The story continued...

30 Sept 2005 Friday

Finally the big day came.  7pm, I arrived at the diving center.  We were assigned our equipment & after checking, set off for the journey in 2 vans around 7:40pm.  We had 9 students taking basic open water diver course, 2 advanced students, 2 leisure divers, 3 dive masters (1 off-duty) & 2 instructors & their friends.

With all the custom checked & chopped between Singapore & Malaysia, time flew fast to 9:50pm.  10:10pm, we stopped over for supper.  As I was not a chilli spice eater, I ordered a Maggie goreng (instant noodles with my favorite tomato sauce with slices of fishcake, veg. etc on it.)  Gosh, the cook was very generous with their salt.  So much so I really thought I was eating two packets of MSG on it!

The journey continued after we filled our noisy stomachs.  Most of the roads we traveled on had no streetlights.  Some times there were some reflective devices on the roads.  I regretted not bringing some light, like my torch pen.  I had switched off the lights in the van, so everybody can rest better.  Occasionally, cars overtook our van in the two-land road.  Beautiful stars companied us outside the van.  So many of them, I don’t remember seeing so well in my home sky.  Such simple enjoyment, brought me so much delight.  Maybe we don’t see them so well, cos’ the city lights are too bright & glaring, so we always see what’s in front of us.  Looking out of the window, they were just so reassuring, as we headed for the Mersing Jetty towards our diving destination - Tioman.  I spotted two aircrafts in the sky.  With the darkness surrounding us, I felt guided by the stars.  The darkness outside became an instant canvas for my mind to play.  And the beautiful enchanting music from my favorite musical – The Phantom Of The Opera, in my ears.  I felt such great contentment.  Its rich voices & music filled up the long lonely road.  Occasionally, we drove past houses or coffee shops with people sitting at the table.  They looked so tiny that I couldn’t make out their faces.  They became very surreal suddenly. 

Finally we reached the Mersing Jetty & met a lot of other divers too, whom just arrived & those who were already queuing for their turns on the speedboat.  It was low tide, so we had to transfer from the speedboat to our boat.  The water splashed in as it sped & reached our boat in about 5 minutes.  With all the things finally settled down & our people all counted for, the boat started.  Sabrina & I, with some course mates headed for the upper open deck.  What greeted us right at our faces were more stars filled the sky.  It was very windy & cold.  My jacket offered insufficient protection.  I couldn’t stop thinking of the cosy thought of how my furry hamsters slept & warmed one another that way.  But we ain't hamsters.  Darkness surrounded us, as the boat headed for more darkness in front.  We simply lie down & enjoyed the beauty sight of nature – the stars shinning like diamonds.  I tried to register the sight with my mind.  So beautiful, I refused to close my eyes like a child refusing to sleep.  I closed my eyes & opened again. “Still there.”  On & off, I did it again. “Still there.”   They were like reassuring me, they will not leave me, so I can rest my mind & sleep.  With the tiredness at bay, my eyes finally gave in.

Time flew by & our dive master announced in the wind that we were reaching soon & be prepared for the possibility of rough water ride ahead. 

3:25am we finally reached the lights & saw sign with “Tioman” written on it.  Carrying our own gear, we alighted at its jetty towards “Island Reef Resort” with Kampong designed concept.  And slept some more before the morning adventure that awaited us impatiently…

(J To be continued)    & nbsp;   &n bsp;  

The following blog entry is actually meant to be posted on the web on past Thursday 29 Sept – the day before I left for my Tioman diving trip.  However it didn’t happen then, cos’ my pc was playing tricks with me.  Showing me its black face when I turned it on & eventually my Internet connection was down.  So I had written it down, waiting to recover it later.  Anyway I thought it’s a good insight for those people keen to take up diving.  Let this be a “starter” before I dish out the “main course”.

29 September 2005 Thursday

Pool session No. 2.

- THE GIANT STRIDE

My confidence was shaken.  Anyway, I was asked to gear up my equipment.  I happily hooked up the 2^nd stage hoses to the tank, & wet my BCD in the pool so it will expand.  Then back to the tank, I realized I got the order wrongly.  With the hoses attached to the tank, I couldn’t slide my BCD down the tank & locked it down.  123, I got them out.  Then I made another deadly mistake.  I turned up the air with my inflator hose not attached to my BCD.  Without it, my BCD won’t be able to inflate.  We had another 2 new dive masters with us – at this point I only remember Imran, not because he is a guy but he was assigned to our group.  I can’t emphasized enough, IT’S REALLY WONDERFUL TO HAVE DIVE MASTERS WITH US>SO REASURING!!!  CHEERS TO PEOPLE WHO CAME UP WITH THEM!!!  Maybe because we have such nice dive masters, who are able to remove my fear one by one!!!

What greeted me next, was doing the “Giant Stride”.  I felt a bit scared suddenly to take a big step out into the water.  We were fully geared up on the surface like aliens with very heavy tanks.  My instructor was encouraging us into the water, so we won’t kill ourselves with the weight on the surface.  Holding my mask & regulator with my right hand, & another hand on my weight belt with 4 kg around me this time, I took a big giant stride out & “walked” into the water.  A huge splash, I drank some water cos’ I was half floating.  I immediately inflated myself to maximum.  Skills that were covered that night were removing & putting on our weight belt.  Removing our BCD in the water & putting it on again, in case we were entangled in the water.

I had great difficulty equalizing, causing pain in my ears.  Also my ears ‘drank’ some water when I titled my head to the side.  And gosh my mask fogged so much, I couldn’t see well down under.  I was also not used to my equipment yet, so I had problem locating the releases & belt buckle etc.

We also did our buoyancy control.  If there were corals at the bottom, I’m sure I’ll either injure myself & the corals or swimming on top of my group.  It was really hard to control.  Then learning to fin like a fish & not doing underwater cycling, which was a common mistake made.  Then next was the famous “CESA”.  I can’t remember what it stands for; basically it’s a short form, which means emergency ascent.  I thought I’ll score at this one, cos’ it was my famous answer for any problem big or small for my diving theory quizzes.  But pls don’t pick it from me.  You may die following me instead.  This emergency is for instance, you’re running very low air supply & your buddy is not close to you to provide you his alternating regulator, so you’ll need to do this CESA.  It looks easy but it is not easy to do.  Let alone in a 2m pool.

Well continue my adventure at Tioman for 3 days & 2 nights, doing 5 DIVES in the OPEN SEA.  I look forward to it, despite I was a bit scared too.  In fact a lot more!!!  What do you expect? It’s THE SEA!!!  Since I brave myself enough to this point, I am GOING all OUT.  Fear?  LET IT DROWN IN THE SEA!!!  Seriously I’m very very very extremely happy to have my friend, Sabrina, with me on the trip.  She is part of my tranquillizer.  And is very important one too.  It’ll be our 1^st trip together after knowing each other for 8 years.  My another tranquillizer is with the sharks.  Yes play the famous “Jaws” theme music.  Glad to know they’re timid, so rest my heart a bit.  I’m scare to meet the aggressive Titan triggerfish instead.  Especially if they happen to be defending their nests. They feed on corals you know?!!

After my pool session, I was so hungry; I had an “ESO” – (Emergency stop-over) at the convenience store.  Every time I’m hungry, I can’t help thinking of Nissin’s chicken flavor cup noodles.  Tasty noodles in hot soup & finished just in time to catch my last bus home. 

Tioman, here I come!!!

;) To be continued.   

The cat kneeled at the girl’s leg & with his sparkling eyes full of love & said, “With love my love, this will mark my love for you. Remember me.” He opened his mouth & sank his teeth gently into the girl’s leg, but waking her up instantly from her dream.

I saw this cat in my mind when my friend told me that her cat had bitten her.  Ok the cat can’t be so drama.  But I couldn’t help my mind from wandering off some times.  But she does have an interesting cat.  Her mum usually cooks & feed her cat.  But she has gone holiday recently.  So my friend, Jo, fed him with can food.  But he didn’t like it.  So he tried to express his wishes by hindering her from going out of the kitchen one night.  Finally Jo got his idea & tried to cook for him.  But after eating her “attempt”, he let her free.  Then one night, returning from work, she found him covered in oil, which he had accidentally spilled over.  I couldn’t stop laughing, thinking the cat decided to cook himself instead.  The night after, Jo wanted to go home, cos’ she was worried the cat will jump off the building. 

Anyway, I think Jo is a very interesting sexy girl.  I gave her a nickname – “Pink Lady”.  Just get to know her from my work & she smiles & laughs a lot.  As you’ve guessed, she likes pink.  People with laptops usually carry black laptop bags, but she has this striking pink one with sand beach color bag strips.  A segment I edited was actually about reindeers, & she looked at me in disbelief & said, "They are REAL?!!"  Gosh, she had thought that reindeers were fantasy like unicorns.  Sigh>>> 

She was on day shift, while I was on night shift for this project.  So we could both finished editing two episodes together.  The night before - my last day of work, I was finishing my work & really thought I was able to go home like a decent 3 a.m.  I really wish I could go home even earlier, with only 3 hours of sleep before.  I heard things like, “We are 98% done.” and “I’m reaching the finishing line.”  But after reviewing my work that night, my executive producer with his tired eyes, told me the things I need to do to finish the program, including revision for ep 1 & 2.  Burning DVDs & dumping out all the programs.  My mind instantly at that moment translated him saying this instead, “Oh we are near the finishing line.  You just have to climb this mountain, cross this two rivers, & run 10 more km, & then you’ll see a train coming your way, then JUMP……”  

The last thing I want to see now, is really a computer. Burning like 17 hours last night straight for my work on a mac, I know you wouldn't too. Life is a lot more simple when I work. Simply sleep, rest & work, leaving the rest behind. 45 minutes on a bus journey, really become so precious suddenly.

3 more days I think to my deadline. Until then, silence will grace my blog I afraid. I have yet share my Tioman diving trip... laughter ahead. But greet me with an empty mind is a better option.

With love I'll be back ;)