Man, I was so proud of myself last month. I stretched the budget to the absolute max and didn’t spent a penny unnecessarily in order to pay off my credit card, my gas card and my Sam’s Club balance. I was feeling so good about the financial picture and so pleased with my achievement...until this weekend, when I became aware that I had $3.51 in the bank, no gas in my car, just opened my last pair of disposable contacts so a new box needs to be ordered immediately if not sooner, the housekeeper’s coming today (and will doubtless expect to be paid), my allergy prescription needs refilling, I need to buy tax software to get my return done, the oil in my car needs changing, I’m low on cat food, low on dog food, low on people food - not to mention that I need to buy a new carpet shampooer because the one I have leaves copious amounts of water in the carpet whenever I try to use it, not to mention the sorry state of the carpet itself. And since I don’t get paid until the 15th, where will the money come from for all of these things? Why, from the stinkin’ credit card I was so happy to have eradicated from my life three short weeks ago. Sometimes I feel so discouraged and beaten down by things...it seems that I never make any progress at all and never manage to get ahead no matter what I do. I feel like a hamster (not a dancing one, a regular one) who runs and runs on his little wheel until he’s ready to drop from exhaustion, only to find himself in exactly the same cage as he was when he started. I’d cry, but I’m out of Kleenex too.
But enough depressing stuff. One can only wallow in self-pity for so long before it becomes boring, even to oneself. At the inaugural Grand Prix of Bahrain, it was another Ferrari one-two and another decisive Schumacher victory. Told you so! Told you so! Jenson Button finished third for BAR, so good on him. Also gotta give props to Ron Dennis and Kimi Raikkonen: while it’s true that an engine failure a mere seven laps on normally wouldn’t be cause for praise, what a glorious blow-up it was! No poofty little plume of white smoke and a delicate little rooster-tail of oil for Kimi, no sirree - he blew up his engine in a masterful style, with great leaping gouts of flame arching from the back of his McLaren and streaming out behind. Way to go, Kimi! Seriously, I’m not being sarcastic. If you’re gonna fail, fail IN FLAMES! I haven’t seen such spectacular flamage since Gerhard Berger hibachied his Ferrari (‘89 San Marino).
I didn’t think much of the new circuit, to be honest. I’ve heard praise from the drivers about it being technically challenging and so forth, and while it’s true that they’d know better than me, what I saw was a circuit eerily reminiscent of Magny-Cours - by which I mean utterly sterile, uninteresting and devoid of any distinguishing characteristics. The wide track and generous run-off areas were rendered fairly pointless by sticking the damn thing in the middle of the desert; anyplace other than the race line was too covered in grit, dust and sand to be usable. I want more tracks with character, by Limecat! Tracks that are so cool even small parts of them are famous: Eau Rouge, Mirabeau, Parabolica, Druid’s Bend...[note to Nancy: those are legendary pieces of Spa, Monaco, Monza and Brands Hatch, respectively.]
If I were in charge of the calendar, I’d drop Magny-Cours, Bahrain and Hockenheim (I used to like that track but they’ve castrated it). I’d bring back Estoril, alternate the British GP between Brands Hatch and Silverstone and make the German GP the Nurburgring. Yeah, I know there’s a race at the Nurburgring, but I mean the REAL Nurburgring, not just that little scrap of it they use today. Back in the day, the German GP was like 14 laps long (I’m not kidding). That’s what F1 needs, 14 miles of winding road through the picturesque forests of the Eifel plateau, with 89 left-handers and 85 right-handers, not what looks to be an untalented kindergartner’s drawing of a dog stuck in the middle of the freaking DESERT! And the pretty red cars would win there, too. Nyah nyah nyah.
But enough depressing stuff. One can only wallow in self-pity for so long before it becomes boring, even to oneself. At the inaugural Grand Prix of Bahrain, it was another Ferrari one-two and another decisive Schumacher victory. Told you so! Told you so! Jenson Button finished third for BAR, so good on him. Also gotta give props to Ron Dennis and Kimi Raikkonen: while it’s true that an engine failure a mere seven laps on normally wouldn’t be cause for praise, what a glorious blow-up it was! No poofty little plume of white smoke and a delicate little rooster-tail of oil for Kimi, no sirree - he blew up his engine in a masterful style, with great leaping gouts of flame arching from the back of his McLaren and streaming out behind. Way to go, Kimi! Seriously, I’m not being sarcastic. If you’re gonna fail, fail IN FLAMES! I haven’t seen such spectacular flamage since Gerhard Berger hibachied his Ferrari (‘89 San Marino).
I didn’t think much of the new circuit, to be honest. I’ve heard praise from the drivers about it being technically challenging and so forth, and while it’s true that they’d know better than me, what I saw was a circuit eerily reminiscent of Magny-Cours - by which I mean utterly sterile, uninteresting and devoid of any distinguishing characteristics. The wide track and generous run-off areas were rendered fairly pointless by sticking the damn thing in the middle of the desert; anyplace other than the race line was too covered in grit, dust and sand to be usable. I want more tracks with character, by Limecat! Tracks that are so cool even small parts of them are famous: Eau Rouge, Mirabeau, Parabolica, Druid’s Bend...[note to Nancy: those are legendary pieces of Spa, Monaco, Monza and Brands Hatch, respectively.]
If I were in charge of the calendar, I’d drop Magny-Cours, Bahrain and Hockenheim (I used to like that track but they’ve castrated it). I’d bring back Estoril, alternate the British GP between Brands Hatch and Silverstone and make the German GP the Nurburgring. Yeah, I know there’s a race at the Nurburgring, but I mean the REAL Nurburgring, not just that little scrap of it they use today. Back in the day, the German GP was like 14 laps long (I’m not kidding). That’s what F1 needs, 14 miles of winding road through the picturesque forests of the Eifel plateau, with 89 left-handers and 85 right-handers, not what looks to be an untalented kindergartner’s drawing of a dog stuck in the middle of the freaking DESERT! And the pretty red cars would win there, too. Nyah nyah nyah.
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