Shakira, Speed, and Shaggy - summing up the first half of the Singapore Grand Prix...

Family,
And a good Sunday afternoon to you from across the globe after another GREAT DAY in the Lion City  Team Taylor is fresh off crossing off another Singapore to-do, having a burger at The Foundry.  And whilst I must confess that I had food envy when comparing my bacon burger to her pesto burger, the garlic fries and hot wings more than made up for my loss. :-)



Hot Muffin Puffin beside the Esplanade Bridge, where
drivers hit speeds in excess of 240 miles per hour.
We tried to get a photo of them - IMPOSSIBLE.

So yesterday was definitely a first for Team Taylor.  As most of you know, motorsports are big throughout Asia, and the pinnacle of motorsports on this side of the globe is Formula One (Rice, don't worry - I've already told everyone that Rusty could kick all their asses and THEN crush a case of tall frankie's WAY before they could even get out of the pits - I think my comments were somewhat lost in translation).  As fate would have it, Singapore plays host to the only night race on the circuit and the only street circuit in Asia.  That, sports fans, is what Sam and Jenny went to see yesterday.

We had purchased the "Walkabout" tickets, which basically means "Yep, you're a pretty cheap bastard but still want to experience the action.  So we'll let you stand right by the track when they go past at THREE HUNDRED KILOMETERS AN HOUR and see if you still have any hearing left when it's over."  You do buy earplugs as soon as you walk in, but in typical Sam Taylor fashion, I didn't put them in at first.  I commented to Jenny that I wanted to "see how loud it would be."  Um, that was a mistake. 

It was like a scene from "Pretty Woman" - "Those things
corner like they are on rails..." (and yes - I did just quote "Pretty
Woman" - after all, I'm the King of Wishful Thinking...)

The first race was the Porsche Carrerra series, which was AWESOME.  These dudes are running flat out at just under 200 mph, and trying to get a photo of them is harder than trying to snap a picture of Sammy at any one station  during Calhoun's all-you-can-eat-and-drink rib night - nothing's staying in any one place for too long.  And the noise?  WOW.  But the porsches were NOTHING compared to the F1 cars.

This is at the end of a stretch before they pass one of the
grandstands - they are slowing from 150 mph to about
50 mph, and then throttling so loud your chest hurts.

We saw 2 events - the practice session and the qualifying, and let me tell you - IT IS LIKE A VOLCANO ERUPTING TEN FEET FROM YOU.  The street vibrated as they moved past.  Empty bottles and cups in your hands vibrated.  Your chest even rattled a bit.  And the speed at which they moved was just amazing.  Coming into it, I couldn't tell you a single driver (and can now only tell you 2), but it was really something to see.  Qualifying is WAY different than NASCAR, and it had a very interesting racing element to it.  The actual race is tonight at 8, and dare I say, I'm really looking forward to it.

However, the races weren't the only activity for us, as the F1 is really a big street party for Singapore.  Consequently, there are tons of bands, and the 2 featured artists last night were Shakira and Shaggy.  Now let's be honest, I wouldn't necessarily have paid money to see either of these folks, but I must say - they gave good performances.

Shakira was first, going off at 8 PM, and she really was GREAT.  That gal plays the harmonica and the guitar, and let's be real clear - she can move.  I mean, she's nowhere near as hot as Muffin Puffin, but to quote Shakira:  "those hips don't lie."  She ended with "Waka, Waka" (theme to the World Cup), and the crowd was electric.



Mr. Bombastic kept the crowd quite entertained, but I'm
pretty sure placement of the microphone around his genitals
so frequently will ensure "Mr. Lover" isn't invited back to
Singapore anytime soon - just sayin'...

Shaggy went on after the Qualifying, so he didn't start until 11:30. The crowd was smaller, and we had a GREAT spot to check him out.  CP - he rocked all of his hits - it was just like riding in your truck in the college days listening to "Hot Shot."  And T-bone - I just about lost it when he was singing Angel and said, "I wanna show the nation my appreciation."  And I must say that his new song, "Sugarcane," is fantastic.  I think that will be an -i-Tunes pickup soon.

The only bad news to report is that, with just 8 days before my next half marathon, the ball of my left foot is hurting something AWFUL.  Right now I can't even walk on it, so I'm icing it and will take the cane to the F1 today (but I will refer to it as my "pimpstick" as loud as I can to everyone around me at 3 minute intervals).  Miller and T-Rowe:  get ready for another GREAT round of "Sammy bashing," as I predict next week's "East Coast Half" is gonna be much worse than the previous one.  Who's excited about the volume of Advil that will be required for that run?  THIS GUY....Hitman - I'm REALLY glad you sent us that packet of a thousand...

Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print.  Chat tomorrow!

Love,

Sam and Jenny