun. we went into carl’s jr for about another hour, having a burger and chugging some water. figured the light wasn’t going to change much in the middle of the day to make a difference in the pictures anyway.

only spent another hour and a half after that, and i’d had enough sun for the time being.

this is one of the latin gents’ club’s cars. i don’t remember a red fleetmaster from anywhere, but i haven’t been going out much the last couple of years, so that doesn’t mean anything.

silly us, after this show, we decided we’d drive out to legg lake, and check out the bbq show going on there. another forty minute drive, we could cool off in the air conditioned car, and be ready to take more pics.

well, we drove to the gate on rosemead boulevard, which was closed, but had a sign to take the freeway one exit to another gate. this allowed us to pass by where the cars should’ve been. well, by about two pm, there really wasn’t too much there to justify paying the entrance fee, so we skipped it. headed back to our old hood in uptown whittier, and better half picked up some overly zealously garliced chicken and some sides at the chicken koop. it’s currently stinking up the refrigerator. he says it’s very good, but i haven’t ever tried it. maybe another day.

headed home after, and we both took naps for a few hours.

thinking about hitting up huffarama next weekend, if the fires in the area are out…

too soon

still haven’t fixed the camera yet. i don’t think my needle-nosed pliers are long enough to shove the spring back into the tabs at the bottom of the battery compartment. out of warranty, so i think i will make a few calls to repair shops. it works fine otherwise, i.e., i haven’t worn it out like my previous cameras.

with valentine’s coming up, my better half thought it was timely, and plunked down some recent overtime money on a new camera body for me. it’s an upgrade from the one i’ve been shooting, and of course the menu is totally different.

he wanted me to get out and test it, in case he needed to return it. he fully expects me to hate it, as i have every other camera he has handed me.

i happened to know of a few things going on this past weekend. could have gone to mooneyes show out in irwindale, but i’m still unsure how i would do at a big show, so decided to go to the fundraiser for betty, who had passed away recently, out in montebello park. it was also the eighteenth birthday for her son. she seemed seemed so young, and was definitely well-loved. kind of a bummer all the way around.

due to the meds the doctor has given me, i slept in until nine. they are supposed to relax my nerves, to help my head and arm heal. mostly, i can’t sleep until the middle of the night, then i am a zombie until late morning, and struggle to be functional on work days. thankfully, i don’t have to drive to an office, and can just roll out of bed to work.

whatever the reason, we didn’t arrive until elevenish, way later than i am used to. we were pleasantly surprised at the number of clubs that had shown up to support the family, and plenty of cars to test the camera out on.

parking lot was full, and we got lucky finding a parking space a block away.

the weather had done a one-eighty from rain and winter chill, to this almost perfect summer day in the eighties. good news for the fundraiser, bad news for me. i can’t tolerate the heat anymore. i’m so falling apart.

we walked to the front of the park, better half making his way over to find a donation box. i saw some people i hadn’t seen in a while, and caught up a little.

decided we would stop with betty’s car (above), and shoot down the block, then cross the street shooting back up that side, with intentions of going through the cars in the parking lot.

i haven’t really shot much since i fell in october. i’m out of practice, this camera is quite set the way i like it. handed to my better half to see if he could dial in the settings in the endless menus. couldn’t find one setting, and i finally just decided to look it up later, and do some shots.

this late in the day/early in the afternoon, there is more traffic zipping by in the background. so i prefer to try and time the shots with the traffic lights. this camera has settings that let me do a short delay to let the camera settle, so i don’t have to use my remote shutter. the first few pictures are slightly shaky, i jiggled the tripod, or just didn’t let it settle out of nervousness.

this one isn’t as sharp as later pics, but i like it anyway. the files are a hell of a lot bigger and take up more hard drive space. i’m going to need a new computer soon. lol. bottomless pit upgrading gear.

anyway, we continued down the street as planned. i do notice my arms are turning pink from the sun. i’m wearing my hat to keep the sun off my scar, but it’s also holding in the heat on my head. my the time we get to the other side, i am already starting to feel a bit wobbly, and my arm is a little achy.

half-way down the other side, my better half is saying my face is getting red. he knows i’m stubborn about having to stop, but by the time we get to the true pride club tent, i tell him i don’t think i can continue. he says it’s about time i admitted it, and gets me across the street to some shade, and goes to find a bottle of water.

we sit a bit, pack up the bags. i have enough stubbornness to walk back to the car. past all the pretty cars i didn’t get to shoot. really sucks.

i don’t think he’ll be “letting me” go to any shows for a while, and not without him. “letting me,” is probably the wrong phrase, as, if i am determined, he can’t stop me, and he’d start packing his camera gear for the drive.

but i admit that i was kinda scared that i was so close to feeling like passing out, more than any other time before i was injured. more than that show in temecula, where it was over a hundred degrees out…that sucked too.

maybe the cold weather will come back. i’ll try again then.

back too soon, i guess. i’ll be dipping into my backup drives for a few more months, but at least i have plenty to keep me busy.

junk on the trunk

here’s a beautiful back side from several years ago. so smooth. so shiny. subtle airbrush and an interesting color combo. really nice.

i haven’t done much all weekend, except drive out to temecula to see my grandkids. no car show as the alternate reason this time. just to visit.

better half was supposed to work all weekend, but coworkers didn’t show up to do their part, so he kicked back saturday, and cleaned house sunday. the stuff he was cleaning the tub with gave me a headache and the incentive to head over the mountain to see my boy and his family.

he worked regular days yesterday and today, while i mostly slept in. didn’t really get anything i planned to do done. thinking i’ll at least look through the last batch of pictures i took last week at mission san gabriel, or the show before that one, or the show before that one. so many pics…

so tired lately. i have a headache now. they’ll be shooting off fireworks nearby in a few hours, so the traffic and parking should get interesting around here, as always. trying to decide if i should bail and head to my mom’s now or after the hullaballoo.

i'm tired

i’m thinking that i need a new computer and more hard drive space. hoping to get to more shows in the future, and this camera pops out big files—but not as big as the files on my better half’s new camera. he’s already got himself a new gift for the holidays, and hopes to join me at some car shows.

he came with me to the bomb club show in october, and had a good time. was using his old camera with a lens he hadn’t used in a while.

we both shot this car. i just saw it over his shoulder, on his computer. he’s thinking about posting again on his website, which he’s ignored for far too long. not sure when or if he’ll share his version, but i like mine.

cars are moving in the background, and the owner is in the car, so this from the end of the show and drive out.

i’ve had a cold since thanksgiving. probably a bit earlier than that, when i complained to my doctor about my earache. earache, my eye. she said nothing was wrong then. nothing is ever wrong when i bother to go to a doctor’s office.

this thing moved from behind my eyes down to my throat and has pretty much stayed there. i’m coughing up a lung, even after two weeks, though i have no other symptoms. tested negative for covid at least four times now, so just a boring old cold, i guess.

i’m hoping to shake it off before the next vail headquarters car show in a couple of weeks. all the better reason to go out and see my grandkids there in temecula.

as you would expect, if you’ve read this blog for a few years, i’m not in the mood for xmas, and haven’t even looked at buying gifts yet, if at all. i’ve got some time off coming up, so maybe we’ll get out of the house, or help my mom put the decorations away after the holidays.

can’t believe my dad will have been gone four years come xmas eve.

can't stand it

here’s a beaut from a month ago, out at pomona. managed to frame this up by itself, but the other cars are reflected in the paint. wish they’d take the auto club banners down.

recently, i took my mom out to dinner. on the previous visit to this restaurant, it had started raining lightly, then gradually harder, as we looked out the window. she worries that her hair will become a mess, and that someone she knows will see her. that’s never the case, and who cares? she vaguely looks like queen elizabeth, same hairstyle.

we dashed out to the van, her hair survived under her umbrella. all was right in the world.

this last visit, though…yes, it was supposed to rain, but supposedly a bit later in the evening. figured we’d have enough time to eat there and get back to her garage, no threat to her hair helmet.

as we ate, the sky got darker and darker. and then the skies just gushed a tumult of water, down on the cars, the street, the building, the sidewalk…of course the umbrella was in her van. she walks slowly, with a cane.

we waited a bit, hoping it would let up. our food done, and no sign of let up, i offered to run and bring her car from the handicap spot just right there, basically backing it up and lining up with the curb on at the front of the building. there is a small overhang, and i’d hoped that would be enough to get her in the vehicle without getting too soaked.

i don’t care if i get wet. i’d go full shawshank, if it was my car, and no one was waiting for me, really throw my hands back and get soaked.

turns out, it didn’t matter. between the building and the van, the parking lot levels down in the middle, i suppose to drain water out in case of rain.

this deluge had overwhelmed whatever drainage was there, and basically there’s a river to swim to get to the car. so i ran, head down to the van in the handicap spot. i thought i could possibly jump across most of the river, and maybe save my sandals from inevitable water damage, but either i can’t jump anymore, or it was wider than i thought. it was deep enough, my foot went totally beneath the water. and cold too. great.

i blipped the unlock button on her key fob, and opened the door.

only, there was a man in the driver’s seat. and he screamed like a woman. he grabbed the door handle and pulled it shut, the water flying in as i’d surprised him. stupidly, i’d opened the door of a van that had been parked right next to my mom’s.

momentarily shocked, it took another moment to go, duh, and yell sorry to the poor guy, then run around to the front of the correct van, right next door. enough time to get thoroughly soaked.

then had to wait to back up, due to a passing car. by the time i’d backed up to the curb, my mom had hobbled out from under the overhang, which really didn’t keep her dry. at least she didn’t have to wade across the river, but her precious hair was truly well and done…soaked and droopy.

she laughed when we looked at each other, and as i told her how i’d scared the crap out of that other driver, while i drove her home.

get on with it

hoping the bomb club show at santa anita won’t have to be postponed again. [edit — as of 7/29 this show has been cancelled] october usually means travel, celebrating our anniversary. lucky number thirteen coming up.

at least the weather then can be so unpredictable, and hopefully not so summer hellish hot.

this topless babe is from a couple of years ago, early morning overcast. i do love that.

—————

my mother-in-law died a month ago. she was a month shy of ninety-three.

a long time coming, it happened too fast, after all.

the house is quiet.

better half was directed to not “dawdle,” and take care of her personal effects quickly. going through papers, boxes, and items stored in the garage. a lifetime of living doesn’t disappear fast enough.

the xmas tree finally had to come down; won’t be able to get her furniture out the front door otherwise. ten thousand lights took five evenings to unwind off the branches. how will we be able to navigate the streets, without that fruity beacon in the dark?

now we are free to travel, yet we cannot go anywhere. every day is exhausting. there is a piece missing.

we each hear her call to us in the middle of the night, as she used to; better half gets down the hall to her doorway, only to realize the room is empty of the life that was his constant companion these past few years, these past half dozen decades.

so you might say we’ve been a bit preoccupied. you’d think there would not be enough water inside yourself, to produce all of the tears. they are less sad, and more the happy memory variety now, but those have been hard won. just have to let them have their way with you, and get on with it.

goodbye, enedina. you were well loved, and sorely missed…

break in radio silence

been some time since i bothered to boot my computer. just haven’t much to say. you’d think with the world going to hell, i’d be bursting to chat. chatty kathy, that’s not me. i’m happily sequestered at my mom’s house. happy hermit introvert.

my condo is almost totally renovated, and i’m almost tempted to go hide out there, except there’s no wifi, and i do have to work.

been spending time sorting through some of my dad’s stuff. rearranging the computer set up for my mom, dismantling his computer room. i guess there’s some stuff i could sell online, if there are people looking for older computer parts.

i have been stymied by one of his external hard drives, with a password on it. one that isn’t on a basic list he left behind. i’m imagining a porn collection. it’s encrypted, and i can’t reformat it for other use, even if i wanted to. i’ll continue to snoop around, but the secret code may have been tossed a couple of years ago already.

so this past weekend, i dug out one of my older backup drives i had hidden here, and booted my system. this one had pics from when i started doing this thing of mine, back in 2009/2010. turns out, my carefully tended and keyworded lightroom catalogs are so out of date, as to be unreadable by the current version. so, fuck.

ended up creating a new catalog, and importing the pictures again. those are fine. just not tagged anymore. gdi. oh well.

randomly selected this one from 2010. bob’s big boy broiler in downey on a random wednesday. anyone remember those days, when the lot would be full to the back lot? back when i’d go out there every wednesday for months, and my better half probably got so sick of it, but he’d go anyway.

old camera, old lens. my rusty eye taking the shots. i dunno. it was a learning curve. used to shoot them all low on the ground, pushed up close. wishing i’d shot a few more showing more of the side, but i was still learning about the camera and lens then.

the sky in the evening would sometimes turn out more red than blue or black, only hinted at in the bits of sky here.

wonder if this show finally just died out, along with the older guys that used to be there. no one there now, of course.

low battery

here’s a fleetline from the azalea festival in south gate. so sparsely attended this past year, was relatively easy to set up a good shot from any angle.

———-

sitting in an eatery uptown. apparently they had a pride parade or something earlier here in whittier. or it could just be halloween is coming, but i did see a guy dressed as a nun wearing a fully oversized headdress, a la sally field’s flying nun, only like albatross size.

a group of large local college gurls are in here dressed half assed pridey, with rainbow hair and a ribbon, but otherwise, just jeans and tshirts. they’re using valley girlesque speech to talk about some guy they all seem to know in common, and how if they ask if he wants to “smash” and he says no, he’ll still be their friend. i’m thinking, they’re here for the pride thing not because they are gay, but more just so they can dress up and say they were there. sounded like shallow dipshits anyway, the type that can get a guy to “smash” them after a few too many drinks and last call. stupid bitches.

i’m in a mood. alarm went off at five-fifteen, as directed. every intention of going to a nearby car show pancake breakfast fundraiser. then went back to bed instead. maybe i’ll try an evening show later.

stayed up too late chatting with my better half, who i haven’t seen for most of a week because i’ve been sick. unless you count the five minutes i came back to whittier to get clothes. he met me at the back door wearing black rubber gloves and a face mask—no, he wasn’t suggesting what could be a good time for some people—he handed me the same, then ran off to the front room.

his mother’s door was closed and i was allowed to go back to our room to pack some clothes. he could have packed a bag and left it outside but was afraid he’d pick the wrong things, so ok. he called me patient zero. surprised he didn’t ask me to say, “i am oz. the great and powerful..” or some heavy metal songs…”bow to me splendidly…” i think he expected me to float off the ground and my head to do a three-sixty, nashing my teeth.

threw some stuff together and left quickly. no doubt he lysol-bombed the room, hallway and laundry room after i left. the usual steps to keep his mother from catching a cold which would put her in the hospital. whatever.

i’m also an idiot for trying to wean off of some medicine i’d been taking for over a year, only to realize i’d been taking the incorrect dosages about the time i’m down to what should have been the last days of the stuff. no wonder i was sooooo tired, and apparently, probably caught the cold as an added bonus because of it.

so, i’m put back on about half of what i was originally taking, and slowly going to taper off all over again. nasty shit, supposedly really bad to take for long periods of time, and i was feeling a lot of the negative side effects. hoping what i was originally taking the stuff for has gone away, because i don’t have a lot of options otherwise. alternative med made me swell up and just want to die, which is generally not a desired result.

hmmm, what else is going on since i last shared? lots of things, many i shouldn’t mention, cuz it’s not about me. i’m an observer—could i just share my observations? maybe some other time.

as usual, too much work, looming deadlines, not enough hired help. out of the office for two days didn’t help either.

daughter and her dog beast living at my mom’s now. another broken boyfriend, who was “the one” out the door. she has no where else to go with that big dog. i was in the process of kicking her out of my condo, when the hoa changed the rules so her beast isn’t allowed anyway. come to think of it, they probably changed them because of that dog.

sister should be coming back from a vacation in russia this weekend. always to strange, far off places. i always wonder if she’ll make it back alive, if not in some foreign prison, accused of being a spy or transporting exotic monkeys in unmentionable places. interesting stories galore, but, i’d have no interest in going so far for a good time.

i suppose i should head back to the house. probably have to go to the office tomorrow, so need to spend “quality” time with my guy. the way i’m feeling, it will probably be more like a long nap instead.

hellraiser

glad this week is over. more overtime, but i think i just may have caught up to today’s deadlines. new onslaught scheduled for monday. i’m in no hurry, but weekends always seem to race by, only to find myself negotiating with the alarm on monday morning, or any morning lately, for just ten more minutes.

have had some hours off to go take some tests at the doctor. trying to figure out why i passed out in april. being very thorough, because i still feel wobbly a bit most days.

this week, they strapped something resembling a bathing cap on my head, that had holes in it in various places. these holes were then each poked and wiggled and scratched into my scalp with a large, somewhat blunt needle.

i imagined them jamming a needle into each hole, my face covered with a grid pattern…

said needle, did scare me a bit when i initially walked into the room and saw it sitting on the counter, atop the clean medical hankie, along with some other odds and ends.

nah, was just used to apply some sort of conducive gel, so that this lovely cap could zap electical waves into my head to brain waves.

the medical technician did not say, “prisoner, electricity will now be passed into your body until you are dead, in accordance with the state law. may god have mercy on your soul.” i totally would. that or, “is that the best you can do?” which is what the figure in an electric chair, that my better half gifted me long ago, said when activated, then commenced jiggling noisily.

i had a couple of little nippular looking hickies on my forehead for about an hour after, to which my better half said, “your horns are finally coming out of your head.” lol. i argued it involved an octopus.

the rest of my head has just been sore and itchy for a few days.

as they say, no news is good news.

—————

beautiful fleetline at the uptown show, much too early in the morning last week.

strange days

it’s been a strange couple of weeks, since i got back from europe.

sick/not sick—no fever, just a cough that won’t go away. at this point, mostly gone. really miss being able to work from home, and not have my coworkers cringe and call me hacker.

the maintenance light popped on my car, time for an oil change. made an appointment. only two-hundred and thirty-plus thousand miles on it, so gotta keep it going.

finally felt well enough to go see my dad in the hospital. decided to go wednesday after work. three o’clock comes, and i have to get out of a conversation about what fate has befallen a coworker that hasn’t shown up for two days and no notice as far as the boss can remember. my offer was he was unconscious on the floor, and his cat had already eaten half his face. supposedly, they continued on without me, but mine was the most morbid.

anyway, as i was saying, out to my car in the parking garage. it won’t start. lights working, dashboard all lit up with all the warning lights, but engine…pfft. sucks, since i’m missing my best chance at missing a lot of the traffic.

walked to the parking office, to see if they had jumper cables. worker bee hops in his golf cart with a portable charge, and heads up to meet me at my car. of course he assumes i stupidly left the lights on…i didn’t. he clamps the cables to the battery and it starts right up, thank you very much.

off i go to the freeway, half an hour late. only a little stop and go, but still took an hour to get there. mom had already left for the day. after decades of not driving on the freeway, she’s been going daily, between rush hours, to sit in the room with my dad. they had to put him in a hospitial miles from home, since no where closer wanted to deal with him, and he was too sick to just go in a rehab home.

gotta put on gloves and a gown to visit his room. he has cooties or something, picked up from the other hospital. on heavy duty anti-biotics, but almost cured.

spent an hour and a half chatting with dad, telling about my trip, asking when they were going to cut him loose. talked about my kids, my brothers, my sister, whatever popped into his mind to fill the empty spaces. his dinner arrived, so helped set him with that. decided to head out before it got too late, and noting that with traffic, it would still take another hour to get to whittier from there.

called my better half, who suggested i go down the street to pep boys and have them check the battery, just for his peace of mind. shall i say, english was not the technician’s first language, but i understood enough that he said the battery was ok, i should check the alternator. told him i already had an appointment, so would have it check then. said battery would be ok to get home, but car would probably not start in the morning.

let better half know. he suggested i turn around and go back to my mom’s house for the night, as any place i took the car to, i’d be able to get to the office for the day, versus whittier, where i’d have to take the day off unable to connect to work computers.

fine. drove back in heavy traffic. decided to stop for dinner before heading to her house. already close to eight p.m., stopped at togos and ate a sandwich and chips, not realizing they closed at eight.

finished up, only finishing half the sandwich, going to give the other half to my mom. car won’t start. engine won’t even pretend like it wants to twitch.

togos employees are sweeping, but the door is still unlocked. i ask if they have jumper cables, but they both say no. i realize later, when each brings their bike around the building why they wouldn’t be able to help.

i call aaa. tell them about the battery, and that it’s probably the alternator. they advise to not just send a car to jump it, as it might just die while i’m driving it. tow truck will take about forty-five minutes to get there. oh well.

called my mom, told her my predicament, that if she wasn’t busy could she come and get stuff from the car so i could have it towed straight to a garage and leave it overnight. and the sandwich was at risk too.

she showed up in curlers, i loaded my stuff in the trunk, handed her the sandwich, but she insisted on staying until the truck showed. she’d left my kid’s dog alone in the house, thinking it wouldn’t take long. he behaved, for a change.

truck still took over an hour to get there, so i was happy she stayed. it was dark.

by the time we got to the house, it was after ten. climbed into the twin bed, tired. dog-beast jumps up, and promptly takes most of the bed. pretty much get no sleep until the kid shows up close to midnight to fetch her dog.

cough mostly for the next two, only to have to get up for work two hours after that.

and it ended up just being the battery…couldn’t hold a charge. so wtf, pep boys guy?

i see this old dodge quite often. used to be more difficult to get a decent shot of it, not up next to other cars, or a wall or whatever.

still not quite on it’s own, but good enough.