Wait & Go(Kart)
Friday, September 18th, 20091235pm
It’s been an hour since i abandoned my desk. There’s a team building activity organized this afternoon, so yay, work is half-day. I’m sitting at the backseat of a car parked outside the office building with Mike and Rey, waiting for Marc and Grace who will be hitching a ride with us for a lunch out at what would be my third visit at Goto King in Joyce. A few more minutes and I know that patience and hunger are two words that don’t go well in one sentence. I can hear my stomach starting to talk and you don’t wanna hear what it’s saying.
1250pm
Patience is a five letter word that starts with a b. We’re still waiting for the two and it occurred to me that maybe for some, 1pm is the new lunchtime. Earlier I called up Marc and he said that he’ll still take some time so we can go ahead but Mike intended to be their saviour and went back inside to check on how they’re doing with the work they have to finish, only to stay there for longer than he should.
Past 1pm
Mike still returned alone and much to my disappointment, he and Rey decided to have lunch at the hub instead and I was dragged to save myself from a potential lunch suicide. While ordering the pork ribs, the server said I had to wait for two minutes. I said to myself, hey, I waited for more than an hour for this lunch so what difference an extra two minutes make. So at the counter, I paid $6.25 to the cheerful lady and i faked a smile back, bummed that I’d be eating pork ribs instead of the ‘sizzling bangus’ I’d been fantasizing for lunch.
The pork ribs I reluctantly had for lunch.
Minutes after the late and disappointing lunch
The two finally came. I rather be silent and gulp my Coke than give a lengthy explanation on the spot, why I (or my appetite) seemed upset.
Quarter to 2 in the afternoon
Inside the car going to Richmond, the boys were picking on my frustration while Grace was apologizing when she really shouldn’t be redundant. When they got tired, someone started talking about work as if that’s not the reason why we’re late. Then there’s the joke about Marc borrowing the car on Sunday. Haha.
Around 2pm
We missed a turn on the road despite the aid of Maggie, the GPS, so instead of just 300m we had to take a long 7 km drive in the highway on to our destination: Richmond Go-Kart Track.
A late welcome to the Richmond Go-Kart Track
Before 3pm
Finally we arrived, the line for the Go-Kart was long but thankfully the waiting time was forgiving. I was anxious the moment I hopped in the pale violet kart with the black helmet fixed on my head. I haven’t tried this before and the driving experiences i have had were always inside amusement parks. In my head, I was memorizing that the left pedal on left in red is for stop and the right pedal on right in green is for go, that I hadn’t realize I missed the right strap of the seatbelt until the checker pointed it out. Then merely five seconds after my engine was set, I had my first bump on another kart, quickly turned the steering wheel on right and I bumped on the side track. I thought a personnel would come forward and tell me that “sir, you’re neither safe for this track or for your fellow drivers… get out!”. When no one did, my right foot hit the gas, the kart picked up speed, released the gas a little upon seeing a sharp turn and I made it without crashing or having to raise my hands up and wave in the air to ask or help. Driving go-kart felt like being on an open-air bump car inside actual track but with less intention of bumping. I made it to my first round and was relieved that I was safe and not endangering anyone else. This continued for I-don’t-recall-how-many rounds, and i was waiting when the Slow Down signboard will be raised to signify that we have to stop and park the karts already. When the time finally came, parking seemed to be a trouble for me, oops, i bumped to the kart on my front. I removed my helmet and I said to myself, not bad for a first timer. I did better than I thought.
Go-karting! (this photo courtesy of Twit)
