F1 Down Under

What can I say? The Australian Grand Prix had everything I love about Formula 1 and threw up a few surprises as well. The biggest surprise for this McLaren fan was how far off the pace their cars were. By contrast, Force India and Mercedes have cars that are stronger than last year and have the potential to score solid points.




So, the results. On the podium there were three F1 world champions. Sebastian Vettel, champion for the last three seasons in a row at Red Bull and expected to dominate again this year, came in third. In second place, 2005 and 2006 world champion, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, desperate for a third title after driving the nuts off last year's car. Standing on the top step, driving for Lotus, Kimi Raikkonen. The iceman won the 2007 world championship with Ferrari and is, in my view, one of the greatest drivers in Formula 1 today.




The other point scorers, from 4th to 10th, were Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Mark Webber (Red Bull), Adrian Sutil (Force India), Paul di Resta (Force India), Jenson Button (McLaren) and Romain Grojean (Lotus).
My latest crush, Sergio Perez, finished just outside the points in 11th. I have high hopes for this young Mexican, scoring three podiums last season, and can't wait for his first win with McLaren.




I've barely had time to enjoy the first Grand Prix of the new Formula 1 season and the circus has already moved on and is setting up for the second race in Malaysia. In just a few hours the action starts again.
How time flies.

Day 140: Moody

On Monday, when I last spoke to my psychologist, she suggested I keep a mood chart. The idea is that every hour of each day I should mark out of a hundred how I rate my mood. The hardest part for me has been to decide which mood I should rate.

The example I was given was for depression, which seems pretty obvious for someone in my situation, but giving depression a high mark (e.g. 80) when I'm feeling down goes against the grain. It just feels wrong. So after two days I still haven't chosen a mood to rate. I don't exactly want the opposite of depression but I'd like something positive. Jolly? Cheerful?

Somebody, please suggest a mood for me. I don't know why I find it so hard. At this rate I'll have an empty chart to show my psychologist next week.




Do you think this counts?

Unqualified

I really enjoyed the first qualifying session of the Australian Grand Prix, it was like Formula 1 had never been away for the winter. Such a shame that we'll have to wait until tomorrow for the second and third sessions as they were cancelled due to the Melbourne race track being rained out.

It reminds me of the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix when the race was halted and restarted several times, making it (if I remember correctly) the longest race in F1 history. And then there was the Japanese GP a few years earlier which held qualifying and the GP on the same day as the result of a typhoon.




Let's hope the weather is a little kinder to us on race day because I for one cannot wait until the 2013 season to get under way. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) is eyeing up his fourth championship title in a row with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso looking to spoil that with his third title. Relative newcomer Sergio Perez moves into Lewis Hamilton's vacated seat at McLaren, hoping to increase his chances of a maiden win and possibly a maiden title, alongside 2009 champion, Jenson Button. While Lewis himself has chosen to move to Mercedes with his GP2(?) team mate, Nico Rosberg. And, of course, Kimi Raikkonen, driving for his second season with Lotus, eager to win his second championship since 2007. And, and, and... It's all too much!

I say it every year and I see no reason to change now:
F1 HERE WE COME!

F1 to come

As of this season I'll be writing my Formula 1 posts from this blog. It doesn't really make sense for me to have two blogs on the go at the same time because I don't have a huge following on either of them.
I'll be keeping my other blog around for a while, mostly for archive purposes, but also as a way for anyone remotely interested in what I have to write to be able to find this blog.
All previous posts can be found here: http://agent337.wordpress.com/

Day 134: Frustration

Three weeks ago I was expecting my psychologist to give me a solution for my depression. Maybe not the final solution but something, at least, that would get me on the road to recovery. It didn't happen. We spent that session going over what I'd been talking to her about for the previous month or so.

Two weeks ago I knew that I was going to get an answer in one form or another. Again, it didn't happen. This time it was because my psychologist had phoned in sick. Fair's fair, I suppose. Everybody gets ill from time to time. Frustrating, though, all the same.

Last week I had high hopes that my time had come. I'll give you three guesses what I'm going to say next. (In fact, you don't even need three guesses.) That's right. For the third week in a row, it didn't happen. On this occasion I simply got a phone call letting me know that the session had been cancelled, reason unknown.




What makes this all the more frustrating for me is that she is a trainee psychologist. I originally believed that I was assigned to a fully qualified psychologist and that the trainee was going to sit in on our sessions to gain knowledge and experience. (We all have to start somewhere.) But after a couple of weeks the original psychologist stopped coming to the sessions. Hmm. So where was she when the trainee cancelled our sessions two weeks in a row? Could she have not stepped in to tell me what surely must have already been discussed between them?

Next week, who knows?

30 Day Drawing Challenge

I tried getting back into drawing a while back with little success. It's much easier to edit a photo on my iPhone with a couple of well chosen apps than to put pencil to paper these days. However, chatting to a friend on Twitter, she suggested the 30 Day Drawing Challenge.




Brilliant! Just what I was looking for to kick my arse into gear. I'll be posting the fruits of my labours here, a few at a time. If you're on twitter, search the hashtag #TDDC for daily drawings. Or even join in.

Scribble, scribble, scribble, etc.

Day 126: Expect to expect the unexpected

It was only to be expected, except I didn't expect it. On the day I was due to have a careplan(?) presented to me (Monday, last), my psychologist was ill. Go figure. Well, I guess we all get ill from time to time, just a pity that it happened to be on that particular day.

So, now we have to wait until Monday, next. I'm really looking forward to hearing what she has to say about my situation and what can be done to improve it.
Let's keep our collective fingers crossed.

Day 123: Sunshine

This weekend has been filled with sunshine. I'm not talking about the weather, though. I am referring to my eldest son, Tom.




I haven't seen him since before Christmas. He was away in France, visiting his mother's family at that time. Back in England, they both live many miles south of London, which may not be the other side of the world but it's a four hour round trip on a good day. With my three year old, Freddie, in tow during rush hour, it can be somewhat stressful. But I'll tell you something for nothing. It's well worth it.




He's getting too old for kisses now but the hugs are getting better with every visit.