what's up?

autobahn

somehow managed to have to drive up to whittier and back two days in a row. had yesterday as a scheduled day off from work that never got cancelled. would have been on my way back from a weekend in san diego, with a camera full of snaps from chicano park day, but noooo. thanks corona virus, and fuck you too.

i did get up for an important conference call, and intended to go back to sleep. unfortunately, the dog woke up, did his thing and ate, but didn’t go back up as usual to sleep a few more hours.

so i took him out to a local bark park, where it was just him and one other dog in a big enclosed space. was quite nice and cool out at seven a.m. tired him out, so he was settling in on the couch expecting me to work, when i decided to go to costco to gas up my mom’s car. expected it to be a wait at the pump, and as long as i was there, to get inside.

so wrong. on a monday morning after eight, there was no lines at the pumps. rolled right up and got some relatively cheap gas. doubt it will ever get down below a dollar a gallon, not like the eighties.

expected a line to get in and shop, and would have not bothered in that case. temp was to hit ninety by noon. but there was no one—no old people special time waiting, no waiting at all. the place was empty compared to the last time i went, which was probably november.

cool cool cool.

called the better half to ask if they needed anything, since he doesn’t get out much, and complains some foods are hard to get in los angeles right now. he was set for tp, but did want kleenex for his mom. all that stuff has been relocated to the very back, and it seemed to be the travel destination. workers must get tired of the same damn questions of, “when do you expect to get more…,” as there where no flushable paper goods to be had.

i picked up most of the other items on his list, and a few things for my mom. walked straight up to the register to check out, so essentially the best shopping day there in what is usually a hell hole.

drove back to mom’s, where the dog had been moping about my disappearance. he will suffer most when things go back to something resembling normal.

transferred stuff to my car. chilled some refrigerated stuff for a bit and took a break.

headed to whittier with his shopping.

i had noticed as far back as january, that there were more muscle cars revving down the streets. weekend warriors had satisfied mid-life crises, and were now racing to see who had the biggest penises…they are all dicks, btw. and they say women can’t drive; i’d say right now, these idiots take the cake. too often almost taking off my fenders, cutting so close on lane changes.

now, with freeways empty, rich dudes are bringing out their ferraris, lambos, mazzerattis, etcetera, and driving like they are on an autobahn. same dickheads, nicer cars. douchebags.

anyway, better half seems exhausted as usual, working full-time on both work and caring for his mom on his own. got him some lunch from in-n-out, as the local places seem to just be totally closed.

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had my computer on, to do some scanning for my kid, so worked on a picture. missing the classics. if i do see any around here, they are fifty-five / -six bel aires, pimped out to hot rods <yawn>, though the neighbor did have a visitor in a fifty-eight ford fairlane a couple days ago.

yummy fleetline from the veteranos’ cruise night in west covina, january i think. should have gone to more shows, but who would have known we were all going into lockdown?

when the lights go down in the city...

long exposures, streaky freaky lights. that’s what happens.

some you can fix, mostly, why bother. they are kinda cool sometimes.

down low, trying to hide the people or some other odd thing behind the car. it is what it is.

groundhog

days seem to go by quicker lately, different, but strangely the same. i need to break up the routine somehow. it’s killing me. i live out of a suitcase. see my better half two days a week, if i’m lucky, or determined.

i need a vacation. somewhere with trees and cold. have a trip coming up, not of my doing—my older bro’s planning, and devious way to get my mom to go somewhere, anywhere—and she would only agree to go, if i came along. so there’s that to look forward to, i guess. assuming it doesn’t get cancelled due to the nasty virus going around.

super busy at work, as always, but more stressed. there’s a new boss in town, and haven’t been able to tell yet whether they are a good one or not. already started off on the wrong foot, entirely not on purpose, and a simple misunderstanding, probably due to my social ineptness.

not going to dwell on that. things either will or won’t work out, and i’ll just carry on.

did get a lovely valentine’s gift—a new granddaughter—born on valentine’s day, and whose middle name was changed to valentina because of it. full head of dark hair, and blue blue eyes, just like her mom. tiny little thing. don’t remember my own being that small, but they were. captured her daddy’s heart from the moment she arrived.

i want to sleep, but i should answer an email first. someone likes my pictures and has questions. they took time out of their day to write a lengthy and nice email; i should take some time and respond in kind.

here’s one of the veterano’s cars, at their cruise night back in january. got there early, while the light was still warm enough, and the people were still few and far between enough. better half and i used to discuss which chevy we would prefer—the thirty-nine master deluxe or the forty-seven/forty-eight fleetline. i think we settled on one of each, as we really couldn’t decide. we can dream, right?

groundhogs day

another holiday weekend. another daily visit to the hospital—not me—so much for relaxing.

did start with a baby shower, which was a happy time. grandkid any day now.

missed pomona, but that wasn’t going to happen anyway—better half told me early saturday that he wanted to get out to santa fe springs swap meet and to the market on sunday. maybe in march, if it’s not raining.

only other notable accomplishment was bingeing two seasons of the sopranos.

needless to say, my pictures and blog are being neglected. just not much i can share, nor energy to spend. would like to take apart my dad’s computer and reload it, so maybe i can take a portable hard drive with me to my mom’s and play with them when i’m there.

overheating in this hospital room, so i need to step outside to hallway now.

meanwhile, enjoy this shot from a couple weeks ago. messing with long exposures again. lost the race with the sun.

first of the new year

i really hadn’t gone to too many shows the last few months. which was a good thing in a way, because i think i had a pulled muscle or sprain, so it apparently had time to heal.

started off this year at the veteranos’ cruise night in west covina. didn’t officially start until three-thirty, so i figured i’d get there an hour early, and shoot whatever was there while they were setting up. knew i’d be racing the sun for light later anyway.

well, no show cars were there. momentarily thought i had the wrong date or location, but when i decided i’d at least go inside and get some pizza, there were four of the veteranos at a table having a meal. apparently neither of the couples had brought their own cars to the show.

by the time i was done and went to get my gear from my car, vendors and cars had begun settling in. i had a couple of hours with varied degrees of light, and increasing numbers of people, before it got hard to get clean shots. i ended up staying about four hours, since my better half said he was not going to be able to get out to the market anyway. i think it was more about encouraging me to get back to taking pics, especially since i was actually having a lot of fun.

saw several people i hadn’t chatted with in a while, so happy new year to them, was nice see them.

had an asian man wander through the show ask me how they were monetizing it, if it’s just in a parking lot. wtf. not everything is about money, and he was free to participate in the raffle.

i’ve seen this car before. interesting color combo. makes me want some sherbet. parked against a curb, but pretty close to the dj booth area, it had a lot of people and car traffic in the way. i took the chance that a car wouldn’t need to get by for a few minutes during my exposure. still had to take several, so i could blend out the people. still have a blur, and a random shadow on the car. it was late, and maybe i’ll clean it up later, but i thought it already looked presentable enough to share.

————

went to a memorial service for a former boss the other day. he’d had a heart attack xmas day, and never regained consciousness; he died on the second day of the new year.

he’d only retired a year or two before, so didn’t have a lot of time to enjoy it. hearing the memories shared, he had a good life, was a good man. enjoyed rock and roll, guitars, and mott the hoople. his eldest son looked like a carbon copy of how i remembered him, except with dark hair. he was a good boss. worked his way up at the same company for forty years.

saw several former coworkers, and many other faces i recognized, but couldn’t place the name. everyone has gotten so old, but then, so have i. told my other former boss, i guess i’ll see you again at the next funeral.

pissed

picked up my car. drove about ten minutes, halfway to the freeway, when my check engine light came on. pulled over, called the shop and ask if that’s to be expected. they said bring it on back.

note it was just about four when i called, which was their closing time.

by the time i get back there, the service office is closed, though there is a woman inside fiddling with paperwork. i stare at her for a bit, and stare at some guys still wandering around the work bays. lady comes out a side door asking if i needed something.

told her i literally picked my car up after they had it all effing day, etcetera…and she says they all left and all i can do is come back monday. fucksticks. back in the car and pull over just a block away, the car sounds wrong and the body shimmies. turned it off to tell better half i was heading back home, but now didn’t think the car would make it, and was returning to the shop.

then it didn’t want to stay on when i turned the key. started the next try, but sounded like it would die if i eased off the gas, so quickly did a u-turn and back to car drop off. found an open door, same lady. said to fill out the night drop envelope and leave the car and key for first thing monday. can’t even get a loaner car for my troubles, cuz no one there to help with that.

called my mom to cancel on the game, so now no one is using the tickets at all, it’s too late, even if i ubered direct to the stadium. and monday i was meant to drive up to vegas, but now i have to deal with my car.

misunderstanding with text messages to my better half resulted in me getting an uber back to the house instead of him coming back for me.

so circle jerk of a day, and i’ll be lucky if i get as far as montebello park in the morning…def can’t get to san fernando. 😞

monday should be interesting anyway. i feel sorry for the manager i’ll be yelling at in an ever so polite way. better half expects i’ll be calling a fatwa on the place if they don’t make it right asap. it’s what i get for taking it to this place for convenience of the location instead of better shops closer to my office. better half would have just taken it to pep boys.

anyway, i’m in a better mood now and my better half can’t understand what i am saying, since his head is under the air conditioner in the window and has a fan pointed at him, both blowing at top speed. he repeats back what he thought i said, which is most definitely incorrect, but thoroughly entertaining.

———

heres an old chopped huddie from last year for your troubles. let’s put them behind us as well.

short and sweet

SONY DSC

late. gotta get to bed but wanted to get something posted from the azalea festival car show.

used to be packed at this show, with cars parked in the lot in the dark waiting for the gates to open.

this year and last year, not so much. just me, a cop car and the groundsmen sitting out there before sunrise. then some little kid baseball/softball people started arriving. briefly thought about taking pictures of them practicing, for old times sake, but my kid is all grown up and i didn’t want to be the creepy stranger with a camera.

at least i got my car parked in the lot and not down the street.

a few show cars arrived a little after seven. a few impalas and some year suburban.

then this veteranos’ car shows up and alls well. getting to know the owners more, since i’ve chatted with them at several shows now. not the first time i’ve posted the car here, and not the last.

since it was a bit away from the other cars, i had a little room to play. they just recently had some pinstriping added too.

had to use my better half’s cameras. he loaned me three different wide-angle lenses to use, since mine wasn’t meant for a full frame camera.

his were all prime lenses, so i needed room to move, since there was no zoom at all with them. i took a few shots with the one he said was best, then tried the one he said was similar to mine. never did try the third lens. didn’t want to get dust on the sensor anyway.

whole point of getting there early is to catch that low light, but since it was already over an hour into sunrise, best i could do was work with where the sun was at the time. got a lot of pictures with sun flares testing these lenses. sharp, but flares are octogons instead of circles.

this one came out ok. i have others from when it was parked on the grass later, but this was pretty satisfying.

packed

bag is packed for a weekend in sf. one three hour meeting and i’m on my own until sunday. not supposed to rain, unlike here, where it started a couple of hours ago and will continue until after i take off tomorrow.

better half should hire someone to watch his mom and come with, but he’s had no time to even research that, especially on short notice.

no idea what i’ll do. taking the a6000, which isn’t my favorite camera. but it’s lighter and travels easier. i’ll take pictures that will never see the light of day, unless i come across a car show. haven’t looked one up and haven’t seen mention of one, so probably won’t happen.

—————-

car from a lovely cloudy day last year that one time i made it out to a show at in-n-out in covina. don’t think they have it anymore…cops kept shutting it down i heard.

no what

psst. better half just was sent on an expedition to fetch large wheels of dough slathered in tomato blood and the various body parts of slaughtered beasts. yummy right?

that’s for him. i’m just keeping it simple and getting a small one with processed cow juice melted on it.

when i get home now, i have about an hour before it gets full dark. he delayed me going uptown by having me watch something on youtube, and i sort of got stuck watching it for a while.

now it’s dark and he didn’t want me to walk uptown alone, and he can’t go, so he offered to go out.

pretty sure he’s a little stir crazy. it’s good for him to get out, even for a little bit. even tho he is really very tired…his mom had a bad night, so he was up a lot dealing with that. even overslept a bit when he should have started his work day. oops.

at least it hasn’t started raining yet. and the weather man is always right about when that starts around here…not.

seen this blue chevy around before. i know it’s posted here somewhere from last summer. here it was at the veterano’s show, sitting in the blue car parking area, i guess. purty, ain’t it?

thinking that blue is a little bit too blue, but i don’t feel like toning it down. maybe it’s my eyes, or my monitor.

granny watch

i’m seeing more shows happening at this location in covina. not terrific, especially when a lot of cars show up, but there is space if they need it, due to the closed supermarket next door. close enough that i can get back home quickly if needed, and i haven’t noticed certain a-holes attending this one. apparently, i do hold certain grudges when earned, and it has ruined my enjoyment of car shows more than i think.

should have kicked the guy in the nuts at the time, but i didn’t, and bitching about it here doesn’t fix it. he’s an ass, probably was a bit drunk, and probably doesn’t even remember. i do. asshole.

anyway, the veteranos show was quite full of cars, so i was in a happy place. better half kept saying things were fine, so i didn’t need to head home as early as i thought. i shot maybe ninety percent of the cars that were there before i left. i did skip a few. people in the way, hood up, not my type, the usual reasons.

a lot of them are just ok shots. need to get out more, to keep my eyes open to seeing a good shot.

i liked this one. usually shoot fifty-eights from the back end, since that’s the interesting part for me. i did shoot that, but i just like the crop and reflection on this angle.

better half just left to search for a couple of new internal hard drives for me to fill up. hoping to get a price match at frys, but they mostly never have what he’s looking for in stock. otherwise, he’s getting time out of the house to do whatever he wants, a break from watching his mom. i could recommend a few toy drives he could visit…

she seems to need a break from him as well. wish they were a board or card game playing people…i’d hit her up, give her something else to do besides sleeping or watching tv.

maybe tomorrow we will begin hauling xmas crap in the house. my annual crabby, gloomy mood is starting to descend already.