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Since returning home about a week ago, I noticed that the most-frequently spoken word among my friends and family members was “petrol”. My car’s full tank of fuel now costs a digit extra, and that’s something that cannot be ignored. Last week I took leave to exercise my right as a Malaysian citizen (even PRs who have been residing in the country for more than 50 years are not entitled to such right!). I went to the post office (the same one where I registered to be voter) to collect my RM625 petrol rebate.

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I want to thank you all for the kind birthday wishes last month. I got most of them one day late, even though they were sent between 0000hrs and 0100hrs on my birthday. That’s because I didn’t have telco coverage at that time. We were somewhere outside Tokyo Bay. I received a birthday cake from the company too, which was pretty cool. I and another American engineer both celebrated birthdays on board the vessel together.

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[Warning: In an atypically-narrowband fashion, this post is going to be a long Proton-rant.] So, the new Saga a.k.a. BLM is supposed to be Proton’s best offering yet. *Clap clap*. Coupled with ultra-low pricing - a luxury that the national carmaker has long enjoyed (with no end in sight), no wonder the waiting period for the new car has now stretched to as long as 6 months. I’ve seen the car in flesh several times and I must admit it does not look too bad at all. Crash tests have shown that the car’s pretty safe. Sounds like a perfect combination - safe, good-looking, cheap. Would I consider buying one? Nope. I’ll tell you why.

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We went to Jurong for our last day of work, together with our luggages. We left for the airport later that evening. The flight home was delayed slightly, and I reached home at about 9:30pm. Went to office the next day, followed by the gym that night. Absolutely drained, I was! This is gonna be my final blog entry covering my trip to Singapore.

Clarke Quay

Believe me the fountains looked much nicer in real (there’s only so much I could capture with my humble camera). Little kids were seen having splashing fun while their parents had their meal at nearby restaurants.
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For some reason, I find the race results (hence the championship results) a little too unbelievable… I even suspect that it was conspiracy-laden. I watched the whole race and went like “What the hell” a couple of times. I just don’t believe it.

I really hope the race was clean. Congratulations to Kimi, nonetheless. He’s a true racer since his days at McLaren.

*Yawns* Feel like skipping work tomorrow……

What happens when a blogger has a camera in hand wherever he goes? The pictures taken are most likely gonna go online. Let’s talk about driving. Sometimes I wish I could change the driving habits of some drivers. I hate queue cutters.

If I could follow along behind the queue, what can’t you? And then there are those who change their headlights to something that could blind people.
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It must have been a relatively easy drive for Lewis Hamilton who started on pole, because throughout most part of the race, all he needed to do was to keep his tyres warm while cruising behind the safety car. The safety car, a super gorgeous Mercedes Benz CLK 63 AMG, was deployed four times (!!). Just as the front runners were beginning to pull away from the pack, and some others trying to get closer and challenge the driver in front, something happened on track and the safety car had to come out. Of course, no overtaking is allowed when the safety car’s out on track. Lap after lap of no-overtaking, kinda spoiled the momentum for some of the drivers.

(Source)

The 22-year old sensational rookie had never actually raced in the Gilles-Villeneuve Circuit before, so it was all the sweeter to have dominated in both the qualifying as well as the race. Having been on the podium for every single race since his debut into F1, all he needed was a first win and I can’t say I didn’t expect it to come this soon. That guy seems to be writing history with each and every passing race!
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I came across a letter written by one Christopher Loh in Sunday Star today, pertaining to “distracting” and “realistic” sounds coming from the radio while driving. And I thought it was just me.

Some community service messages are aimed at educating people about road safety and driving courteously. And in proving their points, realistic sounds of honks and screeching tyres are used.

Personally, I have been fooled by these sounds on a number of occasions myself, especially in situations which required extra care and attention - like switching lanes during a traffic jam.

I consider myself a competent driver, and I believe that these distractions are a potential hazard to road users. A lapse of concentration, no matter how little, during critical situations may result in an ugly accident.

Of course one may argue that road users are not the only radio listeners. But I believe that the majority of listeners usually tune in whenever they’re on the road. So I think more needs to be done in allowing such sounds to be used on the radio.

Well, that aside, I admit that sometimes I also read and type SMSes while driving, so I guess I’m not much of an exemplary driver anyway.

Yes, I bought a brand-new Ferrari F430 last night, complete with a 6-speed Sequential Manual Gearbox (SMG) and packed with 490 horses under the hood. Or at least that’s what I believe it has.

Yes, the saleswoman decided to throw in a custom-made ‘narrowband’ plate for me too.
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It’s official: Lewis Hamilton is leading the World Drivers’ Championship. He finished third in his debut race in Melbourne, followed by three consecutive second-place finishes in Sepang, Bahrain, and just about an hour ago, in Barcelona. That, my friend, is a kind of performance that many could only dream of achieving. The commentator said that we were often told to ‘manage our expectations’ and not pile too much pressure on the 22-year old British rookie (similarly echoed by Bernie Ecclestone). But if he goes on finishing in the podiums like that, it’s rather difficult to ‘manage our expectations’!

(Acknowledgment: Image courtesy of F1-Blog.co.uk)

I say what we’re looking at here is a champion in the making, because his performance so far has been no less than mind-blowing. Today’s race also saw the retirement of Kimi Raikkonen due to mechanical failures - what a disappointment, but that’s motor racing. Tough luck! Massa was top-class, having started from the front of the grid and went on to win the race, his second consecutive victory. ESPN Star Sports had been erratic today - I don’t know about the earlier part of the race (was in Italiannies for dinner) but the Chequered Flag programme was plain crap. There was no coordination at all.

Anyway, I have said this before and I’m going to say it again: F1 is getting more and more exciting with each completed race - something we haven’t seen in a long time. And I daresay that Lewis Hamilton contributes at least 75% to the excitement. He makes it seem all too easy to finish in the podiums, and in doing so he makes everyone go “Wow!”.

By the way, here’s a quotable quote by Lewis Hamilton:

I compete against my brother on the new PS3 F1 game and he’s very competitive. He likes to be a McLaren driver, so I am Kimi Raikkonen. I can’t wait for the new game so I can be myself!

Lewis is also considering moving to Monaco, home to many F1 legends. Ah!