Thursday, July 30, 2009

to laugh or cry?

Something happened recently.

I thought about it long and hard - should I post an entry about what happened? And have such a traumatic experience etched in my mind (and this space!) for a looooong, looooong time?

Well, I guess I'm here now.

So I got home from work as usual one evening. We were going to head out for dinner at the mall, so I thought I'll quickly use the toilet. I took off my pants, and also my panties, and left it on the floor in the bedroom. Bathroom floor was wet you see.

After I finished my business, I slid the bathroom door open and SCREAMED so loud the neighbours probably thought I was being murdered.

Standing in front of me, was the man's brother.

Remember how I had my pants and undies on the bedroom floor? Yes, I only was only dressed in my top.

I slammed the bathroom door shut and turned beetroot red.

So the man went to interrogate his brother. I refused to come out of the room.

"I wanted to let you know mom's on the phone, and thought it was you inside the bathroom!" said brother to man.

"Hello? My pants and pink panties were on the floor outside the bathroom!" I told the man.

"But your bedroom door was opened!" said brother to man.

"I definitely closed the bedroom door! I was going to take my clothes off you fool! Maybe it didn't close properly and inched open!" I whined to the man.

The man thought it a funny incident.

Funny - yes lah! But MY GOD. I've never been so embarassed and humiliated. I had no panties on OK? *cries*

This is FAR WORSE than having my bikini top come undone without my realization and then me surfacing from the pool or sea, baring my titties to the whole world.

"OMG, he saw your kueh?" asked my best friend when I texted her almost immediately after that.

"Yes lah! I had nothing on, except my top!"

"OMG, did he see your hair?" she asked then.

"Thank god no hair! Shaved a few days ago!"

Posted by Doreen at 12:40 pm



    

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Coral Planting

The moment I stepped off the boat and onto the arrival jetty at the Sipadan Water Village Resort, I felt that magical giddy high of euphoria again. I remember how and why I fell in love with this place six months ago.

We were lucky to be able to have a chalet facing the open sea again, from where we were treated to pretty cool sunrises in the mornings.


In conjunction with the 12th Mabul Marine Day and 3rd Mabul Marine Week, which was held from the 18 - 25 July 2009, one of the highlights of our trip was the coral planting activity.

Broken coral pieces were collected for the purpose of the transplanting. Each participant was given a piece of coral, tagged with our name.

I was Dooren Loo. I've had many variations of my name being mis-spelled; Dorren, Dorin, Dorine... but Dooren sure beats it all.



With our coral piece identified, we were all given a data sheet to fill in with our particulars, and the details of our coral.


I had a piece of staghorn coral (scientific name Acropora), a branching coral with cylindrical branches protruding out and up. The staghorn is one of the fastest growing corals, with branches increasing in length by 10-20 centimetres a year.

After we have completed the data sheet, it was time for the actual planting at the Old House Reef II on Mabul.

Our guide, Bobby, began by helping us prepare a cement mixture of sorts which we will use as a base. This mixture will then harden over time, providing a sturdy base for the coral.

The new corals are to be transplated on surfaces which is solid and firm, like a rock.

And this is me with my staghorn.

No other corals were hurt or killed in the process of planting this one.

This is Lynette's coral after it's firmly secured.


And a compulsory group shot with Bobby after we surfaced from the dive - Top Row L-R: Colin, Bee Yong, Albert, Lynette, Matthew, Duke and unknown Caucasian, Bottom Row L-R: Shen, Doreen, Bobby

Posted by Doreen at 12:10 pm



    

Monday, July 27, 2009

frown

On 22 July, I frowned because I had to put on a life-jacket for the boat ride from Semporna to Mabul.



On 27 July, I frown because I'm back here in KL.

But you already expected that from me, kan?

Let me sort the pics out, then will blog.

Posted by Doreen at 12:37 pm



    

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

babies christened

Two weekends ago, we christened our new babies at the training pool.

When we got home, like good parents parents, diligently we rinsed everything in fresh water and put them out to dry.



It was like watching our babies on graduation day - that proud feeling, you know?

My baby, the Tusa Passage BCD.


He ain't heavy, he's my Zeagle.


Forgive us, I think our tanglungs are going to be hanging there until the next Chinese New Year.


Now, the only thing which we haven't christened...

And we're going to get to give it a good and proper christening tomorrow!

Off to Sipadan Water Village for the Mabul Marine Week, back on Sunday.

Updates when I'm back.

Posted by Doreen at 3:44 pm



    

Friday, July 17, 2009

another one

Why do you all keep dying on me?

One by one you appear in the news.

So painful for me to even look at your dead carcass in print.

If I were there at the scene, I will definitely end up crying.




I'm upset because I haven't seen any of you before.

I'm upset because despite being the largest living fish, you are playful and pose no harm to us.

I'm upset because... you didn't do anything to deserve this.

(Story and picture from TheStar.com.my)

Dead Shark Caught In Net

BUTTERWORTH: Four fishermen on a deepsea fishing trip found a dead whale shark measuring 5.36m in their net 50 nautical miles off the coast.

The fishermen, from Kuala Muda near here, made the discovery at 1am yesterday.

Salleh Hussin, 48, said they tried to release the one-tonne creature back into the sea after realising that it was dead but failed to do so as it was too heavy.

He said they then towed the shark back to the Kuala Muda jetty and informed the Penang Fisheries Department at 7.15am.

Department deputy director Khairul Anwar Mohamad, who went to the scene with three staff members, said the department would use the whale shark carcass for research as it was a protected species.

“Our initial investigation found that the fishermen did not catch the fish intentionally,” he said, adding that a decision would be made after the investigation was completed.

It was the second whale shark found in a fishing net in Penang in seven months.

On Jan 2, several fishermen found a 7m-long whale shark in their net 10 nautical miles off Teluk Bahang.

One of them said they found the dead fish when they tried to pull up their net and decided to tow it back to shore as they feared that the carcass if dumped at sea would pollute the waters.

The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a filter-feeding shark and is the largest living fish. The slow-moving creature is known for its playful character and poses no harm to humans.

Posted by Doreen at 11:28 am



    

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

i'm missing...

It's been crazy around here.

I know- not an excuse for the lack of updates right?

For the past 4 weeks (and counting!), it's been a 7-day week for us.

As much as I am enjoying what I do, there are some things which I've been missing...

On a brighter note, at this exact time and day next week, we will be getting ready to do our checkout dive at the house reef of Sipadan Water Village!

Let the countdown begin!

Posted by Doreen at 3:10 pm



    

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

how it started

I met an ex-colleague over the weekend.

"So how did you get into this diving thing?" he asked.

It got me thinking about how it all started.

It was the MIDE (Malaysia International Dive Expo) weekend back in July 2007 and we decided to drive down to PWTC to check it out. We hadn't started diving then, but went just because.


We walked along the aisles, booths on our left and right. We drooled at the picture displays that were put up by exhibitors. We marveled at the dive equipments which were on sale. We asked questions and were given answers. We also collected name cards and brochures.

As we were about to make our way out, we saw this lady manning the booth on her own. She had a friendly and approachable face, unlike the guy whom we had just spoken to (I still remember the name of his Dive Centre to this very day!)

We had a quick chat and took her name card away with us.

It was end of 2007 when we finally went for our first theory class, and we've never looked back since.

Yes, her friendly and approachable face made a difference to us in the sea (no pun intended) of other dive centres at MIDE that afternoon.

But that was only the beginning.

It's been 15 months since we got our
PADI Open Water Diver certification.



We could have gone for that one trip and then not dive again for another year. We could have gone for that one trip and then decided that diving isn't that great afterall. Worse - we could have gone for that one trip and then realized that diving is bullshit and regret forking out money to be certified.

But of course, nothing of that sort happened.



We are now in the midst of our PADI Divemaster course, the first step towards making scuba diving a career. From hereon, we will be moving on to do our Instructor Development Course to lead up to the Instructor Exam (IE). And if all goes well, we'll be PADI Open Water Scuba Instructors before the year ends!

Très exciting, non?

And for this, we've got Lynette to thank.

Thank you for making us book all those trips we booked. Thank you for sharing with us - your passion, your enthusiasm, your knowledge. Thank you for leading the way in showing us that we can make a career out of this, just like you did. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for believing in us.

Having said that, it's not all a fun ride. In the months leading up to the IE, there is much to be done! So much to read, so much to learn, and so much to remember. Meeting our PADI Course Director over the weekend was a wee bit daunting, but it further drove home the point that this is serious work, but one which will yield serious fun upon completion.

Well, we started our story with MIDE back in 2007. And now,
MIDE 2009 is here this weekend, 3-5 July at the PWTC!

See you there?

So I told my ex-colleague, "I guess I fell in and got hooked. Don't know how to come out of it now."
(Not that I want to!)

Posted by Doreen at 12:30 pm