what's up?

to hell and back

here’s an old picture of an old car. an old car that looks better than a new car.

twenty nineteen was back when i was still going out to shows pretty regularly.

things were in a groove, everything normal.

granddaughter was born.

then covid shut things down for the tiniest bit of time.

anyway, this lovely was from a fundraiser out at the broiler in downey. it’s been sitting in the queue for a while, and i’m just sitting here pondering what to say.

like the overcast, my mood clouds my thoughts. i don’t write as much as i used to, my thoughts kept close in. i don’t have the long daily drive to whittier anymore to make note of fellow idiots on the freeway, or to laugh of my day’s doings.

but, my better half is downstairs, already fallen asleep on the couch, and i won’t wake him. he has a fan blowing across the coffee table, so he didn’t hear me creep back in from a short walk. he’s kept the air conditioner off all day, and it’s taking a while to catch up with the stagnant air.

i was at my mom’s all day, which is pretty similar—she get’s chilled if i turn on the air conditioner—so i slowly melt while i work. thought about dragging the fan downstairs from the room i slept in last night, but got too focused on what i was doing, i forgot about the heat.

we’ve been travelling a lot recently, and have some stories we could tell.

took a three week vacation. on a train to chicago again, and drove back, mostly route sixty-six or thereabouts.

the start of the journey was probably setting the tone for the rest of it.

boarded the sleeper car in los angeles. on time, settled into two roomettes for a long day’s journey to emeryville. my brother’s first trip in a sleeper car. he and my better half get one, and i get one for myself. beats the heck out of coach.

it was iffy for several weeks if my better half was even going to be able to go, much less climb to the upper bunk. he’d slipped and hurt his back. luckily just a terrible internal bruise that only hurt if he breathed or moved. but it actually improved by walking miles every day, reducing the inflammation. that’s another story, if he cares to tell it.

then the conductor announced a delay.

and then announced that there had been people on the tracks in the next city on the route.

and then announced someone got squashed by a train.

and then occasional announcements that the police were doing an investigation, and there was no eta on when we would actually leave the station.

four hours later, the tracks were cleared to go. the rest of that ride was uneventful, save for a worry about who would be cooking dinner, as the crew was about to time-out. i think they found a fresh crew at one of the stops, so we didn’t have to starve or have anything brought onboard.

we arrived in emeryville, just south of san francisco, about two-thirty in the morning. an overnight stay in the hotel across the tracks.

there were only a few of us that got off the train. we three, the only ones that got into a piss-smelling elevator up to the bridge over the tracks. crossed the bridge, pressed the down button for the elevator on the other side.

the doors open to the temporary sleeping compartment of a very large, very smelly homeless man and his worldly possessions. we’d interrupted his slumber, and he sat up groggily.

unsure, i asked if he minded if we could scooch in with our luggage for a minute.

it was an uncomfortable minute to the ground floor. at least this elevator was otherwise clean and unpissed. we left him to his bedroll, and stumbled across the parking lot to the hotel.

we’d warned them we’d be arriving late. the lobby staff were doing their accounting, and fortunately, the friendly voice on the other end of the phone earlier had prepped our card keys for our arrival.

we all flopped onto the two queen beds and slept for the few hours left before the next train.

next morning, was a blur of quick showers, then back to the bridge. our friend from the night before had vacated the space, so the crossing was uneventful. another couple were ahead of us. i wonder if they had been on our train yesterday and got to meet the troll, or if they came from elsewhere earlier in the day.

train arrived on time. scheduled for three days, two nights over the rockies to chicago on the zephyr. first day went as expected. beautiful views of mountains and trees.

next day, same landscape, but things went sideways about half way through colorado.

parts of the story i won’t share, as it had to do with my brother. that’s his story, and not for public consumption.

as far as the train trip, the conductor began announcing inclement weather ahead, and throughout the evening and the night, the train had to slow down, or even stop for periods of time. heavy rain and tornadoes ahead of us, ending up with us arriving in chicago twelve hours later than scheduled, at six-ten in the morning of another day.

all i will say, is that the weather was perfect in the city, and the mile or so walk to our hotel was welcome after all that time stuck on a train.

but we did not get go to wrigley field, or enjoy much of the city, as we made a hasty retreat home the next day, two days ahead of schedule, which was good and bad.

bad, because i’d never been to wrigley, and haven’t really been to a baseball game in a few years.

good, because as it turns out, some wicked weather was on our tails half way across the country. had we gone north, as initially advised, we would have been in the thick of heavy rain, hail and tornadoes.

abbreviated version of the drive: we’d drive several hundred miles each day, book a hotel online, eat, sleep, shower, repeat. for eight days, i think. they blur. didn’t really want to push too late into the evenings. some days we only went a couple hundred miles. short stops here and there for a couple of pictures, but mostly running ahead of some nasty weather.

we would wake up the next day to hear the weatherman on the television say that a tornado head destroyed some town we had driven through the day before. the rain only caught up to us for a bit around st. louis, on the most tangled intersection of several freeways, but better half still managed to stay in the correct lane for the direction we were going.

still got home four days early. we were my brother’s keeper for a couple more days after we got him home as well.

better half and i, took another week, for another journey, that i guess i may write about another day. a vacation from a vacation.

getting late here, and i’ve a buttload of work to do tomorrow and the rest of the week, as my employer was quite glad i came back, so saved it up for me. :)

and i’m spent. g’night.

souvenir

throwback to an uptown whittier car show. i missed the dia de los muertos show this past weekend for reasons, so found this one on standby.

old cars are so much more elegant than cars of today. love those curves and details. i like this one parked in front of the facade of the old whittier village movie theatre.

————-

here’s a game for you. i’ve started a list of possibilities. wanting something more interesting and bad ass than what actually happened.

became the fifth ninja turtle, and i gave shredder the first, and last, move
really like freddie kruger
embroidered the “L” from happy days in the wrong place, while looking in a mirror
trampled by over-zealous chicago marathon runners
went one round with mike tyson
took up hockey
getting ready for halloween
hit by a bus
played patty cake with the jolly green giant
took a meteor shower
wrong side of a curveball
amazon prime day
sleepwalk into a doorway
participated on one of those game shows with rotating obstacles
a cane corso thought i was dinner - i’m not ramsey bolton
opened up a can of whoop-ass accidently
turns out i’m not a gymnast
you should see the other guy
shuttlecock
here’s a piece of my mind
t-rex attacked
caught the tshirt at a baseball game
edward scissorhands is my friend
embraced by a facehugger
lobotomy
got in the way of a touchdown/excessive end zone celebration
enter the dragon - i didn’t win
tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch
started a buffalo stampede
took a long walk off a short pier
godzilla!
none of the above

graphic warning - avert your eyes if you’re squeamish.

nothing that exciting. get your coffee, if you have nothing better to do than read this account. snippets of memory.

tl;dr: i tripped and fell on a sidewalk

recently visited chicago with my better half. he wanted to take pictures of boats at sunset, playing with the lenses he brought with him. he wanted to see beautiful bokeh of twinkling lights.

we were staying in a hotel in the loop, near union station. the walk towards the riverwalk and navy pier was about a mile away, maybe a twenty minute walk.

i didn’t feel like shooting, so was tagging along. my back was tired from carrying a camera around the previous days, at the science and industry museum, architectural tour via boat, and earlier in the day, the field museum.

i’d wanted to get out earlier, and have dinner first, then thought better of it, that we might miss sunset, so were going to the river first and pick up dinner on the way back.

we hadn’t quite reached the iconic chicago theatre sign, it’s neon lights already on. chatting about nothing.

then, i felt my shoe catch, an uneven sidewalk crack, and in spite of another step to try and avoid a fall, it was inevitable. i don’t think i quite windmilled my arms. i just remember a steel grate coming towards my face.

yup, a header into a serated sidewalk grate over an air vent. better half describes it as an industrial-strength cheese grater.

better half says i passed out for a few seconds. he and the three people behind us on the street got me turned over and sat me up. says i was a blood fountain. when i came around, i remembered i had saved some extra napkins from breakfast, so was able to apply pressure to my head, while better half and the other people tried to think best what to do. i wanted to just walk back to hotel, but after he showed me a picture of my head, i knew i needed to see a doctor.

then the question was ambulance or uber. i’m still just sitting on the ground meantime. probably in shock. better half called for an uber to the nearest hospital. better half has used uber maybe once, long ago.

better half and the older guy in the group of three got me up off the ground. no way i was getting up otherwise. my knees are scraped…i can feel it…but don’t seem broken.

he spots the black suv uber xl across the one-way street. they gimp me over there, profusely thanking the people for helping and waiting with us.

the car gets rolling while we buckle up. off we go. better half is asking if the driver can hurry and get us to the hospital.

when i hear the driver ask if we’d changed the destination, followed by “is your name mike?,” i already knew he got us in the wrong car.

driver refused taking us to the hospital, that his customers were waiting and that he would be fired. we’d only gone a couple of blocks, so a couple of turns later, we were back where we started. our uber was waiting for us, since better half had called to explain.

that driver was good. skipped the high traffic route and opted for lower-level streets and tunnels to the other side of the river. made it to the emergency room door in under ten minutes.

let me take a breath, and sip this strawberry-banana smoothie my better half brought me…

where was i? we arrived about seven p.m. usual city hospital on a saturday evening—busy. triage. people with sneezes, broken bones that have been temporarily set, homeless people looking for something, random aches, and here’s me with a butchered head. temp and blood pressure taken, and sent to find a seat.

they called me back for a second triage session two hours later. also to determine if better half had something to do with the injuries. he had no scrapes or other “evidence” so took me at my word. sent back to waiting room.

had better half call my mother. said she cried. was my sister’s birthday, so he talked to her later. i let my kids know first via text. i didn’t feel like talking.

hour four, there was a fight outside the er door, all security guards outside to break it up.

they came for me at hour five, put me in a wheelchair, as my knees were really stiff by then, and put us in a room. it’s a hive of activity behind the scenes.

a nurse came by to take some notes. another nurse rolled me out for a ct scan, since i landed on my head. only minimal scrapes on one hand, so i stopped my fall mostly with my forehead. i got uncontrollable shivers…adrenaline coming down, i suppose.

an hour later, they came for xrays of my knees.

soon after, the doctor came by to shoot up the cuts so it could be cleaned out and to decide which way to repair it. no concussion or broken bones. could have been so much worse. i have thought of an assortment of different endings, but better half doesn’t want to flounder in those thoughts.

about that time, five gunshot victims were heading in, so they had to move me out to the hallway, my forehead numbed and ready. waiting. dude was rolled into my previous location. he’d been shot by the girlfriend. she rolled in down the hall, screaming. he’d shot her in the foot. he wanted his phone to call her. then to call his mom and dad. then his people. denied. denied. denied. both were ultimately “relaxed” so work could be done.

i could only see the girl’s room. her screaming lasted ten minutes before they put her out. didn’t sound like it felt good. better half said the guy had a quick chat with the cops before he started telling a nurse about flowers growing out of his hand and quieting down.

nurse came by after a couple of hours and most of the craziness had died down. gave me some jello to eat. i got a tetanus shot in the hallway. i had to have more lidocaine shots in my head as too much time had passed. got the cuts cleaned of dirt and hair and dried blood.

two doctors consulted and decided crazy glue for skin would be best in this case. going to have a lovely scar.

finally released at sixish in the morning. over eleven hours. no dinner. still dark.

better half called an uber. security had blocked the driveway to the door, so we limped down to the sidewalk. watched the map say he was nine minutes away. then twelve. then nine. then eight. then three. and wouldn’t you know it, he pulled up to the opposite side of the driveway. gimped over there.

remember i mentioned the chicago marathon? yup, every which way this guy tried to go was blocked. after ten minutes of u-turns, we ended the ride, opting to walk.

had to climb up some stairs to street level. we were close to navy pier, and got our bearings. surrounded by people heading towrds the starting line, coming back in search of coffee or friends. and there we were, me stiff-zombie walking, a big bandage covering my forehead and dried blood in my hair, and my big, long haired better half…my hero.

i pointed out, that here we are crossing a bridge over the river, at sunrise. look at the lights on the boats. the twinkling in the water. the warming light. there. there was the shot he was looking for yesterday, i giggled. he still had the cameras with him. there was an empty viewing space in front of us.

he didn’t take the shot. he was tired and stressed, and wasn’t interested anymore. just wanted to get me back safely. it would have been perfect. oh well.

took about an hour to get to the hotel. i can’t remember if we got lunch before or after we crashed in bed for several hours of sleep.

the past couple of days, the swelling has moved south, giving me black eyes. when we’ve finally headed out for meals, better half has been getting big stink-eye from people. they only half believe the story, and i am not being beaten.

we ultimately decided to continue with our planned and paid for return home on the train. i wouldn’t have been able to stand bending my knees for that long on a plane, and better half can’t fit a plane seat, being so tall. thought about driving, and stopping as needed, sleeping in real beds each night. he thought there were too many stretches of nothing, had there been an emergency.

figured we could get off a train at a major stop for help or to get to an airport if needed.

i have to work monday, and my eyes are already opening up again, so i guess i will work, back into the frying pan…

so i have a permanent souvenir of our short-lived vacation.

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…

bird feeder

i’m sitting here waiting on a delivery my kid ordered to the wrong address. the people on the hotline were too lazy to do their jobs, and didn’t want to bother changing the delivery location, so there we are.

out the front window, i have a hummingbird feeder. initially, it was very popular with the birds.

then i bought a new mix of food. not so many birds. then another brand, same.

there’s a cat, that likes to sit on the edge of the porch and watch the feeder intently. the dog barks at the cat everyday,

they went away for a while. my work day was a little more dull.

then i started mixing my own bird food with recipes from the internet. and i’ve found one they like. basically sugar water. so what i’m figuring, hummingbirds are just tiny little diabetics. or sugar addicts.

was confirmed this week that we’ll be required to be back in the office next month. i’ll miss the little flying spastics, the barking dog, and the cat that likes to pee in the neighbor’s planter early each morning. that neighbor is an asshole, so my hero, the cat.

i need to go shopping. i hate my old work clothes. i need shoes. i hate shopping. this will not be fun. i’ll miss working in my jammies with messy hair.

i had cut my hair the last time they said we’d go back to the office, then everything shutdown before we did. maybe i should cut my hair again…

i work late, because the work can’t wait, and my better half is still living in whittier.

they gave us a second computer, so i could still do work from home if needed.

better half gets to work from home permanently. he’s moving here next month, so the timing is great. i go back, and he stays home. sort of jealous.

————

watched this beauty drive up and drop down. waited for people to move along to get a decent shot. it’s all right, i guess.

new camera. color is a little off, so i guess the color balance is a bit out of whack.

————

these delivery boys are almost out of their delivery window. i guess i’ll hurry up and keep waiting.

————

update: they just called. almost didn’t answer because of another situation. their truck broke down and had to reschedule. [shocker] did it really, now, or did you just not want to deliver at five o’clock? day wasted, sort of.

right. i’m off to whittier then. ttfn.

half gone

my company office was closed for the week. so, half-way through a pseudo vacation.

had to take better half’s car back to the repair shop. after everything they did to the car on monday, some type of liquid puddled out from under the car yesterday. and now it’s stuck there until friday, while they wait for the right parts.

hoping to see my grandkid tomorrow, supposedly stopping by my mom’s house. who knows where i’ll end up tomorrow for dinner, not that it’s any big deal. i doubt better half will go to my mom’s with me, as my daughter’s doberman doesn’t seem to like him. at least last time, the first time they met, the dog wanted to make a meal out of his crotch.

anyway, happy early thanksgiving, in case i’m away from my puter tomorrow.

saw this car on the outskirts of the toy drive. i want to say it said tovars on it somewhere, but probably from the back, and i didn’t shoot that.

plenty of scratches on that paint; i wonder what story it would tell.

inconvenience

so there’s this virus going around…

torn between staying here in whittier or in oc with my mother. better half is giving me the stink eye, since i am out and about in the world, and he’s at home 24/7, and in “protect his mother” mode. will probably start packing my shit, and go stay at my mom’s for the duration. he disagrees with my laissez-faire attitude on the whole situation. he’s exhausted, and i don’t want to say anything else stupid here. dark clouds are moving in, and it will be raining again soon.

would be a good time to hide in my condo, but it’s currently being renovated and is in no condition for anything to live in it.

my office hasn’t shut down yet, and as of now, i wouldn’t be able to connect into the network and keep working from home.

was supposed to go on a cruise with my mom and brother, but that finally got cancelled—mom didn’t want to go anyway. they may reschedule to later in the year, since the cruise line doesn’t want to refund the money. see if they are still in business next month.

my current problem is that i took a week off for that cruise; was looking forward to time off from work, but by then, we will all probably be quarantined and not going anywhere anyway. i guess i’ll just cancel the time off and work if i can.

seeing more car shows being postponed or cancelled, so i’ve postponed making my annual reservations for chicano park day and others. so take my listing of car shows with a grain of salt, as i’m not out and about at shows, and not totally sure if some of them are cancelling or hoping for the best. i’m adding notes or deleting as i see info online. maybe i should just take the page down for now. i dunno.

here’s an old pic. pomona swap meet, from a couple of years ago. i guess no new shows, means i can dive into all the files from past shows i never have time to revisit. and i have a quite a bit to choose from over the last ten years.

two years ago, this was just primer. no idea if they’ve painted it or not. still a pretty cool car as is.

just makes me kick myself for not getting out of bed a couple of weeks ago and heading to pomona…

groundhog

days seem to go by quicker lately, different, but strangely the same. i need to break up the routine somehow. it’s killing me. i live out of a suitcase. see my better half two days a week, if i’m lucky, or determined.

i need a vacation. somewhere with trees and cold. have a trip coming up, not of my doing—my older bro’s planning, and devious way to get my mom to go somewhere, anywhere—and she would only agree to go, if i came along. so there’s that to look forward to, i guess. assuming it doesn’t get cancelled due to the nasty virus going around.

super busy at work, as always, but more stressed. there’s a new boss in town, and haven’t been able to tell yet whether they are a good one or not. already started off on the wrong foot, entirely not on purpose, and a simple misunderstanding, probably due to my social ineptness.

not going to dwell on that. things either will or won’t work out, and i’ll just carry on.

did get a lovely valentine’s gift—a new granddaughter—born on valentine’s day, and whose middle name was changed to valentina because of it. full head of dark hair, and blue blue eyes, just like her mom. tiny little thing. don’t remember my own being that small, but they were. captured her daddy’s heart from the moment she arrived.

i want to sleep, but i should answer an email first. someone likes my pictures and has questions. they took time out of their day to write a lengthy and nice email; i should take some time and respond in kind.

here’s one of the veterano’s cars, at their cruise night back in january. got there early, while the light was still warm enough, and the people were still few and far between enough. better half and i used to discuss which chevy we would prefer—the thirty-nine master deluxe or the forty-seven/forty-eight fleetline. i think we settled on one of each, as we really couldn’t decide. we can dream, right?

front street, behind me

woke up reluctantly and headed out to front street. when i had been to this show previously, it was in the parking lot of norwalk records. something about not getting the permits pulled in time as it turns out.

this time, it was properly on front street, the full length of it.

so, after several power outtages today, i’m finally able to post a picture. unless it goes out now. only got around to this one. i was asked to shoot it, as these cars are all “deluxe,” as is the building.

it was nicely overcast for a couple of hours, allowing me to get from one end of front street to the other. admittedly, i spent too much time shooting some cars, that the sun had begun coming out before i was totally done. it also allowed time for more hoods to go up. there was one i especially had wanted to shoot after i saw it drive thru. alas, the hood was up, and it was crammed in between other cars too closely. and i didn’t like the color so much after the sun hit it; it was somehow less appealing then.

historical reference

going to shoot cars tomorrow. which show, i’m not sure. i’ll probably just flip a coin.

really tired. i’ll catch up on sleep some other day. got things to do, places to go, and it’s going to be a hot weekend. i miss winter.

———

liked this chevy parked up next to one of the many murals at chicano park. this mural is along the street, and is quite frequently seen in pictures on the internet. a plethora of mexican historical figures. a plethora.

trickery

at my mom’s tonight. she accused me of playing a trick on her. said there were several phone calls today that she didn’t answer. she screens her calls…so many robocalls come in.

these calls popped up with my dad’s name. calling from the house phone. sort of creepy to say the least. told her it was probably a spoof call.

for chuckles, i had the phone call it back, which got the “number has been disconnected” message…a “dead” line. lol.

told her it was dad, just playing a joke on her. wouldn’t put it past him if there was a way to do it from whatever/wherever you go after this life. welcome to the twight zone. dun dun dun.

you always wish to hear their voice again…but what would you do if you really did? don’t answer the phone mom…

——-

one of the bomb club’s own, front and center, er, off center, on the grass. pretty blue thirty-nine.

so many spindly palm trees though; if you don’t shoot up from down low, you get a lot of pictures with what appear to be random-looking lines in the background.