Waiting Games

I hear a noise but I just can’t place it. My alarm is going off and I can’t find my phone. I find my phone. I switch off the alarm and the time showing is 3:00 a.m. I know I can’t slack-off and take my sweet time. I haven’t packed a thing and I have to get ready and be out the door in 2 1/2 hrs. Somehow I manage to accomplish this feat and by 5:30 a.m. I am rolling with Paul to Sky Harbor on our way to SFO to attend WEKFEST IV.

 

We check-in our luggage and we are off to the Departures lounge. However, Paul somehow decided to take the scenic route and we part ways. I am flying directly and Paul is flying PHX-LAX-SFO. Retard…

 

Once I land at SFO, I realize that I am extremely tired and hungry. I am not able to find any decent food or coffee at Terminal 1. I decide to head over to Terminal 2. This terminal is a lot nicer and it has a legit area with comfy chairs to wait. Thank you Virgin America!

 

I know I am going to be there for a while since Paul is due to arrive 2 hours later. We are going to take the BART together (which he has never done). I decide to wait for him. Little did I know that I had started playing a game….The Waiting Game. The funny thing is – I did not know that as our weekend progressed the waiting game will be played with different people and that every time we played it, more people will have joined the game.

 

Paul finally arrives and we hop on the BART to the city. We have a short walk past the BART and soon we are checking-in to our hotel. Our first day is very laid back and we just walk around Downtown, Lower, Nob Hill, and Chinatown. We find this little burger joint that has bomb-burgers – Pearl’s Deluxe burgers. We are both starving and we devour our food. Not sure if the food is legit or if it was because the hunger but I have to come back to this place the next time I’m here.

 

Our night ends with us meeting some peeps at the House of Prime Rib. Matt from ICB is getting picked up by his brother Jonathan and they are driving straight there from the airport. We are also supposed to meet R.C., Jose and a few of his friends. The waiting game starts again but at least this time I am not alone and we have some entertainment in front of us – beer! Matt and Jonathan arrive and join us in this fascinating game. After a long wait, we finally get seated but our full party is not there. They are delayed by non-other than a delayed flight. After a delicious meal we go back to the hotel since we are scheduled to be up early for a photo shoot on the pier the next day.

 

We take a cab down to Pier 30… hey 30. We are going to meet Ahn Troung and Fred Chapman from ATS to shoot Ahn’s DC2. Once we arrive at Pier 30, we receive word from Ahn informing us that they are having some difficulties with getting his car to start and they are not sure if they can make it.

 

We decide to walk down Pier 30 to see the location and wait to get updates from Ahn. As we walk down to the end of the parking lot, we notice a blue EG and two NSX’s. There are 2 guys taking photos of the cars. They have a good amount of equipment so our curiosity grows. At this point Paul tells me that most likely the chances of shooting the DC2 are very slim. This is the conversation that follows between us:

 

Paul: What do you want to do?
Me: I don’t know
Paul: So?
Me: What do you think?
Paul: It’s your call.
Me: Why is it my call?
Paul: Decide.
Me: I hate you.
Paul: I hate you too.
Me: I am hungry.
Paul: You are always hungry!
Me: Ok let’s wait and see what happens.
Paul: Ok.
Me: Let’s take some photos.

 

I walk over to the two guys standing there. I assume they are the owners of the 2 NSX’s. I walk up to them and meet Mike Cruz and Bryan Lee. I am speaking to Mike Cruz about the ongoing photo shoot. He who owns the 93′ Silver NSX. We find out the guys doing the photo shoot are from JDM Chicago. We know they are also shooting some video and we can’t wait to see their footage. I ask Mike if it would be okay for me to take a few photos and tell him I won’t get in the way of the current shoot.

 

After they take a few shots, the two guys taking photos come over and introduce themselves – Ginash George and Mike Maravilla. Ginash tells me they are also wondering who we are and what are we going to shoot. Jimmy Uy is also there taking photos. We briefly tell everybody what was going on with our photo shoot. Little did we know that Jimmy is texting Ahn to see what is going on. Small world.

 

I manage to take a few shots of the NSX’s. Hopefully I didn’t disturb the ongoing shoot. Both cars are extremely nice. We don’t know much about the cars other than the obvious visible parts. The 2 cars are completely different. Mike’s NSX is more subtle and has an easy flow to the already clean lines of the NSX. On the other hand, Bryan’s NSX is a little more aggressive. The fixed headlights, stance and aggressive rims are literally in your face. Bryan tells me his car is driven daily. I think this is really cool since not a lot of people enjoy their NSX on a daily basis.

 

After taking a few photos, we go to get some breakfast at Red’s JAVA HOUSE. While eating breakfast, we get a chance to know Mike C, Ginash and Mick M. All 3 of them are genuinely nice people. Sadly, we see a lot of arrogance and jackassery in the car culture but this is not the case. While eating, we speak about cars, tuning, Jeremy Lin, healthcare and other things. It is fun hanging out and getting to know these guys. After breakfast we walk back. After some final shots, they leave to go to a shop around the bay. This however, is not the last time we see these guys.

 

The waiting game continues but until then, here are a few photos I managed to take: