my history with sports

Along with Kimi's decision to drive in Citroen's junior rally team next year comes the inevitable, in my case, waning of my interest in F1. Although I started watchng the sport before he was even driving in it, nonetheless, it doesn't seem to hold anything in it for me now if he's not there. I rarely continue to watch a race if Kimi has exited early. I guess, for me, the allure of F1 is the magic of Kimi's driving. Without it, it's just 20 or so cars making laps around a track. So strong is the effect of Kimi Raikkonen the driver.

Which leads me to this. Reflecting on this, I realize I have a history of abandoning a sport I previously vociferously supported. When I say abandon, I don't mean I lose total interest and move on but more like the passion fades and I invest myself in something else. Usually it comes on the heels of a major change in the team. Before F1, I would religiously follow Liverpool in the EPL. Although after the retirement of Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler being traded and the politics of the club overshadowing the actual football playing, I grew tired. I don't follow the matches anymore but I do take note of the scores and the league table. If anybody asks, I'm still a scouser fan, just not as fanatical as I was before. My eldest sis probably begs to differ. My ferocious defence of the club at any criticism hurled their way by her would probably indicate I'm still a nutter. I know she does it on purpose but I can't stop myself from getting riled up.

Right after the waning of football, I found myself being drawn completely into basketball. I don't know why but the first time I caught a game on ESPN, it so happened to be the Rudy Tomjanovich led Huoston Rockets and they hooked me. To this day my favourite player of all time is number 34 Hakeem Olajuwon. I used to love watching him, Clyde Drexler and later on with Charles Barkley on the court. It just broke my heart that in the 95-96 and 97-98 season the Utah Jazz kept overcoming them in the Western Conference. I started thinking that I was jinxing them and stopped watching. It took a lot to just go cold turkey but after a while I could be satisfied with just the odd bit of news in the paper. It did make me feel better that despite my not watching, they did continue to disappoint by not making it that last mile numerous times. I know that's an odd thing to say about a team I'm supposedly devoted to supporting but to me, that meant I wasn't the reason behind their difficulties in overcoming that last hurdle.

At the same time I got into the NBA, I also started following womens' volleyball. Yea, I know, of all things to get hooked on :P But the on court antics, especially of the very hot headed Cuba players were what reeled me in. There's hair pulling, shoving and A LOT of angry shouting. And all from the first ever game I caught. I was waiting for a Rockets game and that was what showed right before. From there, well, after all that excitement, there was no way I wasn't going to get sucked in. My favourite team were the Russians. I quite liked the look of their star player, Elena Godina. She looks like the female version of Prince William. To me anyways :D No, it wasn't a girl crush. I just thought she was a really great player and the way she took the abuse from the Russian coach was amazing. Now, he was a real courtside character. Always yelling to no end till he'd get majorly red in the face. I always was afraid he'd get a coronary from all that shouting and drop right there during a game. Then, well, as per usual, when they kept missing out on number 1, I thought I was jinxing them so I stopped.

Come to think of it, the only one I feel that I don't jinx when I watch is Kimi in F1. I feel that if I don't watch THEN he gets into trouble. LOL, yes, that's crazy talk but I'm entitled. How do I feel about losing F1? There's a sadness cos I really did love the sport but I don't think I can bear to watch it knowing I won't see my Iceman driving. Sigh. Kimi, you've totally ruined it for me.

completely in love.....with my studded flats

Just wanted to give some love to my new pair of studded flats. Got 'em when I went back to the Homeland for sis's wedding. I think my feet look really cute in them :D


Oh and for the heck of it, here's a pic of a 2K ring I managed to wrangle off of the finger of the local chief liason officer. Huge ruby surrounded by diamonds. And it's a dude's ring!

wouldn't it be nice to eat without your conscience nagging at you?

Ok, so I'm not the most healthiest of eaters but neither am I a complete junk food foodie. I try to balance out my KFC Snack Plates with my own home cooked, low fat (I hope) meals.

I've been driven to write this because my conscience is being noisy in my head. It's berating me for nearly finishing off a bag of Kettle brand lightly salted chips during pre-dinner snacking. I left a third of the bag. What's the big deal? So I didn't share it with anyone, big whoop. As a consequence, I'm now reduced to one rice cake topped off with a layer of cheese mixed with chives & onions and a cup of iced Skinny Cow Hot Choclate mix for dinner.

Ok, usually I do have more self-control but I went online and became engrossed in the whole Brittany Murphy cardiac arrest death stories that I ate without thinking. When I finally realized that I had been pigging out, well, it was at the part where my fingers were beginning to scrape the bottom. At least they were Kettle chips, au naturel, oven baked, so on, so forth.

I think a lot of women go through life feeling guilty about food. I know I do get struck down by my own inner voice lecturing me when I've indulged a bit too much on something that is perceived as sinful. What confuses me is how much food is really too much in a day?

Take for instance, today for breakfast I had 2 plain rice cakes and a cup of Nescafe mild 3-in-1. For lunch, I had a plate of fried chicken noodle. I drank a litre of water. I ate the chips and ended with the abovementioned dinner. Oh, and one marshmallow with choclate filling. Is that a lot? I wasn't being particularly healthy today and the whole chips bingeing made me feel worse about my eating habits.

Sigh. Getting this down doesn't seem to have given me any clarity. The guilt is still lingering.

what is the holiday season to me.....

if I don't go around spending money on things I don't need but want because I can't seem to control the overwhelming urge to spend money? Now that we've gotten my shopping impulses issues out there, I thought I'd post pics of my latest beauty purchase, the L'Occitane Discovery Set.


Aside from their bath products, I'm not a big fan of L'Occitane but when I spotted this set in a magazine, I just had to get it. My second sis is the L'Occitane worshipper and is actually a cardholder so when we went to one of the stores and were told they were in the middle of restocking, they offered to give her a call the moment the new shipment comes in cos the set was selling out faster than they could put it on the shelves.

And for good reason too. The set, which has some full size products retails in at just USD45. That's a really good deal considering the 2 50 ml riz rice bottles and the 2 full bar soaps alone would cost you 30 bucks! So when my sis got the call last week, I just didn't think about the fact I didn't need any of it nor the fact I just spent 20 pounds on a Bliss bath/body set in London, I told her to go right ahead and get me one too.

I've heard good stuff about their shampoos and have had a chance to try 'em out (via my other sis who doesn't know I occasionally nick a dollop every other time I'm at her house) so it's great that there's the 50 ml travel size shampoo and conditioners for me to try before I decide to jump into the higher end hair product pool (I'm just a head and shoulders gal for now). The set also includes the infamous L'Occitane Immortelle cream which is purported to be a "fountain-of-youth" sorta thing. I'm not quite sold but if it's there to be tested, might as well give it a go.


There's also a tube of hand cream and a purse size tin of shea butter salve. You can't have too many hand creams I say and isn't shea butter supposed to be good for everything? Once I finish the Bliss hand cream I got from Harrods, I can get started on the L'Occitane tube.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the ridiculously cute tote all of this beuaty goodness comes in. It's got a whole retro feel to it and since we're in the day and age of being more environmentally conscious, it's definitely an adorable and functional piece to be seen toting around with you when grocery shopping or whatever else. I usually buy these as flight tote bags cos I'm usually hauling a lot of crap as carry-on and don't want to carry a cabin luggage.

Unfortunately, just as is the case with my leatherbound books, the set's not here. I'm waiting for a visit from my mum, an aunt and aunt's friend in early January before I can get my hands on the stuff. But till then, I have these lovely piccies of my new beauty purchase to look at to tide me over :D

the fantasy has arrived!!!!

Four exclamation marks to signfy the four fab leatherbounds I got last Saturday! No, as per usual, I don't have them in hand as yet but like I always do, I badgered my sis to take pics of 'em outta the box. They're over back in the home country which is approximately 621 miles away by air with a whole other country in between. I googled it.


Anyways, my sis agrees. They were DEFINITELY a great buy. Looking at the pics, they look so gorgeous and read-worthy. A stupendously stunning set (say that really fast 5 times) to have on anyone's bookshelves. I'm sooooo happy I went ahead and got these classics! Can't wait till January which is only when I'll be able to get my hands on at most one of 'em. I really want to flip through the Grimm's Fairy Tales since that was on my original list last year when I was talking about starting a leatherbound book collection.

Thanks Barnes & Noble and b&n.com for making it affordable to own such beautiful books!

since we're talking about books.....

I realized that when it comes to romance novels, I am a complete sucker for period romance. I have no idea why the egalitarian times of English aristocracy (and hypocrisy) at its height is the setting in which I'll find myself being swept away on clouds full of fanciful (and idiotic) notions.

Judith McNaught is the best, the only one I truly enjoy reading (again and again and again). I mean many "ye olde England" novels can get a tad corny (and tawdry if I'm completely honest) but my good friend Judith does it in the most classiest of ways. Which just means that I don't find myself rolling my eyes or laughing out loud in sheer disbelief more than once while I'm reading.

I love everything about JM's period stories. The description of the clothes, the funny (weird funny, not haha funny) social practices, the whole lord-duke-earl-marquess business are just some of the things that I find makes me smile so foolishly while I'm reading these books.

Recently I tried reading Meg Cabot's offerings in this genre and while it does not hold a candle up to Judith McNaught, it's passable on the whole corniness-eyerolling ratio. I did prefer the ones she wrote for the young adult genre ("Victoria And The Rogue" and "Nicola And The Viscount") rather than the books for adults ("Educating Caroline" and "Lady Skye"). One reason is I found her writing the more "adult" scenes in the book to be rather weirdly executed. In the YA versions, they are of course nonexistent since the target audience are too young for such explicit content. Plus, I also thought that her heroines, especially in "Lady Skye", were far too easily shaken free of their morals for women of that day and age. Am I being a prude? I mean, I can think of only one time that Judith McNaught wrote her heroine to have had sex out of wedlock. Weren't these unmarried women and their virtue supposed to be guarded like the crown jewels of England back in the day?

Anyway, I recently concluded Cayla Kluver's first outing "Legacy" and although set in a fictional time, in a fictional world, it is essentially a period piece at heart. One of those times where the men are the "lord-of-the-manor-I-am-master-of-all-I-can-see" types and the women seem to be mere accessories (she implicitly writes that it is the norm for husbands to beat their wives should they see fit - i.e: wilfull women who don't kowtow to their significant other as they should). This is a 16 year old girl who created a whole other vividly portrayed world and managed to spin a 464 page tale. I admit, the whole 16 yerar old award winning author gimmick had me (I am after all a sucker for awards).

And it was a leap of faith for me to spend money buying her book without firmly knowing if it was going to suck or otherwise but I'm glad to say that the book was great to read. I'd say I liked it better than "Twilight" however blasphemous that may seem. The plotline and ideas that is. The writing was flawed a bit by her age. There were times when I was reading and thinking, "What a typical teen!". And though the protagonist is about 17/18 years old, I shouldn't be thinking that her actions/thoughts are typical to that of a modern day teenager. It's a period piece where women in that day and age don't particularly behave as how she sometimes portrayed Alera. Otherwise, I will definitely like to read the next book in her planned trilogy.

have i mentioned how much i love books?

Ok, still alive. Just being lazy like I usually am towards the end of the year. Been catching up on my tv shows and books, haven't been surfing much.

So I've talked about how much of a read-aholic I am. And I've also talked about how much money I've spent buying books. I have to also mention that I recently got into eBooks.....as a way of saving the trees. Ok, ok, my acceptance of eBooks are in no way altruistic like that, it was purely a logical and financially fiscal decision since I could practically just download most of the books for free. The whole tree-saving aspect is a boon. So is the shelf space I've managed to save.

But anyways, despite having downloaded a whole lot of books in the past coupla months (and not read a third of them as yet), I find I still have the need to buy books. Hence why I got myself the Barnes and Noble Leatherbound Fantasy Collection (which arrived on Saturday). I also actually shelled out cold hard credit card cash for 2 kindle books from mammoth e-tailer Amazon.com which is a real milestone for me considering that I think electronic paper of any kind should be free (I still have a mild lingering preconcieved notion that things I can't actually physically feel should not cost me. Trust me, I DO understand the concept of copyright and such).

Which is really want I wanted to talk about. I guess, after my experiences with the Kindle books, I've come away feeling that I really do not mind paying for a paperless version of a book. I realized how much of a physical space saver, delivery time saver and shipping cost saver eBooks really are. The two books I got were Jen Lancaster's Pretty In Plaid and Cayla Kulver's Legacy which totaled at $19.98 ($9.99 each) and I got to read them instantly.

I've been trying to get Jen Lancaster's latest offering for some time now since it was released earlier in the year but since this book was only published in hardcover, the prices inclusive of shipping was something of a deterrent. While I was shopping around on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble hoping for some holiday deal earlier this month, I thought I might as well see if there's a digital version of the book. And since I'm here talking about it now, obviously there is. Just none that could be downloaded for free :P

It didn't take long for me to decide to just go for it and cough up $9.99 for a book I wouldn't be able to turn it's pages with my fingers or get a whiff of that new book smell. What I did get instead was the satisfaction of book delivery within 15 minutes of my pressing on the search button. I also found to my extreme delight that reading electronic versions of books are great in that at a click of a mouse you can just jump to a different page to look at the glossary or illustration or in Jen Lancaster's case, her footnotes and with another short click jump back to the page you were reading.

eBooks are also great for buying when the paper variety is constantly out of stock. I've been trying to get Cayla Kluver's book Legacy in paperback since June when Amazon's newsletter informed me of their latest Amazon published bestselling author who happened to be a 16 year old girl. I've made it pretty clear that I still like to read young adult fiction and so I'm not ashamed to admit that I've been hunting for this book for nearly 6 months. Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble were out so again, I decided to see if they had an eBook version. Barnes & Noble didn't but since Cayla is on the list of Amazon published writers, they'd of course want to make more money by exclusively (I'm simply assuming this is true) holding the rights of eBook distribution for themselves.

And that solved my waffling between which eBook reader to use. I had only previously used third party eBook readers as well as Barnes & Noble's but if you buy Amazon, you have to install their Kindle reader application. I hate the fact that I have to use too many different types of readers to be able to view different eBook file types but I have to say that besides the Microsoft rtf reader, Kindle is really a great pleasure to use. In fact, it's definitely the best one out there.

So after working around the whole stupid "no-delivery-outside-the-US-for-Kindle-digital-content" thing, I am now the proud owner of two paid eBooks. And a slew of other free eBooks I found on Amazon. And it's not just the classics but recent authors like James Patterson have also offered their books for free download. It's a marketing strategy where they offer the first book in a series for free and when the story hooks you, you'll most likely end up buying the next book. It's also a great way to introduce authors to a wider audience. I just finished reading "Serial" which I got free and is on the Amazon Kindle Bestseller list. The product description reads:

"Remember the twin golden rules of hitchhiking? # 1: Don't go hitchhiking, because the driver who picks you up could be certifiably crazy. # 2: Don't pick up hitchhikers, because the traveler you pick up could be raving nutcase. So what if, on some dark, isolated road, Crazy #1 offered a ride to Nutcase #2? When two of the most twisted minds in the world of horror fiction face off, the result is SERIAL, a terrifying tale of hitchhiking gone terribly wrong. Like a deeply twisted version of an "After School Special," SERIAL is the single most persuasive public service announcement on the hazards of free car rides. Beyond a thrilling piece of horrifying suspense, SERIAL is also a groundbreaking experiment in literary collaboration. Kilborn wrote the first part. Crouch wrote the second. And they wrote the third together over email in 100-word exchanges, not aware of each other's opening section. All bets were off, and may the best psycho win."

It's a joint effort by two thriller writers Jack Kilborn and Blake Coruch. I loved the story they collaborated on, although it is completely sick and twisted, more so than I usually enjoy but it did pique my interest to see if their individual books would reel me in as much as this free effort did.

Right now, I'm trying to decide if I want to get the Kindle version or the paperback version of the sequel to "The Nanny Diaries", "Nanny Returns: A Novel". The tipping point will definitely be cost :)

it's that time of the year again

No. I'm not talking about company performance appraisals although my form is supposed to be submitted by the 30th of this month. I'm talking about that wonderful time of online Christmas holiday deals!

And I made my first purchase of the season. My Europe trip is over and though I am a lil bit in debt (to my sis, not the banks), I am no longer on my self-imposed book ban so I am treating myself to this great deal from my favoured online book e-tailer, Barnes and Noble!

Four. Read that...FOUR gorgeous leatherbound classics for the absolute deal price of $53.95! I love books! I love deals! I love leather! I love bookstores that give me great deals on leatherbound books!


I'll be getting a lil bit of Lewis Carroll's Alice, some gruesome tales from the Brothers Grimm, beautiful stories by Hans Christian Andersen and the epic adventures in C. S. Lewis's immortal prose revolving around Narnia.


I can't wait to get this round of books. I guess I'm in that phase where I'm becoming a collector aside from just reading the books. I love how these books look on book shelves, they lend an air of....seriousness. Ok, I don't know if I have a thing about being taken seriously but my real intent is to own these classics that I read when I was young. The stories that developed and fueled my love of the written word. I'm the last of my generation who grew up on these stories. My nephew and nieces are in that time where they are learning to read about Dora the Explorer, Bob The Builder and Ben 10. They'd rather see the movie than read the words that inspired the celluloid version. They basically have no interest in the fairy tales of yore.

So I thought I'd buy myself these classics as a keepsake for myself.....and I hope for my nephew and nieces to get the chance to read one day.

needs to be recorded for posterity

I figured since an announcement has been made, rather than follow my gut and ignore the news, I'd record it for posterity's sake.

I came home from work and after showering and whatnot, settled in front of my PC. After going through the motions of checking my work emails, I did what I always do, go to the Kimi Raikkonen support thread on the Planet F1 forum to find out the latest in the ongoing will he/won't he sign for McLaren debacle of 2009.

I'm feeling rather numb right now. And when I mean numb, I mean I don't feel anything. Not panic, not despair, nothing. I'm not convinced I'm in shock but I could be. My reaction has me confused. I'll be honest, Kimi IS the be all and end all of F1 for me. I said I would likely still follow the sport after he leaves but in hindsight, I may not have gotten into the sport because of him but I have a strong feeling it's pretty much guaranteed I'll stop following it fervantly because of him.

So apparently Kimi's decided to take a sabbatical ala Mika. I know Mika certainly didn't come back to F1 so does the fact that Kimi is taking one actually is just a precursor to an unfortunate early retirement? I was 97% convinced he would still be in F1 next season driving alongside Hamilton in the McLaren but to have quite reliable news reports stating otherwise is supposed to feel disheartening I guess.

Is this it for Kimi? Are you leaving me Kimi Raikkonen? Have I just been dumped? I guess I can't believe it. Looks like I'll be waiting till the 2010 drivers lineup is fully realized before it completely sinks in.

when i say "I never...."

I stand by the saying "Never say never". Unfortunately, I don't always live by it so there have been a coupla times, ok, more than a couple, where I've been caught out by myself. I try to avoid saying "I'll never....." but there are just those moments in life where I'm just so high up on my moral high horse that life is just setting me up to fall and hit the ground hard.

Anyways, the "I never....." moment in this post that has come to bite me in the ass concerns handbags and paying more than 500 hundred dollars for one. I remember the moment I had uttered the words I have been forced to take back now. It was just after I watched my eldest sis hand over her credit card at the Gucci store. The till rung in at a price of 1500 dollars. I'm pretty sure I had the most incredulous look on my face as I watched this transaction go through. In my head, and later out loud to friends, I was tsk, tsk-ing and thinking what a dope my sister was to be spending that much cash on a bag. I mean I loved bags and all but hellooooo? You don't have to spend more than 50 bucks and you can get a nice bag. 20/20 vision is useless in hindsight. I should have really kept my mouth shut and perhaps I wouldn't find myself in this predicament years on.

I love me some handbags, I completely do. I own a lot of 'em and most are within the 100 bucks and less range. I use to flip thorugh magazines and look at the designer bags and think who in their right mind would spend that much money on a piece of leather. All I can say now is that I must not be in my right mind because here I am, at the cusp of thirty, and I'm in posession of not just one, but THREE, handbags that retail at a price of over 500 dollars each. *Sob*

Where has that idealistic gal gone to? How did I manage to slip through the cracks and fall into the pool of women who own luxury handbags? I have to admit, I AM disappointed with myself. I never thought I would become one of these girls but here I am. It gives me guilt when I think that I spend that much money for a pretty trinket and there are people out there who don't have money to even buy food for themselves.

Then I think about the flip side. I work hard, there's nothing wrong with giving myself a treat. At the very least I'm not spending more obscene amounts of money. I still can't bring myself to push through the 1K barrier. I'm not saying never but I'm not saying I will either. I'll leave it up to the Fates.

Okay, I've let my buyers' guilt to have it's say. Now I can start to enjoy ownership of my new LV Speedy and Mulberry sling :)

interlude

I'm still on (mental) leave. The European trip has thrown my whole life a bit out of whack and I can't seem to find my bearings as yet. Oh, I sooo want to blog but can't figure out left from right and up from down so my posts would basically be nonsensical. When I've gotten myself in order, I'll be back to jotting down my thoughts. Cheerio!

veni, vidi, vici

Well, I've returned from conquering Europe. Ok, just London, Lancaster, Liverpool and Paris. And it's the cities that conquered me since I returned home half dead, completely dehydrated and sick with viral fever. Spent the last week in bed moving as minimally as possible. Had to even go get a fluid line straight to the veins, THAT'S how badly Paris and London chewed me up and spat me out.

Ok, dramatics aside, now that I'm not delirious from fever I can look back on my European sojourn with fond memories :) The trip was delayed a bit due to our plane not getting in on time and we lost a night at Hilton Euston London because of it but then we just rerouted ourselves to the St Pancras train station after landing in Stanstad and that's when our trip truly began.

Taking the Eurostar across the channel was interesting. It's fast, it's smooth and I would definitely use it again. Our apartment in Paris was a wee bit teeny in the Marais but we made do. It was fully equipped with everything including high speed internet access which I promptly took advantage of by downloading anything and everything to my hearts content. Paris in a nutshell? THE place to purchase luxury items. I ended up getting my LV epi leather Speedy 30 in noir and even managed to get my initials tastefully embossed on the strap. I saw the Mona Lisa up close and personal and Van Gogh's starry night. I went up the Eiffel Tower and watched an authentic cabaret show.

The trip to the UK was equally as great. Very nostalgic. I spent my childhood in England and visiting the old house and the farmhouse we first stayed in was a real trip down memory lane. EVen got to stand right outside the school I attended when I was there. Also, West End was awesome. Les Mis was truly a wonderful show and the guy who plays Enjolras was so devastatingy good-looking! What can I say about the production of Lion King except thatit's such a visual spectacle and truly makes use of the theatre space. The actors were all over the place, coming in from the back of the theatre and even from above. It's a shame that both my sis and I did fall asleep at certain parts due to extreme tiredness - our schedule was just so tight! Aside from one racist incident, London was fabulous!

The question remains though. Did I or did I not get something from the Mulberry outlet in Bicester Village. Short reply: YES :p Clarks also took my money. Shopped quite a bit in Paris at H&M and when we were in London I totally went a bit nuts at Topshop and Dorothy Perkins. Even got some stuff from Asda not to mention this really cute tunic from John Lewis. And a total impulse purchase from this shoe shop I kept walking pass coming from the Avenue Montaigne LV store - Eden. I got a pair of open-toed leather booties, they are gorgeous but not completely comfy, lol. A woman suffers for fashion, no?

a year into the inner workings of my frivoulous mind

For the past coupla days, I've been having really insightful convos with a colleague on life, love and everything in between. It's really made me look at myself and see the core of the person that I am. But that's a discussion for another post. What I realized from all the talks is that each and every time we ended our conversations, what I wanted to do was recount our discussions in words. I wanted to be able to remember the thoughts, opinions, theories and whatnot by committing them as a visual reminder. I wanted to be able to capture the spirit of those conversations, to eloquate the catalyst that brought it about. I wanted to record the details down so it would always have its place in my memory. And that's when it clicked. Writing is something that I have always been passionate about.

I have always had a love of the written word. My most absolutely favourite activity is not shopping, as it might suggest based on the posts I've done, but reading. I am a vociferous reader. It's an addiction. I go through about 5-6 books a month on average but during some manic times, I can go through 3-4 books a week. In that respect, reading has opened my mind and imagination to write. My first recollection of writing (for fun) was when I was 10. Inspired by all the books I've read, I decided to try my hand at short stories. From that point on, I began to build a collection of short fiction, some inspired by books I've read, some by my own personal experiences. By the time I was graduating high school, I had managed to have 30 complete short stories. Out of the 30, I shared only 6. Some were sent in as my assignments, some were submitted (and published) for my school newspaper and one was even entered for a short story competition (I didn't place, just received honourable mention, but the experience was worth it). During my pre-u studies, I was approached by the yearbook committee for essay contributions and ended up with 2 of my articles published.

After getting into university, I took a sabbatical (of sorts) from writing. Well, it just got waylaid. At that point in my life, I was going through the whole college experience. Feeling the excitement of independance, I wasn't about to slave away in front of my computer to write about life when I could go out and do life. My passion for reading didn't abate but my love of writing did wane. I was more into experiencing rather than writing about the experience. It's something that I look back upon and regret slightly for never having taken the time to record my thoughts during those years.

Once I got my degree, I found that I had some spare time during my job hunts. I started writing again. Mainly an electronic diary of sorts. This time, it wasn't so much fiction writing. I focused my writings on myself, my surroundings and the world at large. If I felt an issue affected me, I would express it. It became an outlet for me to articulate my thoughts. I didn't necessarily need an audience for my jottings, merely me, myself and I sufficed. And it's at that end that we are here today. I don't need an audience to be able to write. I don't need people other than myself to read the things that I feel need expressing. I'm ok with nothing I've ever written from this point on to be acknowledged by anybody but myself. Because, although writing is a way of sharing a part of yourself to other people, I am more than alright if the only person my writings is shared with is me. I write for myself, first and foremost. It's mainly a way to sort through the rubble that is my thoughts. It's my therapy. I'm inundated by soooo many thoughts throughout the day that I need a way to express them or they'll do my head in. That's why writing has become my passion. It isn't as a means to earn a living nor to gain fame but merely an outlet of expression.

And on that note, I want to celebrate 'The Inner Working of A Frivolous Mind'. Happy One Year Anniversary! You made it through your first year and it's been wonderful. I can only hope that you and I will still be here for many more to come!

i owe you sis :)

Literally. I'm in debt to her. She's been in charge of financially arranging the Paris-UK trip and just came back to me on the amount spent per person so far. At present, minus spending money and plane tix, the trip is costing me USD1,679.73 for 10 days.

I don't know if this is cheap or not. We do have some relatively great stuff planned. We purchased the 4-day Paris Pass for about EUR130 and that allows us entry to A LOT of museums as well as free access to the Metro. We're catching a show at the Lido in Paris and two shows at West End (Les Miserables and The Lion King). We have a tour of Anfield on our last day in England. I used to follow Liverpool religiously. Before F1 took over my life that is. But I'm still a Liverpool supporter and so is my dad. Then there's the trip to Bicester Village for some primo shopping. Also the memory lane jaunt to Lancaster. The entertainment portion in itself probably brings the total to between 700-800 dollars. Which I guess is quite cheap, right?

We're doing our own bit of driving in UK so we rented a car for that. And we're taking the Eurostar to Paris and back for about EUR60 if I remember correctly. In Paris we rented an apartment which costs about EUR140 per person for four nights and on the overnight in London we're shacking up at Hilton London Euston. We have a stay in a small farm cottage when we head to Lancaster.

My money is starting to feel inadequate :) My sis and I have been combing the net for great shopping deals and we're both kinda interested in getting in on the vintage train. There's like a whole boulevard of vintage stores in Paris and I've had a look at some of the stuff available and it's amazing. Pricey but gorgeous. This one place has some of the best Chanel 2.55 collection ever. Unfortunately, out of my budget but my sis can totally swing herself one. She's planning on getting a jumbo from the boutique on Rue La Cambon anyways. All I'm wondering is if we would be allowed into Coco Chanel's apartment above the store. I'm guessing it's a negative. I don't believe any Tom, Dick or Harry are allowed up to her quarters :) It'd be super if we did manage to go though.

Half of the time I'm confused about where to focus my money at. Do I bring more Euros or do I bring more pounds? I've been going back and forth on what I want to buy. At this eleventh hour before the trip, I still have no clear idea of my own personal expenses. Which worries me because I seriously do not want to be paying for this trip for the next five months. Two months max but after that I really want to start saving money again. I feel bad about my savings account. The only consolation is I didn't touch one cent from it this year. The dividends should be somewhat plesant because of that.

Anyways, besides worrying about potential fashion faux pas and money for shopping, I'm getting very excited for the trip. I've been brushing up on the 20 most useful French phrases, courtesy of "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Learning French On Your Own", and hope I have no use for it because frankly, even though I think my French sounds good, I'm guessing I'm going to get laughed at a lot if I actually speak :D Comprenez-vous? To which I'd probably get a lot of je ne comprends pas :) But one of my friends who went to Paris in February did say that the French appreciate the effort so maybe I'll throw out the odd easier sentences. The one I know by heart is "Ou sont les toilettes?" cos I don't want to be hopping from one foot to another in the cobbled streets of Paris while trying to hold it in just because no one understands I need to use the ladies stat :D

Whatever the trip brings, it'll be an adventure. Bring on the 28th, I'm so excited!

completely bananas!

I dieeee! A statement oft uttered by fashion stylist to the stars, Rachel Zoe. And i die for Rachel Zoe! Four months ago I knew next to nothing about her except for the odd bits and bobs. I mean I've heard of Rachel Zoe, seen pics of Rachel Zoe, seen Rachel Zoe's picks on Piperlime, know she wrote a book, seen the stars styled by Rachel Zoe but I had never given her a second thought. But now that she's in my stream of consciousness, it's as if a whole new avenue of fashion opened up.

As per usual, the tv series hiatus creates the oppurtunity for shows that I would never normally watch to flit into my realm of consciousness. I AM IN LOVE WITH "The Rachel Zoe Project". I have often seen her on the celebrity gossip sites and thought her sense of style was too much for me but seeing the work she does and the results from said work, I have a whole new level of respect for what she does. ANd a completely different view of how she dresses herself. Basically I LOVE IT, I was a fashion ignoramus before, I've learnt the folly of my ways.

Granted, it's not any type of work that would merit the nobel peace award but her work does touch millions of people the world over. The world is filled with negative news all the time so there's no harm in a bit of frivolousness once in a while. Of course, to the fashion crowd, fashion is serious business.

Ok, getting that out of the way, I just have so much love for the show. I live vicariously through it. The clothes, the shoes, the bags, the jewelry, I just want practically EVERYTHING. I'm completely loving Van Cleef & Arpel. I love Marchesa, they just appeal to the inner fairytale princess in me and I'm not particularly drawn in that direction. And Rachel's personal style has definitely wowed me. I love that she' the vintage queen. I can see how Nicole Richie was influenced by her. And Taylor's casual, rock-chic look always appeals to me as well. I love her Chanel leopard print jacket that she's always wearing on the show. I l and depth.ove Tay's Balenciaga shoulder bag, I love Tay's YSL Muse II, I love her Ray Bans and even her whole personality appeals top me.

I did think she was quite the bitch during the first season but towards the end when she finally made nice with Brad, I just found that despite my dislike for how she behaved, I stil liked her as a person. Perhaps the anti-social part of her is what resonated with me. I'm anti-social as well but not to the extreme that is Taylor. And Brad. I do love Brad as well. I believe he has grown in this job. To see the maturity of Brad Season 2 and compare that with Brad of Season 1, you just can see the complete confidence he's gotten over the past year. I always rooted for him and I'm happy he is doing well in his work with Rachel Zoe.

Comments on Rodger. I think he's one of the sweetest men on reality TV. Rodger is adorable especially when trying to take a firm hand with Rachel over her spending habits. I honestly don't know why he even bothers, Rachel seldom feels guilt about shopping. Marisa, Racchel's personal assistant is nice enough but since she doesn't quite feature heavily on the show it's hard to get any kind of connection with her. I like her well enough. Ooh, I love Joey. I love him to bits. I think Brad and Joey make the perfect gay team. The two of them together are hysterical.

I just finished watching the seventh epi of "The Rachel Zoe Project" and am now totally psyched, super psyched, for my Paris sojourn. Seeing the city through the lenses of the cameras following Rachel around, the city seems so vibrant and exciting and with such soul and depth. Of course, it also gives rise to my fashion faux pas fears. I think I'm completely overthinking it but I just want to make sure that I'm at my fashion best when I'm walking into these high end designer boutiques. I'm especially afraid of the Chanel boutique. I have a fear of snooty sales assisstants. Yes, I know they're there to serve but they can be completely insufferable people when they care to. I wish I had actual designer pieces to wear while I traipse around Paree visiting all the stores but all I own are high street stuff. The only designer piece of clothing I have is my Calvin Klein leather jacket which doesn't seem very Autumn-y but will have to do. Shoes are a major concern as well. I don't think I'll end up bringing my Melissas after all as they are too large for all the walking planned and so right now I only have one pair of knee-high boots (which since they're so cheap I'm hoping will last the whole trip) in my shoes repertoire and am trying to figure out the next best fashionably comfortable pair to go with me. I'm also worried about bags. I don't know which handbags to bring along with me. I mean my Mulberry isn't exactly an Autumn piece and well, Coach isn't exactly a European designer thing either. I might just go along with the Coach seeing as I don't have any basic black handbags that would fit as well as that. Yes, yes, I'm sounding like a complete fashion snoot, so different from the girl who started this blog claiming diffusion lines are the future of retail. Like I mentioned in my last post. I still love cheap things but I have acquired a taste for the designer stuff. Hell, I wouldn't be shopping at outlet villages if I didn't still love to get things on the cheap. Even if I had tons of money to throw around I would still go to places like Bicester Village or Gilroy Outlet Malls to get my designer fixes. Doubt that'll ever change.

the september issue

When I heard about 'The September Issue', there was no doubt that I would do anything to get my hands on a copy of the documentary. I, like many other women who have even a smidgen of interest in fashion, have heard of the enigmatic Anna Wintour. The myth of Anna Wintour is huge. There are many things said about her so when I heard word that she allowed cameras to follow her around while she went about putting together the 2007 Spetember issue of American Vogue, I knew that I'd definitely be watching it.

Being outside the US, the only way I was going to be getting my hands on the film was through the torrent sites. I'm actually surprised I managed to come across an extremely great working copy of the documentary on my first try. I have to say thank you to the person who enabled me, and others outside The States interested in seeing this film, to have the opportunity to watch this.

My thoughts on the film. I have a better appreciation of what goes on behind the scenes of a fashion magazine. I got a view of the larger-than-life Anna Wintour. I was able to understand the artistry of a fashion spread via the genius that is Grace Coddington. I'm confused as to what Andre Leon Talley actually does and can't completely comprehend his fashion style but since he's Anna's right hand of sorts, it's more likely that I don't understand him. I am surprised at the candid and frank things spoken by some of those featured. This wasn't a documentary so much to coddle or to soften the image of Anna Wintour. This was a film about the Vogue September magazine and the players in its design.

It would seem by the opening of the film that Anna Wintour strikes fear in the heart of the young up and comers at Vogue. Most are fearful of displeasing her. Only the old hands who have worked with her for ages, like Grace Coddington, understand that Anna Wintour is not really about wanting it all her way. It would seem like she's a control freak who rules the Vogue offices with an iron fist but I don't see it that way. I just see someone who knows what she's doing and want what's best for her magazine. I didn't necessarily like all the decisions she made (I'm smitten with Grace Coddington, I just love her work so I agreed with her when she was displeased with some of the photos Anna cut out of her spreads. That Parisian spread for the October issue was just beautiful and genius.) but the end result was fabulous.

My favourite person is definitely Grace. I can't begin to rhapsodize how amazing I think her visual style is. I like that she doesn't feel the need to kow tow to Anna. She fights the battles she feels should be fought. She stands firm on what she believes in. I like that she can take the hard decisions but she doesn't have to like it. And she was just so amazingly beautiful in heyday as a fashion model, Grace-ing (pun intended) the same pages of the magazine she now works for.

The final word on it: definitely worth a watch if you're someone who is interested in fashion, fashion magazines and the hard work that goes into making the biggest issue of the year by one of the most famous fashion tomes in the world.

counting down to retail madness

Ok, it's obvious to me that the "Zlena's No Bag Buying 2009" campaign has long flopped so I'm just not going to try to pretend I have things under control. As the countdown to the great Paris-UK escapade nears, I have been going stark raving mad trying to figure out a workable budget that will leave me not too deeply in debt.

I have an aversion towards swiping credit cards in foreign countries so as unwise as it is to be travelling with a lot of cash, that's what I'm doing. Not too much since I don't want to end up in tears if I get mugged or something. A lil bit over 600 pounds and 600 euros each.

Right now, I'm facing a shopping dilemma. A major fashion conundrum. I am torn between handbags. Between LV, Anya, Mulberry, Dior and Burberry, I have managed to spot bags that I just must have! I can't go bag crazy too much since I still haven't completely used the Coach's I got in the States. So at first I planned conservatively. I'd thought I'd just get myself the LV epi leather Speedy 30 in noir and be done with it. A classic piece in leather for around about 650-ish euros. But even as I made my decision, I was hesitant. Looking at the pictures, the epi leather speedy looks like it's meant for women of a more mature age. I don't want to drop that much cash on a bag that won't make me look age-appropriate. Nor will I drop that much money on a non-leather piece. So I revised my thought, I'll go and have a look at the real thing in stores and if I feel like it's something I want to invest in, then, AND ONLY THEN, will I spend on it. I mean, Paris can be where LV is Target-like cheap compared to the rest of the world but it's still a lot of money. If it's not meant to be, I'll just get a scarf.

I've also been googling Bicester Village and been trawling other people's blogs for their experiences. All I can say is that if I get the opportunity to snag a GBP40 Burberry leather wallet, I'll sure as hell get it. I know the product turnover in outlet villages such as these are high and am not too hopeful that'll I'll be able to get my hands on this lovely, generously sized Burberry black leather hobo I saw on thebaglady.tv which would be absolutely great for everyday use. It was at the Bicester Burberry store in June going for GBP199.99. Yup, that's right, less than GBP200 for a good-sized leather handbag from Burberry. Bananas!

Then there's also the Mulberry store. Now I'm not going to make a collection of Bayswaters' because I would like some diversity in my designer handbag collection so I'm looking at some other pieces from Mulberry. I have my eye on the crossbody small Antony bag. It would be great for casual outings when you don't need to be lugging around a lot of things and even more suitable for travelling. It would be a superb replacement for my now dead-as-a-doornail convertible Esprit bag that well died an ugly peeling death after 4 years of service. I can't seem to get a price estimation on the Antony at the outlet store but if the Bayswater prices are anything to go by (spmething around the region of GBP275), I'm hoping it's either between GBP100 to GBP150. If it's less than that, I dieeee! The retail price of the Antony on Bluefly.com is USD350.

I'm also looking at Anya Hindmarch. I doubt the mirrored Cooper (which I adored on Angelina Jolie) will be in stores but I would love to own the mirrored clutch. I have been lusting over it for quite some time and if there was an Anya piece I would love to own, it'll be this one. I mean, I do have the Anya Hindmarch For Target bag but that's not really boutique is it? Don't get me wrong, I still love the fab collaborations with the retail giants but if I were to get the opportunity to own the boutique products for a considerably marked down price, you can bet that I'll bite.

And last but not least, Dior. Ah, Dior. I saw that they have the Saddle bags in Bicester. Unfortunately, the girl at thebaglady.tv didn't put the price up for it but she did say that although heavily discounted, it was still waaay over her budget. I guess a Dior handbag is completely out for me but I think I could just have a teensy look at a purse.

These are just the stores where I've seen the actual products they carry. There's also a Gucci store in Bicester and I haven't even made an effort to track down any fab Gucci finds. I'm thinking if I don't buy the LV, I can actually get the black hobo Burberry, the crossbody Antony and a lil something something from Anya. On top of that, I want to own something from Agent Provocateur and La Perla so really, I can see that the cash flow from my lilac Coach purse into the hands of some cashier girl/boy is going to be fluid. There's most likely a loan or five involved as well ;P

a new champ is crowned

Jenson Button has clinched the WDC at the penultimate race of the 2009 F1 season in Interlagos. I take back my words, he drove a proactive race, he did his job well enough to win the championship in a decidedly assertive fashion. No, he didn't finish on the top step of the podium, he crossed the line in fifth but he gained enough points to put everyone else in the drivers' champion battle mathematically out of contention thus taking over the mantle best driver in Formula 1. For 2009.

This is the third year running that the drivers' championship has been decided at the Brazilian race track. Kimi's championship, in which he won the race, was clinched here. So was Lewis's where he finished fifth after the whole 'Hand of Glock' incident but he was the deserved driver of 2008. And here we are a year later with another new WDC. At the rate the past years of F1 has been going, I believe this will be the decade where we'll most likely have the most number of WDC racing each other on the track.

Kimi's race was excellent given his circumstances. He was P5 on the grid but at the start maneuvered his Ferrari into third ahead of Jarno Trulli and Adrian Sutil. Then as he was making a move on Webber for second, the Aussie moved across the track, giving him no room to run so Kimi had to take avoiding action but since the nose of the Ferrari was already past the back of the Red Bull, he clipped his front wing on the back of Webber's car and it came off. His position was compounded even further by a fast deflating left rear wheel that was punctured by Adrian Sutil when Sutil tried to get back at Kimi a couple of corners behind. Luckily for Kimi, the safety car came out because as the Webber-Raikkonen tussle was going on, Jarno Trulli and Adrian Sutil banged wheels and effectively took each other out as well as Fernando Alonso. Poor Nando, the dude was minding his own business and ended up as collatarel damage. There were some entertaining moments as I watched Jarno Trulli who was absolutely incensed, livid, furious beyond belief at Adrian Sutil for the incident and the tiny Italian marched up to the tall German and a heated tirade ensued. All the while Adrian is trying to square things by offering his hand to shake as a concillatory gesture but Trulli was having none of it. Fernando can be seen in the background just resignedly getting out of his car and heading towards the track transport truck to hitch a ride back to the pits.

At this point, safety car leads from Rubens. This gave Kimi an opportunity to race back to the pits to get his front wing replaced and change his race strategy. Things were going well, the wing replaced, tires changed and refueling going smoothly and he was released from his pit box. As he was coming up past the McLaren pit box, and I'm unsure whose fault this is - whether it's the lollipop man or Heikki himself, Kovy's car was released before the fuel nozzle was taken out and he drove out in front of Kimi with the nozzle attached and fuel still in the hose. He gave Kimi a fuel shower, completely dousing him in the cockpit not to mention the car. And this is when I thought I was going to faint.


Kimi's whole car came alight, on fire for at most 3 seconds before burning out! Watching the in cockpit camera, the interior and Kimi himself was set ablaze. Watching him as his steering wheel ignited, the fire moving over his hands, I saw him release the wheel and for a moment as the fire burned he just kept still. The point at which the car came under control, he got back in racing mode and started making his way out back onto the track. Even managing to past Heikki who had stopped near the Brawn garage and the Brawn mechanics were frantically trying to yank out the nozzle. Kimi lost a lot of time and track position because of this. I understand Heikki was racing for track position but I hope he feels awful for this. Kimi mentioned post-race the fuel got into his eyes and it was burning the entire time but he kept on driving the full 71 laps and finished a remarkable sixth. That's about 68 laps worth of complete discomfort. Superb and completely brilliant to cross the line in sixth with burning eyes, completely drenched in fuel.



This is what Kimi said post-race:

"What happened on the first lap ruined my race. First I was hit at the first corner, then when trying to pass Webber, I was hit and lost the front wing. At the pit stop, I ended up with some drops of petrol in my eye, from the fuel line stuck on Kovalainen’s car and then I was engulfed in flames and blinded: I was going to stop, but luckily the flames soon went out. Even now, my eyes are still burning, but I’m alright. After the restart, I could only try and use the strategy to move up the order and at least I brought home a few points. I am disappointed because today I’m sure we could have made it to the podium. There is one race to go: let’s see what we can do in Abu Dhabi to get back that third place."

And after his antics where did Heikki finish? Out of the top 10. I mean, for all that, I hoped he would have made Kimi's suffering somewhat worthwhile to finish at least in the points. Heikki's race was full of incidents at the start. He had an "event" with Fisi and then set Kimi on fire in the pits. His teammate however drove spectacularly. Lewis started 16th on the grid and finished third with a decisive overtaking maneuver on Rubinho in the last few laps of the race. This meant the biggest loser was Rubens Barrichello who started on pole, was in the lead for over 20 laps, lost the first and second position to Mark Webber and Robert Kubica respectively, due to his ineffective race strategy. Then he was in third for much of the race but after losing that position to Lewis which was helped by his tires losing pressure, he had to pit and change tires and came back out on the track in eigth position. And that's where he finished. Rubens, I tried to give you a chance but let's face it, after all these years, you have now just cemented yourself as a non-finisher. He just can't make the final push for the win. Some drivers have it, some just don't.

And Fisi. Oh, Fisi. I DO want you to do your best. C'mon, Kimi has been Atlas holding up the Ferrari for far too long, he needs you to get some points so Ferrari can finish third ahead of McLaren in the constructors. Don't make all Kimi's superlative effort go to frickin waste. The guy has been driving like hell on wheels (have no idea if this is the right context but I think it is) and despite Ferrari not deserving to be third, Kimi has worked super hard to make sure they held on to that position for as long as he could. The only consolation is that Heikki is also non-performing so McLaren haven't really been able to capitilize. Now Ferrari are a point behind McLaren in the constructors, there's one more race. Kimi will surely do everything in his power to get a great result for the team and I will hold out hope you'll do the same ok? I know you're just as frustrated and disappointed but let's transform all that into something positive for the last race.

Kimi, if THIS is your swansong season, I can't say that I'm not disappointed you will leave without at least three drivers championships under your belt because you deserve to have that many by now. But, you have done no discredit to yourself. You were brilliant this season. You did lead the team, you did put the car in the most undeserved ultimate positions, you even managed to win on your most favourite race track. You are the most composed driver, the fastest natural talent and the most entertaining personality amongst all your peers. In my eyes, you will always be the best driver in Formula 1 these past 8 years that I've had the utmost pleasure to follow. From Sauber to McLaren to Ferrari. If this IS it, then I just want to say thank you. Thank you for all the great races you've allowed me to witness. I'm so, so, SO proud of you Iceman! You are the true Flying Finn, no one else compares :)

UPDATE (19/10/2009):
After going to my fave Kimi thread, well it's the lollipop dude's fault without a doubt. I agree with some of the forumers who said, based on the video of the pitstop, that he was so intent on watching the Ferrari pit crew working on Raikkonen's car that he reacted on Heikki when he saw the fuel nozzle coming off of Kimi's Ferrari thus releasing Kovy with nozzle attached into the unsuspecting and unlucky path of Kimi. I hope Kimi's better today.

i'm gleefully addicted to GLEE

After the abrupt cancellation of "The Beautiful Life" (which I was watching for the fashion) due to low ratings, I shopped around for a new show to watch and stumbled upon "Glee". And I'm completely addicted and totally caught up.


What's not to love? The singing, the dancing, the great tunes! The series is funny too and I'm completely in love with Lea Michele's voice. This 23 year old Broadway star who plays the intense Rachel Berry has such an amazing voice. I love to listen to her. I'm also totally approving the choice of Cory Monteith as the male lead as I can't help but like tall, gawky guys. I have no idea if he's really awkward-ish in real life but on the show he plays the part of the reluctant big man on campus to a lovable tee. The fact that he's big and tall and always enthusiastically performs the dance routines is just adorable. Cory either really puts in effort to embody the role or he really just is a big, awkward mess of limbs. It's just endearing, I love rewinding his dance scenes. I can't believe he's actually 27 years old! He DEFINITELY looks 17. Boy, those are some really good genes!

What else? I love Jamma Mays who is the school counselor, I'm in awe of the ensemble Vocal Adrenaline and just love when they appear in any scene, I find Mark Salling who plays Puck somewhat attractive (kinda reminds me of Boston Public's Nicky Katt who I had a major crush on back in the day) and the fact that the actor is 27 makes it all better (no icky cradle snatching feelings), love Cheerios coach Sue cos she is just one craaazy and completely entertaining lady (I seem to like most of the stuff Jane Lynch does - she was hysterical in Paul Rudd's "Role Model") and the musical choices are spot on.

Things I'm meh about are.....
1 Will Schuester, don't really care about, or even like, the character. I don't know if it's Matthew Morrison's portrayal or just that the character is often weak-willed and turns me off. To his credit, he sure can sing and dances well.
2 Jessalyn Gilsig as Terri, Will's wife. Never liked her on Boston Public, CSI: NY, Heroes so don't find that she appeals in this either. I dunno why it's so, it just is.
3 Storyline from epi to epi is a bit jumpy, stilted, kinda flat as well but the singing and dancing make up for it.

My most fave epi is definitely a toss-up between episode 4 "Preggers" and epi 6 "Vitamin D". In "Preggers" the best scenes were definitely the start when Kurt is performing Beyonce's "Single Ladies" and the football team doing the "Ring On It" play to win the game. A bunch of dudes in full football gear performing Beyonce's "Single Ladies" is just too good for words! "Vitamin D" had the two mashup scenes and I just can't commit to which is my favourite. I think the boys performance wins it by a hair. Cory and Rachel both performing remarkably and I love Kevin McHale's voice as well. Not surprising that he's a good singer cos he used to be in a band.

Anyways, the Glee love continues and I hope it'll do well enough to get a second season. I totally love me a lil song-and-dance routine :D

between two lakes in Sao Paolo.....

is a race track named Interlagos and it is the next scene of the championship showdown between Rubens Barrichello, Sebastien Vettel and Jenson Button. But I'm not interested in the drivers battle, qualis was great, rain and all but I'm up at 2:53 am not to blog about the qualifying results but to wish my most favourite of Formula 1 racing drivers, Kimi-Matias Raikkonen, a happy 30th birthday. So here goes.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE ICEMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thirty exclamation marks for 30 years. Have a great night celebrating the rest of your birthday in Brazil. It's been a bit of a crappy day thus far what with all the rain and having to drive around in the wet but you did me proud by coming in P5.

Sigh. It was nice to hear all the commentators talk about how it's your brilliance that's getting the car where it is although it makes me suspicious of their motives when they talk nice about you, Kimster. Isn't it sad that when people compliment you it's taken with a bit of reserve since they've been bashing you so badly in the media for the past 2 years or so it's odd when they do the opposite :)

And to the nice bald Ferrari guy who held up the nicely handwritten birthday note for Kimi to the cameras, I love you for acknowledging him, it was very, very sweet. In a time when he surely feels a bit uncomfortable in the garage, to still have some kind of friendly support is always appreciated.


Here's to a great race for you and hopefully an incident-free start. Let's try not to cross paths with Adrian Sutil or those jinx stories will follow you guys forever :). Oh, and I hope Ruben's race goes spectacularly well cos I want to see him as WDC. Sorry Button, I just don't see you as WDC material. Anyways, one last time.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIMI RAIKKONEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE (18/10/2009):
Ok, so Ferrari is still acting like one nice big happy family to Kimi so I'll just say thanks for still celebrating his birthday with a big cake and the champagne. I'm glad that you showed no disparity in treatment of your drivers when it comes to the more personal aspects like birthdays. This was a nice gesture and Kimi looks mighty appreciative of the gesture. After all, he's got his hands on the champagne, ready to get some kind of buzz after the P5 he managed to pull out. Thanks Dom for the photo op.

the first step is admitting you have a problem

So here I am confessing. I am a serial procrastinator. Ok, this doesn't make me unique or terribly flawed. I'm sure more than half of the world's population is afflicted with this problem as well.

Sigh. I have been lazy on the blogging front. It's coming up to one year since I started my blog. I can't believe time has passed by so quickly. Anyways, as October 28th draws close, I decide that I'm just not in the mood to do any posting.

I say posting because I've got over 10 half-baked posts languishing on my netty. I'll write them halfway or two-thirds and then give up. I can't seem to make that final stretch. It's a conundrum to me why it's so. For my own sake, I'll try to give myself the kick in the arse I obviously need to keep myself going. The ideas are there, I just need to finish them.

So, for October's post numero uno, the noteworthy activity, the point of interest, the newsflash is.....I finally concluded two days of scrubbing solidified oil from my deep fryer and now my hands and nails are ruined. LOL, yes, the only thing of interest I can come up with right now is that. It's either this or I talk about Kimi and F1 and I'm kinda sick of me going on and on about it. Half of my unfinished jottings is about Kimi and F1 so I'll just leave it till I'm ready.

So anyways, it really did take me two days. I started on Sunday evening, spent about an hour and a half scrubbing and rubbing and dousing it with soap before soaking the whole thing in hot water and leaving it overnight and a day since I had to go to work today. I came back at 6 pm and immediately got on to it again. Now my hands are peeling and my nails are brittle and jagged from all the chemicals and the scrubbing. And no, I did not wear any marigolds so yes, serves me and my hands right. But I have a shiny, clean deep fryer to show for it and I have to say, it gave me great pleasure to scour the thing clean. And now, I'm going to hold off on using it for as long as I can :D

It's damn hard work. Much respect to restaurant workers who have to clean those industrial size fryers. It's a dirty job for sure.

random useless thoughts that plague me

It's coming up to the one year anniversary of my blogging start. Ok, restart. I've been lax of late. Been too preoccupied with life to be writing about it. That sounds snooty but that's not my intention. I've just been consumed with what I perceive is important to me that I don't have the energy to even blog about.

Not like if I did it'll be news-worthy anyways. All I've been doing for the past two weeks since returning to work is obsess over Kimi Raikkonen. Yup. I have to admit, before I regularly blogged about F1 and Kimi, I never really understood the depth of my devotion but it really does creep me out that I'm overly concerned about the man. Makes me think if there's a deeper psychological meaning to the whole thing. Like, am I fixated on him to fill some kind of void in my life? It might be, who knows. I'm still on the fence when it comes to psychology because it's all too ambiguous. Is there or isn't there a right answer or is everything up for interpretation?

See what I mean? Anyways. I have been in complete Kimi meltdown. I'm on the Kimi thread at the Planet F1 forum because they filter in news faster than google news can. Oh yea, I've abandoned google news in favour of other rabid Kimi Raikkonen fans who are just as wacky about the guy as I am. I take comfort in the fact that I'm not the only one. I'm completely grateful to them for being able to feed me Kimi news at a press of the refresh button. There's usually someone posting any hour of the day since his groupie's come from far and wide. Probably spans the whole timezone :)

As usual, when there's a lull between GP weekends, it gets slow on the F1 news front. So that means I actually had a lil time to focus on other non-Kimi activities. Like visit all my favourite online hangout sites. Read The Lost Art Of Keeping Secrets and fell in love with Harry. Watched The Ugly Truth and The Proposal. Hey Katherine Heigl, girl, you're being pigeon-holed! How many more movies are you going to make playing the uptight , prissy type who is taught how to loosen up by jack a-holey guys you end up falling in love with in the end? Knocked UP, 27 Dresses, The Ugly Truth. Seth Rogen, James Marsden, Gerard Butler. Jackasses all of them but with a bit of a sweet side

Okay then, I've run out of silly things to type up. Cheerio!

putting things into perspective

For the past 3 weeks, my life has been completely consumed by F1 and Kimi Raikkonen. 24/7. This whole Ferrari-Kimi contract break has me more obsessed than ever. I know I said that I'm actually fine with it and in most ways I am but the wait to find out his next move is what's got me in a constant bind. I can't seem to think about other things and there are more pressing matters to be thought of. Such as the eathquakes in Indonesia which have affected my live-in housekeeper. Her house was destroyed and her son is missing. More important yet I can't believe how absolutely shallow I am that I'm more in a tizzy over Kimi's future than the situation of my housekeeper's life!

the essence of girl next door

I was reading Jennifer Aniston's interview with Elle for their September issue and have come away with an even higher regard of her. And so, it's inspired me to share my thoughts on her. I've ALWAYS liked Jennifer Aniston. Ever since I was turned onto Friends and became obsessed with the whole Ross-Rachel dynamic for the ensuing 10 years. She just manages to draw you in and get behind the spoiled daddy's girl who morphed into miss independance. I still tear up when I watch the last epi in which they get back togther for the final time.

Anyways, after the series ended, she completely immersed herself into movies and has rarely looked back since. Aside from guest stints on the now defunct Courteney Cox show Dirt (which I loved) and Tina Fey's 30 Rock, she has been a box office staple. Jennifer Aniston is also one of the most photographed women in the world and her laidback sense of style is admired by millions. In part, I think that's what makes her charming. That she doesn't appear to try so hard to impress you with her sense of fashion. Most of the time, her looks are so simple yet stylish. SHE is my definition of effortless chic. I mean a simple tank and cargo pants combo looks fantastic on her.

Ok, so I'm going to touch on the "love triangle". When she first got together with Brad Pitt, I never thought that it would end up in marriage. I have never found Brad Pitt attractive. Yes, yes, I'm very much in the minority here but my first impression of him was in "Legends of The Falls" and despite the brilliant performance in the movie, the long hair was and still is a turn-off. So is his square jaw. I'm not saying I don't think he's good-looking but between him and Eli Roth, I'll pick Eli anyday.

But after they married and he appeared on the show (at which time I would say he looked his hottest), I thought, well, they do make a lovely couple and it was only then that I squarely got behind them as a couple. As much as I cared to that is which was not much at all. Let's just say I didn't think they made such an odd pairing anymore.

When the whole Angie Jolie thing happened, I did pick a side and my support clearly rested with Jennifer Aniston. Aside from the horrible worthless drivel that is "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (seriously, what chemistry were people talking about?), I feel that Angelina Jolie is a cold public figure. And if they had not done that photoshoot so soon after the breakdown of Brad Pitt and Jen's marriage, I probably wouldn't feel such disdain towards her either. The whole "we're just good friends" routine was, I felt, quite insulting in the wake of that spread.

But, what's passed is past and I don't believe the nonsense being written about Jen A in the tabloids. Sad, lonely Jen. The rags have been banging this beat for years. Is there seriously no other gossip worthy story for them to report on? Why is it that she appears every other week on one rag or another that proclaims her bad luck in love? Get over it. Brad and her just didn't work. He's with Angelina Jolie. She has moved on. Why keep bringing it up and throwing it in her face? Are they expecting her to have a public meltdown. If she didn't do so back then what makes them think she's going to give them the satisfaction anytime soon. And really, she comes across as this pragmatic person with a list of accomplishments. She's more than a player in the demise of her marriage. Yet, all things end up referring to that one event. I guess at this point, she's just resigned. Whatever it is, the tabloids will just want to report on what they want to believe.

reading......The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets

Penelope Wallace and Harry Declancy. I fell in love with Harry much as Penelope did. The best part of it is he's not a "prince charming" type at all but rather the rebel without a cause. And who doesn't like themselves a James Dean-esques sort of fellow?

the new ferrari lineup.....

does not have my driver in it but it's ok. It'll be Alonso and Massa heading the scarlet team in 2010. I'm a Kimi tifosi above all else and don't care so much about the team. Does it make me a fairweather F1 fan? I think not. If Kimi was to leave F1, there are still other reasons to watch the sport. I do love McLaren as a team because my earliest memory of F1 was watching Mika Hakkinen in the black McLaren going round Indianapolis. It never occurred to me to support the Ferrari. I have always, from the get-go, been a McLaren driver fan. I guess it's something about the team themselves that pulled me to them. I hate overemotional displays of sentiments and I guess the more sleek, clean, less boisterous image of McLaren Mercedes appealed to me.

Ok, I'm going off on a tangent. The real point of this post was just to say that the Ferrari announcement has saved me about 100 pounds. I was planning on dropping by the Ferrari store in London to buy some Kimi merchandise but since he's no longer with the team, I think I'll refrain from lining their coffers. Might take a look around since he did sign the countertop of the store :) Maybe it was foresight that I never bought any Ferrari paraphernalia while he drove for them. I have a Kimi McLaren shirt that I wore when I watched him race in 2006 and if all goes according to rumours, I might have reason to wear it again. I'm just waiting for the next move. If Kimi moves to a different team, I'm booking my ticket for next year's race.

Oh, I'm stll supporting Ferrari till the end of the year. Kimi's still with the team so there's no question about that but come November, goodbye Ferrari, I was never comfortable with you anyway. Too much emotions running free, too little brainwork going on at the pitwall.

here we go round the merry-go-round, the merry-go-round, the merry-go-round

Damn! Ferrari beat me to it. I was hoping to get my post out before they made the announcement of Fernando joining Ferrari in place of Kimi! You guys were only supposed to announce it Thursday! Now I've had to redo the whole post on the fly.....

Anyways, if my previous posts was any indication, I had already known this was going to happen. Not so much cos I'm psychic but it all got overwhelming and sometimes when the obvious is staring you in your face, you should just take it at face value.

Considering, at this point, Kimi doesn't have a drive for next year, I don't seem upset with his ouster. Yes, yes, it was an ouster. Could Ferrari have treated him with less respect than I've seen them show him this season? The rumours of Alonso's deal started early but after Massa's accident, there was no doubt about whom Alonso was going to be replacing. Ferrari are a team of sentimental fools where wearing your emotions on your sleeves is deemed the best way so was there any way that they would keep on the cold-as-stone dude above the injured bird that is Massa? Course not!

And this clearly explains the developmental freeze of the F60. Many pundits had questioned Ferrari's develoment stop because most of the 2010 technical rules are similar to this years' and it only made sense that if they were focusing on the 2010 car now that they could still test out some aero changes in this season. However, since the only proper driver available to do the testing for next year's car is the driver they were planning to get rid off, how could they allow him to test the parts out knowing that he would be leaving and taking any info with him to another team? Therein lies the conundrum for Ferrari. So they chose to languish in the mid-field, only getting to the front because of superior driver skills.

Actually, I have a feeling that if Felipe hadn't suffered that accident and Renault hadn't gotten into the whole "Crashgate" incident, it would have been Felipe-Kimi or Kimi-Alonso for Ferrari 2010. So, yea, I'm basically stating that Kimi Raikkonen has become the sacrificial lamb in the whole drivers seat debacle of 2010. But let's not pity Kimi too much. After all, he did get a 20/25 million pounds payout to vacate his seat for Alonso and the paddock rumours are strong that a return to Woking and the Silver Arrows are on the cards.

I, and a million other Kimi fans, have always revered the Kimi of McLaren days. I mean, the Iceman was in his element in the silver car. If only it didn't break down on him so often. Since engine reliability is no longer an issue at McLaren, and if the rumoured move comes to fruition, then let's hope the magic resumes again. I'm not worried about Hamilton. He can drive his own race as long as he doesn't play any dirty games, he and I will not have a problem. Let's just let Kimi do his own thing.

If he doesn't end up at McLaren, I would love to see him at Brawn, working with Ross Brawn. I mean, if Ross can make Jenson Button to appear as world champion material then what could he possibly do with Kimi's talent and calibre? Yes, I'm also bluntly stating I don't rate Jenson much, the car he's got under him is the actual star.

I wish Ferrari and Felipe all the best. We had a great year with you but let's face it, after Jean Todt left, you Italianno guys really dropped the ball. Here's hoping Alonso will bring you what you deserve. And everyone else, prepare yourselves, the Iceman cometh. And it ain't goin to be pretty.

the glitz and glamour of the lion city

I have to admit, albeit grudgingly, I'm totally impressed by the way the Singtel Singapore GP is run. Tying up one of the glitziest sports in the world with the glamour of A-list superstars really appears to be a match made in heaven.

I'm just completely gobsmacked that a whole slew of entertainment A-listers were seen in the Far East at the same time. But anyways, the whole point is the racing and what a race was had. Kudos to Lewis and McLaren. Can I just say I'm developing quite a crush on Martin Whitmarsh.....I mean for a much older dude he really cuts a dashing figure. Like I've said before, McLaren do have a special place in my F1 heart. I'd say that if there wasn't a driver I supported, McLaren would definitely be the team I'd get behind.

I'm sorry for Nico Rosberg. That hastiness to exit the pits during his first stop was a costly mistake. What had looked like a sure podium turned into a languish at the bottom of the field after his drive-through penalty for crossing the white line before completely coming to the end of the pit straight.

Seb Vettel was another loser in the podium run. Also a recipient of a drive-through penalty (due to speeding in the pit lane), he did, however, fare much better than Nico and slotted into a points paying position. That kept his drivers championship hopes alive although it's now tethered simply by a single strand of flimsy thread. I would so love to be proven wrong and wouldn't mind seeing Seb haul in the two Brawn boys.

The podium finishers were Lewis, Glock for Toyota and Alonso for the beleaguerd Renault. I applaud Timo for his great drive to second. That crucial overtake of Fernando at the start of the race was simply what set him on the path to Toyota's first podium finish of the season. And Fernando, I have to say, great drive to third. In spite of all the hoopla surrounding "Crashgate", he manages to maintain a level head and get on with the job. Very Kimi-esque of you. And, sadly and ashamedly, I'm also starting to find him quite attractive. It annoys me so that I find he and his stubble to be sexy. Urrgh!

And where was my darling Iceman in his red car? In tenth. I don't have anything bad to say about it. I watched the race. I saw how hard it was to drive that car. He pulled one overtaking move early on in the race which was thrilling but that was it. It was quite difficult to watch him wrestle the car to get some kind of performance out of it. It only came alive on his final stint on the soft tyres but by then there were only 10 or so laps and he was in tenth. Fisi did not fare any better. Thirteenth for him.

It makes me unhappy to see Kimi unhappy with his car. I saw his body language after he failed to get into Q3 and he looked pissed. Judging by his post-race statement, he seems really unhappy with the non-development of the car. I have a few guesses to why Ferrari are not developing the F60 further but that's points for a whole different post which I'm working on.

So, conclusions from Singapore are.....

ONE that it was very glamourous.
TWO the race itself was quite boring in terms of on track action.
THREE bring on Suzuka :)

is it sad.....

that instead of spending my saturday night going out on the town, I'm actually at home on the net keeping up with the Singapore GP qualies action via the Petronas Sports Centre cos there isn't a live telecast of the qualies? Oh well, that shows how much of a devotee to the Kimi Raikkonen cause I am :D

gettin a feel of the track

I'm on my holiday with my family and have been on an internet DL but when it comes to F1, I'll always make time to get a post out.

Went to Singapore today to hang out at Takashimaya and Vivo City. So happens, the city is in preparation for the Singtel Singapore GP happening this coming weekend. When I think of Kimi and myself being in the same region, makes me tingle with excitement (yea, yea, so I'm slightly pathetic).

We even did a track runthrough. Went through the street circuit layout. It gave me a complete thrill to be driving on the same piece of tar that Kimi will be driving on this Friday. I could practically feel Kimi's presence as we made our way by the Esplanade. Ok, so I'm indulging in a lil bit of crazy, so what?

Anyways, totally can't wait to be watching the race this weekend. I hope Kimi continues his podium streak. Muahs Kimster!

P.S:
This post is being typed on my completely fab Nokia N97! LOVE IT!

four in a row, baby!

Yea, that's right! It's FOUR straight podium finishes for my main man, Kimi Raikkonen. Like I said in the post below, I would definitely miss the main part of the race if not all of it and I did miss it for the most part. But I got home in time for the last lap of the race.

So, there I was, barely had my Melissas off (oh, yea, I've gotten them already and have been using for about 2 weeks now :D) and I rushed straight to my living room, switched the tele on and the first thing I saw was Fernando Alonso driving around in sixth place. I was going, "C'mon, c'mon, either show me Kimi or give me the running race classifications!". I'm so anxious and the anxiety is getting the better of me as my voice has raised by several notches. I do realize that I'm yelling at the television.

Then, as if in answer to all the shouting, the ticker appears at the bottom of the screen. I see BAR in first, BUT in second and I'm crossing my fingers and hoping so hard that the next one was going to be RAI in third but it was HAM in third and RAI was classified fourth. I was disappointed but needed to see the times before making any further conclusions on the outcome of Monza.

21 FRICKIN SECONDS BEHIND HAM? Ok, that definitely rules out a dogfight for third. As, I'm lamenting ever so loudly about the non-podium finish to my sister (who suprised me with a visit today and will be leaving tomorrow morning), I suddenly see a McLaren spinning into the barriers and effectively crashing out of the race. I am frantically trying to catch the colour of his helmet and when the spinning finally stops, I see.....the yellow top of HAMILTON'S RACE HELMET!

And that's when I totally lose it! I actually started yelling, "YES! YES! YES, YES, YES, YES, YES!" with both arms in the air, fists pumping before sinking to the ground in complete and utter disbelief and pleasure. "OMG, he's third, he's third, he gets a podium, I can't believe it. God did answer my prayers! I don't care that it's gifted!". My sister is by now looking at me as if I've completely lost it (which I have) and actually says to me, "Geez, Zlena, don't be so overdramatic. Calm yourself, that's totally OTT".

At this point, I'm so happy, I just don't care. Kimi is then shown driving to the chequered flag with a really fast Force India on his rear wing but since the last lap was under the safety car, no overtaking was allowed and Sutil was simply showboating by getting the gap down to less than half a second at the last corner of the race. It's a move I believe he made because he was sore he could not take Kimi's spot in the offical race standings and wanted to effecively convey that he had the faster car and Kimi just managed to keep in front of him because of his KERS button. I mean, if he had managed to jump Kimi, he would have been the one promoted to third by that mistake by Hamilton. But like I've said before, what coulda, shoulda, woulda doesn't count. It's what you just do that brings the results. Or not in Hamilton's case.

And yes, I, like any other rational fan, can completely admit without any shame, that podium rightly should have gone to the faster car which was McLaren Mercedes driven by Lewis Hamilton. But in pushing for second spot (he was trying to close on Button who was about a second up from him and completely uncatchable considering they were on the last lap anyway and he should have just turned down his engine and cruised to third), he rode the kerbs too hard and the rear stepped out on him, causing his spin and subsequent meeting with the tyre walls. That's a racing mistake and Hamilton rightly admits so.

And for Kimi, he drove a great enough race with the equipment given to him. People can lament all they want about why and how Kimi managed to keep Giancarlo Fisichella off of the top step in Belgium or how Adrian Sutil was not in third place in Monza but the fact of the matter is, you make use of all that the car has to offer. If it means there's an extra 80bhp available for you to use to defend/attack in a race, you use it. And anyways, if it wasn't for Kimi's own experience and talent in driving, do people really think he could have kept Fisichella behind him at a gap of around 1 second for 39 LAPS in Spa? Could he really keep Sutil's Force India from getting the better off him just because of a KERS button? That Force India is a really fast car. In comparison, the Ferrari was looking really slow. Let's not even put it in the same league as Brawn and McLaren because it clearly isn't.

So that's the Italian GP of 2009. Even if Kimi is not driving for Ferrai next year, I am past the point of being concerned. I'm over the whole 2010 Ferrari driver speculation. If you refuse to confirm/deny Kimi being in your lineup for next year, so be it. My driver has SHOWN, nay, PROVEN, that he is a force to be reckoned with even

just another depressing event that affects the fabric of the world

My lame attempt at being philosophical aside, I'm a bit sad about the news of the Yale graduate student, Annie Le, whose missing person status has turned into a homicide case. I was casually following the case and I was hoping that she was just missing but, well, police discovered her body in the building she was last seen in.

From what's been reported in the news, I can't seem to fathom why anyone would want to harm her. But god only knows the motivation behind a gruesome act like murder. It's made particularly sad as she was due to celebrate her wedding today.

Sigh. It's confounding how in one week, what should have been some of the happiest days of her life, ended up the way it did. I pray that they catch the person who did this.

do well tomorrow Kimi

So qualis was really exciting. I mean for 5 seconds there, I thought Adrian Sutil's Force India was going to be on pole but then Lewis Hamilton had to spoil it and go quickest. My Ferrari-clad pilot was third so he starts on the second row of the grid.

Considering I was only hoping for a fifth or sixth, this quali result has exceeded my expectations. I'm happy he was able to put the car on a competitive grid position. That should satisfy the rabid Italian tifosi. Despite topping the timesheets in Q1 which was a complete and utterly pleasurable surprise, it was looking a bit shaky there in Q2 where the cars all run lightest.

The weird thing about the Ferrari this season is that when the car is at its lightest, it is too difficult to control which is the opposite of how the second part of qualis should work. The less fuel you have on board, the faster the car should go. Unfortunately for the F60, it's the other way around. Kimi has been finding this an issue in Q2 and always ends up at the higher end of the top 10. Just enough to qualify for Q3.

Q3 started off with Kimi going first. He posted his time than went back to the pits to prepare for the final stretch. He posted less than competitive times his first 2 runs but in his final push, hauled himself up to second place before being dropped a position when Hamilton went faster to go P1.

Looking at the speed of the other cars, I believe Kimi did an astounding job to qualify third. Like I've said in the previous F1-related post, the car is not up to par in terms of speed when compared to the Brawns and McLaren and even Force India so he must have had to extract every drop of performance from that car. The plan is to get a great start and boost himself to second and try to maintain that position. I'm sensing Lewis will be fast and will possibly win tomorrow with Kimi second unless Ferrari and Kimi can come up with a superlative strategy and drive. Perhaps getting the better of McLaren and Lewis in the pits. If he can get up to second by jumping the Force India, I think Lewis and him will be off in front and leave the rest of the pack.

I could be wrong but based on past races, I'd say this is a pretty realistic scenario of how the race can go but F1 racing is usually unpredictable in nature. Anything can happen. You can only put in the maximum effort and hope that things go your way.

Talking about the rest of the grid, Heikki is in fourth and Jenson and Barrichello are fifth and sixth I think. The sister Ferrari being driven by the new addition to the prancing horse team, Giancarlo Fisichella, could only manage 14th spot. Considering that he just jumped into the car on friday and has to learn a completely different machine from the one he was driving 14 days ago, I would say it was a good effort from him. I was rooting for him to get into Q3 but perhaps this first race is still too early for him to completely get to grips with the car. I hope he manages to finish in the points though so we can hold on to the third spot in the constructors championship. It's of course looking fragile now because McLaren who is behind Ferrari in the constructors are in a great position for maximum points haul.

I know I said no more pre-race posts but I won't be able to watch the race tomorrow since I have a business dinner I can't get out of. Here's hoping Kimi and Ferrari continue their current good form and have another podium finish. Forza Ferrari! Forza Kimi! Forza Giancarlo!

UPDATE:
Just saw the fuel weights for tomorrow. Looks like the first three drivers will be two-stopping while everybody behind them will do one run into the pits. Under normal weather conditions, of course. Anyways, seems even more important now for Kimi to get in front of Sutil and try to build a gap from the rest of the pack. Pit stop predictions estimate he will be in around about lap 21 for his first stop because he is the heaviest fueled among the three top runners but I'm thinking he'll be in on lap 19, just a lap after Sutil and Hamilton. I guess this is cos the Ferrari doesn't perform as well at its lightest and I think they've been calling Kimi into the pits with still quite some fuel on board, always earlier than the predicted stops. Another reason could also be that the Ferrari engine is a gas guzzler and doesn't effectively use the fuel as well as the other cars around. So, it's pretty much more imperative than a couple of hours ago that he get a great start and push to get a good gap. Because of the high speed nature of the track, doing 2 pit stop runs will hinder the front runners more so than at any other track. A pit stop usually last about 23-25 seconds since cars have to be on the pit lane speed limiter and when you're in the pits and the other cars are doing the maximum speed around the track, you lose your advantage more than in other circuits. Anyways, we'll just have to see :)

Hehehe, I can REALLY go on endlessly about Kimi, can't I?