Zen of Tofu

Well it was a Thursday, and I was running around getting insurance, documentation, and registration done, when I made the trip to pick up the car. The drive there was a little intimidating as the rain was coming down quite heavily and thunder was roaring.

A little backstory here: I’ve never driven a manual shift car, and this was going to be not just my first car, but my first time driving manual. At this point I thought I was going to be driving it home in the rain in an unfamiliar neighbourhood and a nervous wreck. Somehow though, the rain stopped and I somehow picked up the whole manual shift thing pretty easily. I did manage to stall the car once or twice but nothing severe or dangerous. Luckily, I was driving it home early afternoon before any serious traffic built up.

The car needs a good wash and clean up, and my weekend will be filled with just that — washing and cleaning. Anyway, here are the photos I promised:

written by tofu \\ tags: Civic

Final exams are over, Summer weather is in full swing, and sports are just about the only thing to watch on television. The tube has been quite bland lately in terms of sitcoms, reality shows, and even news! The only exciting things to watch have been the NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs, and the occasional F1 races and sessions.

Go Boston Celtics! Even though my country’s team is in the NBA playoffs, I still want to see the Celtics take the championship. The ideal NBA finals would be Lakers vs. Celtics, and that means I want to see the Spurs knocked out very soon. I just can’t stand their team ever since David Robinson retired. Duncan is cool, but the rest of the team are just guys thinking they’re clever.

I’m not a huge fan of hockey by any means, but it makes for good television with the fast pace, violence, and high-scoring games as per the rule changes. Overtime is always exciting too. Out of all the teams, I want to see Colorado win it one more time with all those veterans (Sakic, Forsberg, Foote, Smith).

The F1 season is still young and Ferrari is starting to show their dominance with Kimi Raikkonen showing why he was champion last year. He’s driving quite brilliantly and his teammate, Massa, isn’t too far behind. McLaren on the other hand is clearly lagging behind technologically, because their cars seem to be not as quick despite the abilities of their drivers. BMW Sauber on the other hand are making a strong showing, and challenging Ferrari in the standings, but not always on the time sheets. Tomorrow is race day in Spain with Raikkonen at pole position and McLaren drivers down a few spots of the starting grid. Let’s just hope Hamilton can pull some magic out of his helmet!

P.S. You guys should check out YouTube and search for the “Friday Night Project”. It’s absolutely hilarious! Watch out for Alan’s topical barometer!

written by tofu \\ tags: F1, NBA, NHL, TV

Back on the tele is one of my favourite shows, Hell’s Kitchen, featuring Gordon Ramsay and a bunch of aspiring chefs. The first episode of the season, Gordon made a disguised and great entrance. After blowing his cover, he made all the contestants cook their signature “crap” according to Ramsay. One dish even made him hurl! Oh the drama!

After criticizing all the signature dishes, what followed was one of the worst services ever for the show. These contestants are all over the place, and so far no one has really shined. Some may argue Louross did well, but he just seems weird to me. Just because he can spoke up, it doesn’t mean he can cook.

I find it hard to believe Gordon can hire one of the contestants to become an executive chef of some big restaurant. Just a couple challenges on this show cannot makeup for the years of essential experience needed to run a major restaurant. Inspiration is only 1% of the way to seriously earning such a high position. I can understand if these contestants were required to have formal training, but because the directors & producers of the show are the ones choosing the contestants, they are only looking for the ones who can spice up the show — not earn the position.

We’ll see how things go this season, but I’ll surely enjoy the bollocking these contestants will receive from Ramsay. I hope he gets to show some more of his personality this series, because he can be quite funny as shown when he was on the Jonathon Ross show.

Some other British notables that I love to watch are: Jimmy Carr, Alan Carr, Sean Lock, Vic Reeves, Stephen Fry, and Jamie Oliver.

written by tofu \\ tags: Food, TV

It was an almost infallible performance by Lewis Hamilton this weekend, as he clinched his first win of the F1 season in Melbourne Australia. The heat was intense and the mechanics of the cars were put to the test, and boy was it a wild race!

Out of 22 cars that started the race, only 7 cars finished the race. None of which were the Ferraris who were left hanging their heads low at their engines and differentials that were the problem for them all weekend. Somehow with a very twitchy car, Fernando Alonso managed to finish 4th after F1 newcomer, Sebastien Bourdais’ car failed him with just three laps to go. I believe he was still awarded points and he definitely deserved them after driving with some of the best. Finishing in second and third were Nick Heidfeld and Niko Rosberg, respectively, who both drove great. Sadly both Hamilton’s teammate, Heiki Kovalainen, and the only driver to test Hamilton, Robert Kubica, had disappointing finishes despite how well they raced. A race full of yellow flags and safety car appearances plagued Melbourne track, and left a lot of work to be done before the end of this week where the teams will be racing in Malaysia.

Hamilton was simply brilliant and consistent today, and I’m rooting for him all the way! It was really something to see the sole British flag being raised between the two German flags behind the winners’ podium. It was also refreshing to see the finishers actually excited and happy to be on the podium. I hope the enthusiasm stays high this season, because I’m sure these drivers all have great personalities but don’t get to show it when they’re flying 300mph down a straightaway.

written by tofu \\ tags: F1, Motorsport

Here’s the video I mentioned about Lewis Hamilton driving on Top Gear’s track. Enjoy!

written by tofu \\ tags: Autos, Cars, TV