Intro
CG/BD
GC D
All that I am is yours
GC D
All that I have is yours
GC D
I give you my heart and soul
G/BCD
Lord Im yours
Lord every day is yours
Lord every breath is yours
Im giving my life to you
Lord Im yours
EmDC
You alone are worthy of all praise (x2)
GD
I surrender all to you
EmC
I surrender all to you
GD
I am nothing without you
AmG/BC
Jesus Christ, take my life
DCG/BD
Its all for you
CG/BD
Worthy of all praise
GD
Lay it all down
G/BC
Lay it all down at your feet
Monday, October 13, 2008
Surrender by Planetshakers
Monday, September 29, 2008
Word Play
Got this gem of questions from one of my mum's forwarded emails:)
(1) If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?
(2) Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?
(3) If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?
(4) If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren't people from Holland called Holes?
(5) Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?
(6) Why the man who invests all your money called a broker?
(7) If horrific means to make horrible, does terrific mean to make
Terrible?
(8) Why is it called building when it is already built?
(9) If a book about failures doesn't sell, is it a success?
(10) If you're not supposed to drink and drive, then why do bars have parking lots?
(11) If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented?
(12) If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?? Humans???
(13) If working hours are meant for working, then why are you reading this???
Get Back to WORK!
(1) If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?
(2) Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?
(3) If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?
(4) If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren't people from Holland called Holes?
(5) Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?
(6) Why the man who invests all your money called a broker?
(7) If horrific means to make horrible, does terrific mean to make
Terrible?
(8) Why is it called building when it is already built?
(9) If a book about failures doesn't sell, is it a success?
(10) If you're not supposed to drink and drive, then why do bars have parking lots?
(11) If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented?
(12) If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?? Humans???
(13) If working hours are meant for working, then why are you reading this???
Get Back to WORK!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Interesting stories
My mum forwarded this email to me. It's really thought-provoking:)
The Turtles
A turtle family decided to go on a picnic. The turtles, being naturally
slow about things, took seven years to prepare for their outing. Finally
the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place. During the
second year of their journey they found a place ideal for them at last!
For about six months they cleaned the area, unpacked the picnic basket,
and completed the arrangements. Then they discovered they had forgotten
the salt. A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed.
After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve
the salt from home. Although he was the fastest of the slow moving
turtles, the little turtle whined, cried, and wobbled in his shell. He
agreed to go on one condition: that no one would eat until he returned.
The family consented and the little turtle left.
Three years passed and the
little turtle had not returned. Five years...six years... then on the
seventh year of his absence, the oldest turtle could no longer contain
his unger. He announced that he was going to eat and begun to unwrap a
sandwich. At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from
behind a tree shouting, 'See! I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not
going to go get the salt.'
Some of us waste our time waiting for people to live up to our
expectations. We are so concerned about what others are doing that we
don't do anything ourselves.
*********************************************
The Frogs
A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he could
use a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked the
man where he could get so many frog legs! The farmer replied, 'There is
a pond near my house that is full of frogs - millions of them.
They all croak all night long and they are about to make me crazy!' So
the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmer
would deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred at a time for the
next several weeks.
The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather
sheepish, with two scrawny little frogs. The restaurant owner said,
'Well... where are all the frogs?' The farmer said, 'I was mistaken.
There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a
lot of noise!'
Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you, remember,
it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs. Also remember that problems
always seem bigger in the dark. Have you ever laid in your bed at night
worrying about things which seem almost overwhelming like a million
frogs croaking? Chances are pretty good that when the morning comes, and
you take a closer look, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.
********************************************
The Pretty Lady
Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were traveling together.
They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They
had to wade across the river.. There was a pretty lady who was stuck at
the damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river. The big monk offered to
carry her across the river on his back.
The lady accepted. The little monk was shocked by the move of the big
monk. 'How can big brother carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid
all intimacy with females?' thought the little monk. But he kept quiet.
The big monk carried the lady across the river and the small monk
followed unhappily. When they crossed the river, the big monk let the
lady down and they parted ways with her.
All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy
with the act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of acussations
about big monk in his head. This got him madder and madder. But he still
kept quiet. And the big monk had no inclination to explain his
situation. Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the little monk
could not stand it any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk.
'How can you claim yourself a devout monk, when you seize the first
opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty? All
your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite The big monk looked
surprised and said, 'I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank
many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?'
This very old Chinese Zen story reflects the thinking of many people
today. We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, they irritate us
and they make us angry. Sometimes, they cause us a lot of hurt,
sometimes they cause us to be bitter or jealous .. But like the little
monk, we are not willing to let them go away.We keep on carrying the
baggage of the 'pretty lady' with us.
We let them keep on coming back to hurt us, make us angry, make us
bitter and cause us a lot of agony.
Why? Simply because we are not willing to put down or let go of the
baggage of the 'pretty lady'. We should let go of the pretty lady
immediately after crossing the river, that is after the unpleasant event
is over. This will immediately remove all our agonies. There is no need
to be further hurt by the unpleasant event after it is over.
Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.
The Turtles
A turtle family decided to go on a picnic. The turtles, being naturally
slow about things, took seven years to prepare for their outing. Finally
the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place. During the
second year of their journey they found a place ideal for them at last!
For about six months they cleaned the area, unpacked the picnic basket,
and completed the arrangements. Then they discovered they had forgotten
the salt. A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed.
After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve
the salt from home. Although he was the fastest of the slow moving
turtles, the little turtle whined, cried, and wobbled in his shell. He
agreed to go on one condition: that no one would eat until he returned.
The family consented and the little turtle left.
Three years passed and the
little turtle had not returned. Five years...six years... then on the
seventh year of his absence, the oldest turtle could no longer contain
his unger. He announced that he was going to eat and begun to unwrap a
sandwich. At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from
behind a tree shouting, 'See! I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not
going to go get the salt.'
Some of us waste our time waiting for people to live up to our
expectations. We are so concerned about what others are doing that we
don't do anything ourselves.
******************************
The Frogs
A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he could
use a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked the
man where he could get so many frog legs! The farmer replied, 'There is
a pond near my house that is full of frogs - millions of them.
They all croak all night long and they are about to make me crazy!' So
the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmer
would deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred at a time for the
next several weeks.
The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather
sheepish, with two scrawny little frogs. The restaurant owner said,
'Well... where are all the frogs?' The farmer said, 'I was mistaken.
There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a
lot of noise!'
Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you, remember,
it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs. Also remember that problems
always seem bigger in the dark. Have you ever laid in your bed at night
worrying about things which seem almost overwhelming like a million
frogs croaking? Chances are pretty good that when the morning comes, and
you take a closer look, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.
******************************
The Pretty Lady
Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were traveling together.
They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They
had to wade across the river.. There was a pretty lady who was stuck at
the damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river. The big monk offered to
carry her across the river on his back.
The lady accepted. The little monk was shocked by the move of the big
monk. 'How can big brother carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid
all intimacy with females?' thought the little monk. But he kept quiet.
The big monk carried the lady across the river and the small monk
followed unhappily. When they crossed the river, the big monk let the
lady down and they parted ways with her.
All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy
with the act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of acussations
about big monk in his head. This got him madder and madder. But he still
kept quiet. And the big monk had no inclination to explain his
situation. Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the little monk
could not stand it any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk.
'How can you claim yourself a devout monk, when you seize the first
opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty? All
your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite The big monk looked
surprised and said, 'I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank
many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?'
This very old Chinese Zen story reflects the thinking of many people
today. We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, they irritate us
and they make us angry. Sometimes, they cause us a lot of hurt,
sometimes they cause us to be bitter or jealous .. But like the little
monk, we are not willing to let them go away.We keep on carrying the
baggage of the 'pretty lady' with us.
We let them keep on coming back to hurt us, make us angry, make us
bitter and cause us a lot of agony.
Why? Simply because we are not willing to put down or let go of the
baggage of the 'pretty lady'. We should let go of the pretty lady
immediately after crossing the river, that is after the unpleasant event
is over. This will immediately remove all our agonies. There is no need
to be further hurt by the unpleasant event after it is over.
Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Beautiful Savior by Planetshakers
Beautiful Saviour (capo 2) A Key
G D/F# Em7
Jesus, Beautiful Saviour,
C
God of all Majesty,
G/B Am7 D
Risen King,
Verse 2:
G
Lamb of God,
D/F# Em7
Holy and righteous,
C
Blessed redeemer,
G/B Am7 D
Bright morning star
D G G/B C
All the heavens shout your praise,
D G G/B Am C D
All creation bow to wor---ship You
G D/F# Em7
How wonderful, how beautiful,
C G/B Am7 C/E D
Name above every name, ex------alted high
G D/F# Em7
How wonderful, how beautiful,
C G/B Am7 C/E D G
Jesus Your name, name above every name, Je--sus
Bridge:
G Em7 C G/B Am7 D
I will sing forever, Jesus I love You, Jesus I love You
Monday, July 28, 2008
Articles on Bridgestone e-Reporter site
Interviewing Stuart Robertson, Racing Engineering racing engineer
Michael Herck, David Price Racing driver
The Bridgestone jacket is really cool!
Bruno Senna, guaranteed to be in F1 next season- Daily diaries during the weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday)
- GP2 Qualifying Report (Friday)
- GP2 Feature Race Report (Saturday)
- GP2 Sprint Race Report (Sunday)
- Interview with Jean-Paul Driot, Team Principal, DAMS Racing team
- Strategising for Victory
- I'm Not Here To Be Last
- Ho-Pin Tung: Striving to be The Complete Package
- An Interview with Didier Perrin, GP2 Technical Director
- Electronics Systems in a GP2 Car
- Driver Interview - Sebastien Buemi, Trust Team Arden
- GP2 vs F2 (my favourite cause it's the most controversial)
- 182 Sets of Tyres, 8 Technical Personnel
I'm on Formula1.com!
The Bridgestone e-reporter GP2 diary - Germany
Original Page
With Jean-Paul Driot, DAMS team principal
With Bridgestone safety campaign dummy
Using my reliable Sony Ericsson W850i to interview Romain Grosjean
Since its inception in 2004, the GP2 Series has established itself as a serious breeding ground for Formula One talent - with the likes of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton as evidence. And official tyre suppliers to the series, Bridgestone, are helping to do the same for motorsport journalism, with their e-reporter competition.
The nine 2008 finalists will each get to report from one European round of the series, and will be supplying Formula1.com with details of the GP2 action, plus a diary reflecting their experience as a first-time paddock correspondent. For Germany, it’s 28-year-old Malaysian writer, Alan NG...
Sunday race report - Chandhok wins in style in Germany
Karun Chandhok (iSport International) claimed his second GP2 victory of his career and his first for this season in great style. Despite a poor start when he lost first place to a storming Lucas di Grassi, who passed everyone from fourth. However, Karun had the top spot back by the third lap with a great overtaking move. Second place went to Andreas Zuber of Piquet Sports, which made up for his disappointment in the feature race on Saturday, and Chandhok’s team mate, the ever-impressive Bruno Senna, was third after starting from fifth place.
The final three ‘point-finishing’ places went to Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix), Javier Villa (Racing Engineering) and Alvaro Parente (Super Nova Racing). Fastest lap went to Kamui Kobayashi of DAMS with a best time of 1m 24.253s. He would have got the bonus point but was later penalised with a 25-second penalty for causing an avoidable accident. Therefore, the bonus point went to Sebastien Buemi (Trust Team Arden) who finished eighth with a best lap of 1m 24.317s.
The big news before the start of the race was obviously Romain Grosjean’s 25-second penalty for overtaking backmarker Marko Asmer (FMS) under yellow flags in the feature race on Saturday. Therefore, he had to concede the victory to Giorgio Pantano, the championship leader, and take second instead. This probably explained Grosjean’s lacklustre performance in race two as he was on the pace the whole weekend before the penalty.
Pantano did not have a good second race either, as he was taken out by Andy Soucek (Super Nova Racing) who spun in front of him on lap two. They had been running third and fourth then. Soucek went on to finish the race second but last, one lap behind Chandhok.
Going to Hungary in two weeks time, Pantano still leads the championship with 63 points with Bruno Senna 15 points behind and Romain Grosjean a further 14 points back. On the team championship side, things are much closer with iSport International (74) leading Racing Engineering (68). There is definitely much to play for in the coming races.
Driver quotes:
Karun Chandhok (iSport International), 1st:
“Very good obviously, first win of the year. A first and third for the team, so I’m very happy for these guys here. I knew I didn’t have a good start but I was surprised to see Lucas (di Grassi), he started fourth and he steamed past me. But I knew I had a better car than him so I just had to wait and find the opportunity. Although, I was quite surprised I could pass him so early. The rear tyre wear was a bit higher than I thought but it was still reasonably consistent, I just had to look after them properly.”
Andreas Zuber (Piquet Sports), 2nd:
“It was a great race compared to yesterday. I had a mega start and I was able to move up quite fast. I was able to overtake di Grassi and he got it back, but I took it back again. So it was a good battle and I was very happy. In the end, I tried to push Chandhok a bit more but he made no mistakes. My car is getting better and better in terms of car set-up but we still have some work to do. Today was good! Hopefully, I can be on the podium again in Hungary.”
Bruno Senna (iSport International), 3rd:
“My start was really bad today. I lost two to three positions at the start but then I focused myself on getting the positions back and fighting forward. I had to use a lot of my tyres for that. The team gave me a good car and I could fight, it was great fun today.”
Sunday diary
I’ve decided to do something different because it’s my last day as a Bridgestone e-reporter. I’m going to try to update the diary as the day goes by - so apologies if I alternate between past and present tense.
8.30am
I was greeted with a bright and sunny day on my last day of e-reporting, which was a good sign! Unfortunately, the euphoria of yesterday’s exciting GP2 race has been massively tempered by the news that Romain Grosjean had been penalised with a 25-second penalty for overtaking a back marker under a yellow flag. Having interviewed him yesterday right after the race, I can imagine the disappointment he must be feeling now. But I doubt he has had much time to dwell on it because the Sprint race is starting at 10:30am.
9:10am
Just finished a photoshoot with professional photographer Alastair of LAT. I felt like a calendar boy as I posed with some Bridgestone tyres. I got to choose which GP2 driver and car to have my picture taken with and naturally, I chose Romain Grosjean. Just wanted to take the opportunity meet him, get his reaction and offer him my best wishes for today’s race.
12:40pm
Within the past three hours, I have had an interview with the Bridgestone GP2 support team, which to my surprise just consists of eight chaps (6 mechanics and 2 engineers for 26 drivers. That’s amazing). I have also covered the sprint race (last one for the weekend) and interviewed the top three drivers (Karun Chandhok, Andreas Zuber and Bruno Senna). In between all this, I was able to catch up with Jazeman Jaafar, a fellow Malaysian who is now racing in Formula BMW. How great is that!
2:50pm
I’ve finished my last article of the weekend (there are a few feature articles to do next week) while watching the Formula One race from the Bridgestone truck. There’s only one word to describe my feelings now - satisfied - I have enjoyed myself to the maximum. I have played hard but also had to work hard and it’s just a nice feeling to be able to relax and soak up the atmosphere. We are leaving for the train station soon. After this, it’s back to a mundane lifestyle again, but this was good while it lasted.
Saturday race report - rain prompts topsy-turvy result
The rain that was supposed to arrive during Formula One qualifying came late and turned the GP2 feature race literally upside down. ART Grand Prix's Romain Grosjean ensured that the continuity of the 'pole-sitters never finish first curse’ by snatching victory from Racing Engineering's Giorgio Pantano as rain fell heavily, albeit for a while, just six to seven laps before the finish. Alvaro Parente stayed out of trouble and quietly took third for Super Nova Racing and was followed by Bruno Senna (iSport International), Lucas di Grassi (Barwa International Campos), Pastor Maldonado (Piquet Sports), Andy Soucek (Super Nova Racing) and Karun Chandok (iSport International).
However, the drama did not end there as post-race investigations showed that Grosjean overtook backmarker Marko Asmer under yellow flags three laps before the finish and he was given a 25-second penalty. Therefore, Pantano was declared the winner late in the evening with Grosjean second (again).
With clear skies and a track that offered plenty of grip, it all started so well for Pantano, who led Grosjean from the grid as the five lights went off. That wasn’t the case for Andreas Zuber (Piquet Sports), who started third but fell straight to 16th, thanks to a slow start. Sebastien Buemi (Trust Team Arden), Di Grassi and Senna took full advantage and each gained a position.
As the top pair continued to stream ahead, Buemi was having a non-eventful race, as Senna hounded Di Grassi all the way before finally overtaking as Di Grassi made a mistake on Lap 29.
Then the rain came and things just changed within seconds. Buemi crashed out as Senna immediately pitted for wet tyres. Chandok and Di Grassi did the same. Unfortunately, the rain did not fall hard enough and as it stopped, parts of the track began to dry while other parts remained wet.
This ensured a nail-biting finish as plenty of drivers crashed out on the final lap. The major losers were Javier Villa (Racing Engineering), who crashed out from a certain third position and Andreas Zuber who had fought his way up to fifth only to lose it all again. Pantano has now extended his lead over Senna from 11 to 19 points (63 versus 44). The fastest lap he achieved (1m 24.454s) also meant that he has the car to fight for a win tomorrow.
It will be another topsy-turvy day on Sunday as the top eight positions are reversed for the sprint race. Nothing is guaranteed, but one thing is for sure, it’s going to be another cracker.
Driver quotes:
Romain Grosjean, ART Grand Prix, before the 25-second penalty
“It was a crazy race. In the beginning, I was quicker than Giorgio with very little (tyre) degradation. Then Giorgio was faster. After the pit stops, it was all the same again. Then came the rain. I thought I was dead because he has so much experience in GP2. It was very, very tricky but I could keep the car on the track. The rain came stronger and stronger. But I know the (racing) line here because I’ve raced here in Formula Three before. And Giorgio was in front, I could see where he was making mistakes and brake earlier and things like this. And then, at the Mercedes Tribune, I was side by side with him and then I overtook him on the inside. And the last part was keeping the car on the track, it was so tricky. It was the best race I’ve won so far.”
Giogio Pantano, Racing Engineering, before Grosjean’s penalty
“The beginning was good. The car was working really well, no problem, nothing. We were just managing the race. And then the last five laps, it started raining. It was too risky to push the car any more because the tactics were different from Grosjean. I just wanted to keep second place. In the last five laps, some sectors were really wet and some sectors were dry. This is racing however. You were leading for 35 laps no problem, but then, with the weather and everything, in the end I was just thinking about the championship.”
Alvaro Parente, Super Nova Racing, 3rd
“We had a difficult time at the first part of the race, especially in the start. I touched with some people and lost three to four positions. We recovered in the pit stop and after the pit stop we were lying eighth. And then the rain came, we decided to stay out. In the first wet lap, I made the call to stay out. Then it was the team and we decided to just stay out. Last few laps, one sector was wet and the rest was dry - the sector that was wet was hard to drive.”
Bruno Senna, iSport International, 4th
“We had good weather predictions, from Williams (F1 team). It did rain but then it fizzled out, so it didn’t work out for me. Unfortunately I paid the price for it. But then again, you never know, maybe with the dry tyres, I would have had problems later on and spun off and go out of the race. It’s just one of those things.”
Saturday diary - interviews, interviews and more interviews!
Having the hindsight of Friday, we arrived at the circuit on Saturday morning not too early. As the next event was only supposed to take place at 10.00, I was able to take a fine walk along the Formula One paddock and did a bit of F1 celebrity-spotting. Sure enough, I saw Rubens Barichello, Peter Sauber and a fine young chap called Sebastian Vettel.
After that, it was down to serious work as I did three interviews in a row. First up was Didier Perrin, the GP2 technical director. I was able to get plenty of information on the GP2 car’s technical details, things which only geeks are interested in. These include the electronic components in the GP2 car and potential problems in setting up the GP2 car properly.
After that informative session, it was off to talk to Sebastien Buemi, of Trust Team Arden, who is something of a hot property now amongst the F1 teams because of his stellar performance in the past few races. There were plenty of rumours flying around the paddock that Toro Rosso and BMW Sauber are looking into the availability of Sebastien for a race seat next season. Next, it was time to meet Jean-Paul Driot, who co-founded the DAMS racing team with Rene Arnoux way back in 1988. Jean-Paul is clearly a man who has a deep passion for motorsport as he has been in the business for 20 years, going through the usual ups and downs.
The best part of the day had to be covering the GP2 feature race in the afternoon. An initially uneventful race was turned upside down as rain fell for a few minutes, just six to seven laps before the finish. The absolute mayhem that transpired after that ensured a nail-biting finish. I was able to interview the top four drivers after the race. I’m also learning to be tactful when approaching them, as some of them are obviously a bit frustrated after the race when the result did not go their way and they just need some space to calm down before speaking to the journalists.
I’ll be lying if I say I’m not exhausted but it’s really been worth the effort as another memorable day goes by.
Qualifying report - Pantano’s perfect lap
Under cloudy but dry conditions, qualifying started at 15:55pm sharp with all 26 GP2 cars streaming out of the pits to make lap times. In this session, the timing of the hot lap was everything, as track conditions varied based on the availability of sunshine, which only came out during the early part of the session.
Timing his hot lap to perfection, Racing Engineering’s Giorgio Pantano once again came out on top with an unbeatable lap time of 1m 21.650s. Less than 0.3s behind was Romain Grosjean for ART Grand Prix, who set a time of 1m 21.977s. Pantano and Grosjean were the only two drivers that dipped under the 1m 22s mark.
Further down the grid in third was Andreas Zuber of Piquet Sports, who was just 0.070s slower than Grosjean. He was followed by Sebastien Buemi (Trust Team Arden), Lucas di Grassi (Barwa International Campos), with Bruno Senna (iSport International) rounding out the top six.
Driver quotes:
Giorgio Pantano, Racing Engineering, 1st
“It’s good when you get pole, you’re 0.3s from second. It was a perfect lap. The car was working really well. I have to say thank you to the team. When the sun was shining in the beginning, it was good. But then the clouds began to come out again. The tyres seemed very different with different temperatures. But anyway, we’re safe with consistency with good grip all the time. We will be able to pit very late with slow tyre (wear) rate, unlike Silverstone. We’re ready for a wet race, or a dry race.”
Romain Grosjean, ART Grand Prix, 2nd
“The track was good at the beginning with sunshine and the rubber from the Formula One cars. That was the difference. I know the track and the car is getting better. We still have a little bit of work to do. Now we know that there’s one point that we have to work on. We will see the qualifying data. We only have 30 minutes during practice, so we didn’t do any long runs, but today we know a bit more cause we used the tyres during Silverstone. So we should be able to choose our strategy.”
Andreas Zuber, Piquet Sports, 3rd
“It was not bad. We struggled a little bit with the car, because it’s very difficult to drive at the moment. But I had a quite clean lap. First and second set of tyres, I could improve a little bit. But 0.4s to Pantano is a little too much. We need to find that. I know we struggle with race set-up a little bit, but I hope we can find that.”
Sebastien Buemi, Trust Team Arden, 4th
“I had a really good day, at free practice too. We could improve the lap time and the car. So, quite happy with everything. Hopefully we can keep up with the rest.”
For more on the Bridgestone e-reporter competition, click here.
Original Page
With Jean-Paul Driot, DAMS team principalWith Bridgestone safety campaign dummyUsing my reliable Sony Ericsson W850i to interview Romain GrosjeanSince its inception in 2004, the GP2 Series has established itself as a serious breeding ground for Formula One talent - with the likes of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton as evidence. And official tyre suppliers to the series, Bridgestone, are helping to do the same for motorsport journalism, with their e-reporter competition.
The nine 2008 finalists will each get to report from one European round of the series, and will be supplying Formula1.com with details of the GP2 action, plus a diary reflecting their experience as a first-time paddock correspondent. For Germany, it’s 28-year-old Malaysian writer, Alan NG...
Sunday race report - Chandhok wins in style in Germany
Karun Chandhok (iSport International) claimed his second GP2 victory of his career and his first for this season in great style. Despite a poor start when he lost first place to a storming Lucas di Grassi, who passed everyone from fourth. However, Karun had the top spot back by the third lap with a great overtaking move. Second place went to Andreas Zuber of Piquet Sports, which made up for his disappointment in the feature race on Saturday, and Chandhok’s team mate, the ever-impressive Bruno Senna, was third after starting from fifth place.
The final three ‘point-finishing’ places went to Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix), Javier Villa (Racing Engineering) and Alvaro Parente (Super Nova Racing). Fastest lap went to Kamui Kobayashi of DAMS with a best time of 1m 24.253s. He would have got the bonus point but was later penalised with a 25-second penalty for causing an avoidable accident. Therefore, the bonus point went to Sebastien Buemi (Trust Team Arden) who finished eighth with a best lap of 1m 24.317s.
The big news before the start of the race was obviously Romain Grosjean’s 25-second penalty for overtaking backmarker Marko Asmer (FMS) under yellow flags in the feature race on Saturday. Therefore, he had to concede the victory to Giorgio Pantano, the championship leader, and take second instead. This probably explained Grosjean’s lacklustre performance in race two as he was on the pace the whole weekend before the penalty.
Pantano did not have a good second race either, as he was taken out by Andy Soucek (Super Nova Racing) who spun in front of him on lap two. They had been running third and fourth then. Soucek went on to finish the race second but last, one lap behind Chandhok.
Going to Hungary in two weeks time, Pantano still leads the championship with 63 points with Bruno Senna 15 points behind and Romain Grosjean a further 14 points back. On the team championship side, things are much closer with iSport International (74) leading Racing Engineering (68). There is definitely much to play for in the coming races.
Driver quotes:
Karun Chandhok (iSport International), 1st:
“Very good obviously, first win of the year. A first and third for the team, so I’m very happy for these guys here. I knew I didn’t have a good start but I was surprised to see Lucas (di Grassi), he started fourth and he steamed past me. But I knew I had a better car than him so I just had to wait and find the opportunity. Although, I was quite surprised I could pass him so early. The rear tyre wear was a bit higher than I thought but it was still reasonably consistent, I just had to look after them properly.”
Andreas Zuber (Piquet Sports), 2nd:
“It was a great race compared to yesterday. I had a mega start and I was able to move up quite fast. I was able to overtake di Grassi and he got it back, but I took it back again. So it was a good battle and I was very happy. In the end, I tried to push Chandhok a bit more but he made no mistakes. My car is getting better and better in terms of car set-up but we still have some work to do. Today was good! Hopefully, I can be on the podium again in Hungary.”
Bruno Senna (iSport International), 3rd:
“My start was really bad today. I lost two to three positions at the start but then I focused myself on getting the positions back and fighting forward. I had to use a lot of my tyres for that. The team gave me a good car and I could fight, it was great fun today.”
Sunday diary
I’ve decided to do something different because it’s my last day as a Bridgestone e-reporter. I’m going to try to update the diary as the day goes by - so apologies if I alternate between past and present tense.
8.30am
I was greeted with a bright and sunny day on my last day of e-reporting, which was a good sign! Unfortunately, the euphoria of yesterday’s exciting GP2 race has been massively tempered by the news that Romain Grosjean had been penalised with a 25-second penalty for overtaking a back marker under a yellow flag. Having interviewed him yesterday right after the race, I can imagine the disappointment he must be feeling now. But I doubt he has had much time to dwell on it because the Sprint race is starting at 10:30am.
9:10am
Just finished a photoshoot with professional photographer Alastair of LAT. I felt like a calendar boy as I posed with some Bridgestone tyres. I got to choose which GP2 driver and car to have my picture taken with and naturally, I chose Romain Grosjean. Just wanted to take the opportunity meet him, get his reaction and offer him my best wishes for today’s race.
12:40pm
Within the past three hours, I have had an interview with the Bridgestone GP2 support team, which to my surprise just consists of eight chaps (6 mechanics and 2 engineers for 26 drivers. That’s amazing). I have also covered the sprint race (last one for the weekend) and interviewed the top three drivers (Karun Chandhok, Andreas Zuber and Bruno Senna). In between all this, I was able to catch up with Jazeman Jaafar, a fellow Malaysian who is now racing in Formula BMW. How great is that!
2:50pm
I’ve finished my last article of the weekend (there are a few feature articles to do next week) while watching the Formula One race from the Bridgestone truck. There’s only one word to describe my feelings now - satisfied - I have enjoyed myself to the maximum. I have played hard but also had to work hard and it’s just a nice feeling to be able to relax and soak up the atmosphere. We are leaving for the train station soon. After this, it’s back to a mundane lifestyle again, but this was good while it lasted.
Saturday race report - rain prompts topsy-turvy result
The rain that was supposed to arrive during Formula One qualifying came late and turned the GP2 feature race literally upside down. ART Grand Prix's Romain Grosjean ensured that the continuity of the 'pole-sitters never finish first curse’ by snatching victory from Racing Engineering's Giorgio Pantano as rain fell heavily, albeit for a while, just six to seven laps before the finish. Alvaro Parente stayed out of trouble and quietly took third for Super Nova Racing and was followed by Bruno Senna (iSport International), Lucas di Grassi (Barwa International Campos), Pastor Maldonado (Piquet Sports), Andy Soucek (Super Nova Racing) and Karun Chandok (iSport International).
However, the drama did not end there as post-race investigations showed that Grosjean overtook backmarker Marko Asmer under yellow flags three laps before the finish and he was given a 25-second penalty. Therefore, Pantano was declared the winner late in the evening with Grosjean second (again).
With clear skies and a track that offered plenty of grip, it all started so well for Pantano, who led Grosjean from the grid as the five lights went off. That wasn’t the case for Andreas Zuber (Piquet Sports), who started third but fell straight to 16th, thanks to a slow start. Sebastien Buemi (Trust Team Arden), Di Grassi and Senna took full advantage and each gained a position.
As the top pair continued to stream ahead, Buemi was having a non-eventful race, as Senna hounded Di Grassi all the way before finally overtaking as Di Grassi made a mistake on Lap 29.
Then the rain came and things just changed within seconds. Buemi crashed out as Senna immediately pitted for wet tyres. Chandok and Di Grassi did the same. Unfortunately, the rain did not fall hard enough and as it stopped, parts of the track began to dry while other parts remained wet.
This ensured a nail-biting finish as plenty of drivers crashed out on the final lap. The major losers were Javier Villa (Racing Engineering), who crashed out from a certain third position and Andreas Zuber who had fought his way up to fifth only to lose it all again. Pantano has now extended his lead over Senna from 11 to 19 points (63 versus 44). The fastest lap he achieved (1m 24.454s) also meant that he has the car to fight for a win tomorrow.
It will be another topsy-turvy day on Sunday as the top eight positions are reversed for the sprint race. Nothing is guaranteed, but one thing is for sure, it’s going to be another cracker.
Driver quotes:
Romain Grosjean, ART Grand Prix, before the 25-second penalty
“It was a crazy race. In the beginning, I was quicker than Giorgio with very little (tyre) degradation. Then Giorgio was faster. After the pit stops, it was all the same again. Then came the rain. I thought I was dead because he has so much experience in GP2. It was very, very tricky but I could keep the car on the track. The rain came stronger and stronger. But I know the (racing) line here because I’ve raced here in Formula Three before. And Giorgio was in front, I could see where he was making mistakes and brake earlier and things like this. And then, at the Mercedes Tribune, I was side by side with him and then I overtook him on the inside. And the last part was keeping the car on the track, it was so tricky. It was the best race I’ve won so far.”
Giogio Pantano, Racing Engineering, before Grosjean’s penalty
“The beginning was good. The car was working really well, no problem, nothing. We were just managing the race. And then the last five laps, it started raining. It was too risky to push the car any more because the tactics were different from Grosjean. I just wanted to keep second place. In the last five laps, some sectors were really wet and some sectors were dry. This is racing however. You were leading for 35 laps no problem, but then, with the weather and everything, in the end I was just thinking about the championship.”
Alvaro Parente, Super Nova Racing, 3rd
“We had a difficult time at the first part of the race, especially in the start. I touched with some people and lost three to four positions. We recovered in the pit stop and after the pit stop we were lying eighth. And then the rain came, we decided to stay out. In the first wet lap, I made the call to stay out. Then it was the team and we decided to just stay out. Last few laps, one sector was wet and the rest was dry - the sector that was wet was hard to drive.”
Bruno Senna, iSport International, 4th
“We had good weather predictions, from Williams (F1 team). It did rain but then it fizzled out, so it didn’t work out for me. Unfortunately I paid the price for it. But then again, you never know, maybe with the dry tyres, I would have had problems later on and spun off and go out of the race. It’s just one of those things.”
Saturday diary - interviews, interviews and more interviews!
Having the hindsight of Friday, we arrived at the circuit on Saturday morning not too early. As the next event was only supposed to take place at 10.00, I was able to take a fine walk along the Formula One paddock and did a bit of F1 celebrity-spotting. Sure enough, I saw Rubens Barichello, Peter Sauber and a fine young chap called Sebastian Vettel.
After that, it was down to serious work as I did three interviews in a row. First up was Didier Perrin, the GP2 technical director. I was able to get plenty of information on the GP2 car’s technical details, things which only geeks are interested in. These include the electronic components in the GP2 car and potential problems in setting up the GP2 car properly.
After that informative session, it was off to talk to Sebastien Buemi, of Trust Team Arden, who is something of a hot property now amongst the F1 teams because of his stellar performance in the past few races. There were plenty of rumours flying around the paddock that Toro Rosso and BMW Sauber are looking into the availability of Sebastien for a race seat next season. Next, it was time to meet Jean-Paul Driot, who co-founded the DAMS racing team with Rene Arnoux way back in 1988. Jean-Paul is clearly a man who has a deep passion for motorsport as he has been in the business for 20 years, going through the usual ups and downs.
The best part of the day had to be covering the GP2 feature race in the afternoon. An initially uneventful race was turned upside down as rain fell for a few minutes, just six to seven laps before the finish. The absolute mayhem that transpired after that ensured a nail-biting finish. I was able to interview the top four drivers after the race. I’m also learning to be tactful when approaching them, as some of them are obviously a bit frustrated after the race when the result did not go their way and they just need some space to calm down before speaking to the journalists.
I’ll be lying if I say I’m not exhausted but it’s really been worth the effort as another memorable day goes by.
Qualifying report - Pantano’s perfect lap
Under cloudy but dry conditions, qualifying started at 15:55pm sharp with all 26 GP2 cars streaming out of the pits to make lap times. In this session, the timing of the hot lap was everything, as track conditions varied based on the availability of sunshine, which only came out during the early part of the session.
Timing his hot lap to perfection, Racing Engineering’s Giorgio Pantano once again came out on top with an unbeatable lap time of 1m 21.650s. Less than 0.3s behind was Romain Grosjean for ART Grand Prix, who set a time of 1m 21.977s. Pantano and Grosjean were the only two drivers that dipped under the 1m 22s mark.
Further down the grid in third was Andreas Zuber of Piquet Sports, who was just 0.070s slower than Grosjean. He was followed by Sebastien Buemi (Trust Team Arden), Lucas di Grassi (Barwa International Campos), with Bruno Senna (iSport International) rounding out the top six.
Driver quotes:
Giorgio Pantano, Racing Engineering, 1st
“It’s good when you get pole, you’re 0.3s from second. It was a perfect lap. The car was working really well. I have to say thank you to the team. When the sun was shining in the beginning, it was good. But then the clouds began to come out again. The tyres seemed very different with different temperatures. But anyway, we’re safe with consistency with good grip all the time. We will be able to pit very late with slow tyre (wear) rate, unlike Silverstone. We’re ready for a wet race, or a dry race.”
Romain Grosjean, ART Grand Prix, 2nd
“The track was good at the beginning with sunshine and the rubber from the Formula One cars. That was the difference. I know the track and the car is getting better. We still have a little bit of work to do. Now we know that there’s one point that we have to work on. We will see the qualifying data. We only have 30 minutes during practice, so we didn’t do any long runs, but today we know a bit more cause we used the tyres during Silverstone. So we should be able to choose our strategy.”
Andreas Zuber, Piquet Sports, 3rd
“It was not bad. We struggled a little bit with the car, because it’s very difficult to drive at the moment. But I had a quite clean lap. First and second set of tyres, I could improve a little bit. But 0.4s to Pantano is a little too much. We need to find that. I know we struggle with race set-up a little bit, but I hope we can find that.”
Sebastien Buemi, Trust Team Arden, 4th
“I had a really good day, at free practice too. We could improve the lap time and the car. So, quite happy with everything. Hopefully we can keep up with the rest.”
For more on the Bridgestone e-reporter competition, click here.
I'm Bridgestone Motorsports page:)
Bridgestone e-reporter finalist Bonn student Alan NG24/07/2008 (original page)
Bridgestone, exclusive tyre supplier to the GP2 Series, announced the nine finalists of the 2008 Bridgestone e-reporter young journalists’ competition at the beginning of the GP2 season. In 2008, the e-reporter contest celebrates its fifth anniversary and Alan NG, a student living in Bonn, Germany, attended the German Grand Prix (19-20 July) to report on the GP2 Series as one of the finalists in this year’s pan-European contest, for students aged 18-30.
Each of the nine e-reporter finalists, who have aspirations to be professional journalists, are given the opportunity during the year to attend and report on a GP2 Series race weekend for the Bridgestone website, www.bridgestone.eu/e-reporter. Alan was the fifth e-reporter to submit race reports, working over the race weekend in Hockenheim.
Bridgestone e-reporter is strongly linked to the GP2 Series, the feeder series to Formula One. While GP2 was created to provide gifted young drivers with the chance to make their way to the pinnacle of motorsport, e-reporter was brought to life to support the talented young journalists of tomorrow. During the German Grand Prix weekend Alan interviewed star drivers in the GP2 paddock, including Sunday’s sprint race winner Karun Chandhok (iSport International) and current championship leader Giorgio Pantano (Racing Engineering).
Commenting on his invaluable experience, Alan said, “These few days have been a dream come true for me. The opportunity to attend a grand prix weekend has been such an amazing experience. Being a journalist for the weekend meant I could approach numerous drivers and team members, interviewing them for my various daily reports. The buzz that goes around in the GP2 paddock is just so unbelievable. You really have to be there to know what it’s like.
“I also got to see the hard work that’s been put in by countless people each time the cars go out to race. For example, the Bridgestone support team for GP2 works through late nights just to get the tyres and data ready for the teams so that come race day, everyone is ready to give their best in entertaining the massive crowds.
“I really need to thank Bridgestone for giving me this opportunity which is a chance of a lifetime. I also want to thank the GP2 Series organisers and teams for their patience and openness in interviews.”
Entrants for this year’s Bridgestone e-reporter competition were asked to demonstrate their ability to write topical interview questions and a newsworthy story when applying for the competition. The high standard of entries from students writing in English as their second language was highlighted by this year’s judging panel, which includes high-profile international journalists from four different countries. This year the popularity of the competition has been shown by a 50 per cent increase in entries compared with 2007. Entrants also represented a wider range of European countries than ever before.
All Bridgestone e-reporter finalists announced for this year attended the official GP2 Series launch event in Barcelona (on 24 April), appearing on stage to mark the beginning of the season. All drivers making up the GP2 grid for 2008 were at the event along with Formula One personalities Lewis Hamilton, Heikki Kovalainen, Mark Webber, Nelson Piquet and Lucas di Grassi.
The next Bridgestone e-reporter finalist to attend a race will be Guillaume Navarro (from Erquy, France), who will be at the Hungarian Grand Prix from 2-3 August. The overall winner of the 2008 Bridgestone e-reporter contest, due to be selected in September, will continue their work on Bridgestone-backed events and will be offered work experience as part of the competition prize.
For further information on the 2008 Bridgestone e-reporter competition, and to view race reports throughout the season from this year’s finalists, visit www.bridgestone.eu/e-reporter
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
F1 Canada GP Lewis Hamilton Pit Lane Crash Into Raikkonen
Not so special after all, this Hamilton phenomenon. Very smart of him to choose knocking his nearest championship rival
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Sing (Your Love) by Hillsongs United
Sing (Your Love)
VERSE 1:
A Esus
It used to be darkness
Bm D
Without you I
A Esus
I lived my life in blindness
Bm D
But now I am found
CHORUS: A Esus Bm D
And I'll sing, sing I love you so A
And I'll sing Esus/A D
Because the world can't take away Dm
Your love
VERSE 2:
A Esus Bm D
Found me in weakness Broken
A Esus
You came to me in kindness
Bm D
And now I live
BRIDGE: A Esus Bm D
I'll give my life for you Lord
All Who Are Thirsty
All Who Are Thirsty
G
All who are thirsty
Bm7
All who are weak
C2
Come to the fountain
Am7 Am7/B C D
Dip your heart in the stream of life
G
Let the pain and the sorrow
Bm7
Be washed away
C2
In the waves of his mercy
Am7 Am7/B C D
As deep cries out to deep
(we sing)
G C2
Come Lord Jesus come
(repeat 3 times)
G C2
Holy Spirit come
(repeat 3 times)
Am7 Am7/B C
As deep cries out to deep
(repeat 2 times)
Sunday, June 01, 2008
I Lift My Eyes Up (Psalms 121) From the Inside Out
Singing this for tonight's worship. Suddenly had the inspiration to become these two songs. Pray that it's from the Lord's prompting. Hope you'll enjoy them. As usual here are the chords:
I Lift My Eyes Up
C F C F
I lift my eyes up to the mountains,
C F G
where does my help come from?
C F C F
My help comes from You, Maker of Heaven,
C F G
Creator of the earth.
C/E F C/E F C/E
O how I need You Lord, You are my only hope; F G
You're my only prayer.
C/E F C/E F C/E
So I will wait for You to come and rescue me,
F G
Come and give me life
From The Inside Out
Verse 1:
F
A thousand times I've failed
C G
Still Your mercy remains
F
And should I stumble again
C G
I'm caught in Your grace
Am
Everlasting
F C G
Your light will shine when all else fades
Am
Never ending
F C G
Your glory goes beyond all fame
Chorus 1:
F C
In my heart and my soul
Am
Lord I give You control
G
Consume me from the inside out
F Am
Lord let justice and praise
G
Become my embrace
Dm
To love You from the inside out
Verse 2:
G F
Your will above all else
C
My purpose remains
G F
The art of losing myself
C G
In bringing You praise Am
Everlasting
F C G
Your light will shine when all else fades Am
Never ending
F C G
Your glory goes beyond all fame
Chorus 2:
Am
Everlasting
F C G
Your light will shine when all else fades
Am
Never ending
F C G
Your glory goes beyond all fame
C F
And the cry of my heart
G Am
Is to bring You praise
F G
From the inside out
F G
Lord my soul cries out
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Falling Out Of Reach by Guillemots
Heard this gem of a song on the radio while taking a stroll in downtown Bonn. It's so unknown that there's only two videos on youtube on it (soon to be three:) Enjoy!
Falling Out Of Reach
Original Key: Bb (Capo 3)
Played in G# (Capo 1)
G C G C
Slow down, slow down
G C D
You'll only get burned out
G C G C
Calm down, calm down
G C D
You're getting so worn out
Bm D
They're trying to make you compromise
Bm C D
This fire burning in your eyes
G C
Darling, you're slowly drifting out of reach
G C
I'm slowly drifting out of reach
G C D
We're slowly drifting out of reach
G C
You're slowly falling out of reach
G C
I'm slowly falling out of reach
G C D
We're slowly falling out of reach
Out of reach
Bm Em
So home is just a word now
Bm D
You don't see it anymore
Bm Em
The child's eyes are vacant now
Bm D
The lights are just a glare
Bm Em
Music's gone and you're always wrong
Bm D
And there's people everywhere
Bm D
But darling, time will make amends
Bm C D
Just need a rest, just need your friends
They're slowly drifting out of reach
You're slowly drifting out of reach
We're slowly drifting out of reach
You're slowly falling out of reach
I'm slowly falling out of reach
We're slowly falling out of reach
My ‘Splash and Dash’ in Barcelona
A ‘splash and dash’ pit-stop is when a driver comes into the pits for just a ‘splash’ of fuel and perhaps a change of tires before a charged ‘dash’ to the end of a race. It is normally used in an extremely aggressive race strategy, such as the one employed by Ross Brawn for Michael Schumacher’s superb four-stop victory in the French GP 2004. It certainly felt the same for me as I arrived in Barcelona at 2pm, 24/4 (a very special date) for the ‘splash’, a three-pronged launch event (GP2 Asia prize ceremony cum GP2 series’ 2008 season launch cum Bridgestone e-reporter finalists unveiling, quite a mouthful indeed). Unfortunately, due to academic obligations, I had to ‘dash’ for a 6am flight the next morning so that I could make it back to Germany at 10am where I had to do a presentation. But then again, I would not have it any other way in celebrating my 28th birthday!
I believe the launch event was a dream-come-true for all the e-reporter finalists. You really have to be a petrolhead to be able to appreciate the importance of being part of this special event. The chance to share the excitement of the GP2 Asia’s successful debut and to witness the launch of the new GP2 season and its brand-new Bridgestone-Dallara-Renault racecar. Of course, not failing to mention the honour of being unveiled as finalists of the very successful Bridgestone e-reporter competition and the opportunity to get up close and personal (well, almost) with the GP2 drivers and F1 superstars such as Mark Webber, Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton.
All nine finalists were unveiled much like a beauty-pageant at the end of the event. As the host of the event called out our names one by one, we walked on to centre stage to stand proudly, posing together with the exciting-looking GP2 car. We were also requested to pose around a white GP2 car in front of a professional photographer. Bear in mind as well that this isn’t just any GP2 car but a car that has been “embellished” with the names of each and every Bridgestone e-reporter, past and present. Therefore, strutting around this 590-bhp machine took on a different significance.
However, for me personally, above all the glamour and attention, the most poignant moment came when it struck me just how great it is to be in the company of those who live and breath motorsports. Based on the enthusiastic conversations we were having all evening, it was definitely a night to remember. That was when I realized that the Bridgestone e-reporter competition is not just about searching for those who are talented in stringing a few words together. More than that, it is about the opportunity to congregate young, aspiring men and women across the globe who share the same “PASSION for EXCELLENCE”. And that for me is more than just any ‘Splash and Dash’. It is something that will be cherished for life. And the best part is, this is just the beginning…
I believe the launch event was a dream-come-true for all the e-reporter finalists. You really have to be a petrolhead to be able to appreciate the importance of being part of this special event. The chance to share the excitement of the GP2 Asia’s successful debut and to witness the launch of the new GP2 season and its brand-new Bridgestone-Dallara-Renault racecar. Of course, not failing to mention the honour of being unveiled as finalists of the very successful Bridgestone e-reporter competition and the opportunity to get up close and personal (well, almost) with the GP2 drivers and F1 superstars such as Mark Webber, Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton.
All nine finalists were unveiled much like a beauty-pageant at the end of the event. As the host of the event called out our names one by one, we walked on to centre stage to stand proudly, posing together with the exciting-looking GP2 car. We were also requested to pose around a white GP2 car in front of a professional photographer. Bear in mind as well that this isn’t just any GP2 car but a car that has been “embellished” with the names of each and every Bridgestone e-reporter, past and present. Therefore, strutting around this 590-bhp machine took on a different significance.
However, for me personally, above all the glamour and attention, the most poignant moment came when it struck me just how great it is to be in the company of those who live and breath motorsports. Based on the enthusiastic conversations we were having all evening, it was definitely a night to remember. That was when I realized that the Bridgestone e-reporter competition is not just about searching for those who are talented in stringing a few words together. More than that, it is about the opportunity to congregate young, aspiring men and women across the globe who share the same “PASSION for EXCELLENCE”. And that for me is more than just any ‘Splash and Dash’. It is something that will be cherished for life. And the best part is, this is just the beginning…
Rheineau in Flaminen
Every year, the first Saturday of May, fireworks will be set off in a very scenic lake/park area called Rheineau in Bonn. Managed to catch the one this year:)
Apologies for the background "noise":P
Apologies for the background "noise":P
APC Praise/Worship Team
Praise God! I played the guitar for the first time with the APC music team during Sunday's church service. Think it went really well despite just having 1 practice before (and I didn't have the chords for the songs during that practice!) By God's grace, I'll be able to improve my playing as I serve more in the team.
By the way, the guitar that you've seen in the previous post (Complete) is a 2nd-hand Ibanez semi-acoustic guitar. It was really a good buy! 120 euros but in superb condition. Really enjoy using it. Think it'll stick with me for many a years!
By the way, the guitar that you've seen in the previous post (Complete) is a 2nd-hand Ibanez semi-acoustic guitar. It was really a good buy! 120 euros but in superb condition. Really enjoy using it. Think it'll stick with me for many a years!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Complete by Parachute Band
Complete
A E/G# F#m
Here I am, Oh God
D A
I bring this sacrifice
E/G# F#m D F#m
My open heart, I offer up my life
D
I look to You, Lord
F#m D A
Your love that never ends
Bm E
Restores me again
CHORUS
A F#m D E
So I lift my eyes to you Lord
A F#m D E
In your strength will I break through Lord
D E A F#m
Touch me now, let your love fall down on me
D E
I know your love dispels all my fears
A F#m D E
Through the storm I will hold on Lord
A F#m D E
And by faith I will walk on Lord
D E A F#m
Then I'll see beyond my calvary one day
D E A
And I will be complete in You
Intro
repeat I & chorus
instrumental: A-E/G#-F#m-D (2x)
F#m D
I look to You, Lord
F#m D A
Your love that never ends
Bm E
Restores me again
Repeat chorus
coda:
D E
And I will be complete in
C#m F#m
I will be complete in
D E A E/G# F#m D Dm A
I will be complete in You.....
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Doing your part in Disaster relief
There's just been a spate of major natural disasters, first in Myanmar and then the recent earthquake in China. I'm sure there are many others which may not have received coverage from the media. All the same, if you feel like doing your bit for the rescue missions, please proceed to the Red Cross's online donation site.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
What I wrote for the e-reporter competition:)
Hahaha, I cant believe I was so anal that I even include references in my submission. Too much literature review, as Shawn said when he read my article:)
SECTION 1
Select a famous personality from the sporting, automotive or motorsport world who is newsworthy and currently in the media spotlight. Please clearly state who you have selected, their position within their sport or company and why they are currently newsworthy.
Then as a journalist, imagine you have the exclusive opportunity to interview them.
Write six questions that you would include as part of the interview (max 6 questions).
The person that I have chosen for this interview is Vodafone Mclaren-Mercedes’s driver, Lewis Hamilton. Having garnered various awards and accolades in his amazing rookie season, Lewis has been in the media spotlight since his spectacular 3rd place finish at the Australian GP 2007. Showing both talent and determination in abundance, he has clearly demonstrated that there is definitely life in F1 after the retirement of Michael Schumacher at the end of 2006. Lewis almost became the first ever rookie to win the F1 Driver Championship, only to lose by just 1-point to Kimi Raikkonen at Interlagos, the last race of the 2007 season, having led the Championship since the Spanish GP in May. Recently, he has also won the “World Breakthrough of the Year” award at the prestigious Laureus Sports Award 2008.
1. Do you think Mclaren’s 2008 season has already been compromised due to the fact that several aspects of the car development have to be curtailed as part of the conclusion to the Ferrari-Mclaren spy case?
2. Expectations of you will be higher in 2008 after such a stellar rookie season. How are you dealing with the pressure that comes with it?
3. The biggest rule change in 2008 has been the ban on launch control, traction control and engine braking with the introduction of standard ECU. How are you coping with these changes so far? Are you practicing more grand prix starts during the test sessions?
4. Driving just seems so easy to you. We know you can handle a Formula 1 car pretty well and I’ve seen the lap you did when you appeared on Top Gear. It was really something special to get 0.3s behind the Stig’s lap and you did it in wet conditions as well! How do you make driving a car, any car, super-quick seem so effortless?
5. There was a lot of attention recently on the racism controversy during one of the pre-season tests at Barcelona. Do you think that the FIA has done enough to mitigate the issue or do you think that perhaps the issue had been over-hyped by the media?
6. You’ve just signed a new five-year contract with Mclaren that will keep you with the team till 2012. The financial terms are obviously very lucrative. Having secured yourself financially so early in your Formula 1 career, how do you find the motivations to continue to do well in the sport? Will the glamour and showbiz side of F1 become a distraction to you in the coming years?
SECTION 2
Write a 300 word article, including an appropriate headline, on ONE of the following:
1. Discuss the growing importance of GP2 as a feeder series to Formula One.
2. Formula One could return to slick Bridgestone tyres in 2009. Describe what effect, if any, this will have on safety.
3. Describe in what ways Formula One and GP2 make a contribution to the environment through campaigns and technological development.
4. Tyres are the only contact a car has with the ground. Tyre pressure is greatly influential on the overall performance of a tyre. What would be the impact on safety and costs of low tyre pressure?
5. Formula One cars have often been described as works of art and have adopted many different designs over the past 60 years. Choose a famous Formula One car and describe why its design was so ground breaking at the time and what made that design artistic.
(max 300 words).
Topic 3:
Towards a Greener Motorsport Racing
As environmental awareness becomes greater, those at the pinnacle of motorsport racing need to demonstrate their responsibility towards the environment and make racing a greener business. And it does seem that those involved in F1 and GP2 are getting it right. For example, the rather pointless fuel-burning phase in F1’s qualifying session, whereby the drivers go around the track for a few laps just to reduce weight, has been dropped in 2008 by the FIA to show that F1 does not “wastes” fuel unnecessarily.
Furthermore, racing teams such as Honda Racing F1 are using the “advertising space” on their cars to create greater environmental awareness across the globe. In fact, Honda’s earthdreams concept has won the Green Awards’ Grand Prix Winner 2007, presented by the United Nations Environmental Program as a means to ““recognize outstanding creative work…for brands promoting anything from fair trade and renewable energy to resource efficiency and waste awareness.”
On the technological side, F1 and GP2 are taking the lead in developing cutting-edge green technologies which can be applied to production cars in the future. In 2009, the FIA has plans to introduce the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) in F1, where kinetic energy can be recovered from the car under braking. This stored energy can then be used to boost acceleration for overtaking and cornering, whilst maximising energy efficiency at the same time. In the 2008 season, the technical regulations have been amended to ensure that the teams must include at least 5.75% of biomatter in their fuels. This is the first step towards the probable introduction of hybrid engines in F1, further reducing the consumption of non-renewable energy.
Motorsport racing has clearly demonstrated that it is more than aware of its responsibilities towards the environment and those in power are doing their best to ensure that it remains relevant even in the environmentally sensitive 21st century.
References:
1. British Motoring Car Show by BBC: Top Gear, http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/
2. Lewis’s lap on Top Gear, http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/7120556.stm
3. Honda Racing F1’s earthdreams concept, http://www.hondaracingf1.com/earthdreams/html/index.html
4. F1 2008 season rule changes, http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/rules_and_regulations/sporting_regulations/6844/
5. Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), http://www.xtrac.com/latestnews.htm#EngineInnovation
SECTION 1
Select a famous personality from the sporting, automotive or motorsport world who is newsworthy and currently in the media spotlight. Please clearly state who you have selected, their position within their sport or company and why they are currently newsworthy.
Then as a journalist, imagine you have the exclusive opportunity to interview them.
Write six questions that you would include as part of the interview (max 6 questions).
The person that I have chosen for this interview is Vodafone Mclaren-Mercedes’s driver, Lewis Hamilton. Having garnered various awards and accolades in his amazing rookie season, Lewis has been in the media spotlight since his spectacular 3rd place finish at the Australian GP 2007. Showing both talent and determination in abundance, he has clearly demonstrated that there is definitely life in F1 after the retirement of Michael Schumacher at the end of 2006. Lewis almost became the first ever rookie to win the F1 Driver Championship, only to lose by just 1-point to Kimi Raikkonen at Interlagos, the last race of the 2007 season, having led the Championship since the Spanish GP in May. Recently, he has also won the “World Breakthrough of the Year” award at the prestigious Laureus Sports Award 2008.
1. Do you think Mclaren’s 2008 season has already been compromised due to the fact that several aspects of the car development have to be curtailed as part of the conclusion to the Ferrari-Mclaren spy case?
2. Expectations of you will be higher in 2008 after such a stellar rookie season. How are you dealing with the pressure that comes with it?
3. The biggest rule change in 2008 has been the ban on launch control, traction control and engine braking with the introduction of standard ECU. How are you coping with these changes so far? Are you practicing more grand prix starts during the test sessions?
4. Driving just seems so easy to you. We know you can handle a Formula 1 car pretty well and I’ve seen the lap you did when you appeared on Top Gear. It was really something special to get 0.3s behind the Stig’s lap and you did it in wet conditions as well! How do you make driving a car, any car, super-quick seem so effortless?
5. There was a lot of attention recently on the racism controversy during one of the pre-season tests at Barcelona. Do you think that the FIA has done enough to mitigate the issue or do you think that perhaps the issue had been over-hyped by the media?
6. You’ve just signed a new five-year contract with Mclaren that will keep you with the team till 2012. The financial terms are obviously very lucrative. Having secured yourself financially so early in your Formula 1 career, how do you find the motivations to continue to do well in the sport? Will the glamour and showbiz side of F1 become a distraction to you in the coming years?
SECTION 2
Write a 300 word article, including an appropriate headline, on ONE of the following:
1. Discuss the growing importance of GP2 as a feeder series to Formula One.
2. Formula One could return to slick Bridgestone tyres in 2009. Describe what effect, if any, this will have on safety.
3. Describe in what ways Formula One and GP2 make a contribution to the environment through campaigns and technological development.
4. Tyres are the only contact a car has with the ground. Tyre pressure is greatly influential on the overall performance of a tyre. What would be the impact on safety and costs of low tyre pressure?
5. Formula One cars have often been described as works of art and have adopted many different designs over the past 60 years. Choose a famous Formula One car and describe why its design was so ground breaking at the time and what made that design artistic.
(max 300 words).
Topic 3:
Towards a Greener Motorsport Racing
As environmental awareness becomes greater, those at the pinnacle of motorsport racing need to demonstrate their responsibility towards the environment and make racing a greener business. And it does seem that those involved in F1 and GP2 are getting it right. For example, the rather pointless fuel-burning phase in F1’s qualifying session, whereby the drivers go around the track for a few laps just to reduce weight, has been dropped in 2008 by the FIA to show that F1 does not “wastes” fuel unnecessarily.
Furthermore, racing teams such as Honda Racing F1 are using the “advertising space” on their cars to create greater environmental awareness across the globe. In fact, Honda’s earthdreams concept has won the Green Awards’ Grand Prix Winner 2007, presented by the United Nations Environmental Program as a means to ““recognize outstanding creative work…for brands promoting anything from fair trade and renewable energy to resource efficiency and waste awareness.”
On the technological side, F1 and GP2 are taking the lead in developing cutting-edge green technologies which can be applied to production cars in the future. In 2009, the FIA has plans to introduce the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) in F1, where kinetic energy can be recovered from the car under braking. This stored energy can then be used to boost acceleration for overtaking and cornering, whilst maximising energy efficiency at the same time. In the 2008 season, the technical regulations have been amended to ensure that the teams must include at least 5.75% of biomatter in their fuels. This is the first step towards the probable introduction of hybrid engines in F1, further reducing the consumption of non-renewable energy.
Motorsport racing has clearly demonstrated that it is more than aware of its responsibilities towards the environment and those in power are doing their best to ensure that it remains relevant even in the environmentally sensitive 21st century.
References:
1. British Motoring Car Show by BBC: Top Gear, http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/
2. Lewis’s lap on Top Gear, http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/7120556.stm
3. Honda Racing F1’s earthdreams concept, http://www.hondaracingf1.com/earthdreams/html/index.html
4. F1 2008 season rule changes, http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/rules_and_regulations/sporting_regulations/6844/
5. Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), http://www.xtrac.com/latestnews.htm#EngineInnovation
Monday, April 21, 2008
Bridgestone e-reporter: record entries, nine finalists announced
Bridgestone, exclusive tyre supplier to the GP2 Series, has today announced the nine selected finalists for the 2008 Bridgestone e-reporter young journalists’ competition. The growing popularity of the competition, for students aged 18-30, has been shown by a 50 per cent increase in entries compared with 2007, entrants also representing a wider range of European countries than ever before.
In 2008, Bridgestone e-reporter celebrates its fifth anniversary and, to mark the beginning of the season, will be taking all nine of this year’s chosen finalists to
Each of the nine finalists, who have aspirations to be professional journalists, will be given the opportunity to attend and report on a GP2 Series race weekend for the Bridgestone website, www.bridgestone.eu/e-reporter. Bridgestone’s finalists for this season, from across
Monte-Carlo (23-24 May) Lorenzo Quolantoni (
Magny-Cours (21-22 June) Olivier Cougard (Lille, France)
Silverstone (5-6 July) James Aitcheson (
Hockenheim (19-20 July) Alan Ng (
Budapest (2-3 August) Guillaume Navarro (Erquy, France)
Spa-Francorchamps (6-7 September) Rutger Wuyts (Ghent, Belgium)
Entrants for this year’s Bridgestone e-reporter competition were asked to demonstrate their ability to write both a newsworthy story and topical interview questions. The high standard of entries from students writing in English as their second language was highlighted by the judges, the judging panel including high-profile international journalists.
Gerry Duffy, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Bridgestone Europe, said, “In 2008 we have received the highest number of entries we have ever had for the Bridgestone e-reporter competition. We have also seen a real increase in the number of entries coming from students outside of the
The overall winner of the 2008 Bridgestone e-reporter contest, due to be selected in late September, will continue their work on Bridgestone-backed events and will be offered work experience as part of the competition prize.
Taken from Bridgestone GP2 e-reporter website.
Post Modernism
Something I've learnt during the PCCF Retreat this year. Explains a lot why of us are so jaded and lethargic in seeking the truth sometimes:
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
I've been selected!!!!
I'm one of the 9 finalists in the Bridgestone E-Reporter competition!!!!!!!! I joined this competition when I was really bored in Malaysia few months back and wanted to do something constructive. What better way than to marry my passion for motorsport racing and writing. Really didn't expect to win since I felt there were probably a lot of people who could write better stuff than me:)
To be honest, I joined this competition when I was at the lowest point of my confidence back in February. At that time, the long lay-off has really made me feel terribly useless and nothing seemed to be going right then. So I just thought I'll use this competition as an avenue to pour out all my focus and energy. Praise God! It was good enough and things has really been on the rise since I've got back to Bonn. 6 months of pent-up energy is being released full-force at everything I'm doing now:)
Anyway, what's the deal, you ask? I'm going to Barcelona on 24th April (ahem, note anything special about this date?;) to attend the launch event. I'll be taking a 6am flight back on Friday cause I have a lab. I'll be able to cover the Hockenheim race as well on 20th July:) We'll be attending the final GP2 race in Monza as well. The overall winner will get to cover the MotoGP race in Valencia at the end of the year. To be honest, I'm happy enough to be selected as a finalist. Anything else will be bonus!
To be honest, I joined this competition when I was at the lowest point of my confidence back in February. At that time, the long lay-off has really made me feel terribly useless and nothing seemed to be going right then. So I just thought I'll use this competition as an avenue to pour out all my focus and energy. Praise God! It was good enough and things has really been on the rise since I've got back to Bonn. 6 months of pent-up energy is being released full-force at everything I'm doing now:)
Anyway, what's the deal, you ask? I'm going to Barcelona on 24th April (ahem, note anything special about this date?;) to attend the launch event. I'll be taking a 6am flight back on Friday cause I have a lab. I'll be able to cover the Hockenheim race as well on 20th July:) We'll be attending the final GP2 race in Monza as well. The overall winner will get to cover the MotoGP race in Valencia at the end of the year. To be honest, I'm happy enough to be selected as a finalist. Anything else will be bonus!
PCCF Retreat 2008
I'm going back to Edinburgh on the 18th April. I'm supposed to have some medical checkup for the accident claims. And just so nice, PCCF's retreat is on the same weekend too. So, am attending that too!
Pray that this time, I'll be able to come back to Bonn safe and sound:)
Pray that this time, I'll be able to come back to Bonn safe and sound:)
Studying in Bonn
Lessons have finally begun in earnest. The 6-month break has made me really eager to start learning again. So I've been super-efficient with any work I've been given:P I doubt this enthusiasm will last the whole semester but we'll see how it goes.
I've finally gotten my own room too and the view from my room is fantastic!
It's very near the Rhine river and very convenient as well. It's 5 minutes walk from a well-equipped gym and cafeteria. It's also 5 minutes away from the University of Bonn's Computer Science Dept. However, there's a flaw to this equation, I don have any lessons there:)) Instead, I need to take a bus and then interchange to a subway to get to the Bonn-Aachen International Centre for Information Technology or B-IT in short for my lessons. Oh, it just takes about 20-30 minutes to get there:)) No complains, Bonn is still fantastic!
Some photos on Bonn city:
I've finally gotten my own room too and the view from my room is fantastic!
It's very near the Rhine river and very convenient as well. It's 5 minutes walk from a well-equipped gym and cafeteria. It's also 5 minutes away from the University of Bonn's Computer Science Dept. However, there's a flaw to this equation, I don have any lessons there:)) Instead, I need to take a bus and then interchange to a subway to get to the Bonn-Aachen International Centre for Information Technology or B-IT in short for my lessons. Oh, it just takes about 20-30 minutes to get there:)) No complains, Bonn is still fantastic!
Some photos on Bonn city:
Trento and Venice, Italy
Hahaha, I'm not quite done with my travel log yet. The weekend after Düsseldorf, I went to Italy for my scholarship/studies program's workshop. It was a great opportunity to finally meet all the EuMI scholars and get to know one another. We had quite a few fruitful discussions on improving the program as well. Left Bonn on Thursday evening after German language test and arrived in Trento at about 2am. As the hotel was on a hill, we took a taxi, not just any taxi but a Mercedes C-class (could have gotten a BMW 3-series but a fella cut our queue and so we had to wait for another one). The trip up the hill was quite a good lesson on uphill drive. Throughout the whole trip, the guy's revs never went below 2000 rpm. He never braked unless necessary and just relied on down-shifting to show the car down. Fantastic!
Anyway, the workshop lasted till Sunday. Some photos on Trento
Went to Venice after the event as well for a day and night trip with 2 EuMI friends (you'll see a lot of their photos in the slideshow) and another EuMI friend with his family (wife and cute baby:). The place is really beautiful. The first day was a bit cloudy and so the view wasnt so great but on the next day, Mama Mia! I now understand the magic of Venice and its attraction. Just walking around the island, taking photos was quite sufficient:)
Then, I found the Ferrari Store. Being one of the 8 Ferrari stores in the world (a few in Italy, 1 in Spain, 1 in Las Vegas and 1 in Shang Hai), I knew I had to get something there. Bought one of their colognes. Extremely pleased. They had a F2005 on display. Not allowed to take video but you can take photos. I tested that rule and found that they are quite strict in the implementation:P
Then I went on another mini spending spree. I bought a pair of Oakleys. My eyesight's quite bad lately and been wanting to get a pair of sunglasses. What better place to get then Venice, right? No, not really. Everything is super expensive here. But just thought after events of past few months, I needed to treat myself to a few things nice:) I hope people from EuMI dont read my blog:P
The only mistake we made during this entire trip was to fly Ryanair back to Germany. Partly our fault, we didn't do enough research on where we're landing in Germany. Ryanair says we're going to land at Düsseldorf airport when in fact, it's actually Düsseldorf (Weeze). Get the difference? I dont but the difference is that we landed in an airport which has very limited buses back to civilization. So although we reached Weeze at 11pm, there was only a bus at 12am and we finally got to Cologne train station at about 2am. And the next train back to Bonn is at 5am. The travel mishap bug has struck again!! I'm ready for it this time and didn't complain much. Just take it as it comes. Again, I met someone nice to chat with. This time, it's a Romanian journalist who works in Deutsche Welle. We just shared about our traveling experiences and she talked quite a lot on Romania and Transylvannia. Learnt a lot about Romania from this single conversation.
Anyway, the workshop lasted till Sunday. Some photos on Trento
Went to Venice after the event as well for a day and night trip with 2 EuMI friends (you'll see a lot of their photos in the slideshow) and another EuMI friend with his family (wife and cute baby:). The place is really beautiful. The first day was a bit cloudy and so the view wasnt so great but on the next day, Mama Mia! I now understand the magic of Venice and its attraction. Just walking around the island, taking photos was quite sufficient:)
Then, I found the Ferrari Store. Being one of the 8 Ferrari stores in the world (a few in Italy, 1 in Spain, 1 in Las Vegas and 1 in Shang Hai), I knew I had to get something there. Bought one of their colognes. Extremely pleased. They had a F2005 on display. Not allowed to take video but you can take photos. I tested that rule and found that they are quite strict in the implementation:P
Then I went on another mini spending spree. I bought a pair of Oakleys. My eyesight's quite bad lately and been wanting to get a pair of sunglasses. What better place to get then Venice, right? No, not really. Everything is super expensive here. But just thought after events of past few months, I needed to treat myself to a few things nice:) I hope people from EuMI dont read my blog:P
The only mistake we made during this entire trip was to fly Ryanair back to Germany. Partly our fault, we didn't do enough research on where we're landing in Germany. Ryanair says we're going to land at Düsseldorf airport when in fact, it's actually Düsseldorf (Weeze). Get the difference? I dont but the difference is that we landed in an airport which has very limited buses back to civilization. So although we reached Weeze at 11pm, there was only a bus at 12am and we finally got to Cologne train station at about 2am. And the next train back to Bonn is at 5am. The travel mishap bug has struck again!! I'm ready for it this time and didn't complain much. Just take it as it comes. Again, I met someone nice to chat with. This time, it's a Romanian journalist who works in Deutsche Welle. We just shared about our traveling experiences and she talked quite a lot on Romania and Transylvannia. Learnt a lot about Romania from this single conversation.
Traveling traveling traveling
It seems I've been hit by the travel bug since I've gotten back to Bonn:)) The plane back to Frankfurt 3 weeks ago was surprisingly smooth. But as usual, knowing my travel fate, there was bound for something to happen:) As it was Easter weekend, there were plenty of people traveling on the train. So the train from Frankfurt International Airport to Bonn broke down due to overload, just 1/2 hour before reaching Bonn:)) I'm not complaining, I'm beginning to find these travel incidents amusing. Lol. Did I say I was stuck in the train for 1 1/2 hours. Hahaha. But did get to chat with a German family (in English of course), who just came back from a skiing trip in Switzerland. Sounds like something I should try.
Started taking German lessons for two weeks after I got back. It was pretty intensive. 4.5 hours a day for 8 days, starting from Tuesday, 25/3 till Thursday 3/4. That's excluding exercises which I had to do after coming back from class. After 4-5 days, I was really overdosed with German words. Now I can speak a few smattering bits of German words. Limited to introducing myself, telling where I'm from and what's the time for now. I can count pretty well (expect nothing less from a Chinese:P)
I went to Düsseldorf on my first weekend. It's the state city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the state in which Bonn is in. It's a really modern and chic city. Loads of wealthy people with too much time. It seems they spent their weekends driving their supercars and luxury cars really loud around town. Check out the photos:
Spot the Audi R8? So cool! Saw 2 within 10 minutes. There's a tall phallic structure called the Rhine Tower next to the Rhine river. It offers a fantastic view of the city and its surrounding. Fantastic!
Started taking German lessons for two weeks after I got back. It was pretty intensive. 4.5 hours a day for 8 days, starting from Tuesday, 25/3 till Thursday 3/4. That's excluding exercises which I had to do after coming back from class. After 4-5 days, I was really overdosed with German words. Now I can speak a few smattering bits of German words. Limited to introducing myself, telling where I'm from and what's the time for now. I can count pretty well (expect nothing less from a Chinese:P)
I went to Düsseldorf on my first weekend. It's the state city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the state in which Bonn is in. It's a really modern and chic city. Loads of wealthy people with too much time. It seems they spent their weekends driving their supercars and luxury cars really loud around town. Check out the photos:
Spot the Audi R8? So cool! Saw 2 within 10 minutes. There's a tall phallic structure called the Rhine Tower next to the Rhine river. It offers a fantastic view of the city and its surrounding. Fantastic!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Finding the Light
Wow, it’s been a while since my last post, which I’ve just checked is on 22nd September 2007 and how blissful things seemed to be then. Well, there’s a reason why I’ve been neglecting this blog, not having the strength or courage to write anything. I guess, you could say that I’ve just gone through a life-transforming 6 months since 29th September 2007. Trust me, this is going to be a pretty long post☺
But before I jumped the gun, probably let me just take you through events that were happening to me prior to that fateful day. As most of you probably know, I’ve been praying for an opportunity to do my Masters in UK since I’ve graduated in 2002. Went through quite a lot of disappointments every year applying for scholarships and getting rejected. But, lo and behold, in 2006, I’ve finally managed get a fantastic scholarship called the Erasmus Mundus, under which I was supposed to study a course called the European Masters in Informatics. This is a two-year double-degree program whereby I would get a chance to study in Edinburgh, UK for the first year and in Bonn, Germany for the second year.
And what a year Edinburgh was for me. I had a great time being part of a vibrant Christian fellowship (PCCF), enjoying the opportunity to serve God amongst young and energetic people. I also enjoyed my studies tremendously once I got over the initial rustiness of going back to classes. I was able to even finish my masters thesis one year ahead of time. Best of all, I was blessed to finally meet someone special who shares a lot of common interests with me, a person I felt I could confide in. And so I left for Germany early September to settle down for another of studies, thinking nothing could ever go wrong for me, that I can just glide over any problems that ever come my way. How wrong I was!!
And now, comes the part where things started to slowly unravel before my eyes, and not in a very good way. I came back to Edinburgh from Germany on 29th September because classes were only going to start at the end of October. In the evening, PCCF was organizing a welcome event for freshers, which I participated last year and was so blessed by it. And so, at about 5pm, my now ex-girlfriend (think by now, you’re might guess what’s gonna happen) and I left her place and walked to the nearest bus stop to take a bus to the venue of the event. And as we saw a bus approaching, I vaguely remembered seeing a black and large vehicle (which I later remembered that it was a Lexus Harrier 4x4) coming towards the bus stop at quite a speed. Things happened so fast! The next thing I knew, I suddenly felt myself flying some distance away from the bus stop. My left eye was bleeding profusely, I couldn’t stand up and my whole world crumbled before my eyes, literally and figuratively! To cut a long story short, I was later sent to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (it’s quite amazing cause apparently a few minutes after the accident had happened, an ambulance from the Infirmary that was on its way to another hospital, passed by and stopped to help. The paramedics made sure we were ok and then called for another ambulance)
I had very light injuries relative to my ex-girlfriend and another victim. I had a fracture on my forehead, just above the left eye (which explained the bleeding and allayed my fears that my best eye was going blind), fracture on my right thumb and slight ligament and cartilage tear on my left knee.
I would like to say, that like a fairy-tale story, everything ended up well and we lived happily ever after but unfortunately, things were far from that. Due to a lot of factors and issues (which I’ve given up on deciphering), things did not work out well between me and her. It was initiated by her and I have to say, it broke my heart then. Within a short period of less than 3 months (it started in mid-August and was over by end of October), things went from heavenly to hellish. The pain that I felt then was much worse than the physical pain that I went through. And to make things even more dramatic, I had to moved in to her place after her mum went back, to take care of her cause she couldn’t walk properly (wont elaborate on her medical condition since it’s irrelevant to this story). The two months that I was staying with her, cooking for her and cleaning the house, was the one of the most difficult times I’ve ever experienced, emotionally. The fact that I’m trying to seek closure and forget the pain and hurt isn’t made easy by seeing her everyday, being reminded what a failure I’ve been. There were a lot of times when I really felt I wanted to run away from all these and just go back to Malaysia. I’ve finally was able to leave all this behind when I went back to Malaysia in February. Even after that, it took awhile to get over everything. We’ve stopped talking cause I felt that this was the best way to move forward. It wasn’t easy but it was the right thing to do.
There were a lot of other unhappy incidents that happened as well within this short period of time. I was supposed to have an operation on my left knee (to remove bits of torn cartilage) at the end of October but due to many unforeseen circumstances, I could only do it in mid-January. So I had to actually go through the rehabilitation process twice for my knee. I was on crutches after being discharged in mid-October and could finally walk normally by December. The operation in January meant I had to go back to crutches, albeit this was just for 1-2 weeks. My KLM flight back to Malaysia had to be postponed for a day as well because on the first flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, one of the engines caught fire, an hour into the flight. So, we had to turn up to North Sea to dump some fuel so that we’ll be light enough to land and then flight back to Amsterdam. Thank God, the second flight the next day was okie☺
2 weeks before I was supposed to go back to Germany, I found out that my room in Germany was rented to another person without my knowledge by the Student Accomodation service in Bonn. My things were shifted to the basement, apparently. And this is despite me signing a 1-year contract with them that was supposed to end on 30th September 2008. They claimed that my lease ended on 31st January 2008 and they’ve tried contacting me to no avail. It’s partly my fault for not letting them know I was out of the country for 6 months but still, what’s the point of signing a 1-year contract!!
I hope you’re still reading this at this point cause I’m not writing this to vent my frustration or to seek sympathy. I’m happy to say, I’m pass all that! Amidst all the frustration and confusion, I was trying to determine the reason for what has happened in the past few months, i.e. looking for someone/something to blame. I’ve blamed myself for not doing enough, I’ve blamed the driver for knocking into me (by the way, it was a lady driver who wasn’t drunk. My only explanation was that she lost control of her vehicle after trying to overtake a bus and then suddenly seeing a car coming from the other side. That’s my hypothesis without being a sexist:P), I’ve blamed my ex-girlfriend for heaping more emotional pain onto me, I’ve blamed the devil and I’ve even blamed God. At the same time, I was also impatiently seeking to move on from these events and so, I’ve started to desperately plan what I should do after I finish my course, should I go to UK, or Australia or Canada or be a missionary in a poor country. The more I tried to pinpoint something to blame, the more I try to seek out a road that I do not need to take yet, the more confused and frustrated I became. I was always asking God, tell where I should go, what I should do, I need Your wisdom and strength, I want to make a difference in this world!
But you know what, ultimately, I finally found comfort in the simple truth about God. The truth is despite all that has happened, He loves me and will always do. And the God who created the universe, who created you and me, is still the same God. I don’t know how or why, all the baggage and burden that I’ve allowed myself to carry just disappeared. I stopped trying to pinpoint who is to blame and what a relief it's been. Regardless of what ultimately caused these things to happen, I still have so many things to be thankful.
And there are really so many things I should be thankful to God for. The topmost being having a family who has been there for me through thick and thin. If it has to take an accident and a breakup to make me realise it, then so be it. The way my parents, my sis and my aunts have shown genuine care, concern and love has really warmed up my heart!
It doesn’t matter where I go, what I do after I graduate, the God who provides the birds and the bees food and shelter day in day out, will do the same for me☺ why am I allowing my future to be restricted by how little I can see now! The world is so big and wide and wherever God places me, He will be with me too. It has taken me a while to get this and to finally find the courage to write abou what has happened to me recently. I didn’t want to write about this while still having bitterness and hurt inside me. And now, I can objectively say this, I am set free!
So what’s next after this? Well, I’m going back to Bonn on the 22nd March to continue two more semesters of studies. Ohya, remember the room problem I mentioned earlier. Well, guess what? I’ve solved it within a few hours of finding out yesterday. Somehow, God led me to talk to a fellow coursemate through GoogleTalk and I found out that he’s actually moving out of his room in mid-April back to Edinburgh. So, I can take over his room! And the best part was, this place will be nearer to my university and has better facilities too! Isn’t God great!
I simply have no idea what’s gonna happen in the future and there’s no guarantee something this dramatic might happen again (not that I’ll purposely go look for it:P) but what I do know is that the truth remains the same.
Let me end by sharing this story I read in a book called “A Man of God” by Jack Graham. Few years ago, a series of tornadoes struck Oklahoma city and the surrounding areas, destroying a lot of homes. In the city of Moore, A lot of people came out from their shattered houses, wandering about in the dark, looking for their families and friends. Rescue workers needed a base to setup their operation and so they got a few huge spotlights and shone them on the cross at the top of the steeple at the First Baptist Church of Moore. And then, they took megaphones and started shouting “Follow the light to the cross and you’ll find help there!” We can’t guarantee that we’ll lose our way sometimes and fall to darkness, but the light at the cross is ever there to guide us back to safety and help. We just need to fix our eyes on that light!
But before I jumped the gun, probably let me just take you through events that were happening to me prior to that fateful day. As most of you probably know, I’ve been praying for an opportunity to do my Masters in UK since I’ve graduated in 2002. Went through quite a lot of disappointments every year applying for scholarships and getting rejected. But, lo and behold, in 2006, I’ve finally managed get a fantastic scholarship called the Erasmus Mundus, under which I was supposed to study a course called the European Masters in Informatics. This is a two-year double-degree program whereby I would get a chance to study in Edinburgh, UK for the first year and in Bonn, Germany for the second year.
And what a year Edinburgh was for me. I had a great time being part of a vibrant Christian fellowship (PCCF), enjoying the opportunity to serve God amongst young and energetic people. I also enjoyed my studies tremendously once I got over the initial rustiness of going back to classes. I was able to even finish my masters thesis one year ahead of time. Best of all, I was blessed to finally meet someone special who shares a lot of common interests with me, a person I felt I could confide in. And so I left for Germany early September to settle down for another of studies, thinking nothing could ever go wrong for me, that I can just glide over any problems that ever come my way. How wrong I was!!
And now, comes the part where things started to slowly unravel before my eyes, and not in a very good way. I came back to Edinburgh from Germany on 29th September because classes were only going to start at the end of October. In the evening, PCCF was organizing a welcome event for freshers, which I participated last year and was so blessed by it. And so, at about 5pm, my now ex-girlfriend (think by now, you’re might guess what’s gonna happen) and I left her place and walked to the nearest bus stop to take a bus to the venue of the event. And as we saw a bus approaching, I vaguely remembered seeing a black and large vehicle (which I later remembered that it was a Lexus Harrier 4x4) coming towards the bus stop at quite a speed. Things happened so fast! The next thing I knew, I suddenly felt myself flying some distance away from the bus stop. My left eye was bleeding profusely, I couldn’t stand up and my whole world crumbled before my eyes, literally and figuratively! To cut a long story short, I was later sent to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (it’s quite amazing cause apparently a few minutes after the accident had happened, an ambulance from the Infirmary that was on its way to another hospital, passed by and stopped to help. The paramedics made sure we were ok and then called for another ambulance)
I had very light injuries relative to my ex-girlfriend and another victim. I had a fracture on my forehead, just above the left eye (which explained the bleeding and allayed my fears that my best eye was going blind), fracture on my right thumb and slight ligament and cartilage tear on my left knee.
I would like to say, that like a fairy-tale story, everything ended up well and we lived happily ever after but unfortunately, things were far from that. Due to a lot of factors and issues (which I’ve given up on deciphering), things did not work out well between me and her. It was initiated by her and I have to say, it broke my heart then. Within a short period of less than 3 months (it started in mid-August and was over by end of October), things went from heavenly to hellish. The pain that I felt then was much worse than the physical pain that I went through. And to make things even more dramatic, I had to moved in to her place after her mum went back, to take care of her cause she couldn’t walk properly (wont elaborate on her medical condition since it’s irrelevant to this story). The two months that I was staying with her, cooking for her and cleaning the house, was the one of the most difficult times I’ve ever experienced, emotionally. The fact that I’m trying to seek closure and forget the pain and hurt isn’t made easy by seeing her everyday, being reminded what a failure I’ve been. There were a lot of times when I really felt I wanted to run away from all these and just go back to Malaysia. I’ve finally was able to leave all this behind when I went back to Malaysia in February. Even after that, it took awhile to get over everything. We’ve stopped talking cause I felt that this was the best way to move forward. It wasn’t easy but it was the right thing to do.
There were a lot of other unhappy incidents that happened as well within this short period of time. I was supposed to have an operation on my left knee (to remove bits of torn cartilage) at the end of October but due to many unforeseen circumstances, I could only do it in mid-January. So I had to actually go through the rehabilitation process twice for my knee. I was on crutches after being discharged in mid-October and could finally walk normally by December. The operation in January meant I had to go back to crutches, albeit this was just for 1-2 weeks. My KLM flight back to Malaysia had to be postponed for a day as well because on the first flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, one of the engines caught fire, an hour into the flight. So, we had to turn up to North Sea to dump some fuel so that we’ll be light enough to land and then flight back to Amsterdam. Thank God, the second flight the next day was okie☺
2 weeks before I was supposed to go back to Germany, I found out that my room in Germany was rented to another person without my knowledge by the Student Accomodation service in Bonn. My things were shifted to the basement, apparently. And this is despite me signing a 1-year contract with them that was supposed to end on 30th September 2008. They claimed that my lease ended on 31st January 2008 and they’ve tried contacting me to no avail. It’s partly my fault for not letting them know I was out of the country for 6 months but still, what’s the point of signing a 1-year contract!!
I hope you’re still reading this at this point cause I’m not writing this to vent my frustration or to seek sympathy. I’m happy to say, I’m pass all that! Amidst all the frustration and confusion, I was trying to determine the reason for what has happened in the past few months, i.e. looking for someone/something to blame. I’ve blamed myself for not doing enough, I’ve blamed the driver for knocking into me (by the way, it was a lady driver who wasn’t drunk. My only explanation was that she lost control of her vehicle after trying to overtake a bus and then suddenly seeing a car coming from the other side. That’s my hypothesis without being a sexist:P), I’ve blamed my ex-girlfriend for heaping more emotional pain onto me, I’ve blamed the devil and I’ve even blamed God. At the same time, I was also impatiently seeking to move on from these events and so, I’ve started to desperately plan what I should do after I finish my course, should I go to UK, or Australia or Canada or be a missionary in a poor country. The more I tried to pinpoint something to blame, the more I try to seek out a road that I do not need to take yet, the more confused and frustrated I became. I was always asking God, tell where I should go, what I should do, I need Your wisdom and strength, I want to make a difference in this world!
But you know what, ultimately, I finally found comfort in the simple truth about God. The truth is despite all that has happened, He loves me and will always do. And the God who created the universe, who created you and me, is still the same God. I don’t know how or why, all the baggage and burden that I’ve allowed myself to carry just disappeared. I stopped trying to pinpoint who is to blame and what a relief it's been. Regardless of what ultimately caused these things to happen, I still have so many things to be thankful.
And there are really so many things I should be thankful to God for. The topmost being having a family who has been there for me through thick and thin. If it has to take an accident and a breakup to make me realise it, then so be it. The way my parents, my sis and my aunts have shown genuine care, concern and love has really warmed up my heart!
It doesn’t matter where I go, what I do after I graduate, the God who provides the birds and the bees food and shelter day in day out, will do the same for me☺ why am I allowing my future to be restricted by how little I can see now! The world is so big and wide and wherever God places me, He will be with me too. It has taken me a while to get this and to finally find the courage to write abou what has happened to me recently. I didn’t want to write about this while still having bitterness and hurt inside me. And now, I can objectively say this, I am set free!
So what’s next after this? Well, I’m going back to Bonn on the 22nd March to continue two more semesters of studies. Ohya, remember the room problem I mentioned earlier. Well, guess what? I’ve solved it within a few hours of finding out yesterday. Somehow, God led me to talk to a fellow coursemate through GoogleTalk and I found out that he’s actually moving out of his room in mid-April back to Edinburgh. So, I can take over his room! And the best part was, this place will be nearer to my university and has better facilities too! Isn’t God great!
I simply have no idea what’s gonna happen in the future and there’s no guarantee something this dramatic might happen again (not that I’ll purposely go look for it:P) but what I do know is that the truth remains the same.
Let me end by sharing this story I read in a book called “A Man of God” by Jack Graham. Few years ago, a series of tornadoes struck Oklahoma city and the surrounding areas, destroying a lot of homes. In the city of Moore, A lot of people came out from their shattered houses, wandering about in the dark, looking for their families and friends. Rescue workers needed a base to setup their operation and so they got a few huge spotlights and shone them on the cross at the top of the steeple at the First Baptist Church of Moore. And then, they took megaphones and started shouting “Follow the light to the cross and you’ll find help there!” We can’t guarantee that we’ll lose our way sometimes and fall to darkness, but the light at the cross is ever there to guide us back to safety and help. We just need to fix our eyes on that light!
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