flying fish

stopped at fuddruckers the other day. mostly too late to catch the sunset, which wasn't all that special anyway. not like the one a couple of nights ago. why is it when there's some awesome sunset to be seen from the front door here, there isn't a car show to be had? saturday, there was a sunset so deep purple to deep red, melted crayons couldn't have matched it in a million years.

finding fewer cars at this show that i want/need to shoot a picture of. been an overall different vibe there, though the dj/host does like to mention other upcoming shows to me.

only took this shot because i liked the fish hood ornament. that decal on the side panel kinda ruins it for me otherwise. 

no show

so the year is going out in a whimper. drove over to the viejitos show this afternoon. a block away were some of those look at me, look at me, small package guys with their new big ass trucks, with doors that open upward, hoods that flip up and all their blingy stupidness.

drove past. they were in the lot i usually park in. thought maybe they might be overflow from the show. but no, where the nice cars were supposed to be, nothin. well, there was one viejito, seemingly just arrived, climbing out of his nice old truck. perhaps he was as mystified as we were as to where everyone was. we kept going, but probably should have stopped and shot his truck just for the heck of it. i suppose it was cancelled for the holidays, and the weather...cold and windy. didn't think/realize it was supposed to rain.

we weren't far from disneyland, so stopped there to pick up some of the sourdough bread for my mother-in-law. wasn't as crowded as you'd have thought, but busy enough we weren't going to stand in the soup line. fortunately, they have a cart outside, that they were just opening for the day, and got some there.

the skies were looking increasingly gray, so we decided to skip eating there, and headed for the little sandwich shop hiding in the hotel there. no long line in there. as we sat down to eat, it started pouring rain outside.

by the time we finished, it had mostly stopped, and we headed directly to the car. sprinkled a little on the way home.

so it sucked that there was no show, but my better half reminded me that i didn't really have space for more pics anyway. but i would have shot them anyway.

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i haven't decided yet whether to drive in to work tomorrow, or work from home, now that i've been enabled to do so, thanks to the IT department. pretty sure i'd be one of the few in the office, as i was last week. it was nice and quiet, even with the few other die hards working in offices elsewhere sending me work. i can think of only one person who might send me something to work on, and after that, there'd be no one to approve it, so really, wondering what to do.

probably the clincher will be the weather. if its raining, i'd be less inclined to drive in, and then fight the traffic coming home.

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found this car at one of the summer shows out at enderle. i'd never seen one before, so of course i had to shoot it. interesting tail lights, i think.

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oh ya, for christmas, i gave a few people a small book of hood ornaments i've shot over the last couple of years. a few have asked for copies for their friends. if you're interested, i've put it up for sale here, or you can preview a few pages from it anyway. no words, and i kept it simple. thought i'd let the images do their own talking. there's a small book of flowers, if that's your thang as well.

back to work

my week as a slacker is over tomorrow; back to work for half a day, then a day off, then the rest of the week like normal. i've enjoyed sleeping in late. got a few things that needed done, done. i'll be glad when the holidays are over. not my bag.

this week, it's my better half's turn being a slacker. he's got family coming to town. sometimes, that's more work than going to work.

he did take me to the brian setzer concert last night, sort of an annual thing. but i think it will be the last time. the gibson amphitheatre has reconfigured the seating just enough that he cannot fit into the seating comfortably—he's six foot five—and it's pretty uncomfortable even for me. and he felt ripped off after a great wall of enebirated backsides wouldn't sit down. if we wanted to stand up the whole show, we'd have bought pit passes, not the ass passes we apparently were stuck with. 

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another of the legend's cars. i think that's enough for this year. time to share the love with some other clubs.

watch yer back

mostly cars are viewed from the front. you can tell by the way they get parked, that owners think that's the thing to see; that's where the money is...in the engine. and i would agree for the most part, that the front is the ticket. depending on where the sun is in the sky, i sometimes curse the angled spaces, jacking up the good side with my awesome shadow, forcing me to shoot from the other side, missing the turn of the wheel. same issue shooting a motorcycle. hate when they are parked wrong for the lighting conditions.

but the group of cars with distinctive backsides, tail lights, fins, are all equally in my crosshairs. not quite like bubba in the prison shower, but i do like to get down low, catch a shot of where the sun don't shine—mostly because you guys back them into the shrubbery (a shrubbery!). ya, thanks for that. i'll back up into the bushes too, and chance the occasional spider or sharp sticks (pointed sticks!). ahh, i have to go pull up a monty python flick now...

low down

i have a hard time passing by the back end of impalas, with their sweeping fins. so i found this version in the form of a wagon unusual, but still enough to make me stop.

turns out to also be a viejitos member, only this one for the inland empire. nice and low. which is exactly how i was to get this shot, which if i remember right, had the owner wondering what the heck i was doing behind his car. for all i know, that's his kid sitting there, wondering the same thing.

miss the light? uhh, no.

i went to a couple of shows on friday, which i have not been to in at least a year. because frankly, they were sucking donkey balls. i'll give a show a couple of trys before i decide it ain't worth the drive for either the number or variety of cars, or else just the people and/or vibe. and with the price of gas spiking thirty cents in a day, i guess i should get more picky.

on fridays, there are at least three shows i used to hit up when i got started. and all are basically on my way home, so it worked out. the one in garden grove used to be pretty huge for a main street show, until the local businesses, the show organizers and cops squeezed out the bad boys, and then pissed off a lot of the car owners.

that was the first one i stopped at. not much has changed in a year. pretty much the same diehards there. not as many cars as before. the latin gents were there, and i did take time to shoot their cars, because they're pretty sweet. i'll post some of them eventually.

then, for whatever reason, i decided to give the elks club in buena park another shot. i'd been there a couple of times a year ago. where i found quite a few of the deserters from garden grove. i also shared the story, here somewhere, of my parking in one of the grand poobah's spaces, getting told to move it, and how that wasn't very welcoming at the time. that, and the fact that there warnt much there.

forward to yesterday: the lot was packed, lots of hoods down, no one really bothered me, and surprise, surprise, several of the viejitos were parked out in the back along the wall. mind you, i had just spent the previous sunday at their show in fullerton, but i'm always happy to see the cars in new locations, at a different time of day.

ok, it's getting late, almost midnight, so i gotta wrap this up.

i took a bunch of shots of their cars, then went off to take others up by the entrance. as it was getting later, and closer to raffle time, everyone gathers in the middle of the lot. so i went back over to the best cars, as the sun was starting to go down. it was awesome, because, no one was around to get in the shots, and i could pretty much do what i wanted.

there was one old guy (it's an elks lodge after all) who walked slowly by, who remarked on how i was losing the light. i told him, i certainly wasn't, and i was going to be getting my best shots right about now. wonder if he'll see them when i post them.

thinking i should have stayed a bit later, but this will do. and i came thisclose to going to ruby's as well, but i had to eat, and figured they'd be about done when i got there. so now i probably won't make it there until their last show of the season at the end of this month.

this car was/is for sale. i know how to get hold of him, if you're interested.

glitterati

dear mr. car show guy (was your name victor?),

i take pictures for my own fun and post some here on this little blog. really, what fun is it, if no one sees what you shot? spread the joy or something.

no, i don't post nekked pictures, even pictures of the wannabe models (they get in the way of the car), or blather on in raptures on the wonders of alcoholic beverages or drugs, because i don't drink or do drugs and wouldn't have any idea about that—except by observation. and it doesn't look like those people are really having that much fun while they are doing it, and especially the next morning.

so, have no fears of being associated or mentioned on this here bloggy thing. or any injury to the reputation of your school. good on ya.

sincerely,
kathy@tweakedpixels.com

_____ 

these two, i think, are in the dukes car club. mr and mrs? i don't know. both have been glitter bombed on the roof. i shot the turquoise one before.

here is an orange one to complement it, at the show at la habra high school. both are wonderful to look at, and a pain to photograph. i need a ladder...

bitch

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what is it about guys and high maintenance women? you all know the ones i'm talking about—the ones that dress up for a day at disneyland and wear high heels, then spend all day bitching about how their feet hurt. the ones that the guys want to have, then spend the rest of their lives regretting. she's fine as long as she doesn't say anything, but then she does, and has nothing to say. and the claws come out if she thinks you're looking at other chicks.

i wonder if this car is like that. reine has been favoring his lincoln for the last bunch of months. has she been suffering from imaginary aches and pains all year? she's been a kept woman. hidden away in some garage in never-never land, getting nips and tucks, and apparently tipped. on the hubcaps. i noticed.

thanks for bringing her out to play for the day, reine. i did miss her, even if she is a bitch to photograph. j/k.

winning

went to the uptown show today. three times. at 6am-ish, 10am-ish, and 2pm-ish. as i said, it's up the street. got so damn hot as the morning went on, just had to stop and go home to sit in front of the fan for a while. not so bad in the shade, but i still felt icky after a while each time. too hot.

anyway, the so cal tribe guys seem to always be the first ones there, and get their choice of spots. so the group parked it over by that smelly cigar bar. but it did stay pretty shady most of the day for them. reine even brought his bitchin' cadillac, which i have not seen in months—thanks dude. i'll post one soon.

their website says this buick belongs to one of their newest members. my mom had a riviera when i was a kid, and i learned to drive in it. not this model year, but close enough, and definitely not this cool.

end of the day, after the awards had been given out, i walked back past the cars and they were gathering for a group picture under their banner. the owner was there holding a trophy, so i assume he won something for this baby. congrats, guys.

cha dude

someone explain to me why its some kind of sacrilege for a vw to show up at a car show. they segregate themselves to their own gatherings. i've seen one little posse over at a mcdonalds in downey, shunning the broiler, but that's been a while.

my ex pimped out an old bug once. it was pretty cool—new upholstery, but no seat belts, with lightning bolts two-toned on the inside doors; new paint, which he let me pick the color, kind of a faint wintergreen, which i've seen on some of the newer models. he had a big ass chromed engine installed in the back, that was way too loud, and some big, fat chromed wheels.

he even let me drive it. until the cops pulled me over, not because he'd lowered it too much, but because the windows were tinted too dark. seriously. had to remove it, which he wasn't too pleased about.

he later sold it to some kid, who probably took it to some shows and claimed he'd tricked it out himself.

that was the car project after he'd gone all awesome with a chevy van. he'd just finished it off with some real sweet chrome wheels, then decided to take me to a springstein concert at the coliseum back in the day. never park a shiny awesome car on hill street in LA and expect to find it when you get back. cops found it later, stripped down to the skeleton. he hadn't insured it. duh. he told me he cried when he went to see it.

anyway, most of the vws that do timidly show up at shows are pretty poor examples of the species and should stay hidden away under the rock they crawled out from under.

i made an exception for this one. i'm sure it was the paint combo that caught my eye. my old boss, who was my sister's mother-in-law, used to drive one of these, but she lived out in huntington beach, so i guess that would be a given. hers was all faded, but this one seems to have aged pretty well.

my better half can do a pretty good imitation of a vw bug in a swimming pool, laying on his back on a boogie board. lol.