what's up?

and then...

the hood ornament off of one of my favorite cars...a fifty-six pontiac wagon from the old times car club. sort of futuristic, and vaguely reminds me of the logo my dad had for his business back in the day.

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only took a day before the effects of twelve hours in a petri dish, known as an airplane, became apparent. yep, as typical, i caught a cold of sorts. and the bitch of it is that i have no more sick time, and am in negative numbers on that now.

so i’ve gone to work, mostly keeping to myself, tired af, and trying to avoid talking so i don’t go into a coughing fit. my usual colds, don’t give me a fever, so i mostly sound deathly, but otherwise feel ok. i think now that it’s friday, i relaxed a bit, and i’m really feeling it heading into the weekend. i just want to sleep!

had already been evacuated from the house in whittier...suggested, not forced...for better half’s mother’s health.

seems she caught something anyway, and i was called back to help take her to a doctor. stayed for a night and am again staying away, so maybe my better half doesn’t catch it too.

kid is out of town with her dog and the new boy toy, so i’m hiding out in my own house. not much of my stuff here, and not a whole lot of furniture either. never started up cable for her, so really there’s nothing between me and the bed and that sleep time i’ve dreamt of all week, except this here ipad and me flicking my fingers across the screen.

hoping i feel much better tomorrow. still haven’t seen my dad since i got back from vacation. i want to get back to doing a car show once a week at least. and i still haven’t been home long enough to sift through vacation pics, that invariably will never get seen. well, better half wants to see...his vicarious means of going on a vacation by imagining what i saw via photos, video clips and tv documentaries to fill in details that i won’t tell him. no doubt when he asks about the trip, i’ll just say it was “ok.”

it’s getting hot in here

fuck, it’s hot outside.

i’m uptown waiting on dinner. usually i’d just walk here, but it’s after five, and still ninety outside. if i could take my shirt off, and go topless, like the two fat guys across the street, i just might consider it.

this restaurant has no air conditioning. so i've bogarted their coldest standalone blower by sitting at a table next to it. no one else in here yet, so why not?

hell week is winding down at work, and my body is feeling the last of the stress. i am tired.

here's a picture from last year's front street show. it's coming up soon. if it's this weekend, i probably can't make it, since i have to meet up with my kid about moving the rest of his stuff out of my place.

nice car, wasn't really sure what it was, until i posed the question on the internet. someone said a lincoln, so i'm going with it.

dreary, deary

saw this last summer, at front street. overcast, and darkish, sort of like today. red cars are a pita. the color usually sucks out all the details. maybe the camera sensor doesn't like red. gotta push the color around to give me what i want. clean car.

been busy, as usual. no one reads this anyway, and things i have to say wouldn't be all that interesting to anyone. or would they? nephew is in a magazine today. i can say i know him...sort of like when my better half's nephew danced around and said, "i know her," when i won my first ribbon at the county fair for one of my pictures.

the other day, i was contemplating that i don't own any work clothes anymore. i mean, more specifically, dresses and suits, you know, business attire / girl clothes. company went casual several years ago, and as i outgrew stuff, i didn't replace it. i really hate shopping.

noticing now that i need to buy new casual stuff anyway, it's wearing out. jeans are wearing through. the quality of clothing now is crap; those clothes aren't that old.

now, wondering what i would wear if say, i needed to go on an interview, and/or found a new job, or hey, i'm surrounded by older people in the family...what if...i need a darker outfit?

then my thoughts go to the undergarments.

wore a thong the other day. not sure why i even bothered, as it really didn't cover anything up, make a pair of old pants look better, or protect the parts from irritation.

hey, where's the cotton crotch? how can it 'breathe'? ...does it need mouth to, ya know...resuscitation?

sure my better half loves when i wear them, or nothing, but under the clothes at work, he's not around to see.

and no one wants to see ye olde grannie panties...leave those to my mom.

who is the evil person that thinks they should construct jeans that only go so high up on the hips, so you have to keep yanking them up, or get used to the sensation of them constantly slipping down, and showing the world your ass crack. wait...dudes get away with that look all the time, but at least their boxers cover their butts most of the time.

long brain dump about nothing, sorry. that's what's bouncing around my brain. having to face up to admitting i have to go to the mall. where, i won't find anything that fits, or i like, or is just hideous. i need to learn to sew.

i can't even

beautiful oldies chevy from the front street car show in norwalk last summer. i wouldn't mind having one of these in my garage.

so, i've made it to washington state, on my mission to test drive and deliver a new used car to my kid.

weather has been perfect the whole way, and here just in time, as it is supposed to start raining tomorrow.

she'd been texting me all morning, asking how far i was. so when i finally got to her hood, i drove directly to her place. a bit before check-in anyway.

never had been to this apartment, and got to see the spot where i'd been sending ubers for the last month or so.

anyway, parked the car, and her boyfriend walked the dog out to get me. turned out my kid had been up so early, and had been waiting to have lunch with me, though i told her not to, that she was in bed taking a nap. didn't even get up, though she did wake up when i peeked in the room.

uh, hello. i just drove eleven hundred miles to bring her a car, and she can't be bothered to get up and/or go check out the car. ugh. not out of character really, but still pretty rude.

pet the dog, got clawed by the cat, ignored the tarantulas and snakes. decided to go check in at the hotel and go back later.

she did apologize. said she'd drank two beers on an empty stomach, and about the time i arrived wasn't feeling good. well duh.

anyway, back a couple hous later, out to dinner with them and a couple of friends. (i drove). then out to point defiance zoo in the dark. it was decked out with xmas lights and music; a few animals were out in the cold. most were in for the night, but the small aquarium was open.

pretty cool, pretty cold--being right on the edge of puget sound.

back in the hotel, late and tired. not sure what i'll do for a couple of days. kid will be working, so i'm on my own.

rag-ged

back at work, and had to do a photoshoot today of some exec types. so out of practice, and had to think for a minute on how i set up lights before. had to use a different room, but that worked out ok too.

they were nervous, i was nervous, but i got a few decent shots of each person anyway.

my face still hurts but doesn't look any worse than i normally do. coping with it, mostly trying not to think about it.

have my cameras with me; maybe i'll stop by bob's big boy after work. might be too early for anyone to be there though, so maybe not.

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saw this chevy at the front street show. i sort of like catching the cars before the show, when they're still being polished and buffed. something about the imperfections probably. this car was pretty much ready, but then they forgot to pack up the rag.

when it rains...

labor day weekend. welcome to hell. this weather. this house. no air conditioning. fuck.

stayed at my condo on friday, to enjoy the new air conditioning i had installed recently, and also to avoid friday, holiday weekend traffic. it sprinkled and there was lightning, but no thunder. the sky must be constipated.

then i went home to whittier.

welcome to the sleep deprivation test lab and now an additional wing, ye olde sweat lodge. i am tired, but do not feel spiritually cleansed. only words in my head are, "fuck this shit." not ommmmmmmmmm or namaste.

sometimes an old house is just an old house. i suffered through it yesterday, truly. wanted to be here to support my better half, run errands as needed, while he cares for his mother. pretty much have decided to pack my bags, and head south. just online paying some bills, now writing this bit up quickly. too hot to do anything i would normally do on a holiday weekend.

top that off with my eyes still being all swole and not in a good way. totally look like i have allergies, but i don't. then add food poisoning, let's just say i'm just not going to any shows this weekend.

oh, and an even better kicker to cap off the summer: my dad needs heart surgery. open heart or up through the leg...his choice. now i really get to be simpatico with my better half. i should take that vacation now, while there's still time to go...

ya, no stress here. i should just keep sweating it out...out with the bad air, in with the good...

waiting on that change

waiting. right now, for lunch.

things changing at work. tis the season for reorganization. sidesteps, but mostly day to day things will continue unchanged.

life at home has been and continues to be hectic as well as erratic.

my dad out of the hospital, but they really haven't fixed him. so more to worry about there.

right about now, i'm thinking about vacation. wondering if better half will take a ten year anniversary trip with me, or if i will go solo or with my bro. happy to just get in the car and drive, but probably will fly somewhere, anywhere really.

another car from the front street show. don't see too many of this model around, and it's beautiful.

i was told the city did not allow them to use the streets for the show this year, and just kept them only in this parking lot. does explain why there weren't so many cars there. but on the plus side, i found close parking easy.

lick it

i think this went way more shiny than it actually was in person. too much spit, maybe.

i do love the lines of a fleetline. i have a couple of shots of this car. i liked this vertical version better, probably because of how the tree frames it versus the other...more of a typical shot, not as interesting, comparatively.

on the front

made it out to the historic front street car show yesterday. had never been, but have seen pictures from past years, showing an impressive assortment of cars.

i was somewhat underwhelmed that there seemed to be only a lot full of cars. sure i can understand that there were more than a few other shows going on, and i was there earlier than move in was really expected, but still. other streets were not closed off for the show, as should have happened per past expectations.

well, fewer cars, fewer people, this early. i had time to shoot what i wanted, without much problem. i did have a minor problem, with a particular person who'd pissed me off in the past, so i mostly skipped shooting any of his club's cars. petty, perhaps, but i remember, even if he didn't.

found this impala toward the far corner of the lot. owner, and i believe his son, sat behind it, and i hate to inconvenience people, so was just going to shoot without disturbing them. when the owner asked to see what i was shooting in the camera, i took it as an ok to move in closer.

opted not to show him the camera images, as i happened to have a book of old prints with me. let him look through that instead.

anyway, nice chat. so i'll post this shot, with the presumed son standing in my shot.