Going to stay in my lane

I spent much of the weekend putting together some GoPro footage I took way back during the Colorado trip - in addition to watching World Cup games of course. It was nothing elaborate: just stringing disparate videos together using iMovie into one cohesive timeline, with the appropriate transitions and captions. As someone who is decidedly on the still photography side of things it’s always fun exercise to dabble in moving photos. 

Suffice it to say I won’t be quitting my “day-job”. Video editing is obviously immensely time consuming and while the artistry involved is a natural extension of photography there’s many more dimension to juggle simultaneously - sound editing might be an entirely different art in it of itself. The amount of time spent on production and the resulting output length of the video is heavily skewed towards the former. 

Not to say I don’t enjoy video production, and given enough time investment I’m confident I can become decent at it. At the present however I think I shall as the kids say these days 'stick to my lane' and keep to still photography. I’ve still got much to do in that arena, plus I won’t ever “pivot to video”: written words and beautiful images are my passion.

Besides, it was superbly difficult to concurrently take pictures and film during the Colorado trip. At every place of interest I first took photos with my camera and then repeat with the GoPro for video. I’d nary the time savor the breathtaking views, which ultimately defeats the purpose of traveling in the first place. This is why I haven’t done video since traveling to Denver. 

Photo-journalism is more my speed anyways. 

The first-generation Honda Fit was a great car at the tail-end of Honda's golden era. 

The million dollars test

If you’re suddenly a million dollar richer (or whatever sum that would free you from your current place of employ), what would you then be doing everyday? 

That would your passion. 

If I were to be gifted a million dollars, I’d buy a car and get on the road. I’d take photographs wherever I go, and write about it on this website. Monetization will come from said writing and photography, plus perhaps posting videos on Youtube. 

That doesn’t sound like it would need a million dollars; if anything I can go do that right now. So why don’t I? What makes the additional million dollars so special if it’s financial value isn’t necessarily required to chase my passion? 

These are good questions. 

Quitting our day-job to follow our passion is a highly risky move, at least in our minds. The extra million dollars provides the safety cushion that eliminates the perceived risk. If the passion project fails, there’s the bundle of money to fall back on. 

Great outcomes come from taking great risks. What if we didn’t wait for the cash windfall and just set off anyways? Because let’s not delude ourselves: the million dollars won’t ever come, and each of us will have to contend with forsaking our passion for the comforts of a regular job. 

I grapple with that quandary almost everyday. 

Are you getting on or off?

Harvard gets sued by Asians

Harvard getting sued for discrimination against Asian applicants is interesting to me because why now? Since the advent of affirmative action and ethnic quotas in schools, us Asians have always gotten the short end of the stick. When you adjust for “equality” based on results then there’s going to be an aggrieved party and unfortunately that’s us. A casualty of success. 

From the time when Asian people first stepped foot on this continent up until now we’ve been discriminated against one way or another (Chinese exclusion act, Japanese internment, you name it). All we’ve ever done in response is put our nose to the grindstone, work hard, and get after success like water dripping on stone. Even if it’s only a penny saved per day, given enough time to compound we got there. 

Asians aren’t vocal complainers and troublemakers. We take the situations and framework as they are work around and with them. Didn’t get into Harvard? We’d just kick ass at another school. Barriers didn’t stop and aren’t going to stop Asians from achieving financial success.

Because up until recent decades, Asians (immigrants) were predominantly poor so the prime objective was to make money - we didn’t have time for political games. Now that we’ve reached those goals and by many metrics are the most affluent ethnic group on average, Asians have the leisure to pursue other arenas of life, like suing Harvard (and other institutions) for blatant racial discrimination.

The political capital of Asian Americans is growing quite quickly. 

Commuting with the morning clouds at Balboa Park station. 

Trump threatens Germany with car tariffs

People in the car forums I frequent are up in arms about President Trump potentially slapping a 20% tariff on German-made vehicles. Rightfully so because who would want to pay 20% more on already expensive German cars. Though I think if tariffs were enacted the situation won’t be that simple. 

Contrary to popular conjecture, people who can afford luxury vehicles are highly price sensitive. They haggle just the same as buyers of Toyota Camrys. Even the super rich would setup LLCs in Montana, register their vehicles under the company to avoid paying hefty license fees in their home State. Bottom line is that nobody wants to pay a penny more for a car than absolute necessary. 

Therefore if Trump imposes the 20% tariff, automakers like Mercedes, Audi, and BMW aren’t going to suddenly raise the MSRP of their cars by equal measure - doing so would crater sales (simple price elasticity). Not only will higher prices be a deterrent, but consumers know that it’s because of tariffs so one they aren’t going to pay extra for the President’s stupid trade-war and two they will simply wait it out until the two sides come to an agreement. 

I think the manufactures will raise the prices a bit just below what people are sensitive to, and then eat the rest of the costs for the time being - they’ve certainly made enough profits from selling SUVs the last few years to cover. Nevertheless it’s going to negatively affect the bottom line and the German government will be lobbied heavily to mediate. 

One thing is for sure: more people aren’t going to start buying Cadillac or Lincoln. 

A certified G, and a bona fide stud. 

Momentum car as lesson for life

In car enthusiasts parlance we have what we call a “momentum car”. It’s a type car that hasn’t got enough power to pull itself out of corners, therefore to preserve good forward momentum the driver must scrub off as little speed as possible during braking and turning. Newton’s law of motion acted out: objects in motion tend to stay in motion, and friction is enemy to a car that lacks huge amounts of horsepower to hide it.  

The ND Miata I just sold is a momentum car: 155 horsepower is just enough be fun but if the roadster gets needlessly bogged down in the middle of a turn it takes considerable time to get back to proper speed. On a tight course the next string of corners are effectively compromised because they arrive before the car can fully recover.   

Momentum cars are excellent teachers of drivers. 

It’s also a good metaphor for life. Maintaining momentum is crucial in achieving success. Laziness or extra off-days may feel awesome in the present but the days proceeding will be heavily undermined. If I haven’t written on this website for awhile it’s extra difficult to pick it back up. Skip a scheduled exercise day because I didn’t feel like it? The stress of the one after that just got unnecessarily raised.

Consistency compounds into forward progress: when I finish a blog post the tiny dose of satisfaction I get turns into eagerness and I already start to think about what to write for the next one. Like a momentum car it’s about smooth continued progress and avoid needlessly slowing down. 

Don't skip a day; get after it. 

Sometimes you get lucky and mother nature frames things up nicely for you. 

Volkswagen shatters Pikes Peak hill climb record

This past weekend was the annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and Volkswagen shattered the overall record by some 15 seconds. The German marque built a bespoke all-electric race-car just for the event, utilizing the power advantage in high-altitude to great effect in beating Sebastien Loeb’s time that had stood since 2013.

You can color me thoroughly unimpressed. 

For sure I think VW has done a tremendous achievement of engineering. Pikes Peak's immense elevation meant it was only a matter of time before electric power would come to dominate the hill climb event. Suffering none of the symptoms that ail combustion engines in super thin air, electric motors gives full, consistent power, limited only by the size and store of the battery.

So kudos, Volkswagen, but it hardly moves my needle. 

Electric cars are wonderful and will supposedly save the planet from climate ruin but for me it’s a type of vehicle I would not own personally. I’ve felt the searing acceleration of a Tesla before and while it’s an amazing party trick, the novelty of a Model S ends there.

I fell in love with cars because of their sheer mechanicalness: the miracle of formed metal and coupled gears harnessing thousands of mini-explosions per minute into motivative drive. The cars that stir the soul are those that reveal its mechanicalness to the driver: the constant shake of a connected gear-lever, the whine of a supercharger, the hiss of a turbo waste-gate purging, and the pops and bangs during an off-throttle lift. 

An electric car have none of those qualities. A plush Mercedes S-Class sedan doesn’t have them either. I’d never purchase the latter so why would I entertain buying former? Indeed electric vehicles can handle and turn a proper corner just as well as an internal-combustion car - VW now owns the Pikes Peak record after all, but more than astonishing numbers and stats it’s how a car makes me feel behind the wheel that ultimately determines its value. A Tesla Model S and a Porsche 911 GT3 occupies stark opposite ends of that spectrum. 

I predict as electric vehicles proliferate in the coming decades, purely internal-combustion cars will be relegated to the expensive segments like super sports-cars - akin to fine handmade mechanical watches and their cheaper quartz-movement counterparts. The discerning few of us will seek those out and keep the analog spirit alive for as long as possible. 

Waiting for dinner, waiting for sunset, waiting for god. 

A driving enthusiast

In the end it’s about driving. 

The singular distillation of why I like cars is driving. The other bits like mechanicals and aesthetics matter too, but a car isn’t a car unless I can drive it. I’ll never be the type to purchase an automobile simply to store for the promise of future appreciation in value, not that I can afford such a type of car anyways. 

Cars are meant to be driven. 

It’s the spirit of driving that makes the ancillaries worth the while. The sheer costs to purchase and insurance a car, the physical labor to detail and maintain, and the psychological stress of city driving - all of that disappear from view when you’re sat in driver's seat on an open mountain road in the early morning, not another soul for miles. 

I sold the ND MX-5 recently because the ancillaries have overshadowed the thrill of driving, chiefly the stress of commuting in San Francisco. The sliver of driving exhilaration I get from the neighboring mountain roads on weekends lost the battle hard against the traffic gridlock and parking nightmare I dealt with daily. The commuting grind can so suck the soul out of you that once the weekend arrived I often had no desire to get in the car. 

As long as I live in San Francisco I don’t think I’ll ever commute by car again because it kills the joy of driving, and that’s the greatest shame for a person who has loved cars since childhood. The next vehicle I purchase will only see weekend duty: every drive will feel like a special occasion, and ownership will be a labor of love once again. 

Flying into sunset.