Water extremist

It was just amazing. I must have been crazy to have done it without prior experience. Perhaps it was more to do with the fact that I was turning twentysix, coupled with the occassional whackiness during this time of the year. There had been some shark sightings near the bay and a friend's mate getting swiped under the foot by a stingray in shallow waters just days before I embarked on this underwater adventure. I had been warned, yet I went.

As I drove down to Jervis Bay by myself, I was rather disappointed with the heavy downpour. Not that it would matter since I would be underwater anyway, but it was depressing to have this kind of weather leading up to the all important day of my life. The rain had subsided by the time I reached my destination, yet I was not all that happy. After some theory in the morning, we headed to the swimming pool to do some practical work. Before I even got to do anything in the water, I was already exhausted from carrying the gear and the oxygen tank from the ute to the poolside! I was suddenly caught in a funny limbo of excitement and tiredness. Imagine my horror when the instructor told us to do five laps in the pool! I seriously cannot recall when I last did a pool lap. In we jumped, all seven of us in the class, and it was freaking cold. Almost immediately, we were swimming our butts off to warm up. Occasionally I cheated, walking on the shallow part of the pool when the instructor wasn't looking. I did not initiate the cheat, that fourteen-year-old boy did.

Soon after we completed our laps, we were told to put on our wetsuits. I struggled big time as I just could not pull the suit past my big hips. Jumping back into the pool didn't aid my getting into the bloody suit. With the help of my American classmate, I tried jumping up and down while he held my suit so that I could slide in. After the whole ordeal, my fingers were already bleeding from all that friction work. Not too long after, I had cramps in my left calf. And I was very cold. The four day course suddenly didn't look all that attractive anymore. I blame it on the summer intern in the dive shop who insisted that the size I had for my wetsuit was perfect. It was obviously a size too small.

Day One finally ended, but I had much to catch up because I enrolled very late into the course and materials could not be sent out to me on time. So there I was, burning midnight candles, reading my pre work, doing Q&A, and watching a video. What a way to celebrate my birthday at the first stroke of midnight. But that's okay. It's something different I chose to do, by myself.

Day Two started off with shore dives and skills practice, and the weather was perfect. I must say I had a lot of trouble with one of the basic skills - flooding and clearing of the mask. A partial flood-and-clear was no trouble at all, but a full flood-and-clear was nowhere achievable, causing me to panic and swallow plenty of salt water to the point where I felt so blotted I could puke. Which I did, on my special day, and that felt good. There were of course no special treatments for me, even on a birthday, that if I could not fully flood-and-clear my mask, I cannot pass the test. I have one more day to prove I can do it.

Later that night, I bought myself a chocolate mud cake. No, that sounded sad. I bought a chocolate mud cake to share with others whom I was staying in the house with. They were all extremely friendly, most of whom are very experienced divers who offered to take me on shipwreck explorations on my next dive. Sick!

Day Three finally arrived and we went out on boat dives. I cannot begin to explain the wonders down under. Like wow. Here are some pictures, even tried to pick (or rather "steal") those similar in colour and size to the ones I saw.

L-R: Wobbegong shark;Nudibranch; Moray eel

I am now officially a Level 1 diver.

The next day, I gave surfing a go. It was on my to-do list for last summer, but a torn ligament in my ankle prevented me from doing so. Mum was protesting, but I just had to cross it off my list. And no, I haven't told her I went scuba diving. She would freak, seriously. But I doubt I'll do surfing again. There's just too much energy involved, paddling, waiting, rolling over, push&jump etc. And when I finally catch a wave, I bodyboard instead of standing up. To get back into the water is too troublesome, especially when the waves are big, and being a beginner you keep getting pushed back to shore or just getting whacked in the face. But it was fun while it lasted.

So there! In my short two weeks holiday over Chrissy and New Years (I know, this entry is so way overdue), I jam packed shopping, Christmas post parties, scuba diving, surfing, and body boarding. I have gone pretty tanned, unintentionally. I'm not quite sure if I like the new me.

Too busy to write

The Australian Open Tennis is on.

Strikethrough

It's amazing how many things you can cross off your ToDo list in a day, I mean on a "sickie" day - a slight headache after getting elbowed in the head during last night's netball game is my justification.

Book myself into day surgery due March check!
Enrol in the MAS Enrich programme check!
Hunt for cheap airfares check!
Stock up on painkillers check!
Do some grocery shopping check!
Take the cat to the vet for her vaccination check!
Clear the laundry basket check!
Sort receipts and papers check!
Collect health rebate check!
Sleep early will see!

Day dreamin

This week has been tiring, simply because, I was tired. And still am. But I have vowed to rid the house of white fur balls and annoying dust mites today. I will prevail, while listening to my current favourite crazy Icelandic song.

Highly recommended:

Sigur Ros's Takk..., which means Thank You. And my favourite song is Saeglopur, which means Lost At Sea - simply an awesome song.

I hate homework

Why does looking for cheap international airfare always such a strenuous task?

I will be home soon
Big fat red packets, wait for me
Oily stir fry char kuey teow, cry for me
Thai massage and night bazaars, welcome me

Kenshin beckons

It is still only the second day. I do not expect to recover from my fatigue and holiday mode just yet.

Looking around:
The table is strewn with pieces of paper and receipts.
The travelling bag is still unpacked.
The carpet is full of white fluffy fur balls.
The laundry basket is overflowing.

I am only this messy during certain times of the year. Like now. But I'd rather watch anime than clean up. Please pardon me, after all I haven't really rested.

Currently watching Rurouni Kenshin

The first work day of the year

Work was a real dread today. I rocked up late to a quiet empty office, except for the occassional out-of-tune singing from the other end of the floor, and left early to have an afternoon nap. Two weeks of jam-packed activities seriously does not warrant an immediate return to a comparatively mundane eight to five job. You've gotta earn the moo lah somehow to pay for the extreme sports I got myself into.

But I had a great start to the new year. Thank you for the lovely cards and text messages that flooded my mobile phone inbox on that very important day of the month. Some were disappointed I didn't reply as fast as they hoped to receive a nice thank you for their thoughts. It would be quite impossible to do that considering I was 30 feet underwater. But I got there.

I have turned yet another year older. Thank you koala, mlooky, rebootz, plyn, bw and sleong for the belated birthday celebs, pressie, unlimited dessert supply and super yummy prawn noodles. I couldn't have asked for more.

Finally, it's Christmas

This is my fifth year celebrating Christmas without my family. Guess it has become a norm, and I've never been worried at all. This Christmas I got adopted into two families for the celebrations while kindly rejecting a few other invites. I wished I could have attend them all. It's okay to be greedy during Christmas! :)

I spent lunch at one of my best mate's place down in Nowra. It was so good to see her parents again, as well as her four younger sisters whom I dearly miss. I've always been jealous of friends who can share slash interchange shoes and jewellery with their sisters. Having a little brother who is only two years my junior, we were playing car toys, watcing Transfomers on telly and building houses with legos. I didn't even have a Barbie doll unlike other normal girls. But, I like the abnormality - perhaps a very good thing in the end to help my survival in a male-dominant profession.

Dinner soon cropped up, and I enjoyed a tasty sophisticated dinner on a very well decorated dinner table, complete with table runners, bon bons, alternating coloured dinner plates and candles. Conversations on the dinner table were never ending, laughters were almost continuous, funny/disastrous childhood stories were precious.

I love Christmas.

Happy Feet

This has to be one of the best animated film I've seen so far. Though initially a little bit concerned as to how I will be able to distinguish one penguin from the other, I didn't have much trouble after all, a tiny achievement that may slowly help to remove the "sotong" a.k.a. "blur" title awarded to me ages ago.

With big names such as Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Hugh Jackman, and Nicole Kidman lending their voices, this was one of the much anticipated movies. Before long, I'd found myself moving and tapping to the invigorating music as the crazy singing dancing penguins render their heartsongs. If you are as naive as I am with these fluffy birds that live in the Antartic, you'll probably not only believe that a penguin can dance, but that he can also save the world.

My fav has got to be those jabbering amigos! Love the hilarious small talks! And I didn't expect to jump out of my seat during one of the chase sequences, where Mumble, the star penguin outcast who couldn't sing a single note, was desperately trying to elude a hungry leopard seal. Seriously fun to watch. Spectacular. And I know I should shut up now. :) Go watch those fluffy darlings.

Will write more soon

It's almost midnight and I haven't finished packing nor writing. I'm off scuba diving for the next four days. I'll be back. Oh, and happy new year everyone!