CoN't oF A yEAr OldeR

12 midnite Thurs 27th Jul'06

its been a tired day @ work... *determined* i told myself tat i will go to bed early today... definitely aint gonna clock 2am tonite :*

main reason for being in here today... simply cose i couldnt upload e picos i had for e previous chapter in tis blog... *sigh* n so here i am trying to upload my picos under another chapter today :s

here it goes......

*sweat* tried several times... managed to get up 2 picos out of 3... i couldnt get e pico of me wif e little piece of chocolate cake which i took during my lunch celebration wif my colleagues :( as for e lady above... she's Juanna... e lady who gave me flowers on my bday... awww... so sweet of her!!! ;D

alrite... time to book out... 1233am... signing off.......

A YeaR OldEr

12.52am Wed 26th Jul 06

hmm... dunno why... but i jus like starting off every chapter of my life in here wif time/day/date... *wonder*

guess its no more today tat im writing abt my birthday... its 55 mins into being called yday... n so it shall be...

25th July... where i was bornt 27 years ago... seem rather long as i've passed slightly more than a quarter of my life...

as usual... i went to work in e morning cose i dun really ve e practise to take leave during my bday... n when i reached office... i was surprised by a bouquet of flowers sitting on my desk... it was from my colleague Juanna... we share e same bday n same chinese zodiac too... fated i must say... for us to meet... n very sweet of her to buy me those flowers all by herself w/o other colleagues chipping in... *melt* e flowers brightens up my day... even though i had a busy day @ work... but still i would smile when i look @ those flowers *as i like flowers*

then in e afternoon... our Manager bought us lunch to celebrate our bday... it was a great lunch... we had thai food in e cafe located in e little corner of Amara Hotel... services there was gd too! knowing it was both Juanna n my bday... e cafe gave each of us a complimentary piece of chocolate cake lit wif candle... n i must say... its was a very very very delicous chocolate cake ;p~~

having stomach fully stored wif food... we headed bk to wk... times flies as usual... n in jus a blink... its was time to meet Pepe... she had offered to celebrate bday for me *very sweet of her* n we had settled for lemon grass restaurant as she has 30% disc... then i was delighted when i got to know tat Ah huang was joining us too ;D

sometimes life is jus contradicting... as i always like receiving flowers... but when really given... i feel shy to hold it in public :s i held onto e bouquet of flowers waiting @ e traffic junction near Amara Hotel for Pepe n Ah huang to come... n i felt kinda paisey as passer-by kept looking @ me + flowers... luckily they arrrived fast enough to ease my awkwardness ;p

we headed down to Orchard for our dinner n had a very fulfilling meal @ lemon grass... then we proceed to walk ard e shops in Hereen... n so coincidently we bump into Josiah... our ADI... guess e world is jus ' big... keke ;p

following tat we walked abit more where Ah huang bought her nephew a pair of sandals... very cute ya cose miniature... then we headed home separately n called it a day...

hmm... dunno whether its age catching up or i've grown into another stage of maturity... somehow this year... i never look forward to my bday... unlike previous years... which i would always plan my schedule full jus solely for e month of July to celebrate my bday......

Q.O.W.D. PicOs

2.40am Monday 17th Jul 2006

hmm... guess i didnt manage to get e diving picos uploaded e last rd... nonetheless... will try again this time round... hope it works ya... enjoy!!!

QuALified oPeN wAter DivEr ;D

2.08am tUes mOrN 11th JuL'06

Sitting in my room... jus finished viewing all e picos sent by WJ & also replied e mass email to my diving group of frens...

its been a challenging weekend... cose i conquer another stage of my life... tats to drop all fear & worries n gain my Open Water Diving License ;D always wanna do it but never tot i really can achieve... very tough initially though...

e journey starts all e way from fri evening itself... been running ard like hot ants e whole day @ work... supposed to meet Pepe *btw... forgotten to include Pepe in my dive kaki list...guess cose she appears too often in my different activities tat i sort of taken her as part of e list w/o mentioning* rite after wk ard 615pm... but last min was held bk by my Finance Manager to discuss some stuffs... n it dragged all e way to 645pm... in which Pepe olreadi finished her dinner :s n so i proceed to buy bread for dinner... little did i realise tat 1 of e tuna bread had olreadi half way discomposing due to sour taste... *fainting*

following tat... we ended up e last batch to report to Sunny Cove... Ah huang, Ebby, Sally & Adrian were olreadi there waiting *paisey* then we met up WJ & Thomas... on e spot they intro 3 lovely ladies *Ai Hui, Hui Tze & Shoko* & our Asst Diving Instructor *Jo* to us... AH & HT were joining us to Puala Tinggi for work related purposes... n as for Shoko... she's from Japan... who came to SG for wk... ended up wif some extra time which she used it to take diving course... n tats where Thomas arranged her to join our group...

after getting all e dive equipments & our baggies into e mini bus... we started our journey towards Paula Tinggi... it was a 4 hrs ride to a jetty in Malaysia & an hr mini ferry ride to PT... unlike e rest... throughout e whole journey i didnt sleep... guess cose im e sort tat will wan to eye witness every single moments when im out on a trip... jus like a video capturing every memorable scene ;)

we had a stopover for tiolet & snack break @ e 7-Eleven near Jusco shopping centre... then we con't our journey to e jetty in which we waited a few hrs for e mini ferry... reason being tat its low tide... so e mini ferry couldnt move near e jetty... but when e mini ferry finally arrived... we all was so delighted as majority of us r dead tired & had enough feeding to e mosi mosi @ e jetty :s

it was a cloudy nite... wave was big n caused our mini ferry ride to be very "sPeciAL"... almost made me felt like im riding a grade 10 roller coaster... unlike e rest... i chose to sit outside so tat i can view e scenery... though it was dark... but it was very windy... very shiok & also abit scary...

finally we made it to e island, PT... n we had our supper *sandwiches & beehoon* then proceed to sleep... but by then it was olreadi 5+am... thus WJ allows us to do our pool session only @9am e following morning *Sat 8 JuL*... rooms were allocated according to diving buddy n so i shared room wif Ebby... n 1 cute thing is tat our room was connected to Sally & Adrian's room ;)

waking up wif little sleep following morning... all of us went to e dining hall for our breakfast...as we r e only group there for e weekend... so e food was prepared according to our preference... thus we ordered bbq food for our dinner... keke ;p

after breakfast & changing... we proceed to pool session... where we r 1st exposed to e dive equipments... not forgetting e diving suit... which i found mine a little small... *WJ see me too up liao* nonetheless... still managed to squeeze in though ;p we were taught how to dismantle & assemble e oxygen tank wif BCD... also we learnt how to swim w/o mask, how to clear mask when its filled wif little or full water, how to retreive our regulator, how to wear weight belt & how to wear BCD all in e water... was a tiring training which lasted till afternoon then we proceed to lunch...

by then weather was starting to havoc... cloudy sky wif big waves & drizzling rain... but WJ said it was still alrite to dive after discussion wif Jo... n so we gear ourselves up after lunch n proceed to PT beach... cose WJ wanna us to do our 1st & 2nd dive fm shore... always ve e perception tat it would be so much safer n easier to dive fm shore... but after experiencing it... i was totally wrong manz... it was horrible as e wave is always pushing me bk to shore n wif e dive equipment *abt 15kg* on my back... i felt helpless when i fell to e sandy floor... lucky for me... Ebby was a determined gal & best buddy tat she helped me up n we tried a 2nd time whereby this time succeeded... we made it to e sea where WJ directed us to e dive spot together wif Jo...

though Jo partnered Shoko as diving buddy... but most of e time... Jo was away fm her taking care of e rest of us & running some errand for WJ simply cose he's ADI... keke ;p Jo usually will tied e rope at e dive spots for us & also first to go down as he will assist in taking care of those who went down... WJ brought us down individually... it was a scary experience... as i felt pressure in ear in which i had to clear while moving down... n not to mention abt e tot of having e regulator as my only air source... aaaarrrrrgggghhhh :s

but still... managed to conquer my fear n made it for e 1st dive wif e help of WJ... then i experienced my first motion sickness in which i vomitted in e SeA :s was up on e surface floating in my inflated BCD aft 1st dive, waiting for e rest... e wave made me puked! it was gross... but i left wif no choice... lucky thing is tat i wasnt alone... as i had Ah Huang & Ebby as my puking kakis... keke ;p

left wif little time & air... WJ suggested we made another dive to clock 2 dives before we called it a day... n so we did before we swam towards e shore... we didnt see much in this 2 dives as e water wasnt clear due to e weather :(

con't on was dinner & theory exam...in btw tat Ai Hui, Hui Tze, Pepe, Ah Huang & me went to wanna free e baby turtles but due to heavy rain... e mission was aborted *sigh*

tat nite we slept ard 11+pm...WJ had planned our 3rd & 4th dive to start @ 8am... n so we had to ve our breakfast before tat... after experiencing e puking earlier on.. i decided to ve light breakfast as a preventive measure... but still it didnt work... cose i ended up feeding e fishes again :s

our 3rd & 4th dives were done rite @ e bk of PT from e mini ferry... we did gaint leap n also back roll... me n Pepe concluded tat back roll is easier for us... as sea water wont sip into our mask... weather was good then n we managed to see sea cucumber n some mini fishes when we reached e bottom... had a few photos taken... n finally we completed our open water diving course!!! hooray!!! keke ;p

1st & 2nd dives @ 4.5m while 3rd & 4th dives @ 8.3m... sAt nite i was firmed abt my decision never to dive again after getting e license... but now tat im here writing... i kinda missed e whole thingy... e tot of going for another dive keeps appearing in my mind... keke... but will only there to do so if im accompanied by skilful divers like WJ & Jo.... as their presence given me alot of assurance tat its safe to dive... of course i do wanna dive wif my diving kakis too *Ebby, Pepe, Ah Huang, Shoko, Sally & Adrian* ;D

hmm... a little abt Ai Hui & Hui Tze... athough they didnt join us for diving... they had their adventure too by going trekking to e all time natural water fall in PT... n also did abit of snorkeling ;D

we departed from PT ard 1+pm *SunDaY* n it was rainning heavily during our mini ferry ride... which contributed to another fun experienced for me... then all in all we reached Sunny Cove ard 7+pm n tats where we parted...

*tired* here's some picos to share... Enjoy!

TiREd + WoRrY + eXcitEd = mE

1.32am fRiDaY morning 7th JuL'06

its been a tiring day @ work... cos my colleague went on course & she will only be back next tue :( having a new Manager ard isnt as gd as i tot... cos apart from attending to my daily chores, i ve to assist her in her chores too & nt forgetting abt my colleague's chores too :s

was telling my e other colleague tat i target to leave office on e dot but ended up attending an interview n so i left office ard 7+pm... sometimes i think... life isnt jus abt working... we spend lots of time on work tat we kinda lost ourselves... *wonder*

hmm... a mixture of feelings tat im encountering now *kindly refer to e title*.... diving due this wkend... departuring later this evening... supposed to be happy & excited... but then here i am... at e same time feeling a little worry... been thinking thru... guess wat others always say r true... n tats as one grows older... one tends to be not so daring... cose im jus an example... burdened by too much concerns...

as im not very good @ swimming even though i did improve alot after attending lessons... but still i ve little water confidence... n e tot of being in sea wif all e sea animals... kinda worries me a little... n to rub things in... i havent gotten e time to read up my diving materials... so i dun really know e fundamental skills... *got to check wif my frens later tonite ya* :s

hmm... lost of tots... didnt know how to con't fm here... hmm... but i did finish packing my bag... n tat i did go on search engines to source out some pics of sea animals tat r dangerous enough for me to avoid... hopefully things will be jus fine... only then i will go for my advance... keke ;p

Diving Group: Adrian & Sally, Ebby, Lifen & mE
Puala Tinggi..... here we come ;D

BrAziL ......................

6.02am Sunday early morning 2nd July 06

Early sunday morning... rare for me to be awake at this timing... but i did not sleep... reason being tat i watched World Cup... Brazil vs France @ 3am... it was a disappointing match... Brazil lost to France :'(

I started to appreciate soccer since last WC @ Yr2002... back then it was introduced to me thru my grp of ex-colleagues... they educated me e different teams n also how to place betting @ Singapore Pool... keke... which from then onwards... i was a fan of WC... n also it was e time where i got to know abt Brazil team... attracted by their outstanding performance in WC 2002... only to know later tat they r one of e strong teams ard...

but then... things seem to ve changed this time rd for Brazil... they dun perform as good as last WC... Ronaldo ve put on quite an amt of weight... n their coach ve left them for Portugal...

since e starting of WC 2006... i've been trying to catch their matches but it all didnt happen till tonite... cose of their match timing... n tonite... e same as before... their match starts @ 3am... but i've my sis n bro-in-law to watch wif me... we watched at a cafe... throughout e match... excitement level for my heart shoot from 0 to 100... very competitive n tough... but cant deny is tat France was good... tat 1-0 was really a good shot... nothing much to say abt Brazil except tat disappointment...

hope they will do something abt it n earn themselves a status in e next WC... *sigh*