More Than Meets the Eye....

My new Kenwood mixer being 10 times heavier than my old Faber mixer, now sits permanently on the counter in my kitchen.  It's just too much work packing and unpacking it each time I want to use it due to its size and weight.  I asked my sister, who had recently been experimenting with her creativity on her ancient sewing machine, to make me a dust cover for my precious, very expensive mixer.  And this is what she gave me.

I love it!  Thanks a bunch, sis.

A New Door Opens....

Ok, I failed. I got sucked into the routine of work, housework and the usual errands, and totally neglected this blog. Since T1, bless her heart, actually asked for more blog postings, I am actually flattered enough to get off my butt and post something. Besides work, I actually did have a couple of interesting things happen in the past 3 months. The most interesting being that....I am actually a certified PADI open water diver now! Bwah ha ha ha....another notch on my bedpost and more bragging rights....Actually, it still seems a little surreal that I actually passed the training....

It was always with a mix of envy and admiration when I see or hear people talk about diving. It had always seemed one of those things that seem so difficult to learn or need a lot of guts to do. After all, you are entering one of the last unexplored frontiers on earth. A frontier without ready supply and availability of oxygen - the critical ingredient you need to live. The home of extremely scary predators like Great White Sharks. And unknown monsters of the deep like giant octopuses or ugly prehistoric fishes. A pretty daunting world indeed to the uninitiated.

Well, the boss came up with a grand plan of a company/diving trip. And we all went along for the ride. We had to do our pool sessions over the weekend - I was in the last group before the actual trip to Tioman. Going into my pool sessions, my head was already spinning with stories of how my colleagues in other groups had fared. Exhaustion, nearly drowning, puking, cramping... not a very rosy picture. I also had to put in some last minute cramming of the materials and hoped fervently I remembered enough for the multiple choices to trigger some correct answers during the exam. It was with some relief that the pool sessions didn't turn out so bad - I actually had a good time and there were lots of funny moments for the group. My previous stints at swimming and being relatively comfortable in the water helped. The most embarrasing thing for me just turned out to be the struggle I had to put up getting into the wet suit. Those things are pretty darn unforgiving you know.

But the week leading up to the actual dive trip to Tioman, I was a little anxious. It was all fine and dandy in a relatively shallow pool where you could always kick yourself up to the surface if you panic or cling to the sides if you're tired. But open sea? Unfathomable depths? Salt water? Currents and waves? Not to mention those scary predators and unknown monsters? Should I make my will before I go?? After an overnight journey in a freezing bus, we arrived bleary-eyed for the ferry at Mersing. Finally reaching the resort, we thought we'd have rooms to check into but no such luck. The resort was full and we had to wait another couple of hours before we could get to our beds. And we had to start our first 2 open water dives that very afternoon - I pondered on whether it is possible to drown by falling asleep underwater.....

The beach at the resort

After getting a scant hour's nap, we had our lunch and soon enough, it was time for our first dive. I pushed all doubts and anxiety to the back of my mind and focused on the activities at hand....And you know what, except for the fact that my body fats made descending to the bottom an excruciatingly slow process, it all turned out pretty smoothly. Weather was good, water was pretty calm and the salt water didn't sting much when I had to practise filling up and clearing my mask underwater. The first dive was pretty boring in terms of things to see but it was just cool to be actually under the sea and learning to be comfortable with our skills. Time just passed so quickly that all too soon, we were back at the surface and making our way to our second dive spot. Which turned out more interesting as there were lots more beautiful corals and variety of fishes to admire. I am however confessing to the fact that I probably killed some thousand-year coral when I was learning how to control my buoyancy - a fact that I deeply regret and will try to make up for. After the second dive, we had to do some exercises on the surface, which was actually a lot more tiring than being underwater....That night, I was in a zombie-like state due to the lack of sleep from the bus ride the night before and all the physical exertion for the day. But I was happy how things turned out. We enjoyed a nice sunset, chit-chat, and retired early to catch up on our sleep.

By Day 2, I felt like a pro. Gearing up, back-rolling into the water, doing my skills - eat your heart out Jacques Cousteau! My body fats were still a problem for my descent, and I couldn't control my buoyancy resulting in my floating up all the way to the surface on Dive 4, but hey, why sweat the small stuff? We did one extra dive after the final mandatory Dive 4. Now, Dive 5 turned out more challenging as the waves were choppy and the current was strong. We were OK going down and underwater, but surfacing and getting back to the boat was tiring. The boat couldn't pick us up as we were in a shallow area near the corals and rocks, so we had to swim our way for quite a bit through pretty big waves to get near the boat. Man, that was tiring. No matter how much I kicked, the boat just didn't seem to get any nearer! Being swung back and forth as I was clinging on to the ladder to get up the boat was not too fun either.

My dive buddies

At the end of Day 2, I could finally sit back and have a beer, revelling in the knowledge that I had actually completed the course. So, that's basically the gist of my Open water course experience. If anyone is considering it and had doubts, I'd say go for it. It really is not too hard if you are already comfortable with water and have a reasonable fitness level. I'm not sure how much diving I'd actually end up doing as I've always had more affinity with mountains that I did with the sea. But I certainly am going to give it a few more go-s as I think the enjoyment increases as you get better at it. A new door to underwater adventures and experiences have now been opened to me. Now if only I had more time and money.....

The Art of Bibimbap

Footnote : In a nutshell, you can put anything you want into bibimbap.  It is mixed rice after all.  The secret ingredient is the sauce - gojuchang aka red pepper sauce.  And you can put anything you want into that too! 

My Old Thingamajigs....

After my post on my new FM modulator, I received a lot of flak from friends about how archaic I was.  Even my "aunty" friend, WL, claimed that she bought this device many moons ago for her daugther.  She concluded that I was even more of an "aunty" than her since I only discovered this gadget recently. Wow, that stung.  And with Information Technology being my rice bowl, this called for drastic measures.  So, I decided I needed to do a proper review of my stuff to see whether it really is time to ditch some.

1. My cassette player

This is a no brainer.  The technology may be irrelevant but I have too many good cassettes invested to throw this away.... I mean, come on....can I throw away my Def Leppard, my Pretty Woman soundtrack and my Jackie Cheung??  That's my whole secondary school, college and university-related nostalgia right there.  Verdict : KEEPER!

2. My TV

Technically, this TV is not mine but my Mum's.  Though it's heavy and not very "sexy", at least the people on screen don't look like they've been squished and stretched out like how they appear on plasmas and LCDs.  And since Mum is not a fan of watching squished Korean actors in her favourite serials, this is another no-brainer.  Verdict : KEEPER!

3. My phone

My wonderful Nokia has served me well in it's ten years of service.  It has survived numerous crashes where its body parts have ended up in pieces across the floor.  And yet, all I had to do was plug it all back together and it still worked like a charm (let's see you to do that with your "smart" phones....) It keeps me connected, and yet protects me from the horrible fate of being online all the time, being expected to attend to email, video calls and to work endlessly on Microsoft Office meeting crazier and crazier deadlines.  Sure, there are inconveniences.  Like when I travel, I don't have the internet and all its information at my fingertips.  And I can't play music.  But hey, that's all part of the travel experience anyway - getting away from it all.  I guess you can tell where this is heading.  Verdict : KEEPER!

4. My car

They don't make them like this anymore.  Seriously.  The Proton is nearly 20 years old and still going strong.  Of course, there were times when I really did think I may have to dump a fortune on a new car.  Like that time when the radiator kept heating up and had to be replaced.  Or the time when the air conditioning bombed out and had me sweating buckets (which was pretty embarassing when I had to turn up at meetings looking like I just ran a marathon).  Or the time when the rust holes went straight through the roof and I had to contemplate sticking an umbrella through it everytime it rained.  But in the end, a little maintenance, a still affordable amount of money, and one accident (which resulted in me having very new-looking passenger side doors and no rust holes!) is all it took to get it back up fit and fighting.  The only grouse is that I can't drive it out of town for fear the engine will finally run its course.  So,.... verdict ?  KEEPER!  (at least till I strike my Big Sweep millions!)

Now, before anyone gets the idea that all I have are OLD things....I do have a nifty little digital Panasonic Lumix camera, AND a pretty decent laptop AND of course, my state of the art Kenwood mixer.  AND I'm even thinking of investing in a digital scale for my baking and cooking.  So, not THAT aunty after all right??

My New Thingamajig....

This is my new thingamajig. 

If you can overlook its slightly obscene shape which brings to mind a certain part of the male anatomy, it really is a nifty little gadget.  Technically, it is called an FM modulator.  I got introduced to its existence one fine day while getting a ride in a colleague's car.  Noticing this curious looking object sticking out of the dashboard, I naturally asked the owner what it was for.  Whaddya know?  The FM modulator can bascially play MP3 files off your thumb drive or SD card via the car radio when you tune it to one of the available radio frequecies!  To say that I was gob-smacked that such technology existed does not adequately express how amazed and excited I was.  OK, OK.  I admit.  I work in the IT line but I am not exactly the most tech savvy person around.  My phone is a Nokia antique from 10 years ago (that's another story), I still have a cassette player in my room and there is nary an X-box or PS3 in sight in my house.

Anyway, let me put into perspective why I was so excited.  I drive a Proton Saga that rolled out of the assembly line more than 15 years ago and it does not exactly come equipped with fancy accessories.  Though I love the Proton (again, another story here), I had to live with a crackly radio, spoilt cassette deck and no CD or MP3 player for quite a while.  So, the discovery of the FM modulator opened a whole new world of music for me when I drive.  Not too long after that Eureka moment, I got my gagdet at the Jusco store.  Please also let me state clearly here that in my defence, I didn't notice the obscenity while it was in its packaging.

Though it didn't come with any instructions, it was simple enough to set up.  All I had to do was plug in the SD card containing my music files into the slot. 

Then, I started up the car, pulled out that cigarette ligher thingy from the plug where you can charge your handphones, and plugged in the modulator.  Next was to select a radio channel, check the frequency, and tune the modulator to the same frequency.  My car was soon filled with my favourite sounds from Aerosmith, Matchbox Twenty and Annie Lennox.  Heaven!

Now, my fine friends who have been relentlessly telling me to ditch my car, since the Proton is now further upgraded with this latest add-on, why in the world would I ever need to buy a new car???!