Monday, 12 September 2005
11:59pm

I

t seems as though this is turning into my monthly update. Oh well. So. What's been going on... oh, last weekend I went down to San Diego for my friend Liz' birthday. Apparently my friend Allan bought the first new model MX-5 Miata in the country, so I got to check that out. It's kind of interesting. It's quite a bit larger in overall size than the previous Miatas, though despite the larger size, it only gained about 40 pounds in weight. Not bad considering it also gained about 30 horsepower. You also of course get a much larger interior, particularly in the elbow room department. It's also supposedly more rigid and pretty much better in every technical way than the previous Miatas.
Which leads me to mention that this Miata seems very un-miatalike to me. Maybe it's just because I'm used to the old one which didn't really didn't change a whole lot during the 15 years the model has existed. This third generation model seems to be a much slicker car overall. But it almost seems a bit too roomy and too refined. And this thing ahs four cupholders! A real sports car shouldn't even have any cupholders! You should be too busy driving to be drinking anything! Jesus, I sound like some crochety old man. Oh and gone is the ability to buy sticky tires for super cheap since they've gone up to 17" wheels.
But it's still a really cool car. The Z folding top with glass rear window is super slick and easy to operate. And I like how it looks. And I can totally see myself getting into one. Probably not any time soon... you kinda need money to buy a car, haha.

The other day I did something pretty cheesy. I went to my aunt and uncle's house which is kinda near where the Getty Center is. On the way back, I put on Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' "Free Falling" on repeat and took Mulholland Drive on the way back. It was fun. I'd actually never driven on that road in my entire life before. It was quite a fun and treacherous road, made even more treacherous by the spectacular views of L.A. and the Valley -- take your eyes off the road at the wrong moment and you will find yourself at the bottom of a cliff!

Yesterday I got to go with my sister, aunt, uncle and cousin to see the Padres take on the Dodgers. I brought the ugly brown and yellow cap I bought in San Diego specifically for wearing at Dodger stadium. You see, the Padres' current colors are like mostly blue and white, and a blue cap at Dodger Stadium could very easily be confused as being a Dodger hat. I wanted something that would very obviously not be a Dodger cap, and I found it! Unfortunately the Padres lost.
It also was a pretty bad day for Korean baseball players. Chan Ho Park pitching for the Padres went up against Hee Seop Choi of the Dodgers. Choi swung and let go of his bat, sending it sailing over the dugout and into the stands. The next pitch, Park hits Choi with the ball... his second hit player of the day. The next inning, Park was up to bat. After swinging and making contact with the ball, he tripped and fell on his face right on home plate while heading toward first. Let's just say that I was not very proud to be Korean at that moment!
Before the game I saw Kevin Towers, the general manager of the Padres. He saw me with my Padres cap on and he saw that I recognized him, and said "How you doin'?" to me. That was pretty rad. If I was feeling a little braver, I might have said to him that getting Chan Ho Park was a mistake.