like, totally arrrr

i guess i need to think about finding a dress for a wedding. it's only next month. plenty of time. ugh. girl clothes. i hate shopping. been so long since i've had to wear a dress and heels. no idea what to do with this stupid hair. and makeup. i fail at being a girl.

at least i'm not high maintenance. lucky for my better half.

anyway, he's going with me. says he's bringing his camera. he actually likes watching me play dress up, but that's another story for another day.

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i've seen this car around a few times now. shot it a couple of times, and now i'm bored with it.

i think i like these pictures from the first time i saw it at mooneyes open house, when i was still all, like, totally, wow, dude. still had some enthusiasm for it.

the details are really fun. a pirate theme going on. nuke the pontiac hood ornament, and put in this skull. should probably paint the screw in his nose black, so it doesn't show so much. maybe people with macro lenses shouldn't shoot up the nose shots?

i liked the pinstriping of pirate wenches, and the stick shifter inside. lots of details. nice paint job. and low, so low on the ground.

fine dining

we walked uptown, to the dia de los muertos show this morning just after six. later than we planned, but didn't sleep well last night, and heard the alarm ten minutes late.

there was already a long line of cars waiting to be let in. seemed to be a bit of a disconnect or disorganization on the part of the people letting the cars in. letting them sit too long, cars started overheating, even very early in the day. it didn't stay cool very long. vendors seemed to be showing up relatively late for this type of show as well.

this show has really grown, when i look at pictures from the first year we went out, in 2011, only had maybe ten cars. each year, more. this year really blew the last couple out of the water. so many cars. why did it have to be such a hot day?

anyway, took lots of pictures. not as many as i would have liked. had to keep stopping for water breaks. better half had enough of the heat after breakfast, around nine. he followed me around for a little while, then he walked back home. on call for work again, so he needed to cool off, just in case. i probably sweated off my suntan lotion within the first couple of hours, so by the time i left around elevenish, i was a bit pink.

i looked more hideous than normal, but expected it to be hot, and decided to not give a rat's ass about how i looked. been so long since i worried about makeup and dressing to impress, i just couldn't imagine how the women dressed for the day of the dead kept the makeup from sliding off their faces. never was much for wearing makeup anyway.

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talked to several people, and i promised to post their cars, if i got a good shot. so if they happen to be looking for them. give me a few days—i'm out of town a lot, and away from my computer. not doing them in any particular order, so don't get your panties in a twist.

liked this buick, and would have shot it again before i headed home, after the sun really hit it, but there were too many people around by then. 

i think the owner was inside the restaurant, and saw me shooting the car from the window. he came out to ask about prints. i do hope they knew he was coming right back, not doing a dine and dash.

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hmm. down to one more show on my list for the year. heard about one in canoga park early november, but didn't get the details.

thanks to the dead sleds for the flyer, already had the show on my list...sorry we missed your anniversary show.

heart and soul

pearlescent. adj. having an iridescent luster resembling that of pearl or mother-of-pearl. 

it does have a pearly white color. it's a bit more refined than glitter-filled metal flake.

either paint is hard to shoot, especially in the sunlight. gave it a shot anyway.

owner was very nice. said this paint was only a few months old, so it would explain why i didn't recognize the car. words pinstriped on the window say "heart and soul." i've seen that on other cars, but don't remember it on one of these.

anyway, he said was going to have the roof done in some other irridescent opal color as soon as he saves up the money to get it done. that will even more of a challenge to photograph. i'm looking forward to it.

la harley

rained this morning. for about five minutes. seriously thought about going all shawshank in the rain at three-thirty in the morning, but the bed was too warm, and bid me to stay put.

it sprinkled a bit while i was out for lunch. that big, dark cloud over the hill, promises more, but will probably just keep moving on. at least it's cooler today.

no real plans today. i should sift through vacation pics. my dad always wants to see them. he won't travel much anymore, so i guess it's the vicarious thrill. he saw the world while in the navy, so i suppose he just wants to see how much things have changed. or not.

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saw this harley on a hot day, at the imperials show in hawaiian gardens. one of the few bikes i noticed that day, in two huge fields of lowriders and old iron. end of the aisle, and no people in the shot, so had to take it.

runnin’ with the devil

ok, enough of a break. this blog thing's ramblings are mostly a journal of randomness, or an ongoing convo with my better half. not many people read it anyway, so what i say doesn't matter.

i'm sitting in a cafe, on one of many days i'm being made to take off before the end of the year, to burn off all the exceeding the limit of allowable vacation time, that will not roll over into next year. did that sentence make sense? sounds strange.

i didn't catch the usual week-long cold, that typically follows a vacation, or otherwise take a lot of time off at work. i'm always busy, running on deadlines, and i mostly just really like what i do. so now i have to use those extra hours, or lose them. still have deadlines, so i'll have to share work with our other equally busy designers, or work later when i get back to the office.

they tell me they will be hiring a junior person in the new year, but we've heard that for several years. and who will have the time to train them? already get the most interesting files from our agencies, which show how little their junior people understand the software.

even my better half has mentioned the lack of practical understanding one of his coworkers has, in spite of an overpriced education at that unnamed art school in valencia.

i'm sure no one cares to hear the problems in designer world. i assume it's the same for any profession, when the shiny new graduates start their careers.

where was i? yes, sitting here, nothing to do today. maybe i'll drive out and have lunch with my better half. just hate the traffic, but what can you do anywhere in cali, without sitting on the freeway somewhere?

i was out earlier, and really just wanted to keep driving. to anywhwere. solvang. san fran. monterrey. canada. or to a train station, and hop on. with no luggage. just take off.

but then, i'd miss the car show tomorrow at st hilarys. and my better half is at work. and it's always more funner when he's with me.

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got this shot of mr. 666 at mooneyes open house. usually see it around, and mostly don't shoot it. it's not my favorite car, and if you ignore the details and painted on sayings, it's a pretty dull car.

but, i think this time, the location and light was right, so i took the shot. check it off the list, probably won't bother with it again.

fleetline fest

i really love fleetlines. saw a flyer for the fleetline fest online, while we were out of town. just back late last night, so we got up late this morning...didn't hear the alarm...or we would have been out earlier.

over at k1 in gardena, where i usually check out the old memories harbor area shows, i knew the parking would be limited. wondered how many fleetlines they would manage to jam in there, plus vendors. you would think whatever the number it would be enough, right? 

funny thing was that, in with all the fleetlines, there was other stuff. deluxes, special deluxes, bel airs, trucks... and maybe it was just the locations, the backgrounds, the surrounding cars with hoods up, but i have quite a few pictures of other stuff that i quite like, better than the fleetlines that i went for. all good. i like the old cars, so i'm pretty happy in spite of that.

this car was really nice. i've never seen it before, which is great. awesome paint job.

wasn't so happy with how damn hot it was. as one of the guys said, supposed to rain the next couple of days, shake and bake weather. i'm not ready to go back to work after a week off. especially up a bunch of floors in a tall building, parked in a parking structure. kinda have to not think about that when you live here in cali.

didn't stay too long. couldn't take the heat, forgot the suntan lotion, and don't tell my doc that i was out pulling my bag around with a cracked rib. didn't hurt, but kinda sore now.

bloody mary

see this car often, and it's owner, howard gribble, too. he's locally famous in southern california and the lowrider community. i follow him on flickr. and though all this is true, i've never been officially introduced. i have often walked past him, and never say a thing. perhaps we're both just shy, at least i am. only on rare occasions do i break out of that shell and go over and say hello.

jae bueno was one i said a tentative hello to, and he was the nicest guy in the world. apparently, he spoke to my better half, frequently, usually while they watched me fiddling around with my camera. he was delightful and gracious, and i was socially akward, as usual.

on this morning, in san pedro, in the dim morning light, before many people had come into the park, i saw howard coming around the bend in back of the lighthouse. he never looks happy, looks sort of pissed. i'm guessing that must be what i look like, at least according to my better half.

anyway, i did not divert my path, and walked toward him, as i was going round to the front of the lighthouse, and quietly said hello. and unless i imagined it, i heard a gruff "hi" from him. and that was it.

celebrate those little personal triumphs. sure it wasn't much, but it's hard for me to get out of my shell, or my head. it does get easier each time, whether you can hear me or not.

btw, the rearview of the car was from the sultan's signal hill show. just saying, i see it a lot, different places. nuff said.

mutiny

got up early for the viejitos show over at st gregory the great. compared to last weekend, it was wonderfully overcast.

arrived to find them just setting up. and complaining loudly at each other. raynbow's guys were a grumbly bunch. half had been there at the agreed time, half got there when they got there. partied too much friday night or just slept in. he wasn't too happy about that, and went around letting them know it. doesn't make a good impression, and if you join a club, there are certain expectations. no one made you join.

anyway, they weren't the only club having issues with their members. heard quite a few guys getting reamed by other members. at least one guy got mad because they hadn't saved him a spot with his club. he got there late, and they don't save spots. he threw a hissy fit; they told him to just go home; so he did.

there was a decent turn out. got to pretty much all the cars i wanted before the sun came out, except for cars with the pop-ups or people in chairs in front of them. i had fun. my better half was able to go. he got to fart around with some of his different lenses.

here's raynbow's pontiac. hope his day got better than it started out.

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i've been busy at work as usual. then my dad had to go the hospital—just got out this evening. so, i've hardly had any time to be home and posting. i'm so behind on car shows, and yet i keep going out for more. better to have too many to choose from, and hopefully i'm getting better.

i don't have anything scheduled for tomorrow. i'm sleeping in. then maybe i'll go see how my dad is doing.

valley high

gonna post this, because i had it ready to go. i did make it uptown to the show today, and i'll start posting some of those soon, after i move from out of the front of this fan, and into a cold shower.

i'm way behind posting on recent shows. just been too busy and not home enough.

this one was from san fernando last month. love this show—oldies car club is very efficient about getting things organized, and moving the cars in. plus, they've let me in early for the three or four years i've made the trip up there.

pretty much have decided, since my better half mostly hasn't been able to join me at car shows lately, that if i can't find decent parking, in a relatively safe looking neighborhood, i'm not hanging around. luckily, i haven't had to leave one yet. there are other places i can be, which is the great part about socal and the los angeles area.

i think this is one of theirs. was in a line of their other cars, in the last parking lot i made it to before i was done. not sure which i liked most—the car or the hood ornament. liked the pop of the red, of the wheels, and the subtle pinstriping.

baggage

i've been busy all day. walked uptown for an hour or so at lunch...shopping for a graduation gift. really difficult when you don't know what someone likes or needs, or what is appropriate for the occasion. me, i like toys—monsters, aliens, weird stuff. don't think that would work for this girl.

still need to pack my bag for the trip. haven't decided when to leave. so i've been sitting here playing with my pictures. was trying to find a specific car, a black bel air. looked through the last few years of pictures. i think i have it, but no doubt i've labeled it wrong. probably on a hard drive i don't have here, a backup drive at a different location. oh well. this merc will have to do.

chopped and differently stylized flames than i usually see on cars. it was sitting at the edge of the park, stopping traffic. even got a crazy guy from a passing bus to get out before his real stop, to come over and make loud exclamations. i think the general thinking was that he might have been on something, but maybe he's just overly enthusiastic.

kudos to the pinstriper/airbrusher. somebody named vandemon, at least that's how they signed the back end.

and check out al the louvres. that looks difficult to do, without effing it up. also had hubcaps with cadillac emblems on it, and a desoto grille. guy sitting next to it, who seemed to know the owner, said just because they were cool.