Friday, June 09, 2006
Lucky in uni?
So when it came to Final Year Project (FYP), I registered without much thought. Given 10 choices, I selected 5 (all hardware) and another 2-3 projects (just in case). The last 2 choices I just selected which ever projects I was seeing on screen at that time. I mean, if the algorithm was to maximise students' top 3 choices and there are TEN choice, I don't think I will get anything below my top 5 choices.
So how lucky am I....
I got my......LAST CHOICE.
I checked, re-checked, triple checked. I kept clicking the refresh button, but nothing changed. I got some project dealing with software programming of a autofocusing system. Well done, I hate software, I hate dealing with anything graphics or fourier transform and my project encompasses both.
I defend myself for making the last 2 choices by selecting whatever is on screen. There are tons of projects to see, 3/4 of which I did not understand what the explaination was about. I was tired and thought luck was on my side. Apparently not! 10 choices and I got the freaking last one!!!
Arghh!
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Highs and lows
Then came another chance to sneak a session inbetween our busy life. A quicky before the day starts. I had a late night before and struggled to wake up. But the thought of the chase, the game, the play and the high sprung me out of bed.
I changed with a shiver of anticipation. I hurried off to the secret location for the action filled, heart pumping activity.
I was on the bus thinking of what I will be getting later. The thoughts filled me whole and my legs tingle. I wet my lips as I imagined the smashes and the pushes I will be giving.
The phone rang...I picked it up and...
"Eh Ansley....I forgot to bring the tennis balls. Don't think can play liao rite?"
"............."
dammn.
Wat the!!!!
What the !@#$#@^%^#$^%#$%^
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
How do you know
Recall the MRT announcement in different languages to call 999 incase of emergency?
"Similan similan similan" = 999 to a normal person
"Similan similan similan" = Great dive site, I want to go dive there, Great dive site to a diving addict.
I seriously hope this will fade away with time (I don't foresee anymore diving). I have not been addicted to something so badly since GTA came out on PS2, since Super Mario, since playing better tennis, since....actually since many more things!
Friday, May 12, 2006
Advance dive and a little more


So I decided to take my advance diving certification along with some leisure dives. That should give me enough diving to last me till end of the year. Diving is darn expensive, but worth a try. This time I took the bus/ferry route. Oh my, 4 hours in a van and 4 hours on a ferry to the island is no joke. It really tested my conviction to continue diving. We even had to give a welcome 'gift' to the Malaysia Policemen who stopped us for no apparent reason. Perhaps there is a rule that a 8 seater van can only have 6 people?
We stepped onto island at 5am, dragged ourselves to the room to get some proper rest. The only good part of it all, the rooms are much better than the Live onboard.
Welcome Pulau Dayang, hello sunshine and sea! We had some time to play beach volleyball. I think it was JC since I last played this game? We could have won the game, but I had a "STAR PLAYER" in my team, who also happens to be my dive buddy.

Here are some pictures of the world underwater. Did not take the pictures, stole them from lyn - First time underwater photographer.
This shell thingy was moving slowly while we were doing our night dive.

See the black fishes....they were TINY!!! Some where even about half a centimeter.

I think that is a goat fish. It sure looks like it has a goatee

This is a nudibranch I see pretty often that it is no longer a novelty. There thosands of different spieces and more are being discovered. Fact:They are carnivorous! Fact:They are often molested by ping.

Lobster....

Clown fish aka Nemo. They are everywhere, but you don't often get two looking straight into the camera. Say CHEESE!!!
Here is the best shot taken by a new Underwater photographer. It was during the night dive and clever use of the torch to hightlight the starfish.
Below are underwater photos I took from alvin. He is a serious underwater photographer. He has a big stobe with a very good digital camera. Coupled with lots of diving experience, you can see the difference in picture quality.
Yellow-tailed barracudas. I saw a big school of it went I was doing my safety stop at Rayner's Rock. Pretty surreal!

Flabellina looks a little like dragon. I saw a couple of these during my dives. Lovely!

White-eyed Moray eel. I even got a chanve to take pictures of it, but my instructor has not sent me what I took. The eel I saw was up a huge coral formation. So I had to float in the middle of nowhere to get the pictures. Why was I so stable? Cause Ping was so excited she literally grab me and force me to take pictures of it.
Scorpion fish...saw a few of these too. Very well hidden critter!
Nudibranch, the exact same kind that ping tormented during our basic open water course!

This has got to be my favourite finds during this trip. Saw the juvenile yellowbox fish twice durin g the trip. It is abt 2cm only. Scuttering around here and there. It is very hard to get a clear look at it! Everytime I see this photo, I feel like squishing it! haha!

Hermit crab also known at junction 8 as HAHA crabs. They are actually selling hermit crabs for $40. I think I should catch some back and start my own! And the hermit crabs I see in the water a HUGE compared to those at j8!

Barred moray eel. I saw this fellow too. Well hidden under a flat rock with only a small opening. Just so happen I decided to peek into that hole and VIOLA! But it was pretty shy, did not shoot out like the picture below!

Here is the whole group, bunch of leisure divers, open water students, 4 advance students, Dive master trainee and instructors. Very fun group, filled with snacks, drinks, vollyball, chats and jokes.

The guy in white is my instructor. 4 of us took the advance open water course. The jap girl is sleeping I guess. She has this ability to sleep anywhere. She will just plonk herself somewhere and knockout, even better than me! I must say that Jap girl is very interesting. She had already bagpacked central USA, Australia and decided to stay in Singapore after a short trip over here.

Ypu must be wondering if Ping poked, molested anymore critters this time round. The below picture says it all.
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Ping is a little more careful now since she got bitten the last time round which led to 50 antibiotics and a jab. Without a pointer and gloves, she resorted to using her Fins to "lightly" touch the creatures (lightly is what she use to justify her actions). During night dives, she will use her torchlight as the pointer. Jabbing anything that interests her. She was so excited when she saw a turtle, she practically almost hung onto its shell! *smacks forehead*All in all, it was a lovely trip other than getting drifted away from my instructor who was tending to the jap girl. I still don't agree with my instructor's way of handling the situation. But that is another story for another time. (Dammn tired already)
Here is a poem I saw on the forum. Condolences to the family of the guy who passed away while diving a Sipada
Carson Ray (1989)
If I should die beneath the sea
Whatever the circumstance may be
I only ask that you not cry
For such a lucky one was I.
But rather weep for those alive
Who know not what it is to dive
Into the planet's liquid heart
And of God's ocean be a part.
For even Christ must envy all
Who dive along the ocean's wall
Though the wind and sea His will obeys
He only walked along the waves.
And may I ask for one thing more?
A simple cross beside the shore
Below my name inscribe for me
Lost to the earth but found at sea.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Friday, April 21, 2006
But I wan to be bedtime or grumpy
Tenderheart Bear | |
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Pictures
Sneaky cameraman caught me doing a pole dance! haha! I think I was just dazing in a weird position.
Check out the food that I was raving about. There was more food on the other table and a pot full of curry! Yummy!!! The food was good for every meal, so good that Ping had to gorge 3 prata and curry chicken for breakfast.
Try to read what was written on the right side of the whiteboard...Hell has no fury like a man without his beer!

I look a little dumb when I am with the mask. But Aquaman needs his equipments just like how batman needs his!
Don't really want to open my eyes in the sea. I am pretty anal when it comes to my eyes.
Here is the group with the instructor (in blue, sitting with his legs really wide apart).
I am taking some time to upload the pictures cause it is a pain to wait for it to upload.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
bad week
No lunch for me.
Not in the mood.
Sneaking in some time to vent.
I am having a bad week...
Nitrogen filled body wrecked Monday
Stucked at work killed Tuesday
Problems mess Wednesdays
FUCK
I can't sleep
I want to go dive at
perhentian
redang
aur
similan
manado
wreck dives
and many more.....
I can't stop thinking about it....I am even thinking that tennis is not very fun. Gaming is nothing to me now. I just want to be thrown back to the sea.
Anyone interested in doing Advance Diving soon with me? (Just so I can dive deeper legally)
Monday, April 10, 2006
Long last...
I started my diving experience by being pampared with a Live onboard. Sat on MV Seabourne all the way to Dayang. Lovely experience, no hassle of changing bus and ferry. The food was VERY VERY good. The capt and cook is this guy by the name of Ah Koon (or Ah Goon). He can really whip up really good dishes. Thou he seem to occassionally under cook the chicken. Food, snacks and entertainment was plentiful. (To think I thought diving can help me lose weight, in the end... I gained some weight)
I did not need to dive to see fishes, the water was so clear....I can see the fishes swimming ard when I was on board. Saw a turtle too before I even went down for my first dive. How clear is the water? I spotted a blue spotted sting ray clearly (abt 10m) when I was playing with the snorkle on the water surface.
When you first descend, the feeling of awe just overwhelms you. I feel a certain sense of peace and then suddenly no marine life seems scary. I guess AquaPing took that feeling a little too seriously. She must be lying when she said she is scared of fishes, cause when she was a TERROR. She kept touching everything in her sight. The pool little nudibranch was molested by her REPEATEDLY. The worst is she does not have gloves. She fiddled with the sea cucumber, kept playing with the coral ferns. Basically thought she was invincible. I swear she would have touched the stonefish we saw if it was closer to her. The best part of it all, I showed her the picture of the Crown of Thorns (at Jawa), the joker almost went to touch it before the divemaster smacked her hands away. *roll eyes* Ichthyophobia my foot!!! Don't say I never warn you, Fire corals do pack a mean punch!
I had a opportunity to do a night dive at Sebukong, which was an eye opener. The world down there has a totally different feel when it is night. Somehow the sea urchins are out in full force at that time. Reef crab, pufferfish, sea slug, big nudibranch, sleeping fishes...and plenty more which I can only describe as fishes, big fish, ehh...coloured fish?
I missed out a lot of things too, the leisure divers got attacked by triggers, saw the coneshell, crabs and even shrimps. My instructor saw the shape of a nurse shark when we were at pulau yu (Yu in malay means shark). I want to do a leisure dive, just so I can take my time to check out the little things I missed.
Jet rock and Pulau Yu was the leisure dive we did before we left for Spore. The currents were pretty strong and the visibility was probably abt 4-5m. A totally different experience with such conditons. Really had to play with the bouyancy just to get real close to the reefs without stiring anymore sediments. Just my luck as the divemaster told me that the 2 sites actually have really good visibility if the conditions were right. If you are at Jet Rock, do not touch anything which looks foreign, they use that place for live firing! hahaha!
The journey back was filled with naps, movies, beer, wine and chips. That is life....
I have a nitrogen hangover!!! I need more!!!
(I will upload the pictures when I feel less lazy)
Did you know?
Go try it. Use variations of hahahaha, ha ha ha and etc. See what the computer will generate!
You can see I have very boliao friends.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Mac religion
I think not, just want to gain more market shares.
I feel the most important question is .... Can we use the MAC to play PC GAMES?!?!?
Monday, April 03, 2006
Aquaman: Nemesis (edited)
Edited:
aquashorty: tts those tt u find in aquarium, tame like a dog....
Here is the crazy one...Titan Trigger

Prof ASS (Aqua shorty stud) gave me an additional beware.

Cone shells looks pretty, but can be deadly.
Don't need to see how the shark looks like, I know - thanks to hollywood!
Auqaman's side kick aka Aquaping is Ichthyophobia (Fear of Fish).
Balls to tennis...
I can't wait for Friday....
Arghh.... FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY!!!!!
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Friday, March 31, 2006
Aquaman: Fears
ASS: If you see sharks, must tell me. Take photos.
me: Siao...see sharks I will swim away real fast. Probably leave my dive bud as the bait (kidding there ping)
ASS: Just be careful of trigger fish. Got one bit my dive friend before. They are notorious for being aggressive.
me: *jaws drop* (I did a search and you judge for yourself)
ASS: Careful of Crown of thorns starfish....60 secs and bye bye
me: I thought starfish is like spongebob's friend...so friendly (click here)
ASS: I went for a dive, people tell me the site very good....but when I was there, there was stonefish everywhere. I had the worst dive in my life
me: ......
(the above conversation is not quoted word for word)
My instructor said he met a White tip before and he took photos of it. Being a newbie aquaman, I thought he meant some fish....yeah, "some" fish he meant. (Click here)
Plus all the other things you need to remember to do if not some form of injury may happen to you. I mean, getting injured on land is one thing, getting injured underwater, 15m deep is another.
You can only feel my apprehension when you do the course. You will feel inadequtely trained. BUT....I am as excited as hell!



