Ever since I was a child, I loved lying on a couch or bed reading - comics (my father and uncles were a source of action and cowboy comics from a now long gone shop on Orchard Road which we visited at least twice a week), books (an aunt who decided I should read 'good' books ordered Penguins and Pelicans through Robinson's - then in Raffles Place) and magazines from Reader's Digest, Time and Newsweek interspersed with Motor Sport and Autosport.
This inclination towards comfortable places expanded in scope to the party trick of falling asleep after good meal; I even remember falling asleep at the beginning of dinner after generous quantities of our host's wine on a hot and humid tropical night.
An old friend ribs me, even today, about her attempt to match make by inviting a potential suitor to dinner - unfortunately I did not make a suitable impression as I promptly fell asleep after dinner!
But I have improved with age and rarely do I indulge in my 40 winks, even after a good meal.
When my friends complain of insomnia, I count myself lucky that I can take 'zizz' wherever I happen to find myself - in aircraft, boats, cars, trains, homes, offices.
While waiting for my mother's turn to consult a TCM (traditional Chinese Medicine) practitioner in Hong Kong some years ago, I lay down on a bench and when it was our turn the receptionist thought I was the patient!
Yet I don't need to to be horizontal to fall asleep, any chair or bench will do. In recent times I've even fallen asleep having a root canal - must be the dark tinted shades they have us put on in dentists' surgeries.
When I raced Mini Coopers in the '70s I would catch some nerve-soothing shut eye in the back of an available comfortable car. When I went down to one horsepower and four legs instead of four wheels I looked for an unoccupied bench in the lady jockeys' changing rooms. In those days facilities for females could range from a proper changing room in the Singapore Turf Club at Bukit Timah to a borrowed storage cupboard in a more modest horse racing facility in Malaysia.
Since Singapore started holding night Formula 1 races three years ago I have developed some interest again in motor racing, after all even my lunch companions talk about F1 these days and they are not hoard, old petrol heads!
For the past two years I've watched Singapore F1 event on the Speed Channel in Florida. But this year I found myself in Singapore.
After giving it the briefest of thoughts, 'Rip Van Wong Holloway' decided not add to the number of my clan going to the races. It's not a matter of being good and green, but the thought of having to get there and back and many hours spent eating and drinking that daunt me.
It's not even a function of age because people much older than I are going to be there, but a matter of it being entertainment rather than sport.
Motor racing, especially F1, is big business and while one cannot fault its success, it's more than ever about money, putting on a good show (be it THE race itself or the peripheral entertainment), entertaining and being entertained.
So instead of making the hike downtown, I am staying home with our new LED TV and watching the HD telecast in peace and quiet - and comfort. Actually I am getting quite a kick out of getting a good deal on a flat screen that just fits into our existing cabinet - with only a couple of millimetres to spare on either side after I had removed the doors and all the internal hardwares.
Besides the tv set it is replacing was FREE to start off with! (Starhub - a local telco - had offered a free tv for each new sign-on several years ago). Now that's the sort bargain I like - and even Bernie Ecclestone (el supremo of F1) would approve!
On the other hand, my sister and some of my female friends who probably do not know a camshaft from a piston or tell the difference between carbon fiber and plastic, are heading for their respective Suites - where, in between chatting, eating and drinking, they will be catching glimpses of the race on tv sets.
Singapore being a street circuit is not conducive to over-taking, but I am hoping that with a handful of championship hopefuls on the grid and only 5 races to go, the younger ones will set caution aside and provide us with a spectacle.
A bit of rain will also add spice to things, ensuring that it will not be a boring procession with the pole-sitter leading the way to the chequered flag.
Some of you are in the USA; and if you are an early riser select the Speed Channel on Sunday morning (September 26) to watch the third Singapore F1 GP.
If nothing else, enjoy what money can do for a city skyline because Formula 1 and Nascar (America's favourite motor sport) are like chalk and cheese.
Mind you both these motor sports suffered a decline in viewership in 2009. A case of too many processions thanks to convoluted rules and regulations - and not enough on-track action?
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