what's up?

souvenir

throwback to an uptown whittier car show. i missed the dia de los muertos show this past weekend for reasons, so found this one on standby.

old cars are so much more elegant than cars of today. love those curves and details. i like this one parked in front of the facade of the old whittier village movie theatre.

————-

here’s a game for you. i’ve started a list of possibilities. wanting something more interesting and bad ass than what actually happened.

became the fifth ninja turtle, and i gave shredder the first, and last, move
really like freddie kruger
embroidered the “L” from happy days in the wrong place, while looking in a mirror
trampled by over-zealous chicago marathon runners
went one round with mike tyson
took up hockey
getting ready for halloween
hit by a bus
played patty cake with the jolly green giant
took a meteor shower
wrong side of a curveball
amazon prime day
sleepwalk into a doorway
participated on one of those game shows with rotating obstacles
a cane corso thought i was dinner - i’m not ramsey bolton
opened up a can of whoop-ass accidently
turns out i’m not a gymnast
you should see the other guy
shuttlecock
here’s a piece of my mind
t-rex attacked
caught the tshirt at a baseball game
edward scissorhands is my friend
embraced by a facehugger
lobotomy
got in the way of a touchdown/excessive end zone celebration
enter the dragon - i didn’t win
tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch
started a buffalo stampede
took a long walk off a short pier
godzilla!
none of the above

graphic warning - avert your eyes if you’re squeamish.

nothing that exciting. get your coffee, if you have nothing better to do than read this account. snippets of memory.

tl;dr: i tripped and fell on a sidewalk

recently visited chicago with my better half. he wanted to take pictures of boats at sunset, playing with the lenses he brought with him. he wanted to see beautiful bokeh of twinkling lights.

we were staying in a hotel in the loop, near union station. the walk towards the riverwalk and navy pier was about a mile away, maybe a twenty minute walk.

i didn’t feel like shooting, so was tagging along. my back was tired from carrying a camera around the previous days, at the science and industry museum, architectural tour via boat, and earlier in the day, the field museum.

i’d wanted to get out earlier, and have dinner first, then thought better of it, that we might miss sunset, so were going to the river first and pick up dinner on the way back.

we hadn’t quite reached the iconic chicago theatre sign, it’s neon lights already on. chatting about nothing.

then, i felt my shoe catch, an uneven sidewalk crack, and in spite of another step to try and avoid a fall, it was inevitable. i don’t think i quite windmilled my arms. i just remember a steel grate coming towards my face.

yup, a header into a serated sidewalk grate over an air vent. better half describes it as an industrial-strength cheese grater.

better half says i passed out for a few seconds. he and the three people behind us on the street got me turned over and sat me up. says i was a blood fountain. when i came around, i remembered i had saved some extra napkins from breakfast, so was able to apply pressure to my head, while better half and the other people tried to think best what to do. i wanted to just walk back to hotel, but after he showed me a picture of my head, i knew i needed to see a doctor.

then the question was ambulance or uber. i’m still just sitting on the ground meantime. probably in shock. better half called for an uber to the nearest hospital. better half has used uber maybe once, long ago.

better half and the older guy in the group of three got me up off the ground. no way i was getting up otherwise. my knees are scraped…i can feel it…but don’t seem broken.

he spots the black suv uber xl across the one-way street. they gimp me over there, profusely thanking the people for helping and waiting with us.

the car gets rolling while we buckle up. off we go. better half is asking if the driver can hurry and get us to the hospital.

when i hear the driver ask if we’d changed the destination, followed by “is your name mike?,” i already knew he got us in the wrong car.

driver refused taking us to the hospital, that his customers were waiting and that he would be fired. we’d only gone a couple of blocks, so a couple of turns later, we were back where we started. our uber was waiting for us, since better half had called to explain.

that driver was good. skipped the high traffic route and opted for lower-level streets and tunnels to the other side of the river. made it to the emergency room door in under ten minutes.

let me take a breath, and sip this strawberry-banana smoothie my better half brought me…

where was i? we arrived about seven p.m. usual city hospital on a saturday evening—busy. triage. people with sneezes, broken bones that have been temporarily set, homeless people looking for something, random aches, and here’s me with a butchered head. temp and blood pressure taken, and sent to find a seat.

they called me back for a second triage session two hours later. also to determine if better half had something to do with the injuries. he had no scrapes or other “evidence” so took me at my word. sent back to waiting room.

had better half call my mother. said she cried. was my sister’s birthday, so he talked to her later. i let my kids know first via text. i didn’t feel like talking.

hour four, there was a fight outside the er door, all security guards outside to break it up.

they came for me at hour five, put me in a wheelchair, as my knees were really stiff by then, and put us in a room. it’s a hive of activity behind the scenes.

a nurse came by to take some notes. another nurse rolled me out for a ct scan, since i landed on my head. only minimal scrapes on one hand, so i stopped my fall mostly with my forehead. i got uncontrollable shivers…adrenaline coming down, i suppose.

an hour later, they came for xrays of my knees.

soon after, the doctor came by to shoot up the cuts so it could be cleaned out and to decide which way to repair it. no concussion or broken bones. could have been so much worse. i have thought of an assortment of different endings, but better half doesn’t want to flounder in those thoughts.

about that time, five gunshot victims were heading in, so they had to move me out to the hallway, my forehead numbed and ready. waiting. dude was rolled into my previous location. he’d been shot by the girlfriend. she rolled in down the hall, screaming. he’d shot her in the foot. he wanted his phone to call her. then to call his mom and dad. then his people. denied. denied. denied. both were ultimately “relaxed” so work could be done.

i could only see the girl’s room. her screaming lasted ten minutes before they put her out. didn’t sound like it felt good. better half said the guy had a quick chat with the cops before he started telling a nurse about flowers growing out of his hand and quieting down.

nurse came by after a couple of hours and most of the craziness had died down. gave me some jello to eat. i got a tetanus shot in the hallway. i had to have more lidocaine shots in my head as too much time had passed. got the cuts cleaned of dirt and hair and dried blood.

two doctors consulted and decided crazy glue for skin would be best in this case. going to have a lovely scar.

finally released at sixish in the morning. over eleven hours. no dinner. still dark.

better half called an uber. security had blocked the driveway to the door, so we limped down to the sidewalk. watched the map say he was nine minutes away. then twelve. then nine. then eight. then three. and wouldn’t you know it, he pulled up to the opposite side of the driveway. gimped over there.

remember i mentioned the chicago marathon? yup, every which way this guy tried to go was blocked. after ten minutes of u-turns, we ended the ride, opting to walk.

had to climb up some stairs to street level. we were close to navy pier, and got our bearings. surrounded by people heading towrds the starting line, coming back in search of coffee or friends. and there we were, me stiff-zombie walking, a big bandage covering my forehead and dried blood in my hair, and my big, long haired better half…my hero.

i pointed out, that here we are crossing a bridge over the river, at sunrise. look at the lights on the boats. the twinkling in the water. the warming light. there. there was the shot he was looking for yesterday, i giggled. he still had the cameras with him. there was an empty viewing space in front of us.

he didn’t take the shot. he was tired and stressed, and wasn’t interested anymore. just wanted to get me back safely. it would have been perfect. oh well.

took about an hour to get to the hotel. i can’t remember if we got lunch before or after we crashed in bed for several hours of sleep.

the past couple of days, the swelling has moved south, giving me black eyes. when we’ve finally headed out for meals, better half has been getting big stink-eye from people. they only half believe the story, and i am not being beaten.

we ultimately decided to continue with our planned and paid for return home on the train. i wouldn’t have been able to stand bending my knees for that long on a plane, and better half can’t fit a plane seat, being so tall. thought about driving, and stopping as needed, sleeping in real beds each night. he thought there were too many stretches of nothing, had there been an emergency.

figured we could get off a train at a major stop for help or to get to an airport if needed.

i have to work monday, and my eyes are already opening up again, so i guess i will work, back into the frying pan…

so i have a permanent souvenir of our short-lived vacation.

2012 | SHARP

supposed to get some furniture delivered this weekend. we’ve been using better half’s mother’s mattress and mountain of pillows as a sofa for the past few weeks. would rather it was in her room, with her still sitting on it, watching her tv, but…

he has declined my offer to get a kitchen table and chairs from my storage unit, as we will only have to move it again in a year. so, tray tables and a desk, if i want to get fancy. but i am still going to be using her good silverware. so, another empty room for the time being. maybe i’ll bring my trampoline back here and put it where the dining table had been.

a little less busy at work, but only minutely so. i’ve done a few projects that will get some notice around the offices and online, but then, i could say that about most things i work on. seems like all the jobs are becoming more of a competition, or at least, team efforts lately. it’s a good thing. spreads the stress around, divide and conquer. learn from others.

better half used to look forward to me asking, “why the hell are you doing it that way?,” when i used to work with him, as i would glance at what was on his screen. he’d also tell you that was my way of saying “i like you” to him, or some other nonsense.

looks like the earliest i’ll be back at the office will be sometime before year-end. have been there several times this past couple of weeks, and it is pretty much a ghost town. it did make it ideal for a photo shoot i had to do of a bike, with no interruptions, and no issue getting the room i wanted to shoot in. only problem was the key to where we store our lighting equipment was at home with another designer, who had shot some video the week prior. fortunately, the receptionist had a spare.

i’d rather be shooting a car…

———-

my niece finally went home, so i was able to get to my computer the other day. only had a couple of hard drives there, so pulled up some old files, shot with my old cameras and better half’s lens. he’d say he lent it to me, and never got it back until i’d worn out the parts in it.

pretty sure i posted a similar shot of reine’s cadillac, but i haven’t seen it for a while, and it was in the first bunch of pics i saw on the hard drive, from 2012. back when the whittier uptown show was packed with cars waiting in staging areas for several blocks, before the sun came up. it was my favorite car for the longest time. such pointy back fins, and ghost flames on glittery paint.

his cadillac was one of the first i shot, in the early 2010, over at the broiler in downey. that place used to be where i’d be every wednesday evening for a for at least a year. good times.

chillin’

better half remembered shooting this truck before, back when he used to bing his camera out. he had a chat with the owner while i took my shots, just like old times.

ten minutes later, he was headed back up the street, hoping he’d be home before his mom woke up.

———

kid went to solvang, then stopped to shop in camarillo. had to wait until six in the evening before i could head back to whittier. he was bringing danishes for my mother-in-law.

was late when i got home, after i made a stop at the store and in-n-out for dinner. took a shower, then worked on this pic while my hair dried. better half got called in to work, so good thing i showed up. he came back sooner than he thought, since the job wasn’t ready to go, and he wasn’t waiting around for an indefinite time in the middle of the night when all he wanted to do was sleep.

excellent day

woke up very early for the show uptown. better half was up early, his mother was still asleep, so he walked me up the street as far as the theatre here. he hung around for about fifteen minutes, before deciding he needed to get back.

posting this car, since the ladies that sat with it asked about where they would be able to see the pictures. here. right here. and also on instagram, more often than here.

i think i was out for six hours before i started feeling woozy. had to stop for lunch. wobbled over to the japanese place, but they weren’t open yet. so rolled my bag down the block for a slice of pizza at marco polos. after that, i took a shortcut down the alley to shoot a couple of cars i hadn’t gotten around to, bypassing the crowd.

it stayed overcast and cool all day; still is perfectly gloomy outside. was so happy, as this show is typically full on sun and heat by ten. crossing my fingers that summer doesn’t heat up, and i won’t have to skip going anywhere cuz i can’t take the heat.

i probably still managed to get a sunburn. at least my skin feels tingly.

back at home about one, downloaded over fifty gigs of pictures. kicked back a bit. after three, noticed cars driving by, so went outside with a camera, to catch them at the stop sign. not so many go further than hadley, so i walked back up the street to take pics of cars rolling out. more people than cars still.

saw my friend ernie and his wife. so happy to see them. been over a year, since he’d told me he had cancer. he is now cancer-free, the treatments worked. so, yay! the world isn’t done with him yet, and now he’s a good church-going boy, in thanks.

ok, i gotta go hang out with my kid’s dog and my mom. my boy is out of town with wifey, wine-tasting and enjoying good food. happy twenty-ninth birthday!! time is flying so fast. wtf.

maybe another picture to post tomorrow when i get back…so many cars, not enough time…

whatever; i can't think just now

when wondering around city-sponsored shows, be sure to look down side streets...usually you find cars that did not register, or do not want to pay the fee to park in the main areas.

in this case, i spied a few cars down the space between the movie theatre and the building next to it. walking to the back of the theatre, in the overflow parking lot, were several cars parked near the barbershop. this year, the barbershop did not drag their barber chairs out to the show as a vendor to do some barbering, but people went to the back to their shop. seemed busy in there too.

this cadillac was parked next to it, in the alley.

later in the afternoon, there seemed to be an after-party going on back there, as i walked home from an afternoon movie.

i suppose i should write something. i didn't go to any shows today, a perfectly cold, overcast photo-loving weather day. better half joked that i would write about why i didn't go out, and what excuse i would use.

well, since no one reads this but him, and some lurkers, the only excuse i will say, is i took some me time. the blankets were too comfortable, i hadn't slept well all week, and the show would go on without me. besides, i spent most of the day hanging around the house with him, so he can't complain too much.

i did go uptown to mail a letter, and get a late lunch. an old chevy from the kustom oldies car club drove past me, on the way to the post office. it stopped momentarily on the corner by central park, and drove down the street before i could get my phone out for a picture.

then, by the time i got to the corner, i spied it coming back down the street towards me. so i got my phone out, ready, and snapped a quick shot as he sat at the stop sign. got a wave from the owner too. i think their club had one of the shows i could have gone to today.

also saw an edsel uptown too. you can see both on my instagram.

a few thoughts from a week of long drives home:

i'd rather spend time in the evening working on a picture, then go to sleep, rather than trying to think of something to write about here. does that make me a terrible blogger, or just over-tired? i have plenty of pictures ready for a write-up, but not a lot of time to spend thinking of what to write, hence i spend my afternoon drive-time writing fun stuff in my head, with the best of intentions, only to not be able to remember most of it when i get home.
there's a person in my office building with a tuft of hair on their mostly balding forehead, and all i can think of is that he represents the lollypop guild...and to welcome me to munchkin land. terrible of me, i know, but it makes me giggle every time i see them. there used to be a girl that wore a big military overcoat looking dress, and she was one of the witch's guards...i might be working in oz without knowing it.
i need to improve my attitude at work, kind of an i don't give a fuck mood. i've been in this state of mind before. one of my better half's favorite memories is of sitting in on a meeting with my former manager and team at a former job, telling that manager to his face, in front of all my coworkers, that his idea was stupid. mostly because i didn't want to participate in that particular project. better half called it a career enhancing move on my part. manager did turn a lovely shade of red, and the vein did bulge on the side of his neck. coworkers looked at the floor, the ceiling, elsewhere. ultimately, nothing happened, but i didn't have to participate on that project, which was the point anyway. i think the mood is from all the other stuff going on in my life; it will pass, and hopefully, i'll still be employed this time.
my kid is going to move out of my condo soon. i fantasize about gutting it, and putting new flooring, cabinets, bathrooms fixtures in. then remember my other kid is moving in, with her big beast of a dog, and half of that fantasy gets put on hold. still might replace the fixtures or the kitchen. figure by the time she moves out, i'll be too old to live there anyway, too old to climb the stairs...the next person can replace the flooring.
randomly, the lowercase m will not type while logged in to this website, so i'm having to type it in a different program and paste it in here. wth, squarespace?
why does the uptown rite-aid blast barry manilow tunes outside 24/7?
did i mention my dad has been in the emergency room and/or hospital at least twice more since the last time i mentioned it? he seems somehow less than he was each time after. tomorrow is father's day. i hope he doesn't spend it there. best to go give him a hug while i still can...
oh, and i got three pictures accepted into the oc fair this year. already have the framed prints ready to go. my problem is that i have to drop them off next saturday, and i really want to go to the bomb club show at santa anita. and i think my better half has to go in to his office to hob nob with some executives, so i have to be here while he's gone. yet to see how the schedule will go...

rimshot

here's ron's 'burban again. pretty sure i've posted one or two others over the years. i've noticed little tweaks to it each time i see it.

these rims aren't entirely new, and i've seen them on it before, but not sure if i've posted it with them. so simple and clean, with minimal color-coordinated pinstriping.

last couple of times i've seen him out at shows, he's been driving his beauteous fifty-nine impala. and i admit, i am more partial to that than this car, but this is nice too. sort of sounds like someone saying the big girl has a nice personality, when you think about it, in a twisty sort of way. might just be me.

adult beverages

i was heading back to the house when i noticed the bridgetown guys parked over on bailey street, near the barber shop, the one with the motorcycle in the window. it was getting pretty warm by then, so i was taking a break in the shade, leaning on the wall.

couple of the guys noticed, and offered me an adult beverage. no thanks, don't drink. another guy offered water, but i was ok, almost home, so declined.

asked if they were going to pomona the next day, as i know from experience, they are usually the first club there by the grandstands every time.

they laughed, and said that some of the guys would be there, but doubted they themselves would make it, at least first thing. by then, one of the guys seemed to recognize me, another asked for a card.

anyway, thanks for offering the drink(s); if i was going to keep going, i would have taken you up on it.

pretty sure i've shot this fleetmaster elsewhere, but thank you sir, may i have another?

hello gorgeous

saw this one very early in the morning, and couldn't quite tell if it was all black or what i thought i saw, a little purple tint. the light was muted by clouds, so i thought my eyes might be tricking me with a reflection of something else. what that would be, i dunno, since there wasn't a purple car nearby.

here, i found it later in the morning, and with the sun hitting the paint, i see that my eyes told the truth. it is purple and black. and simply, gorgeous.

-----

just got some emails. only got three pictures accepted into the oc fair this time, and those were not the ones that i would have expected. the one entry that i totally thought would get in, didn't. oh well, winning there isn't the thing to obsess over; just getting on the wall is the big win. anything else is frosting on the cake.

best in show

i've read that this little red packard won best in show the other day.

i took several pictures early in the day and one later in the afternoon. i liked the early morning shots better. i just couldn't decide if i liked this side or the the other, showing the spare wheel.

strange thing i noticed in the other shot, was that each hub cap is from a different type of packard. i suppose it's difficult to find a complete set for the same type and year. so as long as it says 'packard' all is good.

i liked the reflections on the door; this side a deluxe; on the other side, a special deluxe.

bought a boiled egg early this morning, out foraging for bfast at five am. turned out it was a dud of a sort. the shell didn't want to come off in one piece; the membrane underneath didn't either. by the time i got back to my desk, it had what looked like the lunar surface, but in white.

then the yolk inside, wasn't light colored and fluffy, but deep golden yellow and not quite fully cooked.

so, does that mean they didn't cook it long enough, too long, or was the egg too fresh or too old? i'm still alive to note this late in the afternoon, so i guess it wasn't spoiled.

uptown show

went out at five-thirty am today, up the street to the car show. better half walked me uptown, and pulled my camera bag around for a while. sun was already coming up.

noticed a bunch of classic cars in the rite-aid parking lot. went to shoot them, but they soon started to move over to the main street—they were there to volunteer to help set the show up and direct move-in, in exchange for prime parking.

strangely, as compared to prior years, they weren't starting move in until eight-thirty. we're used to a zillion cars lined up down the street waiting. nope, not much there.

spent time shooting the cars that were there. then noticed cars showing up further down, and went off to get those.

really love to shoot at this time of day, prior to move-in. fewer people, cool, overcast, everyone happy with anticipation. i really took the majority of my pictures waiting for eight-thirty.

then the time came, and it went very slowly. not sure what was going on, but it seemed to take forever to get cars moving. i took the opportunity to get some bfast.

i'm starting off, not with my favorite, best pics, but with the cars of people who talked with me, or asked about what i'm doing with the pics, as usual.

this nova was owned by the first guy that really chatted us up, mainly my better half, of course.

he popped the hood to show us what was hiding there, in spite of me wearing my infamous hat. whatever. here's a shot of the engine. dare a cop to try to catch up with it.