American Celebrations

The frequency dial on our radio is always fixed at 94.9 FM. So is the one in my car. The station plays soft rock, but lately it has been playing Christmas tunes only, since the day after Thanksgiving. It seems the trend is followed by most radio stations here, till Christmas, 24/7. Another American tradition.

Back home, we used to make fun of the kiasu (pronounced in the Hokkien dialect, literally meaning afraid to lose) bunch, that across the causeway included. The most common manifestation is jumping queues, if the sometimes amorphous blobs can be described as such. Then there are the more galling instances of scrambling for freebies, be they food give-aways or free textbooks, by overzealous patrons/parents chauffeured around in luxury cars. Those sights are a rarity here, orderliness being the order of the day (pardon the pun).

Then not too long ago I read of a somewhat similar phenomenon during the launch of the latest version of Xbox 360, a popular game console among the teens. A few days before the launch, interested buyers, most of them young, were already camping outside the retail outlets, staking their claims on landing the coveted entertainment juggernaut. Some came in groups, each taking turn to “man” the slot in the line. Some brought along portable TV to pass the time. Some sat on the reclining chair and dozed away. Except for some sporadic complaints of jostling for position, there was no melee, not unlike the scene for buying a concert or a football game ticket.

That prompted several newspaper editorials/readers’ comments that lamented the display of this ill-advised use of precious time, and decried the prevalence of hedonistic pursuits over productive endeavors. However, one also can view this as youthful exuberance that hopefully can be channeled to other more meaningful avenues in due course. Unlike the kiasu phenomenon, no deserving cases are deprived in the process. Also, since this kind of product launch is far and between, the preoccupation is likely to come to pass with time. The kiasu attitude, on the other hand, can become ingrained in the psyche, and subconsciously brought to bear on other issues of life. In a nutshell, both are undesirable tendencies/traits, but one seems to be the lesser evil and thus, is perhaps tacitly tolerated in an affluent society where consumerism reigns supreme.

But celebration is certainly the way of life here. Earlier in the year, we had the Gasparilla celebration in Tampa, which has been criticized for commemorating the coming of age of the swashbuckling pirates, a less than savory vocation by present-day standards.

Then the Gators won the National NCAA Basketball Championship, the whole town of Gainsville partook in the celebration.

Then the Bucs (the NFL team based in Tampa) won a close game, thanks to the heroic play by the kicker, a 60-yard field goal that ranks 2nd (I think) in the all-time list, in the dying seconds. And there was a city celebration, with the Mayor, Pam Iorio, declaring that day as the day of the kicker (Matt Bryant).

Then the Panthers won the State 4A High School Football trophy (see here). And on hand to celebrate with the team win on this Monday was none other than the Mayor again. This time, she declared Monday as the Plant Panthers Day. The image is a direct shot of the ABC ActionNews on Monday night, hence the fuzziness. But the joy of the one giving the plaque, Mayor Pam Iorio, and of the recipient, Coach Robert Weiner, is apparent. Yeah, the Panthers rule as per the image taken of a poster, courtesy of Ferman, a local automobile dealer, that was circulated with the Tampa Tribune.

Did I forget to mention that the Mayor is also a Panther parent? So is Jim Davis, the candidate who lost in the recent Florida Governor's race, according to my D, who happened to be in the same chartered bus on a recent trip to Miami during the Championship game. Otherwise, I thought it could be cool to have both the Mayor and the State Governor as fellow Panther parents. But then if he has won, likely the whole family will move to Tallahassee, the power base for the state. Oh well.

Tire for Life

I had a flat tire two days ago. I noticed, or rather felt, it when I was reversing my car out of a parking lot in a multi-level parking garage across from my office around noon. That is my daily routine to go home to partake of the home-cooked lunch that my wife dutifully prepares for me, and also to enjoy some quiet moment together.

So this morning I drove up early to the Express Lane of the local Toyota Service Center, which starts business at 6 am. It was 6.15 am and I was third in line. Unfortunately, the attending mechanic had some bad news for me, the tire was damaged beyond repair as the leak occurred at the side. In addition, I was not entitled to a free tire change under the Tire for Life agreement that I have signed up upon purchase of the car from the dealer. Why? Because the tire thread has not reduced to 2/32 of an inch, which is the trigger point for a change of tire.

This is the fourth tire replacement that I’ve experienced since I bought the car just less than three years ago. The first time, a long nail went through its side and I didn’t even know when it happened. Probably a few days before as the tire was still pressurized when I noticed something sticking out from the tire.

The second was my fault when I just took my eye off the road for a second to adjust the rear-view mirror. As a result, the front wheel on the passenger side rubbed against the road curb, which is made of roughened concrete, and the abrasion was too much for the tire to bear. There was a loud noise when the tire blew up, sending the hub cap on an aerial flight over a hedge/fence into the compound of my apartment complex (I was only like another 30m from the front gate). Then I had that sickening feeling when the car continued to move forward under its momentum with the tire rim grating the road.

The third time was a different setting but the same result. I was following behind a truck on a 4-lane road and decided to take the inner lane, which was clear, to pass the truck. It was a crisp morning, especially after the previous night’s storm. Little did I know that some concrete debris had fallen onto the inner lane. Actually they are more like concrete blocks having the size of a football. And my line of sight was blocked by the truck, whose driver may have seen the “obstruction” ahead and thus stayed on the outer lane. And here I was thinking what an opportunity to pass the truck as the inner lane was clear of traffic behind me.

Not having time for my brain to register what my eyes saw and thus send a signal to my leg to press the brake (and I could not swerve to avoid as I was sandwiched between the truck and the road curb), my car literally climbed over the “mound” with a loud thud followed by the same sickening feeling for the second time. When I looked back, I noticed the concrete debris were actually part of a low concrete wall enclosing a house that had been damaged probably by an errant driver last night. It was then that I saw an old couple busy removing the concrete debris away from the road. Probably they had just “heard” my mishap and were doing a Samaritan bit to avoid repeat misfortunes.

So here I am, with a tire for life agreement on one hand, and four new tires on my car, none of which is the benefit of a free replacement pursuant to the agreement. That makes me wonder the wisdom of buying in advance the tire for life (I forgot how much it cost me then) warranty. Perhaps my case is typical and that the dealer knows from experience that rarely does a car owner end up with all four tires completing their useful lives due to normal wear and tear. On the other hand, I could be atypical and my style of driving somehow lends my car to such “unintended” abuses. But this would only be true half of the time, i.e., the two instances when I was behind the wheel.

On hindsight, I think I will definitely take my chances with my driving than buying into the tire for life thing in the future.

Where then is the pleasant surprise, you may wonder? Well, I actually hope the pleasant surprise will come tomorrow when the Panthers, of my D's school, will play in the State 4A Football final match, in the Dolphin Stadium in Miami, starting at 1.00 pm. And my D will be there, as part of the school's entourage to support the Panthers in their first ever championship game. That in itself is a pleasant surprise of sort as we did not think she is up to it, spending eight hours on the road to a place that she has never been. This morning the school had a huge send-off for the team early in the morning and posters were freely distributed. My D brought home this, courtesy of the St. Petersburg Times, spotting the quarterback with a pirate hat on a pirate ship of the Gasparilla fame (the colored beads worn around his neck are a dead giveaway). Gasparilla is the nickname of a famous Spanish pirate that is known as the "last of the buccaneers", and the Buccaneers is the name of the football franchise based in Tampa. So both terms are distinctly Tampa-ish. But there's where the similarity stops, as the Panthers are definitely doing much better than the Bucs on the football field.

Go Panthers!

C U in the Arid Zone, Alligator!

As I said on the day after the crazy night, the Gators did just enough to leapfrog (perhaps scramble is a more apt description) over the Wolverines, the reptilian over the mammalian. And a wolverine refers to “a stocky shaggy-coated North American carnivorous mammal” according to onelook.com.

After a roller coaster SEC Championship game marked by alternating series of dumb fumbles and brilliant punting, the Gators finally prevailed over the Razorbacks, and over the human votes too that make up two-thirds of the basis for the BCS decision (the remaining one third being the computer system).

So in one breath, sort of, the Gators have managed to reclaim the crown of SEC football (see the official stamp of victory to the right courtesy of the official website of the Florida Gators) and the opportunity to be the only team who has beaten the Buckeyes in 2006, hence ascending the pinnacle of collegiate football, again. An even more rare distinction in collegiate sports awaits too, back to back champions, though in two sports, the Gators having captured the NCAA Basketball National Championship in 2005.

So started a mad rush to get bowl tickets to the arid country that is Arizona come January 8. This comes exactly on the 10th anniversary of the first ever National Championship for the Gator Nation, back in 1996. I was not able to savor the maiden win then as I had left for home one year earlier upon graduation. But this time, if the Gators win, I would not miss the chance to celebrate the victory, as an alumnus, for the second time. And that’s a promise.

One night earlier, i.e., the night before the crazy one, my D’s school also won a ticket to the State 4A High School football final to be played in Miami on Dec 9. This is the very first that the Panthers have even gone this far, having been beaten several times in the semi-finals back in the 1970s, and so I was told. The pride written all over my D's face says it all.

For the event, the school, HB Plant High, has chartered several buses to ferry students to Miami to support their team, for a fee of course, on the day of the game. It’s a long journey no doubt, close to 300 miles one way, but my D is seriously considering making the trip, provided it’s in the company of her coterie of friends.

Still on sports, but half way around the world from here, the 15th Asian Games opened with fanfare at Doha, Qatar on Dec 1. But my wife told me that the gala opening ceremony was a near washout as rain, to the tune of the average annual total, poured down on that fateful day.

I just checked the official game website, and note that in the medal tally, Malaysian is currently at the joint 11th position (with Indonesia), having garnered a gold, a silver and a bronze. China is a distant first with 69, more than half are in gold.

While Malaysia has never been a sports powerhouse in the context of Asia, she has won her fair share of medals. I would be checking the website periodically for the next ten days or so (the game closes on Dec 15) to see how my country athletes are doing, thanks to the Internet. Surpassing past achievements? Reliving past glory? Further sliding into oblivion? I shall see.