After a quick bite to eat and checking into the hotel room. We headed to the store to start the celebration. Sushi was served along with NOS energy drinks and special bearbrick cupcakes…looked so good, but I stayed strong and didn’t eat one.

new game called spot the blogger

Then if off to the O Izakya Lounge to have a couple cocktails and hang out with everyone. It’s always a good time when you’re catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. Good to meet people that I’ve only gotten to know via the blog.

After a much needed rest we headed to the Hella Flush 3 event. The show had a really good turnout with over 150 cars on display and 1500 people attending. The cars were flush and slammed. This meet made me reminisce on the old days of going to shows, where it was about the people just as much as it was about the cars. Great to see everyone and check out some quality cars.

Then it was off to catch my flight back to OC and proceeded directly to the Juxtapoz 15 year anniversary event in Downtown LA. Lowriders on display, food and drinks were free, and about 150 works of art were showcased.

A ton of people came out for this event and half the event stopped to check out the Pacquiao vs. Cotto fight outside on the giant wall.

Vic poses with his “old” baby

After the event we checked out “The Must” in LA, which is a great wine bar. I highly recommend the cauliflower curry soup and mac and cheese.

Sunday came and it was time to relax and watch the Chargers game. Immediately after watching them win their 3rd straight game and finalizing my domination in Fantasy Football (9-1 record) it was off to the Staples Center to go to the Lakers vs. Rockets. Unfortunately, the Lakers blew it in the 2nd half and lost their 2nd in a row, but nonetheless it was still a good time.

The past week or so has been stressful as I’ve been planning a trip for months that now may or may not happen…stay tuned and wish me luck.

For this event I changed things up a bit and wanted to try my hand as a semi-sports journalist so I not only maintained LIVE FD Results, but also did Live FD Blogs complete with images, and killed it on the Tweets…be sure to sign-up for the FD Twitter page for live updates during each event. Not to mention the Super Street article for event coverage that I just completed writing as well.

Congrats to Chris Forsberg for the win, Ryan Tuerck for his 2nd consecutive podium, Ken Gushi for his Top 8 finish in the Scion and beating out champion Tanner Foust, Pat Mordaunt for his consistent driving throughout the weekend and professionalism, and of course Joon Maeng for his highest finish ever with 4th place. Props to Jarod too for what I feel was his best announcing of any FD event that I have been able to listen to…awesome fan interaction. Also to Taka Aono for making his way out East and to everyone that helped support this pioneer of American drifting.

FOX 5 morning news cast…call-time 6am = 3am (PST)


Jose’s pics are just getting better and better each round and he is possibly the best drifting photog out there.

more photos…

The Chateau Elan

The Top 16 Driver Introduction…JR’s Mustang was on fire literally

Scion battle

the crowd

The Lost And Damned, available only via XBOX LIVE. This exclusive new episode will be available February 17, 2009.

My first video game experience I believe was Frogger on the Atari…then it moved onto Nintendo with Super Mario Bros & Zelda…a little gaming with the Sega Genesis…the movie “the Wizard” with Fred Savage…Nintendo 64 and Golden Eye…online gaming with Starcraft in college…then back to Nintendo with the Wii…and now I finally have my own XBOX 360. GTA IV is intense with the graphics and game control. I can see why gamers are hooked and why energy drink companies are so profitable.

Check out the pics from this awesome event…

DJ Skee

Bikes on display fitting with the biker gangs from the game

Estevan, Ben Baller, and DJ Skee

Vic, Yo from Rogue, and Michael (Choc Croc) w/ lady friend

the scene

Statue of Happiness – given away with gift bags

Special Edition GTA IV “Lost and the Damned” XBOX 360…given to a special few

guess who finally got a system

SPEED TV will also be airing a half-hour episode prior to the Super Bowl that will feature the behind-the-scenes and making of the commerical with Rhys. This is set to air on SPEED TV at 8 PM (EST) / 5 PM (PST). For more information visit SPEED’s website.

or if you want to come tonight to my bday party tonight…

I promised myself that I wouldn’t do much work over the break and focus on relaxing and having fun. My Christmas was one of the best ever. I spent Christmas eve day and early evening in San Diego with D’s family and after an amazing dinner and drinks we headed over to my mom’s house for even more food and unwrapping of presents. Somehow my mom every year still gets me socks and underwear. Christmas day is when the real fun happened. D and I sat by my tree and opened presents…and I was surprised (somewhat) with what I got: Wii fit and slip cover, a Tomlinson jersey, and a ticket to the Chargers vs. the Donkeys (Broncos)! I was super excited as this was my first (yes first) time to attend a NFL game and this was the decisive game for both teams to make the Playoffs. It was also time to get redemption against the team that was handed a win by a blind referee earlier in the season.

“D” does the Warrior pose

Going in sequential order…Most of Christmas was spent playing Wii Fit (much needed after all the holiday eating I’ve done) and then heading to my brother’s place to hang out with the rest of the family and watch the Lakers beat Boston! Like I said the best Christmas ever!

Lakers ended the Celtics 19-game win streak and beat them so bad that they lost the next day too…

The day after Christmas everyone got together and we went out to iLounge with DJ Reflex. Possibly the most fun I’ve had at that place.

Reflex spins for Kanye so I figured it appropriate to throw-up the “ROC”.

Saturday night was spent watching the UFC fight with some friends…Blog Re-cap

On Sunday we headed out to San Diego for the game. I booked a room at the Hyatt in Downtown so we didn’t have to make the long journey back home after the night game and so I could get completely drunk along with all the other fans.

View from the hotel…we could see the parade that went on the next day from the window too.

After figuring out the trolley system to get to the stadium. I find out that the seats were pretty damn good. Field Level near the 20 yard line.

It was a packed Qualcomm Stadium

Told you these were good seats

Ahh yeah…

LT broke a record or two that evening and scored 3 TD’s.

After destroying the Donkey’s the Chargers headed into the Playoffs as the AFC West Champs! (spoiler we then went on to beat the Colts last Sunday in overtime!)

The next afternoon was spent in Downtown SD just enjoying the clear weather and shopping around. For dinner I took D and her mom out to one of my favorite restaurants there. The place is called “Candelas” and it’s Mexican Seafood. So good. If you go I highly recommend the 4-cheese soup and the Chilean Sea Bass.

Close to the restaurant we walked by the most modern dry cleaners I have ever seen.

Skipping ahead a few days it was time to celebrate the New Year and what better way to do it than with close friends at our local club Sutra. Sutra has begun their re-model and opened an entirely new area for the evening. Lots of drinking, dancing, and more drinking! The only way to start the New Year.

Gotta love the go-gos

My New Year’s Kiss

I have the funniest video of this drunk guy afterhours being an idiot, but I can not show it as I made a promise not to. If he does manage to piss the right person off again and I get allowed to show it (and he will) I will be sure to post it up for all to see. Teaser: I’ve never seen a grown man cry like that.

For the New Year one of my goals has been to experience life and everything to the fullest. Rather than always drinking and partying (which will still happen) I will manage to also find some culture and experience new things. So in keeping up with my resolution D and I headed out to the Huntington Garden in Pasadena. This place is pretty amazing and despite the cold weather the scenery is just beautiful. Plus with all the walking it was great exercise.

So peaceful and relaxing

Never having traveled to Japan or China it was nice to check out the themed gardens.

The bamboo forest

Dinner in Downtown Pasadena was at a Tapas bar called Bar Celona. Great food and atmosphere and really good happy hour!

With the quality of snow here in Southern California lately I’ve tried to go as much as possible. Snowboarding gets expensive, but so worth it. So to end the holidays we hit up Bear Mountain for some snowboarding action.

Let’s end this long ass blog with an advisory. Don’t get caught in the snow un-prepared, or drive like a jackass, or try to make your sedan a rally car.

Happy New Year everyone!