Lessons From Linkin Park Concert

Ironically, my F1, pole position.

Last night, I attended the finals of the F1 Singapore Night Race. It was a loud experience, with super-fast, high-performance cars.

The 1.5-hour concert by Linkin Park was well worth waiting for; my student, Yasser from the UAE was touting the band’s concert in Abu Dhabi, and he convinced me to attend. Thousands of fans thronged the Padang (a grass field popular for national and international-level sports like rugby and cricket) whilst the Formula One race was near-ending. As predicted, Sebatian Vettel won, with a close second by amateur triathlete Jenson Button, and Webber in third. So, it was a fantastic one-three finish for Team Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton had quite a few pit-stops and made risky manoeuvres to move from 16^th to fifth, just behind Fernando Alonso. There was enough drama to keep newbies to this race enthralled.

The humidity was about 65 percent with temperatures hovering around 25 degrees Celcius. Thus, after staying in close proximity with fans of Linkin Park it got to the nerves of some. Some vacated their spots, as they could no stand the heat; others occupied these newly found space with no aplomb. I was mildly irritated with the abundance of photographers snapping photographs during the concert. Were they there to photograph or enjoy the music? Their digital cameras cast a veil that blocked some of our view. I overheard a few frustrated fans tell these avid photographers (off) to lower their arms. I suppose the errant fans had a different way of enjoying a live concert. In a nutshell, Linkin Park's stage show impressed with its lighting, clever graphics (as a dynamic backdrop), its popular lead singers, and talented musicians (most of them play an instrument). 

I was quite proud of my ability to stand steadily (I activated my core muscles thoroughly) and withstand the crowd and hot conditions. I had abundant practice running in this heat in recent months, and the last time I was at the Padang was a fortnight ago when I scored a PB in the 21K AHM/Singapore Bay Run. It can be overwhelming on your body as you will be drenched in sweat in a low-evaporative condition.

Leadership Lessons: How aware are you of your personal space? How do you respond when others intrude into your private/intimate space? How open are you of letting people into your area of operation? How willing are you to let your hair down, and go with the flow of others around you?

Making the Time to Eat, Pray & Love

No, I did not watch the Julia Roberts’s film. However, the title of the indulgent book gives food for thought, where lifestyle balance is concerned. To eat, to pray and to love: can be done in private, or within a group. It is a mysterious title, isn’t it?

I continue to preach and praise those who commit to the One-Hour Challenge. Give yourself 60 minutes, and measure what you can do, or complete a fairly difficult task. This morning, I wrote up a bunch of invoices, completed writing one training module, and answered priority e-mails, and still had time to read one blog.

Andrew and Hui Koon (via a blog comment) invited me to train with them, however their running locations are far from where I live. I will give it serious consideration though, since I am keen to improve my timing by a wider margin of terror. Yesterday’s time trial rejuvenated my latent interest for cross-country racing. I used to, consistently, post sub-20 minutes for the 4.8K Macritchie route when I was in secondary school and pre-university. I missed those days of unbridled and reckless running.

This afternoon, I rode for an hour focused on being comfortable on my bike. I then did a short CrossFit session: 2 set of each (20 elevated pushups, 10-12 chin-ups, 40 step-ups on bench, one parallel bar walk) with a minute rest between. That was enough to get me winded and fatigued with my upper body all pumped up. That was a full investment of the 90 minutes I gave myself for fear of procrastinating it away.

*****

I headed for the Janet Jackson concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium; it started one hour late, however I was suitably entertained. I had my share of local celebrity watch, even taking a photo for MTV-jay, Utt (who thanked me). More ‘can you take a photo for us?’ followed, which was fine with me since I expected the concert to start late. I was also seated next to the unofficial Janet Jackson fan-club as they waved their banner loyally for their idol, while I was occasionally wrapped in the fabric and their overwhelming enthusiasm. Monday evening traffic and parking was a bitch, thus the big delay for early-birds. Ms Jackson did not disappoint as she sang and danced to all 30 of her chart-hits, albeit as a medley of songs strung seamlessly together. She sang, she danced and the decibels were way too high! I stuffed tissue wads into my ears after I experienced mild ringing. The bass was great, but the mid- and high frequencies were exceedingly stabbing. I missed the dateline for yesterday’s blog, so here I am.