what's up?

shinfo

midway through this work thing in phoenix.

didn’t quite hit one-hundred today, but the air-conditioning in the meeting rooms has balanced that out well. i go outside to thaw out. air conditioning in my room, not so much. it tries really hard to get to where i set it under seventy, but generally chugs along. i can almost hear it murmuring to itself, “i think i can, i think i can…” all night long.

i’ve been pretty good about attending all of the events, as there’s not much else to do, except go to a nearby casino. maybe tomorrow. i have a few bucks to “donate” to the reservation.

on my own for dinners, and the hotel restaurants have you hostage, if you don’t have a car. too expensive for some gastro experience by chef boyardee. yesterday i went to a pizza place that had an ad at the airport as you head towards the sky tram, as you hike the mile to the rental car desks. super thin crust, tasty sauce, very yum.

today, went to a sandwich place, same chain that we’d picked up from when we attended the show and go in riverside last month. tasty and toasted, and full. very four-twenty themed, and open late.

a coyote ran across the road in front of me on the way back. would have hit it, if i had been going a wee bit faster. had a slightly different countenance than the coyotes at home, which kind of glare at you as if telepathing, “go ahead mofo…you want a piece of me? bring it on.” this one had a narrower face, and just went “yikes!” probably was after the roadrunner i almost squished as well.

skipping the movie event they are showing this evening. i’ve had enough socializing for the day, and this introvert is soaking in a hot bath and writing about nothing here.

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looking back at cars i have’t posted here yet. so many. here, i have the time to write some drivel about my day, so can finally get to a few.

love me a fleetline. this one is from a couple of years ago, at the oc viejitos show in anaheim. i was probably there before the club was, if i remember correctly. still pretty early in this shot. i like when there is some space to fiddle around and find a good angle. [that’s what she said.”]

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better half is at home, sick, but putting in the hours at work. idle hands…not.

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!

not much happening

missing a few shows coming up. think i will be needing a new camera soon. don’t really like the sony e-mount cameras, but my big a-mounts are supposed to be discontinued. really hate the 6300 i have in my bag. mostly the user, but the glass i generally have on it is average.

taking a short vacation from the job. better half’s first get away in five years. thirteenth anniversary for us. bosses hope we come back.

not a lot of signal here in the middle of nowhere, so currently probably just chatting with myself. better half has earphones plugged in and actually posting on his blog again. been so long since we’ve traveled together, combined with he can’t understand what i say half the time, makes for some awkward misunderstandings. whatever. still having fun.

hoping to post some new pics from the road, but for now, here’s an old one from my archives. fleetline from the oc viejitos show last year. fewer cars showed up, which didn’t matter this early anyway. miss the morning light. i should really get my ass outta bed before the sun on weekends and go shooting again.

sonata time

apparently, the xmas sonata is going on uptown. no idea what they’ve scheduled this year. usually at least a horse-drawn carriage and carolers. the carriage i could get into, but never have; the carolers, i could do without.

better half has hauled a buttload of xmas decorations into the house, and they are deciding what colors to use on the fruity tree. already know it’s toy story again for the theme, but now it’s what color balls to use <she said balls>. at least it gets his mom out of her bed and into her wheelchair.

i haven’t been home since last weekend, for random reasons, including rain and my mom’s garage door not wanting to open. this is the picture i was working on last week, when the fuse blew. yay the new photoshop actually does a decent job at recovering a picture after a crash vs frying the file.

knocked the color out, because the light flares were just oddly bugging me, but i still liked the car.

i probably mentioned it before, but it was odd the lot was so empty as compared to previous years at this time of morning. makes me want to sleep in too, but i like the early morning light too much.

i should talk. i haven’t been getting out to any shows at all for the last month. and the past weekend and this morning have been perfectly gray and cold. just not feeling up to it. i have all sorts of excuses, but i’ll just leave it at i haven’t had the energy to get out. miss you guys tho.

hangin’ out

i don’t have much to say. wanted to go out to an evening show, when it was cooler, but instead stayed home with an upset stomach.

last time i was home, just chatted all evening with my better half. never turned on my computer for one minute. only here a couple of days a week, and it’s like i never get to just hang out with him. and he needs a fresh face to give him a mental break. taking care of older parents is not the easiest thing in the world.

too hot outside all day, and i just want to sleep. got a lot going on in my head.

better half is going to try and get out of the house for a few hours tonight. we’ll see if his mother will be ok long enough for him to enjoy it.

did see an old gray chevy drive by. a little bit of happiness in the sputtering of the engine. doubt he stopped uptown; they mostly just drive on through to cruise down whittier boulevard or something.

you must be bored of sunrise shots, but here’s another. i’m usually at shows early to miss the heat and the stark shadows. and i look for where the sun is hitting cars just right.

i think this car was a bit lighter in color, but the sun is warming it up a bit.

early morning

flipped a coin, and ended up in anaheim saturday morning. arrived before the club again, and vendors, even. was almost convinced there was no show, as there was zero activity, no roping off the lot, nothing on the marquee, and no one except a random guy pedaling around on a bike. was already warm, and the sun had barely come up. at least there was a small breeze.

then i saw this one drive by, and soon another. and another. good good.

got my gear out and got to work. the day was going to be hot, and i knew i wouldn’t stay long. and i hadn’t had breakfast yet. saw raynbow, who always welcomes me.

the viejitos cars park along this fence, at the entrance. they were hanging up framed t-shirts from past years’ shows and events. as a designer, i found that interesting.

i don’t recall seeing this dodge anywhere. almost as if it had rolled off the line brand new, save for some chipped paint here and there..

past years, the lot would have been packed by eight. i do not understand the machinations of where the cars go, but i do know when several big shows are on the same day, you take your chances.

no matter, plenty for me to shoot before the sun got me.

when it looked like the incoming cars had slowed, and my skin was starting to turn pink in spite of the suntan lotion, i packed it in, and headed to breakfast.

dark water

started my day off by walking into a spider web. nothing like doing the heebee jeebee dance at five in the morning, imagining a giant [1/2”] spider with a big bulbous ass is somewhere on you, pissed that you ruined his masterpiece and his breakfast.

days are flying by, and my poor pictures and blog are being neglected. stuff happens, and i gotta pick my priorities. these fall pretty low lately.

only have time now because my kid’s doberman is currently occupying the bed at my mom’s house, and i haven’t taken the time to move him off. my hair needs to dry anyway.

i’ve been spending the last few days here, cleaning my mom’s carpets with our carpet cleaning machine. third day, and my back is feeling all the carrying of the water and the clean up. moving furniture is fun too. not. they have too much stuff. gonna need help moving the couch and other big stuff, but she seemed more concerned with the main paths through the rooms.

i thought her carpet in the front room was brown, but it’s really a ninteen-seventies orange on the deeper side. yep, original stuff. and never cleaned, only vacuumed. let me tell you, the water tanks on the machine are pretty black when i dump the water out of the machine.

did a patch in the back room today. lime green carpet. lovely.

other than that, i’ve got too much going on at work, and an unplanned vacation to prep for. totally, just now realizing that i’m gonna be out of the country for several of my favorite car shows, my eleven-year anniversary, and my kid’s birthday. go me. not my fault. i’m just along for the ride on someone else’s trip.

anyway, gotta get some sleep. looking back, found this picture of a car from the viejitos’ carshow a couple of years’ ago now.

thought it was a pretty car, and parked off out of the way for a bit, so got a few shots while there was the opportunity.

the only one

yesterday there were several car shows to consider. i can only pick one, since my better half has things he has to do, and i need to stay with his mom while he's out.

the big shows were mooneyes and the viejitos annual show. mooneyes is closer, but i've been several times, and find it hard to shoot what i do, and the cars are so spread out along the main street, with intermittent parking lots jammed with cars. there's a wide assortment of cars, to be sure, and if you're looking for the noisy cruise-bys, that's the place to be.

i chose the viejitos show. i wanted the bombs, the low lows, the big curvy-bodied cars. and a lot of them before any crowds showed up.

i arrived there in the dark. i always expect there will be cars from the host club very early, for the set up. there were two cars at the far end of the lot, but i didn't see any people, except the random homeless guy picking at trash at my end of the lot. i'm by myself, and i just wasn't going to walk over there in the dark with my camera bag, until i saw faces i recognized, or more cars anyway.

so i sat in my car, watching the sky start to turn orange, instead of watching it color up behind a car, as i'd wanted. pretty, but not a very dramatically intense sunrise.

about sixish, more cars started to show, and vendors started setting up, so i headed over. several of the club guys were there, and the president, raynbow, who shook my hand and welcomed me.

started shooting the club cars as they arrived. then there was a lull in new cars. pretty sure i leaned up against the chain-link fence in the shade for at least fifteen minutes. consoled myself that if everyone was over at mooneyes, i still had shot enough pictures of the cars i liked to keep me happy for a while, right here.

the pity party didn't last long. the closer to the real drive-in time it got, the more cars and groups of cars began to show up.

watched this cherry fleetline show up on the back of a truck. after it was unloaded, they parked it in the corner by itself.

it's a show stopper to be sure, but obviously not a daily driver.

the owner seemed to not want me to shoot it, as he said it was still all covered with dust from the freeway. i argued that if i waited, the light hitting it would be gone. i told him i'd come back around when it was as pristine as he imagined it could be and shoot it again.

i don't know if he understood, and i went ahead and shot it then anyway. he went ahead and started setting up a pop up tent right next to it, so i'm glad i got my shot before he moved the monstrosity up next to it.

i did go back later. he had moved it over a bit, another car parked in next to it. monstrosity of a pop up right up next to it. shows up in the reflection of the perfect cherry red paint. light was no longer specifically hitting it, just busy getting more generically applied to all of the cars.

as always, i liked this show. as always, i was up against a time limit, the heat, and the need to pee. i needed breakfast and to get back home, so i was on my way about start time.

all the other photographers must have been over at mooneyes. sort of missed those familiar faces; can't wait to see pictures from whatever event they were at. always good to see different points of view, how different people see the same subject. i have seen some other pictures from this show, so they did eventually turn up, but i was already gone.

hit-a-thon

woke up today at eight a.m., thinking someone had called my name. no one had. really wanted to roll over and go back to sleep—it was so cold in the room, and the bed was so warm.

but i got up. was too late to head out for a sunrise car show, but knew about this one out at jfk high school. i'd gone last year, on a much rainier, cloudier day. today was boringly, clear, blue skies, and warmish.

was practically noon, by the time i arrived, which i hate. the full on sun, harsh shadows, just aren't my favorite. but i'm just out, getting back into a groove, and it isn't a broiling summer day, so i'll take it.

saw several guys/clubs that i know from past shows, many i haven't seen for a while, and made a few new acquaintances. also saw a few cars i recognized, but didn't see the owners. oh well. a familiar place, with familiar faces, i was ok without my better half. sent him a text not to worry. he does that sometimes. well, most every time.

i have a few pictures i told people i'd post, so i'll start with this one. owner asked for a picture, because, you know, cell phone pictures just aren't that great. told him i'd post one, to see if it was any better. so what do you think?

looking back

my thoughts have bounced around in my head a lot lately, to the point i don't know any one thing i would write about, that might be of any interest to any lurker who may be reading this on a somewhat irregular basis lately.

if you've never met him, my better half might be considered imposing, especially when he has a 'stache and goatee, and his long hair. when he's clean shaven, he just seems more friendly and younger, rather than tuff. he's a big guy, six-five, hovering around three-hundred pounds most of the time.

big enough to stare down the little shits that block sidewalks when his mom used to roll her wheelchair uptown. he would politely 'suggest' that they make way, and when they'd turn their back and stay put, he'd 'make way' for his mom. fucking little posers.

there's a new generation that hang out uptown now, only i think they are wannabe drug lords, making their little drug sales out in the open. i have my own little bitch face that moves them out of my way when i go uptown by myself.

he's mostly a big, friendly bear of a guy. i really don't know why he picked me, but i'm happy he did, and that's all i'll say about that. no need to get mushy here, and i really am not that gushy kind of girl.

there is one car club guy, i'd like to sic him on, but i'd prefer to keep my better half with me, than to visit him behind bars, so there's that.

better half has tossed a more than a dozen memories at me, to write about. we laugh about each recollection, giggle at the details of what people said or did, and how we ended up where we are today. then i say i've already referenced most of these stories at some point, and how a lot of stuff is inside jokes, or too gross.

i haven't been anywhere lately, except work, my parents' house, and picking up mail at my house. boring, but i gots things on my mind.

i could bitch about stuff i see on the freeway every day, but there hasn't been too much going on with the holidays, and i assume people home with the flu. traffic has been really light in the evening, so the few drives to whittier i've done the past couple of weeks have only been about an hour.

i'm hoping to get up in the morning and head to pomona for the swap meet. was thinking, it's january, it will be cool outside, everything will be great. summer is hell out there, and i usually can't / don't stay that long in the sun there.

it was fuckin' eight-five degrees outside this afternoon. it's going to still be in the eighties tomorrow. so it will be a short day as usual, in spite of being the middle of winter. really is no winter in cali, so what am i thinking?

one of these times, i'll have to actually walk the aisles of parts and stuff for sale, but i never seem to be able to tear myself away from the cars themselves. maybe next month it will be cold again. next week it will be sixty again.

so, long-windedly, i have no stories to blather on about, or that anyone might care to hear anyway. not feeling very enchanting at the moment, though my better half seems to still be stuck under my spell. who knows why?

here's a lovely back-end of a fifty-seven bel aire. it's all about the fins on these cars. the fronts are pretty generic and boring.