what's up?

easy rider

been busy with work all week, and exhausted by evening. but it’s friday, and my better half is out doing some work. home to myself, so not bothering him with my movies playing in the background, while i sit in the dark in front of a very bright monitor, playing with a picture.

we’re thinking about going out to a show or two tomorrow. maybe flip a coin, as i can’t stay out in the heat too late in the day. or i could just keep fiddling with last week’s pictures. there’s never enough time.

here’s one of the few bikes that showed up last week. at least the only one i bothered to take a picture of.

my favorite point of view is down low, for bikes like this. they just seem more grand. just a typical motorcycle, but lots of chrome to catch the light.

shopping

random car from the dukes car club’s blessing of the bombs show yesterday at mission san gabriel. found it mentioned on a video on youtube, at the fourteen-fifty-six mark. all of the cars have interesting histories, and it was nice to hear about them on this channel.

lots of spectacular cars out here, though the lot wasn’t as full as it has been in the past. was also not as hot as the last time i was there either, thank goodness.

was the first time my better half was able to join me out there at this mission. he’d visited the mission itself, long ago, with his mother.

i was actually not going out yesterday. i’ve been so tired. i slept in. better half was supposed to work, and i had accepted that i was just going to do laundry all day. hadn’t even charged my camera batteries.

better half’s work evaporated, as he was told they weren’t ready for him. he asked what i was doing for the day, and i had mumbled about going to this show, then we could stop and look at some car dealers to find cars that will fit him, or we could go to pomona the next day and do the same. he said yes to either or both, happy to not have to be working and wanting to get out of the house.

his car is not working, and he is seriously in the midst of researching new cars, though the thought of getting something at pomona is appealing too.

i think he also wanted to play with his camera lenses too. we didn’t leave the house until nine in the morning. normally, i would have been there at seven, as cars would be rolling in.

i’m sensing a pattern here. i just want to sleep in on weekends. it’s a problem not leaving earlier, when it’s only going to be too hot for me to be out later. we’re an hour away now, so it’s just that much worse.

at least my better half was there to make me drink more water, and fetch the suntan lotion from the car when i realized i was starting on a sunburn. [she rubs the lotion on her skin…] thanky d.

also, thanks to the guy that offered me some cold water—i think he was with the south side bombs. i appreciate it, thanks for your concern.

better half was done before me, as usual. i had gone into the shade again, and he was encouraging me to stop as he said my face was red, but then a few more cars drove in. a few more shots, and i packed up.

we went to lunch at lunas restaurant, about a block away. it was very good, would go again, but kinda pricey.

following that, stops at various car dealers in whittier and buena park. most cars he didn’t fit comfortably, they tag teamed him with the salesperson and finance officer. he asked questions. he made them squirm. he didn’t buy. he did like the tesla sales team, who seem to have a different sales model, and answered questions directly, and no bs upcharges that are pure profit.

he’ll still take six months to decide. didn’t make it to pomona today, so maybe next time.

sraining

it rained half the night, into morning here today. better have says i slur my words a lot, so i’d say it’s “sraining.” how very elvis of me. more rain coming tonight, and half of tomorrow. i love it. cold and gloomy.

stayed home most of the weekend, wrapping the eternal/infernal xmas tree with the usual ten thousand plus frigging lights. my hands and arms are scratched from the wire branches, and even my ankles have been shanked by the lower branches this year. maybe socks would help. thousands of little fruity lights. perhaps you might remember the tree just a block from uptown whitter. probably could have seen it from a plane.

anyway, it’s my gift to my better half, to get the thing wrapped with lights, since he’s been so busy with work lately. it makes him happy, to remember how much his mother loved xmas and that damn tree. so there you go. it will be up to him to decorate to whatever theme—did toy story again last year, so something else from storage and his mother’s ornament collection.

another car from the bomb club show. i hope you’re not tired of them yet. i have more to post. perhaps i should dip into the archives and post old ones?

nah, it was overcast that day, so it fits with my mood and the current weather, so that decides it.

nice car, and i managed to get no one moving thought the shot here, off to the side of the field.

lil josh fundraiser

got my taxes done saturday morning. always gets my stomach up in knots prepping for the yearly appointment. no reason. always have everything ready sorted, the important papers in a large envelope, relatively painless. write the check, carry on.

i haven’t been out to a show since early january, and even then, not that often recently. mostly have sat in the house on weekends, bingeing the sopranos, and wondering when the xmas tree would be coming down. sort of don’t care, since i’m hardly ever at home. just a lot of stuff going on on the homefront and at work, i’m just kind of numb by the time i get to a weekend.

got a granddaughter coming this week for sure, so there’s a bright light for this week. a happier reason for a hospital visit than the last couple of months.

timing of this year’s tax appointment coincided with the start time for a fundraiser for a kid i’d never met. originally planned months ago as a fundraiser to help the boy in his fight against cancer, it became a memorial fundraiser instead.

roll-in wasn’t until well after sunrise, so i didn’t bother to get up early, only to have to leave when cars would show up. so, got up, ate breakfast and headed off to my thing. was not feeling well on the way there, and made a pit stop on the way back.

thought i’d drive by the show, see how i felt, and decide then whether to stay or go. it was pretty busy, and i lucked out and got a parking spot quickly. so i went through the motions, and got my bag out of the trunk, and headed over. paid my donation at the front table.

figured i’d stay until my stomach started to bother me, since it was close enough to home.

the show had a good turn-out, even though it was already several hours into it.

owner of this car said i’d shot his car previously, and was hoping i’d shoot this one that he’d bought for his wife. said he’d found it online, from the state of rhode island, i think it was. most everything was still original to the car, and in excellent condition. someone must have hidden it away in a garage. lucky find.

had several people come over and say hi, whom i hadn’t seen for a while. it is nice that people still remember conversations they’d had with my better half years before, come up and send him greetings. that is why he is my better half, he is memorable and diplomatic and a social butterfly. it comes easy to him, and people like him.

i do miss him going to shows with me, but he has other responsibilities right now. he gets to see all the pictures you never see, so he gets a virtual car show when i do go out.

nice to know there are those of you who keep an eye out for me when i’m out there by myself. thank you. you know who you are.

the air was cool, though i felt warm, and i managed to shoot most of the cars i wanted before i really started to feel faint. there were a few i missed, but i was there long enough to hear most of speech the boy’s parents gave, thanking everyone and recalling stories of their son.

i seem to do some calculated gambling on how far my car is from where i am and how long i can keep shooting and still get back to the car. somehow, if i can make it to the car, i can get myself home and be ok. probably the main reason i don’t go out much. also, what fun is it to have all these pictures and not have them with me to fiddle with at my mom’s house. wouldn’t be able to do much anyway with the big dog there wanting attention all evening.

i’m just feeling in a morbid mood this evening. i think i’ll stop here for now.

h20

bored yet? another from last week. owner gave me a bottle water, when i really needed it. thank you. was overheating about then.

charging batteries for tomorrow. was reminded about the fleetlines show in garden grove, but had to tell them the dia de los muertos is just up the street first.

dozen

finally made it home tonight. been stuck all week in the oc for various reasons.

yesterday was our twelfth anniversary, and i got stuck waiting on a frickin’ termite inspector for an appointment right after work. quick mandatory check of the garage, then off to spend time with my better half.

three hours after said appointment was supposed to happen, i sent a text, politely irritated, asking if they still planned to stop by this evening? needed to at least go get something to eat.

went to a place a block away, and mid-way through a bowl of salad…craving salad for some reason…the phone rings. flaky inspector lady is apologizing profusely, saying her assistant had left and it wasn’t in the schedule, and she was with family, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

except that i had spoken with this same person the day before to make the appointment. she just forgot. i missed my time with my better half for this asshole.

so we rescheduled. so she can forget me again next week.

was late and i was tired, so i just stayed where i was. i had already worn all the clothes in my suitcase, so, i ended up wearing my daughter’s clothes to work, so it wouldn’t be a repeat outfit.

and we’ll have to happy anniversary another day.

truck from last week’s show at the roadhouse. duke club, i think. i’m sure it’s posted up here from previous years, other shows.

good show.

anticipation

made it out to the roadhouse show last weekend. brief stop, only two or three hours.

for one thing, it got too warm, and i was just over a cold or whatever, so i was starting to feel dizzy and just sweating profusely. i felt like pedro, wanting to shave my head because it was too hot with all my hair. need to carry a towel to soak in cold water and hang on my neck.

i also had somewhere else i had to be an hour and change away, and needed to eat and shower before skeedaddling on down.

there was just about the right number of cars to shoot in my limited amount of time, but the heat did slow me down. you see, i should have headed out when the alarm went off, instead of having breakfast first, before the sun got too high in the sky. eh, i would have felt worse without it, so here is the trade-off—sun up, lens flares, god beams—whatever term you want to use for fuck the rules and shoot into the sun…i wanted that angle.

i have a few other shots i liked, but this was the only one i had time to post. i’m away from whittier and my computer so much, i should either stop shooting or see it as saving for a rainy winter; so far, i’m going with the latter.

oh, and that other thing i had to get to—found out i’ll be having a granddaughter in a few months—first grandkid. oh i’m getting older, but that’s the trade-off, right? it’s a good thing.

transitory

i never seem to stay put in one house more than a couple of days anymore. i rotate between whittier, my parents' house in oc, and my own place, where i'm dealing with a mold issue from the leaky pipe in the wall in may and the kid moving in before she really should have.

i feel unsettled and tired. in whittier for the weekend, i also feel overheated. the back bedroom, with it's little window air conditioning unit, is a little sanctuary when i need it, but my computer is up in the front room, where i am sandwiched between two fans.

i do little bursts of energy, washing dishes, running laundry, helped my better half make guacamole; made enchiladas the other day, and my mother-in-law wants me to make more...so i guess they were ok. she wants hotter sauce this time.

on another subject, i got another honorable mention ribbon for my collection, at the orange county fair for this one. the other two pictures i entered are nearby it on the wall.

old dodge from the bomb club show at santa anita. i've seen this car many times before. probably have it posted up here somewhere at least one other time that i can think of off the top of my head..

missing the overcast; love clouds and how they keep it cool. i really hate summer heat.

don't hold back

beauty of a truck here in whittier, from a few weeks ago. had to do the waiting game for several shots; for another photographer, for a videographer, for the background traffic, for other random people. it's a car show, so it comes with the territory. i'm not in a hurry, so i wait. or come back later.

trolls. i have trolls. not for me, specifically, more as a conduit. they're frustrated, and rattling cages, and can't get through to the person they want, so hello me.

don't want to shut down commenting, but thinking about it, at least for a little while, until they forget about me. i don't got time for dat, and it's not about me anyway. sounds like i need some sort of salve.

off to a start...

new year. new day.

started well so far. for some bizarre reason, i thought i had january second off, same as we had the day after xmas off the week before. and i was enjoying it; slept in until nine, had breakfast, watched some inane youtube videos, and was about to start working on some pictures.

then i went back to the bedroom to get my ipad and phone. picking up the phone, noticed i'd missed an hour old text message from one of my coworkers asking if i was ok. wtf?

texted her back asking what/why? ten minutes later she responded asking if i was coming in or taking the day off. i'd missed a telecon, and no one had heard from me.

so after pleading idiocy, told her i'd be there by noon. first time i'd ever ever screwed up like that in all the years i've been working.

then i get to the office, and by one o'clock, i'm being asked/told i need to do a photo-shoot of someone for a press release—and they'll be there at two.

i haven't touched a camera in three months. hadn't set up the lighting equipment in three months or more. my brain is not thinking clearly. i looked at some old notes, then texted my better half for what camera settings i should use because he is a tech and camera geek, and dragged the equipment out of the closet.

asked if the other designer could come help me set up. he usually does the videos, and had used everything recently. he was out to lunch, but would be there soon.

so i set stuff up from memory, and it was mostly fine. only the camera was set up for video, and i had to surf through the menus, to make sure everything was good for a portrait. but it was still set for video, blinking standby.

the other guy shows up, i explain it isn't doing what i want, and that i haven't touched a camera for a while, and i'm sort of already having a weird day. he walks over and turns the dial on the camera from movie to manual. omg. duh, so basic.

manual setting wasn't working for me, lights weren't bright enough, didn't want to crank up the iso and add noise. flipped to aperture, like i'm used to shooting cars.

by then, i realize i've left my ipad in my car, because my day is already screwed up, and i have ten minutes before the person is supposed to be there. got there and back with a few minutes to spare. and i have to pee. no time, don't think about it.

then, i hadn't had lunch, so i start feeling dizzy. i think now, it was mostly nerves. suck it up, it will be over soon.

next, i hear the guy will be half an hour late. whew. more time to worry, but at least i can go take a leak.

when they finally do show up, it takes all of five minutes, got the shot, and they were gone. all that for a quick shot. and it turned out all right. i even managed to seem cheerful, to undercut how uncomfortable i was with humor. told them about my day so far, and got a smile from them, so it worked. i'm an idiot, nice to meet you.

so i guess, when i do go out to a car show again, i will be ok. muscle memory will kick in, not to worry. just got to get my eyes refocused, and get my head back in the game.

shot this bike in late november, at the latin gents/dukes toy drive. i think it might be with the majestics club, or maybe it was just parked near their pop-up. mostly, i think i liked the paint job, as it was otherwise, just a harley.