what's up?

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…

baby, it's cold outside

twenty-sixth of may, cold, rainy, gray. i love it. memorial day weekend, and haven’t really ventured very far from the house, except for my search for avocados yesterday.

i don’t want to deal with holiday traffic, so typically don’t travel to anywhere. better half can’t hardly get out to the supermarket while tending to his mom, so i feel guilty when i just take off to do whatever.

my kid seems to hit up solvang for an overnight every memorial day. something about picnics at vineyards. not sure if he went this year or not, since it was supposed to rain. i only know that he didn’t ask me to watch his dog, and if they did go, it was going with them.

other kid supposed to hang out with my mom for a few hours, so i don’t feel under pressure to not leave her alone for all three days this weekend.

trying to talk her into going to vegas later this summer, but really she’d be on her own there for several hours a day, while i attend some classes.

i want to take a vacation, but don’t want to go alone. i mean it’s great to go off on your own, and sleep in or do whatever without taking into consideration of another person. but there’s that desire to share the experience with someone else, and pictures don’t do whatever justice when you get back.

i’m feeling the itch to go back to canada, climb the mountains, sit in the meadow and look down over one of the many turquoise blue lakes. wondering how many more trips i have in me.

corvette hood from last year’s old memories pancake breakfast in montebello. used to be one of my favorite kind of cars as a kid, nothing unique.

was an overcast day there as well, but the clouds had a little more definition than today.

pretty sure i was attracted by the reflection for this shot at the time.

lunch

waiting in a quiet corner for my food. it's going to make me sick, it always does. but it tastes good going down. maybe they don't wash their hands here, but i'm not going to think about that.

took the bandaid covering where my stitches were off last night. gotta keep putting some medicine on it for a few days. first look since they pulled the strings...looks like a kitten's little pink sphincter. great now i'm a little asshole. maybe it will fade.

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speaking of rear ends...nice little impala from a while back.

deferred

i guess my impromptu roadtrip will be put off until the end of the month, or even to next month. looking forward to it even less them, as the weather will only get worse through oregon and washington. i wonder how much it is to just ship a car north. or my ex could just fly up and find something local, but he doesn't have time or trust the cars up there for some reason.

at least my boss is cool with whatever i need to do, whenever i need to do it. so many things intersecting, i don't know how i'll get through, except to just do it.

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pretty bel air out on the street at the old memories' pancake bfast a couple of months ago. almost kinda want one, just this color. but then i remember i'd rather have a fleetline.

stylish

this car has an interesting color combo; it really stands out. hope the judges came round to the back lot to inspect all of the cars hiding back here.

i really have nothing to say just now. or rather, i could, but you don't want to hear it.

took a quick walk uptown with my better half and his mother...she actually wanted to get out of the house today. so uptown in her wheelchair she goes, with us tagging along behind her.

stopped in the little old bookstore, or whatever they call it now—they're moving out of town in a week, books are on sale; they both spent half an hour looking through the books. i got tired and sat down.

then they kept rolling further uptown, but didn't get very far. she wanted to go into the not ninety-nine cent store to look around. i was feeling a bit off and knew that was going to take a while...she has to look at every little thing...so took my better half's keys and went home. he'll call when they need to get in the house.

they're still not back. my head hurts, so i'm glad i left. i'm happy she's out and about though, and her back is currently not hurting. weather is perfect, and life is short. enjoy it.

got out

went out to the old memories show this morning. close enough, so that if i didn't feel good, i could get home quickly. on my own, i waited until the sun was already coming up, as it was overcast and there wasn't going to be any dramatic lighting happening.

this one was down the street on the corner, and i wasn't sure if it was going to be moved later, so i walked over and shot it first. love me a master deluxe. this one is a beauty.

i did manage to stay and shoot pictures for about three hours, with a break after a couple. the sun came out, and i started to overheat. sat in the auditorium to cool off. really wanted a water, but didn't want to buy a ticket, i assumed for the entire breakfast, which i didn't want.

the front lot got too packed, and so many people in the way, so i made my way to the back parking lot. veteranos parked back there, and no people in the way after they all went off to eat.

i was done after that, and packed it up and called it a day. went home and took a nap.

thunderous bday wishes

is it a coincidence that the moment i started singing happy birthday into my phone, to make a recording to my daughter, lightning flashed, thunder roared above the house, and it started pissing rain from the skies? granted, it was just around six in the morning, and i was the only one up in the flickering light of the kitchen table, is it a sign? i texted my better half that "they moved the headstones, but left the bodies," it was the feeling of that scene from poltergeist.

and, the song didn't record as singing, just a lightly typo'd text message, where it said her name was danny. sent the message; she was awake, day off from work, so at least she got my last words before whatever the thunderous rains portend.

my sister-in-law and my bro, freshly coming down from the parrothead party at the jimmy buffet concert, texted from the airport, heading home, "happy giving birth day," as she does every year. she hadn't belived me when i said it was going to rain in sunny southern cali, but at least not until after the concert.

i'd hate to be taking off into that deluge. i've watched planes get hit on the runway in vegas, with no damage, but the thought is kind of disorienting. safe trip to them...

lunch is almost done, so i'll just put this one up. put it on instagram yesterday, so its just an afterthought here, isn't it?

beautiful car. was hard to get a shot without people in it. figured i'd just do a different view of it, to mix it up from the usual angles.

1940 buick woodie convertible

sun up

1950 chevy deluxe

from the first show of the day. we got there a little late; i'd snoozed the alarm a couple of times, having gone to bed late, then the third time i'd accidently set it to a weekday alarm. duh. just happened to wake up about six.

still arrived just about roll in time, so we still found parking and had stuff to shoot. really nice cars and many clubs showed up. tried to make the most out of the sun, which was already coming up. most of the beautiful light was hitting the back parking lot, where there were only regular cars still parked at the time, so that was unfortunate.

out here in the front, the host club's cars—old memories eastside—were still in the shadow of the building. had to go over to the far side to find something with some light hitting it.

this one turned out ok, though the camera sensor really didn't like it. had to blur out some horizontal lines, that i could otherwise not explain.

apologies to the club guy who had spoken to my better half about getting a picture of the club, then sent him my way because he wasn't carrying the right lens. we had to leave after a couple of hours, so maybe another time, when your group is already gathered.

winning

my work days are so long, even the eight hour days. too much work, too little time; you know the saying. i'm on the verge of burning out, so i'll take a long overdue vacay soon.

meanwhile, i get home and then don't feel like going out to car shows i used to enjoy. been only hitting a few here and there on weekends.

i thought about going to the broiler this evening; my better half said he was working late anyway, so why not? about the time i was going to pack stuff up to go, he let me know he was on the way home. so nix that idea.

he got called in to work last night, and said he only got about three hours of sleep, so that's where he is right now, making those zeebers.

this chevy was from a show in montebello. the one i hung around for instead of going to work. this one got the "best bomb" trophy. it was next to a similar one, a 1936, that was equally nice. how they ever decide which cars get trophies i'll never understand, though they did say the kids at the show made a lot of the decisions themselves.

ok, my legs are tired of sitting. too many hours in front of a computer, then driving over an hour home, and sitting in front of a computer for another couple of hours can't be good.