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A weekend or two ago, I got Nathaniel and Dillon to go with me to Long Beach. We put the bicycles on a bike rack on our Toyota and drove over there, parked in a garage in downtown Long Beach, and rode around. We basically just rode down Long Beach Blvd for a ways. I have more film that needs to be developed from that day, so I may post more pictures later, but for now here’s a few.

One of the cameras I took is a little old camera that takes 127 film. 127 film is larger than 35mm but smaller than 120. I believe there’s only one company still making 127 film and you have to order it online, so I’ve never used any. But I managed to load some 35mm film into one of my 127 cameras and use it, which is cool because all of the 35mm film gets exposed, including the parts with the sprocket holes. Unfortunately, I didn’t tape up the frame number window well enough and had some major light leakage.

That’s Nathaniel and Dillon on their bikes. Here they are again:

Some mannequins outside a store:

An old empty brick building that I think is going to be rennovated (taken with a different camera):

Another cool old building:

After riding around Long Beach, I asked the boys if they wanted to go to Watts Towers. They were up for it, after I said it was a public park and if it seemed sketchy we’d just leave.

The Watts Towers are some sculptures that a man built during his spare time, starting in 1921. It took him 30 years or so to finish them. He built them out of scraps of stuff he found laying around.

Two of them are over 99 feet tall. There’s a community center there, but we didn’t check it out because I was nervous about leaving the bikes on the bike rack on the car, even though they were locked together.

There was a security guard at the park too. He told us they’d be giving a tour of the scuptures soon but we didn’t take it.

There’s plaques in the ground that layout a timeline of history of the area, going back to ancient native peoples. It covers the Watts Riots and we only read to that point. Here’s Dillon and Nathaniel checking out the timeline:

It’s a neat place.

Watts was a really sketchy area though. When we left the freeway the GPS told us to make these turns that took us right into what seemed like project apartment housing. It kept telling me to turn left and I kept thinking “I don’t want to turn down there! There either!” And then it’d get weird and actually have arrows pointing both ways. Dillon said, “It’s telling us to GET OUT! GET OUT!” But I ended up turning left and the towers were right there as we turned the corner.

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In other news, our Toyota might have a blown engine. Yes, our 4 year old car that we still owe thousands of dollars on, toast. Daniel’s going to try taking it apart and see if he can fix it, but I worried we’re pretty much screwed. It completely ran out of oil, and we had no indication until it was knocking. There’s been no oil leaks at all—the oil just all dried up and turned into sludge inside the engine. We would have caught it earlier, I think, but I let Dillon drive Nathaniel to a show (in Riverside) and the boys didn’t realize the noise the engine was making meant it was in serious trouble. I’m not sure I would have, either. It hasn’t lost power. Or it didn’t until Daniel started working on it yesterday—now it won’t run at all. Daniel’s hoping maybe something’s just came loose with the valves and he can fix it. Cross your fingers.

Yesterday I decided to try an experiment in my Holga camera. Here are the ingredients:

The two spools with the red paper is a used roll of 120 film, which is the size of film this camera takes. The camera’s in the photo too, with its back removed. 120 film doesn’t come in a light-tight canister, instead it comes on a spool with backing paper that protects it from light. So I took the used backing paper and taped two rolls of 35mm film onto it:

Then I stuck it in a changing bag, which is the black thing on the far right of the first pic. It’s light tight. There’s holes to stick your hands in and manipulate stuff without light getting in. I unwound the film from their cannisters and rolled it up onto the 120 spool. In the photo above, the edges of the film are sticking out of the paper, and I realized it wouldn’t fit on the spool like that, so I had to move it so it overlapped—all blind, while it was in the changing bag. A total pain.

Then I went on a bike ride with Nathaniel and shot the roll. I had to scan each negative and stitch them together in Photoshop.

Here’s Nathaniel on his bike:

I had trouble near the end of the roll with light leaks.

Nathaniel took this one of me on a freeway overpass:

It wasn’t until we got about a half mile away that I realized it was 91 degrees out. And I wasn’t feeling well to begin with! But nothing deters me when I have a camera in hand.

I need to do a post about last Saturday when we went bike riding in Long Beach and then went to Watts. Soon!

Last night Daniel was telling me about a friend of ours whose boyfriend is a tattoo artist. She was saying she wants to get a tattoo on the side of her finger that looks like a moustache. When people ask what it is, she can hold her finger up above her lips to show them.

I thought that was pretty funny. In our discussion, it came out that Daniel had never done a google search for the terms “bad tattoo.” He immediately went to the computer and typed it in. Much hilarity ensued.

Here’s the first one we found:

It’s called Little Blueberry Man. We laughed pretty hard at how bad it is.

The we moved on. What came up first were the more famous bad tattoos, which you may have seen already. Daniel hadn’t. I don’t know how he’d managed to live so long without ever seeing Mr Cool Ice:

Here’s my personal fave:

Daniel just saw me writing this post and asked me what you call that creature. My answer: Magnificent.

When we came across this one, Daniel told me a joke that our son Elijah had told him:

Chuck Norris can cure cancer—with his tears. But it’s never happened because Chuck Norris doesn’t cry.

Then came the tattoos that look like they’re drawn by a four year old. Well, let me amend that. A right-handed four year old, using their left hand.

Crooked hair. Lopsided, giantic mouth. And wading in fish scales. Pretty talented four year old.

This four year old must have very irresponsible parents:

After that we started venturing into the what-the-heck-were they thinking territory:

Think maybe she asked for a Chinese dragon and got this instead?

This may be the best tattoo, ever:

If only you could combine that somehow with the Patrick Swayze centaur, I think the world might stop spinning on its axis.

I’m sure her pastor appreciates this one:

I’m not sure there’s a person alive who can fully appreciate this one:

Give it a minute to soak in. Note the mustache…the eyebrows. The double chin.

Then we turned it up a notch. Not disturbed yet? You’re about to be.

He must be a really big chess fan.

This last one really brings out his amazing hazel eyes:

Another view, in case you don’t think it’s real.

After all that, little blueberry man looks pretty good, don’t you think?

Was listening to the Waterboys yesterday…such a lovely, sad tune.

I was having an email conversation about a friend’s friend who is getting a divorce. This person’s friend said that the “spark” is gone and that’s why they were splitting up. My reply went like this:

That is sad. I guess I’m a little bit confused about what people mean by “spark.” I mean, Daniel’s my favorite person to be with, so does that mean “spark”? Or is she talking like “spark” like you get when you first fall in love? Because that just doesn’t last, and it shouldn’t last, you know. Who wants to spend their life mooning over someone?

I could spend my life mooning over the Waterboys, though.

How’d that happen so fast?

On the one hand, I’m sad because summer is so awesome in southern Cali. But then on the other hand, winter means we can go to the desert without melting into a big pile of goo. YES! Yermo, here I come! Daniel’s talking about taking a week off in October or November and going out to the Salton Sea. I’m also thinking Vegas. But we’ll see what we can afford. Of course we’ll just be camping, but gas in his big truck gets pricey.

Elijah’s been really cranky the last week or so. I realized it’s just how he’s going to be until school starts back up. Any big change is stressful for him, and Elijah stressed means Elijah cranky-monster. He’s going to be on his own in high school now, no big sister around to have as a back up for any emergencies. Not that he has any emergencies, but he’s pretty close to Catherine (and she puts up with a lot from him, she’s a good big sister).

Cat has found a job. Get this—at a photo studio! She was so excited, and she just started this week. It’s the photo studio that does all the senior portraits for the yearbook. She knows almost everyone there from when she was photo editor of the yearbook last year. They hired her fulltime for a month, because one of their regular employees is gone, and when he gets back it looks like they’ll switch her to part time. They didn’t even interview her—just brought her in because they knew her from last year. She’s working the front counter, making appointments and stuff. She’s only been there two days, and she’s had tons of kids she knows come in for their senior portraits. She’s loving it. She’s been thinking of becoming a photographer for a career, so it’s great experience for her. How awesome is that?

And here’s a picture I took at the swap meet last weekend.

Yesterday my husband told me he liked my hair and asked if I’d done anything different to it.

I hadn’t.

My first thought: Nice of him to notice.

My second thought: Time to get a haircut.

Daniel likes my hair longer and wants me to grow it out. I don’t like it long for a variety of reasons:

1. I dye it to cover the grey and it’s a hassle to dye longer hair.
2. I don’t like my hair in my face.
3. I think I’m too old for long hair. I see other ladies way older than me with long hair, and I think they’re too old for long hair, and they’d look better with it shorter. I’m only 39 but still.

But then I see pictures of myself from about a year ago when my hair was getting longer and think it looked pretty cute. What to do?

Here’s how my hair is looking right now:

Yes, I took that while driving, and yes, that’s my finger getting in the shot. You try to take a picture one-handed with a tiny camera while driving! Or you could be smart and don’t.

I also keep thinking about letting my natural color grow out. So much grey in it though…Hard to see in that picture, but my roots have grown out quite a bit. The hair you see near my cheekbone-level that is white is actually all grey. It blends really well with the blonde. Not so much with my natural dark brown color.

But I’ll probably let it grow out a bit more just because I’m too lazy to go get it cut or dye it right now.

Jackson Browne is my favorite songwriter of all time. I saw him last night at the Greek Theater, a lovely outdoor venue in Griffith Park (near the observatory). The show was billed as an evening with Jackson Browne, and that’s just what it was—no opening bands. He played about 10 songs, took an intermission, then came back out for a second set.

I went there hoping to hear these songs:

Barricades of Heaven*
I’m Alive*
In the Shape of a Heart*
The Naked Ride Home*
My Stunning Mystery Companion

*He played all of these.

At one point I got a little anxious. I was thinking, this is close to a perfect Jackson Browne show for me. Does that mean one of us is going to die?

Because, you know. What else could it mean? Obviously if I experience the perfect Jackson Browne show, someone has to die.

Here’s the set list (yes I took notes, and yes Daniel made fun of me):

I’m Alive
Barricades of Heaven
I’ll Do Anything*
Fountain of Sorrow
Time the Conqueror
Off Of Wonderland
In the Shape of a Heart
Too Many Angels
The Naked Ride Home
Take It Easy
– intermission –
Jamaica Say You Will
Doctor, My Eyes/About My Imagination
Lives in the Balance
Going Down To Cuba
Just Say Yeah
The Late Show
For A Dancer
The Pretender
Running on Empty
– encore break –
I Am A Patriot/It’s Your Thing
The Load Out/Stay*

*Songs I’ve always wanted to see him do and I don’t think I had yet. So awesome.

I saw him last fall at the Orpehum, and the sets were very alike—especially the last half. I took lots of video at the Orpheum show and posted them all on youtube and then my youtube acct was deleted, so I can’t point you to them right now. And my camera I used for videotaping died, so no video from last night’s show. But he had the same amazing backup singers, who stole the show during “Lives in the Balance” and “About My Imagination.”

During intermission the people behind us were discussing a lot of different bands they’d seen live.

Here’s what they said. Here are my thoughts.

I’m going to see Linkin Park…I went backstage at a Lincoln Park show. Daniel has met the singer’s son. So funny they’re talking about Linkin Park.

I saw Alice in Chains…At a roller rink!

And the Cure…I met Daniel at a Cure concert in 1985.

Red Hot Chili Peppers are my favorite band…Daniel went skateboarding with those guys once.

I’d love to see the Foo Fighters…Our friend knows one of those guys, Daniel used to skateboard with him too.

When I saw U2…I met Bono on a street corner in 1986.

I saw them on their Boy tour…I saw Nirvana play at a dorm party. I win!

Actually, I’d gladly trade any of the early Nirvana shows I saw for U2 on their Boy tour.

Just thought it was funny that every band they mentioned I had a story about. Too bad they didn’t also mention Phil Collins, the Alarm, 3 Inches of Blood…

Sigh. It was a great night. See here for a post I did on Kulturblog about JB’s songwriting.

Let’s ponder the imponderables.

Why Cheap Trick’s song, “I Want You to Want Me,” is the best song ever.

It can never be explained. But it’s true. Best song ever. 2:00-2:01 – so great.

Why the Japanese are so awesome.

Some things are just beyond our understanding. As if you needed any proof…

Why the Spider is such an amazing fighter.

No, not the spider. The SPIDER. Anderson Silva.

OK, maybe the greater mystery is why I won’t watch graphic violence in movies, but I love the real thing in MMA fighting.

On Saturday we drove to Long Beach and took the metro commuter train into downtown LA. Daniel and Elijah went to hang out at the library while Nathaniel and I walked around so I could take pictures.

Yeah, more Broadway shots.

They were doing some filming on Broadway, right on the sidewalk. Pedestrians were gathered around along with the film crew and it was hard to tell who was who. I think they’re not allowed to completely block the sidewalk, because they were letting people walk through and then when they were ready to film, they halted foot traffic, did a take, then let people walk by again. We didn’t walk through where they were filming, but we stopped long enough to see what was going on. I snapped a picture of all the people standing around:

You can see the big lighting rig. Just after I took this, they cleared the sidewalk and started blaring a BeeGees tune, and the actress was filmed strutting down the sidewalk with the camera right in front of her (moving backwards). It was possibly a scene for NCIS. The actress was the woman who plays Abby on that show. She had her hair in pigtails like she often does on the show. I didn’t get a picture of her.

After playing around downtown we all took the subway to Hollywood. Daniel sat on a sidewalk table at Baja Fresh while the boys and I went to Amoeba Music. Here’s a pic of Daniel on Sunset Blvd, working on his laptop.

I tried out redscale with one roll of film. Redscale is where you shoot through color film backwards. Color film has different layers of emulsion for different colors. If you shoot through it backwards, the light penetrates through the layers differently, and it usually gives you a red or yellow cast to the pictures. You have to overexpose the film quite a bit for it to come out. Here’s a redscale pic of me in a doorway window:

If you ever need to call Mexico:

That’s Nathaniel off to the side, holding my bag for me.

Some sort of mural in Hollywood about Lance Armstrong:

I’m sort of fascinated by fire escapes. Are they really enough to evacuate an entire building, if need be?

Another old building downtown:

And now you’ll have Neil Diamond stuck in your head:

The kids, Daniel and I all have various sensory issues. One that plagues me and Nathaniel especially is that we itch all the time.

I *love* a good back scratch. Fortunately Daniel doesn’t mind giving me one. Every day.

Cat has gigantic-long nails. Like nails I dreamed about having as a kid. (I was a nail-biter.) And Nathaniel is always hassling her for a back scratch.

The other day he was having her scratch his arm because he itched. I rolled my eyes. Nathaniel said, “You should try it, Mom. It’s amazing.” “It” being Catherine’s long nails.

I said, “I don’t want Catherine to scratch me. I’ll never be able to go back to regular scratching again. I’ll be bumped into a higher scratch bracket.”

Cat said, “You know, I itch all the time, too. But you don’t see me scratching very much because I scratch an itch once, and it’s gone.”

My higher scratch bracket was a Corner Gas reference:

Interestingly, it’s the same episode I posted about when I was talking about my flip flops hurting my feet. “Shoes don’t break me; I break the shoes!”