Interlagos F1 GP Race, Sao Paolo, Brazil (Race 3 of 16, 2003 Season): IN A NUTSHELL

The Brazilian GP sure is one of those races we've haven't seen in a long while. It's very wet and high in drama. F1 is back to being an interesting watch after 2 rather boring seasons. Here's a run through of yesterday's race:

4 Safety Car (SC) Sessions: The race starts with an SC leading the pack for 7 laps. 3 more SC sessions were called for throughout the race with a possible 5th SC session to be carried out if Alonso (Renault) didn't crash into debris from Webber's mutilated Jaguar.

Turn 3, A Killer Turn (KT3): 7 cars spun there. 6 of them crashed into the barrier. Only one managed to get back in the race. There seems to be a mysterious source of water that keeps flowing across the race track here.

Only 10 cars finished this very wet and highly incident filled race... and Fisichella (Jordan) was assumed the winner after the Red Flag (Race Stop) was issued

Jordan's jubilation was cut short mere minutes later when it was announced that results will be based on the results of the previous lap, Lap 53, in accordance to F1 Regulations on Red Flag situations.

Hence the result for those in the points were - 1st: Raikkonen (McLaren), 2nd: Fisichella (Jordan), 3rd: Alonso (Renault), 4th: Coulthard (McLaren), 5th: Frentzen (Sauber), 6th: Villeneuve (BAR), 7th: Webber (Jaguar), 8th: Trulli (Renault)

Oddball fact #1: Barrichello (Ferrari) has been keeping a streak of incredibly bad luck on his homeland's race track. 9 out of 9 times - he did not finish (DNF) the race although he hungers for a win here.

Oddball fact #2: Both Webber and Alonso gets points although they crashed out.

Oddball fact #3: This is the first time a winner is absent from the winners' podium. The medics have since taken Alonso to the F1 medical facility for a check-up as a precaution. (News Update: Alonso is fine and only suffers from a sore foot).

Oddball fact #4: Fisichella wouldn't be on the podium if the race wasn't Red Flagged - being couped up behind a really slow SC caused his engine to burn shortly after his car was parked in the pit.

Oddball fact #5: This is a long-standing fact - Considered to be one of the best drivers ever known in F1, Fisichella has yet to win a 1st placing in his F1 career.

- - - The DNFs - - -

Car Failure #1: In Lap 17 - Heidfeld (Sauber) retired by parking his car on the grass as his car was losing oil.

KT3 Victims, Part 1: In Lap 17 - Wilson's Minardi took a spin and is out of the race.

Freak accident #1: In Lap 18 - Firman (Jordan) suffers a broken right front suspension and the flying debris from his Jaguar takes out the rear wing of Panis' BAR Honda, effectively taking the both of them out of the race. The 2nd SC is called.

KT3 Victims, Part 2: In Lap 24 - Montoya (Williams) and Pizzonia (Jaguar) crashes into the same spot in 2 separate incidents. In Lap 25 - "The Rain Man", Michael Schumacher, loses his touch and crashes there too. The 3rd SC is called.

KT3 Victims, Part 3: Verstappen (Minardi) spins out in Lap 31. In Lap 32 - Button (BAR Honda) became the 6th victim of KT3.

KT3 Survivor: In Lap 45 - Webber spins at KT3 but manages to regain control of his Jaguar to continue in the race...

Car Failure #2: In Lap 47 - Barrichello's Ferrari shuts down as he was leading the race. It's heartbreak again for Rubinho (see above fact).

Freak accident #2: In Lap 54 - Webber has been destined to hit the wall one way or another in this race. He loses grip and takes a massive crash near the pit lane entry. A 5th SC was called but before it could be carried out - Alonso hits the debris from the Jaguar and takes a big crash into the wall. He limped out of his car, seemingly dazed but fine, and rests against a wall as medics approach him. The Red Flag was enforced and there will be no restart.

Fri, 4 Apr: Survivor 6: Bye-bye Dave! This dude, a rocket scientist by profession, was duped to think he had allies. HohOHO!! Well... and so... he bombed out. Next person to go would most likely be that crackpot named Matthew (If he doesn't win that chunky-funky imunity necklace). He's getting too creepy.

Sat, 5 Apr: Jelly-making experiment using the Konnyaku powder mix went rather well. Just gotta remember to lessen the amount of water added into the mix on my next try at this.

Update: I forgot to add - Went hiking up until 42 of Penang Hill tar road trail with Kok Keong. Sze Lin was to join us but we decided to let her recuperate. Poor gal had stomach problem and hardly sleep since Thurs nite.

Sun, 6 Apr: Ching Beng prayers at home OK. I don't feel as stressed out and irritated as I usually would when they do stuff like that at home though my legs are killing me. I definitely need more frequent exercise and a better warm up routine before a hike.

Anyhow, my 2 grandaunts stayed the day and a 6-yr old cousin followed her grandma here. Dad said she must have had the mojo to sense that I made jelly last night - it's been a long while since she came.

At some point, I became a "colouring book artist" for the lil' rat. She does get lazy sometimes and tries to get me to finish colouring the drawings for her while she shifts her attention to other "attractions". Oh yeah, had to be on sugar patrol too... had to make sure my parents don't give her too much sweet stuff to eat/drink.

She's already quite restless... if she gets on a sugar-high... gone-lar! I couldn't even manage to finish reading a page of any newspaper article without her interruptions... and I don't want to imagine her when she's officially in hyperactive-mode *sigh... kids...*

Peace and quiet finally reigned supreme after both grandaunts and especially my cousin was sent home after dinner. Tonite's episode of Phua Chu Kang was a real riot - Afdlin Shauki played a nice supporting role to teach PCK ala Yoda to a young Skywalker on how to get back his "Juju (Mojo)". After that - a nap was in store. I needed to stay awake for the Brazilian F1 Race that's scheduled to start at 1am, Malaysian Time.

The most effective way to waste time in the office is to get your PC formatted - leading to an endless bout of re-installation of everything you need to work & enjoy a full multimedia experience - and then to top it all up - a nice long wait for the system to finish defragging.

At last count: Total time wasted at work since last friday = 3.25 work-days (roughly covers 4 mornings + 1 day). Absolutely stressful when you know the backlog pile is growing.

Hap-pee A-pe-ral FooOOools' Day!!! *Puts on a clown's silly red nose, blows a party horn thinghy, pops a party popper*

Fri, 28 Mar: Stayed home and watched Survivor 6. Roger is finally voted out - as a member of the newly merged team of Jacare (Portuguese for alligator).

Sat, 29 Mar: Today I can withdraw my pay. Today is an expensive day. Money seriously rolled out of my pockets when I bought the OST of LOTR:TTT and the Princess of the Danish Court Barbie doll from Mattel's Barbie Collectibles - Dolls of the World: The Princess Collection series.

Finding the doll available in Carrefour is a really odd thing since all the other obvious toy departments in Penang have yet to stock it.

Dinner included fresh raw salmon that dad bought from Carrefour, sliced at home and served with wasabe and kikoman sauce. *grins from ear to ear*

Sun, 30 Mar: Ugh! I hate waking up to be dragged to the graveyard for Ching Beng stuff... and I won't bother to argue either. I'll just sleep in the car while on the way up to Balik Pulau and back.

Mon, 31 Mar: My boss is getting a promotion. We'll be missing her. At home, I reworked on my soon-to-be launched personal website's design. I love it!

Office Incapacitated

Firstly, yesterday, a major power surge to the office takes out:

• 4 UPS units - smoked came out from them and the fumes smelled horrendous. Plastic fumes are poisonous. Our region VP ran out from her room and opened our dept's office main door to the great outdoors. The feel of fresh air never felt better;
• 1 desktop unit - fried;
• 1 notebook power adapter - also fried; and
• 1 laser printer - at press time, suspected fried... need to do a little bit more of testing first

Then the big bomb came along... those of us with email accounts on a particular server can't reach our very important means of communication... A call to the IT Dept confirmed our worse fears - a variant of the W32.HLLW.Lovgate@mm has infiltrated our Intranet (I'm not sure which variant).

My few colleagues and I ended up having a community coffee break made of a hot drink and some cheesecake. I eventually ended up declaring "woefully" *rolls eyes* - "Since there's nothing that we can do - here we are wallowing sinfully in our sorrows" - to much laughter of my colleagues.

And so... here I am, today - DAY 2 of Office Incapacitation and the virus on our email system is now widespread. Looks like containment has not been successful yet. Well... I seriously still have no idea what else to work on... and it doesn't feel right to just go home either.

Must find something to do... hmm... file backup? Hmm... that's a start.

Hmm... occasional odd traffic jams here and there - and there're also the few odd roads with strangely free-flowing traffic during rush hour for the past few working-days... maybe this has something to do with the random setting up of police blocks around the key areas in Penang. Btw, there seems to be a permanent police block along the FIZ Phase 3 - Kg. Jawa main road, for now until the heightened security alert gets taken off.

Anyhow, I found this year's Oscars a tad more interesting although it's much more toned down in terms of pomp and splendour. After all - we get to see:

1. a very pregnant (and glowing) Catherine Zeta-Jones singing on stage and looking as big as Queen Latifah for their number from "Chicago";

2. Michael Moore being literally pushed off stage by the producers by means of playing up the music and pulling down the microphone - to stop him from going further with his very-anti-Bush statements in his acceptance speech for Best Documentary Feature;

3. and definitely the 75th Oscar's most memorable moment - a firstly superbly dumbfounded Adrien Brody slumping paralysed into his chair as soon as he realised he won Best Actor for his role in "The Pianist" later gets on stage and surprises the award presenter, Halle Berry, with a big wet kiss that lasted for a good 15-20secs or so before taking his award and giving one of the most meaningful speeches of the night. In a replay of his reaction when his name was announced, if you listen carefully, you can hear him muttering out "Holy Shit!"

Memorable excerpts of the 75th Oscars as covered by Entertainment Weekly...

Michael Moore's moment of glory: "On behalf of our producers, I'd like to thank the Academy," says Moore, who's greeted with a standing ovation. "I've invited my fellow nominees on the stage with us, and they are here in solidarity with me, because we like nonfiction. We like nonfiction, and we live in fictitious times. We live in a time when we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president."

And though we interrupt here to mention the boos and shouting now competing with Moore's speech, the determined Oscar winner continues...

"...We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons, whether it's the fiction of duct tape or the fiction of orange alerts. We are against this war, Mr. Bush! Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you!"

Well, it's not an awards show till somebody gets booed off the stage.

And the Best Actor goes to... Adrien Brody, a surprise winner for his role in the Roman Polanski-directed The Pianist.

And a little gold dude is not the only thing Brody is taking home tonight...he takes the stage and plants a full-on wet one on Berry. "Whoa! I bet they didn't tell you that was in the gift bag," Brody says to a still shocked Berry.

"There comes a time in life when everything seems to make sense. But this is not one of those times."

"This film would not be possible without the blueprint of Wladyslaw Szpilman--this film is a tribute to his survival. And I'd like to thank Roman Polanski for the role of a lifetime." Brody is about to be scooted offstage as the music cues, but the first-time Oscar winner is having none of it.

"Wait one second, one second, please, one second, cut it out...I've got one shot at this," Brody says, as the music dies down. "This fills me with great joy, but I'm also filled with great sadness tonight, because I'm accepting an award in such a strange time. My experiences making this film made me very aware of the sadness and the dehumanization of people in times of war, and the repercussions of war.

"And whatever you believe in, whether it's God or Allah, may he watch over you, and let's pray for a peaceful and swift resolution," says a teary Brody to a standing ovation. "I have a friend from Queens, who's a soldier right now in Kuwait, Tommy Zarbinski, and I hope you and your boys make it back real soon. God bless you guys, and I love you."

Best Song - Eminem (How'd that happen?!): Babs Streisand, donning tonight's oh so popular black garb, lists the contenders for Best Original Song. And the winner is Eminem, for his 8 Mile soundtrack tune "Lose Yourself." It's the only song not performed at tonight's ceremony.

Eminem couldn't--or wouldn't--be in the hizzouse tonight, so his sport coated and basketball jerseyed cowriter Luis Resto accepts. "This all goes to Marshall. He's creative, and he has symphonies in his head."

Most deserving of an Honorary Gold Dude goes to... Before we get to contemplate the fact that Eminem just won a freakin' Oscar (!), Meryl Streep is at the podium to introduce the man who's nabbing tonight's Honorary Oscar, Peter O'Toole. The clipfest of O'Toole's greatest hits unfolds, and the actor, who had initially refused the invitation to tonight's festivities, takes the stage to yet another of tonight's standing ovations.

"Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, my foot!" quips O'Toole, who had been oft nominated without ever taking an Oscar home, prior to tonight. "You've given me this delightful shock. Good night, and God bless you."

And the woman taking the most eligible gilded escort home with her tonight is -- as Denzel says, "by a nose"--Nicole Kidman. (Or as we're saying, "scoreboard" to Tom Cruise.)

The Hours star, sans schnoz, steps up to accept her award. "Now I have to think. Dave Hare, I need your words. I have such appreciation and gratitude for this. Oh, Russell Crowe said, "Don't cry if you get up there," and now I'm crying." Sniff, sniff. "Sorry. Um, Stephen Daldry, you took a huge chance on me. I'm so grateful. David Hare, you gave me wonderful words to say. [This is the part where Kidman exceeds the five-name-maximum thank-you list.] I'm absolutely thrilled to be standing up here tonight. Why do you come to the Academy Awards when the world is in such turmoil? Because art is important, and because you believe in what you do and you want to honor that, and it's a tradition that needs to be upheld. I'm standing in front of my mother and my daughter, and my whole life, I've wanted to make my mother proud, and now I'm going to make my daughter proud."

The 2nd "heart attack" at Oscars: If you've stuck around until now, you're as curious as we are whether Martin Scorsese will break Gangs of New York's losing streak (the historical epic is zero for eight at tonight's ceremony) and his own unlucky streak (the famed director has been nominated four times but never won).

And getting right to the point in announcing the Best Director nominees is Harrison Ford. Indy rips open the envelope and reads the name--Roman Polanksi for The Pianist. Wowza! That sound you heard was our jaw hitting the floor. This has to be one of the biggest upsets since, well, since the unexpected Best Actor win for Pianist star Brody. Because first-time winner Polanski is indisposed (that is, he's a fugitive living in exile in Paris), Harrison accepts on his behalf while the audience tries to adjust to the shock.

[Click here for the full account of the Oscars]

Ok - last week was essentially dull excepting my glue-ing to the TV for F1 in the weekend, dropping into Lush on Saturday night for Merv's birthday thing organized by happy-camper Shen, and the quite so-so-and-borderline-boring dinner that dad dragged the whole family to last night. Mum thought it was supposed to be only the 2 of them going... "Well, mum *rolls eyes* - we do know that dad can be scatterbrained and give 5 people each a different story/impression".

I also enjoyed a trip to Island Plaza on Friday evening for shopping, alone. It's amazing what "Alone Time" means when you are beginning to feel like everything and everyone wants a piece of your sanity. Got back in time to observe Survivor 6 and the voting to throw out the ever whiny Shawna. Oh JOY!!! It is an extremely good choice although potential contest between Alex and Matthew for Shawna's affections could have been a tad entertaining.

Kimi "Iceman" Raikkonen wins his 1st F1 GP race in Sepang! Yes, Wonder-boy has finally done it! Ron Dennis was seen crying tears of joy for his young driver as he crossed the finish line while Peter Sauber publicly congratulates Raikkonen... probably as the proud man who talent-spotted Raikkonen. Don't ask me why I'm so happy about this but it might have something to do with having observed his F1 career grow from the very start. *Dances in Joy!*

Come to think of it - this is a pretty amazing feat! Firstly, KR was intro-ed into the 2001 season by Sauber with only a temp. super license and a contract for a few races (try out basis) - very obviously a wild card entry. Prior to F1, he did pretty well in 2-yrs of Finnish Karting and 1-yr at Formula Renault.

At end of 2001, he was "Rookie of the Year" in favor of a very publicised Juan Pablo Montoya who had competed that year in the stronger Williams' car. And to add icing to the cake, he was offered the 2002 race seat in McLaren Mercedes in favor of Nick Heidfeld who was much rumored to be the top choice to replace 2-time World Champion, Mika Hakkinen, who was "taking a break to spend more time with his wife and newborn son".

In 2002, he showed potential of being a more competitive driver than his experienced team mate in David Coulthard... but car reliability to finish a race was something the 2002 McLarens' lack. There were countless times that his car failed while he was in contention for a top finishing... and of course there was that famous let down at the French GP, Magny-Cours.

In that now infamous scene, KR was leading by a margin of 10-secs or so when his car loss speed with just a few corners to the finish line - handing over the much coveted win to none other than Michael Schumacher. On the podium in 2nd, he was one very disappointed guy. But then of course - that's racing! Nothing is definite until you cross that darned finishing line.

Back to 2003! The McLarens returned to the 2003 season with a much improved 2002 car, in interim until they are dead sure of the 2003 car, and opened their season with a 1st (DC) and 3rd placing (KR) in the Melbourne race. Now that's a very optimistic start under a totally revamped F1 race qualifying system with new rules and totally new strategies. F1 is officially exciting again after being awfully predictable in the last 2 years. With KR's win in only the 2nd of 16 races, it could mean that McLaren is once again back on the right track to compete strongly for the constructor's championship after losing it to Ferrari since 1999 and only managed 3rd-placing behind Williams last year.

*Ahem!* So... OK! After all that swooning about a Potential Future F1 World Champion... I'll first have to say that there are basically 2 competitions in the F1. Nombre un: The Contructor's Championship... and this is subdivided into 2 sub-competitions #1a - The competition for the top 3; and... #1b - The more interesting competition for the 2nd rung, the 4th-6th positions. Nombre deux, #2: The Driver's Championship.

[Erm... can you now please shaddup and tell us who you are actually supporting-ah?]

Oh, right! With reference to the above numbered references, here we go... #1a - Williams BMW; #1b - Sauber Petronas; and for #2... I fervently root for Montoya ('coz he's got attitude and seriously not afraid to be outspoken), Raikkonen (coz he did start from Sauber) & those current Sauber dudes...

Btw, I'm also jubilant that Ralf Schumacher made if to 4th from starting 17th on the grid... and rather disappointed 'coz Montoya couldn't have a better race as a result of Antonio Pizzonia's Jaguar clipping his rear wing at the Sepang GP's opening lap; and well... the Saubers did experience lousy pit stops.

[But that's racing lar... things happen, we've seen stuff like that happen in all races with all the different teams] Yeah, that's true. *Sigh...*

Air-NeEee-waAaay... team Sauber Petronas has come a long way since Petronas invested in it... and *Omigosh!* I just realised I'm a closet patriotic Malaysian. *aH-aCks*

Who's next?

Deceit fails trust the world over
A madman can and a madman will
Do what it takes for image cover
While people for peace take vigil
Trying to be heard to unavail...

Bright skies swiftly darken
As war drums murmur to a thunder
Bleak news can only harken
What a madman will soon order
It is nothing we wish to wonder...

Cries of peace over deaf ears fall
While leaders choose for their people
With tied-hands some decide with risky pall
For to object may mean to get a cripple
By a madman who rocks the cradle.

Emotions rise and impatience grow
The madman demands a sworn rival surrender
Unheeded it stayed - the world now know
The madman will commit without consider
What could be history's biggest blunder!

Thus across the pallid sky with lightning strike
Fire breaks and hell set loose
A nation is attacked in growing might
The world looks on without amuse
Who will he put next on the noose?

Chronicles of Dim-Son Jorge

Dim-Son Jorge: Father, our economy has not been stable since the Otter-AntDerSon scandal arose. We've tried to find ways to get it stabilized but the damage is too severe. What can I do to not look like a failed president?

Loth Vater: Dim-Son, you need to take the eyes of others from your internal problems. Why don't you stir up the whole world and destabilize the economy of countries worldwide? That way you are equal or stronger than them.

Dim-Son Jorge: Father, you mean...?

Loth Vater: Yes, Dim-Son. You attack your archenemy using some lame reason. You must also convince all the other nations to believe in the lame reason that you will be using.

(3 months later)

Dim-Son Jorge: Father, I have failed to convince all the other nations. I only have a few loyal allies. The others were cleverer than I thought. They know that I want to have control over my archenemy's oil reserves. Furthermore, quite a throng of my own minions is against what I'm doing. What can I do now to save my image?

Loth Vater: Dim-Son, you must stand your ground or you'll end up looking like a wuss. Creating false evidence against your archenemy was sheer evil genius. However, your deceit has been found out because the intelligence of the other nations combined was stronger than you thought it was. They trust you no longer. You must go on - with or without full support from your minions and also the other nations.

Dim-Son Jorge: Father, I know what I can do now. I will issue an ultimatum to my archenemy. If he does not obey, I will unleash war upon his land.

* Newsflash: Dim-Son Jorge's archenemy has at present snubbed at the ultimatum of leaving his land within 48 hours.

* Disclaimer: The above is a parody of current world events based on some general views that people have on it. The names have been changed for the sheer delight of it.

Mon, 17 Mar: Well... what significant thing did I do today? I went to watch the 9:50pm show of "Star Trek: Nemesis" with Jase who said he's bored. This coming from the genius who took 3-days off and ends up with a week off since he only has 3-work-days this week... He now regrets not having a proper holiday plan... *LOL* The sheer genius of it all.

Saw the DVD for "Tuck Everlasting" but didn't buy it. I'm not sure if I already have the VCD of that... or am I confusing it with the fact that I've watched and liked the trailer? One word - BLUR.

Fri, 14 Mar: Well... today is the day when work was a never ending influx. It overflows into Monday's work bin. Yeah, I'm pretty bored. Anyway, later went home and was told that the fridge is KO. Repairmen can only come to work on it tomorrow morning.

I needed an icebox to at least make sure that the meats in the freezer survive overnight. So I made a few calls before finding out that the only person that has an icebox is the one living in faraway, Sungai Ara. With slightly more than an hour before Survivor begins airing, I got the icebox from Malcolm, made a dash into the Jelutong 7-11 to grab 4 bags of ice while the cashiers gave a puzzled look that screamed "So much ice for what?!"

Anyhow, I made it back in time to salvage freezer items, a few minutes late in taping Scrubs, and in time for Survivor.

On Survivor 6: The show takes a new twist as Dave and Jenna were told to take turns to pick members of the tribe - by first choosing a member of the opposite sex and to alternate the gender in every subsequent turn until the last choice has been made.

Sat, 15 Mar: Forgot to bring my set of the office keys and had to wait like an idiot with the MIM students until my colleague came to open the doors. I hate having to go into my employer's office on Saturdays (even if it's only alternate Saturdays). Luckily it's a morning 1/2 day only. Later at night, I followed my parents to watch "Cradle 2 the Grave". I think it wasn't too bad. It's after all an action movie with Jet Li in it.

Sun, 16 Mar: Woke up with the odd realisation that I had 2 dreams, back-to-back, where both have the same plot and the same key characters. The only difference was one was more like a feel-good-romantic-comedy, while the other was a bit more detailed albeit with a more freaky-sci-fi-soap-opera twist to it. Now that's weird!

I never sounded more nasal. My nosh is schtuck. Oh yay! My ears just popped... I can hear normally again. I think medication makes me feel giddy. Or maybe that's because I've automatically woken up at 5:30am for these 3 days.

I find steaming my nose using some menthol crystals in freshly boiled water interesting. It clears my blocked nosh and makes my face feel kinda minty and a bit stingy.

Oh yeah... I only worked 1/2 day, yesterday. Having afternoon afternoon naps 2 days in a row never felt more luxurious... its good recuperation for the sick.

Btw, I noticed Blogger is having problems (again) lately... thus, I'm making it a habit to compose my postings in Notepad first. That way, I won't have to retype my postings when it gets 'lost'.

Thu, 6 Mar: Hmm... nothing much happened - I had a happy time getting some songs downloading in the background while doing some work... noted that PC is crashing more often. Erm... yeah, I just remembered that I did go out for supper with Sze Lin.

Fri, 7 Mar: PC kept on crashing while I tried to update a webpage using Dreamweaver. Defragmenting the disk is definitely something I must do no matter how many times it crashes while in the middle of defrag. Yup, I could only stare at the screen as it defrags, reboots itself and to relogin to Win2k before restarting the process again and again. By 5:30pm, the PC defrag was only about 30% at last reboot. I decided to continue the battle with my PC on Monday.

Watched Survivor 6. Gotta say that it gets more and more interesting when the number of tribe members get even on both sides. Loser at the 4th Tribal Council is JoAnna (Jaburu) - the others felt threatened by her physical and mental strength. Later, I watched Scrubs from my earlier video recording. It's quite amusing.

Sat, 8 Mar: Woke up in time to watch the 2nd qualifying round of F1. I must say that the new rules and new qualifying format does lend an edge to a sport that was less than colorful last year. In the afternoon I went out to have a swell window shopping time with Sze Lin. After a late dinner at home, I joined Malcolm, Ashwin & Jacob for a chat-makan-minum.

Sun, 9 Mar: "Look, the world in sepia" said my brother while waiting for the rest of us to get ready for dinner. It was sunset amidst a cloudy sky. I told him that it seems a bit eerie - like we are in an old movie. Shortly after, the whole family was headed for Mario's to enjoy a cosy belated b'day dinner for my bro... the food was really *YumMmm!*

Earlier today, watching the Melbourne F1 race, I was elated with the drama from start til end of the race. The weather caused most teams to choose the wrong tyres - Barrichello lost control of his car and went into a wall at round 10-ish and Da Matta suffered the same shortly after - quite a number of pit stop errors caused by people and machinery - a few other cars sorta blew up - 2 safety-car sessions.

At the end of it all, Coulthard won by sheer luck (he started on 11th), Montoya was 2nd because his car spun and he loss some time, Raikkonen (who had nothing to lose starting from the pit lane) was in 3rd. Lastly, Frentzen's Sauber managed to maintain a pretty good position throughout - he was 6th. For more news on F1, click here

Mon, 10 Mar: Started my day with 2+ hours of computer defrag. After countless reboots including those on Friday's - my comp finally is behaving better. It's been well worth the time sacrificed. Now... I just need to clear my backlogs.

Tue, 11 Mar: Woke up feeling like my throat is going to throw itself out. I am officially sick and on MC for today. If I'm not much better tomorrow, I'll have to go to the clinic again to get another MC. Mum thought I was crazy when I started chopping and cutting some potatoes, carrots, and onions while leaving some Shitake mushrooms to soak - shortly before dinner...

What she didn't know then was that I intended to cook the soup for supper, and maybe it'll be part of tomorrow's breakfast or lunch too. This sudden urge to cook is probably because I noticed that one onion was growing shoots and our few potatoes are beginning to have shoots too.

Tue, 4 Mar: Working on a public holiday has its perks - no traffic jams! Free lunch again today since there were plenty of leftovers from the buffet prepared for the Coffee Talk Session's audience that was conducted earlier. Today's main exclaimation of amusement came from the Indian expat guy when the rest of us in the office started rattling on about breast-related stuff when my boss started "leaking". He said that we were very liberal and we could get sued for talking about this so openly in the office, if we were in the US. Night time was mamak with Jocelyn at the Sup Kambing place. Her friend Michael joined us there.

Non-major news event: Bored worker misjudged speed of a heavy drawer slamming shut. Curse of Butterfingers claims left middle finger as its victim. Typing became a sore task.

Wed, 5 Mar: And the winner is... About lunch time, Joce calls up to ask one of the ultimate dumb questions - "Will the shop charge me if I ask them to check what's wrong with my PC; even when they end up not doing anything? My PC won't go into Windows. It just keeps showing a blue screen. They want to charge RM35. Should they even charge for this?". Well... the answer is an obvious YES, provided that its after the warranty period and RM35 is cheap.

Then she asked again, "Why must they charge?!!". You are buying their service. "But why must they charge for something like that?!" she wails. Hey gal, previously, who checks your comp for you? A friend? If a friend did it then of course its FOC-lar! You are going to a shop and its after warranty some more!!

"Really-ah? How come they charge?" she whines. Oi! Where do you come from? Anything electronic that is past its warranty, those people who service your stuff sure charge you one-lar. Aiyo.... *Patience exhausted trying to explain something so simple to someone who is either very naive, plain dumb, OR seriously too jaded

Alalalalalong... Later at night, I was at Shamrock to hang out with Suj, Shen, Jamie, and Jocelyn. Some Mild Seven gals came by and asked us to spin the wheel to determine questions about the Renault F1 team. We got it right twice, so we had 2 sets of prizes - altogether a total of 4 really cool lighters, and 4 passes to the F1 party at The Bungalow this weekend. Mei Ling (who was there with her friends) gave us her passes - 6 passes in total.

Next thing I know, Joce goes on and on about going to the F1 party... and inviting who-so-and-so to join her... but dunno if they'll come... blah-blah... before going - "You wanna come?". Sorry to be a party-pooper but I will not go to an F1 party organized by sponsors of an F1 team I do not support AND with people who know next to nothing about the race itself. I'd rather watch it on TV with friends who understands what goes on in the race.

That takes the cake!... Anyway, a little rewind... Before Jamie came to pick us up, Joce called to rant about some stupid thing about Suj and Jamie. Not exactly in the mood to be just a listening post or Agreeable Annie after our conversation in the a/noon - I just told her off with:

"Stop being petty! So what if you can't stand how they do certain little things? You think that people change themselves just because one person feels they should? Not that you are going to bring it up to them anyway. You gotta learn how to accept the flaws that your friends have or you'll never be happy about anything."

She later told me thanks for making her stop herself from being in that destructive cycle of hers. Hopefully she'll never have another petty issue to rant to me again after this episode. Sometimes being brutally blunt is the only way to wake some people up from their unrealistic ideals (or their own imaginary Utopia).

Get this - I was awake for a total of maybe less than 8 hours on Sunday.

The long Saturday I had sure took its toll on me. I arrived home with a splitting headache and couldn't sleep until I've taken a painkiller and 2 Panadols. But before that, I managed to give Daws a courtesy call to say that I'm home and Ariani's on her way home. I also gave my brother a call to wish him Happy Birthday although it's still 20 mins to midnight. And lastly, I called my dad to tell him I'm home from Taiping less he gets worried.

My car on the other hand had it's first good run after a major overhaul. The fuel consumption has much improved to my delight... a noticeable 1/4 tank for 220 Km. Hope this keeps up so that I don't have to fill the tank so often. Fuel prices are escalating too often for my liking.

Sun, 2 Mar: Had lunch with my grandpa before going off to post some letters. Called up Celine at the spur of the moment and asked her if she'd like something cold and refreshing to drink. Sunday afternoon is after all unforgivingly hot and humid. She was more than happy to have extra company and the idea of a cold treat. Ended up buying a few extra packets for a few others who are also working at the Open Day. Chatted and kidded around with quite a number of people there. Ah bliss.

Went home to read Sunday papers and dozed off again... skipped dinner... I continued sleeping although I did wake up before 9pm. The call of CSI and Gilmore Girls could not compare to my physical need for more rest.

I found out that the best method for me to kill off whatever is making me super moody is to write about it on paper and burn it. Haven't done that in a long time. Maybe that's why the volcano erupted.

Anyhow, I did call Ariani. The end decision is that Ariani will navigate, and I have both Kak Wan & Swanee as passengers. I also quite frankly told Daws off and all he said was he'll drive himself down if he wanted to go. Well... whatever~! Now, I'm just tired of putting up with the quirks of someone who is so emotionally and mentally immature.

The best thing that could happen after "killing my demons" was to get a "Hello...etc..." SMS from someone I didn't expect to hear from. Thanks Soon Beng. It's such a small and simple gesture but it meant a lot for that moment in time.

Anyhow, Survivor 6! Woo-hooo! I liked the reward challenge round. It was a pretty good ice-breaker game... and the one to bite the dust is Daniel of Tambaqui. Arr... it was obvious that he would be one of the earlier ones to get voted out.

Lastly, it sucks to have to work 8:30am - 5pm on a Saturday. I sure wish I had the liberty to watch some of those Saturday cartoons.

Updates: After work, I went to the bank only to find the cash deposit machine cheekily glaring "Out of Service". Oh well... Then a short trip to Giant was in order. I just realized I haven't drank a drop of water since having milk in the morning. 100 Plus is in order... and a spare bottled of water... and hey! Chuppa Chups lolly!

Next stop - KDU. Parked my car and grabbed the card down for anyone else who would like to sign a message for Catherine. Seeked out Ariani and found out that our "Mr. Pandai Tarik Harga" is made a decision to go only this morning. Perhaps my little tongue-lashing at him was one of the reasons. I prodded him about his decision and he muttered out with a smile, "Forced to". Oh whatever.

We wanted to leave for Taiping soon as we could but the Security Makcik, Mahliga, went missing. Later we found out she went for a shower. Finally leaving KDU, Daws took Wan, Lincoln & the Super Sr. as passengers while I had makcik. I led them all to my house first since I had to stow away the cash I couldn't deposit earlier and Ariani needed to park her car someplace nearer to her home... and she's now my passenger too.

The drive down was OK... except that Daws can be a lousy lead driver, especially when we were in the old roads off Taiping because he doesn't seem to slow down much after turning corners. Not easy to keep track of another car when it's nightfall. Anyhow, keeping up in terms of speed along the highway was not a problem but it also means that there was not much time to take a breather.

Another matter for cursing was because our main guide the Super Sr. wanted to go home to change clothes first although we are late already. She also picked up her daughter to join her for the dinner. We arrived at the Town Hall mere minutes before the couple of the day took their march to the main table. Ms. Loke and her hubby was there earlier and they saved places for us. The dinner was Malay style.

There was a lucky draw after dinner. None of us were lucky. We later went up to greet, congratulate and to pass our angpaus to Cat & hubby George. Ariani, Wan and the little girl took some balloons from the hall. We then had to drop Super Sr. & daughter home first... and well... the girl's balloons plus Ariani's balloons was a definite driving hazard. Couldn't start driving until they learnt to hold down the balloons.

At Super Sr's place, Ariani wanted to anchor her balloons down but in the process of it... she lost the most precious one of all - a gigantic heart-shaped balloon. Wan being really nice that night, came down from Daws' car to pass Ariani one of her many other balloons.

Back towards the highway, I lead until a short while after we were on the highway. I let Daws overtake after that and followed him at a comfortable speed of 100 Km/H until the Penang toll where we parted ways. He had to turn off for Butterworth where he needs to drop Wan & Lincoln off before coming back to the island. Good thing I told him that I was not feeling so well after the dinner and would appreciate it if he would drive slower on the way home. At least he listened this time.

Yes. You didn't imagine it. My imood indicator says I'm feeling crabby. I am.

I just gave Daws a call to check if he has made up his mind on whether to attend Cat's wedding dinner in Taiping tomorrow. Apparently he doesn't feel like going just because she sent a card to KDU and collectively inviting them instead of giving them each a personal invite... and he's also waiting for Ida's decision. Meanwhile, I managed to weed out information that Ariani & gang is going.

I think I should have immediately retaliated and gave him my piece of mind with something more direct like, "If that's the reason for you not wanting to go, that's lame! She gave you a call to invite you personally too, you moron!!" - instead of telling him off with something else that was way less direct than that.

To top the icing to the cake (that is not much a decision influencing factor anymore) - those in KDU will be working full-day up til 6pm; I'm working 8:30am - 5pm; and the dinner is supposed to start at 7:30pm. I think I'll try to call Ariani... see if I can follow behind their car if their car pool is full... or if there's a place in their car, better still.

p/s: Last evening was a relatively happy time for me although there was a blackout for about 30mins. I think it was because that's the only time my mum won't bug me if I went to bathe 10mins before our household dinner time.