what's up?

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.

kermit

1962 chevy impala

i guess i'll put this up for the end of the year.

they always seem to park this car under the solar panels behind the bleachers at san fernando. i suppose for the shade later in the day, as it's usually freakin hot later in the afternoon.

i don't remember it being that hot this year, but then, i get hot flashes, so i overheat in the winter, so it probably was for me.

anyway, caught it early, before they popped the trunk and the hood. while a little bit of sun was still creeping low, under the solar panels.

they don't seem like the friendliest guys, but they're busy setting up, so they probably just want me outta the way.

sitting in my window, watching the clouds grow darker, going to rain again soon. got up this morning and walked uptown, saw rogue one. it was ok, as far as the search for more money goes, and it did tie in at the end to the original star wars.

had yesterday off from work, and have been effing around with updating my website. doesn't seem to be importing this here current version, progress bar isn't moving. i do have more than a couple of pages here, so it might just be taking it's sweet time.

i really do not want to manually copy and paste every single entry. and the programming interface is all different, so pretty sure it isn't going to come over simply anyway.

guess i'll work on my latest batch of stuff to send in to the copyright office.

also, there seem to be several different new year's day car shows this year. majestics, the one we usually go to, have moved out to wilmington this time. together car club is at the dam this year.  there's another out by dodger stadium, and i'm pretty sure i saw flyers for one in anaheim or buena park and somewhere else. such a dilemma. don't know where to go, or if i'll go out at all.

haven't seen the photographers or car owners of the stuff i like, posting which one they'll be heading out to, so i'm at a loss. someone recommend one to me, please, so i can talk myself into getting out of a nice warm bed before the sun comes up.

visitors

1947 chevy fleetmaster

another from the oldies san fernando show last summer. early on, there just weren't as many cars as compared to previous years. that allowed me to get out and shoot without a lot of people or even other cars getting in the way.

these just look like they randomly parked on the field, but the pop up tent ruins that thought, as it ruins the picture. i really hate pop up tents. but i love the cars, so i'll selectively not see it there in the background. fuckin’ tents.

elite green

chevy impala

this is a nice green car. couldn't get a good angle on it, since the front end was hopped up, and i'm not that tall, but this will do. lots of pinstriping and airbrush work. wondering if these are the type of wheels that they have to pull each spoke out and polish them individually. pain in the ass, i would think.

almost xmas. almost forgot that we had today off at work. all right, i really did not realize until last monday, when someone said something about the day off. which really screwed up my project deadlines, since i had factored in working today. oh well.

i guess tomorrow i'm getting baked, err, getting my bake on...a variety of edible xmas gifts. certain family members don't want things, but they do expect to receive their preferred baked treats. vinegar taffy for my dad...i'll do that last, as i'll burn my hands pulling that shit as it cools. but he likes it, so i'll make it for him. he says he doesn't inhale it all in one day like he used to, and his crowns on his teeth don't come out anymore, since he super glued them in.

my younger brother just decided he'd fly his family in on xmas day, so i'll have to make him a danish pastry. have made it for him every year since high school, except for last year, since he moved to the east coast right before xmas. i'm saying he's coming back just for that, but he won't admit it.

gave my kid the choice between some sticky, sweet, brandy-covered mexican bread or a loaf of carrot bread; he went with carrot. went to the market earlier, with a list, and yep, forgot to get the carrots. i'll go tomorrow.

and i think i'll make my mom some zuchinni bread, with cinnamon and nutmeg flavor.

apart from all that, i gotta make a batch of cinnamon rolls too. that takes all day, so i'll start those first. will be a busy day, and i'm going to make a big mess in the kitchen.

bodes ill

1956 chevy bel air

thanks panera for that flavorless egg sandwich with the eggshell spice. and the salt shaker that drops a teaspoon of salt with just a light tap. and the orange juice that tastes a bit off, with a lid that popped right off without breaking the safety ring. my lip is tingling now...probably all in my head, right?

if my day is starting off this well, i wonder how work will go? xmas came early there; my week started with a brand new kick-ass computer, with a couple of big curved monitors.

at least most people have already left for their holidays or are working from home, so it should be pretty quiet. me, i'm in the office. new computer to play with, and a new employee to keep an eye on, getting acclimated to windows vs mac. not a new revelation that i'm a terrible supervisor/teacher...ask my better half about how i met him.

here's my chance to fill this blank canvas, to train him on procedures the way i want them done. i've done things for so long, i do them without thinking about it, and have already forgotten to tell him a bunch of stuff. but then, if i think back to times when i started a new job, or observations of others starting, you see eyes glazing over from the sheer amount of info hitting them the first few days. so i'll just mention stuff as days pass or the questions come up.

here's another of the tj friends cars i woke up to see for the xmas parade. it should have been at the end of the line, to carry the fat guy in the red suit, instead of whichever political hack or parade host got to sit in it.

transom of my mind

1953 chevy bel air

better half was just reminding me about how he woke me up to let me know about all the cars lined up just outside the door. says he knew i didn't hear more than cars and front window. not the words "to the left."

i peeked through the curtains to the right. i was sleepy, ok?

he says i do that a lot. lots of random thoughts that tangent and richochet off whatever he is talking about, and i ask five completely different questions back to him in rapid succession for no reason whatsoever. i gotta be losing my mind.

he specifically mentioned this car when he woke me up, as one i needed to see.

dia de los puercos

1953 chevy bel air

wanted to get out today. there were a couple of shows to consider. chose to go over to covina, to the dia de los puercos restaurant. was supposed to be a toy drive.

got there after start time. there were only about seven cars and a cycle there, mostly from timeless classics club. ok, figured i'd just start shooting, and more would show up.

thought people were still recovering from yesterday's mooneyes and/or hangovers.

spent over an hour just shooting those cars. a couple more showed up. a guy on a basic black motorcycle showed up. he asked me what's going on. he was on his way to a motorcycle toy ride. he sat and watched and talked on his cell phone for a while before leaving.

i went inside, to have some lunch. food was ok. first time there, so i've only tried one plate of tacos, er, taquitos. sort of tasted like hot dogs in a crunchy shell. not really what i expected. guess i was hoping for something else, but i tried.

after, took pictures of a couple more cars that showed up, and then left. stuff to do at home, fun was over.

park it there

1967 chevy impala

better half got me out of bed yesterday by saying there was a car show outside the window. i'd decided not to go to moon eyes the night before—long week, stressed and tired—probably would have cleared my head to have gone, but too late now.

saturday was the whittier uptown christmas parade. was hoping to be able to sleep in, and not be woken up by the gathering high school bands and cars and city trucks with their barricades disturbing me. they've moved the parade start time to ten the last few years, so it really hasn't been so bad.

better half seems to wake up at usual work hours weekend or no, so he was up when everything started showing up. i guess he heard, then saw a bunch of convertibles show up, and park right outside the house. he giggled, and came and woke me up a little before eight.

i was going to skip the festivities, and go see a movie. i've got no spirit left for this stuff, but i do for old cars and photography.

i peeked out the front curtain, but didn't see anything, and figured they must have moved further down the street. apparently, i looked the wrong way, and when he opened the curtain, and asked if i was sure there weren't any cars parked outside, i looked again.

my bad. there were like fifteen old chevies parked in a couple of rows down the street. there for the pretty pretty princesses and parade dignitaries, i suppose.

my car was parked up around the block, with my tripod in the trunk, so i had dust off the old one i used to use, or appropriated from my better half, once upon a time.

so we both got our shit together and out the front door in no time.

some cars are better than no cars, right? especially when they bring them to you.

shot up and down the two rows of cars. a few more showed up. mostly members of tjfriends club.

better half talked to a group of the guys, who said half their cars were convertibles, so here they were, working the parade. i thanked a few of the guys for bringing the carshow here.

there's my better half telling these guys the funny story of the morning. i've shot these cars at other shows, but he's never met them.

pretty sure the kid they had working hard polishing the car was the same kid that approached me at the veteranos show, to remind me that he'd seen me shooting their cars at a previous show. probably should have had him pose in front of the car, in his shades.

oh, btw, the creepy elf tree won the best tree in a window competition. mother-in-law wasn't even trying, since they'd told her she couldn't win yet another year. three in a row, then skipped one. i guess it was ok to win again. congrats, mom!

i had to shoot a few pictures of it to show my own mother, so here's a peek.

we ended up shooting all the cars, dropping the cameras in the house, and walking back up the street with our other cameras, to get some breakfast. parade got started while we were inside—i saw it through the window.

after, we walked to the theatre. i managed to run across during a break between a band, a float, and a group of karate kids, performing for judges. better half took my camera back home with him.

went to see fantastic beasts... got there early for the second showing. walked in with my bucket of popcorn and drink, and basically cock blocked a young couple making out in the top corner of the dark theatre. i guess i could have left and let them get it on, or alerted an usher, but then i thought, no, ewww, i sometimes sit up in the top row, in the corners. didn't want to think about what might have been left behind on the seat. and it's more of a kid movie, so what if one walked in?

instead of the top row, which i prefer, i went to the middle center of the theatre, and just didn't turn around, in case they decided to just keep on keeping on. never have felt more my age and like i'd just mommed them.

fortunately, other people started walking in, so i didn't feel so awkward and alone.

movie was not that great. i liked the creatures. the story was kind of lame. i suppose the next few movies will continue the story, and make it more interesting. otherwise, its just a call for more money from studios that can't come up with anything new.

when i got home, my better half giggledly told me that after the parade, his mother looked out the side window, and there were all the same club cars parked again, right outside the window where i work on my computer. better half took some pictures, but i haven't seen them yet. he just thought it was funny that they were back, and i was gone. as if i'd have gone back out and shoot them some more...of course i would have...

cabal

1939 chevy master deluxes

this is a not so perfect shot of previously mentioned photoshoot at last week's old memories toy drive.

the other photographers who had asked the owners to pull their cars out into a loose semi-circle, seemed to have either been done, or were taking a break to regroup, so i quickly shot a few frames. it might have been during the time they were getting a certain little red truck to shoot from a higher elevation, up in the truckbed.

i think i would have shot this differently, had i had more time to do it. i mean, i shoot a wide angle lens, but i am not liking that i had to stand so far back to get them all in, and even so, i managed to clip either side, in my haste to get a shot.

the formation makes some sense, in that they fanned out, and allowed space so each owner could later be posed with their car in a group shot that i've seen by the other photographers. to me, it seemed to be missing something visually. can't quite pinpoint whether it's the one car not in the perfect formation, or that the others needed to be a little more haphazard. i dunno. i guess i'd have to mock something up with toy cars to solve the puzzle.

on top of that, this little cabal of thirty-nines seem to be up to no good, but that's just my weird imagination running away with me. and the bike in the background is the sacrificial beast.

©2025 kathy gonzalez