Tuesday, November 14, 2006
padi certified

WELCOME TO THE BLOG OF A PADI CERTIFIED DIVER!

oh you bet i'm in the mood to show off.
i'm still excited!

i know this came a little bit late but well i have excuses.

when i came back on Sunday night, i really wanted to blog all about my dive trip and that i am a CERTIFIED DIVER. But when i switched on my laptop and stared at the screen, i felt groggy... i felt as if i was still on the boat. i felt motion sickness on the couch in my very own home. So i chat a little with some people and showed off that i am a CERTIFIED DIVER and went to bed.

yesterday, i wanted to blog too but words just weren't flowing into my head. or rather... there were too many things in my head and I was too exhausted to place them together and put them proper. yesterday felt weird. i felt as if something is missing in life... kinda like the feeling you get after a break-up. i guess it's because i've been having something to look forward to after work for the whole of last week and my schedule was so packed that it kept me from lala-ing. and now that it's all done and over, the lala-ing comes back. last week was tiring but it was a happy tired. i love it when i am kept busy and have plans for after work. i want my diving back! i feel empty again. =(

ahh... let's talk about the happier days.

i've been wanting to take up diving since a long time back but i didn't got down to doing it. you know... it's one of those things that you know you have to do at least once in a lifetime but will just keep procrastinating? my 'inspiration' gave me that final push to do it and i finally got down to signing up and going through the whole course and now be a CERTIFIED DIVER. i am so proud of myself for having done it.

[the whole thing about my bro's school organising it was a lie. i'm sorry. i wanted to do it but i didn't want to let you know. it's the ego thing. i wanted to get the certification before breaking it to you. was also meant to be well... a surprise? but no i didn't do it for you. i did it for me.]


This is where i spent my last weekend. Diver's Lodge on Pulau Aur.


and this is what i see from my balcony every morning. that island over on the opposite side is Dayang.


and this is the kitchen where our yummylicious food came from and that's the lady behind it all.


my dive mates and our instructor... all ready to get diving.


i'm all set for my Graduation Dive at Pulau Lang! Look... no wetsuit. Yup... our instructor made us take it off and dive with just our equipment. We thought he was joking... but no. It's really cool... in it's literal meaning.


The underwater world is simply amazing. With the supply of air and breathing made easy, it kinda makes the open sea your home too. Blending in with all the colours of the sea, having fishes swim up to you and greet you with a nibble, chasing cuttlefishes and watching it try to camouflage itself, playing with cuvierian threads of sea cucumbers and then figuring how to get them off, hide-n-seek with eels and stingrays, admiring the pufferfish and the triggerfish from a safe distance, made the blue linckia seastar a headress, tolerating the stinging anemone just to have a feel of a 'nemo' in your hands... need i spell out F-U-N for you? it's exhilarating and very satisfying.

You've got to dive and experience it for yourself.

[i'll put up some of the underwater pictures for you soon. but first i gotta ask the owner of the pictures for permission. Ira, can i please put up some of the pics that you took up here? *sweet smile*]

Happy and proud CERTIFIED DIVERS!
(from left: Rafi our instructor, Ira a.k.a Tom Cruise, James, Charlotte, Avion, Me, Caroline, Lina and Chris our other instructor. Jack's missing.)

yup... my bro did it too! i am glad i have them as my dive mates. they are a bunch of really wonderful people. i am gonna miss them so much!

Last pictures with the ones who have brought us this far.
Thank you Rafi and Jack for everything.


Look at me... i am so burnt. And it was not from the diving at all. i got sunburn on the way back because i was happily chatting away with Chris and Ira on the sundeck. i've got small cuts and blueblacks all over me too and i have no idea how i got them. but looking at those bruises just reminds me that I have accomplish something that I have always wanted to.

Here's the proof of my certification.


Ta-da! the front and back of my temporary card. Will show you the real one when i get it.

Now i just hope i'll get a chance to dive soon. Perhaps in Bali at the end of the month. I can't wait!

Hooray! A tick against my checklist of goals in life.