Singapore Grand Prix Fever

You know when Fiona suggested I keep a blog cause I’m blessed with such a marvellous job, I never took her seriously. I guess when you’re too close to something, you never see it for what it is. Oooh, I could go off on a tangent right there but I won’t.

Instead, let me share with you what has started off to be a mind blowing Singapore GP weekend, and it’s only Thursday so far. To date, I’ve raced a remote control car against a Formula 1 driver, met a Hollywood A-list celebrity, interviewed most of the paddock, spent a day with Sebastian Vettel, had a blast at the best beach / pool party Singapore has ever seen, met some lovely people, made heaps of friends and crashed a black tie party and sipped on blue label.

Sigh… all this in the space of just 60 hours… I must be blessed.


Remote control in Reverse


Heikki Kovalainen and I were racing remote control cars together. He’s immediately whoppoed my arse despite driving left handed. After lapping me, he slowed down to let me catch up, but I was so hopeless that he decided to race backwards, and still whopped me in reverse! He was a great sport and that video will be on Engine Block this Monday (28 Sept 09).

Heikki has nitro RC cars at home, of course he killed me

This is the closest i came to him... his car was way ahead of mine

Lovely Lewis

Paula was hosting an Lewis meet and greet at Paragon and we went to shot her video diary. Lewis and I made eye contact. Paula claims I was staring at with all doe eyed, but I beg to differ.



Red Bull Racing Party @ Wave

Wednesday started out with me getting a garage tour with Kazuki Nakajima before heading over to the Red Bull Party that night. Half the office was there and Shane, Ravin and Claire decided to drive down just for this party. It’s an exclusive, invite only and I had plenty of invites to go around. Felt like santa claus giving them out. Last year’s party was wild, this year’s party was wicked!

Ravin & Shane, me & Lev

Monique and her friends

Jeanette's white lie... no snogging took place

Jac keeping lubricated

Awesome foursome

She's famous in Singapore, Jade Seah

Maya & me

Hollywood comes to Singapore

Come Thursday, we were in full swing. Had a long day of shooting ahead and it didn’t help that at 9 o’clock after only about 3 hours sleep (hic), my phone rang and woke me up… ah, drama’s with the camera setup, my day had begun…

It started with the PR company cancelling our session with Lindsay Lohan, but then they called back an hour later saying it was on again. What a rush, but we made it there in time, only to have to wait almost 2 hours for Ms Hollywood to arrive. We had just 3 questions and Paula was on form and it was clear that she responded to her. TV magic was made. As you can see, it took the opportunistic approach of getting my picture taken with her. But at least we interacted when I got her to record a station ID for me, that’ll be on Raceday this Sunday (1830, 27 Sept, STARSPORTS)… Oh, and I shook her hand… who knows where that hand has been…awesome!

Lindsay Lohan in the flesh

Paula making magic while i am shameless

Getting Lindsay to record a station ID

Legged it to the paddock after that. Can you imagine walking from City Hall all the way to the Pit Building at 2.30 in the afternoon? Not fun, and very sweaty.


In the Paddock

I’d suggested to Red Bull that I’d like to do a day in the life of Sebastian Vettel and they agreed, so at 4.30pm we were at the paddock gates waiting capture him coming in. We followed him through his day as he met ZZ Top, conducted his media sessions and went on his track walk. He was accommodating and actually quite good about it.

Seb with Star Sport

"Alright mate, you may be an F1 driver, but for now, listen to me"

In between we still had to juggle covering the bullpen. Managed to do ok given the circumstances. Spoke to Nico Rosberg, Mark Webber who was grumpy and started off by going “oh fuck, another one?” That’s not going to air but his thoughts on “Crashgate” will. Lewis was slightly distant. Surely he can’t be still ticked off about Australia??? And Kimi Raikkonen. This man is magic in a press conference. One monotonous continuation of sound to answer all your questions! But surprisingly he was quite chatty and possibly the most relaxed I’ve ever seen him. I think it’s the long hair, the longer it gets, the more chirpy he becomes… however he’ll probably need to match Rapunzel before we get a full smile out of him.



The highlight of the night however was meeting the one person in this whole world who currently makes my heart melt, my knees wobble and my charming personality “exit-stage-left”. We spotted her just walking around the paddock, and seized the opportunity to take a picture with her. Ah, she is just SOOOOoo nice. It’s so hard to find “nice” people, especially gorgeous lingerie models, but she is nice. And I just wished I’d said something nice and witty to her, but I just stood next to her silently, took my picture and then said thank you. Ah…bliss nonetheless. I had had my moment.

"Heaven, i'm in heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak"

After all that was in the can, we met up with Steve Slater and went to record the track changes with him. It was near impossible to walk for more than 3 minutes without someone stopping him for his autograph or to take a picture.


The Crystal Ball

The icing on an already beautiful cake. We had to walk past the Ritz Carlton so we decided to stop in and see how the Crystal Ball shoot was going. It was a glitz and glamorous black tie event that I managed to get a table allocated for the “Stars of STAR SPORTS”. Got all the bosses on the table along with Paula, John Dykes, Andrew Leci and a few others.

As we were walking in, my boss was leaving and he said we should head on down cause the night was winding down and we’d be ok. Very hesitantly we did. Mind you we’d been sweating our skin off and probably smelt to high heavens by now. But a quick touch up in the men room and I was good to go.

The PR lady I’d been dealing with was delighted to see me and took me in all my “under-dressed-ness” for a tour of the entire event setup. It was nice with a cigar bar outside, a nice lounge outside the ballroom and of course the ballroom itself was beautifully decorated in simple black and fuchsia.

She offered a drink, and I said yes. She asked me if I liked whiskey, and I said yes. She asked if Blue Label was ok, and I said YES!

Hardly red carpet attire

part of the deco

Sipping blue label in the lounge area outside the ballroom watching everyone decked up in bowties and exquisite gowns was kind of nice. Didn’t care if some people looked at us, they probably were too drunk to even remember we were there in the morning. The supermodels were tall, thin and extremely surreal. “Not Real People” I say to comfort myself!

As we were leaving, bumped into Monique, who I’d forgotten I’d met at the Red Bull Party the night before when she’d almost spilt her drink on me and we ended up chatting for a while. She came up and said hello and helped jog my memory. Jac and I are in full blown cam whore mode so we took another pic just to make sure we didn’t forget the next time.

So just 3 days in it’s been this crazy and wonderful. Even if nothing else happens the next couple of days, it doesn’t matter… I think I’ve had my fair share, don’t you?

Life moves on

I don’t mean to poignant with my posts but it just so happens that my second post coincides exactly one month after it happened. Now when I started this blog, I imagined that I would be blogging almost daily, if not weekly. But here I am, almost 2 good weeks since my first and only post wondering why what I intend does not match what I actually do.

Anyways, perhaps it’s for a good reason, anyhow I should start by filling in the gaps and holes as to what I have been up to.

As you can imagine, the first few days post event were pretty quiet, reflective, and simply sad days. I was sad, there was no point hiding it, everyone around me could tell I was sad, but luckily I had enough excuses up my sleeve to deflect their questions. But then I decided that I didn’t want to be sad. I don’t know why, but I do know that I woke up and said to myself, that this is crazy… I needed to do something that made me happy.

So here’s an account of what I’ve been up to the last couple of weeks.

Fiona comes to town.

“I will never be able to tell my kids about my life without telling them about you.” I said that to Fiona one night about 6 years ago when we were all hanging out in a place called Gas Works in Bangsar.

I remember she was so touched that she started crying, and then complained to Shane that I had made her cry. Anyways, she doesn’t even remember the night anymore, but the point of it is that she is one of the few people that I have known, and shared my life with for the longest time.

It turns out that she just happened to be heading to Singapore that first weekend after it happened and I couldn’t have happier. We had a blast hanging out for two days, but more importantly, I got to talk to her about what had happened and she had a very refreshing perspective on things.

I’ll spare the details of what we did cause she’s written about it already in her blog

Lady Gaga

This was probably the most exciting night I have had in a long time. Me and Jac started the night with dinner at Plaza Singapura before stopping by Carrefour to buy beer and breezers (Jac claimed she had a bottle opener) and then we hiked it up to Fort Canning Park. Given that we had priority entrance tickets, we could have got in immediately but no one else was there so we decided to just finish our booze outside.

Classic picture, the two of us sitting on the grass, drinking and watching the rest of the world line up and queue to get in. Oh and by the way, never believe Jac if she says she has a bottle opener. She had a device that was impersonating as a bottle opener, but wasn’t really. It took me about 15 mins to open each bottle and because of that I chugged ‘em down in half the time cause I was so frustrated and tired from the work out!

Anyways, when everyone finally got there we headed in and picked out spot in the crowd. I’ve been to many concert, usually in a stadium or a large hall, but I have to say that Fort Canning is the best venue that I have ever been to.

We made friends with our dancing neighbours. They were dancing non stop to the pre concert music and we were very entertained just watching them. Kat broke the ice by asking to take a picture with them and from then we were all mates for the rest of the night. Just literally minutes before Lady Gaga came on, Maya, or “Pink Earrings” as we called her before I knew her name wanted to go to the toilet and I volunteered to walk her through the crowd and back. Mind you we were right smack in the middle of the field and so it was quite a task cutting a path through the shoulder to shoulder crowd and back. But we made it back with literally 5 seconds to spare before the Lady made her appearance.

She opened with my favourite song, Paparazzi, and that was enough for me. I had had my fill. After the second song, Eva (who works for Razor TV and interviewed LadyG) called so say that she’d finished recoding all that she needed to and was ready to join us to party. So once again I cut may way out of the crowd and grabbed Eva near the entrance and then head back to where we all were.

We had a blast at the concert. Singing, dancing, drinking, jumping around. Very sweaty but exactly how a concert should be. Brilliant!

Afterwards, Jac suggested we all head to Zouk, and who was I to argue. We all headed down to Zouk and it just made sense to buy a bottle, and so we did and then the rest, as they say is history...

The entrance to Fort Canning

The view as you walk in

The stage

Our group for the night

Our crazy neighbours, they were heaps of fun

The Lady in full swing...

"What are you talking about?" My favourite American, Sam

Eva, Ross, Jac and Kat

Look who p-p-p-poker face!

At Zouk...

Last ones standing, at the time, haha!

AFOS in Sentul

That weekend, Paula, Kheng How and I headed to Jakarta for the Asian Festival of Speed that was happening at the Sentul International Circuit. Since we arrived in Jakarta by Friday evening, we met up with an old school friend of Paula’s, Joe, who took us out for a quick taste of nightlife in Jakarta. Simply put… I Like!

The next day it was off to the circuit as we started shooting links for Engine Block. I’ll be posting a link right here soon with details of that. I wrote about it for the Star but here are some pics from the album

Arriving at Sentul after a 2hr taxi ride

Shooting the opening sequence

Working the paddock

Paula and I on the pit wall

On the grid

She's got my mic, i had to stay!

Back to Back race weekends

We always love back to back race weekends… and I mean that with a tinge, no make that dollop of sarcasm. Nonetheless, I managed time to take part in the Legs and Paddles race on a Sunday morning. I first kayaked 5km and then ran 8km in 1h 26m 24s. My legs were jelly after sitting in the kayak for so long that I couldn’t even stand up after I finished. Lucky a marshal was close enough to catch me from falling.

I wish I had pictures from all my races, I never take any and since I often take part alone, I never have a buddy to take pics for me. Such a shame.

The next day, after Engine Block, Paula, Jac and I went out for quiet drinks. Suffice to say, it didn’t stay quiet for long. I finally made it home at about 2 o’clock… the next afternoon! Sigh… working the next day wasn't much fun and I should have learnt my lesson, but that Thursday there was a helipad party at the Swissotel and how could I resist not going?

Unfortunately once we got there we were told that the helipad was closed due to lightning. What an anticlimax. But it didn’t take long for the party to start. Once Lev was in the building and Ross joined him, I threw out my 10pm self imposed curfew and went with the flow. One bitten twice shy?

I spent the weekend juggling work and moving house. Lucky for me I have friends in the right places. Charmed my way into borrowing a car from Linda for the weekend. She gave me the a bright green Scirocco. What a sweet pair of wheels. Ah, I miss driving and just being able to go somewhere because you can. Had heaps of fun despite the stress of moving.

But I managed in the end. I’m blogging from my new place. It’s very therapeutic packing and unpacking. You learn to throw out the excess when you pack and then organise what’s left when you unpack… in some small way it’s like putting your life in order… well it’s kept me busy, and that all I can ask for at the moment.

“Some people are passing through and some are meant to stay. You only realize who’s who once they leave”

- from my conversation with Harish today

A New Hope

You don't need to be a brainiac to figure out that i've borrowed the title of my very first post from the first Star Wars movie, which actually turned out to be the fourth part in a six part series.... i'd always wondered as a kid why it started with Episode 4 instead of 1... and i had to wait till i was 22 to get an answer.

Perhaps it is a coincidence that i was also born on the same year A New Hope was released, but i didn't realize that when i chose it. I chose it because I feel it encompasses where I am at the moment. I stepped on a snake, slid down to the bottom and have just barely managed to stand back up. I feel I am about to embark on a new quest, a new journey, and therefore now more than any other time in my life, I need, a new hope.

I can imagine you're confused. So let me start at the beginning, which also happens to be the end. In a nut shell, I was in love, I proposed, she said yes, then she went away for 6 months to pursue her dream, I held her close, then let her go. The next thing i remember, it was over. She ended it after just two months.

The first impression

The writing on the wall

The ring

So that was my snake. That was how I ended up right here, at the bottom, at the beginning. Maybe there’s a ladder round the corner, maybe there will be more snakes. But I’m hoping that the former is true.

And just like Star Wars I begin this blog with my journey from here onwards… maybe I will get the courage to write about how we began. How I fell so deeply in love and how it all disappeared before my very eyes. Maybe. But for now, I’m going to look forward, I’m going to focus on dusting off all the dirt, attending to the gaping wounds and begin the healing process… it's my turn to throw the dice again... and this is why I need A New Hope.

Where's the tequila?

A note from the creator:

I met Sanjeev many, many, many moons ago in Royal Lake Club where we took dancing classes together. Our dads used to drink at the Batek Bar and sometimes 'forgot' that their kids were waiting outside for hours to be sent home. Looking back, we have them to thank cause that's where our friendship grew. We started talking to each other out of sheer boredom while waiting for the old men to finish their drinks. Sanjeev was 5 years older than me but we somehow hit it off and have remained the best of friends ever since.

When Sanjeev went to Australia to further his studies, we used to write letters to each other. Not emails, but hand-written letters. We would write pages and pages of random nonsense. I loved getting those letters from him. I still have them stored away in a box actually. Sanjeev has such an animated character. When he tells you a story, he describes everything with full of energy and expression. If you've followed his show on TV, then you would know what I'm talking about. His writing is just the same.

I still find it weird that my childhood friend is now a celebrity. Though he doesn't see himself in that way at all, bottom line, he IS a celebrity. How many of us can say we host a TV programme along side the gorgeous Paula Malai Ali? Or better yet, how many of us can say we were in the same car being DRIVEN by Michael Schumacher? Going out with him is always funny cause all these men would recognize him and strike up a conversation. I'm sure he would much prefer it if they were women, but that's what you get when you host an F1 related show.

He travels the world for work, sees such amazing things and meets equally amazing people. Many guys I know would exchange their mundane desk jobs in a flash for Sanjeev's uber cool job. For ages I've been telling him that he needs to start a blog so he can document his fascinating life and share it with the world so we can live vicariously through him. He has toyed with the idea many times but never got off his arse to do it. So after some thought, I've decided to start this blog for him. He has absolutely no idea till he reads this. Surprise San!!! :)

I just got back yesterday from a trip to Singapore where I spent two whole days with him. He said he wants to write a book. His life was heading a certain direction according to his plans. But life, ah life... you never know what life is going to throw at you. He is at a certain crossroad of his life right now. He has no idea what the future entails. His life might not be going in the direction he planned it, but heck, nothing ever does.

As a good friend, I can't sit there and watch him hurt. I say if life throws you lemons, don't make lemonade. Bring out the tequila! Celebrate life and have a laugh.

Like a game of snakes and ladders, you inch your way to the top. But those wretched snakes are everywhere. If you hit one, you slide back down to the bottom. Damn those snakes. But who cares? There's a ladder just waiting around the corner. And Sanjeev, you'll be back up there in no time.

This is your first step towards writing that book.

Now get writing!



Much love,

Fiona Jane Gomez

http://accordingtofiona.blogspot.com