Thursday, July 31, 2008

150

Today's the big day. Scrutineering's 150th Post-iversary. It's kind of a big deal.

I knew this post was going to be really difficult to write. I knew it would involve a lot of back-story and summary and it's hard to condense so many memories and make something coherent out of them. But let's start this shebang with an anecdote, shall we?

I was doing a lot of deep-thinking around the time of the Canadian Grand Prix this June. I was sitting in my dorm at the Cite U in Paris emailing my father a race summary, praising the achievements of BMW and Robert Kubica:

Robert Kubica won his first race yesterday in Montreal. He's the first Polish driver to win a race and to make the day even more memorable for BMW, Nick Heidfeld (GER) nabbed second place. Really a special place to win for Kubica, considering he had a spectacular crash there last year and almost died.

At this point, I remember that I stopped writing and thought "It's so funny that I'm writing this - I care so much." It's because I didn't used to care. Last year I was working on the day of the Canadian Grand Prix. In all honestly, I didn't even know it was taking place. I remember that I went to hang out with Mark at the end of my shift and when I pulled in he came out and said, "Did you hear about Robert Kubica's crash in Montreal!? I can't believe he's okay! You could see his head jerking around and everything!" (Haha, yes, Mark, you did say all that.) While he was going on about Kubica's miraculous survival,* I stood there nodding and pretending to be interested. I know I said, "Mmm, oh, really?" a lot. I distinctly recall thinking "I have no idea who this guy is, why I would even care, and what the hell is a HANS device?" I also remember wracking my brain, trying to mentally locate Montreal..

I was unaware of the fact that in a year, I would know that Robert Kubica is a fantastic Polish driver for BMW, HANS stands for Head and Neck Support system (a safety device which reduces loading to a driver's head and neck in the event of an accident), and that in the future, I would care a whole lot. Also that I would remember that Montreal is, in fact, in Quebec.

I didn't know I was going to start following F1 and that after Kimi Raikkonen bagged the WDC that I'd keep reading and following F1 news and coverage in the off-season. But why did I start a blog? Well, it was basically because all I talked about for days straight was F1. No, for realz, you couldn't get me to shut up! But could you blame me? I'd missed the majority of the 2007 season, I had drama to catch up on! I didn't find out about the spy scandal until mid-November: do you know how much back reading that was?! How many accusations and Ron Dennis mumbo-jumbo?! And since I didn't know who anyone was, I had to look everyone up. In short, the reason I got my blog was so I would have somewhere to write everything I was thinking about F1 so I wouldn't have to subject anyone to my incessant jammer.

As you may know... this didn't work: I still jammer.

And now it's the 150th post. I recently went back through the archives and it's amazing how far Scrutineering has come. We got all high-tech and learned to save our pictures. We added a header and polls. We learned how to embed videos. And I wrote about so much stuff! It all started with the Force India test. But what's happened since then?

We came to the life-changing conclusion that:





Yes, EVF1 was born! I rated the tracks on squiggliness and accidentally burned Honda. Those were also the days when my Ferrari knowledge was paltry. Since, however, I've demonstrated my unparalleled love for my team and have an annoying amount of random Ferrari knowledge. Oh, and I've acquired an ungodly amount of red clothing. Without Kimi Raikkonen, I probably wouldn't have gotten into F1. Or I would have become a McLaren fan or something equally terrifying and would have developed a propensity for verbosity and a love for all things clinical and stainless steel.

I had a drunken diatribe about Fernando Alonso on my birthday... and also some sober diatribes about Fernando Alsonso. And some guilt about Fernando Alonso, because I accustomed myself so quickly to the possibility of having to have him on my team in 2010. And I may actually have reconciled myself to this fact to the extent that I'm kind of excited about it.. Rats! Also, once when I was drunk, I apparently asserted that Jean Todt looked like a manatee...

Felipe Massa, World's Most Adorable Baby, became my favorite driver, mostly because I had a dream that we played "Pretty, Pretty Princess" and it was bitchin'!








We had several gratuitous laughs over David Coulthard's "distinctive jaw line" and several gratitous laughs about Mark Webber's perpetual state of forlornness. Rubens Barichello finally "got to be all smiley" for a bit after Silverstone (a race after which I felt physically ill for days.)

I cried about Kimi Raikkonen after Australia, (although I wouldn't admit, haha - ah, intoxication!) and I wanted to pummel Massa after Malaysia, but he redeemed himself in Turkey, which made my life.

Super Aguri met their demise.

We reported from Paris on Max's confidence vote and I went to Monaco and camped out on Secteur Rocher. Few things I've done so far can stand up next to Monaco. Despite the rain, the train strike, and the Hamilton win, it was an all-around amazing sugar high (literally, because all I was eating were Jolly Ranchers and had had very little sleep). Definitely an experience because I could have touched Pedro de la Rosa, knocked down Karun Chandhok by accident, or told off Nick Fry... if my mind had been working fast enough/correctly..
My blog even came up on Google searches! Which was as shocking (if not more so) than when I found out that I have a larger readership than I realized..

I didn't know anyone ever looked at this thing, but it turns out people do! The first time someone commented who wasn't Mark, Matt, or Joe, I just about had a heart attack. If you've managed to read this far into what is turning out to be post of gargantuan proportions, we really do appreciate you coming around. Feel free to browse around, write to us, hell, write for us, if you think you'd like to give it a shot.

Ultimately, thanks to everyone! As always, fine choice.













I really wanted to try and put some really sentimental music on here (or Joe's Post-iversary techno song that he wrote for tonight!) but I was unable to. So enjoy this instead! I thought it was somewhat fitting.



I say miraculous, because this incident has been filed as evidence in Pope John Paul II's case for canonization, since Kubica raced with the the JP2's name on his helmet.

3 comments:

Vestedentirely said...

Whoo congrats Emily. Sono orgoglioso di te.
Matt

Scrutineering said...

Grazie! Tu me manques se soir, mon ami. Mais, je t'ai salue' comme tu m'avais demande'! :)

joe said...

wow. this is quite a blog you've cultivated here emily.

i enjoy every word.

please find out how to add that song. i changed a bit of it, so i think it's better now.