Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

I am humbled

It’s always fascinating to receive comments from people reading my GT3 diaries. It’s humbling to know that people looking for information about the 991.1 generation GT3 would arrive at my tiny corner of the Internet. Everything I write and do on this website is for my own enjoyment and for the sake of creating itself. Nothing was ever done in hopes of attracting an audience or turning this into a profitable enterprise. Therefore any interaction I do get from readers are super genuine, for which I am incredibly grateful.

Interestingly, the GT3 diaries attract most of its readers from the United Kingdom. If I had to guess (speculate, really), I think car enthusiasts across the pond have a different aspiration of owning the level of cars such as a GT3. Over there, guys and gals from middle-class backgrounds have no qualms about spending close to six-figures on a specialty sports car. That mirrors closely with my situation: I don’t make close to six-figures annually, yet I finagled my financial capacity to buy a GT3. Simply because I love that car, and wanted the experience.

American buyers of expensive sports cars tend to only be of the 1% earners, at least in my experience. I’ve yet to meet another enthusiast of my ilk, though perhaps that’s because no one would waste the amount of money on a car, as I did.

The GT3 diaries was my journaling of a working man’s dream of owning a super car. I am happy that it resonates with others, even if they from another continent. My only regret is I didn’t do more with the car, a year of ownership largely stolen by these COVID times. I endeavor to do better with M2 diaries, chronicling my current ownership of a BMW M2 Competition. That car is not nearly as special as a GT3, so I don’t reckon I’ll be getting a lot of correspondence on that in the comments.

I thank any and all for reading and perusing this website.

Yup, that’s a 3080. Too bad it’s from work.

One year of the pandemic

March 9th, 2020: a day that will live in infamy. Well, infamous at least to me. It was on this day last year when San Francisco State University sent every student home. The coronavirus has arrived to our shores in full-scale. Learning will be entirely remote for the foreseeable future. Here we are one calendar year later: instruction is still remote, though we are nearing the end of COVID, with vaccinations happening nicely.

Remember when we thought this thing would be over by the summer of last year? That was hilarious.

Cliche as it may be, it certainly doesn’t feel like a year has gone by. The interminable Groundhog Day-like experience of everyday feeling exactly the same as the previous doesn’t offer much signs that the days are progressing. We’ve all at some point or another got utterly sick of being suck inside our houses, lacking any social contact beyond the Zoom meeting screens. It’s a fortunate miracle indeed if you’ve made it this far in the coronavirus saga with your health and employment intact.

Because we are rapidly on the descent towards normalcy. One in five adults in San Francisco have gotten at least one shot of the vaccine. Public places and commercial districts are looking as alive as its been since last March. Traffic has returned to the pre-pandemic levels of bad. America may have botched the overall response to COVID (half a million people dead is appalling and criminal), but damn it are we kicking ass in producing and disseminating the vaccines. It’s an absolute achievement that we have three viable vaccines within one year of the outbreak.

It probably won’t be that easy, after one year of this tremendous and involuntary lifestyle change, to return back to the way it was. But that’s one of those good problems to have. I am beyond ready to meet up with friends, to travel again to foreign countries. It’s been one long year of the pandemic, but the end of it is within reach. Take care!

Going back to work

As we march towards the finish line of COVID, and normalcy is (finally) in our sights, we start to ponder about what work will be like once we physically go back. Those of us with the immense privilege of being able to work for home - and keeping employment - have enjoyed the positives rather nicely. Going back to the regimented eight-hour work day is going to be quite the shock.

No longer will you be able to do a load of laundry while you work, or run some errands whilst monitoring from the Slack app. It’s so nice to sneak a workout in during the times of the day when things are slower. The freedom of completing projects at your own pace, without the prying attention of your colleagues and senior report, is very nice indeed. Perhaps you want to clock in and out earlier on a particular day; working from home allows you to do that with ease.

All of that will be gone once we physically go back to work. The clock will seem interminable now that we are forced to be there for the full eight hours (plus lunch). Of course, from a macro level we should count our lucky stars that we still have jobs. But problems are still problems, no matter how first-world they may seem.

I think employers would do well to keep some of the flexibility brought on by working from home. For example, I should be allowed to go home if the day’s work is done, no matter what time it is. There’s no reason to wait out until 5:00 PM simply for the sake of it. Or let me go home period, if a particular project can be done entirely remotely. Introduce some asynchrony whenever possible, and I think the transition back to physical work will be much smoother and happier for all parties.

Practically since the pandemic began, I’ve been working on campus for about half the work week. Therefore, there isn’t going to much of a transition for me to make, which is nice. The days I can work from home are indeed more leisurely, I have to say. I’m going to miss them.

My back hurts

For much of this week, my lower back has been hurting. Not enough to be debilitating, but definitely painful to be of constant irritation. And I am not sure what caused it. Perhaps it’s just old age? I’m only in my early thirties, but you never know when the aches and pains that comes with age strike. I already have what seems to be early signs of arthritis in my hands. It’s only going to get worst.

Come to think of it, I think it might have to do with driving. Since taking stewardship of my brother’s Mazda Miata, I’ve done twice the miles as I typically do, all within the two days of a weekend. Since I don’t have a commute, it’s on Saturdays and Sundays when I take my car out to drive and get the oily stuff warmed up. It’s never good for a car to sit for a prolonged period. Now that I have two cars to take care of, the mileage has increased commensurately.

Sitting in a car for that amount of time cannot be good for the lower back, no matter how excellent and adjustable the lumbar support is. In the M2 Competition, it’s rather okay, but the seats in the MX-5 are not the best. It’s a tiny convertible sports car, after all.

Hopefully then, my lower back pain is just something to get used to. It is muscles being sore from being used like that for the first time. Honestly, I am far too young to be seeing a back doctor or going to physical therapy for such things. Also, I should probably get out of the car every hour on so on these drives. Do some stretches, take a sip of water, and then get back to the fun.

May is the endgame

Yesterday, President Biden announced the United States will have enough vaccine supply for all adults by the end of May - two months ahead of the previous projection. It seems the emergency approval of the third vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson is an absolute game-changer. If we all play our cards correctly, the Summer of 2021 will surely be memorable and spectacular.

I know I can’t wait. Due to happy circumstances, most of my friend group are either already fully vaccinated, or on our way to our second shot. By the first week of April, we will have group immunity against COVID. So of course we are planning a get-together to celebrate the occasion. A proper redo of the Thanksgiving gathering back in November that happened over Zoom. There will be many hugs, and not a mask to be found.

The smugness I have in being one of the lucky ones to receive the vaccine will be short-lived, and that’s a very good thing. Honestly, I do enjoy the playful arrogance that comes with being amongst the special caste of people that got vaccinated first. That said, things aren’t going to get back to normal until way more people get the shots. I am happy to hear that this will be soon. May is a mere two months away!

The U.S. developing three vaccines in such a short period of time is downright a miracle. A testament to the science and engineering might that’s possible when failure is not an option. The tragedy of over half a million Americans dying from COVID shouldn’t take away from this amazing feat. We can mourn and celebrate both separately, respectively.

I’ll see you all soon on the other side. God speed.

Go out and do things

This past Sunday, after doing my morning routine of visiting my parents - as I do every Sunday - I was at an impasse. What to do for the rest of the day? It was the final day of February, so the monthly update on my M2 Competition needed to be written. Being a self-professed writer, naturally that article was something to be procrastinated onto later. I actually planned to be write it this weekend.

Because truth be told: I didn’t know what to write about.

What I did end up doing was getting into the M2 and taking it out for a spin. All the way up past the Golden Gate Bridge, and looping back just before Highway 101 splits off towards Mount Tamalpais. As I came home and proceeded to park, I carelessly backed the M2 onto another car. Thankfully, that other car was my brother’s Mazda MX-5, which I am presently in stewardship of. Speed was low, damage was minimal: only a small chip on the M2’s rear bumper.

After a brief moment of internal despondence at my own stupidity, a stroke of inspiration hit: I knew exactly what to write about. In all my years of car ownership, I’ve continuously done stupid things like backing them into concrete posts and running over parking curbs. So I did a chronicle of my clumsiness with cars, and that age and experience hasn’t saved the M2 from suffering the same fate.

The lesson here is: to have something to write about, it’s important to go out into the world and do things. Had I decided against taking the M2 out for a drive on Sunday, I’d be stuck on what to write for the February update article that likely still hasn’t yet been written. The one time I fought my instincts to stay home, I am rewarded with material and inspiration. I just wished it didn’t take damaging the rear bumper, but that’s something that can be fixed easily.

Four months since moving out

Hard to believe it’s been four months since I’ve moved out on my own. I think it’s finally sunken in that this new place is indeed my home now, and that my previous home is solidly my parents’. When I tell people I’m going home, this place I’ve been renting since November of last year is what I am referring to. It’s wonderful.

On certain days it still feels like I’m off somewhere on vacation, renting from an AirBnb. Exacerbating that feeling is the fact I’m renting from friends of the same age, so this whole thing feels like we’re traveling somewhere, away from our respective parents. How long does it take after moving out of your parents’ house for it to truly feel like you’re an adult? I don’t think I’ve reached that stage yet.

I have to say there’s great advantage to renting from a friend, though I guess you run the potential risk of a ruined friendship also displacing you from a place to sleep. That’s why I recommend renting from friends that you’ve known since high school, and which point the friendship should already be unconditionally lasting. The positive of renting from someone familiar is that the process is far smoother and less formal. The place is also friendlier.

Like I said, it’s like we’re all on vacation somewhere and renting a whole house.

The primarily reason for moving - other than finally striking it out on my own - is to be closer to work. The ability to walk to work within 10 minutes is an absolute game changer, a huge positive to my mental health. The feeling that at the end of a tiring day, I can be home in minutes rather than a slogging commute in a car is worth every penny of the rent I am paying. The difference will be even more stark once the world returns to normal, and I will have to go into the office the regular five days a week.

If I can help it, I am never going back to having a commute.