Jul
30
2010
The boat moored for my second dive that day at a site called Midway Reef, a submerged reef known for its continuous currents and lots of pelagics to be seen as one drifts along the endless coral patches. According to the tide table, there weren’t supposed to be any currents or even if there is, it’s supposed to be very mild current but the surface currents seemed to be very strong that afternoon. I guess there’s a reason why it’s called a prediction table, isn’t it? I made one of those mistakes by trusting the tide table without second guessing it.
Before the dive started, Mamat went to the back of the boat and jumped in to check the current but he forgot his fins so he drifted to the side of the boat and climbed back up, with assistance by the boat crew of course. It was quite a big wooden boat which Xavier renovated it from the ordinary fishing boat. Although it’s adjusted quite well to be a dive boat, the sides are still a bit high to climb up unassisted.
So I joked to Mamat asking if he jumped into the water to pee and we laughed it off, then picked up my fins and mask to check the underwater currents myself before the rest starts to gear up. Kaz was sitting on the other side of the boat chatting with his students and I asked if he saw any fusiliers so I probably could just assess the situation from the surface. He shook his head and so I went to the platform, put on my fins and jumped in right away.
As soon as I got into the water, the mask slipped out of my head but I was already underwater. I had my hand holding the mask but then my right fin slipped out of my foot and I could still see it drifting away under the boat towards the propeller area. In a split second I had to decide whether I’m going to waste time fixing my mask or just dash to grab my fin before it got drifted too far out and lose it. It’s my new Cressi Reactor Pro fin and I like it so much. I wasn’t wearing a wetsuit, just my Ripcurl boxer shorts and Netherlands jersey which has become my new underwater uniform and I knew immediately that that won’t help me to float in such surface current.
So I said to myself, “screw with the mask, I can still see it and before I ran out of breath I might as well grab the fin”. By the time I was halfway under the boat with my left leg finning helplessly and left hand grabbing the fin, I started to choke out of air and I think I was already about 5m away from the platform underneath the boat. I had no other choice but to hold on to the boat’s hull and finning with one leg. Somehow I managed to drag myself out of the situation against the strong current and surfaced at the platform where I first jumped. Kaz just looked and smiled at me as I was holding on to the platform gasping for air, cursing on how strong the current was and told him that I almost lost my fins. At the time, it didn’t occur to me that nobody realized I was facing difficulties, they thought I was just making fun of the situation. We were all joking to each other and seeing on how Mamat and I joked to each other about the Midway Reef’s currents, they were really sure that I know the site very well. I only dived the place once and that was supposed to be my second attempt! Perhaps they think I have gills behind my ears 
I lost the mask, but saved the fins. The fins are mine but the mask belongs to Macha’s dive center. Looks like I’ve got to pay him for that later. I asked Mamat for another mask and then grabbed the buoy line, finned as hard as I could until about 3m deep and saw the fusiliers were all in frenzy fighting the current. I knew at that time that the current was too strong for a comfortable dive. I surfaced and reported it, asked if everyone still wants to dive the place and I got the nods from them.
That was my last dive, it was good for me because I have this principle that every dive is a good dive – there’s no such thing as bad dive but it’s not really something that I wanted to remember much about. The pre-dive incident however, I’ll keep that in mind always as reminder so it won’t happen again in the future. The current was too strong at buoy line due to the breakup currents and many aborted their dive after that. Halfway through the dive, I was asked to abort and I didn’t have the SMB – all of my gears were still at Riduan’s place in Tioman and I’ve been diving with rented gears lately, well except for my fins. I searched for Nazri and asked if I could borrow his SMB but on that particular dive he didn’t have one. So I had to turn back to the buoy line, become the “underwater tow truck” pulling all three of them dive buddies and again, I was gasping for air and very tired by the time everyone was holding the buoy line doing their safety stop.
While doing safety stop I heard the stress call, the incessant banging of the boat ladder, which could mean only one thing – storm is coming. True enough, after surfacing I saw a thick black cloud on the horizon and the surface was starting to get choppy. The rest of dive group surfaced not long after I did and we quickly moved out of the area. So I guess the tide table weren’t far off from being accurate afterall, it’s the storm in the distance that’s affecting the currents. What I should’ve done was to also check the weather on the horizon and not rely just on the tide table’s prediction.
Lesson learned, good experience and something to be talked about the next time I hang out with my diving buddies again.
Good thing is… I’m still alive
Jul
15
2010
It’s been a while since the last time this nose of mine bleeding out of control without any reason. Usually it’s when I’m having high fever or been out in the sun for too long. Since the WorldCup finals, fever kicked in and I’ve been coughing especially at night but it only lasted for a few days. The sorethroat was quite bad too but it wasn’t something that bothered me much other than making it really uncomfortable to have conversation with anyone.
Yesterday I felt slightly better and went to the office in the morning. Then the nose felt uncomfortable, I blew it off and noticed that there was blood. I applied some tissue to stop the bleeding and continued working. Immediately as I removed the tissue to check if the bleeding had stopped, a sudden gush of blood just burst out and spill all over the iPad. The flow didn’t stop for a few minutes and luckily the tissue box was just nearby. No damage on the iPad, pheww. It wasn’t easy to wipe dried blood off the iPad screen, had to apply some water.
I was supposed to be working on the final part of my iPhone app before reconciling it with Jason’s code so we could submit it to AppStore soon, but somehow I lost my concentration and interest to be working on the computer for the whole day. So, I end up spending the entire day with Zamri at Low Yatt plaza buying stuffs and complaining about the sushi lunch we had. Got myself a new computer bag, a nice small black backpack but could fit the MacBook and iPad nicely.
Work can continue later… when I’m feeling better.
Jul
10
2010
Ever since I first watched the Asian Food Channel, my interest in cooking came back but I never really had the chance nor the time to actually try some real cooking other than doing lamb grills using the microwave. Quite some time ago I’ve graduated into cooking spaghetti but using bottled sauce from Prego, that was simple and nothing much to shout about. Last two weeks when I was in Tioman island, I tried cooking spaghetti for my dive buddies using self prepared sauce and quite proudly I must say, that it tasted quite good and puts a lot of smiles on their faces.
Suddenly cooking has been my new obsession now, other than photography and scuba diving… since one has gotta eat well then one might as well learn how to cook, isn’t it? Hoping that I’ll be quite good at it, some day.
So when Kak Ti called yesterday saying that she and Nancy will be staying over at my place for the weekend, I went to Carrefour with Aldin and Aliff looking for some ingredients. At first I thought of serving my version of spaghetti but figured that since Nancy is from the US, she most probably prefer to eat local food, so last night I decided to cook chicken curry instead of spaghetti. If I go all the way to Kathmandu for holiday, I don’t want to end up eating nasi lemak for breakfast isn’t it?
It took me a while to figure out the right technique because I tried the same recipe the night before but didn’t turn out quite well. This time I had some help on how to get the curry aroma to really come out of the spices. The result? Everyone especially Nancy loved it, even my simple mixed vegetables were a hit. The curry was tasty and now I know how to make a really good curry.
We all had really good dinner, even Aliff who always shy away from food had quite a lot. I feel good, because I cooked
After dinner, I grabbed the guitar for another thing that I’m quite obsessed about – the solo and riffs of my favorite songs. There’s an app for iPad that shows the Tabs for popular riffs so I choose something that’s not so difficult, Mark Knopfler’s Sultans of Swing intro riffs. After trying for about 15 minutes, I managed to get it right and by midnight I could play it according to my own feel and taste of how I wanted it to be presented. Gotta play it my style, my way.
I’m so gonna go check that Taylor acoustic guitar at Bentley one of these days
Jul
7
2010
It’s been a very tiring week for me, exhausted from working on project deliverables and watching WorldCup at wee hours just adds to the load. But I have to admit that my work stress level is not as bad as compared to Karen or Colline’s because although we’re all sort of facing the same kinda thing everyday but they sometimes had to put up with me; their ever grumpy lack-of-sleep boss. So in that sense, there really isn’t much for me to be complaining about. Just a few more weeks and hopefully, hopefully everything will be alright and we all can rest and recuperate.
Everyday I looked like a walking zombie and during project meetings which often feels like it’s going to last forever, I would try hard to stay awake and at times I couldn’t help but to doze off for a few seconds (maybe minutes, I don’t know, didn’t check) whenever it’s starting to be a long-winded explanation coupled with several awfully colored graphs and charts.
I should just try on getting myself enough sleep but hmm… after WorldCup lah, only a few more days to go… Alrightie, gotta go and catch some sleep for that Germany vs Spain match at 2:30am later.
Jul
4
2010
It’s been a week since the Tioman dive trip and my left foot is still hurting. Starting to get worried as it is still as painful as the first time I felt it on the boat. I’ve been limping and at times it went away for a while but most times it’s so painful I could hardly walk properly. WeiWei insisted that I go for an xray check and considering that she has seen more than enough patients everyday to know if there’s a problem, it would be wise that I listen to her and not be stubborn this time. This could just be a torn ligament or tendon injury but no harm to go for a check anyway, since I’m reaching that age when teenagers are starting to address me as “pakcik”” instead of “abang”. blergh.
This (late) morning, I received a call about Sirat being in the hospital recovering from a quadruple-bypass surgery. That’s a surprise! He’s only two years older than me and this kind of clogged arteries usually happens to men in their fifties, not at 40 years old! Anyway, went for a visit and chatted away with MakSu and Kak Ani catching up on family matters. I’m soo going to make an appointment for a full medical checkup at Gleneagles or Ampang Puteri tomorrow, sooner or later I’ll have to do it anyway so might as well lah.
Quoting the saying that life starts at 40, I hope mine will be as active and healthy as I am now when I start that stage of life, in the next couple of years. I’m currently on a strict regime to quit smoking and InsyaAllah, everything will be fine.
Jun
29
2010
On the way back from Tioman, we stopped over Ayer Keroh to watch WorldCup. During the intense match I was oblivious to my surrounding, then I realised that I was the only one cheering for Germany loudly surrounded by a bunch of staunch England supporters. I survived the night without getting myself beaten up or at least I didn’t end up walking home, considering on how annoying I was mocking on Beckham and England non-stop all the way till we reached KL. 
As I predicted, England lost to Germany and the result was… bad. It’s 4-1, okay granted that there should be another goal for England, but for some reason nobody saw it until the TV replayed the slow-motion shot. But anyway, England still lost the game as predicted. They depended too much on that pretty boy Beckham, sick of that fella lah… even the cameramen stopped showing his presence at the bench and focused on Mick Jagger instead Rooney couldn’t do the job, keeps toppling over like a girl even when nobody was tackling him. Silly game by England and their defense was terrible. It’s their fault but as usual, the English newspapers and commentators were blaming on Capello… duh. Anyway, they can try again in 2014.
My next prediction was that Argentina will meet Germany for Quarter-Finals and true enough, they will this coming Saturday after they beat Mexico 3-1 that same night. I was already at Hartamas when Argentina played but too tired to stay until Mexico scored, left the place after Tevez’s superb score that gives Argentina that winning goal.
My focus now is on Brasil and last night’s match with Chile although they won 3-0, I was a bit disappointed with their strikers and Kaka’s performance. It should’ve been at least 4-0. Anyway, tonight it will be Spain vs Portugal and it will be an interesting match to watch. Both teams are really good and it’s difficult to tell who will win. Whatever it is, the winner will be meeting Brasil on next match.
With England already packing their bags to go home sulking… Brasil, Argentina and Spain looks promising. Argentina’s fate will depend on how they perform against Germany tonight. As for me, it will be another row of sleepless week, developing Panda eyes.
Jun
24
2010
The flight was scheduled for 7:40am and when I woke up it was 6am. It’s like the clock’s number 6 figure was zooming in and out of my vision, a la Hindustan movie to emphasize how late I was. Yeah, no thanks to WorldCup match last night for this. I didn’t even watch the game last night though I was there joining the crowd for the cheering part. So I rushed like crazy, quick shower and everything done quickly, putting on clothes while walking and grabbing my bag, shoes, etcetera and soon enough I was already on the road to LCCT. I drove way past the speed limit, reached the airport and parked the car at 7am. I hope there’s no speed trap at dawn, else I’ll be in big trouble because there’s no way the PDRM will give me discounts for the ticket, given the speed limit that I broke.
The check-in counter was already closed when I reached there but there’s a lady at another counter somehow was kind enough to help registering my flight and then I had to rush through the queue like a madman. I’m quite sure some of them were cursing at me for cutting queue, I had no choice but to just glide through the long queue while apologizing along the way. When I finally reached the boarding gate, I realized that the iPad is not in my hands and it hits me like a tonne of bricks that I accidentally left it at the registration counter. So there I was, after explaining to the security officer and got his permission, I rushed back out of the boarding area through the same queue that I cut earlier.
The iPad was still there, at the counter. The airport was busy as usual and anyone could have just grabbed the iPad without anyone noticing. To make me feel even worse I didn’t have it password protected because it was prepared for the meeting that I’m attending. I think it was the iPad’s cover that made it looks like just an ordinary paper organizer, that saved it.
The rest of the day was as usual, long meetings and discussions. Met few old friends and everything turned out pretty much as planned. To avoid rushing like a madman again, I made a point that the meetings finishes on-time and now I’m already at the airport cozily waiting for my flight while blogging away. Can’t wait to get home and watch the WorldCup, hope Cameroon will win against Netherlands tonight.
Jun
22
2010
I was chatting with Rajiv yesterday when he made a joke that he won’t get himself anymore of Apple’s stuffs, like the iPad or iMac because it seems that those he knows who uses iPhone, iPad or iMac somehow starting to have problems with their eyes. I’ve heard of stories of how many iPhone users got injured because they were busy using it while walking on the streets but then again, it can happen to just about anyone, it’s all out of coincidence lah.
Sapna likes the iPhone so much and she have problem with her left eye, Karen had to undergo some serious eye examination after she got herself the iPhone and I, last week was attacked by a bird and injured my left eye after I got myself the iPad 3G. Rajiv, after his recent spinal injury has been quite superstitious or too cautious about everything around him that moves or breathes, and now decides that he won’t get himself an iPad no matter how cool the apps I demonstrated to him yesterday. Nevermind, that will be my challenge to convince him otherwise.
A poke into my eyes won’t stop me from indulging further into the world of “i” devices from Apple, I ain’t gonna fall for such superstitious kinda thingy la dey!
Anyway, since my most recent injury has got something to do with birds, the most recent game which is the most popular downloaded apps in AppStore is also about birds. The app called AngryBirds, is now my most favorite game after Knights OnRush and Zombie Soccer. Aldin and Aliff loves the games too. iPad is the new gadget for our father and sons gaming session at home.
Creative Common(sense)
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