The beginning of a new era in F1 racing

Hungaroring F1 GP, Budapest, Hungary: Fernando Alonso made F1 history yesterday to become the youngest F1 winner. This also means that it is the first win for Renault after their return to the world of F1 racing... the first win in 20 years! Alonso heading a podium with Raikkonen (McLaren Mercedes) in 2nd and Montoya (Williams BMW) in 3rd, consists solely of a new generation of F1 drivers marking the beginning of a new era.

On the other hand, is Michael Schumacher's luck running out? It has seemed that way for the past 2 races. What's even more upsetting for the Ferrari bandwagon has to be the fact that Schumacher was lapped by Alonso who maintained an amazing lead in Budapest.

And what about the tyre war? Michelin has been giving Bridgestone a run for their money. The cars on Michelins have been dominating the races since the last half of the 2003 season.

Lastly, a big hooray is in order for the Williams team. They've managed to spruce up their whole package in time to catch up for the driver's race title - where the top three consisting of Michael Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, & Kimi Raikkonen - are just 1 point ahead of one another in that sequence... and of course, not to forget, Williams is now leading the constructor's championship!

19 Aug, Tue: It's way too cold in the office... I'm freezing... *shiver* No appetite to finish lunch. By 1+pm, I have a fever in reaction to extreme cold. 30 mins later, my supervisor tells me to go home. It took me one hour before I left the office. That one hour was used to leave my cubicle and to stand around the sun filled region of our teabreak area. I only left the office at 2:30pm - just after feeling warmer and fit to drive home and make a visit to the clinic.

20 Aug, Wed: One thing about medication - it really makes you sleepy. So... no one will seem surprised if I'm resting on my desk for a while. Anyway, during our team communication (briefing session) - I was leaning my head on the side of a cubicle for a rest everytime I felt like dozing off for a few minutes. :p

17 Aug, Sun: Morning - went for a swim at the club and couldn't give a damn whether it was drizzling or not. It drizzles. It stops. It drizzles again. I only got out of the pool when the drizzling got slightly heavier... arhhhh.

But the stupidest thing of the day... make it the stupidest thing I've done this year so far... is what I'm about to write below. Ok, so here goes!

After dropping my dad off where he's to catch his bus back to KL, I drove home. I drove over something in my driveway and I thought... maybe it's something with the tire. I reversed. I rolled over something. I moved forward again. I rolled over something again.

I opened my door and saw my handphone on the ground. Holy mother of God! I just rolled over my handphone, THRICE! Shit! Shit! Shit! I thought I had left my phone safely at home on top of the TV shelf. But no... it seems that my short term memory is as good as Dory's.

But as far as product torture test goes... I can tell you that my Nokia 3310's original casing passes the torture test. No cracks and not a single scratch. There you go! Support original casings... only if you have a damned good plastic cover to give it extra protection too.

I can't say the same for the LCD screen though. Half of it is still visible while the other half is as good as gone. Only one of my keys is not functioning and that's because the rubber extension for that key has been shortened because it was squished. So now I need extra effort to be able to press zeroes.

Otherwise? Well... the phone still works fine. I can make calls. I just can't make out SMS-es nor write any of those. It's not good to have a failing short term memory. Help!!!

16 Aug, Sat: After dropping my grandpa at work, and going home for breakfast with mum; I dropped by my office to check if I was scatterbrained enough to have not finished my 250ml of Dutch Lady milk, last evening.

Reaching the office door, I fumbled with the doors lock combination. I don't really know how it works but by some miracle, I managed to open it. I ran for my cubicle.

First thing I noticed to my extreme relieve; I have actually finished the milk and the empty box is lying safely in my trash can. The danger of having spoilt milk spewed via the straw onto my table was totally non-existent. I then decided to take some notes home to go over during this weekend.

Going back out of the office and locking back the doors, I tried to figure out what I did to open the door. Then Poh Lin who was inside the office came by and opened the door for me.

Sheepishly, I quickly asked her how does the lock thinghy actually work because I surely would not want to look like someone trying to break into the office the next time I have to open that darned door. She kindly told me how it opens and thank God for that, I think I'm now knowledgeable enough to handle that lock.

At 5:30-ish, I went off to get my dad from Kampungku. Luckily I reached in time to pick him up before the drizzle began. It rained rather heavily again for about an hour. Shortly after I arrived home with my dad, Sharimalan called to say that he's in Penang and asked for us to meet up. Cool!

Ok... so I recruited my colleague Irene (whom I recently found out was actually also my collegemate and Shari's friend too... again... SMALL WORLD!) - for tonight's outing. At 10pm I picked up Irene and headed to Tari Cafe. There, we met up with Shari with Sally & Daws where Shari imminently told us that we are shifting to Ali's at Argyll Road.

Finally settled and regrouped at the new venue, we caught up with one another. One thing we noticed immediately... Shari had shrunk! He had loss his fats and looks fit now... and not as "selekeh" as he once was.

The other thing was he looked a bit tired and he was more subdued. We all miss him though. He'll always be our personification of bubbly (well that's how he really is like when his engine is in full performance mode anyway).

Very sweet of him to bring souvenirs for us too... except it's souvenirs from Sarawak instead of Russia though. He got those while he was doing his 4 days of practical at one of those district hospitals in Sarawak. Aside from that, it seems that the rest of his first few weeks back in Malaysia went into attending practical training in Jitra Hospital.

15 Aug, Fri: It's a wet, wet day. It drizzled shortly in between torrential bouts of rain for most of the day. And tonight will probably be the last time I will see my young friend, Chris Ng, before he goes to Wisconsin to continue his studies.

At the office, the day was pretty relaxing. Not much to actually shout about (and that's a good thing too). Don't wanna think about what's in store on Monday. When I left the office, it was just starting to drizzle again.

15 mins into the traffic jam, visibility swiftly dwindled to about 10m. My planned pitstop at home to collect my camera became a rainstop. Waited for a good 40 mins or so before driving myself up to Island Plaza in Tanjung Bungah.

Reaching my destination, I headed to KFC for dinner with Alan, Chrissy-boy, Mei Sze, & Evonne. It's always nice to watch Chris & Mei Sze battle on anything and everything... Sometimes, Mei Sze will battle herself on certain things... it's quite amusing! Really! That girl is just quite uncontrollable. One time she exclaimed so loudly that the whole of KFC was silent for a few seconds! Even the fussy baby at the table behind us became quiet.

Later on, we moved to Starbucks. It so happened that our friend Victor was working the night shift there too. And so we continued to bergila-gila there. Shakila and Marie joined us a little later. Chris then started to be melancholic and told us that he gets hit by pangs of loneliness in the nights for the pass two weeks.

We told him its the "leaving blues"... and we know he hates to leave behind the close friendship that has developed between everyone in our group. Marie then gave Chris her contact in US in case he needed a friend while he adjust himself in his new home for the next few years. She is after all still studying there and is going back there on Sunday.

We, of course, snapped photos. I later convinced Chris and the gang to come by my house so that I can give Chris a "farewell for now" gift that I forgot to take out with me earlier... and also because I can't see him off when he leaves via Penang Airport on this coming Tuesday afternoon.

Slightly after midnight, Shakila left with Marie. The rest of us left Island Plaza only after Victor cleaned and closed the shop for the night. Later, back at my house, the gang hung out at my porch while I darted in to get my token gift for Chris. The curious group wanted to know note I've left on his gift and he offered to read it out loud.

Luckily the note was not sappy but had more of a friendly banter-ish tone to it. At 20 mins to 3am, we all traded goodbyes. With Chris, that included a farewell hug and wishes for his safe journey.

Half yellow half red
The angsana blooms merry
Unlike all others

Half bright hardly bright
Off to work and later back
Still ever darkness

Joyous light I see
If chance says be off early
Hip, hip, hip, Hurray!

Okay! So I dreamt about a weird tree with a wide canopy... the whole tree was covered in flowers - a bright yellow on the top slanted half, and a scarlet red on the bottom half. Very cheerful colours I must say.

The rest is just well... mundane stuff. I do believe that every chance I get to be home early, I'll run for the exit! Otherwise, I hardly ever see the sun on a weekday - Moving out early before the sun lights the sky into a clear blue; and getting home when the sun is already hidden behind the hills and the sky a dusky sepia... or perhaps its already dark.

So... I must say that I'm happy to be able to see the sun when I walk around the office car park in the evening. And of course... thank God that I've been going back earlier for the past week! I don't wanna know when I'll have to miss seeing the evening sun again.

Btw, my mentor from Singapore has arrived on Tuesday. He's been very helpful in attending to the tirade of questions from all of his mentees (4 including me... and the occasional person whose mentor isn't on site...). His colleague who mentors another 3 in our sub-team arrived on Thursday... she's a cute little Filipina with beautiful straight long hair. We'll be playing tour guide to them tomorrow afternoon.

Meanwhile, I finally managed to get myself to do my banking today; restocked on my engine oil; get new wipers; and in the afternoon - went to Carrefour with my parents to do our grocery shopping. I must say that the amount of milk and paper products we bought (various tissue paper... get the idea?) makes us look like we are stocking up an underground safe-haven. You know... like stocking up to live in the aftermath of a major disaster?

I just have one thing to add for now... yahoo!!! Montoya won the Hockenheim F1-GP.

1 Aug, Fri: Today I have 6 hrs of class, a 2 hr lunch break, and a communication session at the auditorium for about 45 mins. At night, I joined Jocelyn, Hei Li and a few of their friends at Coffee Bean... and after that... Joce, Hei Li, and I decided to go hang out at the sup kambing place for to get a drink and a snack.

30 Jul, Wed: Hmm... odd... Why is there a small traffic holdup on the fastlane leading to my office? It's only 7:10 a.m. or so. Then I saw it... a furball. Closer still... what the?! An owl?!! o.O What's it doing on the road next to the road divider?

31 Jul, Thu: Today is day 3 of our live support for data entry. I must say that the order that was given to me by my mentor was much harder than than the other 2 orders he gave me in the last 2 days. Better still, today we actually have a deadline to submit the order. Argh!!!

My order came in about 30 mins before lunch time... so there's nothing much I could do about it other than study the faxed documents. I went out for lunch with my old colleagues at Suat Lee's house in honor of Say Hua's birthday celebration (in advance). There, we met her handsome young man... a very cheerful toddler. After that, it was back to toil at my desk at exactly 1:40 p.m.

Shortly thereafter, in the midst of figuring out a confusing statement in an email from my mentor in Singapore... a few from the Taiwan team told me that their Acrobat can't read Chinese... and that we needed the CD to update the program so that it can interpret the Chinese characters properly. Erm... ok... so I ended up updating the PCs of 2 people.

Then JO came around saying that this is happening because I didn't install it properly. Right... whatever... then for the sake of curiosity... I tested the PC where, as far as I know, Acrobat was installed by JO himself. Hah! It needed updating too. I must say my blood was beginning to boil. Next, I asked JO what should have being selected upon initial installation... and he replied that we should activate both options for the language. Aha!! So it wasn't my fault... he only told me to activate one option the other day. Better still, that was what he demonstrated.

I blew my top. Firstly, it was his fault for misinforming me prior to my going about to do the installation for the remainder of my team yesterday. Secondly... he said it was my mistake before recalling that it was him who demonstrated the wrong thing for me to follow... and he quickly offered to do the damage control. Ahh... that's more like it. Hrmph! Don't mess with me when I'm stressed.

Back at staring at my order, I quickly made a checklist of what I should enter into the system... made some clarifications with my mentor regarding a few issues and wa-lah! I officially finished it 15 mins before the deadline of 4 p.m. After that task was all done, relieve clouded over me and I was back to being cheerful and all.

Later in the evening, I went out for a delicious seafood dinner with 3 colleagues and 3 of our trainers in Batu Maung. We had a Thai appetizer, 2 dishes of crabs, a steamed fish, a dish of prawns, a dish of shellfish, a plate of vegie, some satay, and a dish of fried maggi noodles. The best part of all, we found out that a cute-sy and hunky trainer of ours is afraid of ghost. We had so much fun just telling local ghost stories to spook him out... after all... it is also the Hungry Ghost month in the Chinese calendar :)