The Panini Diaries

April 2010. The month I started watching this sport called Formula One. I was 13 years old at that time, recently finished my first year in high school, which was arguably the weirdest time an adolescent had to go through. 

They say high school is the time where you’ll discover yourself; and discover I did, all with the help of F1. I’ve always been a huge sports fan, and it got to a much deeper level when I started following F1, the races, and the drivers. 

The summer of 2010 will always be memorable for me, because that was the time I discovered myself. Watching a race on television for the first time was such a life-changing moment for me; all the adrenaline and competition from these elite drivers made me love the sport for years. 

The 2010 season was like no other; it stands as the best one in recent years because of how competitive the playing field was. Five drivers all competing for top glory. Today, you would be lucky to even witness a photo-finish race. 

Mark Webber led the better part of the season, ultimately losing to his teammate. 10 years on, I still feel sad, hopeful, and yearning for the cusp of glory for my all-time favourite driver. 

In hindsight, his decision to leave Formula One was a good one, as the sport saw nothing but downhill ever since one team singlehandedly dominated the sport for the much part of the decade.

When Mark left, my heart kinda went with him. I was slowly losing my love for the sport, forgetting the reason why I loved it in the first place. This went on for years, as a single team continued to map their legacy by dominating every race, every season. 

But the love is still there; the passion? I’m still looking for the half of it, while the other half continues to champion the sport as it transitions to its next phase, giving birth to a new generation of fans. 

A decade later, my love for Formula One is still alive, and will forever be embedded within me as I ride the tides of inevitable changes in my life.

Here’s to another decade of racing and frustrations!

It’s been 20 days since my usual routine halted with the spread of the Coronavirus worldwide. We’ve been living in lockdown for weeks now, with no end in sight. I guess time decided to slow down in order for us to really feel things. Minutes felt like hours, days felt like weeks, weeks felt like months. Although I’ve been stuck at home for 20 days now, work didn’t stop fortunately, keeping a semblance of normalcy for me at least. 

In-between moments of work deliverables and lack of activities to do, I only have my thoughts to keep me entertained. So far, these thoughts haven’t turned grisly yet, and hopefully they never will. Literally just random musings and songs I haven’t listened to for years  suddenly creeping my thoughts for some reason. 

One thing I’m most grateful for is that I’ve fallen deeper in love with my first love: music. The love for music has always been there, it just developed to a much greater level during this period. Others decided to hone their cooking skills, finish a book, learn/re-learn a new language (the latter for me), binge watch all day. For me? I decided to seek solace to the bands and music that kept me company in times of confusion. 

Heavy in rotation are The Killers, Death Cab for Cutie, and Bombay Bicycle Club; if not for these guys my sanity wouldn’t be intact these past few weeks. Also started a pet project of some sorts, something I can look back at after this calamity. 

I’ve also decided to start writing again. My ‘career’ in writing started straight out of college, but I haven’t really done any personal writing for a while now, which really sucks. Getting paid to write is vastly different from writing your personal thoughts, and I’d really like for myself to put everything into words again, even the most fucked up things I would think of; no revisions. 

So I guess that’s it for now? 

I’ve been a longtime fan of the band ever since I can remember. There was a period during my high school days when I couldn’t stop playing their music; every damn day Keane was always on repeat.

I believe in the quote “time is round, and it rolls quickly,” and who wouldn’t? They released their last album back in 2012, specifically seven years ago. I was still in high school during that time, and now I’m a struggling adult for crying out loud! 

This morning, the first thing that I literally saw on my feed is their announcement about an upcoming album! What’s more, they released the first single off their new material, The Way I Feel.

It’s been a long, loooong time since I passionately supported a single driver, and watching yesterday’s Quali and how Valtteri Bottas tried so hard to clinch pole position cemented my decision to rally for him throughout the season.

Today he outclassed his teammate and drove the best race of his career; he even got the Fastest Lap nod. Who knew he only had to grow a beard to grow some balls and start performing well?

When My Best Friend’s Wedding premiered 20 years ago, people expected a cliché, same old romantic comedy film wherein the girl gets the guy in the end, because “that’s how rom com films work.” But when viewers learned that the girl, in this case the phenomenal Julia Roberts, didn’t get the guy, (her best friend) movie-goers were actually glad. With her crazy antics and outright mean tactics, Roberts’ Jules proves that she’s not your typical lead.

What makes the film a classic is, it’s a refreshing take on the romantic comedy genre and the boy-girl platonic relationship plot during the era wherein storylines like a prostitute gets the luck of her life by meeting a wealthy business man (surprise, ends up being together) or when a widowed man falls in love with a Seattle resident when she hears his voice were heavily used. My Best Friend’s Wedding is that rare gem that comes every now and then that stays in our pop culture consciousness even decades after it first graced us.