Do you have an unfulfilled obsession?

I’m not sure if it’s rare or common, but I’m curious how many of you have an unfulfilled obsession – something that you just love terribly and think about all the time but have not allowed yourself to fully experience or express.

So what’s your unfulfilled obsession (if you even have one)?  I’m not talking fantasy, btw.  I’m talking about something real and of this earth.  Something that you absolutely love, but for some reason, have intentionally or unintentionally postponed.

I’ll tell you mine – sports cars.

me likes long time

I have always wanted a sports car.  I’ve passionately wanted one ever since I was 13.  It fills me with deepest joy.  But I have never bought, leased, or owned a sports car.  It makes no sense at all.  Given all the time I have spent reading about, fantasizing over, and just plain dreaming of sports cars, you’d think I would have gotten one by now.  But I have not.

I have owned 4 cars in my life.  They are…

1) 1987 Honda Accord LX – a hand-me-down from my big sister
2) 1992 Honda Accord EX – i got it with a manual transmission to make it/me feel more sporty.  it did not work
3) 2004 Acura TSX –  it’s basically a Honda Accord with leather and a chopped off butt.
4) 2011 Honda Odyssey Minivan – it’s essentially a Honda Accord after a few rounds of steroids.  i had to trade in my penis to buy it.

the evolution of a dream started with this...

...and then evolved into this...

...morphed into this...

...and has ultimately become this. my final destination?

So, there you go – no sports car.  In 1987 I didn’t have a choice.  I was still in high school and had $300 to my name.  So though I really wanted a Nissan 300Z, I had to settle for my sister’s hand-me-down.  In 1992, I was in college and had only $1,500 to my name.  So after threatening my parents that I’d buy a motorcycle to get to and from my banking internship, we agreed that a Honda Accord was the safer option.  I liquidated my life savings of $1,500 for it.  I still wanted the Nissan 300Z though.  When I suggested that as an option, my parents hit me with a rattan cane until I said, “Honda Accord please.”  In 2004 I was 9 years into my acting career, living quite frugally, and saving diligently to buy my first home.  Though I wanted a BMW M3, I settled for the more logical/affordable option – a Honda Accord with leather (aka Acura TSX).  It was the right thing to do – the asian thing to do.  In 2011 I found myself married with 2 babies, possessing cars far too small for my expanding household, and saving yet again for my 2nd home more fit for a growing family.  I really wanted that BMW M3 but the interior and trunk space was smaller than any of my Honda’s of past.  So what did I do?  I yet again did the logical/affordable/asian thing and got the Honda Accord of minivans – a Honda Odyssey.  Ironically it is the nicest car I have ever owned.

I’ve always wanted a sports car.  It is my greatest unfulfilled obsession.  Hopefully some day I can afford to be less practical, less asian, and have the balls to pull the trigger on something Fast&Furious.  Speaking of Fast&Furious…

get me this, Justin. pretty please with Han on top...

Justin (Lin), if you can somehow manage an accounting error on Fast 6 and leave a car or two unaccounted for, that would be rad.  BMW M3 or Porsche 911 Turbo S please.  Oh screw the M3.  Let’s go whole hog.  Porsche 911 Turbo S only.  2012 spec if possible.  But I can live with a 2011.  I thanks you in advance.

What’s your unfulfilled obsession?

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QUENTIN:  If you don’t know it by now… I’m obsessed with horror movies. It was a teenage obsession that has carried into my adulthood. I remember my favorite past time in college was checking out three to four horror films on a Friday night and watched them all by myself. In high school, the first thing I’d do on a Friday night was to go downtown and watch a horror movie by myself. I hated watching a horror movie with other people because usually they would not get it or wouldn’t want to watch it. Every time I read a horror script I’ll tell the writer that that death scene has been done in that horror film in the 80s. Within horror, I was obsessed with Dario Argento who had a true flare with the slasher genre. He has made the slasher genre so lush, beautiful and romantic. So I’m obviously looking forward to Dracula 3-D even though I don’t have too high expectations as his last few films were really just okay. But I guess I’m still obsessed with Argento because talking about him makes me feel excited!

Of course my obsession won’t be fulfilled until I make a horror film myself.

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DHH:  I’m obsessed with U.S. Presidential politics, and have been ever since I was a kid.  I remember being 10 years old in 1968, staying up past midnight to get the results of the California primary, and watching Robert F. Kennedy deliver his victory speech:

Then I woke up the next morning to headlines that RFK had been assassinated just minutes later.  Something about the garish and unruly ritual through which we Americans choose our leader has always been fascinating and, yes, moving to me.  Even the current Presidential primaries, in my view a freak show of right-wing extremists and low IQ’s, captivates me with its dramatic reversals and shifting strategies.  I volunteered for McGovern in ‘72 before I could vote, attended Democratic Conventions in ‘92 and ‘96, and served as Honorary Co-Chair of APA’s for Clinton-Gore.  But I’ll never run for office, since I’ve learned that doing so primarily involves asking lots of people for lots of money.  Still, I think I’ll always be the political equivalent of that guy watching the Big Game from his La-Z-Boy, cold beer in hand.

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ANDERSON:  My unfulfilled obsession is to be in a band. A rock band. I don’t play guitar nor drums, but I would love to learn how to play and jam. Maybe that’s why I am such a big karaoke junkie because I am channeling that urge into music performance. Man, I gotta learn to play the guitar and I don’t mean GUITAR HERO!

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SUNG:  My unfulfilled obsession is ‘Double eyelid surgery’.  WTF, you say?!  Yes, I always wondered what I would look like with this surgery.

When I start to feel insecure on those cold lonely nights I stare at my face and wonder how life would be different with bigger eyes.  Then I think about all my friends talking shit behind my back and move on.  Thanks for keeping me real friends.

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ALFREDO:  to be a great striker for Real Madrid (yes, yes, I know Barcelona is the better team overall, and comprised of none of the divas and crybabies and streaky players of Madrid), but I was born in Madrid to a Spanish father, and I had two choices as a kid when it came to soccer: love it, or really, really love it.

So I played AYSO youth soccer in LA, and always asked to be a defender.  I didn’t want the forward’s pressure to score, or the even greater pressure of being a goalie (there’s a reason Peter Handke wrote a popular novella called “The Goalie’s Anxiety At The Penalty Kick,” which Wim Wenders adapted into a movie – because it’s freakin’ true!!).

As a defender, I could wait in the shadows and just kick the ball away from my side as hard as I could.

But now, as I watch my son Gabriel – whose two favorite positions are forward and goalie – put in goals and block shots, I want to rewind the clock.  I want to find some dads’ intramural team and go out there and kick ass as a forward.

And just once I want to slam that ball with my right foot and have it flamethrower past the goalie’s fingertips and into the back of the net.

My victory dance would be modest – a drop to the knees in disbelief, followed by a big group hug with my team mates.  That would be nice.

P.S. Sung, unless I’m mistaken, you just starred in Fast 5 and had a former Ms. Universe contestant sitting on your lap – so shut the f*%k up and get a real problem!!  Hugs and kisses, A

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EMMIE:  Yes, Sung, can you please do something about your face??  You’re incredibly difficult to look at.

I KID, you know you’re beautiful.  Sung = gorgeous!!  Now stop.

My unfulfilled thing is music (piano/voice).  I was into it for many years, ignored it for a long time, and am now easing back into it.

I also love fun physical violence – specifically, punching and hitting things and people (who are relatively well-protected)(depending on your definition of relatively)(just kidding, I am too wimpy to hurt anyone).  I briefly tried krav maga, jujitsu, eskrima and boxing.  I loved the first three (and not so much boxing, b/c I got my ass kicked every time).  I got an eye injury that put an end to it all, but as soon as Amazon starts selling replacement body parts, I’m back in.  I love punching things!

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PHILIP:  I might have obsessions but not sure if any of them are unfulfilled. Let me think…hmm…how about this–being ravished by two dozen beautiful women while the 1972 line-up of the Stones plays a private concert and an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet with a magical ingredient that keeps you from getting fat is thrown in for good measure? Now that’s an obsession I can get behind.

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IRIS:  I have an obsession with houses and sometimes think I would like to be a flipper.  I often peruse the house listing site, Redfin, looking at possible good deals, even if I don’t actually have the investment money, or go to open houses just to be a lookie-loo.  I also love looking at design magazines, HGTV and modern house tours.  But realistically, thinking back on what a pain it was just to remodel our kitchen, how much investment money it takes, and the fact that I have no background in design, I doubt that this will ever become a reality.

Emmie, I will make sure not to get on your bad side…

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JUSTIN:  Mr. Fan, the production cars are all yours after we’re done filming if you don’t mind them being a little crushed.

My unfulfilled obsessions are too many to count.  They all usually have some sort of challenge/’building from ground up’ element attached– whether it’s owning a basketball team, invent something where people actually want to buy, or opening a fast food chain where all the employees are profit participants.  Of course they are all out of reach at this moment and I’m working towards them.  But I guess the one unfulfilled obsession I can do now if I want to is directing a porn film that has a great storyline and acting.  This might not be the most original obsession and it’s probably a residue of my teenage years but it’s a hard challenge nonetheless (pun kind of intended).  I know, I know… I’ve heard that I’m already doing that now but with cars and to a certain degree I can’t say I disagree.  But it’s a lot easier to crush the cars than to get a good performance in a sex scene.  So why not do it now?  First of all, I’m a little busy.  But if I get a group of talented actors who will fully commit, I’m in.  What do you say Mr. Fan?

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ANSON:  I’m with Anderson on this one. I use to play in a band all through high school. but stopped playing after going into the military. I was the bass guitar and eventually taught myself how to jam on the drums. It was my first introduction to a different side of music. All I ever listened to was R&B like New Edition, Bel Biv Devoe, and such. But when my friends from church invited me to play with them, I started to love REM, Stone Temple Pilots, and Green Day with so much passion. I was probably one of the only kids in my circle of friends who just wanted to slap the bass…slappin the bass…you know…slappin the bass!

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ELAINE:  I’ve had a number of unfulfilled obsessions over the years but sometimes when to trying fulfill them, the novelty would often wear off (eg: learning how to be a pastry chef and then, teaching myself how to play guitar which only led me to just a few chords of Nirvana’s ‘Come As You Are’).  And in some instances, my obsessions would just get me bitched slapped by reality.  For example, after watching tons of Shaw Bros., Bruce Lee and Jet Li movies as a kid, I was determined to learn martial arts.  Mind you, I didn’t actually fulfill this obsession as a kid but as an adult when I was hoping to make up for lost time and missed opportunities in my youth.  I did some research and had to make a critical choice between committing myself to the way of Bruce Lee (jeet kun do or wing chun) or the way of Jet Li (wushu).  Because I realized that learning the art of self defense would not do me much good in LA where I’d probably get held up by gun point anyways, I decided to just go for whatever was cooler looking and would help me learn to fly like Bridget Lin in Swordsman 2.  So naturally, I picked wushu which is basically gymnastics meets dance with swords.

Admittedly, I got addicted for a few years, was inspired by a great teacher who was a former member of the Beijing Wushu team and was sucked into the insane routines and training.  I didn’t care that my pants barely fit me anymore as a result of daily horse stances and jumps that turned me into the female Incredible Hulk.  But after several punishing years of training, I hit a threshold.  I realized that I’d never overcome the limits of gravity and my lack of natural ability to pull off the more advanced moves, unless I dedicated myself to a proper Communist Chinese regimen and stretched and conditioned 24/7.  And if I half-assed my training, I’d probably get injured badly trying to do stuff that the other much younger practioners pulled off like it was nothing.  So, I gave it up and resigned myself to the LA workout of yoga, pilates, and spinning.  Super boring and lame, but my body thanks me for not torturing it further.  Not sure what the next unfulfilled obsession on the horizon might be but I have always been intrigued with rock climbing.  The solitary, zen-like discipline, the fear factor, the primal survival element of it… It may be the stupidest thing for me to try especially given how out of shape I am, but ignorance can be bliss…