what's up?

disco nights

booted up my computer for a change. been a while. found a catalog of pictures from the foursquare church show back in june. apparently i haven’t done anything with them, after driving out to whittier on a hot day. guess i got busy and forgot about them.

another show that has shrunk over the years. probably was another show the same day, i can’t remember.

check out the pinstriping and airbrushing on this kustom oldies car. pretty sweet.

it’s that time of year again. bah humbug.

mom’s birthday.

five years since dad died.

if i have to hear another version of that insipid, vapid, vacuous, intolerable chorus of “time for me to come home” song on just about every one of the damn hallmark channel movies my mom watches, it will be too soon. nasally renditions just hurting my eardrums echoing “christmas, christmas…” thanks, blake. hear cash registers ring.

i suppose the song is ok. the lyrics aren’t that bad. it’s just the chorus that is the nails on the chalkboard, depending on the singer.

better half had some days off, and still managed to get called in to work three of the five days. the first day, he ended up being awake for twenty-four hours.

he’s supposed to go back to normal hours tomorrow, but he started feeling really fatigued yesterday, and today he’s running a fever.

i suppose i’ll catch it in a few days.

good thing it’s “christmas, christmas,” so i won’t be working anyway. somehow my illnesses always happen when i have the opportunity to relax and unwind.

not many people working at my office next week, so it will be quiet for me. mostly uninterrupted catch up work, i never seem to be able to get to.

i continue to heal from my accident. another set of MRIs should give the doc more info on treating my arm problems.

had an eeg done of my brain, which consisted of something akin to a swim cap with some sketchy pins poked in all over it—i picture hellraiser, though not as cool.

first bit was eyes closed while they did a flashing light show, i guess to map parts of my noggin that noticed. followed by eyes closed and some questions asked for fifteen minutes.

i imagined the doctor should have said, “electricity will now be passed through your body. may god have mercy on your soul. roll on two.”

better half observed. he confirmed that there may be something in my skull, or else they were playing some cool video game.

back to it

i went to a couple of small car shows this weekend. better half had to work, and otherwise was unable to join me. he thinks the transmission is going out on his car, and is spending a lot of time researching cars to buy. should just go to pomona swap meet…

drove up to the show at foursquare church in whittier on saturday, for which i had considered waking up early, to drive an hour and to find parking, since in the past, it has been a busy show.

it got hot so early, but also, because of the temperature, i knew i wouldn’t be able to stay very long. can’t take the heat. i should shave my head, and get rid of this mop on top that holds the heat in, but my better half kinda likes it.

there really wasn’t much there, so it was probably the perfect size for the time i did spend. this beauty was sitting up at the front of the parking lot, with the kustom oldies cc. basic black. nice. took a few shots, came back around later, took a few more. i liked this one best.

there were a few cars from clubs i recognized, and a couple of new ones i’d never heard of. all huddled under pop ups, or watching the live band. they were live. i’ll leave it at that.

also a few guys from a club that i don’t post because of a past incident i posted about at the time, and also because the guys that were there were being creepy in a joking way. i ignored them. nice to know it wasn’t just the one guy that was a swine; i’ll just steer clear of their cars in the future. deleting the one picture i did take. take that candy, and suck it. you ruined car shows for me for a long time, i’m so over you.

had a short chat with a guy inside the break room, selling model cars, and with a display of his hot wheels collection. they all looked well-loved. he said he liked the red baron the best, of which he had two. none for sale, just to look at. better half still has his collection somewhere in storage. has one of those old cars with the little surfboards that one of his coworkers once offered to take off his hands for ten bucks…then one hundred. he thought better of it, and locked it out in his car for the day.

i am guessing that a good majority of people went to the roadsters show in pomona. thought about going, but instead walked around in my old hood in uptown whittier. the restaurant i’d intended to have lunch at was gone, and replaced by a much busier establishment with a line of people waiting to get inside.

also nice to see greenleaf is open again. didn’t see any flyers for the uptown car show on business windows, but one can hope they’ll start up again. just won’t have a home base to head back to when it gets to hot.

ended up at california grill. the renovations that started at the beginning of covid are complete, and nice to see they are still in business.

well, back a week from my trip and already back to the grind. i think i have three calls scheduled for tomorrow, as well as a rush job for the ceo. fun times.

running late

so tired, but can’t sleep. got two hours of sleep last night, and took a four hour nap when i dragged myself home to my mom’s this afternoon. maybe i’m coming down with something.

didn’t turn my computer on all weekend until sunday afternoon—attempt to, that is.

after a couple of days at my mom’s, i spent the next couple in whittier. mother-in-law wants the tree up this year. last year we only got the lights on the bottom fourth, not even visible from the street, before everything went to hell and my dad died.

so i helped my better half string the zillion fruity pebbles colored lights on the thing until i couldn’t reach the branches. i have the scratches from the artificial needles and wires to prove it.

he says he’ll have the top done by the next time i get there. hopefully his mom will get in her wheelchair and supervise decorating with whatever this year’s theme is. better half would leave the tree up year round, as he used to, but his mom doesn’t do that. i think this year she said fuck it, leave it up until february to piss off the landlord.

anyway, the computer came up with some message and not wanting to load. better half finally got it going, but told me to back stuff up, as he might have to reload windows. ugh.

i was almost done working on a picture to post, when, for the first time this year, better half forgot to turn off his mom’s space heater, and started the microwave. boom. blows a fuse. down goes my computer, as i haven’t bothered replacing the battery backup that went bad.

instead of me also blowing a fuse, i just thought, “fuck,” and went and packed my bag for the days i’ll be at my mom’s, and tried to go to bed. it was close to eleven pm. didn’t even turn the computer back on…figured my file is toast anyway.

so no new pic tonight. here’s one from a show at dolphin park earlier in the year. liked the dappled light and fallen leaves around the car.

hoping i can sleep now. so exhausted.

in hell

made it to vegas, where it was at least one-hundred and four at some point today.

started by picking up a rental car, then a stop at the shop to see what the hell was wrong with my car, and to express my extreme displeasure about missing a baseball game and having to uber all weekend, and managed to do so without sounding like a karen. told him i was already supposed to be on my way to vegas, but would only be able to wait a couple of hours max, or they have to keep it until saturday. he opted for the week, since preliminary eval was giving them a code of some sort. basically, they fucked up a valve job in some way. they offered to give me a loaner car, but i already had one. was running perfectly fine before, so they better make it right.

first meeting tomorrow afternoon. i’d rather not go, but i will. gonna sleep in tho. definitely don’t need a buffet breakfast, i’m getting so big on these steroids as it is. definitely need to find another solution.

———

dunno what the deal with the kustom oldies club is, but saw something dino’s bomb club put up, calling them out for having some pervert amongst them. no specific chapter, just a general no association shout out. sort of like this roadblock at this foursquare church/crossing show…no salvation here.

read a post from harbor area guys saying not them, and that someone was no longer with the other chapter or something. i hope dinos will announce when they have cleaned house and done penance, or i just won’t post any more of their pics.

like that other club, with the guy that grabbed my ass. they can keep fucking off until he goes away. he hangs out with other clubs so i have to be polite when i run into him. asshole. wow i’m still pissed even a year later. nuff said and time for bed.

as i’m typing i can see the volcano going off at the mirage, so this somehow seems appropriate with all the fiery explosions.

what a lame display, btw.

recovering

sitting here in florida, in an icu room, while my brother sleeps. surgery went ok, but he did have some somewhat scary complications, so i finally booked a flight to come see what was going on myself.

he’s going to be ok, but will be moving to a rehab facility for some period of time when they release him from the hospital. already booked a flight back in a few days, so he better keep improving.

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i did see an old chevy on the ride between the house and the hospital, but sister-in-law didn’t stop to let me take a pic. not really top priority for her, as she needed to be somewhere and has other things on her mind. i have her car for an hour or so, but i don’t think i’d find my way back to where the chevy was. oh well.

it’s pretty cold here, for florida. nephew says because of a storm or hurricane coming in a few states north. pretty much feels like california now, at about seventy degrees in the daytime. almost nice, but i know the other three-hundred and sixty das of the year are mostly sweltering humidity, with some windy hurricane excitement thrown in. nah, i wouldn’t live here. i’ll stick with the occasional earthquake for one-hundred, alex.

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posted this car up on instagram before i headed to the airport the other day. i know i’ve seen it elsewhere, and probably posted it. it may or may not be the same one owned by someone who chatted up my better half once in anaheim, talking about hand sanding the pieces until flour would just slide right off it before taking it in for painting, or else there is another super purple master deluxe driving around. this one has some glitter in the paint, and i can’t remember about the other one.

contemplating

i went out for a few hours to the toy drive at dolphin park.

i expect a lot of people were at mooneyes xmas party. never been there, wouldn’t know where to park, didn’t feel like getting up that early, and also, too many people.

my younger brother, on the east coast, had gone into the hospital the night before. needed his gallbladder out, but no surgeons were available. so about the time i was wandering around the park, they’d finally got him in to have it removed.

so really, the show was just a distraction.

today, he seems to be in and out of icu, having some unidentified complications. i’ve offered to fly out there to give her a break, but his wife has sort of said not needed yet.

yet her updates seem to be getting more unsettling. i’m about ready to book a flight, but my mom says i should wait for test results. so i’ll just sit here and pretend that it isn’t bothering me, and putter around with my pictures, and watching my mother-in-law while my better half is out shopping.

so, here’s a chevy from yesterday. i heard there were about a hundred cars that had come through or were parked in the lot. admittedly, i didn’t expect to see so many, cuz, mooneyes.

i’d also never been to this park. not so very big. parked down the street, around the corner. wondered where they’d put the cars earlier in the year for a show there as well.

this chevy was one of the first few i encountered on the edge of the park, under the trees. i do love how trees can frame a car.

schwetty

1950 chevy deluxe

i know, i know. i owe some people pictures of their cars from the last few shows. patience grasshoppa.

got up early and headed over to the car show at the crossing / four square church. roll in wasn't until eight, but i was there at seven. hoped to at least shoot the host clubs' cars. was there early, also, hoping to get in and out before the temperatures rose too high.

well, being a bright and mostly cloud free day, it was already warm at seven, and quickly heated up. quite a change from last weekend. i'll take overcast any day.

i'm curious how this show is run. they said it was their tenth annual show. it's near home, so easy to leave and go back, if i fill up my memory cards.

i've been to at least three, and i think a different club has hosted each year. this year was hosted by kustom oldies. they seemed efficient enough, but while i was only there until about ten thirty, and the lot did mostly fill up, it lacked a lot of the cars and clubs that i'd expect to be there.

i wrote it off to people being at the la roadster show at pomona, or one of the other nearby shows. i briefly thought about going to one in la habra, then after chugging a bottle of water in the shade where my car was parked, called my better half, instead, to see if he'd been called in to work—no—and if he wanted to go get lunch. so i did that instead.

i went round the parking lot four or five times, following the changing light and shooting new arrivals.

saw this chevy there. loved the color. the owners stopped me for a moment, wondering what i do with the pictures. the wife seemed interested in getting a t-shirt or something with a picture on it. sure i know a vendor that does shirts, mugs, stamps, lots of junk. as usual, told them to wait and see if they like the picture first. i liked this one best.

oh, better half reminded that i should mention that i got another five pictures in the oc fair again. two cars, a hood ornament, a portrait, and a landscape. i try to mix it up sometimes. and again, he says, i'm already a winner, just to have something to hang at the fair; a ribbon is just icing.

hallelujah

made it out to only one real car show this past weekend, over at the foursquare church. not too far away; could have walked over there if i'd wanted, but at seven in the morning, it was already hot. i'd caught the end of this show last year, and liked what i saw, so thought i'd check it out from the beginning.

there were only a couple of show cars in the lot when i arrived, plus the street of vendors setting up out front. so i walked over to the far corner and took a bunch of shots of that car.

as i mentioned a few posts ago, i'd been messing with settings on my camera the night before, and was giving it some testing. you can only tell so much by pixel peeping, so usually i don't bother looking at the back of the camera except when composing a shot. but since i'd messed with the focus of the lenses, i thought it best. basically, i started redoing the adjustment tests all over again, but this time on the subjects i shoot rather than a stupid paper target.

still not so sure i've got one of the lenses dialed in, but the one i used extensively for a couple of years, i think is pretty close. i shot the later in the morning shots with it, and i'm pretty happy with those.

this is one; saw several kustom oldies cars lined up at the front of the church. shot the obvious from the side, with the steepled church directly behind. nice, but safe and boring. i think this more angled shot gave a better sense of the car and still showed it with the church.

and did i mention it was hot? not as hot as h-e-double hockey sticks, but hot enough to melt ice cream. and me. i took several water breaks, dashing inside to cool off under the slowly turning ceiling fans. if i stood still long enough, i could cool down comfortably.

one time, i went in a different doorway, and found myself at the door of the church proper. strangely empty, i took the opportunity to get a shot. simple and unadorned, i suppose it allows worshippers to focus on what is really important to them, but i still wished there were stained glass windows to add a dash of color to the space.

that's mister lowrider to you

this is one of the glitter twins. not sure where the other one ended up. actually, maybe it's pixie dust, they're like a dream, a happy thought.

parked in a perfect spot, i shot it from the front, the side, the back. liked this one best, because it hides most of the tent behind it, where the owner (i think) was sitting, and look at those great trees and sky...really makes the orange pop. basic art school color wheel complementary and tertiary colors.