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autobahn

1948 chevrolet fleetline convertible

1948 chevrolet fleetline convertible

somehow managed to have to drive up to whittier and back two days in a row. had yesterday as a scheduled day off from work that never got cancelled. would have been on my way back from a weekend in san diego, with a camera full of snaps from chicano park day, but noooo. thanks corona virus, and fuck you too.

i did get up for an important conference call, and intended to go back to sleep. unfortunately, the dog woke up, did his thing and ate, but didn’t go back up as usual to sleep a few more hours.

so i took him out to a local bark park, where it was just him and one other dog in a big enclosed space. was quite nice and cool out at seven a.m. tired him out, so he was settling in on the couch expecting me to work, when i decided to go to costco to gas up my mom’s car. expected it to be a wait at the pump, and as long as i was there, to get inside.

so wrong. on a monday morning after eight, there was no lines at the pumps. rolled right up and got some relatively cheap gas. doubt it will ever get down below a dollar a gallon, not like the eighties.

expected a line to get in and shop, and would have not bothered in that case. temp was to hit ninety by noon. but there was no one—no old people special time waiting, no waiting at all. the place was empty compared to the last time i went, which was probably november.

cool cool cool.

called the better half to ask if they needed anything, since he doesn’t get out much, and complains some foods are hard to get in los angeles right now. he was set for tp, but did want kleenex for his mom. all that stuff has been relocated to the very back, and it seemed to be the travel destination. workers must get tired of the same damn questions of, “when do you expect to get more…,” as there where no flushable paper goods to be had.

i picked up most of the other items on his list, and a few things for my mom. walked straight up to the register to check out, so essentially the best shopping day there in what is usually a hell hole.

drove back to mom’s, where the dog had been moping about my disappearance. he will suffer most when things go back to something resembling normal.

transferred stuff to my car. chilled some refrigerated stuff for a bit and took a break.

headed to whittier with his shopping.

i had noticed as far back as january, that there were more muscle cars revving down the streets. weekend warriors had satisfied mid-life crises, and were now racing to see who had the biggest penises…they are all dicks, btw. and they say women can’t drive; i’d say right now, these idiots take the cake. too often almost taking off my fenders, cutting so close on lane changes.

now, with freeways empty, rich dudes are bringing out their ferraris, lambos, mazzerattis, etcetera, and driving like they are on an autobahn. same dickheads, nicer cars. douchebags.

anyway, better half seems exhausted as usual, working full-time on both work and caring for his mom on his own. got him some lunch from in-n-out, as the local places seem to just be totally closed.

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had my computer on, to do some scanning for my kid, so worked on a picture. missing the classics. if i do see any around here, they are fifty-five / -six bel aires, pimped out to hot rods <yawn>, though the neighbor did have a visitor in a fifty-eight ford fairlane a couple days ago.

yummy fleetline from the veteranos’ cruise night in west covina, january i think. should have gone to more shows, but who would have known we were all going into lockdown?

groundhog

1939 chevy master deluxe

1939 chevy master deluxe

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?

groundhogs day

veteranos 1-1017And9more-Edit.jpg

another holiday weekend. another daily visit to the hospital—not me—so much for relaxing.

did start with a baby shower, which was a happy time. grandkid any day now.

missed pomona, but that wasn’t going to happen anyway—better half told me early saturday that he wanted to get out to santa fe springs swap meet and to the market on sunday. maybe in march, if it’s not raining.

only other notable accomplishment was bingeing two seasons of the sopranos.

needless to say, my pictures and blog are being neglected. just not much i can share, nor energy to spend. would like to take apart my dad’s computer and reload it, so maybe i can take a portable hard drive with me to my mom’s and play with them when i’m there.

overheating in this hospital room, so i need to step outside to hallway now.

meanwhile, enjoy this shot from a couple weeks ago. messing with long exposures again. lost the race with the sun.

first of the new year

1948 chevy fleetline

1948 chevy fleetline

i really hadn’t gone to too many shows the last few months. which was a good thing in a way, because i think i had a pulled muscle or sprain, so it apparently had time to heal.

started off this year at the veteranos’ cruise night in west covina. didn’t officially start until three-thirty, so i figured i’d get there an hour early, and shoot whatever was there while they were setting up. knew i’d be racing the sun for light later anyway.

well, no show cars were there. momentarily thought i had the wrong date or location, but when i decided i’d at least go inside and get some pizza, there were four of the veteranos at a table having a meal. apparently neither of the couples had brought their own cars to the show.

by the time i was done and went to get my gear from my car, vendors and cars had begun settling in. i had a couple of hours with varied degrees of light, and increasing numbers of people, before it got hard to get clean shots. i ended up staying about four hours, since my better half said he was not going to be able to get out to the market anyway. i think it was more about encouraging me to get back to taking pics, especially since i was actually having a lot of fun.

saw several people i hadn’t chatted with in a while, so happy new year to them, was nice see them.

had an asian man wander through the show ask me how they were monetizing it, if it’s just in a parking lot. wtf. not everything is about money, and he was free to participate in the raffle.

i’ve seen this car before. interesting color combo. makes me want some sherbet. parked against a curb, but pretty close to the dj booth area, it had a lot of people and car traffic in the way. i took the chance that a car wouldn’t need to get by for a few minutes during my exposure. still had to take several, so i could blend out the people. still have a blur, and a random shadow on the car. it was late, and maybe i’ll clean it up later, but i thought it already looked presentable enough to share.

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went to a memorial service for a former boss the other day. he’d had a heart attack xmas day, and never regained consciousness; he died on the second day of the new year.

he’d only retired a year or two before, so didn’t have a lot of time to enjoy it. hearing the memories shared, he had a good life, was a good man. enjoyed rock and roll, guitars, and mott the hoople. his eldest son looked like a carbon copy of how i remembered him, except with dark hair. he was a good boss. worked his way up at the same company for forty years.

saw several former coworkers, and many other faces i recognized, but couldn’t place the name. everyone has gotten so old, but then, so have i. told my other former boss, i guess i’ll see you again at the next funeral.