Many thanks to Crispy for the link :
http://www.justracin.net/is.swf
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Happy Deepavali n Selamat hari Raya
Happy Deepavali n Selamat hari raya to all! I'll be in Kuching visiting Crispy :)
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
The Sky Weeps
It's that time of the year again.... the months November and December. Back in the town where i came from, these 2 months will conjure up a magical word : WET. This is the time when the wind decides to switch its direction and bring about half the water in the South China Sea to the land nearest to it.
Based on my experience when i was younger, the monsoon season starts when u see ants and other 6-legged bugs moving to higher grounds causing traffic jams in the cracks on my house walls and fences. Usually, a day or two after that, VOILA!! The sky turns gray and the clouds look heavy and threatening. Soon, the raindrops start falling in a slow rhythmic pattern. A slow drizzle soon give way to a massive downpour. Mind you, this downpour can drone on and on for the next 2 weeks or so.
I remember i used to have great fun during this period. My split level semi-detached house used to get flooded pretty bad when the rain did not stop for days. Me and my sister would firstly tuck up the curtains in the living room so that it would not be soaked in the muddy water. Then, we would transport our musical organ to the 2nd level of the house. With all that done, me n my sister would sit at the stairs and watch the rising water. Occasionally, she would make me a paper boat and i would watch it sail around in my living room. This habit soon disappeared after i read Stephen King's 'It' where in the opening chapter a little boy was lured into a storm drain by the clown whilst he was playing with his paper boat during a thunder storm. Ho hoho....
When the flood had retreated, my Ma would bring out her trusty pail and mop to rid the house of the mud n dried weed the water carried in. While she was scurrying away with the busy task at hand, i would be enjoying myself looking at the marks left by the flood on the walls and my pa's car tyres These marks would tell me how high the water level was the day before...the higher it was, the more excited it made me. However, some of the memories are unpleasant. Once in a while, i would encounter centipedes that got left behind by the water. Apparently, they forgot to swim away with the water and were left wriggling behind in the living room or the car porch...and how i hated wriggling animals!! Of course, it would be less fun if you get bitten by one of those. Simply freaking nasty creatures!
Back in 1994, my pa renovated the house and our house grew almost a foot taller. Since then, the flood never came back but i did find other ways to enjoy the monsoon season: by looking at my neighbour's house and timing the rate at which it was disappearing under water.
The flood was gone, yes, but my Ma did still have other dilemmas. For one, the weather was so wet that there was no way our bucketloads of clothes could dry. She came up with a solution which could kill two birds with one stone, she lit up a charcoal stove in one of our bathrooms and hung our clothes in such a way that they were suspended right above the stove. Puffy the pomeranian would also walk in to warm herself when it got too cold for comfort.
Speaking of Puffy, i could recall vividly how my pa carried a black umbrella to shelter her in our garden while she was trying to pee. If she got wet in the rain, she would stink like a skunk for weeks so we would normally try to keep her dry during the wet season.
When the sun did not appear for days, the temperature dropped and i used to wear socks to bed. We did not even turn up the fan at night cos it was breezy and cool enough to do without it.
After moving away from the town, i no longer go through such punishing weather. In fact, friends in Singapore or other parts of Malaysia could not even begin to comprehend what it's like to be living in the path of an unblocked monsoon weather. Those living in the west coast of peninsula Malaysia and Singapore are pretty lucky they are partially shielded by Sumatra and Borneo respectively.
How ironic! While i was creating this blog, the rainclouds starting forming and now it's raining like there's no tomorrow! It's a majestic sight from my window here....heh heh... i think i'll just enjoy the view...ciao
Monday, October 24, 2005
MIB 3???
There is a new partnership in town... Collectively they are known as MIB3 (Mummy's Innocent Boys). They consist of brothers LL and KK who like other secret agents, have the penchant for cool dark shades.
Do not be fooled by their seemingly nonchalant looks, the slight tilt of the shades on KK's undergrown nose and the snobbish pout on LL's face simply adds rather than detracts their appeal.
Armed with their latest weapon specifically built by Fischer Price , away they zoom in their latest transporting gizmo, a Thomas the Train trainset, they are out to get the baddest of the villains ever..... Who could it be? It must be Crispy, who holds the key to the best gadget every built : a grey, super unaerodynamic, loaf-of-Gardenia-bread shaped car. Only when they defeat Crispy will they ever hitch a ride in this brilliant piece of machinery. Will they triumph? Or will Mummy spoil the party? Or will Crispy prevail?
Friday, October 21, 2005
A Scintillating F1 Season!
What a phenomenal season it's been! At the start of the season, many speculated that Schumi would simply stroll to the World Championship in his superior scarlet Prancing Horse. Instead, a titanic battle for the title was fought between the lightning quick Alonso and the cool Iceman Raikkonen.
Alonso was simply too fast in the opening races, leaving everyone else clambering to keep up with his speedy Renault. His most dominant victory was the Chinese Grand Prix where he led from start to finish from pole position to seal the Constructor's title for Renault. His Renault was flawless and reliable throughout the year.
The same could not be said for his teammate Fisichella who was dogged with bad luck and unimpressive driving. His only win came in the opening race in Melbourne. The Japanese GP looked to be in the bag until he was overtaken by Raikkonen in the last lap. To me, there was a sense of poetic justice as it brought back memories of the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix where he snatched victory from Raikkonen.
Without doubt, McLaren was the fastest car on the grid this year. The only problem was the reliability of the car. Raikkonen won as many races as Alonso did but his car showed signs of fatigue and failed on many occasions. The highlight of the year was when he qualified on pole position with the heaviest fuel load in Monza. The one-stop strategy almost paid handsomely for Ron Dennis but it was not meant to be when Raikkonen's left rear tyre blistered.
It was a bittersweet year for Montoya. He showed that he could win in the McLaren but at the same time also showed the temperament that many critics cautioned against. He provided us F1 fans with moments of great drama such as the tangles with Pizzonia, Monteiro and Villeneuve that took him out of key races. During the course of the season he also suffered a mysterious tennis injury and was black flagged for ignoring pit exit signals.
In the Ferrari garage, it must've been a gloomy year with just one win between their two drivers Schumacher and Barrichello. Of all places, the win came at the US Grand Prix that only saw 6 cars starting the race. Nothing to be proud about, I'm sure of that. After years as the number two driver with the Italian outfit, Barrichello is finally bidding farewell and heading to BAR.
Williams-BMW had a strong driver line-up this year but failed to live up to expectations. Webber and Heidfeld did the best they could but the machinery was just not up to standard. In most races, they were racing in the midfields fighting off the Saubers when a team of their calibre should've been fighting for wins and championships.
Button ( my 2nd favourite driver!) and Sato (Crispy's favourite driver) brought BAR-Honda to new heights in 2004 only to have it shattered to pieces in the first half of the season. The team was stripped of a third place and banned for 2 races after they were found to have cleverly cheated using loopholes in the race regulation. They did bounce back with some solid performances but it was too little too late. Sato tarnished his reputation further with some unnessecary ramming notably the Belgian Grand Prix where he braked too late and ran into Schumacher. The latter was not pleased with the maneuvre and slapped Sato's helmet in a fit of anger.
In the midfield, there were 2 very impressive teams. The better one being Toyota, driven by Trulli and Ralf. Time and time again, Trulli out-qualified and out-finished (any such word?) his teammate. He shocked many by grabbing pole in Indianapolis. For a team so new, the results showed that in a few years time, they could well be challenging the top teams. Ralf wrestled the pole position from Button in the Japanese Grand Prix, but only because he was on a very light fuel load. In the race, he faded away and finished 7th.
The other new successful team was the Red Bull Racing. Their challenge was spearheaded by the experienced Coulthard. He did fairly well in the relatively new car . Angel (my F1 companion) and I had always felt that he was a 'cruiser', you know, the type that cruises slowly and hopes cars in front will break down. He proved us wrong by producing some inspiring drives, perhaps trying to show his inexperienced teammate Klien that he is the undisputed number one in the team.
The 2005 season turned out to be the last season for Sauber, Jordan and Minardi under those respective names. Sauber fared a little better than the other two with some point scoring drives from Massa. During the 'silly season' ( in F1, the term means the season where team bosses strike new deals for the following year) , it was revealed that he will be leaving the team for Ferrari. It was a disastrous season for '97 World Champ Villeneuve. No doubt in the twilight years of his career now, he fared miserably by finishing out of the points in most races.
At the back of the grid, the Jordans and the Minardis fought just as hard as the cars at the front. Monteiro did extremely well by conserving his car and finishing all but 1 race. Albers too deserved some praise for churning out respectable results in an inferior car. He ended the season with a bang by using Schumacher as a launch pad in Shanghai. Heh heh.... On the other hand, Karthikeyan and Doornbos could only play second fiddle to their obviously faster teammates. Better luck next year!
After what is the longest F1 season ever (19 races!), the blues set in and i have four F1-less months to endure while the teams pack off to Europe for winter testing. Come March, i will be glued to the TV set again alongside Angel shouting our lungs out in support of Raikkonen and Button.
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