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.
