cindy's world

On the drive to work yesterday morning, I heard a sound bite on the radio, something to the effect of a male voice saying, “Actually, I’m not even really sure what the premise of Indecent Proposal is. I’ve never seen the movie. I guess, like, the guy from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid wanted to sleep with my wife or something? Like, who doesn’t? But I never saw the movie cuz I was too young at the time and I guess it’s R-rated and my parents wouldn’t let me watch it.” And I realized it was Ashton Kutcher. The quote made me laugh, cuz it’s reminiscent of how I sometimes “remind” Mr. W of our age difference. (Mr. W: “Remember this guy? He’s from such-and-such a movie.” Me: “I really wouldn’t know; I was like 4 at the time and didn’t speak English yet.”) I then realized that I’d never seen Indecent Proposal straight through either, only in bits and pieces, and I thought that I would like to watch that movie sometime.

In typical Cindy’s World koinkidinkal style, I was channel surfing late last nite and Indecent Proposal was playing. I didn’t get to watch from the very beginning, but it was probably within the first 10 minutes. The movie was surprisingly good. And Robert Redford is surprisingly charming in his character. I’d had a conversation with Mr. W last week about how some friends in high school had crushes on Robert Redford, which I’d found odd at the time, cuz to me he was such an old folgie. But after this movie, I can see what the attraction is. The movie did rip a few reluctant tears out of my eyes, but I like to think if it as late-night oversensitivity. I was, however, disappointed at the lack of sex scenes. Why’s this movie R-rated? Maybe the cable channel had edited out the good stuff.

Two scenes that stuck with me:
1.) The turning point scene at Robert Redford’s character’s mansion (which I recognized to be shot at the Huntington Library. In fact, lemme see if I can find a photo of it.). John (Redford) finally explains why he was pursuing Diana (Moore) so hard by telling a story from his youth. To paraphrase, “When I was much younger, I was extremely shy around women. One day, on a bus [train?], I saw a girl sitting there. She was wearing a dress with a shirt that was buttoned all the way up to her chin. But she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. But when she looked up, I would look away, and when I looked at her and saw her looking at me, she would look away. Then when I got off, I looked back at her through the window. She was looking right at me, and then she gave me the most beautiful smile. That moment was horrible for me. I wanted to break down the glass doors and get back to her. I went back on the same bus every day, at the same time, for the next two weeks, but she never came back. There hasn’t been a day since that I hadn’t thought about her, and about what I’d lost. I’m not going to let that happen again.”
2.) The scene in the limousine when John let Diana go by telling her that she was just one of thousands worldwide in the “million dollars’ club”, i.e. that he’d paid many people $1mil to be with them for a night, and his chauffeur, finally catching his drift, played along. She was at first confused and hurt, but then she realized what he was doing, and looked at him gratefully. “Thank you, John,” she said as she kissed him one last time. “Goodbye.” And then she exited the limo and ran into a bus to go back to her ex-husband. “What was that all about?” the chauffeur asked John. “I wanted to end it,” John explained, looking wistfully after Diana. “She would’ve never looked at me the way she looked at him.”

In the movie, this was John’s front yard leading up to his house, altho in the photo (from our visit in 10/06) it was under renovation:

Here’s what lines either side of the yard/fountain:

I made an error when I stated in a previous post that we obtained Formula D drift race tickets from “a family friend [who] works as the publicist for these race events.” Just found out that the connection (my godbrother’s older brother; I grew up with this guy) is the president/co-founder of Formula D. Whoa….

I should not have had to pay for that souvenir Formula D t-shirt! =)

I’m just kidding about that; I would gladly support his cause. But imagine knowing the guy who founded Nascar! Formula D even got a prestigious hip-hop radio station, Power106, to be one of the DJs for the race we attended. I’m actually really proud of him. He’d always been a great PR person.

(This was my take on the FormulaD event last weekend. This is the Wikipedia coverage of Formula D.)

This is another TMI post. I’d suggest the men to not click on the “more.”
(more…)

From the moment we stepped into the fenced-in lot off the Long Beach Convention Center, I was excited. I exclaimed more than once, “This KICKS Nascar’s ass!!” This, my friends, is drift-racing.

That was a qualifying round. This is a head-to-head face-off:

TurboTiger was right. There were a lo-ot of niiiice, fixed-up cars and custom paint jobs. (Rest mouse pointers over photos for captions.)

Some cars are so fancied up I can’t even tell what model a lot of them are from just looking.

Of course, YA KNOW that if I find MY car model, I’m gonna take pictures of it. Because the IS350 is a new model, there are few after-market modification parts available for it. The owner of this car is doing almost all the mod parts from scratch himself, and expects to be done with this baby next week:

I just thought this little cherry-red number is cute:

Mr. W liked this RockStar car:

This dude’s one of the premier drifters in Japan:

After the race, Mr. W and I took a walk down to The Pike and chowed down on shrimp at Bubba Gump. And then we took a stroll to a nearby Borders book store, where he purchased a yoga/pilates book and a “better sex” book which he claims to have purchased only for the pictures. I had a really good time, and am looking forward to the October Formula-Drift event in Buena Park, where we’ll be in the VIP box. Jealous?

Well, don’t be. I think I’m growing a penis from all the testosterone floating around today. Speaking of that, this morning’s question of the day, introduced while still lounging in bed, was What would you do if you wake up one morning and you look down to discover you’ve changed gender? My answer was that the first thing I’d do is jack off. I wanna see what all this penis hype is about. After that I can panic.

2007 Formula Drift Championship Series Events
April 7, 2007
10a.m. – 6p.m.

THE FORMULA DRIFT CHAMPIONSHIP
Entering its third season, Formula Drift Championship, produced and owned by Irvine, Calif.-based Formula Drift, Inc., continues to expand into new markets as the first and only sanctioned and recognized North American professional drifting championship series (sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing). This high-skilled, high-powered motor sport where drivers intentionally maneuver their cars into well executed, controlled sideways slides at high speeds through a marked course, has more than 50 professional drivers competing in all six competitions this year. A well established sport in Japan for more than a decade, Formula Drift, Inc. and its sister company Slipstream Global Marketing, Inc. had the vision and were instrumental in bringing the first official competition to the United States in 2003 at Irwindale Speedway. The unanticipated fan interest led to the rapid formation of the first ever, sanctioned and recognized drifting circuit, Formula Drift, which had its roots firmly grounded in Southern California, a hotbed for incoming Japanese-influence automotive trends. An important part of the program involves community outreach. Drivers and Formula D serve as the ambassador for the sport of drifting bringing exhibitions to traditional or mainstream motor sports events across the country which have included: Bridgestone Monterey Grand Prix/Champ Car Race, USAC, NASCAR Busch North & Featherlite Southwest and the SPEED World Challenge, among others.

In addition another 100-200 local team drivers will join in local markets to test their skills and techniques with the pros. Judged on execution and style, rather than who finishes the course in the fastest time, Drifting is a guaranteed crowd pleaser, and is often compared to the freestyle nature of skateboarding and motocross.

Drivers and Formula Drift also serves as ambassadors for the sport of drifting bringing exhibitions to traditional or mainstream motor sports events across the country which have included: Bridgestone Monterey Grand Prix/Champ Car Race, USAC, NASCAR Busch North & Featherlite Southwest and the SPEED World Challenge, among others.

More Formula Drift Fast Facts

Formula D has the largest number of tire manufactures involved that any other motorsport series in the world.
First drifting championship to be featured in a major video game with title sponsor EA Games
First drifting championships to be sponsored by non-endemic companies including EA Games and Circuit City
First drifting championship to have works teams (auto maker supported) For tickets and more information visit the website at: http://formulad.com/events.php?id=2

***
I’m actually kind of excited! I’ve never seen a drift race before. Nascar was boring for me cuz all they do is go in circles, you don’t miss much even if you’re blinded the first hour by all the black tire dust flying into your eyes. But if this really IS like motocross and skateboarding, it’s going to be really interesting to watch. I hope Mr. W doesn’t get bored and want to go home early.

My parents had mentioned some weeks ago about us being invited to some car race event. They’re unfamiliar with car racing, and with the language barrier they weren’t able to tell me whether this is a drag race, a Nascar race, a go-cart race, or what. I asked what the track looked like, for clues. Was it just round and circular? My dad said no, it’s windy, and the cars skid around the curves and that’s the point. It sounds like a “Tokyo drift” race.

I got an email from my mom today that said she and my dad were offered tickets to some car race this Saturday, along with special parking. A family friend works as the publicist for these race events, so there are certain VIP privileges. I assume these are good seats. All I know is that my parents will be in San Diego this weekend and won’t make the race, and that the race is at Long Beach, and we should be able to get in at 10:00 a.m.. So now I’m thinking that it’s the Long Beach Grand Prix? There’s also some big race in Buena Park in October that we’re going to have VIP rooms for.

*shrug* I guess I’ll pick up the tickets tonight when I pick up our passports and visas for our China trip. Hopefully the tickets will have event information on them.

I had a letter-perfect Sunday. Mr. W suggested a picnic with my parents to take advantage of the sunny beautiful day. I at first said it wouldn’t be a good idea, since my parents wouldn’t appreciate the annoyances of unruly, undisciplined kids running amock, bird poo on the picnic tables to avoid, and the bees, ants and other insects to fight for our food. Plus, the hassle of packing stuff to be eaten outdoors! “Are these reasons your parents wouldn’t want to go on a picnic, or why YOU don’t want to go on a picnic?!” Mr. W asked skeptically. Same thing, right?
I called my parents on the phone and asked my mom what she thought of the picnic idea. “Picnic?!” she exclaimed. “Severe allergies!”
“YES, severe ALLERGIES!” I repeated loudly to Mr. W over the phone.
My mom heard me and hurriedly said, “If you two want to go take a stroll in a park, we’ll go with you for company!” Darn.
Mr. W and I stopped by a Chinese patisserie on the way to my parents’ and bought a variety of fresh baked rolls and breads for picnic food, but everyone ended up eating it all at my parents’ house along with a freshly cut bowl of syrupy sweet honeydew melons. (I admit it, it was me; I was too hungry.) And then it was off to a nearby Chino Hills park that my parents had recently discovered.
The park was really pretty, with a big pond in the middle and weeping willows almost dipping their long trains into the water surface. At the front end of the pond, a variety of turtles of all sizes sunned on a floating log. At the back end of the pond, a large rocky waterfall spilled onto the duck-lined water. The four of us watched in amusement as a male duck, with his bill tucked into his wing and seemingly asleep, followed a female duck around the pond, popping his head up abruptly when he’d accidentally run into her, and then settling back down to his lazy nap. Another male duck followed another female duck around, aggressively fighting off other male ducks who dared approach the nonchalant female. The females seemed completely oblivious to all the vying going on around them for their attention.

After walking around the park, the four of us went back to my parents’ house, where I fiddled with the piano a bit. Then Mr. W and I set off back to his home. On the drive back, we passed a newly remodeled shopping mall and he noted that he’d be interested in seeing how the place looked, as it’s so nice now from the outside. “Wanna go right now?” I suggested. So off on a detour we went. I didn’t get past the Victoria’s Secret store, which was having a sale on sportswear. I picked up 2 sports tops and a sports bra, and with the discount my total bill went from $150 to $90-some. I handed over two giftcards for the store and paid less than $6 out-of-pocket for the items. Good deal.

And then off we went to attempt the trip home again. Until suddenly, Mr. W noted that we were really close to a hole-in-the-wall Mexican seafood restaurant in the ghettoest part of Santa Ana that had the best ceviche. Hence, our second detour led us to a refreshing dinner.

Finally at home after that, Mr. W and I donned our swimsuits and hung out in the whirlpool jacuzzi. Later, back at his house, we wound down the rest of the way by enjoying popcorn while watching the pilot episode of Ally McBeal. I’d never seen the pilot, and it’s pretty good in setting up the character dynamics of the show without feeling rushed in giving you too much information too quickly. We’re now starting Season 1 of Ally McBeal, and I can’t wait for episode 2. But for some reason, I can’t seem to find additional seasons. 🙁

Oh well, short of the nightmare I had, it was a great Sunday.

Vanessa managed to steal some free time to post about James’ birthday shindig, so I’ll just refer you to her post. 🙂 Plus, the photos she sent me were so large that my image hosting site wouldn’t take them. This is the only 2 photos I was able to successfully download, so I’ll refer you to Vanessa’s blog for the photos, too. How large were they? Well, as I told Vanessa, they were SO large that when I tried to view them, all I got on screen was, like, an elbow, and I couldn’t see the rest until I scroll it to death. And then the image that scrolled in was so large that it scared me and I had to close the window.

Oh, I will add one thing that Vanessa didn’t cover in her post. We didn’t get to the ice cream cake until past 10pm, which the waitress was nice enough to have stored in the freezer for us and brought it out with plates when we were done with dinner. Around the same time, she told us that the bar was about to close, and asked if there were any last drinks she could bring for anybody. I highly recommended the chocolate cake shots, which Wilco’s fiance Christi turned me on to when Mr. W and I visited San Francisco a year ago (time flies!). We finished the cake closer to 11pm, and left a bit after that. The waitress was very nice the entire time. It wasn’t until later that James realized Taps closes weeknights at 10pm!! We totally overstayed! This is such a different treatment from when I, Mr. W, Vanessa, and her friend were eating Korean tofu and they KICKED US OUT because patrons were waiting for a table. Aside from having the BEST ahi tuna tar tar (which I ordered and everyone was jealous of once they got a taste), the service is enough to have me going back more often. I’m glad I gave a 30% tip. James’ friends were so generous in putting down their shares of the tab that I was able to apply extra toward tip. 🙂

I managed to shove a 3.75 mile hills run into my evening before Vanessa came by my house to meet me before leaving for James’ house. I would’ve liked to go 4 miles, but as it was I was already late. When Vanessa got to my house I had just emerged from the shower. Rushing out (with 5 minutes to make a 15-minute drive to James’), I grabbed my purse and thought, “Oh, it’s empty in here. That’s cuz I still need to put my cell phone in.” The cell had died earlier and was charging upstairs. Right after thinking that, I closed up the purse and LEFT. Without the phone. (I did say I was insanely absent-minded this week, right?)

I offered to drive so Vanessa can drink. We hopped in my car, and I called James via its bluetooth as I pulled out of the garage. “You know what happens when you have GIRLS pick you up, right?” I said, about to apologize for being late. “What? You’re breaking up,” James was able to get out before we lost connection. I figured I’d try again later, but later, I couldn’t pick up the connection again via the car. It kept saying to check phone. And then I realized…I’d left the phone upstairs! The only reason I was able to call from the garage was because my car was able to pick up the connection via bluetooth through the ceiling, which is the floor of where the phone laid. “Screw it,” I said. And then Vanessa reminded me that I’d given everyone on the evite list my cell # for a contact number. CRAP. We were so late I drove to James’, picked him up, dropped them both off at Taps, and then I went back home to get the phone.

…to be continued when Vanessa sends me the photos from the evening. (How’s that for pressure?)

I had a cRaZy day! I’m taking a break from 5 very complicated sentencings to say hello out there to my blogger friends. I’ve got 2 more civil harassment cases to finish up.

Tonight is James’ belated birthday shindig. The weather turned unexpectedly very nice in Southern California today, so we’re gonna grab seats in the giant outdoors patio at Taps Brewery. (It was blue skies and sunshine when I left for the gym at lunch yesterday, but by the time we left the gym, there was a hurricane alert, it was dark and gray and pouring rain sideways in the wind. Leaves, twigs, and pine needles were flying sideways like a brown blizzard. My gym trainee had to throw her body weight against the gym door to open it into the wind, and we almost got blown over when we stepped out. Rain pelted me sideways in the wind so hard that I felt each individual drop, and I was drenched on the right side but not on the left. “Dang! Are we in Oz?” my trainee exclaimed.) The patio has heat lamps and 2 oversized fireplaces, so even if it gets cold we should be fine. Vanessa and I are gonna pick James up at 7:40p for meeting everyone at 8p. That way he can drink to his little heart’s delight. Actually, I can, too. Vanessa can’t, though. Haha. That’s the price of being a good friend, I guess. After we present him with his basket o’ loot, I’ll let you guys guess as to what you think each of the clues referred to, and I’ll give the answers.

I didn’t get to work out at lunch today since I attended a coworker’s retirement banquet instead. Great food! I got to bring Mr. W along as a guest date. That was fun. Obviously I can’t work out late tonight, either, so I’m busting my hump to finish my work and go straight to the gym. The most effective workout I can think of in a small amount of time is running the treadmill, so I’m gonna aim for at least a 3-mile run. As long as I can grab a treadmill, it doesn’t matter how busy the gym is after work hours today. *crossing fingers*

I seem to be insanely absent-minded lately. Earlier in the week, I forgot to put my earrings on after the gym at lunch, and they were dangling on some mesh outside of my gym bag, and by the time I remembered and went to look for the earrings, one was gone. The next day I asked the gym lost-and-found, but no one had turned them in. 🙁 It’s one of my favorite pairs. Actually, I think it IS my favorite pair. It’s a cone-shaped silver dangle with the Celtic trinity knot all over and under it. *sniffle* On the same day I lost the earring, I’d also lost my ID badge, which I wear clipped to the outside of my suit. I know I had it on when I walked from the parking structure to the courthouse, but somehow it disappeared after that. I luckily found it later on the floor of the parking structure. This morning, after stepping out of the shower, I realized I should cut my nails. As I was pressed for time, I cut my right index fingernail first since that’s the finger I use to put on my liquid foundation. I was gonna let the foundation set for 60 seconds (it’s the Revlon Colorstay sets-in-60-seconds foundation) as I was clipping my other fingernails, but after I applied the foundation, I totally forgot to finish clipping my nails so right now I have 9 longish fingernails and 1 short one. Seriously, what is WRONG with me lately? I hope I remember to pick up James tonight.

But no matter how “off” I am this week, at least I didn’t make the dumb decision that one of our defendants was sentenced for today. He went to a salon and got a haircut, asked for recommendations on hair products, brought those to the counter, and instead of paying for the haircut and products, he pulled a gun and stole them as well as the lady’s purse. He probably “saved” about $50 on that spree, but because this is his 2nd strike and he’d used a gun, he was sentenced to 21 years in state prison for that conviction. Score! (Gun enhancements by California law adds 10 years, and 2nd strike doubles the sentence he would’ve gotten for the original count.) He’s only 28, so he’d be in his late 40s when he gets out. My bailiff pointed out to him, “Hey, you’ll be about my age when you get out. There’s still a lot of life left at that age.” The defendant asked my bailiff, really concerned-like, “Do you still have sex?” My bailiff laughed and exclaimed, “ALL the time!” The guy looked relieved.

Okay, back to work. That was a nice little 20 minute break.