what's up?

fish out of water

third day here in sin city. so out of my comfort zone. the filtration system in the hotel seems non-existent compared to other hotels here. my lungs are burning and seem to take an hour in my room before i feel they’ve de-smoked.

otherwise, it’s been an uneventful day for a change.

briefly thought about seeing one of the cirque de soliel shows, but decided to keep my money and sleep instead. two more days of meetings. only car shows i’ve seen listed are the pns cars like lambos and mazzeratis, and i don’t want to lose my parking space for them. might as well go to a showroom. not even going to the cars and coffee i usually catch on the way out of here. just want to go home.

went to another hotel for dinner. after eight p.m., and it’s still one-hundred and two degrees, cooling down to eighty in the middle of the night.

there’s a sad looking guy dressed in a tattered mickey mouse costumes on the sidewalk, i can’t imagine how he can stand it or what it must smell like in there.

there seems to also be several clusters of wanna be showgirls, half naked and befeathered out there too. some too fat, some too skinny to heve the requisite jugs; all look too harsh and tatted up to be real. just posers for pictures for cash. drunk guys will go for anything it seems.

haven’t been up and out late enough (or early enough) to see the drunk girls being led astray —

“…these pigs are ready”
- the sweetest thing

————

here’s an old buick i saw the one time i made it out to lincoln park for the blessing of the cars, several years ago. don’t see many like that out there.

emerald city

one from about this time last year--at dino's bomb squad's blessing of the bombs. haven't seen a flyer for this year, or i'd add it to my calendar.

they said it usually gets packed, but not last year, not while i was there. not when the priest went around flinging holy water around. beaded right up on those shiny polished cars.

i'm sure there was something else going on, so a lot of cars were siphoned off there.

still, nuff pretty cars showed up. reviewing old files, and saw that i hadn't posted this one. i like the color, but it does take some getting used to on this model, being so different from the typical/traditional black.

fire water

saw this back at dino's bomb squad's blessings of the bombs at lincoln park. was the first time i made it out there, and wasn't disappointed. someone said they usually had way more cars, but there were enough for me that day.

the cars parked in the grass here kept moving around, for better positions or for shade, i'm not sure why. maybe just to park with their clubs or friends—basically the same, right?

so, this is it. i just killed off my old website for good, and am now firmly committed to this version. i'm hoping you like how it functions. i still want to kick a few things at it, to make it do stuff it doesn't want to do. it probably won't. i'm not a coder or a tech head.

at least most of what i wanted moved over here without a problem. just need to touch up some of the older posts.

congrats to my nephew and his wife—first kid born last night—welcome annabelle elizabeth, yet another friday the thirteenth baby in the family.

anyone else use listerine? i prefer scope, but had bought some listerine to have at my mom's house. remembered my dad always had a bottle of the original piss yellow stuff in the bathroom when i was a kid.

i got a bottle of the minty green stuff, hoping it would taste better than the original.

the first two seconds of swishing got me that mint i was looking for, but then the original bottled fire flavor i remembered came up behind the mint and had to spit it out quicker than quick. and follow that up with mouthfuls of water.

i am happy to imagine the microscopic germs getting hit with that liquid napalm and the tiny communal screams of a billion microbes being snuffed out in that first two seconds.

2017

1953 chevy bel air

hey, guess what? i didn't go anywhere this morning. too many shows to choose from, no recommendations, and just didn't feel like it.

so i'm starting this year off in a mood. and i'm trying real hard to bite my tongue and keep the peace. feeling a little back slide into by shell. i blame that on that ahole at the dukes show. still pretty pissed about that.

meanwhile, i've been filling my calendar with dates for upcoming car shows that i've enjoyed in the past. already know i'm going to miss chicano park day this year, as i have a business trip planned for that week/weekend. oh well.

relatives are in town, here in whittier, and at my mom's house.

holy hell, a plane just flew really low and made a tight u-turn, heading in for the landing at lax. yep, we are in the landing pattern here. just don't usually see them so low except when it's windy or rainy, which doesn't seem to be the case, as far as i can tell from this window seat.

sorry, got distracted by the big, shiny object.

anyway, hoping to see some old cars cruise by after the shows, heading through uptown. maybe i'll chase them with my iphone, but i don't feel like hauling my gear out. better half just pointed out a black and red sixty-one impala driving by...and so it begins.

victory

victory motorcycle

motorcycle from the blessing of the bombs show. don't remember seeing a victory before, or at least shooting one. usually all harley, all the time. nice for a change. nothing fancy about this one, except i liked how it was sitting, and the clouds in the sky.

fourth of july. day off. went to a movie this morning. playing with pictures now. next, there's some bananas that need to be made into bread.

i even made dinner last night. seems if i've got to much time around the house, i start getting domesticized again. i hate cooking, but when i have a craving, i go with it. my better half and his mother aren't complaining about it either. except for the chocolate chip cookies i made on friday; they're made with real sugar, not that fake stuff, and they both are trying to stay away from it. same with my kid and my parents—at least they try not to indulge. so hell, i'm slowly working my way through them myself. going to try pushing them on the neighbors. i certainly don't need them all.

after the bread is in the oven, i guess the whining about going to work tomorrow will begin.

no plans for this evening. i've seen enough fireworks for a lifetime. i'll just stay home, and see if there are any here. >:)

bunny ears

1954 chevrolet

so it's easter sunday. closest thing i could find to an easter bunny in my recent files. the trees kinda look like bunny ears, right?

can't control the backgrounds in a picture. shoot them where you find them, and this happened to be here. nice car, an interesting, but unfortunate backdrop. i guess i need to follow the same rules as you should when shooting pics of people...watch for things sprouting from the head...eh, fuck the rules.

took a walk up greenleaf this morning, then stopped at the whittier cinemas on the way back. skipped the long ass lines for superman vs batman, and watched a chick flik, big greek wedding 2. it was neither great nor sucked; it just was. was a continuation in the life of, and not all that suprising a story. even room for another movie if they are in search of more money.

ate too much popcorn, and the coke at the front counter was flat, but the refills from the concession stand in the back hall, were much better and bubblier. now not hungry for lunch.

as usual, i'm seeing classic cars drive by, out the window, while i work. say it in a whisper, a la the sixth sense, "i see old cars..." they aren't dead, but very much alive. my own personal car parade, just past the window.

i think we'll go back out for another walk uptown for lunch now. hope to see a few more cars before dark.

shadow king

i'll just post this picture up from last week, while i wait for this weekend's pics from south gate and walnut high school download. gonna be a while. feeling sleepy too...been up since five a.m. lightly toasted by the sun while at the high school, so my skin is all tingly too.

this picture seems a bit dark on my screen. i think i'll go back in and tweak it a bit after the download is done. nothing like kicking the pixels to make them behave. actually, a lot of my pictures seem a bit dark lately. too much sun, or maybe just my screen.

chevy baby

1957 chevrolet bel air

another week of being away. things got busy, my daughter was still in town. generally exhausted by week end.

i've been away, and unable to post more pics from last week, and i'm already looking forward to tomorrow's show in south gate. should we say, i'm gathering my nuts for a rainy day. they still say rain is coming before summer comes slamming back, with it's wall of heat.

pretty sure i've seen this one somewhere else, though i can't quite pinpoint it in my memory just now.

it was just sitting there, with some space around it at this point in the show, so i took a few shots.

even went back later to shoot the back end. something about it just isn't the right angle to make me happy, but i told the owner i'd post something. the shots are ok, i just know there is a better angle or something, and i know i didn't get it. maybe next time.

lights out

got too late to post last night. fortunately, the power just went out here, in the oc, so i can't do any work. they're trying to find out if the construction site nearby cut a line. awesome.

anyway, back to the blessing of the bombs...

i liked the show a lot. even made a wrong turn off the freeway, and ended up where we needed to be, got a great parking spot. totally was in the neighborhood where my former sister-in-law/comadre lives. only really see her at weddings and funerals now, so didn't stop to see if she was home. probably visiting her mother, since it was sunday. i digress...

we got there about nine-thirtyish. flyer said it started at ten, priest not arriving until after eleven. we took advantage of the open spaces and the cars that were there, which were exactly the kind i was hoping for.

never had been to this park, and my better half took time out to check out the abandoned city pool and the building nearby, where he enjoyed his breakfast/lunch. open space building, with cement picnic tables, and what appeared to be a burned out snack bar at the far end. chicken wire covering the ceiling area; not sure if it was meant to be highly ineffective at preventing birds from nesting, or to give absolutely no confidence in stopping any falling pieces of ceiling concrete or plaster.

the priest arrived with a videographer and photographer, and a few others in his entourage. he carried a bottle of water, aquafina or similar, with the label removed. he used that to fling water at cars, and also people. didn't hit me. that's fine, probably because of the cameras. maybe i'm not worthy. lol. i'll get over it. over it already.

watched the woman in this car being directed by another girl, on how much room she had, before she would hit the curb. i waited until they both got out of the car and off to wherever they were going.

don't shoot a lot of these, but the paint was exceptional, so here's the front end.

power still out. too much longer and the higher ups will bite the bullet and send us plebes home for the day.

bless the bombs

1954 chevy bel air

sorry, this will be brief. it's late, and i gotta an hour to drive before bed.

went to dino's bomb squad's blessing of the bombs show. never been. i'll go again. everything i like, in one place.

heard it's usually a bigger show, but there was plenty to appreciate.

i'll post this shot, since it was the last one i took for the day. yay for the clouds—probably scared some people away, but it didn't rain anyway.