Sun.Sand.Sea

The past two weeks have been hectic.. Work’s been ridiculously busy and every after-work day is just filled with things to do, people to meet.. My weekends are busier than my weekdays.. The whole month of April, every weekend was taken up.. I’m looking at my calendar for the month of May and June and every weekend has already been filled up.. Weeknights in May are also being blocked really quickly with just different items..

Much needed rest awaits.. 1 day to go…

Mask - Checked!
Fins – Checked!
Booties – Checked!
Snorkel – Checked! (Just bought mine yesterday – RM30 – low profile)
Sunblock – Checked!
Monopoly Deal – Checked!
Boat Transfer - Checked! (Phew!)

We nearly didn’t make it for the weekend though cos we forgot to book out boat transfers.. Plan was to just head to the jetty and buy our tickets as we always do.. Forgetting that it’s peak period and not knowing that Blue Water Ferry operator has monopolized the entire operations at Mersing and Tanjung Gemuk jetties.. I called them up yesterday to just check out timings of the boats and to my horror they told me that ALL boat are FULLY BOOKED! There is no possible chance to get a transfer for Saturday… That’s not acceptable.. Tried all other possible avenues including hiring a private boat (which is priced at RM2.5k per way – no way we’re using this route), calling up dive owner friends at different island to see if they had any ‘kaki’ in Tioman who could help us out but all these failed..

So after much negotiation with the operator, managed to secure a 230pm boat from Mersing jetty to Tioman on Saturday.. We’ll only probably reach the island at 430-5pm depending on conditions.. Whole day is lost! But I’m thankful that we even managed to get the 230pm boat.. Of course I had to pay up front the full amount.. Now we just got to pray that the weather conditions will be good and the boat won’t be cancelled or delayed.. We just have to now make the most of our Sunday and Monday there.. Managed to secure the last boat out from the island on Monday which is at 430pm so at least we have quite a bit of the last day to be spent on the island..

Best part of this weekend’s break – Free accommodation at Berjaya! I’ve not been to any Berjaya resort before but have only heard great news about it so am really looking forward to it..

Yes it's PD I'm talking about

When you think of clear blue waters, corals and colorful fishes - the one place that never comes to mind is Port Dickson..

I've always remembered PD to be muddy, teh tarik colored waters..

So when the man and a few other cellies went for a trip together the last time and said that the water in PD was now clear and they could even see corals and butterfly fishes when they snorkeled, I knew I had to go and explore it..

And explore I did..

They surely were right.. The moment we drove up to Blue Lagoon, the view was breathtaking.. Yea this is PD I'm talking about.. I love the ocean and anything to do with it.. And it's so great to know now we don't need to drive a good 5 hours before we reach crystal clear waters.. PD is just 1.5 hours away.. I really do hope that it stays this way..

We saw 4 full boats of snorkelers go out as well as a bunch of divers.. And we can only hope and pray that these peeps will not destroy the corals that have just begun to bloom..

I forgot to take pics but will surely take some on my next trip there..

Jump.. Higher

Easter is in 2 weeks... After a couple of years of break, I'm involved this year again.. Missed the first 3 practices and last night was my first.. To top that, I was the oldest in the dance group! These young ones are so energetic, agile and they pick up fast.. They're pretty awesome choreographers too I must say..

Was pretty nervous before practice cause I've not danced or stretched for sometime... It was difficult having to pick up the entire 2 verses and 2 choruses last night and learn up the flagging routine as well, not to mention a 'ballet' jump.. PKL does it so so gracefully! I'm still trying.. Look so retarded at times lol..

But all in all I'm thankful to be given this opportunity to serve Him.. To not take the giftings and talents He has placed in my life for granted..

The Easter 'production' this year is fairly simple compared to previous years, but I can see it all coming together.. It's going to be power-packed with the costumes, lighting and media..

But for now, I got to practice practice practice..

I'm a convert

That was the message I whatsapp-ed one of my cellie.. He immediate called me back.. He somehow thought I had converted out of Christianity.. lol.. We were previously having a discussion on F1 as yesterday was my first experience as was his.. So figured we were still on the same page.. Obviously not haha. What a relief it was for him to find out that I was talking about the F1 race..

Previously the mention of F1 would not excite me.. I even had a friend few years back who offered me tickets, pretty good seats but I declined, simply because I didn't understand what was so great about it..

But yesterday, I was blessed with some really really good box seats.. and so decided to go for it, plus the company was good.. :P

That was certainly not a decision I regret!

The adrenalin rush you feel, Oh boy, it’s exhilarating. We were treated very well, and I don’t think I’ve ever been treated that way before..

Went to the race without a team to support, ended up supporting Hamilton only cos he was such a hottie. He dropped from 3rd to 7th placing, but his teammate Button won 2nd place..

Stayed on for the night concert – Rain from Korea performed. He’s a good dancer, but umm that’s about it. Thought he was so full of himself. His songs were either titled “Rainism” or they had lyrics which read “oh rain, go rain, it’s raining, it’s raining” or he would have a backdrop of raindrops while he’s singing a slow number. Hmm many were actually jumping and dancing to his tune, including guys. I just enjoyed his moves but that’s about it..

Although we got stuck in the jam for hours and barely moved, or the fact that we had to walk quite a distance to the circuit from our carpark, the whole experience of yesterday was truly fun fun fun!

Next year, it’s ONZ! Maybe Singapore to check out the night race?

It's come, it's nearly gone

I had my first taste of receiving a bonus payout end of last month. I was pretty pleased with the figure I received and immediately did up some calculations on how I would spend and save it. Thought of the many things I’d like to buy for myself.

Surprisingly, I’ve not used any of it to pamper myself, neither have I bought anything for myself.

It went straight to tithes, paying up my credit card bills, taking parents out for a nice meal and buying them something, bought a gift for someone, Missions trip to Sri Lanka in May and the rest I put into savings.

It’s amazing how that sum has just dispersed so fast. It’s not disappeared entirely because a chunk of it has gone into savings.

I’ve been thinking a lot about building my savings again and have been working really hard towards it. Was talking to a certain someone this morning, and he said to try to put aside at least 10-20% monthly from my salary, that’s doable. Just need to budget well monthly and cut down on the usage of my credit card.

But as much as we may plan and budget, at the end of the day our priorities also has to be set right. Tithing has been a part of me since young. My parents taught me at a very young age to tithe. Even when they used to give me RM10, I’d put aside RM1 for tithing. So much so now that when I received my bonus, I could give the 10% and more to the Lord with a cheerful heart.

Everything I have and own at the end of the day still belongs to God.

Finally!

Got my OWD in 2006 and finally after 5 years.. *drumroll please* I'm an Advanced Open Water Diver!

Secured a really good deal during the last MIDE fair for my AOW course. However the catch was that I needed to do it by 31 Mar 2011, and since I was still recovering from pneumonia last year, I was only able to do it this year and decided the last weekend of Mar - which is also the tail end of the monsoon season.

Kin aka Mr Sotong said that visibility would sometimes be as clear as 10-20m and that weather will be spectacular.. On the contrary, visibility was an average of 1-2m on our dives and weather was bad!

But God was good as he gave us clear weather on the 2nd day there where we had to complete our last 3 dives.. That night however it rained so so heavily that it woke all of us up..

My buddy was battling a fever, nose block, ear block during the entire course.. I'm so proud that she managed to pull through and finish it..

Can you believe that we went to Perhentian Kecil but didn't head to Long Beach or eat our ikan bakar at Amelia's! That was just unacceptable la.. For those who've been there with us before, you know what we mean.. The last day on the island was supposed to be a chillax day at Long Beach but our 4pm boat got cancelled due to the bad storm, so we had to take the 12pm boat out.. Decided then to rent a motel room on mainland to shower, rest and eat before our 830pm bus..

We didn't see much on our dives and didn't really have a good instructor - Nothing beats Toby or Simon, so I hear.. Honestly I'm quite tired of Perhentian Kecil..

Time to explore other islands.. starting with Tioman end of April - but doubt I'd do any diving on that trip.. need to save up $ plus the crowd going are mostly non-divers.. So we'd probably just snorkel and chill by the beach.. Nevertheless, still a relaxing holiday to look forward to..