My first Gambler 500 experience was an absolute blast. I heard it best described as a “Burning Man for Redneck, Car Nerds”. Even though Butterface, my team’s 1988 Mercedes 190E, didn’t even make it to the campsite in Chemult, Oregon, I still had a great weekend and the smiles per mile factor was through the roof. So many hilarious cars, questionable modifications, and goofy people having a good ol’ time out in the blazing hot desert.

Now that I’ve graduated college, and will be “settling down” into a ~40 hour a week job, from being a full time student AND working two jobs totaling ~30 hours a week, I’m going to have a lot of free time. I definitely plan on writing more (so check back here more often :P), reading more for pleasure (rather than pain, I mean for boring classes), getting more exercise and spending more time outside whilst the weather is nice, and finally, playing the stacks of video games I’ve had building up for the past few years that I haven’t got a chance to play yet.

Firstly, I just want to say Happy Thanksgiving everyone! When I was young I always thought thanksgiving was a fairly pointless holiday. Just an excuse for people to eat too much, and for me and my friends to play excessive amounts of video games (I remember beating FFX for the first time over thanksgiving one year). But now as I’ve grown older (and hopefully wiser) I’ve come to the realization that thanksgiving actually does matter.

Singapore: what an interesting and very entertaining country. It was a surprisingly good way to ease into Asian culture, considering I had never traveled to the Far East before. One thing I should have done before leaving the US of A though is read a little more about Singapore’s history, because then the British colony feel would have been much less of a shock. Although I’m really not complaining; it was a welcome surprise and a really nice way to enjoy a part of the world I thought I would feel very alienated in.

I’ve only been back at school for 3 weeks, but I feel like summer was a life time away. And what a summer it was! Probably the best of my life, if I’m honest. Never before in my life have I woke up every weekday morning at 0700hrs and been so damn happy about being up and “having” to get ready for work. Guess that just shows I was working in the right industry, at the right company, with the right people (you know who you are).

Race day! Many, many photos to come, but that might take a while. I will create an update here when photos are online and ready to view. Update: photos are finished and uploaded. Email me for login credentials!