speed demon

we went to the 'yas marina circuit' yesterday, which i thought was incredibly cool even though i don't have male parts.

after a 15 minute briefing and an 'i agree not to sue you if i wreck your expensive car' signature, jeff got to drive a formula 3000 car around the track (for 20 minutes). the marina circuit is right next to ferrari world (which i hear sucks) and is where the grand prix is held every november here in abu dhabi. there were so many instructions in the briefing, i certainly would have forgotten all of them as soon as i crawled behind the wheel. but mr. sanders didn't seem too nervous even though he only had two non-alcoholic budweisers in the bar at the crowne plaza before we left. i personally would have needed a little liquid courage.

after the hasty instructions jeff suited up (i was offered the option of putting on a jumpsuit too for a photo op, but declined - a decision i regret now) and we went downstairs to the track. tony, the de-briefer, offered to take me around the track in one of the instructor cars - a renault laguna - in order to see the track layout and get a feel for the turns and straightaways. that was kind of fun, but i've driven faster on i635 in dallas.

then they were off; jeff put the rubber to the road and raced away into the first turn of death. while jeff was whizzing around in circles, i met two more driving instructors - luca from milan and tarek from australia. they expounded on how great it was to live in dubai (kind of a bummer that we don't live there) and were astounded to hear that i'm almost 50. i assume jeff must have bribed them to say this so i asked them to cease with their obvious lines of bullsh*t as i needed to go sit down to rest my aching back and failing knees.

the entire evening was pretty terrific; next time, i think its my turn to tear up the track.

tomorrow, i'm off to chicago to take a pretty expensive shower!

t.