what's up?

shark attack

yesterday was my boy's birthday. twenty-seven. how'd that happen?

they invited me to join them for birthday dinner. some restaurant down in laguna beach. because they're foodies, and know where to go when they want good stuff.

i haven't been to laguna in probably twenty years. no reason to go, and i always hated the crowds and traffic. i stopped going to the beach because there was no point in me trying to get a tan—i just burn then fade to white again. and then all the sand that gets in the car and in places sand just shouldn't be, if i went in the water on a boogie board or to jump the waves.

at least laguna main beach isn't too run down, as beach towns go, but i had a bit of a time remembering how to get around, and finding parking.

restaurant was hopping busy, and i got there early and put in my name to save a table. still would be about forty-five minutes. everyone else arrived and we walked across the street to the water, and some park benches.

flashbacks to places i'd been there when i was younger and dating my ex. and later, a building, where we'd attended a xmas party for work. so long ago.

remembering seeing a random man on a corner, wearing very loose dolphin shorts, with nothing under...and the wind blowing at the wrong time. ewww.

my sister lives out there somewhere, with her boyfriend/landlord/whatever he is. never have visited. i have issues with him. i see her once in a while at my mom's house, but mostly on holidays.

ya, probably be another twenty before i bother to go back.

anyway, it's difficult to find a gift for kids as they get older. they've already bought the things they need, and they have their own likes and decoration style.

so i fall back on their sense of humor, and just get them silly, just so there is something to open. found him a rubber shark puppet, and with some cash in it's mouth, he was happy enough. he's a lawyer, so he got the joke right away.

ready for the uptown show tomorrow. camera sensors cleaned, batteries charged. i should get to bed early tonight, but i probably won't. i can sleep tomorrow when i'm done.

saw this t-bird in garden grove at the super cruise. it sorta vaguely reminds me of a shark for some reason...maybe it's the headlights and shape of the hood.

it was nice in the early light of morning.

thinking

thinking of which show to go to tomorrow.

...probably both.

thinking of what to do for vacation.

...home, north, south, east?

thinking of how to get through the next two weeks until vacation.

...no fuckin' idea. just will.

just finished sorting and stacking pics i shot on friday evening at a couple of shows i haven't been to in a long time. had my cameras with me, so i stopped on the way home. now it's late, and i should get to bed if i'm actually going to get up and go to a show in the morning. and it's so tempting to just keep the blinds closed and hide from the world for one more day.

guess i should have gone to manny loco's today...i've seen some excellent pictures on insta, but i didn't so i won't dwell on it.

i suppose i'm just burned out from work, and need to recharge. just gotta make it two more weeks...

not sure if this is a mercury. can someone tell me? here i'll show you the sideview, with the suicide door. does it help?

donuts

no car shows for me today. got my taxes done instead. looks like i can either take a small vacation or put new flooring in my place, maybe new kitchen cabinets. decisions, decisions.

changing my work hours starting tomorrow too. hoping my drive home will get closer to an hour more consistently, instead of more than two. i can't take it anymore.

saw this pink caddie last week. pepto-bismol pink. or rather, donut box pink. helped that they happened to have a donut box next to it, to confirm.

the other nomad

one of the cars that were at the super cruise when we arrived early early. i only shot them because they were there.

better half was talking to the owners, and the one that owned this one came over and asked if i'd seen the his other nomad. uh, no. just got there.

so he proceeded to pop the hood. normally, that would have ended my interest in the car, but since he seemed so proud of his little joke, and had made nice with my better half, i shot it.

might say a pale man on a pale horse, but nope, death rides a moldy camel.

i would just say, i've seen better airbrushing. and i've seen a hell of a lot worse.

nomadic life

i've been so busy at work, that all i want to do when i get home is zone out in front of an episode of game of thrones. the saving grace for the last couple of days has been that the evening drive has only been just over an hour, instead of the new norm of two plus. no reason why the difference; traffic just goes with the flow.

mentioned the drive time to my boss the other day, joking that something was going to have to give. either i was going to live at my parents' house or move back in to my house with my kid and his wife there, on weekdays, and see my better half on weekends, or... well, needless to say, he's willing to explore other options, mostly shifting my hours however i think would work best.

thinking about shifting from seven to four down to six to three. i'm down here by six anyway, so might as well, right? doesn't mean that i don't want my house back, but i'm in no hurry--pretty sure my better half likes having me around, but i do feel somewhat like a nomad, bouncing from place to place, collecting mail, walking a dog, avoiding long drives in rainstorms.

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i've seen a car like this one before, but hell if i can remember what kind it is now. what is it? pretty sure the last one i saw had all identifiers removed too, so looking it up wouldn't help.

on a typical car, all the airbrushed patterns and pinstriping might be too much, but this car has fairly simple lines, so it just works. >> was told the paint was done by starlite rod & kustom (thanks usautos98)

watched it drive in and park here in the corner. the main parking area was full and busy with foot traffic. here in what felt like a back alley of the industrial park, it found an interesting place among an interesting backdrop.

i got to it first, before any of the other photographers. they got good pictures too, look them up on instagram.

exhausted

quick post; i've been up and running since four am. not unusual for me on a weekday, but weekends, i prefer to sleep in. and i've been so busy at work, doing extra hours to meet deadlines—i hate tradeshow season.

anyway, made it out to garden grove and the hillco annual super cruise before the big game. was somewhat disappointed this year in that the turn out at five thirty in the morning wasn't what it's been the last few years that we've gone. add that it was overcast and really a nothing sunrise, with a hint of drizzle, i suppose that could be the reason. loved the overcast though, the big softbox in the sky. kept it way cooler than the average year at this show.

i'll write more on my next post, on another day. supposed to rain the next couple of days, so i will probably stay down at my mom's, away from the computer.

owner of this rat was curious, but only barely. asked if he would be able to search for a picture of it on the net. he could, but that would take way more time than just looking me up. tossed one of my cards through the roof hole...lol.

this shot shows a more overall view of the thing, but i kinda like the profile picture, which maybe i'll put up another day.

off to bed now...

spring cleaning

1946 chevy fleetline

i've found, the best part about the end of the football season, is the super cruise at hillco fasteners in garden grove, on super bowl sunday. basically a car show in an industrial park, and cars cruise by up and down the street, in the early hours before game time. we get there early, so avoid so many people moving through shots, or cars crowded together.

found this chevy next to this building with some interesting cinder blocks, that catch the morning light with the embossed patterns. can't quite tell if it belongs to a club, since i don't see any plaque. it's close to where the dukes usually park, but i don't think it's one of theirs.

spent a good portion of my day off bagging up clothes i don't wear anymore, tossing stuff in the closet. better half has been complaining that he doesn't have enough drawer space, so now he has three more back. now if i could only figure a way to give him half the closet back for his giant tshirts or pants, he'd be a happier camper.

looks like the transfer of my website stuff to a trial design completed after only three days. i still have some time to fart around with layouts to decide if i want to bother changing it up now. i suppose i will end up doing it anyway, to stay current with my web provider. just another system to figure out how to make it do what i want. they think it's simpler to work with, but i don't, and i can't figure out some things yet.

not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. i think they should just make all holidays require four day weekends, not just because the specific holiday happens to be on a sunday.

better half's mother is already asking about taking down the tree. he'll leave it up as long as he can possibly delay it. i think he told her by valentine's day. that will also piss off the landlord, cuz he can't make him take it down.

my boy

happy birthday vince!

saw this car between the buildings at the super cruise this past february. it's sort of a POS, but wonderfully full of character. the texture in the morning light is fun. just had to do extreme angles, to keep the cars parked right up next to it out of the picture. hate when they're clumped so close together.

rain is supposed to stay away until drive time monday. great. there are like, four car shows tomorrow, that i'd be perfectly happy going to any one of them. either i pick one, and spend most of the time there, or flit from show to show...the weather is too perfect to not be able to stay out all day. not too hot, not too cold.

i'll end up at my mom's for the night, working my way south. my kid is in town, so i should see if she's there or out with her friends.

work can wait til monday. so much work. i gotta get my request in for vacation time, for time off to go to some more distant car shows too. i want to travel more, got the bug again. any recommendations?

junk

i sometimes take pics of these rat rods. canabalized old cars frankensteined into something more interesting, usually feature fun, unfinished textures.

there weren't too many at the super cruise, at least during the few hours i was there. this one happened to park across from the dukes' cars i was shooting, so when people stepped away from it, i took a quick detour to it. only took a couple of shots. liked this one best.

tweakedpixels