Studebakers are definately underappreciated, but lovely cars none the less. Here are a few I have shot.
This is actually my FIL's Studebaker. 1963 Studebaker Avanti. This is the first year the Avanti was built and the only year under the Studebaker moniker.
This is my favourite: The Commander
The bullet curve of the nose and the smiley mouth grille almost look cartoonish. Very aerodynamic for its time.
So while the Pais was on line over the weekend a friend had sent her a link to a chair at Restoration Hardaware simply called Aviator.
Constructed of polished aluminum and whiskey aged leather.
Everything curves back into a V formation.
I love the look of this chair. I'm not a fan of modern furnishings at all. I grew up in a house with a plain old white couch and two brown recliners. The walls were institutional white and there was fringed shag room rug.
I get the willies just writing about it.
Someone get me a martini please.
I need to drown that thought.
Even though it doesn't fit with a steampunk themed styling, another piece of furniture that I would love to have, and just might one day when I have my man cave, is a coffin couch from Coffin Couches.
Yes these couches are made from actual mortuary caskets.
The detail on these couches are amazing. Since they are actual caskets that were used for display each of the legs of the couches have a biohazard emblem imprinted in the steel.
These are not cheap pieces of furniture however. The Aviator is priced at $1200 and the coffin couches begin at $3500.
While I don't have access to any caskets, I do have access to seats that can be considered to have an aviation look to them. This has me wondering if I could construct my own Aviator seat for less then $1200 and have it look similar to what Restoration Hardware has.
While I realise that the topic and the day of posting don't match, I do have a perfectly good reason. Yesterday I had attended the memorial service for my friend Emily and afterwards went to have a late lunch with friends.
So without any further delay: Foto Friday!!!!
Today's theme is Porches and Pin Up Girls.
This one is my favourite. I love an older car as opposed to the newer ones.
For some reason this one kind of reminds me of the kind of woman that James Bond as portrayed by Sir Roger Moore would have seduced. Very 1970's.
Well I hope that you enjoy these as much as I do. Look for something fun in the next few days!
So last week I had finally (after about 4 days of writing and re-writing) put something up in regards to a friend from long ago that took her life.
I just wanted to thank the Paisley for her support. She didn't know Em as well as I did and even though this has really affected her, she has my back and that is just one of the many reasons to love her the way I do.
I also need to thank SaucyGurl at the NachoBlog for her kind words and the tribute post to her friend Waggy, which in a way was inspiring to me.
I also owe a huge thank you to Roland at Militant Ginger. I have been reading the MG blog for a couple of years now and have enjoyed every bit of it. I have even read one of his books, The Bootleg Boys.
Roland had commented to me about my post and how, although sad, was well written. That meant a lot to me. That was the whole reason I started blogging. To vent, rant, and share my unadulterated opinion with the planet, but most importantly to become a better writer. For a person that I have a virtual friendship with that makes their living as a writer to put that compliment to my work really meant something.
In order to have a more productive blog, I thought I would start a segment her called Foto Friday. Whether it's my own work or someone else's, there will be something fun to look at on here every Friday now.
This is a photo of an art piece on board one of my vessels simply called "The Bait".
The guy looking through the peephole almost seems voyeuristic than hopeful that his lady will take the diamond.
Of course she looks like she's really working a plan to get that diamond off the mouse trap without setting it off.
Friday evening just before leaving the office I was on FB and my friend Megan had posted on her status to make sure that the next time you accept a friend request that you take the time to reach out to that person.
She made this post because she had just found out that a friend that she thought she had all the time in the world to re-connect with was gone.
This is one of her current photos and how I always remember her: with a smile
After reading the comments by others further the name Emily came up.
I don't know why, but this prompted me to send my friend a PM and ask more questions. She and I had a friend from way back named Emily and I had really hoped that this was not "our" Emily.
20 minutes later I received her reply. It was "our" Emily. There was very little information, but Megan was going to keep me posted.
I was heartbroken. I hadn't seen Emily in 17 or 18 years and then about a year and a half ago she popped up on Facebook. We chatted a few times on FB and had tentatively made plans to have lunch soon. We never could get a time locked down for that lunch.
Just writing this has a rush of emotions washing over me. Regret, anger, sorrow, emptiness, oddly enough happiness. I know it's weird, but as you read on you'll see why.
Flashing back, I had met Emily in middle school at the same time I had met Megan. We had two years of friendship and bonding during our time in middle school. Then came the day that we would move onto high school and be at different schools and probably not see each other that often.
We were right and wrong there. We didn't see each other much that freshman year, but the school I was at was going to close at the end of the year. Not enough attendance to keep 3 high schools open in one district as small as ours.
The next school year I was back in the same school with Emily, and Megan, and things were well on track to getting back to normal.
Well kind of.
There will be always be good things I remember about Emily. If I listen close enough in my mind I can hear her laugh. It's loud and high pitched and then she just doesn't make any noise because she's gasping for air from laughing so hard and her face is turning red.
Emily was a nurturer. Funny looking back at things now that she had this social role in life that early on. She was the one that would seek you out if you were having the shittiest of days......."lets ditch and go to Finnegan's for pancakes and coffee" she would say. Fuck yeah. Pancake and coffee therapy was her answer to everything.
She loved music. We were both band-tards. That was really how we met. It was initially the only class we had together when we first met. We both had a love of Pink Floyd though we argued on which was the better album put out by them. Her favourite was the Delicate Sound of Thunder tour album. I have three favourites. Still have not been able to narrow it down from there.
Then there was the love of partying. Emily loved to party.
Boy we did a lot drinking.
High school band trips were just one big portable party. Bunch of kids on a bus taken the drinking on the road. We found a place in every city to party!!
She loved her animals. She had cats and a dog. They were her comfort.
She always seemed to have a look on her face that lead most to believe she wasn't paying attention and was clueless. She was far from clueless and scary smart.
There lunch runs to Dick's Drive In almost everyday in her little VW Squareback. Trusty little P.O.S got her everywhere.
The summer of 1989 when we graduated was the last time I really saw Emily. I actually don't know what happened to her after that.
Jump forward a few years to 1993. I had a call from one of the parental units. Emily had called their house looking for me.
So we we reconnected again and were meeting for lunch. She was living with her folks and trying to get her life sorted out again. We had several long chats over quite a few meals.
That would be the last time I actually ever saw Emily.
She did contact me on Facebook about a year and a half ago. We chatted periodically. We had wanted to get together for lunch or some kind of catch up meal.
I really wished I had made it happen. Like Megan, I kind of thought that we had all the time in the world.
Emily took her own life last week.
Emily also had a history of drug addiction.
She would have been 40 in February.
Going back to all those feelings...........
Regret-that our plans never made it past that.....plans.
Anger-with myself for not making sure I took that extra time to see how she was really doing.
Sorrow-for all the other people in her life that will miss her as much and more.
Emptiness-simply for the fact that when I see other friends from school, we will all be missing something.
Happiness-she's free of her personal demons. She had a few and we all know that and now she can move on.
Emily touched our lives in a good way regardless of her addiction and faults and for that she will be missed.
This has to be 1989: Emily on the far right and yes, that is yours truly with the Coke can. It was the 80's!
Since we are both fans of Pink Floyd I think it's only fitting to share one of our favourites. Looking back on things I can't help but wonder if this was hers for personal reasons.
I'm a firm believer in reincarnation. I think she's not really gone, but that she's taking a mulligan so that she can learn what she didn't the first time around.
OK so clearly by the title I'm a movie nerd. If you read on a regular (or not so regular) basis then you know that and you know what movie the title is referring to.
As added fun to this post, the first person to contact me with the name of the movie that the blog title references will win one of my many possessions that I've been just giving away.
Well now that that is out of the way let's get this post started.
Where to begin. That's been the question all year. Seems I've been in a writing funk of sorts. I have the desire, but just no motivation. When I am motivated it's always at a time that is not convenient to put something out there. It's all very...............well you get the idea.
It has been a busy year at that. This year saw more major auto repairs. Jake has proven that he will be a high maintenance bastard until all the work is finished. I bought Jake from my FIL, and after 4 years of ownership he had not taken care of any of the MUCH needed work. That fell to me. Needless to say the pocket book is a bit dry. He still needs more work, but I must admit I've spent more time driving him than I did the Bronze Bitch.
This year saw a fun anniversary get-a-way for the Paisley and I. We actually took the FIL's (new to him) Boxter S to Oregon and stayed at the McMinnamin's hotel in Forest Lawn and took a day trip to McMinnville to the Evergreen Air and Space Museum. We also did some wine tasting while in Oregon and took an impromptu trip to the Oregon coast to see the Haystacks from the film The Goonies and then up into Astoria to see more of the shooting locations from The Goonies, Kindergarten Cop and Short Circuit. What an awesome trip.
This year has seen our little Bon Jovi (the dog, not the rockstar) with some health issues. Nothing he couldn't handle, but he's our furry kid and we want him around a long time.
This year FINALLY saw the release of our indie film, The Book of Zombie at the Seattle True Independent Film Festival (STIFF) where we were an Audience Award Winner. We also premiered at Crypticon and a few other films festivals. Hopefully this will get us the return we need in our investment to get another film started. I am working on a short story for another film.
The Paisley and I have also seen the fact that we do not need to have so much physical stuff in our home for it to be a complete home and to be happy. Clutter begets clutter. Along with eliminating clutter, we co-write on another blog we jointly started to chronicle our decluttering process. Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's hard. One thing is we have been learning how less physical clutter also means less mental clutter.
We were also able to attend our first Steam-Con. The Paisley has never been to a con, including a day pass. This was a new experience to her and one that she really enjoyed. We were working as volunteers though, so we missed a lot of the panels we wanted to see. Next year no volunteering!!
So now with 2010 finally wrapped up and put behind us I'm looking forward to 2011 and all that it brings. I have a head start on something that I have always wanted to do and hope to transition to it as a career in the next few years. I have purchased some tattooing equipment and have been getting back into my artwork. I should be up to speed in the next 6 to 8 months. There will be periodic updates on that.
Happy New Year everyone and remember this year to make everything you do count!!!!!
