what's up?

no mad

i really hate going to walmart. well, i hate shopping, but walmart is a special hell. i'll go there maybe three times a year, usually just tagging along with my better half, who is a frequently visitor there.

tonight, he wanted to pick up a space heater, since he is about ready to call for a young priest and an old priest, to exorcise the ghost of the ancient wall heater in our room, which doesn't work, and the landlord won't fix it, but it is just perfect for hot flashes.

our last space heater went to his mom's room after her own heater crapped out. gotta keep the little old ladies toasty warm. myself, i prefer piling on the blankets, and adding or subtracting clothing as necessary.

anyway, walmart sucks. from the people zooming the wrong way in the parking lot, not stopping at stop signs, to people selling tamales out of their back seat. nah. didn't really see any outstanding 'people of walmart' oddities, so that entertainment was missing.

we wandered around the store, picking up items from his mom's shopping list. better half wanted hair goop for his long hairs (because he has hairs like a woman). turns out, they lock up the fancier stuff, in hair goop prison. then you have to hunt down an employee, who inevitably doesn't have the key with them, only to be told that if you aren't done shopping, they will have to leave it a particular register. same with razors.

we wander around some more, do not find any heaters at all, which was the whole point of the trip. will either buy one online or i'll pick one up down in orange county, where most homes have built in air conditioning and heating, so more likely will have one in the store.

up to register fifteen, to free the prisioner hair goop. longish line, relative to the others. shopper currently being rung up, is staring blankly at the cashier for a minute after being given the total for her purchase. blink blink. then she slowly starts to dig through her purse for a credit card. fuuuuuuucccccckkkk.

after waiting for five minutes, the cashier lady is turning off her register sign, and we are being told go to the next one. better half is asking about how is he going to get his hair goop. he is assured that they will get it for him. he was ready to throw a tantrum he said. i asked if he would also add throwing himself on the floor and banging his head around, like his niece did the other day. he thought that might be a little too much this time.

i just want to leave. it's getting late, and i still want to post a picture. haven't been to many shows lately, so haven't really got anything to write about, and nothing else is pissing me off, so this will just have to do for now.

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haven't posted one of these in a while. mostly because i haven't seen one in a while. or one as nice as this. not quite sure i like the cadillac lights sticking out like cold temperature indicators, if you know what i mean, and they're just asking to have a baseball bat swung at them.

troika

don't usually shoot trucks like this one. i just don't find them that interesting. i guess i just liked the light at the time. and there was a little bit of pinstriping, which i do find interesting most of the time.

i do like the truck behind him, so that was no doubt, the next stop.

bow to me, splendidly

so, sitting here doing nothing most of the day. niece and her husband and baby are visiting.

i gave the nine month old a cookie, and she has been staring and smiling at me all evening. no, not giving her another, but she's hoping. not saying she's acting like my son's dog, but he does the same thing...

guess i'll just sit here and consider whether i want to get up and drive out to tustin and santa ana tomorrow for smaller car shows. it's frigging cold outside tonight, and the heater in our room isn't working, so will probably just hide out under the blankets in the morning.

went to dinner with my better half. without fail, at some point when we are out, i'll say something, without particularly thinking about timing, that will almost make his drink fly out his nose, just as he's taking a sip.

twice that happened this evening: don't remember what i said the first time, but the second time, we had just boxed up the leftovers and placed them in the bag. he started to take a drink, at the same time i mentioned that the bag looked like the egg pods from the movie alien...i closed the top and then burst it open, as if the thing was going jump out at suck his face...he stopped himself from drinking just in time.

looking back at old pictures, while looking forward to the new year's day show at the dam again. technically, it's still a holiday weekend, so this be-bowed chevy is still appropriate to post, in all it's cherry candy colored sweetness. almost want to lick it, but not quite.

end of the road

back to reality. technically, i'm still on vacation until monday. should be a shock to the system, after being out of the office for two weeks. and the other designers will be off, leaving me there to fend for myself...back into the frying pan, as if i'd never left. really hate taking time off, just because it sucks so bad going back.

figured this was a fitting car to post, being as it has the story of a roadtrip, down route sixty-six down both sides. this is really a lot to look at on one car, but very skillfully and playfully done.

if you squint your eyes and see past the paint, the car is really in good condition.

my favorite part is the shark faces painted on the front bullets.

p.s. — merry xmas, or whatever you may or may not celebrate on tomorrow's over commercialized holiday.

on my way home

ok, enough alone time. i don't feel rested or recharged. maybe if this last hotel had given me a room with atub, but nooooo.

i have enjoyed the rain, and this "quaint, little danish town" is pretty quiet, compared to shopping at the mall. biggest line is for breakfast, for those looking to eat cock and balls with jerk sauce, or more likely, aebleskivers, which is basically a donut hole with jam.

i've just settled for the "continental" bfast in the lobby here. it's just easier.

guess i'll get out of bed now and throw my shit in the car.gotta go buy a buttload of pastries and cookies for the relatives coming in to visit this weekend. maybe i should just book a hotel in santa barbara or los angeles and hide out til sunday...

nice car. missing my pictures...getting closer to the majestics' new year show at the dam.

skirt

still recovering from the weekend. note to self: stay away from chipotle. bad idea to eat that burrito then drive out to the middle of nowhere the next day. omg. was never so happy to see the golden arches and their clean bathrooms...not for the food.

currently in solvang for the night. roadtrip almost over. raining lightly outside. eyeballing the fireplace, but not quite sure how to work it...better half usually sets that up. ya, i know about "apply flame to log." it's the open the flue or turn the key i'm not sure about...i'd like to wake up in the morning.

happy birthday mom!

not sure why i liked the side of this bel air so much. the curves maybe.

fellas

been a busy weekend and have't had much time to even turn my ipad on. solo road trip up the coast and back with my son's wedding in the middle.

i have a beautiful new daughter-in-law, and a wonderful family--her parents, sisters and brother--can't get better than that. to make it perfect, my daughter and her boyfriend were able to be there...a rare treat to have both of my kids in the same place.

also lucked out and had perfect weather, between storms.

also, a long story short, i did not take any of my own pics of the wedding. last minute rushing around plus teetering on high high heels after marching to hell and back the day before, made me a bit wobbly, and i decided to be safe and leave the gear in the room. there was a photographer and videographer there anyway.

and when i tried to take a shot with my phone, it seized up and died on me. i guess i was meant to just enjoy the day.

san luis obispo for a night, then a few in san fran. currently in monterey, then on the road again tomorrow. i'll be home wednesday, i think. missing my better half. at least work is keeping him busy with a crap ton of overtime.

saw these guys' cars before out in riverside, and here, again, at huffarama. actually spoke with one of the guys from fellas car club...can't remember just now if he owned that purple truck, or another that i've shot from a previous show.

he was quite nice, and i think, really, the only person that did say anything to me at that show. i was probably wearing a scary face as usual. sorry...

running with scissors

finally broke down and went to costco to buy a new backup drive. membership had expired too, so a few hundred dollars later, i'm home trying to open the thing.

if you're not familiar with these things from costco, the packaging is practically non-destructable. i suppose it's to prevent theft, but sheesh. i'm over at my mother-in-law's, and the best i could find to open the thing are scissors that seem built for a kindergartener to use. they're actually full-size kitchen scissors, but cheap as hell.

tried a steak knife, but then thought better of it, and went back to the crapscissors.

found two of those pieces of crap, so between stabbing and cutting motions, followed by a two-scissor maneuver, i somehow managed to free the box from the bullet-proof plastic.

currently have the thing plugged in, and i guess i need to try moving some files on to it, in case i need to take it back.

would they take it back, when the packaging is all shredded and thrashed?? hopefully, it will work, and i won't have to find out.

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this master deluxe was beautiful. burnished golden in the sun, i was quite envious of the owners, as i left, heading back to my stupid, generic honda.

fingerprint

i feel icky. officially my two week vacation has begun, and i expect to be catching a cold any moment now. i work my butt off, day in and day out, and almost every time i take a break, i catch a cold. must be the release of tension and adrenaline. the stress of driving is a big factor too. took me two and a half hours to get home yesterday.

didn't feel up to going to mooneyes this morning. figured i could go later in the day, but i basically only left the house to go get some lunch, and really didn't want to do that either.

whittier had their xmas parade today. goes right past the house. usually they gather outside the bedroom window, and wake us up, but this year, they staged it further down the street and around the corner.

still, crowds of little kids squealing, yelling, singing, and playing music aren't conducive to sleep anyway. we got up, turned on the tree, and peeked out the curtains once in a while. neighbors were outside heckling the marching bands and beauty queens, but that's to be expected from forty year old wanna be frat boys.

so, hoping if i take a few days, taking it easy, i'll be up to my road trip mid-week.

for now, going to play with my pictures, watch the old cars passing by, on their way to the cigar bar or other bars uptown...the show must be over.

i love hood ornaments. pontiacs are always a target. even the ones with newly installed amber faces, but i prefer them in plain metal, painted metal, and plastic. the older the plastic resin is, the more likely they are subject to crackage (not the butt kind).

i suppose like skin, they dry out, become brittle and get this really interesting texture. and each is unique in the patterns, so i suppose i would be able to compare similar shots i've taken, to see if i've shot the car before, without ever seeing the rest of the car.

walkabout

my better half has gotten it in his head to make a concerted effort to do ten thousand steps a day. for the last couple of weeks, he has hit that goal or exceeded it every day.

i started it, i think i even wrote about wanting to do it, but i just don't have the time. except on weekends. i did the three mile round trip out to jersey mike's on beverly blvd one day. the thing about beverly, is there isn't enough sidewalk, and at some point, you have to walk on people's yards or on the street. stupid, really. so walking back, i decided to walk through a neighborhood i was unfamiliar with, and stumbled upon the bike path that cuts through whittier.

pretty lonely on some parts, but bike riders were frequent enough not to get too paranoid.

anyway, told my better half about it, and the next weekend, we were both walking over to jersey mike's. on the way back, we talked about how far the trail went. he said it's the same one that snakes down lambert, down past the two felons skate shop, one of his favorite stores to shop for boards at.

the next day he wanted to go try out some stuff with his camera over at the bridge above five points. instead of walking back on the path, we cut back up the street toward uptown, on greenleaf.

he was slightly ahead of me, when i hear him say, "i'll just wait over there." not knowing what he meant, until i passed a building, and saw this chevy, sitting in front of a repair shop.

i had taken my camera and little gorillapod to shoot pictures of the wind sculptures on the trail, but i was too shy to go over to the car, and just shot with my phone from the sidewalk. knowing i would do that, my better half, walked right on over to the owner and asked if he minded if i took a few shots. no problem.

he chatted the guy up, while i had to change all the settings on the camera, and then shoot. turned out, the car shop guys called the owner over to bring his car in for his smog or whatever, so i only had time for this one picture.

better than nuthin. always like shooting the random car i come across out and about. they just usually aren't this nice.