Around the Horn: Car Crash Tales

  • March 11, 2013 2:58 pm

Last week I got into my very first car accident ever…and it was my fault. I was rushing to meet some friends for dinner and turned into Han from Fast and Furious and drifted out of the parking lot and onto dinner. As the light turned green at an intersection I was behind an SUV that started to take off. As I gassed the pedal, I took my eyes off the road for a second and next thing you know the guy hit his brake for some reason and I went straight into his back bumper. If I was an observer, I would have probably thought what’s wrong with this idiot. Yes, this idiot being me. Since this was technically my first time in a car accident, I was a little flustered for a second. What do I do? Was it his fault? I actually had a moment where I could have taken off and he would have never caught up to me while we were both pulling into a Ralph’s parking lot. But something inside me thought I had to do the right thing. So I proceeded to pull over and face the consequences. I debated in my head whether to be the guy who would blame everything on the other guy since you’re never suppose to admit fault at an accident. But what I did was a pretty boneheaded move and I just made sure the other guy wasn’t harmed. Luckily, the guy was ok and even though his bumper was bent down, he wasn’t tripping about it since his car was already in such bad shape. He said to me, if I can bend it back up then don’t worry about it. I was quite surprise especially since I live in the land of people suing each other and thought he would definitely want something. But oddly he didn’t care enough. That night alotta things were running through my head like I need to take my time driving and I need to get my own brakes checked. But mostly what ran through my head was how lucky I came out of that situation. Was it because I didn’t drive off? Was it because I was just honest about the whole situation and didn’t try to escalate it? Or am I truly just a happy-go-lucky person? I rather just like to think that everything happens for a reason.

Do you remember the first time you got into a car accident whether it was your fault or not? Did you learn anything from the experience?

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Around the Horn: A Hairy Situation

  • November 27, 2012 11:27 pm

Since it’s winter, I usually keep my hair a little longer than my usual shaved head. I think the last time I paid for a real haircut at the barber shop was in middle school. So a few weeks ago when I had to go to a wedding reception, I decided to visit the barber’s chair. I first found out it wasn’t $6 for a haircut anymore. It was a whopping $14. There’s a lot of things I could do for $14 like a good steak dinner or even a movie or three (movie hopping). But looking clean cut was more important at the moment. And to help hide those grey hairs. But the second thing I realized sitting there in the chair was how hard it was to find someone who could perfectly cut the hair the way you want it. My odd shaped football head was quite the challenge. And after 10-15 minutes using a shaver and comb to do a fade, then explaining how my lumpy head works, to finally having her just shave my head clean, I realized this was a completely bad idea. So a few lessons were learned from this experience. One, don’t be bold on some random barber and just go with the norm on important events where there’s cute single girls. And two, I’ve probably saved thousands of dollars with my $20 clippers I bought in middle school.When’s the last time you tried a new hairdo? Was it a great experience or the worst decision ever?  Read more...

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Navy Stories: Random Steak House

  • November 12, 2012 4:37 pm

Back around 2001, our ship was stopped over in an undisclosed location loading up tomahawk missiles. We were about a month or two away from deploying to the Persian Gulf. This would be my second time going. By that point, life sucked ass. I was almost 21 and my innocent childhood was long gone. My motivation for the military and my constant thought of regret weighed heavy on my heart while my buddies who went to college were out partying with cute girls every night. Even the week prior, there were protesters outside our base that bombed my truck with tomatoes as I drove into duty. Sorry people, I don’t really make decisions about war. But the thought of leaving for another six months had me at an all time low. This wasn’t summer camp. We finished loading up the tomahawks and I had the night off so a few buddies and I decided to say, fuck ship food and grabbed a taxi.
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Around the Horn: Movin’ On Up Edition

  • July 23, 2012 8:30 pm

Moving to a new apartment or house can be a great feeling. Finding the right location and getting a bigger place can give you a fresh new start on life. But moving out of the place you lived at for the past eight years sucks big pie hole. Sorting through old junk you randomly bought off ebay, finding weird boxes under your bed, or how dust collects in your room got me thinking, Damn I’m a messy motherf’er. But for the first time in my life I’m going to be living on my own. No more roommates, totally solo. All the mess will be mine. All the unclean dishes will be mine. And all the hair thingys stuck in the shower drain will be mine…but I don’t have much hair, ahem. And I think it’s finally the right time. Hopefully I don’t become super lazy and watch Breaking Bad all day. It’s going to be an odd feeling. Hopefully I learn alot about myself. Maybe it’ll force me to go out more. I’m going to try to cook a little more. Maybe be healthier. Or maybe I’ll get a dog and we can be best pals for life. I dunno. Only time will tell.

My question this week for you Offenders is when did you finally live on your own, roommate free, and what did you learn about yourself? Any advice for me as I start a new chapter in life?

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Around the Horn: Winning the Lotto Edition

  • April 2, 2012 11:18 pm

ANSON: I remember when I was about 10 years old and my Dad used to always let me pick the lotto numbers for him. Every week we would go and walk to the liquor store near our house and I would fill in the bubbles of my favorite numbers. Birthday dates, pager codes, sometimes I used favorite sports icon jersey numbers like Will Clark or Michael Jordan. One time, I actually hit four numbers and won around $80. It wasn’t millions but it was definitely something more than what I had with my mini baseball card collection. My dad gave me half of the winnings. I was sorta pissed actually because I thought I’d deserve the whole thing. But when it came time to decide what to do with my $40, I went out and bought a bunch of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figures. I was the coolest kid in my school for a few days with my new toys. I know it wasn’t like millions where you would obviously buy a home or even an island. But if you only won just a small amount from the Lotto, like $200, what would be the first thing you for sure would treat yourself to?  Read more...

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Car Tal…I mean “Car Discussion 3″ w/Sung Kang aka Han from “Fast & Furious”

  • February 2, 2012 8:20 am

What’s up good people of the World?  Happy we can share with you all the 3rd installment of Car Tal…I mean Car Discussion (plus the revamp of Car Talk Car Discussion Episode 2 with my good friend Tyrese). We got some flack from Car Talk so we had to change the title from Car Talk to Car Discussion.  The Car Talk from NPR sent lawyers after us saying Car Talk is the title of their show and legally we can’t call our show Car Talk, because Car Talk has been around longer than our Car Talk.  So we needed to change our Car Talk to another name that doesn’t sound like their show Car Talk.  So we decided to change our show from Car Talk to Car Discussion.  Hopefully now Car Talk will not be upset at our Car Talk, I mean Car Discussion.  It’s all very confusing so hopefully Car Talk 3, I mean Car Discussion will clarify everything.

Car Talk Discussion 2 (w/Special Guest Tyrese):

Car Talk Discussion 3:

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Why I Love China

  • January 30, 2012 6:00 am


In honor of Chinese New Years, I recalled back to memories of my last trip to China in early 2011. It was one of my most daring backpacking trips in my life to say the least. I decided to start in the top left corner of China near the “stan” countries and just train my way back to Hong Kong. Did I mention I don’t speak Mandarin. I went from bagless to homeless to underwearless in the first week. But with those struggles, I met some cool locals. Also on my trip, I met up with one of my childhood buddies and toured Tibet and a few cities like Chengdu and Chongqing. We did so much karaoking that we decided we had to make our own karaoke video about why we love China so much. So I am embarrassed to say, here’s my singing debut. Gung Hay Fat Choy everyone!!!

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So Sorry–Sung Kang’s ‘Car Talk’ Apology

  • January 19, 2012 9:53 am

Got a letter from the attorney of NPR’s show Car Talk saying that we have to take down “Car Talk Car Discussion with Sung Kang aka Han from Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift” because of legal blah blah blah. So we made this video to apologize (along with the censored edited new version of episode 1). As my mother would say, ME SO SORREEE!

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Around the Horn: Should I Occupy?

  • November 28, 2011 1:20 pm
I was asked the other week to join the Occupy Veterans protest down on Wilshire blvd in Westwood. The cause they were fighting for were concerns such as homelessness and unemployment within the Veterans community. Slightly different than the normal Occupy Wall Street concerns but still the same. The notice also said to be prepared to camp for more than a week’s time and to be arrested. I guess being arrested would solve the homelessness problem but that’s beside the point. But because I’m a veteran, was I suppose to oblige and bring my tent? Are people in general suppose to band together and join the demonstrations too? With the start of Occupy Wall Street back in September as a peaceful demonstration to what happened now at UC Davis with the police pepper spraying students for no reason, are all these protests and demonstrations truly doing anything? Or are we witnessing the start of something?

An expert (my stoner friend) was explaining to me his theory about the pendulum swing. He explains the last time we’ve had these kinds of demonstrations and people expressing the unfairness was back in the 60’s. And back then, the protests became so big and effective enough, there was change and progress. But it was only a quick fix to alleviate the chaos and over time things swung back to be more conservative and then finally more authoritarian. So are these demonstrations starting with Occupy Wall Street powerful enough to be effective? I haven’t heard Obama or anyone from the government acknowledge any of these movements. Do people like you and me even feel like its worth taking part of any demonstrations especially since the law enforcement are more likely to take shooting practice with their rubber bullets and pepper spray? Or should we be out there, arms locked, and fighting against social and economic inequality?  Read more...

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BJ – Xining, Qinghai, China

  • June 15, 2011 7:16 pm

If you ever get a chance, visit Xining, China in the Qinghai province. That’s Xining (she-ning) in Qinghai (ching-high) province in China (chai-na). It definitely ranked in the top three places I saw while roaming around the motherland. Like all cities in China unfortunately, it is rapidly growing in economy, population, and hundreds of skyscrapers. But because its becoming the hub city for outdoor adventures in China. more people are discovering this city. And its probably the closest place to experience Tibet without going there. Of course, most don’t know the Qinghai province (along with Sichuan or as you would say Szechuan) use to belong to Tibet. But China and all her glory keep that under wraps pretty good.

But back to the city Xining which is located 2200m above sea level. Yup, that’s right. This city will give you lungs of a dragon. I bunked it at the Lete Youth Hostel (100 RMB/ $14 a night) located in the penthouse of this seventeen story building. Every morning I woke up to ridiculous speaker-breaking music across the road in a park called Li Yu Chang. Of course you remember this story about some of my Asian peeps playing music and pissing off the neighbors in New York. Well this is kinda like it but in mass proportions. I assumed since it was Sunday, this was a weekend thing. But asking my new friends at the guesthouse, they told me it was an everyday thing. The first thing I thought was, Damn sucks to live in this building. But the next thing that came to mind was, Tomorrow morning, I’m out there with my new camera.

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What Does a Flag at Half Mast Mean?

  • May 30, 2011 12:59 pm

Today is a day of remembrance of all the fallen soldiers who sacrificed their lives for this country’s freedom. A symbol of that freedom is always reminded by looking at the American flag. It might not have meant much when I was younger other than a morning right-hand-over-heart pledge of allegiance. But serving in the military for six years, traveling to other countries and seeing the difference between America and other countries, I realized how fortunate we have it here. I remember one of the stressful but satisfying ceremonies to perform on the ship is raising and lower the flag. Most people probably will notice all the American flags at half staff (or half mast if you are on a ship) today. As a sailor, I always wondered what it meant. I knew the country would fly it at half mast on a holiday like today or a day like for the Pearl Harbor attack. Even when a worldwide disaster happens like the tsunami or even a national massacre such as Virgina Tech, we will fly our flag at half mast for respect for the lost. But what does it really mean? Lemme explain more and how to properly raise and lower a flag.

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I’m Still Alive

  • May 18, 2011 8:39 pm

oh man, it feels good to be back in the USofA. Two months without Mexican food can drive a man crazy. I was forced to go dark for awhile because I think the Ch i n ese government was on to me. I’ll admit, I was a bit frighten when my emails started getting lost or when people started warning me about what I say while I was there especially in Tibet. There were very recent accounts of kidnapping of bloggers in Shanghai which didn’t show the better side of the motherland. Poof, you disappear. Therefore I decided to stop all emails, blogs, or any communications until I was safely out of Chi na. And now that I’m out, I can say anything I want. Speak my mind freely. But I might still go under an alias like Manson.

Before I start catching up about my BJ travels (in blogs to come), so many turn of events took place in the few months I was away. Is 2012 really coming? I guess its good that I know my way around Tibet now. Japan’s tsunami showed again how powerful nature can be, missed the entire March Madness, Middle East revolutions created a stir/party in the world, Barry Bonds doesn’t have to wear a new orange uniform while LA Dodger fans are more scarier than I thought, Obama bombs Libya, then Bin Laden goes for a swim call, but most importantly, Car Talk 2 was released with great feedback and Fast Five made a shitload of money. Did I miss anything? Seems such a long time ago I came to visit on set.  Read more...

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