what's up?

good morning

it's just after six in the morning, on a monday. sitting here, at a fast food joint, not wanting to go to work.

survived another journey down the five freeway, with assholes driving / flying by at one-hundred miles an hour. can't believe anyone needs to drive that fast to get to work, so they are just assholes. went by so quick, didn't actually see their puckered faces. all i can say is, stay in your own effing lanes when you're trying to kill yourselves! i don't want to go with you.

apparently, seventy isn't fast enough.

saw this car while waiting for the dam(n) show to open on new year's day. early, freezing outside, we parked the car and took a turn about the streets, taking advantage of the parked show cars. this one had its lights on, so that was different. i suppose the people inside were just trying to keep warm.

wishing i'd done my usual ten shot exposures, instead of this three shot my better half said to try. i think even he admitted later, that maybe he should have just let me do my thang, as his shots weren't as great as he thought they'd be either.

all work...

coe truck

i've been working too many hours this week. the extra hours should be ending about tomorrow.

i've missed playing with my pictures. slept in late both days this weekend. didn't bother with the grand nationals...big show, too many people; i just have never gone to that one. i am enjoying seeing everyone else's pictures.

xmas tree came down today. better half's mom finally said it was time. what a pita...so many lights they put on the branches...i helped until i got a headache...hadn't had lunch yet.

waiting to go to the super cruise next week. on my little bro's birthday. too bad he moved to the other side of the states. guess i could make a cake and we could face time it to him, show him how much we're enjoying his bday cake. that might be too mean.

guess i'll spend the rest of today watching the clouds and sifting through pictures to post. rained very hard earlier, but looks like the clouds have blown away. planes are still flying pretty low, on their way to lax...must be pretty windy up there.

makeup

caught this car right after the owner parked. i get impatient sometimes; really nice cars draw crowds quickly, and crowds get in my way. i'll wait for people to move usually, but after a few minutes, i usually will move along, and hope i remember to come back later.

this one happened to be near some food vendors. hadn't had bfast yet, and my better half was in line waiting on his chorizo and a quesadilla for me. he watched me take a few shots.

he told me the other day, while we were talking about car shows, that the owner later asked him about when i'd post the pictures. better half didn't know what to tell him. probably something to the effect of sooner or later.

i think i'd already posted it on instagram; just hadn't had anything to write about here to have a reason to post it yet...one of those rainy day cars. not raining, but since my better half mentioned it...

perchance

1947 chevrolet fleetmaster

was chatting with my better half over dinner tonight; an assortment of subjects, as usual. still surprised we have anything to talk about after this many years, but there it is.

subject of car shows came up, because of course it does. some relative at the funeral mentioned their computer had crashed and he had lost the link to my better half's website. thinking it would be easier to remember if he sent him to it through my links page, better half came over and asked if i had any cards on me, which i did. think it had a cadillac on the back—irrelevant detail.

anyway, that led to conversations he has with guys at car shows, who, invariably will ask him for my card. they know he is with me, and he's easy to talk to, while i am usually busy taking pictures.

he mentioned the owner of this car, from last year's super cruise, wondering why i hadn't shot a picture of his car. he asked first, if the hood was up. it was not. he told the guy that i probably had shot it then, since it's one of my favorite models.

had the owner asked me, i'd have posted it sooner. otherwise, probably never would have gotten around to it. i have so many to choose from. since it came up in conversation, i'll go ahead and post it, though you've probably given up on seeing it.

looking forward to the super cruise again, next month.

flat top, four door

i was told that this is a rare impala; that it was engineered to be a convertible, by just removing the roof; that somehow this one was ordered, and then no one picked it up, so the roof was never removed. and rarer still, that it has four doors.

i like the back window that curves around to be the side windows. and the fins. always the fins.

a bit dark

i did it. i got up, got my ass out of bed and was in line at the fairgrounds at five-o-eight this morning. really dark, but there were some lights and few people...they were busy getting breakfast burritos or something.

i spent the early morning shooting in the dark. i like the pictures. they aren't sharp as images after the sun started coming up, but i like the feel of them. messed with my camera settings to get them to look like this one.

so many cars to shoot as the morning progressed, and the weather was perfect. cold and clear. not freeze your ass off cold. waaaayyy better than the hell that is summer on that pavement.

i could have stayed all day with no complaints, except i got hungry and also needed to dump my coat in the car, probably about nine. and well, after sunrise, and the light starts getting to normal overhead light, it's probably just as good a time to leave anyway.

with style

going to see star wars this evening. walked uptown early to see it, but it was sold out. i hear it's better in imax 3d, but this small theatre will do just fine.

better half wants to go to pomona tomorrow, but his ankle is hurting, so we'll see. it is a lot of walking.

i have monday off, but he doesn't. not sure what i'll be doing. might just log in to work from home, and get a jump on one of many deadlines i have this week. more likely, i will just sit at my computer and play with my pictures, posting a few of my faves here and there.

here's another chevy from huffarama. don't recall it having any association to any car club on it, and i don't know who it belongs to, but it was very nice, sitting off to the side of the lot by itself.

enchilada

i have a craving. chocolate chip cookie dough. and i'm going to go mix some up right after i post this. probably should eat dinner first, but i don't know what to have for that. but i'm sure i want cookie dough.

i've put a few other pics up on instagram today. i'll post them here eventually. when i have something to say. tired of writing about a cold that's almost gone.

i like the curves of fleetlines. this nice, round booty, makes me happy. the paint job is a bit over the top, but it's masterfully done. better half called this one an enchilada car. he just clarified it is only because of the colors, the colors of the ingredients of an enchilada. not the first thing that jumped into my mind, but yes, it does remind me of cheese enchiladas.

way to start the year

back home, but to compromise, i am mostly wearing a face mask. feeling like a strange tourist in this place, in time. so, fun times. better half follows me making darth vader breathing noises. i'm tired, cough mostly at night.

feck it, says i. i walked uptown to get lunch. without the mask. quietly sat and watched an episode of breaking bad on my phone, while munching a slice of pizza. wasn't hungry, but just enjoying the time out. sun was out, sky was overcast, it was cool enough to wear the big, baggy pepperdine sweatshirt my new daughter-in-law bought me for xmas.

and after a cold to start the new year, better half's uncle died yesterday. not unexpected. it was a mercy. i only met him once. nice man. the family is mourning.

saw this car sitting by my friends from the old times car club at the new year's show. waved at them, but didn't go over to chat. probably saved them from catching this cold.

i'm pretty sure i've shot this one before. i like the rough edges, the unfinished feel. that visor is kind of killing it though. probably the bright primer.

the backstory

my parents have been getting phone calls over the past few years from people trying to trick them into sending money. you know, bottom scum trying to rip off the elderly.

first time it happened they almost fell for it. a guy called pretending to be a relative traveling in mexico, needed money to pay the federales to let him go. they stressed out about it for a bit, but then checked with the relative's family on his whereabouts. he happened to be home, happy as can be.

well someone called again yesterday; my mom answered. claimed to be my nephew, though didn't really mention a name.

actually, she was expecting a call from one of my nephews, who will be coming to visit next week. besides that, neither parent hears that well, so any guy sounds like they could be any of the nephews on the phone.

the guy chit chatted a bit, speaking of things in general. then got to the point: he and his girlfriend were in some trouble in mexico (why is it always there?). they had wrecked a rental car in an accident, but they were ok. they were at the counselate and just needed nine hundred dollars to take care of the car and get home.

since it had already taken a familiar turn, my mom had been playing along, throwing out random untrue info, giving a random name for the girlfriend, just to have the guy take them and run with them.

i guess the guy finally figured out she knew he was full of crap, and hung up.

my better half would have had a field day with this guy, just as he does with any telemarketer. depending on his mood, he might just tell him to hold on while he got his checkbook and just putting the phone down for a long time, to blowing an airhorn into the phone.

not sure which way i would have run with it. maybe an excited omg, stay where you are, what's the address, i'm on my way...nah, not gonna get excited about a jerk like that.

wonder if they hacked the aarp database, and just start calling random geezers, knowing they'll find a few suckers to send cash.

love the curve of a good back end. dressed in black, with just a touch of decoupage.