The adventures of a freediving Smurf

Hello world!

2008-11-11T08:14:00.000-08:00

People have probably given up on checking this blog for updates, but I'm still going to write an entry because I haven't written in a while, and my hands are kinda itchy.

I've just started to work at Wisma Atria, at a quint little shop called Cotton On. It's a retail shop where most of the clothing is made from cotton. It's a very busy shop, as I soon found out, as the clothing there is really affordable, to the point where it seems dirt cheap as compared to many other brands. Our shop can be packed full, but Giordano or any other similar shop nearby will be empty, or close to.

So far, the experience working there has been good. I really like the people I'm working with. They're all friendly and nice, and patient with me when I ask questions. People who know me know that I can ask as many questions as a 4 year old; up in the hundreds during the course of a day. Though it rarely goes that high, it does happen.

The full timers there are the people I see the most, for obvious reasons. There is Candy (store manager), her sister Sandy (manager-in-training, or MIT), Estee (who calls me Mr Lovable) (second in charge), Simon (MIT), Rabia also known as Rabs (pronunced rubs) (MIT) and finally Zan (MIT). These are the people I see most, and I really like them.

Starting yesterday, 3 more MITs joined the full timers. Derek, Rena, Gilda. I worked with the later 2 today, and I must say I don't really like the way she works. She is very sloppy when she works, and it's so messy and untidy everywhere she works. It's rather unprofessional. And what annoys me is that when she runs (which means to take clothes the people at the fitting room tried and don't want back to it's original location), she dumps the clothes that are in my zone onto my table. I mean, come on. Today I was busy as it is, covering 2 zones, with the front always being messy. I have to keep folding clothes, and on top of that keep those that you are supposed to? I mean, even if you don't put them back, at least fold them nicely, not just dump them messily. Rena did the same, dumping clothes on me, although she wasn't sloppy with her work.

Oh well, it's over now. I guess I forgive them because it's their first day. I haven't worked with Derek, but from what I saw yesterday, he seems like a good worker.

I'm a bit worried that there are these new full timers. That means I get to work less hours, because I am a part timer, and the schedule for the whole month has already been planned. There are also a shit load of part timers, so the shifts gets spread around. Bugger. I'm already used to working the full timers hours, which was what I did the first week. Argh! Hopefully this works itself out.

So, back to brighter subjects. I want to get new stuff. I already bought new sunglasses, Oakley Twitch Polished white frame with Black Iridium lens. They look sweet and fit very well. I'm well chuffed. I now want to get a new folder (or folding knife for those who don't know knife lingo). My Buck 112 is ready for retirement. It's older than me (30 years), and is still razor sharp! It still has it's factory edge. Amazing. However, it's not one handed opening, so it's a bit troublesome. And it's rather heavy and bulky too.

Anyway, folder. Yes. I am looking at SOG Knives. The SOG Pentagon Elite I and Vulcan Mini both look great and are affordable. I like the Pentagon because of it's blade shape, but it's rather long at 4 inches for the blade length. The Vulcan Mini has a nice blade too, not quite what I was looking for, but at 3 inches, an ideal blade length.

I'm also looking at Japanese folders. These aren't openly marketed. Some are quite expensive, but the ones I'm looking at are cheaper than the SOGs, in another class when it comes to looks, and possibly are better made. The thing is, the have to be imported, so they might get stuck at Customs for a bit. I'm afraid Customs won't release it, being the nit pickers they are. So I'm torn between the two different sources. Argh, stress.

Don't know what to do. So many troubles in my head. I think I'll head to bed now.

2008-09-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

The Singapore F1 race happened last Sunday, and dare I say, the Singaporean Kiasu attitude paid off! The Grand Prix was a resounding success! I can't believe it. I thought the race would be just another race, but wow, what a night!

Everything went right last weekend. Fernando Alonso led the practice sessions on Friday, which got my hopes up for him winning. Unfortunately during Sat's Q2, his car had a electrical failure, which cost his a possible pole position. Bugger. Renault boss Flavio Briatore said the failure cost 3 pounds. Can you believe that? A 3 pound problem almost cost him a race!

Anyway, consolation came in the form of Valentino Rossi. He won the Japanese Grand Prix to secure his 8th World Championship. Woo hoo! He did a great job, starting 4th on the grid, before overtaking Stoner 11 laps before the end of the race. Great ride, absolutely perfect. Typical Rossi, methodically picking his opponents apart. He deserves this win, he's such a wonderful rider! This season has been great for him, no issues with the bike, unlike last season where his tyres gave him problems. Hopefully he sets the record for most Championship wins, which is 9 or 11 I think.

Going on to Sunday, Alonso started 15th on the grid. For some reason or other, I knew in my heart that Alonso would win. I thought I was mad, but hey, he did! He didn't perform an extraordinary feats, but he ran a clean race and eventually took the race lead and the chequered flag.

His good fortune came of course from his team mate's misfortune. Piquet Jr spun out after gassing it too soon coming out a corner, slamming his car head first into the safety barriers. The safety car came out, and everyone had to line up behind it. Flavio Briatore of course insisted that the SC came out because of Barrichello's car stopping, not Piquet Jr's crash. Keeping telling yourself that, Briatore.

Anyway, Alonso was lined up 4th behind Kubica, Trulli and Rosberg. Rosberg and Kubica had to do stop and gos, while Trulli had to pit, so eventually, Alonso had the lead. Rosberg however was the highlight. He pulled some stunning laps before serving his penalty, and managed to come out 4th in front of Nakajima and Hamilton. Amazing stuff!

Other highlights of the race include Ferrari's pit error. Massa took off with the fuel nozzle still attached to his car! He drove to the end of the pit lane, stopped, and had his engineers yank it out. Still got a drive-through though. That pit erros cost Kimi dear too, however he did get up to 5th when the SC came out again. Oh but he messed up 4 laps away from the flag. He took the chicane too fully and flew, just like Fisichella did during Sat's practice session. Too bad Kimi, you had my support.

Vettel continued placing well after his marvellous wet victory in Monza, in a Stryker no less! Rosberg, of course, fabulous drive in Singapore, placing second. Hamilton didn't impress, but anyway I don't support him, my loyalties are with Kimi, Alonso and Kubica. Possibly Vettel now too.

Poor Sutil, crashing because of Massa. Massa too, disappointing. Really sucked during this race. Other retirees are Webber: transmission and Trulli: hydraulics. Continuing with highlights, Sir Jackie Stewart managed to make Frank Williams dress in some weird pants. Something about a bet Franks Williams lost to Sir Jackie Stewart. Glad to see they still have fun!

Ok, back to the present. I saw a diving documentary with Tanya Streeter today. Saw her only BO recorded on TV. The programme made it over dramatic. Anyway, she did a 91m No-Limits dive, taking 1:40. Fascinating. You know, No-Limits doesn't look that hard...

Oh, got to go! Computer time's run out. Ciao!

Back!

2008-09-20T15:26:00.001-07:00

It's been quite a while since I last blogged. As mentioned before, procrastination is such a crime. Hey, but this time I have a more valid reason.

A while back, maybe 2 months or more, I lost the use of my computer. Long story short, it was taken away from me. Nowadays, I hardly get to sneak a use on my Mom's computer, and each time, barely lng enough to check email and Deeperblue. Sometimes I sneak in a Facebook moment.

But as you can see, that kind of time isn't long enough to write a blog post. So that's why I haven't posted in a while.

Well, what can I write? There's so many things to write, yet nothing's coming to me at the moment. So let's start off systematically, starting with those that are at the edge of my memory.

The SCV top box broke down 2 Fridays ago. It didn't as much broke down as exploded. Yep, it went 'bzz, bzz, POOF!' into a cloud of smoke and sparks. It was quite a sight. And it didn't get fixed until Tuesday, so for 3 days I didn't watch any TV, which is a little strange, but I got by ok. Didn't die of boredom or anything.

So, the SCV repairman came on Tuesday, and after looking around a bit trying to figure out what the problem was, gave up and presented us with a new set top box. I was expecting a cooler looking box, seeing that StarHub updates their box design frequently, but nope, I was denied that joy. They gave us a similar looking box.

But there was a nice surprise. Apparently, there will be a couple extra channels that will be free to view for the next one month. Now I get to watch channels that I've never seen before, which is nice. I mostly watch the NatGeo channels, I love NatGeo programmes.

Another thing off the top of my head. On Sep 2, an aqquaintence of mine was killed in a car crash. He was only 16 years old. For the local readers, he was the kid who was driving without a liscense, lost control and crashed. He was killed instantly. Rest in peace Ken, you were a wonderful person.

Back to something less depressing now. I realised after watching all those NatGeo programmes that I really don't like dolphins and whales all that much. I wonder why those kids who go to dolphin shows all turn to their parents and go 'I want to be a dolphin trainer when I grow up!'. They're not as interesting as so many other creatures that live in the oceans.

Also noted is that many people enrol into a Marine Biology course with the intention of becoming a dolphin trainer or get to work with dolphins. First off, the number of those kind of jobs are close to zero. Secondly, that area of speacialisation usually falls under zoology, not marine biology. So my advice to people who want to become dolphin trainers: don't.

Right, so anyway, I myself want to become a marine biologist. Since I was little, I've always been fascinated by science and knew I wanted to become a scientist. Growing up, I soon discovered my love for the oceans, and soon I knew that I wanted to become a marine biologist. Best of both worlds!

In my fantasies, I would dream of going on diving expeditions and discovering new species of marine life. I would catch specimens and research their behaviour, habits etc. In reality those, such a job is hard to get. Hopefully one day though, I get to do something similar to that.

I'm rushing through this post because of lack of time, so there isn't much details about each subject. Next time I get on, I'll try to elaborate more. Till then, tara (pronounced churar, meaning goodbye)!

Love actually

2008-07-31T20:13:00.000-07:00

It must be springtime here, because a lot of couples are blooming during this period. A couple of my friends are getting attached this past few days. Of course it's a good thing, because getting together means they'll have some happy times, which may or may not last due to a number of factors.

I mean, people my age generally aren't ready for a serious relationship. However, many of them do not realise it, or they do, but when they're in that relationship, and they try to get something better out of it, and when it doesn't work out, it devastates them. It's sad, really.

As I've been told, at this age, everything should be fun, and one should be having a ball of a time. This is the period when one doesn't have much (if at all) worries in life, so he should just enjoy. Even if one does get into a relationship and it doesn't work out, one still has a fufilling and long life in front of him. He'll have time to get another mate in the future.

And love. Do people my age actually know what romantic love is? Sure everybody experiences familial love, and possibly platonic love if they're lucky, but romantic love is quite different from either. To say you love somebody is a serious thing. People use it too lightly these days. I mean, 2 weeks into a relationship and one says 'I love you' to a partner? A little quick, don't you think?

Then again, who am I to say these things. Coming from a person who has absolutely no romantic history at all, my statements probably hold no ground.

However, I have experienced the heartbreaks of so many of my friends. I play somewhat of a Cupid, nuturing the relationships of others, and also when others go down, I play the wise man, dishing out advice and helping them make it through the troubled times.

I would say then, that I have extensive experiences from an outsider's point of view, and thus am good at judging relationships. In this case, do I have any credibility? It matters not to me. I only write what I feel, and that is the purpose of a blog.

In a perfect world, everything works out. Remember then people, that we do not live in a perfect world. The world is a cruel and difficult place. If you find something good, hold on to it.

Clear

2008-07-24T03:21:00.000-07:00

Short post today. I don't think I can manage to write a long one.

This morning I went over to Jade's place to train a bit. Well, not really train because I refused to do much. I think more like me being accustomed to the whole idea of training again.

So anyway, I went over in the morning. We did a couple of breathholds each, before heading for the hot tub, which has sort of become a ritual for us over time. Body's going all like, 'I'm cold, get me some heat, quick!' and the nearest source of that happens to be the hot tub, which sometimes can disappoint with the lack of heat.

After that, we went up to her place to change up. She gave me a really delicious Indian snack to eat, and a chocolate muffin that she made. Yummy. Nothing like tasty food after training to perk me up.

When she was in the bath, I happened to see a copy some magazine on her coffee table. What caught my eye was the huge freediver slapped on the front page. It was her bestie, Matt. Cool. Inside the magazine, there is a 5 page article about freediving and him. Nice one mate. Good way to attract sponsors.

When Jade came out of the bath, she showed my another magazine, this time it was about Will Winram freediving with tiger sharks. The photography was amazing, but I didn't get to read the article due to lack of time. I shall need to visit her house soon to read that article.

As usual, we chatted and chatted. Today Jade left me with on very important lesson that didn't mean much till recently. She said, don't live life with regrets. Don't miss your opportunity now, and in the future, look back and say that you could have done something about it.

For me, at this period of time, that statement is very deep. I hope I can live without regrets.

After we split, I headed to town to walk around. I hate crowds, so 1pm on a Thursday afternoon is a good way to avoid the masses. I walked around Takashimaya, and ended up in the sporting department. Somehow a poster of CressiSub products caught my eye, and I walked over to check it out.

In the corner of the sports department, there is this little outdoor-type shop. There's a section of it with snorkelling gear from Cressi. That means masks, snorkels and snorkelling fins. I found a really nice snorkel that I liked, and got it. It's $12, pretty sleek, and transparent. Matches my Ice fins!

I also saw that they had a Minima. While I was tempted to get the mask, I knew I shouldn't waste unecessary money on things I don't need. Afterall, I already have a Sphera and an Alien.

So I'm pretty happy with today. But paintball was cancelled because of the weather, so no game. Perhaps another time. We've been having so much trouble getting the troops together.. Lucky for us, Jane, who works for Red Dynasty, understood our plight and offered to refund us our deposit. How nice of her and the park! Thanks a lot!

I'm waiting on Jie to reply to the message I sent her. No paintball, but I was hoping to meet up with her for dinner.

Law abiding

2008-07-18T06:27:00.000-07:00

I have always been questioned by people if it is illegal to carry a small knife around in daily life. And while I have never known the answer, I have always answered yes, because I know for a fact that unless you're carrying an offensive weapon without a lawful purpose, you cannot be charged.

I finally found enough reason to find out an answer. Here's what I found:

I quote the 'CORROSIVE AND EXPLOSIVE SUBSTANCES AND OFFENSIVEWEAPONS ACT' from Singapore Statures OnLine:

Carrying offensive weapons in public places.6. —(1) Any person who in any public road or place carries or has in his possession or under his control any offensive weapon otherwise than with lawful authority or for a lawful purpose shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years and shall also be punished with caning with not less than 6 strokes.

(2) In any prosecution for an offence under subsection (1), the onus of proving the existence of a lawful purpose shall lie upon the accused.

(3) A weapon shall be presumed to be carried with lawful authority if it is carried —

(a) by a member of the Singapore Armed Forces or of the Singapore Police Force or of any visiting force lawfully present in Singapore under the provisions of any law relating to visiting forces; or

(b) by any person as part of his official or ceremonial dress on any official or ceremonial occasion.

(4) An offence under subsection (1) shall be deemed to be a seizable and non-bailable offence.

Take note of Section 6 subsection 1, it states 'Any person who in any public road or place carries or has in his possession or under his control any offensive weapon otherwise than with lawful authority or for a lawful purpose shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years and shall also be punished with caning with not less than 6 strokes'.

And the interpretion of "offensive weapon" includes any instrument which if used as a weapon of offence is likely to cause hurt.

Which means the knife falls under this category, for obvious reasons.

So basically, if you carry a knife, you can be guilty of an offence. Unless, like I said, you provide a lawful purpose. Lawful meaning 'being in harmony with the law' or 'conforming with the law'. So if a person (like me) carries a knife around for cutting fruits and general purpose use, it's fine. That is my interpretation of this law (is this a law?).

Of course, if you go around town flashing your knife at everyone you see, the police is not going to believe you when you say 'it's for cutting fruits', needless to say why.

Also, take note of "scheduled weapon", which means any offensive weapon specified in the Second Schedule.

The Second Schedule states:

1. Any knife, sometimes known as a flick knife, which has a blade which opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in or attached to the handle of the knife. Note: HANDLE.

2. Any knife, sometimes known as a gravity knife, which has a blade which is released from the handle or sheath thereof by the force of gravity or the application of centrifugal force and which, when released, is locked in place by means of a button, spring, lever or other device.

3. Any whip manufactured from bicycle or motor cycle chains or from any similar kind of chainwork.

4. All kinds of knuckledusters.

5. Any blade or other instrument attached to or forming part of a bicycle pump, metal-pipe or stick, and concealed therein, which is capable of being used for cutting or stabbing.

6. Any sword, machete or parang, axe, sickle, bearing scraper, spear, bayonet, iron rod, and the nancha-ku (segments of wood or metal joined by a chain, leather strap or cord).

And the Law pertaining to this:

A person in possession of any scheduled weapon shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years and shall also be punished with caning with not less than 6 strokes, and in the case of a second or subsequent offence to imprisonment for a term of not less than 2 years and not more than 8 years and shall also be punished with caning with not less than 6 strokes.

The Forgotten

2008-07-17T02:24:00.000-07:00

Being the jobless person I am just recently, I have a lot of time nowadays to surf the internet.

Today I was going through my Facebook updates, and saw that Eunice wrote that 'she's been forgotten'. Immediately I thought about Jade, because she has written that exact same sentence in May, before we left for our Sipadan scuba/free-diving trip.

I thought about it for a while, before coming to the (obvious) conclusion that a person is never forgotten, at least not while he's still alive. There will always be someone who will think about you, wondering if you're well, worrying about your safety.

Be it your mother, father, sister, brother, or a friend who you'd never think will be there for you, someone's always thinking about you.

Of course, I understand that people write those updates on Facebook for dramatic effect (mostly). I'm just writing my thoughts about the matter, so please don't be offended or feel the need to argue with me.

I myself wouldn't mind being forgotten from time to time. Then I'd be able to do what I really want. You know how sometimes you just want to be alone and enjoy the quiet, and you can't because you're in the middle of a bustling city, where everyone is talking or doing something? I'd like to leave that behind.

That's why I go on the weekend trips to Tioman or Dayang/Aur. Of course I go for the diving, but mostly for the peace, though it isn't always the case. I like it when things are taken slow. I don't like it how life is so rushed. What are we rushing for?

When I'm on Dayang especially, I love to just abandon everyone after dinner and go lie in the sand just above the drift line.

I would lie down and look up at the beautiful starry night sky. I would play with the fine white sand, letting it flow between my fingers. I would hear the waves crash gently on the beach, and take in the fresh scent of the sea. Time almost seems to stop for me, almost as if to say that I could have the moment for ever and ever.

I never thought I would be able to enjoy such a simple thing. In the past, I never understood when people said they enjoy the simpler things in life. Nowadays, I feel like I'm beginning to appreciate those things. And it's a lovely feeling.

Like when I freedive by myself (sorry Jade, I know I shouldn't), I feel so free. Things slow down. It becomes so peaceful, and it's so different. All of a sudden, you hear the sounds of the ocean you've never heard before. It's like the ocean begins to talk to you. The fish chirp, they groan, bark, even sing. It's amazing.

I like to forget that I'm only a visitor to the ocean, but pretty soon I will get reminded of who I am. If I don't go up for a breath, the ocean that is so beautiful will consume me for ever.

I'd like to be forgotten for a while again sometime soon. Whether by others or by myself.

Waffle Time!

2008-07-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

Today turned out to be a great day! Why? Because we had WAFFLE TIME! WHEEEE!

I had been planning Waffle Time for quite a while now, actually since before the Tioman trip. But everytime we had a date going, people would cancel at the last minute because they had something they had to attend to. While I don't blame them, I do need to get my fill of waffles.

I thought about it for a while, and finally figured that if I asked enough people, some of them would eventually come, wouldn't they? So that's what I did.

I quickly went to the Evite website when I got back from Tioman and made up an invitation. For those of you who don't know, Evite is an online application that sends out invites, and has the capability to track the RSVPs. This is a useful tool that I got to know about when Jade sent me an invitation for Andrew's surprise party.

Anyway, in a couple of minutes, I had drawn up an invitation. I gathered the emails of the people who I had previously invited during the Tioman trip and entered them into the system. Pretty soon, my invitations were on the way.

Now, when I had recieved my Evite invitation from Jade, it had ended up in my inbox. However, some of the invitations I sent ended up in the junk/bulk folders of the recipients. That kinda screwed up my plans, so to rectify it, I sent out the invite again using regular mail.

Turns out, I didn't do my job well. Apparently, most of the people I sent the mails to didn't know who I was. I mean they do know who I was, but as I had kept my name to myself during the Tioman trip where I had met all of them, nobody knew it was me (Mark) who sent the mail. So in the end, only the people who knew who sent the mail RSVP'ed, which turned out to be a miserable 3.

And out of that 3, Jens couldn't make it, as she had meetings to attend at the last minute. (Don't worry Jens, it's not your fault. These things are out of your control) So only Rachael and Adriel were expected to go to Waffle Time.

However, when I arrived at Woodlands MRT station, I was surprised to see another 2 people waiting with them, named Johnathan and Jo Lyn. The 2 of them were also coming along to Waffle Time. Even though I didn't know them, it is always nice to share Waffle Time with as many people as possible.

So the 5 of us went up to Gelare in Causeway Point. When we reached the place, we were horrified to find that it was full. I didn't expect it, but thinking back, of course it would be full. Tuesdays are when waffles are at half price, so it would make sense that people would take advantage of the deal. And also, there is a school full of ravenous students nearby with spending power (RP).

After a bit of waiting in line, we finally got a table to seat the 5 of us. Which was good as I was already drooling, thinking about the waffle that I was about to eat. Not to mention that I was very hungry due to the fact that I hadn't eaten anything throughout the whole day in anticipation of Waffle Time!

We quickly placed our orders and paid up. During the wait, I showed them the book I had brought along. It is a picture book about the island of Sipadan. I thought that as divers (turns out the other 2 are as well), they might be interested to see the beautiful pictures that are in the book.

Halfway through the book, our food came. Exchanging the book for a delicious waffle wasn't a very difficult thing to do. So I chucked the book aside, and was onto my waffle in no time. It didn't take very long for me to wolf down the waffle, considering the situation. And personally, I don't believe you have to eat slowly to fully enjoy food.

We had a great time laughing and joking while we were there, and on the way home as well. The bunch of people I was with turned out to have real ticklish funny bones, and we laughed and laughed for pretty much the entire time we were together. That is a lovely way to spend time with people. I really enjoyed myself today.

I will be planning another Waffle Time to be held in about 2 weeks, so check your inboxes! Jade, our Waffle Time is to be scheduled for another time, I'll keep you posted!

Birthday

2008-07-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

Today was pretty much like any other day, except for the fact that we celebrated Andrew's birthday at Little Bali.

Jade had been planning the event for 2 months now. She wanted to give Andrew a very memorable birthday party, and so has been sneaking behind his back, planning this party for him. And she did very well to conceal the event from him too. Until the moment he saw us, he no idea that anything was planned. And he was really happy to see his friends coming out to celebrate with him.

I left the house at 1855hrs to make my way over to Little Bali, which was located at Lock Road, which is near Alexandra Road. I had earlier calculated that it would take me about an hour to get to the place from where I was, so I had left the house when I did to arrive punctually. Punctually being 2000hrs.

However, being the scatterbrain that I seemed to be these days, this walking genius cleverly crossed the road to the bus stop opposite from where his house was. So what's wrong about that? Well nothing, except for the fact that the party was the other way. It took me quite a while before I realised I was headed in the wrong direction.

When I realised what I did, I gave my head an almighty smack, which drew the attention of several passengers on the bus. They must have thought I was some kind of nut job. I quickly pressed the bell, and alighted at the very next stop. Since I had planned my journey very precisely, I knew I was bound to be late if I took the bus again.

With all options exhausted (actually I had many other options, but was lazy), the only choice left was to request help from my creator. No, not that Creator. He's for more important things and cannot be disturbed for such trivial matters. I meant my father.

I gave him a call on his cell, and thankfully, he was headed in the same direction I was going, Alexandra! It was really fortunate, because otherwise he would not agree to send me anywhere. My other Creator must have helped a bit too. Thank You!

I took a bus back home, and after a bit of a wait, my father's car appeared in the distance. I got into his car and we were soon on our way. There was a bit of a jam when we entered the expressway, but the traffic was still moving so it didn't worry me all that much. I knew we would get there, albeit later than sooner. Still, I was grateful. At least I wouldn't be late.

And late I wasn't. I arrived promptly at 2000hrs, on the dot! Coolio! I was a bit hesistant to go to the reserved table, because there would be people there that I wouldn't know. Then God pulled another string of his. The moment I got out of the car, Adeline got out of hers and waved to me. How fortunate! And so we walked in while her husband parked their car.

A teenager greeted us as we entered the place. First thing I noticed about her was that she was cool. I absolutely loved her hair, which was basically like mine (long, swept acrossed the forehead), but with so much more flair. Even though her clothes were last seasons, her hair made all the difference. And yeah, I shouldn't be commenting about fashion, considering the way I dress.

We soon got to the table where most everyone was already seated. I gave an almighty 'Hello!' to everyone at the table, before going around to introduce myself to everyone. I met lovely Susan, whom I've heard a lot about from Jade (what about cake time?!). I also met pretty Ji-Young, whom Jade also mentions frequently. I met all the other friends of Jade/Andrew as well.

And apparently, I had gained some fame as Smurfie. When I introduced myself to Susan, she went, 'Oh I know who you are! You must be Smurfie!'. More or less the same with the others. 'Ah, you're Smurfie!'. Which was kinda cool. Even though I no longer will be known as Mark, Smurfie is quite a unique nickname. Well, rather then Egghead...

Not too long after we sat down, the couple arrived. All of us present gave Andrew a big greeting, which surprised him greatly. It was really lovely seeing that look on his face. I was really happy for him, as all his friends came out to celebrate with him.

After greeting everyone, they finally sat down at the table. We order drinks and requested for the food to be served. While that was happening, everyone brought out their gifts for him. I almost gave myself another great smack, because the genius that I was forgot to bring the present I had gotten for him! What an embarassment! But I got away, because I was the kid. Hehe.

The food came in due time, and we tucked in. I must say, the food was half decent. From what I read on food blogs, the place didn't have the best of rep for good food. It was more about the ambience. But I liked the food, and helped myself to it shamelessly. The highlight of the meal was the fried mantous! Oh, mantou mantou, I love you. Those mantous can make me weak in the knees.

So we had our meal, chatted quite a bit. Everyone was laughing and talking and generally having a good time. I really enjoy being in that kind of situation, whether it involves me or not. That vibe that people give off, it makes me smile.

After the meal we basically mingled. For a moment everything on my side of the table halted, because a cockroach had come flying at us and the girls were freaking out. Using my super fast thinking and kick ass ninja skills, I trapped the cockroach under a plate. Ha! Take that you flying abomination! I must admit I felt kinda cool when I did that. It's not often you get to show off your cockroach trapping skills.

And soon after that, we had cake! It was the birthday cake for Andrew. It was a chocolate cake with a biscuit bottom and a jellied top. The jelly on top was so that a design could be put on the cake. The design was... a monkey! How cute is that!

After everyone had their fun commenting about the monkey, the candles were lighted and we sang Andrew a birthday song. Then, it was cake cutting time. With all the cake slicing skills of an ogre, Andrew cut pieces of cake out for everyone. It was kinda fun, because people got to choose what part of the monkey they wanted. Susan got the eye, and Gerry got the frontal lobe (brain). I got the sinus cavity. Charming.

After cake, we mingled somemore. Pretty soon though, and one by one, people started leaving as it was getting late. First it was Ad and Stephen (her husband), then it was Karen (I think that was her name) and Gerry. Then Susan and her hubbie, then the Indian couple whose names I completely forgot!

It soon came down to Jade, Andrew, me, Ji-Young and her husband, Boris. We requested for the bill, and after settling some finaces, we got up to leave. We saw that cool (and cute too) girl as we came out, and she got cabs for us. Ji-Young's cab came first, and after a long wait and another cab later, ours came too. We cabbed to Jade's place first, then I cabbed home.

Right now I'm rushing to finish this entry cause my stomach is killing me. I hate tummy aches! Alright folks, I'm going to go. I've gotta nuke the head! Au revoir!

Tioman

2008-07-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

White sandy beaches, clear blue skies and warm, inviting clear waters. Big fish, small crustaceans and beautiful corals. These are the things that lure me to diving, like a moth that is enticed by a glowing light.

Tioman is all of that, except maybe the part about warm and clear waters. The waters are fairly murky, and the temperature isn't exactly toasty. Not to my skinny ass anyway. Brrr.

It wasn't too long after I returned from Sipadan that Uncle Lloyd told me about the trip. But even though I had just returned from Sipadan, I knew I had to go away for another dive trip or I might go mad. So I did.

I was in need of a diving holiday when Uncle Lloyd told me that he was going to Dayang. Although further away from Tioman, I actually like Dayang island much better than Tioman, unless of course the people I'm going with are great. In the end though he decided to go to Tioman.

This trip, we had 17 OWDs (term for Open Water Divers eg, new divers) and 6 AOWDs. On top of that, there were quite a few leisure divers, and not forgetting the crew. In total there were over 40 divers! This was a first for Hardy Tadpole, Uncle Lloyd's dive company.

Most of the divers were from Republic Poly (RP). Majority of them were students, but there were teachers too, 2 to look after the students, the others to enjoy a short holiday.

All the divers met at 7pm on Friday night at RP, to gather gear and get on the bus, on time. I had gone to the school earlier to have dinner with Jenny, but she was later than me, who was also late, so we didn't manage to grab a bite. However I did manage to get Reen to grab some (junk) food for me on her way over.

Closer to go-time, the divers started trickling through the gates of the school. Jenny, who was from the school, was stressed to bits about everything. She was busy getting everything to go smoothly, and it didn't help that most of the students need to be told what to do, otherwise they would not move at all and just sit around.

As luck would have it, we managed to fit (stuff) every one of the RP contingent into the bus transport that was to take them to Mersing, and in time too. I was fortunate enough to have had a comfortable seat assigned to me in a car which was driven by someone who loved to go fast.

Mr Fu (our driver and DM) took off the moment everyone was in the bus. We hit a traffic jam shortly after we left the gates of the school, but it was smooth driving after that. We had so much time to spare, because Mr Fu drove like a madman, that we even had time to have stop for dinner and still reach Mersing ahead of everyone.

The bus took some time to get to the port. We were getting a bit agitated waiting for it to arrive with all the students, as it was early in the morning (o100hrs) when we arrived in Mersing, and most of of wanted to get to the island quick to catch a quick nap before heading off for our morning dives.

Finally after a fair amount of waiting, the bus showed up with all the students. All of them were thickly wrapped in thermal layers, complaining about how cold the bus was as they got off. After getting their gears, we brought everyone to queue for the boat.

It was low tide by the time everyone was ready to leave, and our ferry was parked offshore to escape being beached by the receding tide. We thus boarded a tiny transfer boat to get to our ferry. In the midst of the ensuing chaos, Uncle Lloyd forgot to bring his dive bag with him, and it was left in the port. It did however make it to him the next day.

The boat trip was fairly uneventful. I made some new friends during the 2 hour ride to the island. Ken (buddy, as I would call him later), Ivan, Addie, Sabrina, Carome, Eunice etc. They are nice. I mean, they talked to me the whole ride to Tioman! Everyone knows I talk, a lot.

Soon enough, we reached the island. The boatman did some skillful manuevering to get the boat alongside the jetty. Once secured, everyone got off the boat. We headed straight to our designated bunks in the resort and before long, most were snoring. I was one of those who couldn't sleep, but I did eventually.

The next morning at 7, we dragged our tired asses to the dining area to have a bite before heading out. Something screwed up, so we only left the place at half past 10. Some people were getting a bit agitated with the wait, but all were elated when we got up to leave.

The first dive of the day was my favourite. I saw loads of stuff, many of which I was the only who saw. All the divers on that same dive did not like the dive, rating it last among the 3 dives we would do that day. Strange.

Nothing much about the dives I want to write about. I don't advocate people touching anything underwater, so I was a bit pissed when the divers went around flipping everything. That being said, even though I don't touch anything whilst under, I did mutilate 4 Crown of Thorns very badly with my knife. I just had to. I'm sorry, really I am, but I personally think I am doing the reef a favour.

I didn't dive on the second day. I wanted to do a bit of shallow freediving/snorkelling (which I happen to really really enjoy) so I packed my scuba gear early. Turned out that I couldn't do any freediving during that day.

It was utter chaos. Uncle Lloyd dropped us in a current, and when the scubies went down, some couldn't. The boat had already gone off a distance, and the water was murky, so in seconds, me and the scubies with problems lost sight of the other divers.

Time was ticking. We were being swept out to sea and lost forever! Well maybe not, but it was not a pleasent situation. There was a pontoon a swimmable distance away, but against current. It was our only chance of survival. Turns out one of them cannot fin hard enough, so I had to drag his heavy ass (plus the 16 pounds of weight he was wearing) against current to the pontoon. As if it couldn't be any harder.

I got them safely to the pontoon in due time. Pretty soon Uncle Lloyd spotted us and came to pick them up. Whilst this was happening, the fat guy (Farhan) dropped his 16 pound weightbelt into the consuming blue. And I was tasked by Uncle Lloyd to try to find it, which I attempted to do later on.

All of a sudden, all the other scubies started popping out of the sea, like daisies! Except daisies don't grow in the sea. Many were girls, and some started panicking, no thanks to the China dude who was screaming his balls off. I went to help them, but Uncle Lloyd told them to float down current and the boat will go pick them up later.

I looked like fool scrambling over to help. Oh well, I was concerned wasn't I? I had good intentions at heart. Haha. But by then my heart rate was way up, and I couldn't go down too long on a breath. I may have given freedivers a bad name by not staying under long enough. Scubies don't understand or care; all they want is proof you can stay down for at least a minute. Well, not with my heart rate like this, no!

After resting on the boat for sometime, mingling, it was soon time to get in for the second dive. I couldn't freedive as I had been tasked to find the weightbelt. Though I was wondering, how the hell was I going to drag 16 pounds of weight, stay afloat, and go back the 200m to the boat? Luckily, I didn't find the belt.

During that swim for the quest of the belt, I encountered 2 huge-ass cudas! They were easily 1.5m long, and staring at me, like I was lunch! Naturally I got a bit unnerved, but I swam past them and nothing happened. It was an interesting swim, that one. Me looking back constantly, half expecting 2 cudas to come charging out of the gloom straight for me.

Eventually I got back to the boat, and manage to scare the girls playing in the water shitless. I used my breath holding skills (which are limited) and covertly swam a distance underwater and came bursting out in front of them! I almost died laughing. And that was pretty much it for the second day.

Oh, the RP students are horrendous. They seem to have a unique skill in losing/breaking things. It was all incredulous to me. Though I too broke my snorkel holder when I dived head first into the blue from a height. Oh well, at least I could freedive to collect the snorkel which had become unattached.

Another interesting event happened on the first night on the island. A fishing trawler caught fire and burned at an incredible rate. I think no was was hurt, but I heard that the owner was inconsolable. Afterall, it's their only source of income.

We headed back to Mersing at noon on the second day. We managed to get back without anyone doing a merlion (Singapore slang for puking) even though the sea wasn't a mirror. It was actually rather rough. Waves were high and the boat rocked violently.

Amongst all that turmoil though, Siva, Jenny, MC, Adriel, Racheal and Diana managed to sleep on the floor of the upper deck. The most incredible feat though was performed by Eunice. She managed to sleep on one of 2 benches on the upper deck, and she didn't fall off when the boat went side to side! It was like seeing a parrot roosting in the trees during a storm.

I sat Mr Fu's car back, and again on the way we stopped for dinner. We were the only ones fast enough to have time for a stop, both going to Mersing and coming back. We had an incredible seafood dinner courteous of Mr Fu. However, we misjudged our timing, and got stuck in the traffic jam while heading home. We were stuck 2 hours in the jam, most of which I slept through.

Eventually I got home, at 11pm in the night. Everyone else was already home, bathed and sleeping, but my father didn't pick me up on time, so I came back late.

It's now 0220hrs in the morning, so I'm going to sleep yeah? Be seeing ya!

Bad luck

2008-07-02T07:33:00.000-07:00

So I was thinking today about the last time I was in the water, which was on Monday night, on my birthday if you wanted to know. I had a really bad session.

I wanted to try the kick kick glide technique that I often see on the forums. So I brought along the weight belt I borrowed from Jade and borrowed a weight from Jeroen so that I could ballast myself right. The problems started there.

I could not get the belt around my hips and make it stay there. It would simply ride up. I spent quite a while trying to figure out what was wrong, before submitting to the fact that I may have a bigger butt then most people my size. Bummer. And where the hell do you stuff the flailing ends of the belt?!

I did not bring my mask to that session, and instead brought my swim goggles and Paradisia. Bad choice. It was night, and I couldn't see shit through those tinted goggles of mine. Luckily the pool was lit, so it affected my only above water.

I started trying to swim with the technique that I thought was going to be easily achieved. Wrong again. It could not have been more disappointing. I kicked and kicked and glided nowhere. No extra distanced achieved. None. Nil. Zlich.

I had a theory formulated in my head by the end of the session as to why I could not get anywhere. It's been at the back of my head for a while now.

The reason I could not glide effeciently was because I had no mass whatsoever to glide with! I'm a skinny person, according to what others say. Physics 101. No mass = no momentum = no glide.

It is common sense. I had thought of it before, I just didn't expect it to be so significant. Bugger. What it means now is that everytime I want to do this technique, I'd have to wear a suit, then ballast it to make it neutral. This would give me more mass to glide with.

The bad part of this is that I don't like to carry my suit everywhere. It's a delicate piece of equipment. Well not really, mine is tough as hell, but I don't like to see it get creased and all. It breaks my heart. I think I'm becoming too attached to my wetsuit. Does that make me... gay?

On the brighter side of things, I'm really loving my monofin. It's treating me well.

Last words before I go off. I'm in a bit of a trilemma. I want to go to the Wellington Winter Champs, but I also want to do my instructor course, and I also want to buy a Geo. I have money for none, and don't know how I'm going to raise any.

Charity

2008-07-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hello all! It's been awhile, hasn't it? Procrastination is such a crime!

Well lately I've been getting more mails from people asking me to teach them freediving. And I'm under moral obligation to say yes, because if I don't, they might try learning by themselves and die trying! I mean, that's the worst case scenario, but you never know!

More importantly though, them not dying in the pool is a good thing. Should any one of them die while breath holding in a pool, and the press gets wind of it, us (the TRAINED freedivers) here in Singapore will get screwed over. The government will probably ban all breath holding in pool, like what they're doing in the US of A. We cannot afford to let them happen.

Right now I'm not charging anyone to learn from us, but I cannot teach for free. While I'm not teaching as a professional, time is important. I don't think Jade would teach for free either. Even if we don't charge for lessons, we should at least collect a small token for a club fund. This money could be used to build a counter ballast rig, amongst other things.

I'm actually teaching in place of Jade. Jade had her parents over from Switzerland last week, and so wasn't free. This week she's gone to Jakarta, and thus isn't available either. Jade's the head coach; all I'm doing is representing her.

Anyway, over the past 7 days I've taught 3 new divers how to freedive safely. I've taught them rescue procedures, buddy safety, some techniques and given some training advice. My 3 grasshoppers are Jeroen Elout from Holland, his girlfriend Patsy who's a local, and Wee Kiong (or just Kiong) who's also a local. So far they've been fine as students. I'm glad.

As a result of all that teaching, I've been bugged to get my company started. For all those who do not know, it's been a dream of mine to start a diving company for a while now. I had begun to when ADEX was here, but it kind of came to a grinding halt shortly after, due to a variety of reasons.

Now I've got the fire started up inside of me again. I've contacted Freedive Dahab to enquire about taking an instructor course. The reply I got back was that they'll need to evaluate me to see if I'm ready for it, seeing that I've never taken a freediving course before.

I've never had the need, as I told them, because I've had Jade teach me everything I know. However now it's necessary, so I'll be seeing some money go bye bye. It's going to be worth though.

Ben Noble has done an instructor course with them and passed, I found out just now. Maybe when he passes this way I could get him to teach me the Aida ** and ***, then I won't have to learn it while I'm in Dahab. Makes me look more professional, eh?

All this is tentative, I've not made my mind up about anything at all, other than the fact that I want to start a company and teach diving.

Boy, it's been quite a rant! I hope I haven't bored you to death just yet and scared you away from this blog. Hope to see a repeat visitor!

Camp Pufferfish

2008-06-11T08:54:00.000-07:00

Hello hello! Long time no see! I've been away at a children's camp. No, not attending it, but running it!

Yes, this kid here can run a camp. Do you not know I have extensive experience with kids? Well, now you do. I actually love little kids, a lot. When is anyone going to grant me godparentship? Jie? Anyone?

Well, the camp was 2 days long, but not an overnighter. It was the first camp of the company, so it was decided that we should it safe and attempt a day camp. The camp was held at Laguna Country Club.

The first day, we met up early to discuss things. It was just formality, so after familiarising ourselfs with the day's activities, we head inside the country club to our designated room. The instructors of the camp consisted of my Uncle Lloyd, Zeen, a friend of his, and Jenny and Shu Zhen, both of whom I know.

The kids started streaming in around 8.30am, so for the half hour before camp officially started, we just sat around talking to the kids.

The first activity of the day was a game called Spiderweb. It is a game designed to allow every person to introduce themself. A ball of yarn was secured in the centre of the circle of kids, and then thrown to one of them. When he/she had introduced themself, they would throw the yarn to another kid in the circle. The resulting chaos of string resembled a spider's web, hence the name.

After Spiderweb, the kids were split into 3 groups, each led by either Jenny, Shu Zhen or me. I got 7 kids, all of whom were girls. We were then given some paper, markers and other stationeries and was tasked with establishing a group name and logo. My kids and I decided to do a parody of Superman's famous logo, replacing the 'S' with a huge '7'. It came rather nice, I might add.

Members of my 'Sevens' (as I call them) are: Amirah (No. 2), Carise, Denyse, Celest (my oh so adorable 5 year old), Meagan, Elana and little Elvina. In the beginning Elvina wouldn't let go of me; she adored me so much she wouldn't leave my side, can you believe it?

After a break and some refreshments, the kids were brought round back to an empty patch of land, where we were instructed to assist them in building a tent out of bamboo poles, cable ties, pegs, some yarn, and a ground sheet.

The kids weren't too knowledgable in building tents, so I had to teach them some basics. Although we had some set backs, we eventually erected our tent in the quickest of times, finishing before other's were even halfway through. I was very proud of my kids, especially my No. 2.

Next after the tent pitching, the company had arranged for the kids to barbie (a grill, really) some food for lunch for themselves. Also pre-prepared were some mouthwatering beef burgers, which were humongous I might add.

Some of the kids went straight to the grill, and others took the burgers first. Most sat down and did nothing, so we brought them burgers. One darling, Iffah, was a vegetarian. The company did not know this, and since I was the only one who knew, I bought her sandwiches. I just couldn't bear to see her not eat, she was my darling! A cutsie 9 year old who was very pretty and smart.

Once the kids were done with lunch, we brought them back to the room for some art and crafts. We had them take a couple of wooden cloths pegs, break them up, and then glue them back together to make some sort of holder for small items.

My kids were very efficient; in no time most had finished, and were helping others who had problems. I taught my kids the importence of helping, sharing, respect and manners, so they were being fabulous kids and were doing as I told them to. Saying their P's and Q's, helping one another, sharing glue. It was really sweet.

On top of making their holders, we also gave them some good sized pebbles for them to draw on. This pebble, we told them, was meant to be given to their fathers for Father's Day, which is coming up. Many of them designed a really nice pebble to present to their father.

High tea came next. There were some cakes and packets of Milo for them to consume. There were a lot of breaks during the camp, a total of 3 official eating breaks a day. One in the morning, lunch, and of course, afternoon tea. Goodness, rich kids really are pampered.

Pretty soon, the kids were full and ready for some more action. they were restless, never stationary for longer than a couple of seconds. The next activity was what they were looking forward to and asking about for the entire day. We were going to teach them life saving skills.

We showed them what to do when they see a person drowning. We taught them how to identify the type of victim, analyse that, and take the appropriate course of action. They learned how to coil a rope up and effectively deploy the line to rescue the victim. Some weren't too good at it, but after a bit of practice, we were ready to try it out in the pool.

The kids, being kids, were estatic about going into the pool. They wanted to play, which is rightfully so because it is their holiday after all. Each and every one of the kids had to perform the rescue procedure, and each of my kid did it well, most to perfection. A proud moment for me.

When swimming was done, and they were cleaned up and changed, we headed back to the room. It was time for the last activity of the day.

We handed out square pieces of paper to every kid, and also all the necessary stationery needed for them to decorate their pieces of paper. This piece of paper was sized to fit into the cover of a vinyl CD cover. We wanted them to put anything thing that they though reflected themselves onto the paper.

My 5 year old, Celest, was adorable. She actually wrote my name down on her cover. She had sprinkled glitter over it and did it up nicely, well, for a 5 year old. I was so touched by that gesture. She really liked me. That's 2 girls now in my group who couldn't be seperated from me.

It was time to go home after they finished their covers. Many of them were fetched by their parents without having to wait a long time. My poor darling, Iffah, could not contact her mother. She said her mother was never on time, so we waited with her for her mom to come. The poor darling almost fell asleep while waiting. Her mom did come, eventually, so we headed of home for some much needed rest. More so for me, as by then, hadn't slept for a grand total of 28 hours. This number would go up to 32 before I finally slept.

So, this was what happened during the first day, in brief. I have just returned from the second and last day, and I'm beat. Tomorrow I shall continue to complete the stories of camp for the second day.

Solutions

2008-06-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

A brief entry for today.

So I heard back from the post office and from Maksym (monofin maker) today. Max presented me with 2 options.

One, try cutting off one wave and see how I like it. According to him, the Chinese finswimmers like their fins shorter, and some others too. Two, send it back to him and he'll make me a new fin. He apologised for the cracked fin, saying it was only the second fin to have cracked in about 10 years.

He would have cut one wave anyway off if I send the fin back, so suggested that I do it. If I still did not like the fin, I could always send it back. He says my size should fit the fin perfectly, if not, he'll find some use for the fin when I send it back for his swimmers.

So, I took to the fin with my scissors. I first cut off a wave as close as possible to the next, and then used a cheap sharpening stone (not my ceramic one) to sand off the remaining fibreglass. I then finished up with some fine grit sandpaper to smoothen the edge. That operation took me a fair amount of time.

Later in the day, I took the fin to the pool. I thought that cutting off one wave might make the fin stiffer, seeing as it is shorter now. But to my surprise, it was fine. I could not tell if I was using more or less energy. It would take more testing to figure that out.

The fin swims well. Since I had no one to film my technique today, I don't know if it has improved. This fin is not the easiest to swim with.

The left inside of the left footpocket is still giving me problems. The rest of the foot is already used to the tightness, but there is this one lump of material that sticks into my foot, which causes my whole left foot to cramp. I'll have to modify the pockets somehow. Check back to see my progress!

Photos can be viewed at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24228903@N04/

Cracked

2008-06-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

So, the monopalme finally came on Saturday. I was so happy when the postman rang my doorbell and gave me the fin.

However my excitement was short lived, as it soon turned to horror. I ripped open my package which was so 'robustly' wrapped in cloth and thin foam to find that the fin had cracked in 2 places. SON OF A BITCH!

I kept saying to myself, why why why did this happen to me? Such bad luck.

It was obvious why the fin came cracked. First off, the fin wasn't protected well enough. Obviouosly with some rough handling it would have cracked. Second, the fin isn't a traditional shape. It has a 'tail' that sticks out in the centre, and is below the rest of the fin. If you rest the fin on that edge, it will be stressed more than the rest of the fin and crack.

I wrote to the manufacturer about the fin and am awaiting his response. I also called Singpost and lodged a complain. They will contact me on Monday to launch an investigation as to how my fin came damaged.

In the meantime I'm placing an order for a surfing repair kit. It comes with fiberglass cloth and also putty with fiberglass strands in it. In case the manufacturer won't replace my fin or Singpost won't reimburse me or both, this is my only option.

On the lighter side of things, the fin is actually very pretty. I really like it alot. It's heavy, but it floats, which is a common feature on all hyperfins. One thing, it's FAST! Very fast. It's also more stiff than I expected, so my stroke needs to be corrected again, bummer. I need to develop more strength.

The footpockets were very snug, even a little tight. My big toe is always crushed, and the left inside of the left footpocket sticks into my foot. The footpocket is so tight I could not use it for more than half an hour the first time. I hope the footpocket expands somewhat, or I get used to it, or both, or I will be very limited in practices.

Strangely, even with this giperfin, the angle is not enough for me! I realise I have a very big angle from my shin through my feet. I will need to stretch my ankles more and also work on my calf muscles so that I can keep my ankles pointed during the upstroke.

Some photos of the fin can be viewed at my flickr page:http://www.flickr.com/photos/24228903@N04/

Today I used the nasal drop prescribed to me a while back. Man, it's horrible! It works really well, but it tastes bad, and it hurts my throat, a lot! I had a sore throat for half the day. Damn, why am I so sensitive to such things.

Some news: Dani Pedrossa won the Spanish GP, which is also his home race. Congratulations. Rossi was second, and Stoner third. Rossi has changed his suit and helmet and bike, and now it looks very ugly. I do not like his colours.

Nadal has won the French Open, beating (annihilated) Federer in 3 straight sets. Ivanovic won the ladies side. Congratulations.

Today is World Ocean Day. People, remember the ocean and respect it. The ocean has provided us with food and life for eons. What we are doing is harming the ocean, and that's no way to pay back our benefactor. Do we really want to see half the ocean's species wiped out before we pass on? If not, switch your habits. Find out what you can do at: http://community.oceana.org/.

Monopalme

2008-06-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

So after many days of not being able to track my parcel from good ol' Ukraine, I start to worry. But I've always been a bit of a worryrat. Well, may not *just* a bit.

Well anyway, today, or rather yesterday now, I tried tracking my parcel again. I entered the tracking number into the Speedpost system, and what do you know, my parcel has arrived in Singapore! That really was fast. On Monday it was sent from Ukraine and yesterday (it's Saturday now) it arrives! Amazing.

I guessed I shouldn't have worried so much. I read online that EMS tracking numbers never seem to work. Or rather, they work, but they do not track the parcel every step of the way, not like UPS or DHL. EMS only informs you when your parcel touches down and is scanned in your country.

Drats, I shouldn't have worried so much! So much energy spent on NOTHING!

However I haven't stopped worrying yet, until my parcel arrives at my feet. I MUST see that it is in perfect condition and that every single thing is right before I will relax.

On top of my worry issues, I am also an extremely impatient person. I could never sit around and wait for things to come. If I had a choice, I'd rather go collect them. At least I will be doing something.

I nearly DIED when I had to wait for my Elios to come. I nearly DIED when I had to wait for my noseclips to come, twice. I nearly DIED when I had to wait for my ICEs to arrive. I simply am not the most patient person on Earth!

However, I also nearly died when each and every one of those items came. I would give a girly scream when the postman rang the bell, and once inside I would rip open the parcels with such force I could very well have killed anyone unlucky enough to have been accidentally elbowed by me.

My eyes would glitter as I closely inspect every single tiny detail of the product. I would inhale deeply, enjoying every funky smell the product had (and i tell you, the ICE fins smelled funky). Ah, the joy of recieving. I don't enjoy it often, so I cherish every moment when I do.

I so very hope that the post offices are open today, and send me my parcel. It's now 5am in the morning, and I won't sleep until I get my package! Even if I had to go down and sort through hundreds of parcels to find mine.

Oh, I'm so terribly elated that I'm singing, right now! In the ungodly hours of early morning, which I actually happen like. I hope no one will be stirred.

Eyes wide shut

2008-06-05T00:38:00.000-07:00

It's gonna be a short entry, I'm half asleep already, and it's only 4 in the afternoon!

Today is not a good day for waking up. It really isn't. I literally jumped when I heard my alarm ring. I must have been airborne for a couple of seconds. Imagine going from not awake to awake and halfway to the moon in hundreds of a second. Not fun or recommended. It did not help that I had an awful night as well.

Random thought: Thursday is training day, so it seems for the month of June. Next week is going to be Thursday as well. The month of Thursdays. Cool...

Today I went to Jade's for practice. As usual, I skipped my static. I didn't feel good, sleepy more like it. Which is good since it'll help me with my hold, but I was just too tired to hold my breath. Jade did her statics, and did very well. Her contractions were later than usual, and for me that seems like a good sign. She was losing it at the end though, but Super Smurf here was ready to jump in and save her if need be.

So with a rescue operation averted, we proceeded to the sub zero temperatures of the pool. I worked on my technique and efficiency, then I went for a length. 31 kicks for about 50m, and about 1min/1min 10 swim. It seems I'm not going anywhere, which sucks. I'll have to work on that. My stoke felt funny sometimes as well.

Jade did her thing after I did, going for lengths. Her stroke is nice, not like Elizabeth Kristoffersen, but good enough. Her monofin is nice as well; did I ever say how much I love love love her mono? I'm going to miss it soon though.

We bee lined to the hot tub after we came out of the pool. Ah, so warm, so inviting. There was a little whirlpool in the middle of it, which was cute.

2 kids came to the hot tub and almost jumped in, risking scalding us with hot chlorinated water. Luckily, they found out the tub was a HOT tub (not a wading pool) and went away, but not before depressing the button which activated the bubbles. Some kids have no manners.

Oh, did I mention that 2 little girls were arguing whether I was a girl or not? Yeah, even after I took my shirt off.

After warming up, we showered at her place, and then had some lemon cake. Yum yum. Jade was talking about making a vegan cake, one without butter. That's going to be interesting. I've never made a vegan cake before, though it cannot be much different, can it?

Oh, Jade's been asked to apply for the Canadian team. I encouraged her to go, but after absorbing some info, I'm not sure it's such a good thing, considering the situation. And anyway, she has a tight budget. Going to Hawaii to train is out of the picture. Too far, too much.

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I'm drawing a blank as to what to write. I have already struggled to write the above. Sleep is dawning upon me, sleep... is inevitable. MUHAHAHA! Right, but before I go, some news.

The Detroit Red Wings have beaten the Pittsburgh Penguins to win the Stanley Cup. For all those who don't know what that it, it's basically the most prestigious award there is in ice hockey. And, today is World Environment Day. No littering today you guys. Or any other day for that matter.

I'll try to make the next entry more interesting. Till then.

Around the world

2008-06-03T06:14:00.000-07:00

Ah, Tuesdays. Doesn't feel much different than any other day I might add. It's just that Tuesdays are usually when we practice in the pool. However, this week it's Thursday, as was last week. Jade changed the date, I have forgotten why.

Morton's going to be back in the Phillipines on the 23rd of this month, and he's asked me to join him for some freediving. I would really love to go, because according to him and my research, it has depth, it is beautiful, and I get to catch up with him. I'll also get to meet Wolfgang, whom I've told many times that I want to go and dive with.

However at this moment, I donot think I'll be able to go. The diving costs will not be within my budget, because I have just come back from a trip to Sipadan. I don't have money growing from a tree, you know.

I remembered that Sherrin (forum member on DB) is going to Tao on the 20th of July, and I had told her that I couldn't go because I will already be enlisted in the army. But now I think the enlistment date is being pushed back, so I might just go up to meet her.

Another forum member is going to Tao soon as well. Brad (hello! thanks for the comments) is going to be in Tao late June, early July. I don't know if I will go, though probably not. Jade's parents will be in town during that period and she wouldn't be able to go. She might not even be free to go in late July. We'll see.

Today I recieved a tracking number that will allow me to track my toy. I've also been informed by the maker that a world champion had ordered the same item and is loving it. Have you guessed what my toy is? If you have not, you will just have to wait to find out! Stay tuned!

Oh, I've always wanted to say what day it is whenever I blog. You know, like, event-days. Like Mother's Day in Korea, or Teacher's Day in Russia, that kind of thing. My source is Wikipedia, which I trust.

Apparently today, there isn't a day! Yes, June 3rd, there's no day! Which for me is surprising, because I've never seen that space empty on Wikipedia. Everyday there's a day, usually. Like yesterday, one day was Italy's Republic Day. Strange...

It's the final countdown

2008-06-02T07:13:00.000-07:00

Oh YES! My new toy is coming in approximately 10 days! However sooner is better than later. I'm so excited!

So anyway, short entry for today. I tried a max today, and boy, was it difficult! I haven't held my breath for a month now, and the first hold was difficult. Well then again, the first hold is always difficult.

Anyway, I went for my max on the second. AND I beat my 5 minutes! I'm impressed with myself.

But before I start patting myself on the back, I got to say that I felt light headed at the end of the hold. I really need to get back on the tables. I've never actually done them, but it's never too late to start, right?

And now, the freediving achievement of the week. Morton, the guy we met in Semporna (technically on Sibuan), went to do a course with Wolfgang Dafert in Cebu. As far as I know, he's done 41m in Free Immersion, 21 in constant ballast, and 5 mins in static. Way to go!

I feel so proud, because we inspired him to take up freediving. He probably already wanted to, but we gave him the push he needed. And I was the one who found Wolfgang for him. So I'm well chuffed.

Which left me thinking. I should redifine my limits. Yeah, like Tanya Streeter's slogan. When I first started out I didn't what to expect, so I set low targets. I still don't know what I'm capable off, but I know I'm going to work hard to find out what they are.

Jade, if you're reading this, there's no reason to freak out. I promise I won't do stupid things that will put my life in jeopardy. I know you think I like to push myself too much, but trust me, I haven't pushed at all. I'm grateful for your concern and I will keep myself safe as best as I can.

Cherry popping

2008-06-01T12:18:00.001-07:00

Hello hello. Well, FINALLY! I know you're going, 'what? finally what?'

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This is going to sound stupid. But FINALLY!... I remembered my account information. =D

HA!

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I had forgotten my account and also the password to my previous log, and goodness knows what's happened to it because now, it's gone. I suspect someone must have hacked into this email because it's empty!

But... I'm not *too* bothered because I never use this email anyway. It's always the Hotmail account because I also use it for Messenger. However you'll never catch me online.

What do you mean why? Actually that's a good question. I'm stumped. Hmmm... Maybe it's because I do not want to be disturbed randomly, like halfway through a game. It crashes my computer. Also this way, I can be selective in who I choose to chat with.

Anyway, this blog is about freediving and also about myself. As Jie once said, this is the only way she(and you) can know what's going on with me, since we don't meet up as often as we'd like. It's also a log of my activities(well, duh!), in case I forget.

So anyway... I didn't do much in the last couple of days. I've just been counting down the days till my new toy arrives. I still don't know when it touches home base, but hopefully in the next week or so.

Couple of memorable events. On Thursday I went over to Jade's place. For all you who don't know, Jade is my mentor/coach/friend. I'd like to put surrogate parent as well, but I might not come back from next practice alive.

So, Thursday. Jade did not come into the pool with me because she had a rash going. It appeared that morning quite mysteriously. But, being the lovely lady she is, she brought down her monofin for me to play/practice with.

We chatted on the deck chairs for awhile (trivia - Jade has a fancy name for those chairs) before I stripped rather unglamourously down to me Speedos (imagine that) and put on my, you guessed it, Speedo swim cap. On went my Sphera and I was ready for a session of monofin technique improvement.

I haven't been doing so well for the technique. I simply could not translate/duplicate the undulation I achieved on land into the water. I bend my knees too much, which is an awful technique, not too mention a complete waste of effeciency and total retarding of forward motion on the upstroke.

However, this session I got it right! It isn't perfect, but I know I've got it going. I was so pleased with myself, I remember. Jade was coaching from topside, and was/is the key to my success. I distinctively remember her sage advice, passed down to her by Peter Scott (Laminar). It was, be like a paintbrush...

Not with split-ends and all, but rather, like the motion. Up, down, up down of the waist. And no bending of the knees. Simple but profound advice.

Not a soul in the pool, I remember. Usually on our regular practice day, it'll be packed like a tin of sardines full of swimmers who swam all over the place. Not good if you're wearing monofins with the capability to reduce your do to nothing, or worse, make the pool red. I like red, but I have issues with blood.

After the session I went up to her place for a rinse. After I came out, we established that her rash was too severe and that she should stay home and out of the heat. Her internet was down, which sucked. So she decided to bake and invited me to join her. Who was I to refuse?

After a quick bite and trip to the supermarket for supplies, we were back in her kitchen ready for battle. She was all decked out in her Swiss apron and I was resigned to a fluffly one. Just lovely.

Prep took about 10 minutes and the mix was in the oven. ETA was 65 minutes, and during that time we washed up. We had also unplugged the modem and router in an attempt to reboot her connection, so when it was all put back together and worked, it didn't suck anymore.

Past 65 minutes and the cake was ready. 27cm by 15 by 10 of coffee and chocolate goodness. It wasn't perfect, but hey, chocolate solves all problems. I was presented a generous slice to bring home, which almost did not survive the journey. After gratitute was shown, we left the house. I was headed for the tube, and she the library.

After we parted ways I went downtown to an art supply store, known as Art Friends. I was in search for a suitable material for the replacement of my Paradisia nose pads. It seems that the FIT nose clip used felt, so I went along and got me a sheet of red felt.

I did not have time when I got back to complete my project, as I had a birthday party to attend. Memories from that event include being told by aunties that I had the features of a girl, excluding the frontal protrusions of fat. How nice.

I remember not if I finished my repairs to the Paradisia that day, but I got it done sometime before today. It is now a grey Paradisia with red nose pads and a yellow lanyard. People are going to talk when I unveil it to them. In contrast the FIT clip is a stern and serious looking piece of equipment.

In the last few days I've also been doing some research on sites for depth training. I think I've got a location that rivals the depths of the Blue Hole in Dahab, and probably with more to see. I also got several more for other purposes.

Now all I require is a counter ballast system which is portable that I have to build. It's going to need floats, (sailing) rope clutches, corrosion resistant struts and beams, rope and lots of solder. Preferably a fish finder as well. It's going to be time consuming, moolah depleting and thought provoking, but it has to be done.