what's up?

leafy

back in whittier after a week. haven't decided if i'll go to a show tomorrow or not. my arm would probably be ok. i don't think it will rain either, and probably there will still be some kick ass clouds.

i think the first time i used a camera to shoot classic cars seven or eight years ago, it was a cloudy, march day. those are still some of my favorite pictures.

pomona swap meet is tomorrow. hmm. hmm. maybe.

all those leaves on the ground, i should have checked inside the car, to see if it was full of leaves too.

empty unit

better half realized that i was going to attempt to keep moving boxes, even with my gimp arm, so yesterday he took the time to help me. i know he had a list of other things he needed to do this weekend, while his sister is in town to help with his mom, so i really appreciated his help.

his help basically ended up being moving most everything that was left. which was a good thing, since mostly the rest of the boxes were full of books, and then there was my old desk.

all i did was repack some boxes of monster toys into big plastic bins—i really liked collecting the monsters for a few years. only found one damaged thing...the heat had melted an old rubber alligator's arm onto a model of a skull. ok, i was a weird kid. oh, and i also swept the floor, when we finished up just before storage closing time.

so that's done. just need to spend time repacking cardboard boxed stuff into plastic bins, and there should be enough room for whatever my kid's bringing down here. now if i can only talk her into selling her snakes and tarantulas, everything would be great.

better half went out for a 'boy's night out' the other night. for him, those usually consist of driving to fry's and just wandering the aisles looking at stuff, usually until they tell him they are closing. he's just happy to be out of the house, i guess, and that's his thing, like women go shopping to unwind thing.

this time, he went out to guitar center. he's been looking for a particular guitar, and their website said they had one in stock.

he got there, and of course, it's not there, or otherwise sold. so he started fiddling around with some other guitars.

said he was sitting there playing, when he realized there was someone standing entirely too close behind him. he said that as he turns around, he realizes it's the sales person, and notices that—in his words—she's really beautiful. at the same time, as he's mentally noting this, his wedding ring flies off his finger onto the floor.

as he quickly reaches to pick it up, his response was, "don't read too much into that!"

he said the girl basically just went, "what?" in such a tone that ruined the illusion, heading right into valley girl territory. just a kid, not too quick witted, and didn't get the joke. probably hadn't even noticed it fall.

he's lost a little weight, so his ring falls off sometimes. he found it funny.

lil blue oldsmobile from the blessing of the cars in san gabriel last year. kinda like the old cars with the eye-like headlights hanging off the sides, looking sleepy with those overhanging bits like eyelashes.

aches & pains

so many car shows lining up, while it's still not raining, and i have to go sprain my arm. makes it difficult to carry a tripod and pull a bag on my own.

i've been moving stuff from one storage unit, to a bigger one, in anticipation of moving my daughter's junk in with mine. at least until we figure out where she's going.

been mostly moving it after work, for a few hours at a time. anyway, reaching up to snag a box too high on the stack, another box fell down and whacked me near my wrist. was aching so much after a couple of days, i went to a walk-in clinic yesterday. x-ray showed no cracks, so i just need to wrap it up.

feel like i should wrap both forearms and pretend i'm a boxer, or better yet, wonder woman with those stupid metal things that she used to deflect things. nah, more like the metal things they wore in 300.

anyway, not sure how much i'll get out for a few weeks. still have a month to move stuff. guess i'll get my other kid to do it. piece of cake for him; probably can move all the boxes in a day and not break a sweat.

was talking to tudy a couple of weeks ago, and somewhere in the conversation he mentioned the showlows st hilary car show. said he hadn't made it there this past year, but his son had. described the car, wondered if i'd seen it.

looking through pics, yes, yes i did.

weekend

saw this car across the street from the park. sometimes i wonder why groups park off on their own, if they're participating in an event. usually you can see if they're making friends with mary jane, and well, they can just stay off by themselves. so often i look on at their cars forlornly, and move along on where i am.

fortunately, my better half was with me. i told him i'd like to go over there, and he said sure. he facilitates things, he plays nice with people so much better than i can. he chatted with the owners of these cars while i did my thing. got the stories on the histories of these cars, where the guys grew up; he can relate since he grew up in the same hoods.

thought the light was nice on this side of the street. just had to patiently wait for the breaks in traffic. i like it.

my doctor said i was vitamin d deficient. strange, since i spend a lot of time in the sun, and don't you get a good dose of it there?

told my better half that my doctor said i need to get more d. he pretty much said, "when?"

deadly

so, school shooting yesterday in florida. my niece and nephew were there...that's their school. they are ok, spent time hiding in the dark, under desks. saw stuff, heard stuff.

nephew has been doing interviews on tv; niece spoke to abc london. four of her friends died.

other nephew on swat team, clearing classrooms.

scary stuff.

quiet, early morning, waiting to head in at the bomb club show at santa anita last summer.

bitch

i like my doctor. really i do. but she pulled out my stitches today, so i'm kinda hating her ass right now. she coulda numbed it out first. now this bandaid she slapped over the holes is a bit tight.

going to go to sleep now. won't feel it or think about if i'm unconscious. at least i'll be able to scratch that skin soon. better half was threatening to put one of those cones on my head...like a dog. who's the bitch? i guess i am.

-----

almost didn't go to the fundraiser at montebello park. got my taxes done in the morning, and didn't get back home until after noon as it was. it wasn't far, i wanted to shoot, and if i couldn't find parking, i could just turn around.

and my better half decided to join me. he wanted out of the house, and left his sister to care for his mom. he also needed to stop at the market for a few things on the way back.

shockingly found a spot in the little parking lot. lots of cars still there and arriving though it was after two o'clock when we got there.

he got to catch up with people he hasn't seen in a while, and i shot more cars i probably otherwise would have skipped, because they were parked across the street from the crowd, and i didn't know them.

afternoon light and shadows were what they were, so shot around it or just said fuck it, and shot into the sun. a few lens flares don't bother me, if the best angle happens to get pegged by the sun.

the car next to this thirty-nine just happened to pull out as i was walking up to it, so i had a little extra room to play. the trees blocked a lot of the direct light, but couldn't filter it all, so a few flare spots here and there.

at least no camera errors yesterday. afraid i'd be cameraless for a couple of months while they get repaired--but not really; my better half is already letting me use one of his...and i hate it, as he predicted. though it is a better camera.

lunch break

sitting outside, seventy degree temps, on my brother's bday. guess i better call him. he's east coast, so i guess he's already three hours older than he would be here.

time really feels like it is racing by lately, and there's just not enough of it. one of these days i should actually get around to writing a will. would be nicer to leave someone an old chevy, rather than here's a well-used honda, right? better start looking for my fleetline now--think they'd trade me for a well-used honda? lol.

anyway, sun came up pretty quick last sunday. couldn't get to a lot of cars fast enough, or they just weren't in a good spot.

liked this one ok, but that damn pop-up sort of ruins it. guy was selling matchbox cars.

foozball cruise

big game today. totally skipping that, but i didn't skip the annual car cruise at hillco.

i've been several years in a row now, and i think it may have been one of the busiest shows they've had in a while.

i got there just as the sun was coming up. really didn't get to a car being hit by the initial sunrise the way i'd like, so just started around the circuit.

shot this mustang on my first trip around. later on, coming back around for the third or fourth time, the owner asked if i post my pics. yup.

so here it is, since you asked.

stay or go

there's a cruise tomorrow before the big game. i've been the last four or five years. it's a fun time, a good variety of cars drives through.

here's the thing; my better half can't go, which is a shame, cuz he likes this show. i've been to it on my own before, so that isn't the problem. i previously mentioned a few stitches; still have them for another week. doc did say i should be careful, and not to lift anything heavy.

now, i don't really consider my camera that heavy, but my better half probably does. that will probably make him strongly voice an opinion that i should not go. i mean seriously, if anything is heavy, it would be my ass, pushing up out of bed, off of chairs, etc.

not like i'm going to pop open and bleed out.

then the other thing is getting up at five and driving out there. just like a work day. i'll probably be awake anyway. it's just the thought of getting up that early on a sunday, that i like less and less the older i get.

and i'm down one camera. really hope the other one doesn't crap out on me. got them at the same time, and this one did start having the same symptoms last week. crossing my fingers.

pretty buick out at pomona last month. was so candy red and shiny. the sun coming up, the light grabbed it and started it glowing.

xmas is almost over

it's happening. it's finally happening. the xmas tree is coming down, and all the whimsical holiday stuff is going back into the garage.

better half would leave the tree up year round if he had his druthers, but his mom wants it down now, so sir, yes, sir, may i have another?

still half a tree to denude of lights. maybe i'll help tomorrow, just to make it go away. fake needles really do beat your hands to hell though.

i have a whole lot of cars parked in draft mode, waiting to be posted here. sad, really. haven't had much to say, or that i want to share now.

i figure the cars got posted on instagram fairly quickly after their respective shows, so if i take my sweet time posting them up here, it doesn't really matter. except maybe if they wanted to see them a bit bigger. want to see it optimally? buy a print. seriously. i'm down another camera already, with the other starting to show the same error message, and don't know when i'll take the time to ship it in for fixing vs just buying another body.

i do have chuck e cheese points in the reward program at work, which i was saving up to buy a full frame body, but i could get two crop bodies with the points i have now. i dunno what to do. haven't gotten any more points lately. i could pay the difference, but i don't wanna.

better half's sister is back at her home for the weekend, and his mom mostly sits in her room watching tv all day. hoping to just sit around the house at least topless all weekend, so my stitches can get some air. lol. it's been hot all week, so the house is overly warm anyway.

better half has to work all weekend at his desk. ya, i won't be distracting.

in fact, he's in the kitchen doorway smiling right now.