what's up?

slipped

i remember this back end from the viejitos show in anaheim. i was there super early, before the club members even showed up. this was one of the first few that morning.

i do like the years with the big fins at low angles. i should have pulled in closer and distorted that thing more. maybe another show.

been at home taking care of myself. slipped and fell in a puddle of water and landed right on my butt. just in time for xmas.

was going to go to ramble on the ranch in temecula this past weekend, but unfortunately, i wouldn’t have been able to lift my bag and tripod. my back is sore sore sore. skipped it, and didn’t even get out to see the grandkid out there either. :(

they tell me nothing is broken, just bruised bones, and will take time to heal.

mostly hanging around home or at my mom’s. took her out to dinner yesterday for her bday. happy bday mom!

party on

it’s after one a.m. and the neighbors are still having a very loud party. or maybe it’s just several very loud drunk people. yelling about the dumbest things, while a couple of drunk women cackle like hyenas, and hip hop plays in the background.

their parties usually wind down about three in the morning with loud goodbyes in the street.

really just big a$$holes.

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oh dear, the cops just showed up and they all ran inside and turned the lights off.

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here’s the tail end of an impala from a show last year at the roadhouse in whittier.

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party over theoretically, but they are now cackling and howling in the house. i guess i’m tired enough to sleep now.

back it up

anyone else miss the super show at hillco fasteners? always the morning of the big game, over in time for pre-game stuff. new landlords put the kibosh on it for “safety” reasons.

a variety of cars would drive through, cruise the complex, spend some time, then head out.

don’t see too many of these, and the back end is the best part for me.

another extra

shame to leave this behind, sitting in the queue.

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.

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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.

pissed

picked up my car. drove about ten minutes, halfway to the freeway, when my check engine light came on. pulled over, called the shop and ask if that’s to be expected. they said bring it on back.

note it was just about four when i called, which was their closing time.

by the time i get back there, the service office is closed, though there is a woman inside fiddling with paperwork. i stare at her for a bit, and stare at some guys still wandering around the work bays. lady comes out a side door asking if i needed something.

told her i literally picked my car up after they had it all effing day, etcetera…and she says they all left and all i can do is come back monday. fucksticks. back in the car and pull over just a block away, the car sounds wrong and the body shimmies. turned it off to tell better half i was heading back home, but now didn’t think the car would make it, and was returning to the shop.

then it didn’t want to stay on when i turned the key. started the next try, but sounded like it would die if i eased off the gas, so quickly did a u-turn and back to car drop off. found an open door, same lady. said to fill out the night drop envelope and leave the car and key for first thing monday. can’t even get a loaner car for my troubles, cuz no one there to help with that.

called my mom to cancel on the game, so now no one is using the tickets at all, it’s too late, even if i ubered direct to the stadium. and monday i was meant to drive up to vegas, but now i have to deal with my car.

misunderstanding with text messages to my better half resulted in me getting an uber back to the house instead of him coming back for me.

so circle jerk of a day, and i’ll be lucky if i get as far as montebello park in the morning…def can’t get to san fernando. 😞

monday should be interesting anyway. i feel sorry for the manager i’ll be yelling at in an ever so polite way. better half expects i’ll be calling a fatwa on the place if they don’t make it right asap. it’s what i get for taking it to this place for convenience of the location instead of better shops closer to my office. better half would have just taken it to pep boys.

anyway, i’m in a better mood now and my better half can’t understand what i am saying, since his head is under the air conditioner in the window and has a fan pointed at him, both blowing at top speed. he repeats back what he thought i said, which is most definitely incorrect, but thoroughly entertaining.

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heres an old chopped huddie from last year for your troubles. let’s put them behind us as well.

got the blues

missed the imperials’ show this year. dug up this pic from a couple of years ago for tonight. i remember there was a pair of impalas up at the front, but irritatingly roped off, so you couldn’t get a shot without the blockade there. more of a keep off / don’t touch the cars move, and i don’t blame them – they were pretty nice cars.

liked that they used blue lights on a blue car.

no idea where i might end up this weekend; all depends on how hot it is and what time i wake up…it’s been a tough week at work so i’m kind of burned out. gotta listen to my bod. probably will stay close to home.

would have been my dad’s birthday today. missing him extra.

sad and tired, so i guess i’ll go to bed.

throwdown

saturday morning i was out at the oc fairgrounds, dropping off a couple of pictures that were selected for the fair. slept in at my mom’s instead of spending the night in whittier, hitting a show early, then dropping off the pictures, because it just was easier for me. i’d just stop at the show on the way home.

as i was driving up the street towards the gate, i see a line of classic cars parked in the middle of the street. i was starting to pass them, i saw one with the windows rolled down, so i slowed down and inquired where the show was—at the fairgrounds. huh. oh yes, i’d seen a flyer, but hadn’t added it to my list—the michelada throwdown. ya, i don’t drink, so i’d throw it down.

got there before nine, so apparently it was free to enter. as a bonus, i got into the swap meet free too.

well, pretty much what i saw out in the street was all that was showing up for this show…the brown descents and the fleetlines car clubs, with a few other solo riders…at least during the time i was there.

i’m acquainted with danny, who owns this car. met him years ago at an elks club show in santa ana. have shot his car several times over the years. he of course came over to say hello.

made quick work of the cars that were there, and before the official start time for the drink-a-thon or whatever it was. still hoped to hit up that other show before the sun came out, as i’m still getting over the sunburn from last week.

i was so very tempted to hit up that slide before i left, but ultimately skipped it. didn’t want to leave my cameras down at the bottom for even a couple of minutes. sometimes i miss my better half not coming to the fair to drop off pictures, making a big deal about nothing.

dad's home

picked up dad’s ashes yesterday. he’s on a bookshelf now. his dad’s ashes are nearby on another piece of furniture, but giving him the space alone for a bit.

this whole process has had the feeling of a wedding. all the excitement and preparation just before the event, then the thing happens, emotions all raw and out there. then the honeymoon….

now the ashes are here, that’s over. now just get on with things. oh well. had no ceremony, and didn’t want a military fuss. so we have an unfolded flag, and no instructions or thoughts on where we should put him. same reason we have his dad on a shelf. suppose we should get some boy scout to fold the flag or look it up on the internet.

told my mom, we should just fly the thing. wasn’t his personally, and it’s just going to sit in the shipping box otherwise. she’s thinking about it.

anyway, been staying with her five to six days of the week. probably for the foreseeable future. just back in whittier, so my better half can have a sanity break and get out of the house.

rained yesterday, more rain this next week, but not tomorrow. hoping to go to pomona tomorrow. i expect it will be cold. i expect i’ll hate the new tripod head some more. i expect i’ll take a lot of pictures, and not have time to do much with them for a while.

back end of an old lincoln from last year. a veteran’s show out at rose hills cemetery. i’ve only ever hung out near the entrance, near better half’s uncle’s grave. never noticed the weird looking building that looks like a sculpture at the udvar-hazy in dc—all space inspired—further up the hill.

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.