what's up?

inconvenience

so there’s this virus going around…

torn between staying here in whittier or in oc with my mother. better half is giving me the stink eye, since i am out and about in the world, and he’s at home 24/7, and in “protect his mother” mode. will probably start packing my shit, and go stay at my mom’s for the duration. he disagrees with my laissez-faire attitude on the whole situation. he’s exhausted, and i don’t want to say anything else stupid here. dark clouds are moving in, and it will be raining again soon.

would be a good time to hide in my condo, but it’s currently being renovated and is in no condition for anything to live in it.

my office hasn’t shut down yet, and as of now, i wouldn’t be able to connect into the network and keep working from home.

was supposed to go on a cruise with my mom and brother, but that finally got cancelled—mom didn’t want to go anyway. they may reschedule to later in the year, since the cruise line doesn’t want to refund the money. see if they are still in business next month.

my current problem is that i took a week off for that cruise; was looking forward to time off from work, but by then, we will all probably be quarantined and not going anywhere anyway. i guess i’ll just cancel the time off and work if i can.

seeing more car shows being postponed or cancelled, so i’ve postponed making my annual reservations for chicano park day and others. so take my listing of car shows with a grain of salt, as i’m not out and about at shows, and not totally sure if some of them are cancelling or hoping for the best. i’m adding notes or deleting as i see info online. maybe i should just take the page down for now. i dunno.

here’s an old pic. pomona swap meet, from a couple of years ago. i guess no new shows, means i can dive into all the files from past shows i never have time to revisit. and i have a quite a bit to choose from over the last ten years.

two years ago, this was just primer. no idea if they’ve painted it or not. still a pretty cool car as is.

just makes me kick myself for not getting out of bed a couple of weeks ago and heading to pomona…

aches & pains

so many car shows lining up, while it's still not raining, and i have to go sprain my arm. makes it difficult to carry a tripod and pull a bag on my own.

i've been moving stuff from one storage unit, to a bigger one, in anticipation of moving my daughter's junk in with mine. at least until we figure out where she's going.

been mostly moving it after work, for a few hours at a time. anyway, reaching up to snag a box too high on the stack, another box fell down and whacked me near my wrist. was aching so much after a couple of days, i went to a walk-in clinic yesterday. x-ray showed no cracks, so i just need to wrap it up.

feel like i should wrap both forearms and pretend i'm a boxer, or better yet, wonder woman with those stupid metal things that she used to deflect things. nah, more like the metal things they wore in 300.

anyway, not sure how much i'll get out for a few weeks. still have a month to move stuff. guess i'll get my other kid to do it. piece of cake for him; probably can move all the boxes in a day and not break a sweat.

was talking to tudy a couple of weeks ago, and somewhere in the conversation he mentioned the showlows st hilary car show. said he hadn't made it there this past year, but his son had. described the car, wondered if i'd seen it.

looking through pics, yes, yes i did.

bitches need stitches

a unique truck seen at pomona earlier this month. kinda ugly, but i sorta like it. not a lot of people around; after not having a swap meet in december, i'm guessing everyone had raced over to find needed parts before they were gone.

went to the doctor today. she'd noticed a mole...i argue it was just a freckle...and wanted to have it checked out.

so got it numbed up and she scraped off whatever part of it she wanted, and supposedly i have three stitches where the thing used to be.

pretty sure it was nothing, and bitch just wanted to cut me.

made in the shade

so i baked in the sun this morning at a car show. even got up early, but it was already blazing at seven-thirty in the morning. not sure about the pics. i was futzing with the micro adjustment on the camera last night, and not really sure i got it dialed in right. ended up trying to readjust it at the show, and must have just looked like an insane person shooting the same car for too long.

i guess there are enough that are ok, so i'll work on something later. right now, backing some stuff up onto a new hard drive. my computer is getting full, so i have to delete stuff off, which always makes me paranoid, and wishing for the old days of film.

forgot i had queued this truck up for a post the other day, and then got busy. got my pictures for the fair back, and they look pretty good. even have one of them in the art show tonight at the lowdown in uptown. i guess if someone wants to buy it, i can print another in time for the turn in deadline.

this truck, was at legg lake a few months ago. still trying to determine if i like the matte paint i keep seeing. does make pictures slightly easier, not having to deal with reflections, but red is also a hard color to work with.

i guess i'll go walk over to the show, see what's inside the store/art show. see if there are any cars, other than the store owner's chevy there yet. i'll go back out with my camera later. if it's like the last show, it turns into a mini car show, until the cops shut it down.

auto butchers

another from last weekend. there were a lot of really interesting cars, so deal with it.

these two are a little strange. works in progress. both are in the auto butchers car club.

i've run in to the owner of the orange '56 a couple of times in the last couple of weeks. said he'd recently had the chrome done; first time i saw it last year, at the usuals bbq, i guess the bumpers were a bit rusty.

purple car, i've never seen. not sure what that front grille is from—something being spliced and welded—but i'm almost imagining a couple of bolts on the sides and calling it frankenstein. maybe just frank.

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so, a few things happened today. had the day off as my memorial day, since i had to work on the actual holiday. you'd think, yay, three day weekend...get the hell out of town! right? right?

but no. family stuff going on, so not taking any long weekend trips for fun or vacation anytime soon, unless i go on my own. and just when work is telling me i have to take some time off...vacation balance is too high.

shit happens. we're dealing.

didn't go to any car shows today. could have. three or four, if i'd wanted. told myself, i'd get up real stupid early tomorrow, and drive out to one instead. hard drives are filling up anyway.

oh, bit of good news. found out i got five pictures in the oc fair. and realizing i should trust my first instinct when sifting through pictures. i usually pick too many, then ask my better half to help narrow down the selection.

he gives great critique, honest opinions. but there is always one or two i felt strongly about, that he wasn't quite sold on, that i enter anyway, and they've gotten in. same this year. he doesn't care, he's happy for me.

there was something else, but i can't remember what it was now. whatever.

chocolate silk

another from chicano park. i'm sort of on the fence when it comes to cars painted in this matte finish. some of them just look meh, and then others really stand out.

this one stands out. sort of sedate, with subtle pinstriping. this one just sort of looks good enough to eat.

pig's ear

found my better half talking to the owner of this fleetline. we had both been taking turns shooting it -- front, back, side, details -- so much to see. my better half yells over the din, that the owner was "busting his balls."

uhhh, what?

said the guy wondered why, is this ocean of beautiful cars, why the heck were we taking pictures of this one?

all he could think to tell him was, "that it had character."

could have added all that fun texture, the pinstriping, the fact that it isn't ashamed of it's blemishes, and even emphasizes them. and hell, it still has all the curviness that i love about fleetlines.

it may be the pig's ear in that old saying; but way more interesting than a silk purse.

i don't like this one

nope. don't like this truck. its not the color—matte, no shine, plus a glitter top. its slightly chopped. simple color, plain hubcaps.

i don't like the lines. i don't like the headlights. there's just something that makes me queasy about it. i suppose it just isn't my cup of tea. no offense to the owner.

but i do like the pinstriping work, which is the only reason i bothered taking a picture of it. it happens sometimes.