Aspirations of a Romantic

What are the aspirations of a romantic? What does a romantic aspire to? What are the goals of a romantic?

To love and be loved.

I Love Amazons

I asked the Amazon if I could take her pic. The Amazon graciously assented and I didn't have to tip her. She works for tips posing with the tourist at Mann Chinese Theater. This is the second time I've been overcome by an Amazon.

Since I'm discussing about being overcome, here is some guy being overcome by Metro Security for farebreaking. That's gonna cost you $250.00

Fail. Twice in a Row. Last Chance.

I took the DMV Motorcycle Exam at the Montebello DMV. Why Montebello? Compare it to the other DMVs and the answer is obvious.

I failed the DMV Motorcycle Exam twice in a row. They gave me one last chance. A copy of the third try for your viewing.

I am honored to have the privilege to live fast, die hard, and leave a beautiful corpse.

Second Chance to be Shogo Yahagi.

Ride Rite allows you to retake the motorcycle skills test the following weekend. Why did I choose a weekend with rain? I didn't even have the proper motorcycle riding rain gear. I am such a noob (this will be my 3rd day on a motorcycle). I had on a white undershirt, long sleeve Champion lycra shirt, Addidas Munster Rugby track jacket, and over all that a Carhartt black jacket, and blue jeans. I also had on my Smith and Wesson service boots. The rain soaked my Carhartt jacket, but not the Addidas track jacket, my jeans were completely soaked through. My ass was wet for the better part of the day. My socks got wet and of course so did my feet. This was not one of those warm rains. It was a chill (for an Angeleno) bitter rain.

One of the better conditions to retake the motorcycle skills test? I think not. The rains made the parking lot surface slick. The skills test would be more difficult and tricky.

The first skills test was the dreaded execute a figure 8 in the box maneuver followed by the swerve the obstacle skills test. They had allowed us to practice and I would always put a foot on the ground or rode the motorcycle off the boundary lines.

When the test came I executed the figure 8 without putting a foot on the ground or riding the motorcycle out of the boundary lines. The swerve maneuver was a cinch because I love doing the quick press to the right with a quick press to the left.

We waited in line to do the quick stop maneuver as the other students were completing the dreaded figure 8 in the box maneuver. Just to notch up our collective nervousness, one of us got into an accident. There was a indication something might go wrong when the pretty Russian girl from the OC suddenly gave her motorcycle to much throttle and it bolted out of the box and careened wildly toward the fence but fortunately she managed to break in time. The instructors gave her another restart. She coasted into the box executed her U-turn then as she was about to do her S-turn she again gave it too much gas and her motorcycle bolted from the box and towards the line students on their motorcycles. She took out one of motorcycles, fortunately the student who was on his motorcycle quickly jumped off. He avoided the impact. The girl and the 2 motorcycles went down. I ran to the scene of the accident. She was on the ground sitting up, hands to her face, someone hit the kill switch on the bike since the wheels were still spinning. A crazy scene. Instructors, and students cleaned up and we got back to testing.

We all did the quick stop test, and the cornering test. At the end of the tests everybody passed except for the Russian girl. The instructors/examiners let us look at our scores or rather the points we were assessed.

I saw name, ran my fingers down the column, to the square tally box at the bottom. It was blank. Zero points, no points assessed. Totally perfect. I was doing a fist pump or a Tommy Smith and John Carlos raised fist in the air mental celebration. Kicked ass over last weekend; from zero to hero. I get to follow in my anime hero's footstep.

Halloween 2011

I dressed as a LOLCat for work. The company I work for is in the insurance industry. Most of the people didn't know what a LOLCat is. The 10% tipping point for LOLCats meme to be popular amongst people working in the insurance industry has not been reached. The knowledge of the LOLCat meme could be demarked by which department you were working in. If you were in the IT department or sales and marketing you generally knew what a LOLCat was. If you worked in the Accounting Dept you were clueless.

After work, I joined my friend Mark and his cohorts, who were hosting a Haunted Maze to scare the bajeezus out of his neighbors and any adventurous curiosity seekers.

Dreaming of Being Shogo Yahagi; Anime and It Influence

Shogo Yahagi is a motorcycle enthusiast and protagonist in the anime: Megazone 23. This anime has long influenced me but I've been suppressing its influence. How long have I repressed being a motorcycle enthusiast, since June 15, 1985.


I finally took a motorcycling riding course. Ride Rite, Inc. provided the instruction at the West Valley Occupational College. There is classroom instruction and motorcycle riding training on the campus parking lot. The training culminates in a motorcycle riding skills test. Upon passing the motorcycle riding skills test they'll mail a certificate and the CA DMV motorcycle riding skills test will not need to be taken. All that's needed is to obtain a motorcycle license is to pass the CA DMV motorcycle written test.

The motorcycle I used was the white Honda Rebel in the background.
The motorcycle riding skills test:

The dreaded figure 8 in the box skills test:
Ride the motorcycle within the boxed lines. Execute a u-turn, then perform an S-turn and execute another u-turn at the other end of the box. Points will be assessed if you go out of bounds or put a foot down.

Four skills are tested. Points will be assessed for failing to execute the skills properly. If you go over 20 points you have failed the motorcycle skills test.

I failed the motorcycle skills test. On the dreaded figure 8 test, I got points when I put a foot down. On the quick stop test, I got points for failing to stop within the required braking distance. On the cornering test, I was assessed maximum points for failing to use both brakes prior to entering the turn and going out of boundary of lines when cornering the turn.

So much for being Shogo Yahagi.

Secret Stairs 5 - Lost in Mount Washington part 2

Lost but the scenery.