what's up?

mirror, mirror

1965 buick riviera

1965 buick riviera

very shiny riviera, from before covid (bc?). it’s an older model than the one my mom used to drive, and waaaay nicer.

i like how reflective the hood was, even on an overcast day. that’s better than a spit shine; it’s elbow grease.

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last day in arizona. upper nineties today. i hear it only made it to the sixties back home…i’ll be there as soon as i can…

learned a lot on this trip, my brain so full of new ideas, it might ‘splode. looking back through the copius notes i took, pretty sure i won’t understand my own handwriting next week. every class had online handouts, and was videotaped, so i can go back and translate later.

also remembered that it is better to not gaze into the concave magnifying mirror in the hotel bathroom. the reflection isn’t what it used to be, and the attention to detail leaves my camera in the dust. glasses off made no difference. every pore, hair and wrinkle…like the lunar surface through a high-power telescope. ick.

already went out for dinner. thought about a big restaurant meal, but decided i really wasn’t hungry enough, so just did fast food at a truck stop on the other side of the freeway. really disappointing, about what i expected, but it was interesting to wander around the store.

skipped the casino; didn’t feel like breathing cigarettes and whiskey fumes, if it’s anything like vegas used to be.

i’m all packed, so hot bath and tv for me. i can sleep in a while in the morning, before i have to pedal back to the airport. don’t even need to top off the tank, i didn’t really go very far.

better half says he’s feeling better, but hasn’t really left the house all week. almost out of food, except for a bit of guacamole i made before i left. says it’s mostly sticking to the avocado pits i left in the bowl. i told him he should put those balls in his mouth and suck it. it’s ok to spit the seeds out. enjoy.

i hope he still picks me up at the airport tomorrow.

power out again

1946 chevy stylemaster

1946 chevy stylemaster

same game as last week, posting one an hour until i’m out of the pics in my draft mode. power only seems to be out on this block and not uptown. just back from lunch. it’s hot.

left clothes to dry while i was gone; wonder if they finished. trying to cool off first, but no fan…guess a cold shower will work just as well.

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shot this several months ago in diamond bar. nice and overcast. decent turnout. kinda liked the matte blue color for no reason at all.

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setting my timer for one hour….

magnet

1950 lincoln zephyr

1950 lincoln zephyr

front sight 2-46.jpg

was slowly easing my way around cars at the front sight show a few weeks ago. run into tudy, who asks if i’d shot his friend’s zephyr yet, as they are about to head out to another show.

nope, i was starting at the back of the show and working to the front, which happens to be where that car is parked. so i finished the car i was focused on and headed on over.

sure it is a beautiful car. beautiful cars attract people, which were surrounding it like metal to a magnet. i guess it could be a chick magnet, but i’ll just be crude and also call it a dick magnet, there were so many guys admiring it.

the owner was following behind me slowly, so i set up to shoot a few of whatever i could get before he got there to drive away.

the other shots are ok, cliche even. i sort of just like the front here for now. that’s the owner, there, just about ready to get in and disappear.

hammered

1956 chevy bel air

1956 chevy bel air

sorry i’ve been away from home for a while, and away from my computer. finally had a chance to go home for a night on wednesday. got dishes washed (better half has been sick and some had piled up), and had my dinner. packed my bag for the next day or two away.

finally, i was able to get to my computer. the power button is failing, but it started. had to do some tweaks to some artwork for my boy, who has quit his job and has decided to partner up with a fellow grad to start their own law firm. lemme know if you need an attorney or two—they specialize in personal injury and taxes, but can also do the usual contracts, wills, etc. that need legal attention.

that took some time out of the evening, but finally i could get back to my pictures.

i’d been to chicano park a couple of weeks ago, and took a couple thousand pics in the five hours that i was there. still sifting through those, and have only posted a couple.

last weekend, while most people were at the la puente kiwanis show, i was out at the front sight car show in diamond bar. apart from enjoying smaller shows because they aren’t as crowded, i was mostly there because the owner of this here car asked me to stop by. it was for a good cause…in honor of a veteran who had committed suicide, and to offer help to other veterans to prevent more joining him in the afterlife.

actually, most of the people i did talk to said they were there because tudy had asked them, or otherwise twisted their arms to be there. he’s a good guy, they were happy to stop by, but generally all were on their way to other shows shortly thereafter—la puente or one of several high school fundraisers.

back to the picture…let me explain. i’d spent almost a couple of hours fiddling with this car, getting the color as i liked it, spit shining the chrome, and adding my copyright to it. i saved the file, and had started an export so i could post it…

we live in an older place in whittier. his mother gets cold, so there’s a space heater near her bed. then the tvs are on in her room and the front room. i’m working at my computer with a fan running next to me, cuz i just overheat all the time. better half probably had his computer on, even though i think he had been napping.

his mom gave up coffee, and is now a big tea drinker. she sips at the same cup of tea for several hours, requiring multiple reheats through the day. not my cup of tea but whatever.

in the back of my mind i register the buttons on the microwave beeping as he punches in the time. he hits start and wanders off into the laundry room. thought nothing of it, as i’m overheating as usual. did not realize his mom had gotten chilled again, and had cranked up the heater.

yet again, the perfect storm of me saving out a picture and him overloading the circuits, and boom blows a fuse, and the lights go out.

he ain’t no dummy, that man o’mine. my computer has a battery backup. but either i’ve got the plugs on the wrong sockets, or it isn’t working, and my computer crashes. it used to happen so often, and the profuse profanity that would come out of me at high volume would make any sailor proud. now i just shrug, wait for him to reset the breaker, and turn the thing back on.

yup the file wasn’t done exporting, and both the export and the file i’d just spent precious time polishing were corrupted. the export wouldn’t open at all, and my source file was now flattened and only three-fourths there. just black at the bottom. so here it is, with a little embellishment, of what would have been a lovely picture of tudy’s chevy. not sure if i’ll rework it from scratch. i have so many other cars to look forward to sharing. oh well.

gotta kick that battery backup this weekend. one good thing i noticed though, was that the power switch seemed to be working properly again. maybe it got hammered the last time the system crashed, and this one cleared the problem up.

dammit anyway.

skelly bu

1971 chevy malibu

had such a busy morning, that i couldn't get out to two shows i wanted to get back to; did drive past one at original mike's in santa ana, but they'd already done the raffle and prizes, so everyone was bugging out an hour early. didn't bother to stop.

so i thought i'd try a new show today. went out to diamond bar or was it really walnut, at a show at yet another bob's big boy. have they cornered the market on shows? they're trying anyway. i've been to some that have so few cars, that they eventually stopped the show. this one, as told to me (was that you howard?), has only recently started.

taking his word for it, one can only hope more people will hear about it, as there wasn't much there. i'll give them a break — it's technically still a holiday weekend.

and was i seeing things, or did i see redd's ubiquitous plymouth here as well as at original mike's earlier, or is there an evil twin plymouth out there?