I've never watched Nascar racing. Never. And yet, today I found myself glued to the television, watching Danica Patrick make history as she became the first woman to lead the race in the Indianapolis 500. For those, like me, who are pretty clueless about this stuff, it's a 500-mile race, with almost three dozen cars zipping around a track at more than 220 mph.
I love speed, even in my normal Toyota, but professional racing is very much a man's sport. However, I was reading the news last night and learned about Patrick who, at 23, was going to try win the Indy 500 -- an event even I have heard of. So I did some Googling and found her Web site. Then I went to bed.
This morning, I turned on the TV for another reason and stumbled onto the race. I was hooked. I pulled myself away from it for a while, but found myself returning to the television as Danica Patrick pulled into the lead. Crashes. Speed. A chick in the lead. How on earth could I not watch this? It has my name written all over it.
Patrick didn't win, though she came so close and managed to keep going even after stalling and spinning out. So, am I permanent a fan? We'll see.
For those who didn't know, I just spent nearly two weeks on vacation several thousand miles away. I returned home yesterday afternoon, got to work this morning and what was waiting for me? A subpoena. For some reason I can't really fathom, I've been ordered to appear as a potential witness at a trial.
This will hopefully all go away nicely, but there's also the possibility that they'll still try to get me to testify. Testifying itself probably wouldn't be too bad (though I have every intention of avoiding it), since I really don't think I have anything relevant to say. But if they even try to get my notes, that will become annoying.
That's not all. The main problem would be that, as a witness, I wouldn't be allowed in the courtroom until they called me to testify. It's a trial I was planning to cover, and things like jury selection and opening statements -- as well as other witnesses -- would all go on without me. That is not acceptable in my book.
I'm fairly optimistic that, if need be, we'll be able to stipulate to things (i.e., "Yes, this reporter wrote that article") so they won't need me as a witness at all. In that case, life will go on and I'll write more about it here later. If that doesn't happen, well, life will still go on and I'll still write about it here. The difference: I'll have plenty of time to sit outside the courtroom, getting madder than hell.
So I awoke (for the second time) this morning to a dream that I lived across the street from Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger, and that she was very friendly. I came home to news that she'd gone and gotten married. Go figure: The first news I hear of Zellweger since the Oscars, and it's the day I dream about her.
And, speaking of entertainment dreams, the first time I woke up this morning, it was to a dream that I was among the top five contestants on American Idol. I was in a panic, because I'd never once had to sing during the contest (yes, despite making it to the top five), and suddenly I was on stage and they were asking what I was going to perform. There are reasons I will never be an American Idol contestant, one of which is the fact that I will empty an auditorium if I sing solo.
Indy 500
I've never watched Nascar racing. Never. And yet, today I found myself glued to the television, watching Danica Patrick make history as she became the first woman to lead the race in the Indianapolis 500. For those, like me, who are pretty clueless about this stuff, it's a 500-mile race, with almost three dozen cars zipping around a track at more than 220 mph.I love speed, even in my normal Toyota, but professional racing is very much a man's sport. However, I was reading the news last night and learned about Patrick who, at 23, was going to try win the Indy 500 -- an event even I have heard of. So I did some Googling and found her Web site. Then I went to bed.
This morning, I turned on the TV for another reason and stumbled onto the race. I was hooked. I pulled myself away from it for a while, but found myself returning to the television as Danica Patrick pulled into the lead. Crashes. Speed. A chick in the lead. How on earth could I not watch this? It has my name written all over it.
Patrick didn't win, though she came so close and managed to keep going even after stalling and spinning out. So, am I permanent a fan? We'll see.
Posted by Layla at 1:25 PM, May 29, 2005. Comments (0)