Monaco madness

A bit late, but TK asked and I couldn't stop myself from posting:

Schumi was supposed to have finished pole from qualifying, but for some reason (and I wasn't able to see Saturday qualifying because of a power outage) he was penalized for "impeding" the track. He then had to start from the pit. Imagine that. The pit. After all the cars have whizzed past him.

Now, what I like most about Monaco, is the track. It's narrow, and there's this incredible hairpin turn, and overall it's quite impossible to overtake the cars ahead of you. Your qualifying position pretty much determines how you'll end the race.

Anyways...

Alonso was pole, followed by Webber, then Kimi, and Montoya. Barichello was somewhere lower, if I remember correctly. Schumi, of course, dead last. Fisichella was penalized in qualifying as well, he was supposed to have been on second.

It was boring for the most part...Alonso maintained pole, followed closely by Kimi (Webber was out long before), Montoya, Coulthard and Barichello. Schumi, as expected, whizzed past more than half the cars, and ended up with the fastest lap. At fifth, from dead last.

Now, the exciting part was...ta-daah...Kimi's engine overheating. At 20+ laps to go. It was heartbreaking. He had to walk the rest of the way to the pit. A few minutes later he was seen topless in a yacht. Ahhh...Monaco.

The other exciting part was Schumi very desperately trying to overtake Barichello. Haha...RB would have slowed down for him if he were still with Ferrari! But not now, not ever! I guess. Good for him.

Race ended with Alonso, Montoya, Coulthard (draped in a Superman cape), Barichello and Schumi, in that order.

I'll burn in hell...

Greed:	High
Gluttony:	High
Wrath:	Medium
Sloth:	Very Low
Envy:	High
Lust:	High
Pride:	Medium

Discover Your Sins - Click Here

Scenes from a bar

Or, Cat's non-adventures in living the single life.

A cute guy sits next to me at our table. We're introduced, and we chat it up. He tells me he likes my hair, and suggests that I wear it some other way, asks what salon I go to, suggests another salon and his stylist...It takes less than a minute for me to realize he was gay. No prob! I've got loads of faggoty friends. They make the most fun gimmick partners.

The following week, we meet again at a bar. Turns out he plays percussions for the band. Cozies up beside me, chats it up once again. He says, You look hot tonight! And I tell him, Yeah, and I ain't getting picked up, hahahaha!

He says, Now that's a line if I ever heard one. I laugh. And he continues, I'm not gay, you know.

I laugh some more and reply, Yeah, right.

He insists, I'm not.

Sounding like an idiot, I ask again, You're not?

He replies, 'Course not. I'm mistaken for one all the time, but I love women!

Stupid me says, Oh, you're metrosexual, then.

And he rebuts, I hate that term. So what if I'm particular about my hair and I get pedicures?


******************

At the same bar, but a few hours earlier. Different guy:

"I'm from Singles for Christ."

Read during my lunch hour

A timely excerpt from Chapter 20 of Machiavelli's The Prince:

When you disarm your subjects, however, you offend them by showing that, either from cowardliness or lack of faith, you distrust them; and either conclusion will induce them to hate you. Moreover, since it is impossible for you to remain unarmed, you would have to resort to mercenaries, whose limitations have already been discussed.

Funny, or amazing? How Machiavellian tenets can be applied to HR.

Because I'm a mom...

...and LP's gifts are priceless.

I found this taped to my dresser one early Saturday morning after a particularly embarrassing and humiliating episode at a bar. It really, really, cheered me up. No, not just cheered. It made me deliriously happy. Notice that the smiley face is just that...a face. No hair.

And this, too, she made in school. Sunny day, green grass, Cat and LP holding hands and all. Awww...She tacked it on my bedroom door.

And of course, a real labor of love from yesterday. Her nanny helped her spell and penciled lines on the paper to help LP write straight across.

Happy mother's day, too, to fellow bloggers Ron and Punzi!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

It was yesterday, and no, I did not forget. I never forget. My brother, however, is just nearly the opposite. Good thing he remembered this year.

She replied to my happy birthday text with this:

"...I think I will enjoy my birthday this year. Thanks to the Lord and my family. I'm so proud of my children. Your papa and I are so blessed."

Aww...

I had to stop myself from telling her that she had no reason to be proud of me, having thrown to the gutter my dreams of becoming a doctor and settling for the life of an ordinary employee, taking too sweet my time to finish my MBA, marrying young, and essentially throwing caution to the wind by changing my marital status with one swift kick. But then again, a mother's love is unfathomable.

She had me surrounded with books at a young age, and I am doing the same for my darling LP. She had to pull some strings to get me into a good school, because I purposely messed up the entrance exam for Kindergarten. (By purposely, I meant I thought it would be fun to just mark all A's. I had no idea there were consequences invloved. Hey, I was five.) There were countless times I had to endure her wrath because I did poorly in math. In hindsight, maybe I should've gotten more of it, I'd probably have turned out a more competent and accomplished adult.

Happy birhday, Mama! This entry's for you. We love you so much!

Taken last year. That's my giant brother ten years my junior, Mama, and myself. No, that's not an elemental being in the corner of the picture. That's LP, enjoying herself by the water, much too engrossed with her own thoughts to join the photo op.

Thoughts after a mad weekend

I'm reading Machiavelli's The Prince. For the life of me, Jesuits didn't mark this as required reading in college.

Just a few points I'd like to cite from the few chapters I've read:

Chapter 2, Hereditary Principalities: I say, then, that hereditary states accustomed to the family of their ruler are more easily kept than new ones...if he is once deprived of it, however, he will nevetheless regain it at the slightest adversity that the conqueror encounters.

If unusual vices do not make him hated, it is reasonable to suppose that his subjects will feel a natural affection for him.- How true, especially for political dynasties. And I thought it was just as easily summed up by "Better to be ruled by a stupid San Juan actor than by an educated QC lawyer."

Chapter 5, How to Govern Cities and Principalities that, Prior to Being Occupied, Lived Under Their Own Laws: For in truth there is no sure method of holding such cities except by destruction. Anyone who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it may expect to be destroyed by it; for such a city may always justify rebellion in the name of liberty and its ancient insitutions. - This is what Marcos tried to do. This is what GMA is trying to do. And rebellion is what's happening.

Chapter 6, Concerning New Principalities Acquired by One's Own Arms and Ability: Those who become princes by virtue of their abilities, as these men did, acquire dominion with difficulty but maintain it with ease. The difficulties they ecnounter in winning their dominions arise in part from the new forms of administration and new methods which they are compelled to introduce in order to establish their state and assure their security. It must be realized that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more uncertain of success, or more dangerous to manage than the establishment of a new order of government; for he who introduces it makes enemies of all those who derived advantage from the old order and finds but lukewarm defenders among those who stand to gain from the new one. - There goes charter change.