what's up?

different volks for different folks

not my usual car. in fact i don’t think i’ve ever posted a slug bug up here.

but i’m a sucker for sun rays, and when i’m at huffarama, and the sun is coming up, and there’s nothing around ready to shoot at that moment, i just gotta take the shot.

it’s a bug. it’s a convertible. it’s lowered. it’s shiny. trying my best to be enthused. can you feel it?

my ex had a bug project car. it was cool. big, custom engine hiding in the back, custom interior, big tires, chrome rims. he let me pick the color—a mint aqua green—he even let me drive it. pretty sure i’ve mentioned it before, but i was the one that got the fix-it ticket, as it was too low to the ground, and the windows were tinted too dark.

been preparing to get my taxes done. better half over in the other room turbo taxing. says next year he’ll have my tax person do his as well. eventually we’ll file together, i suppose. still filing separately after all these years.
been working a lot and just tired at the end of my work day, so if i work up the energy to take a walk, i should get a gold star. mostly recovered from my slip and fall, and slowly working back into doing daily walks. so easy to just get stuck in the lazy-boy watching you tube all evening…
haven’t been to a show since huffarama, but thinking about going to something in the next week or so. guess pomona isn’t until march…oh well. i better charge my batteries. pretty sure that camera is dead, and will need all the settings and time reset, as i haven’t touched it in so long.
finally bit the bullet and went to ikea for a new desk. couldn’t find the screws for my old one that i’d had since college…they’re in a bin, in storage, where the desk has been for about a decade, and i just can’t find them. we’re back to working from home for the last few weeks because of the cootie surge, so might as well get my setup off a card table.

it was an accident, i tell ya

the end of our journey down route 66 had us out at the wigwam motel in san bernardino. cute, but kinda crap part of town. homeless people hanging around just outside the fence, having to be chased out by management. small room, as expected inside a “teepee.”

just so happened to be less than ten minutes from huffarama, the day we check out. time crunch, as we have a rental car to return in the afternoon, but we still managed a few early hours after talking our way in.

this was one of the first pics i shot. the finish on that gold one…like buttah.

better half got boxed in on street parking xmas day. car in front of him right on his bumper, and in front of a fire hydrant.

he called the cops. they dispatched an officer. better half pleads his case. officer asks where he was going on xmas day? he says, i have family to go visit. officer seems perplexed. why would you want to do that?

officer finally just says he’s not giving writing a ticket on xmas day. even for parking in front of the fire hydrant.

these cops really just don’t want to enforce the laws here. too much paperwork.

better half misses whittier pd, at least they’d show up and tow cars for violations. and he would get his schadenfreude on.

dodgey

not feeling too great today. taking it easy at home, and had my computer on, catching up with bills and emails.

just going to post this car from huffarama this past october.

was sitting with some rather bland cars, and it stood out like an emerald.

unplanned, i promise

sooo, we recently returned from a short vacation—not quite a full repeat of last year’s trip—just up the coast to portland, and across on a train, to chicago; then back in a car on route sixty-six this time.

we knew it was going wonky from the get-go. i’ll have to write up our tales of woe, the trials and tribulations, crap weather, and the fun and food we had sometime. but for now, i’ll just say, we saw a lot of new things this time, and stayed in some of the places on route sixty-six.

seriously, wasn’t thinking when we’d booked the wigwam motel in san bernardino, on our last night before heading home. i was riding shotgun in the rental car, flipping through instagram, checking out car show flyers, as i do.

i’d written off a few shows while we were out of town. then my brain started working. huffarama. san bernardino. the day we are checking out of the wigwam. turned out to be a nine minute drive away.

better half accused me of planning it that way. swear i didn’t.

it was just before seven a.m., when we arrived at a gate at san manuel stadium, and the kid there said we needed to go around to the other side. that gate turned out to be where the cars were going to be going in, and the guys in the couple of cars that were first in line there, said the other photographers were already inside, and had gone to the gate we just left.

so back around we went, and told said kid that we were sent back to this gate. he let us in, and were directed to park in the furthest end of the parking lot for vendors. we paid our admission when we walked back over to where the club guys were, and got to shooting. the club guys didn’t remember us, even though my better half had given one of them a free print of his car when they had been out to the uptown whittier car show several years before. i think the one guy thought we were from texas because of the plate on the car.

of course rey was already inside shooting. that dude is everywhere and knows everyone. lol.

attending this show was unplanned, so we didn’t have all of our gear or bags or lenses, but we did have our tripods and wide angle lenses, and a limited amount of time to shoot. still had to get the rental car down to the airport, so gave ourselves three hours to see what we see, allowing for drive time, emptying the car, and filling the gas tank. we hadn’t even had breakfast yet.

i liked the sun hitting this beauty early in the morning. it just feels quiet. i’ve shot this car before, but usually it’s up against a building, or surrounded by other cars.

this is why getting out at sunrise is my favorite. and also my bane…i just want to sleep in on weekends anymore.

anyway, we left about ten-ish. and we did get the car back with about forty-five minutes to spare.

now if i can only find the time to get more than a couple of the shots worked up and posted. and look through all of the vacation pics too.

put me in coach

hudson

went home from work yesterday, after four and a half hours. caught me a cold the day before, but had a job to finish, and my better half didn't want me working at home and getting his mama sick. this he says after he'd already been home the week before, sick himself, or at least talking himself into being sick.

so i'm at my mom's again. and now i hear that his mama be illin' now anyway, so what's the diff? just chill, y'all.

had tickets to a concert tonight, but he already called to say he can't go. i expected that would happen. now do i eat these tickets, and just stay here and play sick myself? i've already been sleeping with prince nyquil for a couple of days, and i feel fine. just have that vocal veneer of barry white going on, and an occasional coughing fit, but never got a fever for the flavor of a pringles.

so i asked my mom if she wanted to go see an xmas concert. she said sure, she had no other plans. the thing is, i think she thinks it's some kind of choral or lovely musical thing. actually, it's gary hoey doing a ho ho hoey show, so should just be him jamming on a guitar, with a drummer. probably not what she is expecting, but who knows?

been a while since i've been to the coach house. i wanna say they serve up some crap dinner before the show. proximity to the stage is directly proportional to how much cash you slip the doorman, so i'm guessing we'll be first out of the parking lot after the show. i'd like to listen to a few songs before she decides it isn't her cup of tea.

saw this huddie drive in at huffarama. only one there, and pretty sure i've not seen another chopped and dropped like this anywhere else. pretty cool. i like it. a lot.

what is it?

another car i promised to post. need some help here; forgot to ask what it was and my best guesses aren't matching up on image searches.

owner was sitting behind it, watching what i was doing. i should have gone a little further back and a little higher up. i did take another shot higher up, but the angle just wasn't doing it for me.

liked the little day of the dead skulls on the steering wheel shifters. come to think of it, the picture of the steering wheel shows three shields in the middle...what is that...oldsmobile?

island girl

1960 desoto fireflight

promised to post this one. it was different. took several shots early; came back again later, after the sun had moved a bit. it's the tail lights. unusual fins and lights always catch my eye. this one looks like they jammed some cadillac bullets in there.

owner was a nice older gentleman. said it had just been finished two months ago.

with style

going to see star wars this evening. walked uptown early to see it, but it was sold out. i hear it's better in imax 3d, but this small theatre will do just fine.

better half wants to go to pomona tomorrow, but his ankle is hurting, so we'll see. it is a lot of walking.

i have monday off, but he doesn't. not sure what i'll be doing. might just log in to work from home, and get a jump on one of many deadlines i have this week. more likely, i will just sit at my computer and play with my pictures, posting a few of my faves here and there.

here's another chevy from huffarama. don't recall it having any association to any car club on it, and i don't know who it belongs to, but it was very nice, sitting off to the side of the lot by itself.

the backstory

my parents have been getting phone calls over the past few years from people trying to trick them into sending money. you know, bottom scum trying to rip off the elderly.

first time it happened they almost fell for it. a guy called pretending to be a relative traveling in mexico, needed money to pay the federales to let him go. they stressed out about it for a bit, but then checked with the relative's family on his whereabouts. he happened to be home, happy as can be.

well someone called again yesterday; my mom answered. claimed to be my nephew, though didn't really mention a name.

actually, she was expecting a call from one of my nephews, who will be coming to visit next week. besides that, neither parent hears that well, so any guy sounds like they could be any of the nephews on the phone.

the guy chit chatted a bit, speaking of things in general. then got to the point: he and his girlfriend were in some trouble in mexico (why is it always there?). they had wrecked a rental car in an accident, but they were ok. they were at the counselate and just needed nine hundred dollars to take care of the car and get home.

since it had already taken a familiar turn, my mom had been playing along, throwing out random untrue info, giving a random name for the girlfriend, just to have the guy take them and run with them.

i guess the guy finally figured out she knew he was full of crap, and hung up.

my better half would have had a field day with this guy, just as he does with any telemarketer. depending on his mood, he might just tell him to hold on while he got his checkbook and just putting the phone down for a long time, to blowing an airhorn into the phone.

not sure which way i would have run with it. maybe an excited omg, stay where you are, what's the address, i'm on my way...nah, not gonna get excited about a jerk like that.

wonder if they hacked the aarp database, and just start calling random geezers, knowing they'll find a few suckers to send cash.

love the curve of a good back end. dressed in black, with just a touch of decoupage.

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.