My first Formula One

The F1 dust has settled and life is somewhat back to normal. I am not an F1 fan, nonetheless I followed the news now and then. Two days before the race kicked off, I had the opportunity to be a volunteer for one of the companies involved. In return for my service, I'll get to watch the Friday practice session for free with a grandstand ticket. Not a bad deal and I 'sent' my representative there :P Naturally, my 'representative' went for the Friday's session.

Some of my friends commented what's so good about paying so much to watch cars going in circles? I thought about it, hmm... that's quite true. But those who have seen it 'live' talked so much about the adrenalin pumping at the sound of the engines, the atmosphere etc. Even my 'representative' who is not an F1 fan was excited to show me his achievements, aka videos n photos, after Friday's practice session.

Come Saturday night, we got a call from a friend who has booked a room at Swissotel for watching F1 and invited us over. We decided to pop over on sunday night.

Sunday evening 7.30pm, Swissotel 28th floor hotel room. Standing at the balcony beholding the beautiful skyline and soaking in the sound and action of F1 race below, I now understand what people meant by good atmosphere, adrenalin pumping. I too, felt excited at the sound of roaring engines. At that height, I could not tell who's who and what car that is but it feels great to be able to see most parts of the track. From my view, I could see 3 bends. But these guys are so good, none of them crash at the visible bends *alas* :P Our friend said there were 3 crashes on Friday night. It must have been a sight from 28th floor.

The excitement that I felt when 20 engines went 'boom boom' didn't last long. After about half an hour or so, I started to feel sleepy :P Haha.... F1 fans are going to hammer me if they hear this. But I just felt tired and bored seeing cars going in circles. It was fortunate that I had the television behind me. I was busy turning my head between the television for close ups and watching the live action below. It does feel special or shiok to be able to watch live telecast on tv and have the 'live' audio transmitting from below.

We left about 15min before the race ended to beat the crowd at crazy City Hall. Well, it was a good experience. Ask me if I will get an F1 ticket next year? Well... err, let me know if you have booked a room for F1. I'll be there ;)

Sunday Thoughts

She caught my attention as I read the Sunday Times between my heavy eyelids. She is merely 28, holds a doctorate and is the inventor of the recycled spectacles. I probably wouldn't have paid much attention had I not tried the recycled spectacles at Nanyang Optical recently.

Whenever I read of such young achievers, I would often think "hey, what have I been doing all this while?". I was from a reputable school, had a decent education, yet I feel stagnated now. Looking back, I think one of the main causes of my stagnation is my lack of courage. I'm just not not daring enough. During the most colorful period of my life, I had the chance for something bigger but I pulled the brakes. Few years later, when I should have closed a chapter, yet I still held on to it. It seems that I always fall into the trap of letting go too early or holding on for too long.

A friend once said to me, it is not so much of whether you can or not but rather, you dare or not. How very true, especially when I look at the people around. Many who are doing well in life now did not come from reputable "good" schools and some did not ace academically. Conversely, some products of the "good" schools are now just a plain face in the crowd.

So what am I trying to get at? While a formal education is important, I feel that greater emphasis should be placed on character building. A person with the right attitude and good character will go far in life, regardless of his beginnings.

If I coulld turn back the clock, I'd choose to be bolder and listen less to the "good advice" of well-wishers. Alas! I can't go back in time but I guess it's still not too late to start now. Wish me luck ;)

Unusual encounter

What is the last thing that you think you'll ever see in an air-conditioned foodcourt housed in a shopping mall? I was having my dinner at Kopitiam foodcourt in IMM last night when I had the shock of my life. Halfway through my dinner, I saw something running furiously towards my direction. I wasn't wearing my spectacles, yet I could see it so clearly. I was lucky that I didn't choke on my food but I almost dropped my cutlery. Guess what I saw?

It's a furry creature of about 20cm in length, grey in colour, has a long tail. Need I say more? It's a RAT! My first reaction was to lift up my legs. Apparently, some of the diners around me did not even know what happened. The lady at the table on my right continued eating as if nothing has happened. Oh my, if only she knew there was a rat running inches away from her slippers-clad feet. The furry creature ran under her table, then under my table and headed straight for the recycle bin a table away from me. There was a mop and some cleaning equipment next to the bin and the rat just hid in there.

Some of the cleaners saw it and they were amused. They tried to see where the rat was hiding, yet they were afraid that it might spring out suddenly. I couldn't concentrate on eating anymore. I kept looking out at that corner, just in case it ran out again and leap onto my chair. Well, I'm not exactly sure if rats have such ability but I do see cats leaping onto chairs in coffee shops. You can't blame me for my wild imagination. The impossible has already happened right under my nose.

I wouldn't be as surprised if it was a cockroach or if I were in an old market hawker centre. But how in the world did the rat get into an air-conditioned foodcourt on the second floor of IMM? Did it take the travelator, escalator or lift? Or is this somebody's naughty pet that jumped out of the bag? Unlikely, I thought.

As you probably can guess, I did not finish my food. We hurriedly left when those guys got serious in hunting it down. I had initially thought of staying to see how the drama ends but I'm afraid I might become part of the drama and make a fool of myself :P

Reunion

There are some things that I just couldn't comprehend. I spoke to an old friend today, who is now very pregnant with her second kid. She asked me that million dollar question once again - if I intend to get an office job. I told her maybe not and she said "then it'll be easier to have kids''. I almost fell off my chair. That's the last response I would expect to hear out of the conversation. I jokingly replied that it's even tougher 'cos less money to support the kids.

Perhaps what my dear friend meant was it'll be easier to look after the kids if the mom is not working full time. But her comment reminded me of the time when I tendered my resignation. Some kaypoh, good-willed auntie colleague of mine asked if I'm resigning due to pregnancy. When I said no, she went on further to ask if I'm resigning to 'try' for a kid. Faint. She's really 101% auntie, mind you, she's few years younger than me!

Why do people often stereotype when it comes to such things? One should never assume that having children is a natural progression after marriage. Not every women have maternal instinct and not every men love children. Do not judge by the surface for there are often other issues that are hidden underneath. Next time you meet a single friend, don't ask when they're getting married. When you see a married friend, don't ask when they're going to have kid (unless you want to finance the kid's expenses). When you see a friend with one kid, don't ask when the second one is coming. What has that gotta do with you?

Tonight, I'll be meeting 3 primary school friends of whom I have not met for at least 3 years. As you can guess, one of them is the very preggie lady and the other 2 are guys. I'll be braving myself for the 2 million dollar questions again - kids and job. And I bet my preggie friend is going to ask one of the guys whom just got married when he's going to have his brood. Ha, it'll probably be a session of catching up and suaning one another.

Sell?

Will you market a product which gives you good money but you did not have a 100% satisfied experience with the product?

Recently, I was given the opportunity to be an affiliate marketer of a product. The commission was attractive enough to make one want to market it. And, it doesn't seem all that difficult given the awareness of the product and its creator. However, I did not market the product. Some call it stupid, sometimes I also wonder if I'm silly not to do it. But I couldn't get pass my conscience to do it, knowing that support is crucial to the success from using the product. I personally was not impressed with the support provided by the team. I've experienced delayed reponse, no response and responses that didn't help much. To be fair, there were also times when the support given was acceptable.

So, will I or should I market the product? Hmm.....I still think it's no. The price is not cheap and I don't want buyers to feel rip off. It's just not ethical and I want to sleep in peace.