| Lynette's profileRaffish RamblingsPhotosBlogLists |  Tools  Help |
|
September 30 Stick To Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain!About four months ago, I was browsing in the bookstore, when I saw Scott Adams' Stick To Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain! in hardcover.
I am a HUGE fan of Dilbert for two reasons. One, I pick up sarcastic tips (same reason I enjoy watching House). And two, no matter how utterly ridiculous Scott Adams makes his characters, you can always - ALWAYS - relate them immediately to someone you know.
But the hardcover was selling at almost RM90, and anyways, I prefer softcovers. So I thought I'd wait for the paperback version to come out.
I was in the bookstore again today, and saw the softcover - finally - in the 'New Arrivals' section. I pounced on it in glee, and flipped open to the Preface. This is what it said:
If you are reading this, you probably waited for the paperback version of the book to come out. That is a strong testament to your self-discipline and deep appreciation of economics ...
and just as I was feeling smug about the whole thing, I read on, and he adds:
... more commonly known as cheapness.
I laughed out loud, right there in the bookstore!
So now I have some fun reading ahead of me, which is good, as I need a pick-me-up while I'm withdrawing from the highs of Bali.
September 28 Made My DayOh oh oh ... also, I came home from work today, and found some mail waiting for me. I went through them, and it was bills, bills, bills ... then ... an envelope addressed to Tai Yee ...
I ripped it open, and this was inside ...
And I opened that up ...
And it was a birthday card made by the Prince for me!
I melted!!
Any Old ExcuseMy cousin, Suk Harn, is leaving for Germany - sent there by her company for 6 months - and I realize 6 months will go pass in the blink of an eye - but still, as a Chinese Malaysian, we take any excuse we can to have a good meal ... so we took her out for dinner tonight at Seong Hee Restaurant in SS3. It is a family favorite of ours, and we go quite often - and everytime we go, we end up ordering the same food!
This is why ...
Look at the yummy egg foo yoong ...
And the sizzling tau foo ...
And the fried pork slices ...
And this place has the BEST kangkung belacan I have ever eaten ... however, you have to request a particular cook, which is the boss man himself. Only he can fry it to perfection!
We also have claypot chicken with salted fish and ginger ...
And deep fried fish ... oh my word, also the best I have ever eaten, no matter how many other restaurants I have tried this dish at ... the skin is crispy and crunchy, and the insides are soft and moist ... heaven served in a bite!!
My cuz said to take a picture of the bones to show how much we enjoyed the dish. We'd have eaten the bones too, if it were possible!
So we wish you all the best in Germany, Suk Harn! Enjoy your 6 months!!
September 25 Final Dive Day at BaliYesterday afternoon, we said goodbye to some of our group who left. There are now nine of us from the orginal 23 people.
Today is our last day of diving. Today, we are going to try one more time to see if we can possibly catch a glimpse of the legendary mola mola.
We leave early for Crystal Bay at Nusa Penida. Our boatman promised us we'd see the mola mola today. The divemasters seemed confident too. Could they possibly have some sixth sense or affinity with the ocean? Somehow, after yesterday, I don't doubt that at all.
In any case, we start the dive - the divemaster leads us along the wall. He tells us to wait along the wall, at approximately 18m. He swims down and eventually disappears from view. We wait maybe 5 or 6 minutes. Then the divemaster re-appears. He tells us to follow him. We go along the wall some more, and drop down to about 24m. He stops. Turns around. Tells us to wait.
Barely 10 seconds later, as we're looking at him and awaiting his instructions, he starts to gesture emphatically, and he starts to point with both hands. If he were on land, I would imagine him to be jumping up and down.
We collectively turn and look. Nothing but blue ocean. Then a glimpse of white and grey starts to emerge. Is it .. ?? Could it be .. ??
You can feel us all holding our breath. The water around us is charged with expectation.
And then there is no doubt. It's a mola mola! The evasive sunfish! The reason we are in Bali!
We swim down to meet it. And there it is. Right in front of us. In all it's magnificent splendor.
We were with it for maybe 5 minutes before it turned and swam away, back down into the blue. But what a glorious five minutes!!
After it left, there were high fives all around and jubilant grins.
Face to face with the mighty mola-mola!!
What a way to end the dive trip ... truly indescribable ...
Bali in Detail: Part 4I like to think I am a spiritual person - but although I am very drawn to all things sacred, intangible and transcendent, I am not particularly religious. (Maybe that's a good thing, as I think that sometimes religion can hamper spirituality - but that's fodder for another blog at some other point in time).
In any event, I find Bali to be a spiritually sensitive place - have I already mentioned this? But whatever the reason, I was woken up at 5am - not because I had to use the bathroom, or because I had set my alarm to try and catch the sunrise - but because I was suddenly compelled to pray for the safety of all our divers today. It is a prayer I utter, whether consciously or subconsciously, each day. But it was different this time. More urgent. More specific.
I know this may sound like hogwash to a lot of you - but I write it as I felt it. You can call it God, you can call it a Divine Being, you can call it instinct. I like to think it was God. Whatever it was, I did not ignore it.
Anyway, so I was late for breakfast - but on time for suiting up.
The search for the mola mola yesterday proved unsuccessful. Yet somehow, after the inspiration of spending some time with the mantas, it wasn't as disappointing as it might have been otherwise. Our diving on the 4th day took us about 15 minutes away from our resort at Padangbai. Also cold though. We averaged 24 degrees for both the dives. For those divers who opted for the 5D4N package, this was to be their last day of diving.
It wasn't fantastic. Nothing really out of the ordinary. The surge was tremendous, stirring up the sand at the shallows and causing what turned out to be an underwater sandstorm, dropping viz down to almost nothing.
We did, however, manage to see two giant frogfish, both black in colour. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to snap any pictures of this - partly due to the sandstorm, and partly due to the position of the frogfish - they were crouching under an artificial reef made out of wire mesh, and it was just a really awkward position to get my camera into. Also the surge made it kinda impossible to stay still long enough for me to focus my camera on the subject.
We also saw the thorny seahorse ... oh joy for me! Like a double blessing after the mantas! Maybe I saved some orphans from destitute in my previous life.
We did, however, have an incident with a panicked diver that could have ended up disastrous. I think a combination of the bad visiibility - dropping from a bearable 26 degrees (see how the human body adapts? 26C was never bearable before!) to 22 degrees in less than 10 seconds - the strong surge - being battered about - all played its part in causing very real distress in a diver that ultimately led to panic. I am pleased to report that everyone was safe - and I like to think too that my compulsion to pray in the morning played a small part in everyone's eventual safety. I am humbled by the laws of the universe and how they work in relation to everything else - and how everyone has a part to play, no matter how small it may seem.
Bali in Detail: Part 3Had my solitary walk on the beach again in the morning. The sun must rise early because I was up at 6am, and it was already bright. For your info, I never made a sunrise! But spending the mornings by myself (or maybe not entirely by myself as there was a very clear presence of the Divine - or call it what you will - with me. Bali is an extremely spiritually sensitive place and I think some of that rubbed off on me).
As far as diving is concerned though, today is THE day for us!! The search for mantas and the ever elusive mola-mola out at Nusa Penida!!
We were warned that the water was going to be about 22 degrees, but I don't think any of us could really grasp how cold that is. However, common sense will tell you to start to panic when you see the local divemasters suiting up with neoprene rashguards inside their 5mm thick wetsuits - and wearing hoods. I was the first one in the water, and when I hit that water, it was a complete jolt to the system. And I had on two 3mm wetsuits AND I was wearing a 2mm thick hood.
It was like taking cold water from the fridge, dropping in some ice cubes, then filling up your bathtub with it, and getting into that bathtub.
Hmmmm ... that still doesn't quite get the point across.
Let me put it this way - it wasn't just 'oh, the water is a little chilly today'. It was SO cold that I would have climbed over Mel to get out of that water first.
What kept me in there, freezing my buns off, was the promise of manta rays. After all, the dive site was called Manta Point and the divemaster, in his briefing, was utterly confident that we would see some, going into detail about how not to scare them off and the way they would swim over our heads and their characteristic movements in the water. It was all very exciting.
So fully assured, we descended into the icy water, swam through some rough surge, got tossed about by the currents, the viz wasn't fantastic - and then ... mantas. Circling overhead. Gliding by in groups of three or four. Mouths open. Feeding. Swimming out of sight, and then coming by again and again. And again. Gracefully. Majestically. Impressively. Magnificently.
There is nothing in this world quite as awe-inspiring as watching a school of mantas gliding overhead. I was gobsmacked. It was a glorious sight.
Bali in Detail: Part 2Woke up bright and early - went for a short walk on the beach before breakfast - the sun was already up, and I stood on the shore, looking out into the sea, breathing in the sea air that I love so much - except that this time, it was mixed with the smell of frangipanis and incense - absolutely wonderful for the soul.
Diving was at Tulamben, which is an hour and a bit away by road. Not by boat. By ROAD. Let me ask you - when was the last time you went diving and had an hours journey by road before you arrived at your dive site?!
It was another bone jarring, hold-on-to-the-edge-of-your-seat ride with the same crazy drivers. I wonder why they bother to paint lines at all on the roads, as the rule of thumb seems to be to squeeze anywhere there is space for your vehicle, even if it means onto the other side of the road with a produce truck heading towards you at breakneck speed!
The scenery was beautiful though, if you managed to actually look out of your window to enjoy it. Green rice fields stretching for miles, glimpses of the sea on one side, the mighty Mount Agong on the other.
Diving at Tulamben is ... different. Interesting. There is no sand, just volcanic rocks and stones. LOOSE volcanic rocks and stones. Which means not much grip when you are walking across them fully suited up.
We did the first dive at the Tulamben Wall - a nice pleasant dive - not too cold - easy. Which absolutely did not prepare us for the next day's diving - but more on that later. I saw two firsts for me on this dive - looking back, it was a good omen and a premonition of things to come. There were a LOT of firsts for me on this trip. For now, one was the orange pygmy seahorse ...
And one was the green robust ghostpipefish ...
Prior to this, I have only ever seen the pink pygmy seahorse and the brown robust ghostpipefish. So I was a happy camper at the end of the first dive!
Then we did the Liberty Wreck, which is a huge-ass cargo ship left over from the war, a souvenir left behind by the good old US of A. It was huge, measuring approximately 120m - and covered with soft and hard corals. Nothing too great about the dive, though the history is probably interesting. Saw bumphead parrotfishes, rabbitfishes, the usual reef type fish, big groupers, pink pygmy seahorse ... nothing unusual, but a good dive nonetheless.
I refused to do the third dive as the shore entry over the volcanic rocks for the first two dives had already ripped holes into the bottom of my neoprene dive socks (which I have just thrown away as they are no longer practically usable!!) - and I needed them to hold out for me for the next 4 days of diving.
The journey back felt even LONGER than the one hour and a bit - and I think some people got a bit carsick even.
We all crashed early that night!
Bali in Detail: Part 1Arriving in Bali and stepping out of the airport was great. On an aside, I hate airports. Airports are the same the world over. Crowded, noisy, indifferent. Stepping outside though, you get your first feel of the place where you have just landed. And I loved Bali immediately. Crowded, yes - but there was the mix of the jeans-and-t-shirt crowd, and the traditional sarong-and-head-gear crowd - and I think that just says so much about the kind of place it is.
Also - everywhere you go, you see signs of spiritual devotion. Little square trays made from folded banana leaves, filled with some rice, some flowers - usually honeysuckle or frangipani - a small round ball of a dough-like substance - and across the whole tray, a lit incense stick. With modernization creeping into Bali, signs of such an affinity with their culture and tradition was very refreshing.
However, we still had a long road journey in front of us. After a lot of hassle with us KL-ites trying to decide if we wanted to go to the toilet or not - and deciding at various points that 'yes, we do!' - we FINALLY left the airport. And then there was the thing about wanting to stop for lunch when the itinerary specifically said 'No Lunch' - the Balinese, being patient and calm and accommodating, agreed to all our last minute whims and fancies, even if it meant they got off work late because of our delayed arrival time at the dive resort.
In any case, we did finally arrive at the resort.
Let me say now that a metamorphosis of sorts occurs to the aforementioned calm, patient Balinese when they get behind the wheel of a vehicle. Then they turn into crazed lunatics - driving on both sides of the road, veering dangerously close into the path of oncoming motorcyclists, one hand on the horn at all times, avoiding other vehicles that have crossed over into our side of the road. It was all a mad dance of chaotic traffic. But apparently a well cheoreographed dance, as we all arrived in one piece - though I'll admit my knees were shaky when they finally touched solid ground. Not for the faint-hearted!
No diving on arrival day. We took in the sights, sounds and smells of Bali - absorbed the tranquility - and my stress of the previous two weeks was slowly replaced by a sense of calm assurance.
I went to bed that night with only one thought running through my head ... I love Bali!
Bali in shortBali can be summed up in a few words: warm and sunny, culturally-rich, laid-back, tranquil, serene, calm, self-assured, spiritual.
Diving in Bali, however, is exactly the opposite. The water is cold, the surge strong, sea choppy, currents unpredictable, thermoclines bordering on ridiculous. Underwater, we were tossed about and shivering - on the boat, we were holding on tightly whenever the boat rode the crest of a wave, and anticipating the thud when it came back down.
But more on that later. I will write about Bali in greater detail soon and post some pictures I took. I will also try and get pictures off the others, and post them on here for you too.
For now, I just want to leave you with this thought ...
If pictures speak a thousand words, than nothing speaks louder about the diving in Bali as the following two pictures I snapped:
Enough said! Seven mantas and two mola-mola's!!
BALI ROCKS!!
September 18 KL to BaliOff tomorrow morning, so adios!
I feel a little less stressed and a little more positive about the trip in the last day or so, after talking to one of my best mates, Kriss, who's a Bali freak. Thanks, babe!
I think I'm a little more confident now about taking such a big group consisting mostly of beginner divers. I'm still concerned about buoyancy problems - we're all going from our 3mm wetsuits to either 5 or 6mm ones - I foresee problems with that!
Will see if I can log on and blog from there - if not, will give you a blow-by-blow account when I'm back.
Laters!
xoxo
September 15 Going AwayI'm off to Bali on the 19th and will be away for about a week. I can't wait to get out of KL - I've been stuck here for a month and a bit already, and city life is starting to really grate on my nerves.
Stangely enough though, I feel no enthusiasm for this trip, despite the high probability of seeing the elusive mola mola and manta rays. I have been trying to analyze why, and I think I know, in a Freudian kinda way. It is a combination of reasons, some of which I am not comfortable putting on here for all to read about. But ask, I might tell you in person!
But here are some reasons I can list, without pissing anyone off ...
Water temperature is a freezing 22 degrees. I have said this before, and I will say it again - I AM TROPICAL. Immensely so. Don't give me spring, don't give me autumn, and certainly don't give me winter. I am SUMMER and I am solar powered - and dammit, I'm proud of that! The higher the temperature, the greater the humidity, the happier I am. I looked through my log book and the coldest I have dived is 26 degrees - in Thailand, and once or twice in Sipadan. And all that is stated in my log book for those dives were ... it was freaking cold!! So it will be interesting to see how 22 degrees pans out. I was told to use a hood, for crying out loud. Vanity aside (NO ONE looks good in a hood!), I have tried it on, and it is extremely uncomfortable.
The majority of the group are fairly inexperienced divers - or divers who have not dived in a long time. And I have my hesitations about taking a group of less experienced divers to Bali. Firstly because I have not been myself, and therefore am not familiar with the dive sties, dive conditions, currents, depth, etc. Secondly because I don't think diving there is easy - neither getting to the dive sites, nor the dive sites themselves. I think the liability is higher than usual, and that is slightly scary for me.
Also - my stress levels have been high of late - and I think when that happens then your mind is full and distracted - so hopefully Bali will be the balm for me, and will be the calm, spiritual, peaceful place that I remember it to be from previous visits. Who knows, it might be healing.
That aside, I AM looking forward to diving again somewhere other than the swimming pool - and the new-ness of the sites and the prospect of encountering never-before-seen marine creatures is exciting.
So I will take some pictures and post them up here for you, of course. Till then!
September 13 Food!Mel's UPSR exams are over! Yay! The English paper was ridiculously easy. I mean - our standard of English is really REALLY poor. And they are debating if they should revert Science and Math subjects back to being taught in BM next year. No wonder all the grads from our local universities speak and write such rotten English.
Anyway, we celebrated Mel's end of exams on Thursday by ... what else ... eating, of course! True to our Malaysian culture and spirit! (NOT as chinese squatters but as chinese Malaysians!! Stupid Ahmad and his racist remarks!! More like Ah Mad .... )
So after school, we took her to TGIF at the Curve for a celebratory lunch ...
And for dinner we took her to D'Tandoor in Damansara Utama for a celebratory dinner ...
And last night, mom put together these ingredients ...
And made YUMMO curry laksa ...
So we had my aunt and uncle over for dinner, and Mel had a friend stay over, and here they are enjoying the laksa ... my mom's a GENIUS cook!
Did you notice the rose sitting in the middle of the dining table?
This is the THIRD week running that dad has bought a rose for mom. I was like ... what's going on?? And all I got in reply was the two of them grinning at me like kids let loose in a toy store.
September 08 All Grown UpI wasn't sure whether to categorize this blog entry under 'Family' or under 'Diving' since it covers both topics in equal parts - but then finally decided on 'Family', as that seems more apt somehow.
Mel's UPSR exams are tomorrow till Thursday - and then she's off school! Six years of primary schooling gone in a blink of an eye (though I'm sure it seems longer to her than that!). I can remember the first day I sent her to school - all the anxious parents hanging around, and then there's Mel - confident as ever - who asked me to walk her to her class, and then gave me a cheery "Bye, mom! See you after school!" ... and me going ... "I can hang around for a bit if you want" - and her looking at me in semi-horror and going, "No, no - no need!" - and me trying to be brave and smiling at her and going, "Oh okay" - but actually thinking "But I need to be here for ME, not YOU!!" ... and now it's six years later, and she's done with the first half of her schooling life. How not to admit you're getting old??!
Anyway - we have our annual dive holiday to Sipadan Water Village planned, which I think Mel absolutely deserves this year, not just for working so hard, but for actually making it through six years of primary school education in this day and age where everyone is so competitive, and within the Malaysian schooling system with its emphasis on results and grades.
We are both really looking forward to going for a variety of reasons. The most obvious is the resort and the diving, of course - duh - but also to spend some time with our extended Sabah family.
I love travelling with Mel and going on holiday with her. She is so outgoing and friendly and naturally curious. The last time we were at SWV together was in August of last year, and we were two of a handful of Asians - the rest of the resort was chockablock with Italians celebrating their summer holidays (yummy Italian men in their speedos - but there's enough material there for another blog altogether!)
Anyway, I am only slightly exaggerating when I say that almost all of them knew her by name by the end of our 5 days. Mel will see someone with an underwater camera after a dive, and she'll go up to him or her and ask to see the photos - or she'll see someone logging dives, and she'll ask "Good dive? What did you see?" - and she is so naturally interested and inquisitive that people find her endearing - and before you know it, the both of us have been invited to stay with some strangers in their house in Italy for the next three months or whatever.
Amazing stuff.
So this year we'll be away for a week - towards the end of October - and this time mom is coming along just to see what all the fuss is about - so it should be WAY fun. Plus I will be off to Bali in another week and a half. So yay!
September 05 Room SwitchUpon further reflection, I don't think I did justice to the amount of work Mel and I went through to switch rooms. So here is a more detailed report, with some pictures for you ...
This is Mel sorting out her books. Since she was moving from a room with two bookshelves to a room with just a chest of drawers, she had to choose her favorite books and the rest had to go to the bookshelves that are outside our rooms.
ANY book lover will know what a tough choice that is! But I was pleased to note that among her favorite books are such titles as "The Day My Butt Went Psycho" ...
So after much deliberating and changing of mind, her favorite books went into her chest of drawers ...
A LOT of time was spent on this! Then we had to move our clothes, and all my bits and pieces ... a LOT of my bits and pieces, I might add. I mean ... how do you know it's my room? Because it's got a collection of seahorse memorabilia, such as my seahorse candle holder, which was a gift from my sister one Christmas, and which holds place of pride in my seahorse collection.
And my other seahorse stuff ...
I won't even put them all on here! And then there's stuff that Mel has made for me over the years ...
And stuff the Prince has made me ...
Ooooh, and my scented candles, of course - mustn't forget my candles ...
OHHHHH - and did I mention the fiasco with the hooks?! I needed some hooks put in so I could hang my notice board thingamajig up - and dad said he'd do it for me when he got home from work - but, of course, impatient creature that I am - I thought - how hard can it be to nail some hooks into the wall?? Well, as it turns out, it was VERY hard ... and to cut a long story short, I left a big hole in my wall that was surrounded by peeling pieces of plaster. I kid you not and I do not exaggerate. See for yourself ..
So when dad came back, he had to put the hooks in ABOVE my hole so that my notice board would hide it. Very resourceful, my dad.
And the hook was in sans loose plaster and paint ... beats me how he did it so neatly - I'm telling you - it's HARD!
Good job, dad!! Also ... Mel had an 'M' on her room door - which I stuck on with super glue when we moved in, and which now can not be removed without also removing a whole chunk of door with it.
Well ... Lynette starts with an 'L', not an 'M' ... but guess what word describes me that DOES start with an 'M'??
Nothing a blue marker pen couldn't take care of!! And THAT was how we swtiched rooms ...
Quick updateTime flies when you're having fun!! I have been so busy, but in such a fun kinda way ...
My TEFL course is going good. I have done 4 assignments thus far - the first two on Approaches & Methods in EFL, I got 96% and the second two essays on Classroom Management, I got 92% ... so clever hor ... and just when I was really beginning to get into it, my current topic is on the History of the English Language.
First of all, I get a TOTAL mental block when I hear / read / see the word History - never have been and never will be a lover of history. Infact, quite the contrary. My brain automatically shuts down when it senses anything to do with history, no matter how remote. So I have been STRUGGLING through this topic.
And to make matters worse, one of my two essay topics is ... Describe how your knowledge (what knowledge??) of the history of the English Langauge (zzzzzzzzzzz ...) will help you explain things to your students (it will??!) in an EFL class. Give specific examples (I can't even think of how it can help me in a broad, general sense, and they want specific examples??!) ...
TEFL aside, though, Mel decided - after 1.5 years of staying in our apartment - that she wants to switch rooms with me. Actually it's because her aircon isn't working, and I sleep without one - so I can quite comfortably move into her room and she can have mine, with the working aircon. Which was good because it is amazing how much junk is stuffed conveniently into our drawers in a year and a bit! We did some major spring cleaning, and now I have lost my dressing table and my chest of drawers - but I have gained a study desk (how convenient!) and some bookshelves (even better!) ... which works out great.
Mel did exceptionally well in her 3rd round of UPSR trials - yay Mel! - and her actual exam is this coming week.
So we've both been busy, but plodding along quite cheerfully. Thanks for asking!
|
|
|
