Meeting lewis hamilton!!!

A while back, I got a call from a client.

She rang me up and started,
“How was red cliff last night? Did you enjoy the movie?”

I sat up in my chair, thoughts racing through my mind. How did she know that I had caught that movie! Was she psychic or just stalking me!

She quickly explained,
“I was sitting behind you lah! You damn farny leh! Very animated and cartoon during the show”
 referring to the imaginary kung fu I was dishing out in the course of the movie. I always like to imagine I’m the hero in the movie, giving hellfire to the bad bad people.

I was happy to continue bantering, but she got on to the real reason she was calling. She asked me,
“I’ve got something real good for you! Call you sure got something  good one!”

Like a little kid being teased on Christmas day, I was well excited. I tried to keep calm however, and asked with an edge of non-chalancy.
“Oh yeah? Sounds good. Whats up?”

She continued,
“Do you think your Nuffnangers would appreciate a chance to meet Lewis Hamilton in the flesh?”

It took a while to register, and when it did, I said,
“Hell yeah!!! Sure thing!!! Whats the deal, and do I get to meet him myself!!!”

She said
“Sureee!!! Of course! I’m looking at a total of 4 invitations for you and your community. 1 for a representative from Nuffnang, presumably you (Of course lah! Sorry SG nuffies, no fight!), 1 for an invited blogger of your choice, and 2 additional ones from the general community. This is all sponsored graciously by Nescafe and you will be part of a very small and fortunate group to meet him in the flesh.”

After putting down the phone, I called up Wendy, and asked her if she would be interested to meet Lewis Hamilton. She was understandably very enthusiastic about it, so I took that as a yes. I then had to devise a method in which to distribute the other 2 opportunities equitably, and so I came up with a simple contest mechanism, and emailed the community.

A couple of weeks and a number of blog entries after, I found the other two participants. Fairoz, and Lionel.

We were primed for the big day itself, and I went out and paid $200 for a 1/2 sized replica OFFICIAL MCCLAREN helmet I hoped he would sign .

So anyway, the day itself came, and with the secret venue revealed, the South Ballroom of the Conrad Hotel, I headed down early and met Fairoz, Lionel, and Wendy who had all made it a point to come early.

We were each given a nice Nescafe blazer to wear, and then seated to wait for the big man himself! Lewis was on a tight schedule as he had a drivers meeting at 6pm, and was running between ballrooms, meeting his sponsorhip obligations.  Even the Guest Of Honour, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, MCYS, Mr Teo Ser Luck, was early, and had to wait a while for him.

The emcee, also my client, did a good job keeping the suspense up. She came on and said, periodically, Lewis will be with us in 2 minutes, Lewis will be with us in 30 seconds, Lewis will be with us in 10 seconds! It really did help to energize the room and the suspense.

Finally the doors opened and the man himself arrived. For a moment he was texting on his blackberry, and then he looked up and smiled, went across to Mr Teo, and shaked his hand.

He then headed up on stage, and the approximately 12 lucky people including 4 of us from the Nuffnang community, were invited up, to shake his hand, chat with him, while he signed a special momento and presented it to us.

It was a surreal experience. When it got to my turn, I headed towards him, he smiled, and gave me a firm handshake. He asked, “How are you today?” and I replied, “I’m good, thank you.”, he said, “Thats great mate, hold on to this while I sign it for u please.”

He struck me in those few moments as a sincere and down to earth chap. Very much in contradiction to what mainstream media had portrayed him as. I above all recognise that you sometimes need to be arrogant and confident to compete. That does not neccessarily carry on to your personal life or character. I’ve met lots of stars, from Pele, to Michael Phelps, to Gordon Ramsay, to Steve Waugh, and none struck me as much as Lewis.

This feeling was further confirmed, when after we had completed our rounds, he was surrounded by a swarm of invited guests who had brought items for him to sign. I got wendy to go up and sign some stuff, and she came back without my helmet signed, saying he had simply said “I can’t sign this, I’m sorry.” He did not sign my helmet, but he took the time off to sign EVERYBODY elses’s items. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Despite the fact his minders and the organisers were pushing him to move on to the next event and stick to his schedule.

I was dissapointed, but happy that at least we had gotten a cool momento! So I had no complaints!

Later as he was walking out, i happened to see him and caught up with him. I pulled out the helmet and said, “Can you sign this lewis?” He looked at it, stopped in his tracks and said, “Hey I”m sorry mate, but I can’t sign official Mcclaren items. Can I sign anything else, anything at all?”, I could have said “Sign on my backkk!”, but decided against it, and said, “No worries dude, I understand, and I really appreciate the gesture. Thanks for explaining!”, he said, “No worries, mate, you take care.”

He did not owe me an explanation, and did not have to stop. I met Tony Leung once, at Fullerton hotel, and you would be surprised at his reaction, in comparison. I was impressed and converted. I used to be a Ferrari Fan in the days of Michael Shumacher, up till that day, I was undecided of who to support (As Kimi and Massa just don’t cut it for me), from that day onwards, I decided I would support Lewis all the way, and I hpe he will win the championship.

A big thank you must go out to Nescafe Singapore for this wonderful opportunity. It was a well organised event, and we tucked in to the spread prepared for us, and also went home happy with another goody bag! WOOHOO!!

Check out my momento.

And thanks Peilin! Yes lah! I always like getting phone call from you!