A good race in Melbourne

In recent times, my interest in sports had vaned a bit. I'm getting cynical at sports. I've lost hope that our Malaysian shuttlers would rise to the challenge of doing the country proud. I've seen enough of rivalry in football to say now that Man Utd is leading and I'm happy with that, but its no longer earth shattering news to me. Basketball doesn't hold its grounds anymore when Kobe Bryant and Le Bron James entered the game. I know they are good, I've seen them play but somehow its just not the same anymore. Tennis still holds a special place in my heart, and my heart broke with Roger Federrer after the Australia Open. Olympics came and went in 2008 and my takeaway from that was China had invested loads of money and time to be able to hold its head high and announce to the world that they had arrived and ready to rumble with the big boys. To me, sports had became too commercialized, where every sportsman dreams to be good so that they can put their name out for endorsement. That's the whole reason why there are multimillion dollar endorsement out there up for grabs for those who had made it big.

But today's F1 race at Melbourne was different. It showed that underdogs could win on their debut. Although, to be there in F1 is a multi-billion investment but to hold your head high as a newcomer in a sports that had faded in its claims, that was the winner. I still love Ferrari but then, I'm going to root for Brawn Mercedes after their fantastic debut with a bailout equivalent to what AIG had spent. Hello, newcomers!!!!!!!!!

Serendipity

Serendipity, in an English dictionary it means the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident. Have any of you ever experience such an incident? I'm a romantic person at heart although I may think I'm a cold bitch. But give me romance and I can assure you, I'll melt. I remember the movie I once watched, Serendipity, aeons ago. Its about a chance meeting in a shopping mall and a date later, decided to leave their relationship to faith. Like how all romantic comedies are, the couple in question had a happy ever after ending. Since then, I always looked around for my own serendipity. I always try new things and new activities with the hope and chance that I'll experience something like this. Also, it does keep me occupied over the weekend.

But the movie was made in 2001 and after awhile, I had given up hope that it will happen. I had given up that very idea, to be honest. I had met people at clubs, work, office, gym and even at coffee places. Some are interesting, some are self centred, some are friendly, and some are boring. An interesting mix of people that I had met and got to know. There are some I remain contact with and there are some I save their contact details as "Do Not Answer". But there is one chance meeting I'll never forget.

I was in Thailand July last year and as some know, I had ended up going there with a couple. Not that I have anything against traveling with a couple, just that 6 days of being a bloody big light bulb nearly put me off the trip. I did persevere after all. Nothing was going to stop me from enjoying the trip I had looked forward to since January. After 4 nights of changing places, meeting people at the bar or at the beach and chatting with them, the 5th day that we were there, we decided to go rock climbing. It was something that I was super adamant to do. I had heard so much about the limestone cliffs in Krabi, it would be hell if I miss scaling it.

After we decided on the rock climbing school, off we went in the afternoon to climb and scale those damned slopes. We met a lot of different nationalities there and we chatted with everyone. It was fun and the guides had asked us to join them that night at their bar called Last Bar. It was literally the last bar on East Railay. Some of the people we had met there had said that they will be there as well. So you can imagine my excitement at having different people to mix around with!!!!

After dinner, we went there. It was really a nice place and the best part is, the bar was built on stilts and thatched roof and it has an open air seating area. My type of laid back hangout joint. I loved it so much there that I didn't mind that I was left alone to stare at the stars above. It was a clear sky mind you. The funny part was, the people we had met earlier in the day, didn't show up. So that's how I ended up staring at the stars that night. I wasn't drinking much that night as we have an early day the next day of traveling back to KL. But I was longing for something to do and talk. The couple had already settled themselves down to an intimate chat and I was feeling really left out. It doesn't help that the tables surrounding us are groups and they left us (me) alone. :(

However, I noticed at a table across our's, there was a guy that had stared at me a couple of times. I just gave a smile back in return. I just thought it was funny that he was alone when before that there were a bunch of girls at his table as well. I was itching for conversation by then. There is so much of stars that I could count and hope to see a shooting star was diminishing!! So I approached that guy and asked for a stick. And in his exact words, you can only have it if you sit here with me. Fair enough, and I happily obliged. That's how my relationship with serendipity started. A chance meeting in a foreign place, where the people didn't turn up and his friends had turned in early for bed. If his friends had stayed on, I wouldn't have approached him. Had my climbing acquaintances showed up, I would have been occupied. So, quoting him, "We met in a really nice place, Railay Beach at a really cool bar called The Last Bar, and PJ had to put up with me ever since then."