On the Hunt

December is here. the year is coming to its end soon.
Life still goes on as it does, sun still rises and sets
But the financial year is coming to end soon, targets to be achieved, clock is ticking ... fast

During this month, I feel like a prey
Insurance companies, Bank marketing been hunting me like a chick cornered by troop of cats
phone is ringing non stop
Instant messages keep beeping
People kept popping up (without notice) upon the door
Sticking their butt forever even when I said I am busy (you want the money, right? I need to work for that bloody money, damn it!) and worse, following to gym
Bombarded with tonnes of financial advice about death is certain, dead husband, dependent kids, etc etc... my goodness. Just because I don't buy insurance from you, doesn't mean I am totally ignorant about my future.
Plus, the husband and kids part doesn't affect me at all >.<

These people do not understand the word NO
I do understand they need to meet their ends, but I have every right to decide my own financial arrangement
Some... after rejected, gave a super sulk face, like I have been robbing their "future" bonuses, and go bitching around
Some... begging for pity, that if target not hit, they will not get their commission

Still, it is very unfair for me to be stalked.
I do not know you before, I do not trust you, I do not owe you. I don't even remember your name.
It is unethical, I really hate it when they followed me around just to get me sign that piece of paper
I am not interested
Even if I wanna keep my money under my bed, it is still my decision

My cooking: Cashew Nuts & Banana Chips

  SAVOURY COATED CASHEW NUTS

I made 2 version of these, left one is simple savoury with some spices, while the right one I add a little chili.

Room for improvement:
I could add more chili and spices, maybe double coat it too to give more kick.

 SUGAR COATED CASHEW NUTS

I made some mistake here, I didn't dissolve the sugar properly before adding up the nuts. And what happened next is... the sugar didn't stick properly, leaving chunks of sugar.
I took out the nuts and re-dissolve the sugar again, then reintroduce the nuts. Now it sticks, but some sugar crystals remains. It is OK, it actually give a unique texture and look to it.

Room for improvement:
Dissolve well before adding nuts. Maybe next time I will try to caramelise the sugar for better colour and flavour.

CHILI-PASTE BANANA CHIPS

We have so many banana chips over the last few weeks. I love it plain, but I get bored of it, so I tried to make a banana version of Padang's Keripik Balado.
I prepared from scratch, starting with making chili paste from fresh chilies. Can you believe it? Hehhehe....  After a few trials, I think I finally get an OK result :)  It is so spicy yet yummy

Room for improvement:
Reduce the chili percentage, the last time I made... it is a bit too spicy, but it is so addictive. Hum...

CHOCO BANANA CHIPS

I made this for Nara's snack. He loves it. He even help with the cooking part :)
This one is easy, I just melt a compound chocolate and dip the chips and dry it on a rack. It kinda test his patience before devouring the chips. Hahhaa

Yellow Layered Soap

Always wanted to make my own soap from scratch. I asked a friend to get me a kit from States expecting it to contain everything that I need in making soap. Well, it does, it is also easy to use - just melt and pour. This is my first time doing it, so I am quite happy with the result. Learning by doing, right? But I almost used up the supplies just for making a few pieces :(

I am curious about making my own base soap now, but probably I will need to have more gadget other than a microwave and a mold. Need to invest more :)

Gym Freak Wanna-Be

I've been hitting the gym for quite a few month now. Any difference in me yet? Well, not much. My weight stay stable, maybe increasing by 1 kg, I guess. My arms feels more firm, but that's all. I still have my belly, I don't have the guitar figure yet, most probably because I still eat like a normal me (meaning I am taking normal course of breakfast, lunch and dinner).
I bet I can look better if I go on strict diet, but not for now. I wanna build more muscle before stripping my fat - and since I am not taking any protein shakes, supplement or any other drugs, seems like I hardly grow any muscle.
Anyway for this time being, I am happy with my new regime, enjoying the sweat and pain. Love the burn!!! It's funny how I long for the soreness after workout. I don't feel it much now, maybe I am numb...

Addicted to CC

Here is the proof that I've reached the satanic level in Candy Crush

I don't always play CC, I can fast for months... So when I wanna play, I just turn the time back to months before, and start playing... and kept on adding the hour when I ran out of lives (basically I have unlimited lives), until I get bored, and fast again.... :)

Frog in a Box

When I was in elementary school, one day, my classmates made a prank on me. They gave me a box, asked me to open it, there was a frog inside. The prank didn't work well, as I didn't scream or faint (as they expected), on contrary, I pet the frog and set it free at school's bushes. The whole class was disappointed about it.

The reason why it is so disappointing is because they prepared a prank based on their own assumption, in this case, their fear. Most of them are scared of frog - ranidaphobics. Based on the hypothesis, they expected everybody else do too. But that isn't always the case.



In the case of Prince Charming, all women have a list of criteria of their ideal Prince Charming. The reason why someone leave their previous BF for another potential partner or the reason why someone marry a guy, isn't quite the same from person to person. What you find as the most important yet attractive attribute of your partner, might be just nothing to others.

Your Prince Charming might means the ultimate world to you, but that's for you; I have my own picture of what my Prince Charming gotta be, and that is not the same as your Prince Charming, not him. Sorry to disappoint you.
Yet many act based on their own hypothesis, their own likes and dislikes - and thought the world runs as it is too.

What is spoken out of a mouth are the window of one's mind. It reflects what your mind is thinking about. When someone constantly talking about food (like me now), you can be assure that the person is like to eat, very interested in food, or very very hungry (like me now... hiks).

But then, I shouldn't jump into conclusion that everybody else are into food too, right? I cannot assume or demand every human-being to be hungry, just so I feel good about myself. 

I need to settle my own hunger with a good portion of cheesy pizza. Yum!
I cannot expect every hungry person long for pizza - who knows, maybe they are into a bar of Snicker!

Little Lucky Baby Gourd

Look what I found on my recent trip to China. We had a short stop at a resting area on our way from Suzhou to Hangzhou, and I saw a fruit store selling this funny shaped gourd. I know, it's been around for a while, it was all over the internet, any shapes you can imagine. But I never really hold it on my hand yet, ever. Look how cute they are :)
Now my head is filled with ideas about making my own one. So many wants, so little time.

Kathina 2015

It is the Kathina month again. I've been so lucky that everything falls into its perfect place without much effort. I just happened to have the China trip ended before DBS' Kathina Day, and I also happened to have a meeting afterwards. It is just perfect. I got many things done during my stay in Jakarta. Perfect.

And for additional delight, I was appointed to bear the Kathina Robe! I am so honoured. Although I was just a stunt, I was replacing another lady whom wasn't in prime condition that day, still I feel honoured. Everything was so perfect for me.

Here are some pics of the blessed day

Photo of the Week: Juvenile Yellow Moray Eel

Here is the picture of juvenile Yellow Moray Eel that I took a while ago. I took a quite a bit of time shooting it. I want to capture the "aaaarghhh" moment. Tried to enticed it with my pointer, but it was so active, snapping and wiggling. This is the only successful shot that I got.

A friend put it up on the resort's Instagram, and it was chosen for 'pix of the week'
Not a very big thing, but it is a great deal for me. It give me boost to take more pics next dive.
So happpppyyyyyyy about it.

My Own Wetsuit

I am starting to invest more and more diving stuff. Can you believe that I started with none, not even a mask!
Here is my latest investment, a wetsuit.

Previously I've been borrowing wetsuits. Last time I used a short one, very comfy, but since I like to take more and more pics, I think I need more protection. Short one is really convenient for peeing too. Hahaha

So, I move on to full-body wetsuit, it gives me more protection, but I have one problem, I feel guilty peeing in the wetsuit, I know the water will be trapped in it. So on multiple dives, everytime I need to pee, I need to strip off my wetsuit, and guess what, I get rashes from unknown stings. Oh gosh....

I also have a problem, I find it very troublesome to just fly to Msia to buy a wetsuit, or to drive all the way in Jkt to try one on. So, one day a friend told me about the custom-made wetsuit in Bali, I thought, I might as well go and make one whilst I was there. So here it is, my very own custom-made wetsuit.

I insists on the lime colour - I want me to be visible underwater (just in case I went missing), I wasn't really sure about the darkgreen. Maybe not a very 'cool' colour combination. I also put my name on the sleeve, cool, huh!

I lost some weight for the last Bali event, I guess it wasn't a very wise decision to make a custom-made wetsuit when I was in the skinniest stage. I struggled badly on my few first attempts into it. My goodness!!!! I know I gained a few kg, but it can't be that bad, right?

Anyway, after 3-4 uses, I can finally zip it up without feel suffocated. I read on the net that new wetsuit tends to give the 'tight' feeling. But it is what it supposed to do, to stick on your skin, preventing water to come in and out. Or I guess I need to sweat more at the gym. Oh, no!!!

Birds of a Feather Flock Together

Over the past few weeks, I have traveled to different places for some duties. There I met those I never met before or those I haven't seen for a good while. Some of them, I've been eager to meet them. Some, I've been avoiding all my best in the past.
But for some odd reason, I wasn't comfortable to be around them, I feel slightly annoyed and out-of-place to their presence.
Not that any of them wanna hurt me, but the vibe is different

When I am around my dear one, I feel much calmer; or at least, when I am in bad mood, a dear one somehow will lead me to become calmer.
Probably because I've been reflecting on dear one for quite a while, I actually felt kinda shocked when I meet all those people, I feel very restless.
Some have the tendencies to complain, everything seems so wrong
Some have the tendencies to cruel tease
some have the tendencies to utter difficult questions just to humiliate you
Some have the tendencies to get angry to anything
etc

I realized, since I have the "seed' of the same bad habits too, if I stay longer, I would water the seeds and absorb their bad habit. And I don't what that to happen.
I need to be around people with more positive and calm energy. I wanna be a better person, flocking with the wise ones.

Javanese Girl for A Day

Last weekend was my ex-colleague's wedding. Me and 3 other ex-colleagues decided to attend the wedding in Jogjakarta, it was a good excuse for a catch-up-date after years being 'graduated' from Garud*food. So, the bride sent us a piece of fabric and asked us to make a 'kebaya'. Kebaya Kutubaru.
Kebaya is a traditional clothing for Javanese ladies, and made into 'national' dress by our previous first-ladies (all of them are Javanese, I think)

I love the idea of wearing a kebaya, I want it to be very traditional, very simple and looks like what commoners would wear in daily life. Nowadays, the commonly seen kebaya are made with lacey fabric, have a contemporary design, decorated with studs and stones... a very 'heavy' kebaya.

To add more authenticity touch, I wanted to have a classic 'konde', the big round hair-bun. Also popularized by our first-ladies. The problem is, my hair is short. Here is my pic 3 weeks ago.

A magical touch, smudges, pulls and tears finally made me look like a Javanese. Here is the before picture. I can't talk much about the heavy make-up, it is just the way they do it, but I opted for a less dramatic eye-lashes, which make me look softer compare to other 'pagar ayu' - bridesmaid.

For the hair, OMG. I don't know how much holes I made to the ozone layer that morning. Since my hair was very short, it is extremely difficult for the hairdresser tease my hair. Hair-teasing is to add volume to my hair. Look at the frizzy crazy lady with triple pig tail at the back. That's me! The triple pig-tail was to anchor the bun (I don't have enough hair for a pony tail). The bun was made from synthetic hair, so we just need to clip it on. The problem is, since I don't have much hair, I need lots of pins to secure the bun.









Despite all the crazy look above, I am pretty happy with the end result. I love the Javanese look. I really appreciate what the hairdresser's masterpiece. She spent twice longer time on me, compare to the normal long hair girls.





 





Here is my picture with the kebaya kutubaru. The 'jarik' aka. skirt was made from 1 piece of fabric wrapped around me, no stitch at all. Secured with a 'stagen', a small piece of fabric wrapped tightly around waist to give a slender illusion. It was so tight and firm that it was very hard to walk! Now I understand why Javanese girls always look elegant. Basically because they can only walk in small steps!







Here are more picture from that day. It was definitely a very fun experience to be a Javanese girl. I think I am hooked :)

Let It Go

Stuck in a traffic jam, I am starting to think about life.
What are we looking for? We've been running around for something called happiness
Here I am, sitting here, getting the answer of life's most wondered question

The ultimate answer is:  LET IT GO

You can only be happy when you let go. Happiness will come once:
- You let go of your expectation
- You let go your angers, anxiety, and worries
- You let go your ego
etc etc etc
 All seems so abstract, so cliche... Isn't it?

But what I know most is, I would be truly happy when...
I am able to let go my fart, that I've been holding (in public)
I am able to let go my toilet urges when I am stuck in bloody traffic jam
Once you experienced this, you will realize that happiness and bliss is really about letting go  

When is Your Turn?

It is finally happening, a family gathering celebrating love of my cousin. It is where I can see faces of those related to me by blood, yet I hardly recognize their faces. It is also the time where I get to be questioned, “When is your turn?”

I am the eldest of the L’s 2^nd gen that is unmarried. I am not planning to. I am very very lucky that my parents do not do an act to frame me. Love my folks!!!  As I always said, they know me well, and they probably have given up the hope of seeing me in white dress. 

The cousin next in line, wasn’t so lucky, she had her mom (my aunt) to questioned her in public, “When is your turn?”, “When can mommy have this kind of event?” etc etc etc. It is so humiliating!

I met my elder cousin who (maybe) happily-married, who questioned about my ‘singleness’. I said, “I’ve had enough, I’ve seen enough, Marriage is not my cup of tea”

And she replied me, “You have to face the fact, that this is the path that we all must take. Do not go against the current.” I am truly surprised to get that answer from someone I used to look up to. I just can’t understand why she take the ‘common’ path. She could do much bigger things. 

Anyway, the wedding was a true parade of PDA – public display of affection: series of lovey-dovey act of 2 human beings who are keen to announce to the world that they are in love. A friend asked me if I wanted to be in bride’s shoes – to be the princess of the day. The answer is, “No… I cannot picture myself parading around. Not me.” 

Maybe my dear one is correct, The Path is against-the-current. I don’t know where I am now. I am standing here, not flowing with the current, yet not strong enough to fight it. I am stuck, for the moment.

Monsters Away

I somehow always keep the bad memories close to me. I marked those who have hurt me, I build fences around me. I do not plan on revenge, and will never will. I just hide, putting more and more brick in front of me, building a wall to protect me. To protect me from those who has stepped on me, spit on me, smearing my face, my dignity, and my sanity.

But meeting them is unavoidable, every now and then, as a human being, I need to and forced to face those monsters. Fear, that’s what I feel. The moment I know that I have to see those monsters, I trained, I prepared myself, I put on defense-mode. No, I don’t attack them, I just put on my shield.

On the fated day, they gathered around. I see those monsters; they come nearer to me, licking their lips, sniffing the blood stain on me. I have prepared, I stood up, put my head against the wind, see them in the eyes. I am here, I am much stronger now, I will succumb to your torture and humiliation no more. They tried to scratch, a lame one, maybe they realized I am no longer a weak victim. Though some still tried to stab me with swords, it becoming a cold fish lying dead, those bullies cheerleaders were too afraid to add more insult to the lame blabber. I realized, those regular monsters, they finally sense who I am. 

There is this one monster, the one I fear most. I used to freak out and cried every time I hear the hiss and rattles of the evil monster. It greeted me, walked towards me, squeaked "Hello". It was testing the water… I need to be composed in public, I nodded coldly. The whole day, I can see the monster kept its eyes on me, that bloody sneaky hungry eyes. It tried few times to drawn me again with no success, until the end of the night. I was sitting alone, and the monster crept close to me, hissed, and flicked its split tongue “Hello, how are you? Are you fine lately…?” I smirked “Good” and look away, I gave no chance for it to voice out more blinding bull-craps. In no time, the monster vanished. 

Maybe it finally realized, I will no longer feed it… I no longer acknowledge those monsters.

What is the purpose of life?

I once renounced the world for a few days... It was the best time of my life
But now that I am back in the "crazy" world, I am drawn back into the world of illusions and fantasies. I forgotten the pure pleasure I once had before. Just like drinking the seawater, the more I drank, the more thirsty I am... it becomes a additive toxic

Yesterday, a death happened. A death that has been predicted to arrive, sooner or later. I would say, it is sooner than others'. But yes, it is predicted, he finally gave up to the incurable disease. I am not here to mourn or to cry. I am trying to reflect...

During his life, what has he done?
Has he served the purpose of his life?
Has he fulfill all his dream and desires?

What is the purpose of life?
What are we here for?
Why are we running in never-ending circle finding something called happiness... and yet can never own it forever?
WHY?
-----------------

A minute ago, he is still alive... the next minute, he merely a piece of matter, left alone to be burned. No matter how much he was loved, he is no longer wanted.
For some, the world crumbled for a while. And yet, the sun still rises in the morning, the world still spinning as it always been.
And soon, he will be forgotten, as if he never exist in this world.
The world doesn't even notice our existence.
We are just as small as a fraction of dust in the universe, so insignificant.

Gym!!!

My fear and my hope finally conquered me.
I gave up... I joined a local gym club, I hired a personal trainer and this is day 4
My body aches...so bad. Need to melt these fat away!!!

To avoid my previous mistake, I do not take my PT's personal phone number, I do not get his full name, I do not get any mean of contact from him. Cause I know, I will make excuses and skip the class. Hehehe

Look what happened today, my old gym shoes gave up on me. Before I started my gym membership, I checked on my old faithful running shoes, which was hardly used before. But, she's been around for ages. So, she was OK 4 days ago, I checked on it... everything still intact. I have no clue why she just fall apart today. So embarrassing. Hahahhaa....

Injured Hawkbill Hatchling

Mike's first days... mark the open wound on his head and arms

On the night of 4th July, my dive instructor was patrolling around his island to check on a turtle nest that he secured 2 months ago. It was predicted that it will hatch on that very night. No sign... so we started digging, anxious if there were any survived.  After a bit of digging, we found 4 baby turtles, alive... 1 quite healthy, 2 injured, and 1 terribly weak.
We released the healthy one straight to the sea. The weak one died soon after. and the 2 injured one was kept in a container of shallow water. But one of them died the day after.

Only 1 left, we named him... 小强 -Xiao Qiang (The Tough/Strong One) or Michael.
I didn't name him, it was the guests and my instructor naming him. We don't actually know his gender.

When I brought him home to the town, we carried a full container of sea water, so we can change it everyday. Mike was terribly weak, when we found him, his left arm was injured, he cannot move it at all. He got some cuts on his neck and left arm. We didn't even sure if he will survive the next day.

But, he really was a tough one. I force-fed him with turtle food from petshop. I need to make sure he eat something. And it works. He get stronger, and starting to nibble on some seaweed/sponge that I brought. At least he has an appetite for the sponge.

Mike's weight (gr) on 4th July vs. 10th July 2015

Be strong, Little Mike. Hope to swim together with you :)
---------------

20th July 2015
Couldn't manage to get this writing posted before I left for Festive escape...
Before I left, I passed Mike to my instructor care. He took care until this morning... he released Mike free into the wild. We didn't want Mike to be human-dependent for too long, he need to learn about the sea.
Mike was much healthier, both arms in well condition, and he swam fast...
I wasn't there to witness, and there was no video taken
I am kinda broken-hearted, not able to bid farewell to the little one
I just hope one day we will cross path again

Baby Hawksbill Sea Turtles Hatching

I haven't been diving for months, been so busy...
Last week, I did again. Gosh, how much I miss touching the water
This time, I didn't puke. Hehehe...

That day, I was supposed to leave, but I am really grateful that we decided to stay for 1 more night.
Thanks to my instructor to allow it too...
That night, we found out baby green turtles were hatching...

So, what happened is that... in the islands, every now and then, there will be turtles' making nests there. None ever succeed to hatching stage. The island was inhabited by monitor lizards, who happened to favor turtle eggs too (apart from human, I guess)

2 months ago, my instructor - Mr.B, found a few nests on the island, and he removed the nest site to somewhere nearer to resort's security's hut. Monitor lizards and humans won't come close to the area. Making it safe for the eggs. Certain measures were taken to ensure successful incubation.
So on that night, 15 babies walked out of the nest. we waited for more to come out, then we realized... none were coming out, we started to dig the nest to find more babies are struggling to come out of the nest. Rain made the sands a bit packed, making hard to penetrate.
We had extra 65 healthy babies, and 2 still born.
We release them to the sea in the middle of the night. We took a night dive to capture their first journey. It was so beautiful and serene.
I don't know how many of them survived that night, I hope some of them will reach adulthood. Life in nature can be really harsh. Some baby sharks were already waiting by the shores.

What we can do now is to protect more nest, more eggs, and hoping more and more babies will be released to the sea. And may I see them again on my next dive.

Here are some of the video... we weren't prepared, thus the poor quality. But it's the moment that counts!

13th June in Paris

In the past few month, I have been traveling a lot... a lot
My last trip was a basic shopping trip: Paris & Milan. Mostly Paris.
There is a place there that is a must-visit: Gallery Lafayette

I didn't say that it's a must visit because it is the greatest, the biggest and the most fancy department store in the whole Paris.
I say that because it seems like... all tourists are drawn to this place only. I was there on a fine afternoon and the dept store was flooded with human

People are queuing for a fancy bag, having a big-built 'bouncer' to let people in and out (when they already made purchase). People are queuing for a tax refund paper works, and more people queuing for getting the tax refund on the premise

It is very interesting to examine the behavior...
It is so easy to see which country prosper this year. Most of the people there are Mainland Chinese.
A lot of them. Unlike HK-nese or TW-nese, I am NOT against anything about Mainland Chinese shopping spree. They have the right to spend whatever theirs. Won't judge, I am glad for them.

But seriously, that place was super crowded, the department store should have done something about it. It's just not comfy anymore.

Retreated from the hustle and bustle of the busy and chic Paris, I end up sitting at the corner Gallery Lafayette's Gourmet department - enjoying my quiet Bday soba, with Mom.
There goes another year... Happy Bday myself :)

Verbal War

I just started my own project last month, my personal project in addition to my folk's established biz.

Making my own home furniture line. Still in progress, seriously I dunno if it will be successful or not.

But I really wanna give it a try.

One day, on an unavoidable occasion, my competitor came up to me...

         Comp: I heard you are starting your own line?

             Me: Yeah, just trying

         Comp: Who do you hire?

             Me: People from Java ---> this's a very mainstream answer!

         Comp: It will not work, trust me, you better stop it

                    You cannot beat the pro-s. Just stop it. You will lose money

             Me: Ugh, yeah, you are right. I just wanna finished what I started.

         Comp: Just don't start your own line. You won't survive. [he kept on repeating few times]

              Me: Thank you for your advice

I don't believe that my line will be completed flunk. It will work, I just dunno how smooth it is gonna be.
I need to stay low, no point picking a cat-fight with the dude. Even if I win this argument, the only thing that changed would be our sour biz relation. Don't wanna waste my breath.

As I said before, I just wanna test the water. If I can do it, why not.

The competitor, was trying to sink me every now and then, VERBALLY.

Here is what I wonder, I can see how upset he is when he asked me about the new line, he even complained why we rebuilt our shop (It was destroyed during earthquake, rebuilding is a common sense)

And I can see how satisfied he is when I said, “Yeah... maybe it won't work.”

The things is, everything is said verbally...

When he said things won't work, my product doesn't immediately gone to trash can

When I said, maybe it won't work.... It doesn't mean that the production immediately ceased

We had tonnes of similar conversations, where he asked me to just stop trying, step back and even... stop selling at all. He had bad business last year, he put the blame on me.

I was stuck for days with this dude. On each conversation, he deliberately, without shame, wanted me to suffer.

Again, all words coming from his mouth. Just random voices coming from his mouth.

Looking from another angle, I do realized how silly it is.

___

But then, I also realized, I might be in the same boat as him... in the case of jealousy and sensitivity.

I find it very annoying when I see b*tches showing themselves off on FB. Of course, I am not stupid enough to be bitter on FB. For example: When I see the B writing, "Look at my post-pregnancy body, oh so fat!" tagged in a super tight dress pic. It doesn't immediately changed me into a fat whale. Those writings won't change anyone's body. Why do I feel jealous and annoyed? WHY???!!!

I am totally aware of my feeling, I just can't help it.

When Cinderella failed to Charm

Haven't been writing for ages now.
Many things had happened, but I was trying to embrace it by just 'seeing' ... to see the emotion, the rising and falling of it.
Sometimes it is successful, sometimes it didn't
Sometimes I just go blank and vent out my negative emotion --> bad bad me!
Need a lot of practice... and a lot of support from my dear one

Maybe this writing won't help much in my practice. but I just wanna write down my opinion
Dear one won't be glad about this, I bet. Haha

In the past few days, I was totally annoyed by the fact, I am the only one annoyed of this particular situation.

CINDERELLA
Every girl grew up with a version of Cinderella, from the young age we were planted with this Cinderella software. Life is hard and cruel, and you wish for a luck - a fairy Godmother who arranges everything for you, to land a Prince Charming in front of you. And Price Charming happened to be a Prince owning a Kingdom, rich, nice, handsome etc... happened to be deeply in love with you. And you live happily ever after.

We all know that it is a fairytale. As much as I or the rest of the world wanted to have this exact story line, I choose to live on my own feet.
Well, at least I choose to "work it out" rather than waiting for a Prince.

So, I was in a situation where I am stuck. A scenario where I was supposed to be (one of) the fairy godmother - pathing a way for Ella to her Prince Charming.
Since Ella is so desperate, she managed to have troops of fairy godmothers doing the job. I refused to be part of this conspiracy.
Ella put her life into a bet:  her dignity,  family, career, and bank account on the gambling table. She landed herself into the Prince's Kingdom and waiting for Prince Charming to turn her into Princess
She was eye-ing on not just one Prince Charming, but 2 or maybe more. Well, all are Princes... so whichever she able to grabbed. Good enough.
She failed.
And became a miserable Cinderella... the story didn't end in "... and they lived happily ever after"

I am very much annoyed that, she openly announce her mission - looking for a (?) rich Prince Charming.
Openly. Meaning everybody knew it. Including the Princes. And the rest of the world.

Yet, people supported her.
Almost everybody supports her, all based on the ultimate excuse:
           "She just wanted a better life" 
           "What is wrong with pursuing her dream? Everyone have the right to have a better life"
           "Why is the Prince so cruel, Can't he see that Ella was desperate?"

We all want a sudden struck of luck. Even Kim Kardashian need to do something to be that famous and rich!
Let's be realistic!

Ok. Maybe I am not so annoyed. I pity her too.
I am just questioning the sanity of my surrounding.
No one actually see "selling soul for money" as a bad thing... it is acceptable. Selling oneself for wealth is totally acceptable & considered common practice now? WTF??!!!
Am I the only one swimming against the current?

OK... now back to my rising and falling.
May this fall and never rise again

another dive

me & Patrick. Yet to find Bob

Had my 2nd diving trip last week, wasn't entirely successful as I was really drained out from multiple traveling in the past week. I end up having 4 dives rather than planned 5 dives, as I was throwing up at the end of 4th dive. Not only that, I had numbness and cramps on my hands, chest & feet. Particularly on my hands, I couldn't even wipe myself from the puke. Yucks!!! 
Probably I shouldn't blame it all to my stamina, the weather wasn't very friendly too. That day, we were to have 2 simultaneous dive, we couldn't have the surface time on the boat since the boat was rocking badly, so I end up swimming in lagoon as a "resting" time. Did it without a snorkel for 1 hour, and then continue on 2nd dive. I survived the dives, but I guess it really soaked up my energy.

I asked a doctor about how serious my condition was, she said it is just "lack of salt". I realized that I didn't drink much water (as I refrained from peeing in the sea), thus leaving me dehydrated, electrolytes in my body can't move around much. Ok, next time... I am sorry Sea, need to pee on you 

my new gadgets!!!

Not all bad. This is the first time I put my dive computer on the test. She looks so cool!!!
Also, I was so lucky to see humpback whale passing when we were on the boat! So grand and beautiful. Hope to see more of them around.
And I also have my own camera this time. Not new at all, it's my old waterproof Lumix, and my dive-instructor happened to have a spare Lumix housing for me to test-on. It didn't fit well, my camera was older by 1 generation. But at least, it take some shots!!! The shots were totally OK when my instructor took it, but super blurry when I took it :(  I still need to improve stillness underwater.

Giant Clam taken with Lumix, not too bad, rite?

Here is what's happening at the resort during my visit. I didn't help, though. It was over before I started. Maybe next time. 

Certified!

Certified
Now I only need to find some time to get it into use :)

Bliss