A few people have sent me emails asking me why I have been slacking on my blog entries.  Well, I'll tell you why.

 

There has been no blog entries because I have no life!!

 

Well, let me correct that - I do have some semblance of a life - but not one that warrants blogging about.  Otherwise, it'll read something like this:

 

Woke up, lazed in bed for half an hour, went to the bathroom, got Mel up and ready for school, took her to school, went to work, picked her up from school, went home, took a shower, had dinner, did some reading, went to bed.

 

Not exactly the life of glam and glitz that I was born for.

 

Maybe I just need to go away on more dive trips - this time with my camera in tow - so even if I have nothing to write about, at least there will be pictures.

 

I am sitting at the Starbucks at Berjaya Times Square because I came all the way down town to our KL branch and then realized that I had left my keys in my other bag that is lazing quite comfortably on my study desk where I left it this morning.

 

The lady sitting on the table directly in front of me is reading a book with the ominous sounding title The Marriage Book:  How to Build and Maintain a Lasting Relationship.  By a Nigel someone.  I feel like going up to her and saying, "Babe, been there done that, trust me, singledom is the way to go".  But then I figure - what are the chances she'll listen to a complete stranger rant cynical? 

 

Also, I was on the LRT coming over this morning, and at one of the stops, this lady stepped in, and she was wearing THE EXACT SAME baju kurung as the lady already standing in front of me.  I felt for them - how embarrassing.  Especially for the one who didn't look as good in it as the other lady.  I'd have jumped right off and waited for the next train.  Unless I was the one who looked better in the outfit.  In which case, I'd stand taller with a smug look.

 

 

 

 

 

Am back from Tioman!  I don't have any pictures of my own.  For reasons which seemed perfectly logical and sane to me at the time, I did not take my camera nor housing with me.  It was a decision I regretted as soon as I saw how blue the ocean was.

 

My first dive with my open water student was off the shore, and it was FANTASTIC.  The viz was at least 15-20 meters - and ten minutes into the dive, we already saw 5 cuttlefish, 2 of which were laying eggs!  There were also a school of sweetlips - something I have never seen on the house reef - and it was just awesome.  At one point we swam over a huge patch of staghorn corals - there were schools and schools of damsels and baby snappers swimming over the staghorns - and beyond that, the water was just a vivid bright blue - the sun rays were hitting the staghorns at an angle, lighting it up - and it was so beautiful, it stopped me in my tracks.  Picture perfect.  Later, my divemaster told me it was the most beautiful underwater sight he had ever experienced.  Moments like this keep me diving!

 

The sun was shining, the water was calm and clear, the breeze was warm ... what an excellent first dive trip of the year.

 

Speaking of excellent, Mel received an excellence award from her old school today - so we attended the Speech & Awards Day.

 

 

She got a funky little crystal trophy ...

 

 

... and a certificate ...

 

 

What a proud moment!  So clever my baby girl ...

 

 

 

 

I have had such a hectic, stressful, rush-around-all-over-the-place last few days that I am beyond exahustion at this point in time.  Not only have I not been sleeping as satisfactorily as I normally do - what with my brain buzzing at full speed with all the various things that I need to get done - I have also had really full-on days on top of my restless nights. 

 

Which has resulted in only one thing - a pissy, foul-mood me.

 

In any case, I am off to Tioman tomorrow, and will be back Thursday night.  It should be a fairly easy trip, this one.  Am looking forward to getting out of KL city like you would not believe.

 

 

 

 

Last night I had some dinner with some friends.  Maybe I'm feeling sentimental, for whatever reason, but I just wanted to say here how much it means to me that they have accepted Mel as one of their own, and how great it is that they include her in the conversations and activities - even if the wavelength isn't always entirely exactly the same, seeing as Mel is really only 12.

 

But they are concerned for her, and they are interested in what she has to say and in what is going on in her life at the moment - and I really appreciate it lor. 

 

Shen, Doreen, Albert, Bee Yong ... Thank you!

 

 

 

 

I have wanted to blog this for some time now, but was unsure of how to go about doing it.  I have therefore exercised my right to change the names and places of those I mention.  However, all the events are true and actually happened. 

 

Scenario 1:

 

I am with a group of divers at Sipadan.  We have just come up from a fairly boring dive (for Sipadan), nothing unusual - no really big schools of pelagics - nothing out of the ordinary where macro stuff was concerned.  As we're waiting on the surface for the boat to pick us up, there is a liveaboard nearby, and the name painted in huge black letters across the side of the vessel was "White Manta".  So then we got all silly and started going on about 'OMG, we saw a white manta!' - 'how awesome was that white manta?' - 'how lucky are we to see a white manta?' .. and other such exclamations of pure delight.  There was no mistaking the sarcasm in our voices though. 

 

But this one guy, let's call him Norman (after my good friend) - he was looking around frantically and going 'where? where?' - and we were like 'there! there!' ... not really pointing anywhere in particular.

 

And then someone from the group said 'oh, it's gone now' ...

 

And then the rest were going on and on about how wonderfully large the white manta was, and how we saw it so clearly, and how great it was to come up from such an uneventful dive and see the white manta.

 

And poor Norman just could NOT believe he missed the white manta.  By then we had carried the joke so far, that no one could break the news to him that the elusive white manta was, in actual fact, a huge boat. 

 

Two years down the road, and he still thinks he missed the white manta.

 

Scenario 2:

 

I had sent out a mass email to my divers informing them of a dive trip to Thailand that I was organizing.  The air tickets at the point of sending out the email were ridiculously low.  A return flight, including all the additional expenses, like fuel surcharge, airport tax, etc - came up to less than RM200 per person.  My email said something like 'book now! really cheap!'.

 

Norman decided to go on the trip, but he also decided to take his time about it.  When he finally got his act together and actually got online to book the said tickets, he called me and the following conversation took place.

 

Norman:  Hey, Lynette, I booked the air tickets for myself, Sharon and Amy.

Me:  Oh great!

Norman:  The total cost came up to RM1200, and no matter how I divide the amount by the three of us, I can't get RM200 per person.

 

(long awkward pause - how do you respond to something like that?!)

 

Me:  Errrrr .. that's because RM1200 divided by three can never equal RM200 lor.  It comes up to RM400 per pax.

Norman:  But I thought you said the air tickets were RM200 return?

Me:  Errrrr .. yes, a month ago they were.

Norman:  Oh okay.  The price went up ar?

 

Me (thinking Ah-but-then?!):  Errrr ... I suppose so kwa.

 

Phone conversation ends.  Ten minutes later, phone rings again.

 

Me:  Yes, Norman?

Norman:  Oh, just wanted to say that you were right, it works out to RM400 per person.

Me:  ?????????????????

 

**********

 

They live and walk amongst us! 

 

 

 

 

My godbrother and his wife are visiting from Melbourne, so they took us for dinner last night at South Sea Restaurant near the old Subang airport, and way past the Terminal 3 building.  The last time we went there, I swore I was never going back because the journey took us a horrifying hour plus!  Apparently though, it was supposed to have improved, so we decided to give it another try. 

 

Well, it was still horrendous - it took us about 45 minutes to get there from Section 16 - but half an hour was spent just trying to even GET on the bloody NKVE.  A stretch which normally takes us 8 minutes took 30!  Moral of the story?  If you intend to go to South Sea, only go during weekends or public holidays when there is no after-work rush hour traffic on the roads.

 

But I have to admit - the food is still fantastic.  I don't even think I need to describe them, so I shall let the pictures speak for themselves!

 

 

Tres tres delicious!!

 

 

 

 

Could you believe the rain two evenings ago?!  Man, did the mother of all storms blow in or what??  Just look at the trees outside my apartment window, bending under all that wind ...

 

 

In any case, that didn't stop me from meeting up with some old friends from my primary school days.  I think some of them I have known for over 20 years now.  We used to be in the same youth group back in the 80's!!

 

The thing is, the dinner comprised of some people I have never met before.  Which is perfectly fine with me, I meet new people everyday as part of my profession.  What I didn't realize was that out of the 10 ladies present, only 2 - maybe 3 of us - are straight.  The rest were homosexual. 

 

To say that I was extremely uncharacteristically uncomfortable around them when I was first introduced to them is an understatement like you would not believe.  Don't get me wrong.  I have the highest respect for their choice of sexuality.  If they had all been gay males instead of females, I would have been right at home.  Maybe because I have a lot of gay friends - and besides, they are all drama mamas, and I love that - and also perhaps I do not feel threatened when I am around them.

 

So there I was, feeling extremely out of place - not to mention that a few of them were really intense as well.  I am pleased to say, though, that as the night wore on, it got better for me, and they were really quite fun to hang with.

 

So this is a pic of me and two of my old friends ...

 

 

I don't think it will be politically correct for me to put up pictures of the rest, especially since I believe not all of them are out about their sexuality.

 

Nonetheless, it was good to catch up with my friends again - one of them lives in Beijing, and another one lives in the States - so it was good to be able to get together like this.

 

Plus I think every now and then, we need to be taken out of our comfort zone, so that we stretch ourselves and our ability to accept others.  And I was definitely taken out of what I would term a "normal" situation for me.  I would not hesitate to have dinner with them again.

 

 

 

 

OMG, Raphael Nadal won!!  My cute little Spanish hottie!

 

It was funny cos dad was rooting for Federer and I was cheering for Nadal - and we had our own little competition zone in front of the tv.

 

But then Federer got all emotional and teary when accepting his second prize, and that took away a little of the jubilant feeling I had because I am a total sucker for men who are tuned in - and not embarrassed by - their emotions and the display of ...

 

So maybe the next time around, I will cheer for Roger Federer instead.

 

 

 

 

Tonight is the men's grand finals of the Australian Open ... Nadal versus Federer ... can't wait!

 

 

I know chances are Federer will win, but I'm rooting for Nadal anyways.   

 

The greatest player of the moment against the (possibly) greatest player of all time ... what a show it's gonna be!