Current mood:	bouncy
Entry tags:	chris tann, gt500kr, san francisco ford, shelby, yellow shelby

Lifestyles of the moderately well off and mostly unknown...
I am a reasonably self-confidant guy (no sniggering please!), but part of that self-confidence comes from having a realistic evaluation of my own strengths and weaknesses. Well, "weakness" is really the wrong word there - too pejorative. I really mean areas that are not my "strong suits".

For example, at a swanky black-tie event, packed with dignitaries, models and socialites, I don't consider it a "weakness", but I am fully aware that I am about the last person in the room the press is going to run up to and photograph. As you may have guessed, I had a first-hand experience with this last weekend, at the San Francisco Ford's "Star-Studded Grand-Opening Gala". We are talking about free-flowing champagne (Veuve Cliquot) and Caviar, with a few Hollywood Celebs (Amy Smart for a start) thrown in for good measure. I consider myself able to move in just about any social circle, but even in the obligatory penguin suit, I think I still stand out (and I don't mean in a good way!)

One of the benefits of knowing your strengths and weaknesses, though, is that you can often play your hand a little differently, maximizing those strengths, and minimizing the weaknesses. When invited to a Ford event, where everyone in the room has some sort of link to cars, and to Ford, I am lucky enough to have an Ace that I can pull out. Sure, no press photographer is going to rush to snap a photo of me, but just about everyone in the place was lining up to snap a photo of my car!

So, rather than "Some Random Engineer from San Jose", I shortly became know as "That guy With the Really Cool Car". OK, that may sound really shallow, but then again, how deep do you expect a pond made up of dignitaries, models and socialites to be? ;^>


Now lets be clear on this - I don't own a yellow 1968 Shelby GT500KR so people will "think better of me", or to impress people. I own her because it gives me immense pleasure. Sure, a happy side effect is the fact that she gets a lot of attention, and I get the chance to bask a little bit in the reflected glory. When everyone is taking photos of the beautiful people, why not live vicariously through your car?

Anyway, it was a fun event, they raised a bunch of money for The Art of Elysium - a charity that Jenny and I are seriously considering getting involved in. I met and chatted with some interesting people, and took photos of the hired help (i.e. the leggy models) draped on my car. Keep an eye out for the Yellow Shelby in the Society pages - she may just be my ticket to fame! ;^>

ps: take a look here for some more photos of the event.