I was feeling lousy burning my Friday night away in an almost empty office. It doesn’t help that my office is situated near Singapore’s hip and happening spots like Boat Quay, Mohamed Sultan, Clarke Quay and Zouk (anywhere is near with cab =p)! While I was indulging in self-pity, ZS suddenly called. We chatted for awhile and he invited me to join him and his friends for a drink at Zouk Winebar.

Initially, I was a bit apprehensive about the idea of joining him. But after some thoughts and consultation from my friend, and of course a hectic week of training and late nights at work, I succumbed to the temptation. It’s a Friday night so what the heck! I should let my hair down once awhile right?

I joined a group of his “friends” at Velvet. Soon, I realized the group of friends (except for one) is actually acquaintances he got to know there! When he came back with the special concoction that he ordered for me, he prompted me to socialize and “network” around.

Erm..network? With them; with people whom you just got to “pickup” or gotten “picked up” by from clubs? No way! Although I’m usually rated as friendly among my friends, I still have some reserves about making friends with just anybody. I guess as I grow older, I am less trusting of people from the streets. I think this is the results of lessons learnt from the grannies on the streets who seem to lost their purse everyday, the “dumb and deaf” guys pedaling soft toys on the streets who seem to be from the same syndicate (and time and time again I have unwittingly "donated" to them). And of course, I have reaceived repeated warnings from my beloved friends that I should stop being too friendly and trusting of people.

I wonder what has happened to the friend who was once more discerning in the friends he makes. In fact, he was also one of my friends who taught me not to be too trusting of people! Now, he has become a social butterfly “fluttering” around restlessly - I don’t really get to talk to him for more than 10 minutes at any point in time that night! In the end, it was his friend that kept me entertained. I know there is a difference between "networking" and "making friends". But, to me, I still wouldn't network for the sake of networking. Call me "Anti-social" or "narrow-minded", but I will still be more discerning in the selection of my friends. Probably, I can be more forgiving in making acquaintances, but what is the point?

My Heart was Broken...

“Jennifer Lopez’s fashion sense” – A seemingly simple video clips showing J-Lo modeling along the aisle (I thought). Being totally clueless about the gruesome pictures that I was going to see, I clicked on the attachment unwittingly.

The beautiful silhouette of J-Lo appeared on the little screen on my laptop. She was pictured wearing fur coats and sashaying down the aisle. Then pictures of cute little furry creatures that looked liked raccoons flashed on the screen, followed by another clip of J-Lo in fur outfit. The pictures of the “cuties” were screened again. Suddenly, a hand appeared and grabbed one of cuties out from the wired cage by it’s tail and slammed it’s head on the ground! The man then cut a slit at the back of the creature and tore its skin from it’s body. Blood was seeping from the “naked” carcass. The camera zoomed in on the “skinned” animal. Then, the eyes of the animal opened and blinked at the camera. I was shocked! Tears welled up in my eyes…. My heart aches as if I could feel the pain of the inhumane treatment of the poor animal…

Another scene of another white flurry creature which looks like a dog appeared. I could not bear to watch it any further; I switch off the media player immediately. But scenes of the skinned raccoon blinking it’s eye at me kept appearing in my mind… It’s was so painful… I was so furious with the inhumane treatment of these beautiful animals, and started disliking the stars who were spotted wearing fur coats. I reminded myself that I would ban all fur-related stuffs (that were made of real fur) and make sure I spread the message around. There is little I could do…but I’ll try!

2Fast 2Furious

On Friday, I was still grumbling to Hazelyn about how much I dreaded going for my counseling group outing on Saturday with a group of people whom I don’t really know. On normal days, it is really quite alright for me to go for group outing with a group of acquaintances and colleagues, but I guess my PMS mood was acting up on me.. But then again, it can’t be PMS - probably it’s just one of those days where I feel like hibernating and hiding my ugly self from the world.

However much I complained, I know I still have to go for it. Well, I can only console myself with the fact that the highlight of the trip is Go-Kart – a full-scale one which is used for the Asian’s Go-Karting competitions. Woo hoo…

[This is only about 1/2 of the actual size of the race course. Those people are here just to try Go-karting. I didn't know this place is so popular. They charges Rm30 for every10-min/per pax. I wonder how much it cost to book the whole course for one-hour booking.. probably we can have a "Harmoniser's Race".. Hehe..]

When we reached the race course, we were greeted by booming engines of the Go-Karts that were zipping round the race course. I was surprised when I noticed that some of the racers were wearing full racing suit and full-face helmet. Soon, I realized there was a competition organized by Alfa-Romeo going on. It was an eye-opener as the racers handle each bends with such ease. It seems so easy that my confidence starts to grow.. Scenes of Takumi drifting down Mt. Akina re-enacted in my mind.. Boy, I can finally try racing without getting my driving license. Yippeee…!!!

After much waiting, the competition finally ended and the race course was closed for our Company event. (My Company has booked the whole race course for 1 hour of racing fiesta. Hehe… though I thought 1 hour was a bit short.) About 33 of us were split into 3 groups (A, B and C) each. Due to time constraints, only the top 4 racers in each group would get into the last round of challenge. Each of the 3 groups was given 2 rounds of warm-up before competing in 4 rounds.

I was in Group A. So, I got to be the first group to go for the warm-up rounds. *Grin* When the assistant ignited my engine, I stepped hard on the fuel paddle and sped off… But little did I know that there is a bend right ahead! Seeing that, I refused to stepped on my brake and swerved round the bend and skidded 180 degrees… I released the fuel paddled and tried turning back and continued with my warm-up round as if nothing has happened. (Phew, it was round the corner, so nobody could see …. *embarrassed*)

Then, came the actual competition. I took back my trusty No. 11 Go-Kart and reminded myself to reduce my speed at the cornering so that I wouldn’t waste too much time stalling my engine and having to turn back to the course. When the competition started, everything went smoothly, but the speed devil in me got better of my rationality, and I started to increase my speed and overtaking the racers in front of me. Each successful turns and over-taking increased my confidence level tremendously. I feel like Takumi and told myself “Do not compete with others; it is yourself that you are challenging…” Soon, I lost track of the position I was holding and concentrated fully on the road. Woo hoo… Boy, this really works in increasing my concentration level. I managed to swerve round a sharp turn (that’s shaped liked a “U”) without braking and started to raise expectations of myself. When I got to the same turn again, I stepped on my fuel paddle to increase my speed, and try to make a last-min turn and banged right into the side walk piled up with tyres (for foolish people like me). I can’t wait to get the kart back on track, but the race course assistants waved a few karts pass and make sure that the track is clear before shifting my kart back on track while reminding me that I should reduce my speed at each sharp turning. To make up for the lost time, I stepped hard on the fuel again and zipped off, ignoring the assistant nagging in the background. Little did I know that it was my final round! And I sped passed the finishing point on the left lane. When I realized the commotion at the viewing gallery, I jam brake and realized what had happened. In the end, I got to do one more round. When I got back to the finishing line, I was grinning embarrassingly for the mistake. And I found that I made it for the Final round of competition (I was the fourth in line)! Woo hoo…!! I wasn’t disqualified for going one more round and I got another chance to free the speed demon in me.

During the Final round of competition, I had to go bare-footed as I was wearing slip-ons and the colleague who lent me her shoes previously got into the Final round as well. This was when a minor accident happens. I flung out of my kart when I made sharp turn round one of the corner. My poor toes suffered some minor scratches and got myself some bruises on my hip and back. Well, as the saying goes, “every good racer would get into an accident at least once”. Well, this is my first. Ha ha … (o_O)”!! (my typical Ah Q spirit)

The day was rounded up with a sumptuous seafood dinner by the sea.. with the beautiful sunset and night scene of Sembawang shipyard as the backdrop (I didn't know the night scene of Sembawang shipyard looks so beautiful..).