Formula Drift

Formula D cars. Controlled chaos.

Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

I went to the Long Beach Grand Prix and had a fun time there. Why do they call it days of thunder when race cars are 10 times louder than thunder? I knew I should have brought my ear plugs. After hearing the race cars go by all day, I think my hearing has been damaged. I think they already were from the last time I went there, because the noise from the engine wasn't as painful as before.

I must have walked about a marathon's distance, because it takes a long time to walk around the track. Plus, the signs weren't very good. If I didn't go the right way, it took forever to get back. There were a ton of stuff to see there besides the car races.

They had the Lifestyle Expo, RaceMania at Shoreline Village, Tecate Thunder on Pine Avenue, Tuner Thursday at The Pike, and the Shark Lagoon at the Aquarium of the Pacific besides the American Le Mans Series races and the Formula Drift Battle Races.

Long Beach is a beautiful place to have the races. I really like walking around the Marina while taking in all the events.

Got Hit By An Idiot @sswipe

I was driving home on Friday night, April 18, when I got hit from behind by an idiot jerk. This guy was totally obnoxious. I was stopped at a stop light. The light was red. I was waiting for the green light. I saw these bright lights come up behind me, then I felt a bump and then a push. It felt like this SUV was trying to push me out of the way on purpose. I looked back and got out of the car. The jerk denied hitting my car even when his bumper was touching mine! He then slowly backed up. He was trying to squeeze in between my car and another car parked along the curb on the right side. He was trying to make a right turn. He asked why I didn't move when the light was green. The light just turned green after he hit me. If he just waited a couple of seconds, before he tried to squeeze in to make a right turn, he wouldn't have hit me and we could have avoided this whole mess.

We agreed to pull over to the curb. I made a right turn and slowly drove ahead, but he wasn't following me at first. Then, he drove around my car. I thought he was trying to drive off so I pull the door handle of his Chevy Tahoe on the passenger side. He then pulled over and got out of his car. He started screaming at me like a maniac to not touch his car. He kept walking towards me yelling obscenities at me. He then said he was going to call the police. I called 911. I waited in the car because I didn't want to escalate the situation. He bumped me a couple of times trying to bully me and intimidate me. If he hit me, I might have gone insane and would have killed him. I was trying to keep cool so I waited in my car for the police to arrive. He kept yelling, "Get out your car!"[sic] the whole time. He was some chicano. I seem to be having a lot of incidents with these guys lately. I've been hit by them while in my car and on my bike before. Plus, they love to yell out at me when I'm riding my bike.

When the police officer finally arrived, the jerk said that I did not go when the light was green, which was totally false. He said that I just stopped there at the light. He said that he didn't hit me. This guy was just a 27 year old chicano kid. I can't believe his mother was a district attorney. How could an attorney raise such a bastard like him?

The police officer saw that there was some green paint on his bumper. There were only minor scratches on my bumper. I was given a choice whether to exchange our information. I chose to exchange our info. Now, I regret it, because I don't know what this crazy guy would do with my info. He later called me a couple minutes after the incident and wanted to know what I was going to do. He said his mother was a lawyer. I said let me think about it. He said he would call everyday until I decided. I just don't want him coming over to my place or stealing my identity. I certainly don't want him lying to the insurance saying that I did something wrong. I just don't want to deal with this crazy idiot.

My 2nd Koreatown Forge & Gorge Ride

I went to ride with the Ktown Forge & Gorge Ride again last Wednesday night. They are a great group of guys. They're pretty fast on mostly fixed gear bicycles. Plus, their start time isn't too late like the other rides. They start at 8:00 p.m. instead of 10:00 p.m. like some of the other night rides.

There were about 30 or so guys that started out. I think we only had 20 or so guys left at the end of the ride. Some of the riders are incredibly powerful going uphill on their fixies. The typical gear they use are 46x16. I used 53x23 going uphill. I have an advantage, of course, because of my multiple gears. These guys are more hardcore though because they ride everywhere with one gear and they can't coast at all.

We had a blast passing tons of cars in crowded Hollywood.

There were some jerk drivers yelling at us to get off the road. They don't know the rules of the road. Cars are supposed to share the road with bikes and give them the right of way. Obviously, drivers are too self-centered and ignorant of the traffic laws. Some cars actually tried to run us over.

There was one Porsche that zoomed by me and almost clipped me by passing me too closely. I caught up to him when there was traffic. I used my very loud air horn that I just bought and honked at him as I passed his window. Drivers are so short-sighted. Don't they know bikes can catch up to them at the lights? They don't realize that we ride pretty fast. Just because they pass us, they think they can forget about us. In crowded L.A. traffic, I can pretty much go faster than cars, because I can ride between cars.

The other riders said that they appreciated my air horn. I should have used it more often.

I hate when cars keep honking at me when they are right behind me. They should just drive around me by going to the next lane. Drivers always try to pass me without leaving me any space. They're supposed to move into the next lane as they pass cyclists. Bikes can take up the entire lane if it is not safe for cars to pass due to the lane being too narrow, parked cars, car doors, debris on the right side of the road, etc.

Drivers and their ignorant passengers should not yell out the window at me. There's a good chance I can catch them at the next light and I'll return the favor. They usually get really surprised. Since their so short-sighted, they forget I can catch up to them after they pass me. I can go 25-30 mph average.

Drivers should not try or even pretend to run me over. That is assault. I will call the cops.

Driving and riding in L.A. has become pretty hostile. It's a war zone out there.

102 Degrees in Los Angeles on April 13, 2008

Hot Days

We had record breaking temperatures in Los Angeles this past weekend. I can't imagine how hot it's going to be this summer. I hate hot weather. I sweat a lot. Sweating is okay. . .but not in a business suit! I have to wear suits when I go to the courthouse. I'm not a happy camper when I'm drenched in sweat in my suit. That looks terrible.

As an aside, I remember when I went to Seoul, Korea for my summer abroad and internship. Everybody wears suits there. It's really hot and muggy there during the summer. It's so humid, that I could be naked and still be dripping with sweat. It's terrible when I have to be wearing a suit in the middle of a humid summer. I had to walk everywhere, because I didn't have a car there. I walked for miles to the bus stop and subway station in my black business suit. Imagine the horror! Did I tell this story before? I think I did in one of my posts before.

I think it's just going to get hotter and hotter every year. In a few decades, it will be so hot, that people will literally fry outside. This is another reason out of thousands why you shouldn't have children. You'll be leaving your kids to a dump of a world. Well, if you have kids, then all you can do is take care of them and hope for the best. If you don't have kids yet, I recommend staying that way.

Bike Talk

So far, I've been driving to court. I need to think of a good way of biking to court without wrinkling my suit. Maybe I should get a big pannier for my bike. It might be unusual, but remember when I mentioned I saw one of the judges I appeared in front of bringing his road bike to his courtroom? Luckily he can put his nice bike in his judge's chambers. I like being an iconoclast.

I went cycling Saturday morning. I got noticeably darker after my ride. My tan lines are more apparent.

I bought a bicycle for Sarah. Now, we can ride our bikes together. I will post pictures of her new bike once we go for a ride. I want to train her for a triathlon. I think it's going to be a tough job.

I also got a CycleOps resistance trainer so I can train at home. I can bike at home now and watch tv shows and movies. Instead of just vegging out at home in front of the boob tube, I can now burn thousands of calories while watching great movies. I like being efficient like that. Multi-tasking and saving time makes me feel good. That's one of the added benefits of biking to work. I can kill two or three birds with one stone. I can get to work and get exercise and have fun at the same time.

Another benefit of biking in my living room is that Sarah doesn't have to worry now. I can spend more time at home instead of biking at night on the mean streets.

Triple Convention Day

On Sunday, Sarah and I went to the Home Buyer's Fair, the Health and Fitness Fair, and the Green Living Fair at the L.A. Convention Center. We scored a lot of swag.

2nd Graders

Here are a couple of pictures of some of our second graders. We have 2 second grade classes. Grace and Miju teaches the other class. The kids in my class are Rebecca, Mark, Elijah, Dean, Allen, Tiana, Yeji, Sori, Megan, Brian, Christopher, and Victoria. This is my fifth 2nd Grade class I've taught with Sarah at Berendo Baptist. Man, time flies. I've seen some of the kids I've taught in the past, and now they're bigger than me.

Cheesecake Factory

After the teacher's conference, we went to eat dinner at Cheesecake Factory. Laura Kim picked up the tab. We also celebrated Jenny's birthday (April 8).

Cheesecake Factory gives a ton of food. I'd like it more if they charged half the price in exchange for half the amount of food. Knowing how much food they give, Sarah and I split the Chicken Medeira dish. That was still enough for both of us, even for me, since I've been eating all day.

Jenny loves to pose for pictures.

Equipped for Excellence

On April 5, 2008, some of the BSBC Sunday School Teacher's went to the Equipped for Excellence Sunday School and Leaders Training Conference in Riverside.

Some of us met at church and took the church van there. Laura Kim and her husband, Joseph, Jenny, Sharon, James, Jane, Sarah, and I were in attendance.

The conference was better than I expected. I was motivated to do so much more for the church kids while I was listening to the instructors. I wanted to visit the kids and the parents at their homes and give them gifts and all that good stuff. This passion quickly subsided as the days have gone by though. Reality and my work schedule has set in. I'm tired and there's too much work to do as it is.

We had In-N-Out hamburgers for lunch. I lost my lunch ticket, but Jane said she was leaving early so she gave me hers.

I think we all had a good time and learned a lot of useful information. It was a long day though.

The Artist Elephant

Check out this Amazing Youtube video of an Elephant painting a self-portrait. It truly blows my mind. Not only is this elephant a better artist than I am, he might be more intelligent too if he had hands and could talk.

Not only does this video prove how intelligent elephants are, it shows that humans aren't the only ones with creative behavior. This may have ethical considerations as well on how we view other animals and how we should treat them.

Hit By Bee But I Avoid Being Stung This Time

Earlier this week, I was biking home when I has hit by a bee again! I was scared, because I got stung by a bee on my eye a couple of weeks ago. I didn't want to get stung yet again and so soon. Fortunately, it didn't sting me. The bee hit my left shoulder. Maybe it didn't sting me because I had some protection from my jersey. Maybe it was a nice bee like Seinfeld the Bee from the Bee Movie. I knew it was a bee, because I saw the orange and black bee for a split second before it hit me. I was going about 35+ mph downhill when I got hit by the bee. I thought it was going to sting me. When it didn't hit me, I thought it was just taking its sweet time. When I got to the top of an uphill, I looked and saw that it was gone. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I have bad luck with bees and bugs. Maybe I'm riding too much or riding too fast. I do hit bugs and they hit my face when I'm riding. One time, a bug went into my mouth. I had to hold it in my mouth for awhile, because people were around. After I passed some people, I spit out the bug.

Jackass

I was trying to go down all the stairs in my building from my floor. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.

The security clowns in my building said that the head of security didn't want me taking my bike through the main lobby. So now I can't take my bike on the regular elevators. I have to take the freight elevator with the rest of the chumps. It wouldn't be bad if the wait wasn't that long. I seriously wait 30 minutes for the freight elevators just because there is so much construction going on in this building. They stop at almost every floor in this building which has about 60 floors or so. One time I waited over an hour because one of the freight elevators was not working. The elevators are always full. If I can't get on, then I have to wait again for the next one. I see the disappointment and frustration on all the people's faces when the elevator is full. They just have to stand there and wait. There are guys waiting on almost every floor. This building sucks compared to its bigger twin. I had no problems when we were on the 40th Floor of the other building. The security guys are not as friendly and cool. The elevators work fine. There's no construction going on. There's no false alarms going on forcing us to leave the office every month or so. I can take the regular elevators.

I had to carry my bike down the stairs, because I didn't want to wait forever for that stinking freight elevator. There are extra stairs to go down, because the exit is at the lowest level, not the 1st floor.

The staircase is really slippery. It's 10 times worse when you have road bike shoes with plastic Look cleats on. Even my bike, which is very light, started weighing a ton after awhile.

I brought my mountain bike so that I could go down the stairwell. I'm usually pretty good at going down stairs on my bike. The staircase in our building was just too slippery. They must have put Teflon on the metal steps. My bike tires had no traction at all. Plus, there wasn't enough room for my bike to clear the corners at the bottom of each level. My bike was longer than the level at the bottom.

I wanted to go down all the way to the bottom, but I probably would end up all battered and bruised, if not dead by falling off the side of the railing.

I wanted to look cool by clearing all the stairs, but I ended up looking like one of the guys from Jackass instead.

Ice Skating

After our delicious dinner, we went ice skating. Tony and his wife also came.

The last time I went ice skating was about 9 years ago. I went with church friends. Some of us were holding hands. I was trying to go faster. A girl who was hanging on to my hand was losing control. Instead of letting go, she kept hanging on. Then, she slipped, and her head landed on the ice. She got a big lump on her head. I felt bad ever since and didn't want to go ice skating after that.

A lot of people were falling on the ice when we went this weekend. Some guys were crazy and were weaving in and out of traffic. Some punks were going the wrong way and almost made me fall.

About an hour later, I saw that there was a big crowd over someone. I went to see who it was hoping it wasn't someone from our group, but alas, it was. Some girl made Fenny fall. She hit her tailbone hard and was in a lot of pain. That brought the end to our fun. We decided to call it quits early after that.

Mikey surprisingly was a quick learner. At the end he was skating by himself for a little bit. He wanted to go skating again. Mikey agreed with his dad that he would not go to Chuck E. Cheese if he gets to go ice skating.

Honey Kettle Fried Chicken

The BSBC Sunday School Teachers had dinner over the weekend at Honey Kettle Chicken in Culver City. That place had delicious friend chicken and sweet honey biscuits. That place gets packed during dinner. It was a good thing we got there a little before the crowds.

Fenny, Jenny, Hyejin, Grace, Miju, Sharon, Sarah, James, and Mikey and his dad were also there.

Koreatown Forge and Gorge Ride

Last night I rode on the Ktown Forge and Gorge ride. There were about 12 riders, mostly on fixed gear bikes ("fixies"), that met up and rode close to 20 miles. We went around Ktown, Silver Lake, East L.A., and other surrounding areas. The gang went for some all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ buffet afterwards. I left early and didn't eat this time, although I was really tempted to. Korean BBQ is so delicious. These rides are kinda late for me since I have to wake up early in the morning for work. Also, I'm trying to improve my diet and nutrition for my triathlon training. I can't be gorging on all you can eat BBQ buffet after 10:00 at night anymore.

The ride itself was not a beginner friendly ride. The riders themselves were a nice group of guys. It's just that some people get dropped, if they can't keep up with the lead group. It's not as fast as the Wolf Pack, but definitely faster than most Midnight Ridazz rides. I hope the guys that got dropped knew where we were supposed to meet up afterwards. Otherwise, they will feel abandoned.

It's a bit dangerous since these Midnight Ridazz blow through lights many times, and the whole group has to get through the red lights to catch up.

I felt I had an unfair advantage when I was riding since I had my time-trial/triathlon Motobecane Nemesis bike. The other guys had fixed gear bikes so they had to keep pedaling. They can't coast, and they only have one gear. Fixed gear bikes seem to be all the rage right now for some reason. I'm thinking about getting one too. A lot of the guys have track bikes made for riding in velodromes. They don't have brakes. You have to use your legs to slow down while pedaling. That can get really scary and dangerous going downhill. They're good for training your legs. Lance Armstrong also rides them sometimes to train. Since you can't coast, you're constantly pedaling. The only thing is that they're killer on your knees.

I need to put more miles on my legs in order to train. I also need to avenge myself in the superfast Montrose Peloton, a pack of about 200 pro level road racers.

It's good to ride in groups. I feel safer than riding by myself at night. Since we have multiple riders, drivers seem to be more careful. It's safer to ride in a pack at night except for when they blow through red lights.

Andy & Ayako's Wedding

Andy's wedding, 3/22/08, went pretty well. It took place at the Kyoto Hotel and Gardens, formerly known as the New Otani Hotel and Gardens. I was the best man. I was kinda nervous during my speech, but I think people thought it was pretty funny. I think having a powerpoint presentation helped when I was doing a name acronym for Andy. It was easier for people to follow along when they can see it visually.

It was a nice and very warm day. People were pretty hot sitting there in the sun. Andy and Ayako gave there thank-you speeches to their parents.

Kyung was the maid of honor.

I hope that Andy and Ayako are having a blast in their honeymoon to Catalina Island.