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.

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.

delray / sittin’

at my condo, picking up mail before heading to my mom’s for the night.

sad to be here; it smells because my daughter’s dog is a not so well trained doberman who has taken one too many dookies in here. that and a stagnant piss smell permanently in this ratty carpet. and just a hint of vomit. really need to leave, but i have to close all the windows, and this chair is just uncomfortable enough that i don’t want to sit anymore.

tired of it just being an expensive storage unit for her stuff. she doesn’t realize how good she had it yet—a rent-free, utilities-free place to stay. but she just couldn’t be on her own, and met a guy that lived too far away, then got a job in that too far away place and complained of not getting enough sleep, and the price of gas, etc.

well just tarantulas live here now, and i hope she stops to feed them sometimes.

gave her until the end of summer to pack, but i’m betting she’ll just leave it to see how serious i really am. that or she knows i’ll box it up for her just to get it out. she can put it in her dad’s storage.

soon, her stuff will be out and i can get on with the demolition that is needed in here.

————-

i did stop at the crossing church’s thirteenth annual car show last weekend. had to park a block or two away, after circling the neighborhood once. got there close to noon, never a good time for me with all the heat and all the people walking through the shot.

i still managed one loop around the parking lot. seemed to be fewer cars than past years, but it was later than i usually go, and there were many other shows going on at the same time.

i was pretty overheated after the sun came out, when i got to the last few cars. eh, i overheat in the middle of winter, it is just extra gruelling in the summer. had to stop inside the church kitchen for some cold water, shade, and slow moving overhead fan action.

i think this car was the second or third one i shot, up at the front corner. looks like an impala, but it’s not. can’t remember seeing it before, at least it wasn’t in this year’s files, so it was nice to shoot something different.

memories

1948 chevy fleetline

today, i'm waiting for my car, getting an oil change and tire rotation. hoping they don't find some other thing wrong with it, which seems to happen every time. sometime during the past week, while driving with the little maintenance light on, and the service message showing, my car hit two-hundred thousand miles, and passed it. i do a lot of driving, but not bad for a ten-year old car, right?

kept my last car for more than thirteen years, until every service was costing me close to a thousand every time. even after one of their guys fucked up and dropped a bolt somewhere in the engine and killed it. they gutted it, and had to put in a whole new engine. idiots.

that car went to my ex for a while, and now it sits mostly unloved in my parents' driveway.

my better half likes to talk about a thirty-nine master deluxe he saw for sale once at a car show. owner had fixed it up for his then wife, put automatic transmission in it, power steering, air conditioning, stereo system, etc.--it was modernized, with a beautiful shell outside. he was upset, because she had changed her mind, and didn't want to drive it. he was having a hard time selling it, since it wasn't original anymore.

sometimes, i think i would enjoy something like that, a hybrid, with the classic look. i hear the old cars are hard to drive, since they don't have power steering. i will need another car eventually, so i half keep an eye open when i'm at shows or the swap meet.

meanwhile, i wait to hear what the damage is with this car. also hoping they run it through a car wash. they remodeled, made the waiting area less comfortable, and management changed not too long ago, so maybe they got rid of that perk.

this car seems to have been waiting on tap here for a while, so i'll post it now. i've been so busy with my work / life lately, i've had little time for my pictures. so far behind doing anything with the last few shows' worth of shots, and hoping they don't join the many years' worth of pictures that will never see the light of day, because there is never enough time, and never will be.

between a master deluxe and a fleetline, i think i'd go with the fleetline every time. i just like the lines and curves of the car more. ask me tomorrow and i may say the same about the other.

saw this one at the crossing foursquare show last month. been there a few times; never sure which clubs will show up, or where they will park. these guys got the back yard. thought i heard someone say they were going to put dukes back there, but i never saw any while i was there.

there were some pesky port-a-potties, that are always fun to shoot around. they add so much to a picture. not. this shot, one was to the right, out of the shot, but still found it's way into the picture in the reflection. just ignore it, now that i've pointed it out.

what are you gonna do? when you gotta go, you gotta go.

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.

is there anybody up there?

am i the only one that loves to crunch tree bark under their feet? that satisfying brittle crackle when you find that perfectly curled and dried seed pod? didn't think i'd find that this late in the summer, but i took a walk this evening and found both my favorites, and i slowly stepped down on them, to enjoy that snap, crackle and pop. ok, i'm weird. whatever. been a long day.

going to get some sleep tonight, so won't blather on here for very long.

first car i shot from last week's foursquare church show. sun comes up early now; i got there early, and it still got up there first. love the cloudiness surrounding the sun. i so much want to stick an alien spacecraft or pterydactyl or something bursting forth, but decided that wouldn't be appropriate blasting out near the church.

it did help to light up the inside of the car, catching the interior details. that's always nice.