Seems like it's been dammed...

... I don't have any flow. Or I just can't find any.

When I do, they always end abruptly.

Somewhat like a quick flowing stream crashing into a dam made by an unexpected rockslide.

It's always been like this.

When will it finally run freely?

Drag myself from my bed around 20 past 6
Get my kids up make breakfast 1 egg 2 toast 3 weetabix

And as I sit down I look up
And your standing in the doorway sun at your back
in my old brown dressing gown
Well no one can love you more than I love you now
but I

Gotta go running for the bus
Coat flying and i try not to miss it this time
But the drivers waiting and that's strange
Kids on the top deck quiet for a change
And theres no rain and no roadworks in the
Bus lane and all my hurts run away
And im smiling as I'm punching in

Chorus
The day I died was the best day of my life
The day I died was the best day of my life
Tell my friends and my kids and my wife
everything will be alright
The day I died was the best day of my life


Secretaries they got a smile for me
and the in tray on my desks almost empty
I get a memo from executive joe
saying Rob the gob is getting kicked out
for embezzling funds from the company account
and i'd be lying if i said i wasn't chuffed
cos i always hated rob
and now they'll probably offer me robs old job

And in the park at lunch
Theres no whinos on my favorite bench
none of that drunk chatter none of that greasy stench
and the scrawney little pigeons with the gammy leg
decide to dine from someone elses sandwich instead
and there's something about the city today
like all the colours conspire to overwhelm the grey
and this close to the fire I can feel no cold
but a rainbow halo around my soul


Chorus
The day I died was the best day of my life
The day I died was the best day of my life
Tell my friends and my kids and my wife
everything will be alright
The day I died was the best day of my life

So I leave work get to the high street and i miss my bus
Should I wait for another no I can't be arsed
I begin to walk and rush hour crowd seem to part
Like the red sea, and im stopping at the offy
20 cigerettes and a 6 pack to relax me
And as I cross back over the street
I guess i never saw that taxi

Chorus
The day I died was the best day of my life
The day I died was the best day of my life
Tell my friends and my kids and my wife
everything will be alright
The day I died was the best day of my life

Moment

There was a moment of immense calmness yesterday, where everything slowed down... sitting in the quaint, cosy dining room of a friend's home. I was holding a cup of hot tea. The skies were shades of steel. The air, cold...

Everything seems so peaceful and tranquil and all I could do was let go of all worries and anxiety and stare out the window.

I could use more of these moments. It's strangely addictive.

Why I like racing and racing cars

I love racing. I love race cars.

Really, I do. As much as I don't write a lot or talk alot about this, racing technology, cars and automotive racing has a place in my heart.

The spartan functionality, directly a result of the form over function appeals to me. No nonsense, no assisted braking, no traction control, no driver aids. Just the plain basics.

Fastidious attention to detail, both in the engineering phase as well as the final execution of the design. The wonders of rubber technology that allows a 1100kg GT500 NSX to rail Sepang's Turn 5 at constant speeds of over 100 km/h. Imagine that, just 4 patches of rubber with a total area amounting to roughly an A4 sized paper holding up to 3 tonnes of lateral force.

Graceful patterns and bodylines, interspersed and accented by forms required by the demands of racing. Beautiful colour, tasteful placement of sponsors' names and logos. Well balanced, pleasing to the eye. Not all of them manage to achieve it, but Raybrig seems to have hit the jackpot with this catchy scheme.

As has RE Amemiya with their 2003 car...

Obviously, there's the driving sensation to consider as well. Dog engagement gearboxes, sequential shifting. Stiff and easily modulated brake pedal. A steering wheel which tells you what the fronts are doing. A positive clunk with every ratio selected giving marvelous marvelous marvelous feedback. Road cars from the late 90's to present day is just so... too cosseted, too refined, too soft, lacking all forms of enjoyable tactile feedback.


Unmuffled roar of exhausts and induction noises add in to the feast for the senses. Very little would come close to a 3 rotor screaming at 9000 rpm rev limit married to the high pitched whine of straight cut gears to the appreciative ear.


Lots more reasons but pictures speak of a thousand words, no?

The excitement...



The technology...








The people...





The girls...



Motorsports engineering companies in the West or East Midlands, hire me please. I graduate in 2010.

Currently listening to: 'Renegade' by Yanni

When I was a child, getting sick was rarely ever a worry. Of course it sucked but it's not something to send me into a fluster often. Mother and Father (mostly Mother) would usually know what to do, with their old wives' cures and if all that fails, there's always the 24 hours clinic.

I remember the one time when I got really worried was when I woke up one morning to the unfortunate discovery of glued eyelids. Big cause of worry indeed for a five year old. Mother solved it by dissolving the crud that stuck my lids together with water-moistened wool.

These past five weeks not being able to breathe well, perpetual headaches, near-constant myalgia, dry coughs that threatened to herniate my guts into my ball sack and the pseudo-food poisoning that rounded it all up near the end pretty much angered and depressed me to a point where I began to be mean and judgemental to people in the vicinity. Talk about collateral damage.

It worried me very much this time round as it hit home that if anything more serious were to befall unto me, I'm more or less screwed, with one strained family relation (read; they think I'm crazy, or something along those lines) in a foreign country and currently with an unintentionally shady dwelling addresses history. Seeing a doctor here is far more painful than simply walking into a clinic back home. Major suckage.

Period cramps are awful.

Happenings of the months

To start off with, I managed to wobble my way to a UK motorcycle driving license. A full 'A' license at that, which means that I'm not limited by engine capacity. Which means I'm road legal on a 1.3 litre Suzuki Hayabusa with immediate effect. Which also means that the UK roads are not safe anymore. Bless them.

Lucky for the UK'ians then that the DVLA hasn't sent me the license yet...

The girlfriend's birthday was two weeks ago. That was awesome. A dinner date at ASK, where the risotto and al fondo was rather nice and where it was a shit place to have a romantic conversation. What was nice though (and still is), is just spending time together. Lying in bed with her head on my shoulder, her wet hair making my t-shirt damp. Happy 21st babe =)

A few days later, the Design Office manager, my colleague and yours truly were invited to PTC World 2008, held at the Heritage Motor Centre, in Gaydon. It was a gathering of sorts for PTC's customers, showcasing the latest and greatest that PTC had to offer. Great opportunities to network. I met the editor of Racecar Engineering, Graham Jones and Philip Darlington, who was involved with a reverse-engineering job with Carlin Motorsports. A former engineer at Ferrari F1, he designed their cylinder heads as well, if I'm not mistaken. That was pretty cool...

There were also lots and lots and lots of Jaguars about... typical of a place close to Coventry.

Oh and before I forget, we got a couple of friends round and had a steamboat dinner / party of sorts at Tre-sama's place. Nom. Almost 500 odd meatballs and fishballs were consumed, in addition to three packets of enoki mushrooms, almost 2 kilos of prime beef meat, a couple of eggs, one whole chinese leaf, fried beancurd, beancurd, fishcakes and a few blocks of noodles. Oh wait, lets not forget approximately 6 litres of pork soup that was boiled the previous night and left to steep. Muahaha...~

The chocolate cake from Costco. 'Tis the only time I gave up halfway through a slice of cake. It is that big a deal.

Currently listening to: Sleep Now In The Fire - Rage Against The Machine