Good to be bad - 10 things I think

10 THINGS I THINK

1. The Giant Race was an absolute blast; I'd never thought that running together with 20,000 other people could be so awesome. Of course, having the stunning San Francisco skyline as a backdrop just intensifies the beautiful atmosphere.

I finished the 10K distance in a little over an hour, which was actually faster than i thought I would run. According to the stats, I'm within the upper third percentile amongst all runners, which I must say is quite satisfying. There's no way I can match the physical specimens that posts incredible times; all that matters to me is being healthy and fit. 

I'm already massively looking forward to next year's event. And to think: I used to hate running. 

2. I probably couldn't have had more of a twenty-something living in San Francisco sort of weekend. Went out with the boys after work on Friday for some grub and drinks, ended up half drunk, and did not return home until well into the morning. Naturally then, Saturday was spent recovering from the previous night's activities. I wasn't hungover per se - there was no headache, but I definitely wasn't feeling well.

Somehow, I still managed to get of the house on Saturday to eat lunch with my friend. Afterwards, I simply stayed in and watched television until it was time for bed. Didn't get much sleep because I had to wake up in an ungodly hour to get ready for the 10K's 7am start time. 

After the race I had an american-style breakfast at a restaurant, and then spent the rest of the day watching NFL and Giants baseball at my friend's abode. Mix in a certain California burrito for dinner, and the sum of it all was an interesting and joyous weekend indeed. 

3. The new Mercedes-AMG GT completely copies the rear three-quarter profile of the Porsche 911. It's a stunning looking car - don't get me wrong - but it's one of those design elements you can't un-see once you've notice it. 

4. The video of Ray Rice pummeling his then girlfriend is absolutely horrific. I'm glad he's banished from the league now. While it's never too late to do the right thing, the stern response on Monday from the league and the Baltimore Ravens should have come many month ago. Those entities deserve zero praise for their failure to fully realize the severity of Rice's offense. 

You should never put your hands on a woman. Full stop. 

5. The comedy world is suffering massively this year. The tragic death of Robin Williams still freshly hurting in our hearts, and then last week came the unfortunate passing of Joan Rivers. The pioneer for female comedy, the best I admire about her is the willingness to say whatever the heck that's on her mind, and subsequently not giving one ounce of fuck what other people thinks. 

While I don't think one should be as antagonistic as Joan Rivers can be at times, speaking your mind and not caring what people think is definitely a great way to live through life. May she rest in peace. 

6. The 2016 Mazda Miata will be tough to resist when it hits dealership floors. When you think about the essence of what makes a truly great sports car - front-engine, rear-wheel drive, as small and lightweight as possible - the forthcoming fourth generation MX-5 appears to be it. Best of all, just about any car enthusiasts can afford one.

Your place is definitely not safe, my beloved WRX STI.

7. iPhone users have clamored for a larger screen, and soon we will finally be able to eat that cake with the iPhone 6. I'll take one in space gray, coupled with the navy blue leather case. My wallet, though, has an entirely different opinion. I'm nowhere near the time to upgrade my phone so if I were to get the 6, it's going to cost me dearly (read: full price). 

Someone please stop me! 

8. I just may be the cleanest and tidiest person out of my group of friends. Good thing I haven't got that cleaning compulsion when I'm amongst other people's clutter. Though I'm sure some of my friends wish the contrary. 

9. You know you're old when you tell someone you immigrated to America back in 1996 when you're eight years old, and she replies that was the same year she was born. I think being employed at a college campus will eventually work against me because I keep getting older, but the students stay around the same age range. It will only get more depressing as the years roll past. 

10. Big series this weekend for the Giants, facing the Dodgers at home with a chance to pull even in the NL West pennant race. I'm both excited and dreading the epic showdown because the outcome can either be really good or completely terrible (Giants got swept last time the Dodgers were in town). Won't stop me from watching, of course. The work week needs to be over with quickly. 

So long sweet summer - 10 things I think

10 THINGS I THINK

1. I don't think it's a good sign that I slept through a 6.1 scale earthquake that occurred only a scant 30 miles away from me. I'm going to need to physically live with someone for the rest my life, because otherwise it's simply too dangerous.

2. I was saddened to find out that Grant, Tory, and Kari will no longer be a part of the Mythbusters team after a decade of work. Not entirely sure what Discovery Channel was thinking in booting them out, but the show will never be the same. End of an era, for sure. 

3. If you've got $100K to spend on a car, the answer should always begin and end with a Porsche 911. As an avid car enthusiasts, the iconic sports car from Stuttgart is an automobile I must own during my lifetime. 

4. I recently got the STI serviced, so obviously Subaru sent me a post-service survey in the email. For time, I had no idea that anything less than "all 10s" on the survey is a down-mark for the dealership and the service advisor. That said, knowing that I hold the key to their fortunes did cause me to be mad with power for a moment. 

5. You only need to look at the fact that The Wire - arguably the greatest television drama of all time - has got zero Emmys, to understand just how insignificant and irrelevant the award show is. Granted, I still watch it every year. 

6. Due to the ongoing severe drought California is facing, water restrictions has gone up in practically all counties. One particular encroachment for car enthusiasts is that you can no longer wash a car with an open hose. I've never seen my local self carwash facility so packed. 

7. Of course, those of us in the know have long forsaken the traditional hose to wash our cars. I've been detailing for years using only two gallons of water, Optimum No Rinse, and plenty of microfiber towels; not because I was inclined to want to conserve water, but rather it's a much faster system. 

8. It's absolutely hilarious that the brand-spanking new Levi's Stadium already need to have its field grass replaced twice. They haven't even played an official regular season football game yet! It's somewhat of an embarrassment for an otherwise glorious facility. Too bad the 49ers ticket prices are considerably outside of my comfort zone.  

9. The VMAs is meaningless in regards to actually grading the quality of music, but the show is always an interesting watch. You can always count on something big and or controversial. It's been a long time since I've watched an VMA in its entirety; I rely on social media to find out about it all. Beyonce owned this year's program, obviously. 

10. The best thing about university starting up for fall semester is all the free stuff vendors and outside companies throw at you. I probably won't have to bring my usual snacks for the next few weeks. 

Let it go - 10 things I think

I've employed a new mechanism is letting things go. I simply ask myself this question: will this even matter in a year's time? If the answer is no, then whatever I was holding on to or fussing over gets dropped completely. If the answer is yes, I try my best to deal with it as quickly as possible. Letting the issue linger and fester in my thoughts is absolute poison. 

The technique works great in dealing with clutter as well. I recently did a mid-summer clean of all my belongings, and any item that I haven't used in more than a year got tossed away. The results were quite liberating and astonishing: I threw out so many boxes of things my mother thought I was (finally) moving out. Sadly for her...

10 THINGS I THINK

1. I did the ice bucket challenge that's been going viral these days, and I absolutely enjoyed it. Unfortunately it doesn't get too scorching here in San Francisco but who doesn't like a bit of water-sport during the summer? In addition to dumping arctic-cold water on myself, I also donated money to the ALS association even though doing the former precludes the latter. I challenge everyone to, at the very least, donate money to the cause. 

2. What's happening in Ferguson is completely disgusting. Images and videos captured there looked more at home in a war-torn third-world country than the supposedly gold-standard of the free-world. Police in military gear? Tear gas? Suppression of the press? Disregard for any human rights? It's all happening in AMERICA. Time for us to return that high-horse to wherever we bought it from.

 3. I usually don't get too sappy over the death of a famous person but the untimely death of Robin Williams hit me like a ton of bricks. He is somehow I quite literally grew up watching and to have a piece of childhood snatched away from me was devastating. The circumstances of his passing certainly compounded the sadness. He was one of San Francisco's most favorite native sons as well. Rest in paradise, O Captain. 

4. The best to thing to ever happen to the burrito is the "California" version that substitutes rice with French fries. I'm just waiting patiently for Chipotle to implement the delicacy in their eateries - I'd eat there everyday for lunch if that were to happen.

5. Following automotive journalists on various social media is especially jealousy-inducing during Monterey Car Week. The sheer amount of "car-porn" during that week can only be described as automotive heaven. The fact that the annual festival is only a short hour drive away from me makes it all the more difficult to accept that I'm not there. It's on the bucket list though, for sure. 

6. What's good in paying over 25 million dollars for a vintage Ferrari when you're probably not going to ever drive it? I come from a vastly opposite perspective seeing as I don't have millions to spend on just cars but in life I think it's inane to purchase something that expensive and literally get zero use out of it. 

7. Just because you've got the ability to paint a car any pigment you desire doesn't mean you should. I'm confident in saying that for a certain subset of rich people, having (insane amount of ) money definitely does not equate to having good taste. 

8. Sequels are never as excellent as the original, especially when a sequel was never intended in the first place and was only commissioned because of the surprising success of the original (read: money grab).

9. I am totally and unabashedly fan-boy-ing over the impending new Taylor Swift album and the brand new single. That said, the immensely brilliant RED album is one tough act to follow. Also, might we get a song titled "24"? 

10. American football is starting up in a month's time and that obviously means another year of fantasy football. I was absolute dead last in my league last year, so I'm feeling good about this season seeing as it can't possible get any worse than that! I'm still trying to determine a properly hilarious name for my fantasy team, though as a placeholder I've elected to go with "A.A.Ron Balakay" in homage of the popular Key & Peele skit. 

These are beautiful times - 10 things I think

What have I got to be happy about?

Everything.

It's absolutely a choice, you know. Circumstances are what they are, the decision on how to react is entirely up to you. I can wake up everyday lamenting the day ahead, dragging with me the negatives of yesterday, or I can wake up, smile, and say to myself that today is going to be awesome. 

Barney Stinson has got it right: If I find myself being negative, I stop being negative, and be awesome instead. 

Perspective is what's important. There's always someone whose got it worse than you. Here's a rather dreadful thought: someone out there is planning something for tomorrow, but he/she will die before it happens. A bit morbid, perhaps, but that's how the laws of life work. Today, then, is all that really matters.

So whatever I need/want to do today, it's imperative I get it done now. You've got something to say? Say it, cause you might not have a chance later. Putting it off, or being scared into silence, cannot be an option. Most of the time, fear is there to inform you that what you're about to do is absolutely worth doing. 

I let go of the small things. Twice yesterday another motorist cut me off, almost to causing a collision. I braked. That was it; no horns, no gestures involving the middle digit. I simply continued trundling along, listening to music, and enjoying a rare sunny day in San Francisco, in a car I adore dearly. 

Getting riled up over ultimately insignificant events is an enormous disservice to yourself. 

10 THINGS I THINK

1. I feel like we've been experiencing lots of "Super Moons" lately, but it still doesn't distract from the sheer beauty of it. I'm lucky to have a window that faces east, so on Sunday evening I practically sat in the dark and admired the moon for a good hour as it climbed out of the horizon. 

2. If you utter the words "Damn, the weather is hot!" yet you're wearing a black t-shirt, I tend to not have much sympathies for you. I know dark colors are flattering if you haven't exactly got the right body type but wearing them in anything beyond 80 degrees weather is absolutely asinine.

3. Rumors has it that Luca Di Montezemolo, the long-time head honcho at Ferrari, will be stepping down from his duties to go do other stuff (he is Italian aristocracy, after all). While it's lamentable that Formula One will lose one of its most potent voices, I must motion that if LDM really does leave, Ferrari must change the name of the LaFerrari hyper-car - a moniker chosen by LDM himself, probably in a heavily drunken state - to something that doesn't suck.

4. Not once during this entire "Share a Coke" campaign has anyone actually shared one with me. To that end, I'm extremely saddened and slightly bitter. It's not too late, though: I'll gladly accept a Diet Coke any day of the week, as long as it's Sunday.

5. Guardians of the Galaxy is a fantastic movie. I'm not the most hardcore of Marvel Cinematic Universe nuts (Iron Man 2 was decidedly terrible) so I'm not just blindly stating this. For those of us pinning for a proper space western since the untimely demise of Firefly (tears), Guardians finally delivered. Here's to hoping for many movies to follow.  

6. It's not a secret: car enthusiasts love fast cars, and when given one, we drive them fast. Problem is, we don't exist in a vacuum: there's other motorists sharing the roads with us. The Jessi Lang story posted earlier last week is a stark reminder to be alert and careful when driving, because it can all be taken away from you so quickly. 

7. Thanks to Vladimir Putin and his power-tripping shenanigans, the European stock market was terrible last week. Compounded by the seemingly endless unrest in the Middle East, my International stock holdings completely wiped out any gains I had in the domestic stock market. Diversity is key in any investment portfolio but what Russia is doing to Europe is simply extraordinary. I'm having serious thoughts about shorting. 

8. America should not be going back into Iraq. Retrieve any citizens still living there abroad and leave the two warring sides to their own device. The U.S. should not be picking sides on what is really a religious civil war. Offer only what is necessary from a humanitarian perspective; if we want to fix countries we need to first fix our own. 

9. I don't see myself as the most ardent of grammar nazis but people not using the Oxford comma is proving to be quite irksome. 

10. Far more people I personally know are participating in The Giants Race than I had thought. Either running for health is very much en vogue these days, or the allure of a plastic bobble-head is simply too enticing to ignore. That and getting drunk with food and booze afterwards is always a very welcomed endgame.