Checked out cars, fics, and saddle shoes.

Mark and I spent hours talking and creating odd shots. We were tooling around with the night function and kept trying to outsmart the other by taking stolen shots.

That took three lousy hours of duh-discussion over spaghetti (with liberal doses of garlic powder, so we have vampire repell for the whole evening) before we decided to call it a night.

Anyway, he was on his way out when he passed by Harry and decided to take a look. I was in the kitchen putting away some of our stuff so when I came out he was already in the car tinkering with some stuff.

Suffice to say, he went home much later than he should.

This was, I think, his first time to sit in the drivers seat of a VW bug...or his first time to sit inside a VW bug.

He got a great kick out of the original panel and the knobs. Not to mention the lack of a dashboard, which still gets to me.

I was 16 when I first sat inside Harry as the driver. We'd switched to the 80's Corona when I was 14, so I don't remember what it's like to be in the drivers seat--or in it, for that matter.

Everytime I get in, I feel like i'm in a spaceship or a really small shuttle. Everything is so close and compact that you really do feel like you're in your own personal car bubble. The lack of the dashboard just makes the ride a bit more intimate, with the instruments and steering wheel and the gears so near, they really do feel like an extension of your own body.

We did a little inspection of the interiors with the a flashlight, since we didn't want to start the car or waste the battery. Noted some of the peeling paint and rusting metal. Checked out the interiors and wondered what would look best. I have dark black vinyl which I am thinking of changing into a light grey or cream.

After a rather long while of turning ancient knobs just to see what they would do--I know what since it's my car but he doesn't--we set out to check the cars exteriors.

We spent an additional hour looking under the hood, inspecting the tires, the tint, etc, etc. Then we mulled over a new paint job and the idea of whether I should decal or not decal my beloved Harry.

We both agreed that it was more classic VW to decal.

I know have a list the length of my arm on things I have to pay for in restoring my beautiful car. I am not giving up lomo, but something tells me that I will have to put rewiring and a little body work on my car before I go back to film and start snapping away on my much coveted LCA.

And now I have a new item to covet: Bass Saddle shoes in BW.

I've sort of decided that this year will be my 40's/50's year, with a little 60's and a Marc Jacobs meets Carolina Herrera twist.

Okay, so that's a bit schizo, but the Marc Jacobs I threw in for the modern edge and the Carolina for the challenging modern yet still oh-so classic look.

But it's definitely 40's and 50's year...or maybe even forever!

I used to think that I was born in the wrong era. When I was a kid and I watched all those women looking so pressed and formal in their ponytails and bobby socks, I thought "that's it, that's what I want to look like!"

In retrospect, I think I gravitated towards that since my face was sort of like the in thing of that era. Small features--though with an absetn button nose.

I loved the way they talked, their affairs, and how everything seemed new and starting. It seemed like all the new theories in the humanities and psychology came out. The first modern steps towards art started drumming about.

The music and the birth of rock and roll. The manners and everyone's disposition.

...

Of course, that idea that everything was a pat Normal Rockwell has changed now that i've gotten older. The era itself might have spat me out had I been born during that time.

I wouldn't be enjoying a lot of the luxuries that I hold do dear now: equal rights, more open parents, a more vocal generation, and the freedom choosing how to express myself without judgement.

Not to mention technology that I have gotten used to: computers, the net, water heater, eco friendly air conditioning, and colored television. :)

I still love the nostalgia that the era presents, though. Life seemed easier, even though the war had just ended and people were left wondering how to get on with their lives.

I'm pertty sure that people went through a lot of dog days behind those peepy smiles, but I guess it doesn't matter. To me, the illusion that they surrounded themselves with provides adewuate shielding to my younger eyes.

So this year is 40's and 50's year.

Jeez, I just hope that I don't pull out my album 10 years later and think "Jeebus, there's my 80's era right there. FUCK."