sebastian vettel's team radio after the race, singapore - september 26, 2010
Seb: "Great job, everyone. Very good weekend. We will get them. Don't you worry."
Minutes from today’s meeting:
✍️ The final edition of THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT is The Black Dog.
✍️ It has an exclusive bonus track on it called “The Black Dog” (naturally), and we will be endlessly hypothesizing what it’s about until April 19.
✍️ You can pre-order it until March 6 at 2pm ET (or while supplies last).
A couple months ago I received an email from Mimming's person in Singapore. Mimming is an almost 40 year old teddy bear, and she's been very well loved... and hugged.
This is what Mimming looked like when she was young:
And this is what she looked like at the start of 2023:
As you can see, she lost a lot of weight and fur from hugs over the years. Her eyes have cataracts (you'll see those better later), her nose is dangling due to muzzle shrinkage, and she has some pretty significant wounds she usually keeps under her shirt. But she's still a very cuddly bear with an endearing expression.
Her person was hoping to get Mimming recovered in new fur, so she could be hugged and have adventures for at least 40 more years. A new nose and new eyes were under consideration, and we agreed starting with a spa (especially since her stuffing was so compressed, was probably in order. So... Mimming found a flight with her buddy Little Mimming to keep her company (you'll see her later) and headed across the Pacific to CA. While Mimming is well travelled, this was a first solo Pacific flight, and so it was bit scary, hence the company. It actually took less than a week for her to arrive!
She started with her bubble bath, that way new fur would match her cleaned fur color.
You can see her cataracts, particularly in her right eye, and how loose and chipped her nose is here.
Next was deciding if she would get a new nose and eyes, or keep her originals. Turns out, there were many nose options. Smooth like nose, flocked/velvety, size differences:
Her person opted for a new, velvety, triangular nose. For her eyes, there was really only one option, new or not. I can usually get pretty good color matches, but Mimming's eyes had also faded, so new eyes would be a touch brighter. Once eyes or a nose come out, they can't go back in, and with recovering it's best to remove them before recovering, so this was a decision that needed to be made before fur choice. Here's the eye option next to her original eye:
Mimming's person opted for two new eyes. We agreed to preserve her old eyes and nose in her heart with a bit of her stuffing. But first, she needed new fur. Here were some of the white fur options:
Mimming's person went with the thick white faux fur, and surgery proceeded. For her brown patch, I had furs to match all of the white fur options, so we were all set there.
Here's her heart being made and installed:
And here are the first photos of Mimming in all new fur. She still has open seams, so her chubbiness can be adjusted:
While she sits naturally like in her baby photos, she can also lay flat like she could when she arrived. Chubbiness approved, Mimming got dressed and went outside for a photo shoot. She was well traveled, but had never been to California, and she wanted some photos as souvenirs. Little Mimming joined her for the photo shoot (those were the first tulips of the season):
And those adorable knitted overalls? Those are Mimming's regular travel clothes that she arrived in. Good thing that knit stretches. I particularly liked the little teddy bear buttons to hold the straps.
Mimming and Little Mimming flew home and again, it was a fast trip, just 5 days! Here they are safe and sound, albeit a little jet lagged, with their friends:
Her person wrote:
Thank you so much!! She looks amazing! We are so happy we got to spend the rest of our lifetime with her - another 40+ years!! Thank you Doctor Beth for taking great care of her. You’re such a blessing to all of us! Praying for your good health and good life. Stay happy and blessed!
sebastian vettel, p2, is interviewed during the post-race press conference, singapore - september 26, 2010
(transcript under the cut)
Interviewer: "Sebastian, you pushed him to the absolute limit today, but it wasn't to be. Did you ever think at any stage of the race that it might be on, particularly in the closing stages?"
Seb: "Well, it obviously was the only chance I had. Unfortunately in the beginning I had to, yeah, let him go a little bit, and then towards the end of the first stint the soft tires were [laughs] pretty much at the end. The car was sliding a lot. We came in at the same lap. Unfortunately at the pit stop I did a little mistake, but I think it would have been very close, so after that, you know…
And that's the story of the whole race. I tried to push him as hard as I could into a mistake. He didn't do a major mistake, so, as he said, obviously it's difficult to overtake here and it would have been too risky, so in the end we got away with second. Good points, but the most important is that the car is quick; competitive all weekend. There was a bit missing yesterday and probably that was what was missing today.
Had a very good start, so I think we made good progress on that. So yeah, in the end it's good to get good points for the team. It helps us a lot in the constructor's championship, and in the driver's championship still everything is open."
a 2024 Singaporean stamp released for the Year of the Dragon
[id: a postage stamp with a heavily stylized illustration of a dragon. the dragon has four legs, no wings, and a colorful mane. there is an abstract pattern on its body. the face value of this stamp is 2 Singaporean dollars. end id]