Up In The Air

This is probably the longest I have ever neglected my blog. Ever since I entered the wonderful world of corporate indentured serving, I have found very little insightful things to post on here that might be detrimental to my “career”.  I do find myself frequenting airports all the time again though. The little nuances of flying have started to annoy me again. Laggers, elbow hockey players, kids, people who don’t control their kids, rude stewardesses, …. I can go on and on. I have found new ways of being efficient and ways to entertain myself. One of which is tablets.  Constantly learning new things everyday.

I am going to try to update this thing more with this new app. I know how much you miss my babbles and rants. Until next time space cadets..

New Days

I think this has been one of the longest breaks in posting on my blog in a while.  Since we last left off, I graduated from school, got a job and finally got a blue belt.  All things that were way over due in my life.  Seems like my fun days of racing are behind me and I have finally become a upstanding contributor to society… pssshhhh, hahahaha.  I got to ramp this thing back up though, seeing as my new job got me scheduled to travel a whole lot  in the coming months. Got to play this travel thing smart and get some sight seeing while I am on the road.

Sorry to all 6 of you that used to read this on a regular basis.  I am going to finally put some effort in this thing again. Seeing that I will have free time in my hotel room while I am on the road. This thing will probably be less and less about cars and more about jiu jitsu and the mindless babble that is my life. Until next time… hopefully it will be sooner than later.

Lotus Club Family, Socal

Roaming

As a child, I was blessed with parents that liked to travel.  By no means where they rich, but my mom thought it was important for us to experience different places.  By the time I was old enough to to travel by myself, I had already been to a couple different countries and all over the US.

I have never shook the travel bug and I probably never will.  This is probably why I usually take jobs that send me all over.  Although living out of a suit case gets old after a while, there are still a couple places that I still really want to check out.  Obviously I would really like to go there just for leisure, but who has the time or money.  Hopefully one day I will.  I compiled a quick list of places I want to go.  Notable mentions are Japan for leisure and Hawaii.  Here is my list:

10. New York: I have been there many times over. But its been a while since I got to walk around the big apple.  I think now my perspective on it would be quite different as the main objective isn’t to get completely smashed every night.  Plus I have always had this dream about walking down 5th ave, during the holidays with my better half; like in the movies.  Just need to find a better half.

9. Korea: I have heard mixed reviews about this place. Some say its dirty and its not all it cracked up to be.  But I still want to find out for myself.  I heard partying here is dope. Thats basically it.  Don’t really care for anything else there.  Just food, partying and chicks.

8. Thailand: I went here when I was in 8th grade.  I just remember seeing the buddha from street fighter in real life.  I guess I want to see it as an adult now.  Plus some of my friends went to Koh Samui and it looked amazing.  But I hear its not so safe right now.  Hmmm…

7. Czech Republic: I have heard great things about Prague. Mainly that there are lots of hot chicks there. Mainly the reason I want to go.(this is my list damn it)

6. Taiwan: My friends have been telling me to go since I was in high school.  Everyone says its fun.  But I have been avoiding forever.  Not sure why I want to go, but I do.

5. UK: This is mainly for my interest in motorsports. The place is a hub for racing in Europe and I have always want to take a look inside the workshops of the best of the best.  Plus Naoto and I have always talked about going there to check what real drum and bass is all about.  Only thing is that the consensus is the food is horrible.  Everyone says the same thing food blows.

4. Netherlands: Specifically Amsterdam.  I don’t smoke weed anymore, but something about this place has always facinated me.  Everyone who has ever been here said that its amazing on so many different levels.  I am not only talking about tripping on shrooms.

3. Spain: My friend went there, came back married.  I wouldn’t mind doing the same.

2. Italy: This probably stems from my strict Roman Catholic upbringing but something about this place fascinates me.  Even though I have heard that Italians are racist, rude bastards, their culture, rich with history, makes up for it.  Their cars are amazing, their fashion is impeccable and the women are gorgeous.  I can deal with the part that its birthplace of the guido douche bag.

1. Brazil: My interest was sparked by mainly training jiu jitsu.  Then its continued by the sheer number of super models that are pumped out from that place.  Added with the fact that my buddies recently went and all came back saying that its the greatest place ever.  I some how feel a need to check it out for myself.  I really never had a desire to go until recently.  Now I think it has climbed to be at the top of my list.

Pan Ams 2010

A couple weeks back was the Pan ams, at the same time the Formula D season opener was going on.  I was playing double duty going back and forth between Long Beach and Irvine for both events.  A surprise was that Phil came down for some work stuff. It was gnarly trying to balance everything out, but it worked out in the end.

Since I am not working for any teams this year, I spent most of my time at Pan Ams to watch my team mates compete.  My brother was also competing, so I made it a point no to miss his matches.  He ended up doing pretty well, losing to the guy who won the whole event.  This is always the best, as it makes you feel not as bad about getting beat.

Going to all these events, I realized how much fun it was to go to jiu jitsu tournaments.  There are a ton of good matches and there are a ton of even better looking chicks.  Well the second one doesn’t have anything to do with why you’re there, but it sure makes it better.

Props to Giva for going straight from the airport after Bao’s fight to coach everyone. They guy was there everyday until the end to make sure that everyone had someone coaching them.  LOTUS CLUB/ Team Oyama

Dogi

Its been about 2 weeks since I got back on the mat.  Been trying to get at it the best I can with how much free time I have, but its tough to balance school, work and training.  But after being frustrated for the last 2 weeks trying to get my body acclimated to training again, things are finally starting to click.  Good thing I got a great instructor and some great guys to roll with.  If you are interested, stop by the gym and check it out.

http://www.teamoyamamma.com/

Privateer

The first drift driver that I was a crew chief for was this guy.  After trying to work with half ass teams, he has decided to shoot out on his own.  Got to give the guy props for that.  I felt so bad for him, I even pulled a couple all nighters with the guy. Hopefully he can put together a championship run this year.

After busting ass for 2 weeks on a shoe string budget, he pulled off a 2nd place finish at the first event.  Should have took first but still not bad. But I would never tell him that. Tire companies out there, sponsor Quoc Ly. He is going to mop up the field this year once this car is dialed in.

Sorey

Its been months since I step foot on the mat and my fingers are really paying for it.  Got a little incentive from my instructor to do the Pan Ams though.  Really considering it.

Flexin a Lex 2

As I mentioned before, I got contracted to prep a Lexus.  Working with my buddy Keith Covey, we ended up gutting this guy and measuring it up for cage.  Sounds easy enough, but the customer requested that the top still be able to fold up and down.  This, added with the fact that the firewall on this car is stupid high, made figuring where to put the halo an issue.  We wanted to ensure that the driver had the maximum amount of head space with out interference with any pipes.

The majority of the final welding was done by Keith.  We would work together on fitting the pipes, I would come back and it would be welded together.  Although the majority of the time was spent fitting the pipes, the car looks dramatically different with pipes welded in it.  Keith ended up working past the point you see in the pictures; finishing up the cage to its entirety.  Hopefully we’ll see this chassis win a couple carbon trophies.

Idle time

I was watching my buddy working for a day and a half making this bracket.  When he asked me what I thought, I told him “you have too much time on your hands.”  He laughed.  Must be nice to not have to build a new car in the off season.

That old feeling

Its no secret that I have been pretty jaded when it comes to cars in the last couple of years.  Dumbass customers, whack margins, shitty trends have all but killed my love for something that I used to be so passionate about.  If it wasn’t for finding new things to learn about and friends dragging me back in, I would probably not do anything with cars and be a bit happier.  But every once in a while you find something to rev your engine back up. (no pun intended)  Seeing this thing on the dyno and riding around in them has done that. You turn up the boost and it makes more power.  Amazing! Lets see how long this lasts for…