On another note...

About a month and a half ago, I somehow found and joined an online game, where I try my luck at the airline business against 350 other real human competitors. (I mentioned this game a few times over on my novel blog, as this was done partly to enhance my understanding of the airline industry, therefore making my protagonist's work environment a bit more realistic.)

The game works as follows. I must pay a small amount to enter a game, which starts on June 1, 1992 and ends on June 1, 2005. Each game day lasts 25 minutes in real time. I may set up my hub at any airport in the world, but all my flights must start/end there. I may continue flying from my destination to a second destination, but from that point on, I must return home, either nonstop or through the first destination. (I may also make a very long flight with one refueling stop, but in that case, I cannot fly to a second destination.) I have 4 million US dollars of startup capital. My first plane will join my fleet immediately, but all other airplanes will require two weeks of preparation (if used) or a lengthy wait in the production queue (if new). I have customization options, including staffing levels, advertising, aircraft seating configuration, fare levels, and more. There is even a message board system where I can discuss strategies with fellow players, issue "press releases" regarding my airline, and more.

I joined a bit late - May 6th, 1993. I had wanted to set up my airline in Hong Kong, but due to a strong competitor there already, settled for Seoul Incheon, home to a cut-rate airline. (Incheon didn't even exist until 2001, but for some reason, this game has Incheon available in 1992.) My airline was named Mercy Airlines in English, and its name in Chinese script translates to "Kwan Shih Yin Airlines." Yes, I decided to take my transgender matron saint right into the game. I started with an 8-year-old Boeing 737-300 seating 118 passengers, and after gathering a small fleet of mostly junk airplanes and establishing some key routes, immediately started upgrading my fleet. At that point, my best plane was a 20-year-old Boeing 727, whose annual check would've been expensive enough to drive me to bankruptcy! By 1995, I had a fairly newish 35-aircraft fleet, killed off my high-maintenance competitor, and started flying some cash-cow routes, including a one-stop service to Orlando. In 1996, I even got to acquire 17 Boeing 777s, the newest and greatest airplane available at the time.

Now, it's late 1999. I now operate a fleet of 143 aircraft, owning at least 10 of them outright to cut costs. I own a further 8 aircraft which are leased out to other airlines. I have dozens of new planes on order, and will be the first to fly the Boeing 767-400 (in 2000) and the Embraer 170 (in 2004). My planes are spreading the spirit of Kwan Yin to countless destinations on every continent except Antarctica. My service ratings are top-notch, thanks to my young fleet (average age of just over 3 years), on-time performance, and most importantly, generous pay and benefits for my employees. I practically let my unions write their own paychecks via an automatic setting - and that has kept my labor costs high, but my staff motivated at 100% morale. Competing against airlines of lesser ratings, I can charge higher fares, still steal customers via my superior reputation, and eventually drive the competitors (whose older planes cost more to run) out. I was even invited into an alliance (I got the invitation back when I only had 12 junk planes), so I get to share tips and strategies with alliance partners, all of whom are at least as well-run as I am.

Up until recently, I've run Mercy Airlines as a strict virtual business, concentrating on profit margins. I took the mercy and compassion of Kwan Yin into all aspects of my operations, which trimmed my profit margins at first but eventually paid off in better reputation and higher profitability. But now, I am starting to change this - and I am starting to turn Mercy into a bit of a political statement (though I am not using any labels, such as "liberal" or "conservative," much less political party names, and I am certainly never using any real person's names, except for a single minor reference to President Bill Clinton).

Chasing profits, I even fly to some real hellholes, including Tehran and Kabul, and make good money in those places. I won't touch those flights for now, even though flying into Kabul in 1999 is probably sucking up to the Taliban. But I will make my beliefs known in other places:

• First, I launched small-scale services to San Francisco, even though I have an alliance partner based there who already oversupplies the route. I did that partly to come up with an excuse for banning discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation at Mercy Airlines - which I did, via a "press release," in 1997, and would've been an unprecedented first for a South Korean corporation.
• Second, also through "press releases," I've been stepping up my criticism of the South Korean government for giving preferential treatment to my foreign competitors, who indeed use predatory tactics at my hub that are allowed in the game but never allowed in real life. Such tactics include scheduling 8 flights to depart to the same destination at the exact same time daily. And yes, South Korea's government, be it run by 2MB, Roh Moo-hyun, or anyone else of any political persuasion, tends to stiff its own subjects in favor of foreign powers, and I want that to be known (while painting myself and the staff of Mercy Airlines as the allies of the Korean people). I painted the right-wing Kim Young-sam government as a puppet of the Moonies and the US Republicans, and just to be fair, I am painting leftist Kim Dae-jung (the President in 1999) as a puppet of the Chinese Communists. When Roh Moo-hyun comes in in 2003, I'll certainly blast his political vendettas and anti-business policies. Too bad I don't get to play past 2005, and blast 2MB and his treasonous behavior come 2008.
• Third, I am actually starting to redraw my route map. To fight back against predatory Chinese airlines, I am running flights from Beijing and Hong Kong to London, and the 747s that will get it done will join my fleet in a few more hours of real life. But more importantly, I am fed up with the theocracy in Los Angeles in real life, so I will pull out my profitable Los Angeles flights. Sure, it's not 2000 yet, so Proposition 22 is cleared for the ballot - but hasn't been voted on yet. But I won't wait until March 2000, and its passage, to pull my flights out of Los Angeles. I have nine weekly flights to Los Angeles, but the planes can just as well serve Seattle and Vancouver, where I already run lots of flights but still have room to grow. I won't touch San Francisco, as dumping more flights there only hurts my partner, and San Francisco is part of the problem too. I'll also have some choice comments on the Korean-Americans, their support of Proposition 22 (and the impeachment of Bill Clinton and the George W. Bush presidential ticket), and my decision to discontinue my service to them. Once the Los Angeles pullout is done, I could probably free my Kabul and Tehran flights to serve saner markets too. These moves will hurt my profits, but I do need to make my statements even at significant cost.
• Fourth, I run a sizable operation to Latin America. Mexico City is nonstop, while Lima is served with a refueling stop in Ontario in Southern California, and Caracas is served with an Anchorage refueling stop. As part of my Los Angeles pullout, Lima refueling stop will be transferred to Oakland. I'll certainly never serve the likes of Guatemala City, San Salvador, and Managua - they probably don't have enough demand to support my service anyway. Similarly, I'm staying out of the most problematic places on other continents, even though they can generate money for me. Forget about ever seeing Mercy planes in Warsaw, Harare, Kingston, or Riyadh. Sure, Caracas could be considered "problematic" too, but as it's only 1999 for now, I'll take a "wait-and-see" attitude toward Hugo Chavez, and will maintain my Caracas presence through the end of the game.

I'm loving the fact that I can transfer my economic philosophy into this simulation, and see results against other approaches by other players. And while at it, I learn enough about the airline industry to help out with my novel, and even get to make a few thinly veiled political statements.

Now, I need to go back to my game, so that I can pull out of Southern California and other theocracies. I also have three A320s and three 767s coming in anytime now, which must be assigned schedules. I need to not only add new destinations, but fight back against the predatory Chinese competitors, whose phenomenal growth is fueled by huge demands within the Chinese domestic market, an advantage I'll never enjoy in Seoul.

UPDATE After another day in real time, I've gone through my intentions. I am no longer flying to Los Angeles and Kabul, though I am hanging on to Tehran, to let President Khatami get a chance to fix things. I decided to launch a new service to Boston in the meantime. In the meantime, rising fuel prices are starting to choke me, so I've grounded some inefficient planes and routed others into super-lucrative Japanese domestic runs (even though I lose money getting my planes into Japan in the first place, revenue within Japan more than makes up for it). And speaking of Los Angeles, the route was picked up by a competitor based in Amsterdam - very apt, because Amsterdam, just like Los Angeles, is a mess thanks to reactionary immigrants (and the white liberal political correctness).

Car update and a few more items

There have been a few more updates with Gwaneum One.

First, the vanity plate finally arrived, and now, I drive the freeways of the Southern California Catholic theocracy carrying the spirits of my matron saint.

Second, I now have 4,000 miles on the car - and even though the manufacturer's schedule calls for the first oil change at 7,500, I decided to do it a bit early, as a prudence measure. The dealership did it today - and I'll let the dealership do most of the work on my car, at least while the warranty is in effect, if only to build a relationship that will come in handy should a major repair or warranty work ever become necessary.

Third, I somehow ended up driving the car really hard today. I think I finally hit the limits today. While Gwaneum One handles well, I *can* get her to fishtail through a ridiculously tight turn (though the stability control will correct it eventually); by contrast, I never got even close to the limit on a BMW. Also, Gwaneum One's brakes, while excellent, fade extremely fast, and after repeated hard stops, I have dangerously little braking ability. This gets so bad that the front brakes start smoking, and the stability control quits until the brakes cool. I've never seen such severe brake fade in any other car. I'll have to find out where Hyundai gets the brake pads, and if there are reasonable alternative pads available (even if they generate tons of brake dust, like BMW pads).

I was reminded that Gwaneum One is NEVER designed to be driven at the limit on a sustained basis. That's one reason why its price tag is unbelievably low, and this is the same thing that Lexus had done 20 years ago. On the other hand, it's extremely unusual for me to drive hard the way I did today. Under everyday conditions, Gwaneum One is a far better alternative to any BMW, and I'm not making contributions to some reactionary asshole either. (Well, actually I am, as Hyundai must pay taxes to the 2MB government, but BMW's enthusiastic commitment to the Nazi agenda is far more genuine and enduring.) Eventually I'll again shell out a small fortune for some overpriced German car just so that I can thrash it - but that won't be anytime soon, and it certainly won't ever be a BMW.

Part of my hard driving today was due to my lunch, where I overheard conversations on the passage of Proposition 8, and why the San Francisco liberals and the homosexual agenda activists don't get the message that the voters of California have clearly sent them twice (the first time was Prop 22 of 2000). I do agree with one thing: the San Francisco white liberals, indeed, don't get it. They will never admit to the fact that Southern California is a Catholic theocracy, made possible by a strategic influx of Third World immigrants who have also managed to destroy the job market in many industries. I continue to be told that these immigrants are passive victims, and not to be blamed for Prop 8, but nothing can be further from the truth. Once the Republicans stop being stupid on the immigration issue, the Republicans will own the immigrant vote due to their shared backward social values, the Democrats' current stronghold in California will be finished forever, and even the national Democratic Party, which is much saner, will have a much harder time keeping up, as it currently depends so much on California as its key pillar.

Between the immigrant theocrats here, and the moronic liberals up north, California is beyond hope. I'm actually not too thrilled about my new vanity plate right now, as it's another $30 per year to a state that no longer deserves to see my money. I'm thinking it may be time to actually start looking at other states/nations again. The truth is that California will never get around to giving me healthcare, even cut-rate government healthcare, because the Orange County Republicans will never stand for it. Same with quality education - be it continuing education for me, or K-12 schools for any kids I may have in the future. (Of course, the theocrats don't consider me a suitable parent, so I'll give them a favor and never have kids in California.) And the truth also is that California will continue giving my rights away to the theocrats, because those theocrats, as nonwhite immigrants, can't be bad people, according to the San Francisco white liberals. I'm feeling like I am now living in El Salvador del Norte.

There are plenty of sane places, including some within the US. Although I don't like Washington State due to its cloudy climate, its Democratic Party is pro-business and sensible, unlike the one in California. At least it doesn't hate me simply because Gwaneum One is powered by an internal-combustion engine, a far cry from the virulently anti-motorist politics of the California Democrats. And Washington State is just one example. For now, I'll see what kinds of existing and new business opportunities I can set up (even in this cut-rate economy, undoubtedly thanks to destructive economic ideas springing from Southern California, I am getting leads), and once I progress to a point where my physical place of residence doesn't matter so much, I will move in a heartbeat. (Actually, one business contact of mine - the very one who also set up my Seoul retreat - is indeed moving to Seattle, calling SoCal a cursed land.)

I'm so fed up with California that on Facebook, I removed myself from the Los Angeles geographical network, and listed my hometown (I must list one hometown) as Seoul, alluding to my three months there late last year. I also added that it could've just as well been New York or London, two more deserving places as my hometown (and I did live in NYC for a while).

Back to Gwaneum One, I am scheduled to now make a midweek drive up to Monterey and San Jose in a few days. I am no longer looking forward to it, as it takes me from one fucked-up California to another. Yes, it's a different California up there, and the ideology/religion up there is far more compatible with my beliefs than the ones down here, but the extremism, and the detachment from reality, are all the more identical too. Maybe the only solace must come from the fact that California hasn't started issuing Christian theocratic plates (similar to the ones already available in Colorado, Indiana, Florida, and a few other places) yet, but sooner or later, they will come out, and they will make up the vast majority of Southern California's plates.

Santa Barbara

I recently took a day trip to Santa Barbara. With weekend work and all, taking a day trip is not all that easy for me these days, but between a new car and a new camera, I need to get out there a bit more.

Some Dia de los Muertes art for sale. Lots of streetside art vendors on this day, especially along the grassy area near the city pier.

An old bus with plenty of Veterans for Obama and other progressive bumper stickers. The roof also has the body of a Volkswagen minivan.

Love this sight - after all, not all veterans/soldiers are "get-tough" right-wingers, and most realize that W delivered little in substance for them despite all his grandiose patriotic slogans. If anything, he got thousands of troops butchered in Iraq just so that he could settle a personal score and get his oil buddies rich. Obama needs to find a good way out of Iraq.

Nice vanity plate seen on a Lexus.

Yes, California vanity plates may have a heart, which counts as a space. Three other symbols - the hand, the plus sign, and the star - may also be used the same way.

While California does deserve its reputation as the vanity plate capital of America, in reality many Southern California vanity plates are Christian extremist in character, and get very tiresome after a while. Creative, vain vanity plates, like the one above, are more likely to be found from here in Santa Barbara and northward.

For that matter, Rick Albertson, an acquaintance of mine and a former Californian who now lives in Pennsylvania, told me that the saner "Alta California" ends at Santa Barbara, and all points south, or "Baja California," can go to hell. And based on Southern California's track record, from the 1978 tax revolt to the 2008 gay marriage ban, I must agree.

Santa Barbara certainly counts as Alta California, but there is quite a bit of Baja California mentality visible as well, as it's less than an hour from Simi Valley, where Ronald Reagan's library and grave are located (and the CA-118 freeway serving the area was named after him).

A look back at Santa Barbara and the scenic mountains above, as seen from the city pier.

This fairly small, sleepy train station is Amtrak's Santa Barbara stop. Several Amtrak trains, from San Diego via Los Angeles, terminate here daily, though one continues on to San Luis Obispo. The daily Seattle-bound Coast Starlight also stops here.

If I limit my activities to just downtown Santa Barbara, it actually makes sense to leave my car at home and take the train here. An electric shuttle bus (fare: 25 cents) runs from the pier, which is near the station, to downtown, along State Street, the town's main drag.

Seen at a boutique on State Street.

Love the tank top - it says "Fuck the candy, eat me for Valentine's Day."

Another boutique display, showing more of Santa Barbara's progressive character. I can choose between an Obama T-shirt and a "Wall Street Dictionary" poking at the greed of the corporate management.

More T-shirts at the same boutique. "Dumb and Dumber" featuring Poppy Bush and W, and how to interpret "Shit Happens" in many different religions.

A London pub (complete with the Tube sign) and a New Mexico cafe, side by side.

Don't remember which store I saw this at, but I spotted this Katy Perry concert poster. Katy Perry is a Santa Barbara native, raised in a strict Christian extremist household where she wasn't allowed to listen to secular music at all. Yet her music completely breaks that mold - and I certainly love her Sapphic anthem, "I Kissed a Girl," which I made sure to sample at record stores even during my South Korean trip (even as the nation's "government" was plotting to ban gay marriage back here).

Wrapping up in Ventura County at an outlet mall. Here, Gwaneum One is taking a break, next to another luxury Hyundai - the Veracruz SUV. This "Hyundai family photo" theme will be something I'll look for often, and I'd love to park next to an '86 Excel (or an '84 Pony, if I can take a road trip to Canada).

This will also be my final pre-customization photo, as I am adding a few customizations after all. A few days after this photo, I replaced the silver wheel caps with the black ones featuring the Korean market winged "Genesis" logo, and the black makes the wheels look sharper. I'm also expecting the "BH380" trim level badge anytime now. The "H" logo on the trunk will stay, however. And most importantly, California DMV has just informed me that my vanity plates are ready for pickup. The plates will allude to Kwan Yin, to counter all the Christian extremist vanity plates around me.

Gwaneum One has performed very well, but on the US-101 near this outlet mall, the expansion joints made her jolt quite a bit. It's a known issue with the US-market Genesis, as its differently tuned suspension system tends to upset the car on certain expansion joints due to vibration frequency resonances. Some other owners said that they felt like they were losing control of the car; I felt in control at all times, but I did feel that the ride quality was quite bad - even worse than the BMW that I just sold (though still not horrible). Hyundai does have solutions, which will make their way into next year's model, and even for Gwaneum One, retrofits may be available later (I hope that is the case). Aside from this, Gwaneum One remains silky smooth even on potholes.

Business should take me on an overnight trip to Monterey and San Jose next week, so I may have some more photo ops then. I will take Gwaneum One in for her first oil change before the trip.

Quick Updates

I've really slowed my blogging down - a sharp contrast from my days in Korea and Hong Kong, when I was blogging like there was no tomorrow. Some developments must be noted, however:

• New York Post has a cartoon that appears to suggest assassinating President Obama. There is a huge uproar, needless to say. I do hope that the public can launch an organized boycott of New York Post and other elements of the News Corporation empire.
• I took a day trip to Santa Barbara, to keep testing my camera. Some photos coming soon.
• To make my photo trips even more productive, I'll start taking photography courses at a nearby community college.
• While it appeared that I was going to move to a new place, that won't be happening. However, my folks are moving. I get to keep their old house and pay them rent (and do upkeep and pay utilities). This will be much nicer than my current situation, even though I hate the fact that (1) I must keep my folks' cats and (2) I'm stuck in a very hardcore wingnut town.
• I do have a new office help at work, so my work routine should be a bit less stressful down the road. I could actually afford to take time off and travel (or study or do something else meaningful), AND get more done at work. I do want to travel; between a nice new car and my newfound elite airline customer status, I need to take advantage, and last year's travel was too fun and too enlightening!

In any case, I am so thankful that I still have a good source of income, even through this crummy economy. I do want to make the most out of this, and live a better life.

Gwaneum One: Update

The bad news: I've picked up a few paint chips from flying rocks. Hyundai's paint job on the plastic trim pieces (bumper, etc.) isn't as sturdy as I'd like, though I am making it sound far worse than it is. I did order a Hyundai Genuine paint pen, which includes both a base coat and a clearcoat, so that I can fill those chips in. At least the sheet metal paint job is much better.

The interesting part: I decided to give in to the temptation, and start giving Gwaneum One some of the elements of a Korean domestic market Genesis. The wheel caps, which are currently silver with standard Hyundai logo, will be replaced with the Korean-market versions in black carrying the winged Genesis logo. I've also ordered the BH380 badge to go on the trunk lid. However, I am not doing the Genesis logo on the trunk lid and the hood, and the placement of the badges - BH380 on the left and Genesis on the right - will be the opposite of the Korean-market vehicles. I'm trying to have Gwaneum One allude to the Korean-market vehicles, but it IS a US-market Genesis and I want it to keep looking the part.

The BH380 moniker is a Korean-market trim level. "BH" is the code name for the Genesis; every Hyundai vehicle has a two-digit alphanumeric code name. Some that I know off of my head are the Y2, Y3, EF, and NF for the Sonata, the Y1 for the Canadian-market Stellar, the X1 and the X2 for the Excel, the XD and the HD for the two most recent generations of the Elantra, and the XG and the TG for the two most recent generations of the Grandeur (XG and Azera in the US respectively). The "380" refers to the 3.8L engine; there is also the BH330, with the base 3.3L engine that is used on the Sonata instead in the US. (There is no BH460, as the 4.6L V8 is for export only.) While Gwaneum One is a US-market car and therefore certainly NOT the "BH380" trim, it indeed is a BH with a 3.8L engine, so I'm giving it the badge anyway.

I still haven't heard from the California DMV regarding the vanity plates. I should get the notification anytime now, though I'll probably give it another month just to be sure. I'll have the photos again once I have the modifications done and the vanity plates installed.

Happy 40th!

My favorite Greek Goddess, actress Jennifer Aniston, is 40. It only seems like yesterday that I was watching a 25-year-old Aniston portray flirty Rachel Green on Friends!

As an actress, a public figure, and an activist, Aniston is a huge asset to the society. I especially appreciate all the work she's done for a number of worthy causes, including St. Jude's Hospital and GLAAD.

Happy birthday!