Ear job

kissy belle, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Belle's one of my uncle's two 7-year-old dalmatians. She's so generous with her kisses! I love!

*drool*

super hunk, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

This time my latest love interest is Liam Neeson! Actually he's kinda an old love interest because I first fell in love with him when I saw "Schindler's List" many years back. Then 2 nights ago, I was channel-hopping when I saw "Les Miserables" on TV2.

Liam Neeson...

*SCREAM*

Not typically handsome, he's the prototype of all that's masculine and sexy of a man, and much more!

There's something savagely appealing about him... ;) *grrrrrr*

Surprise birthday party

My uncle turned 59 yesterday. We were invited to surprise birthday party for him.


Don't ask me why 60 candles instead of 59... it's some chinese custom.


Come to think of it, it's kinda the first ever successful surprise birthday party I've ever attended.

Hope you had a blast uncle!

It's "lesung" and what?

Been cooking and washing since 8.45am. Now it's 11.10am. Tired. Tonight my extended family's having a pot luck dinner at grandpa's, so my parents "volunteered" me to cook the curry. It's no joke cooking for a battalion of potato-crazy relatives! And my blender's busted, so have to manually pound the garlic, onion and buah keras. Luckily mum prepared and marinated the beef last night for me.

Yesterday a friend told me that we may start work only in September! AARRRGGHHHH! I don't know whether I'll survive till September. Currently having an overdose of holiday. Shouldn't have listened to dad when he said not to take any part-time job!

And luckily I took up swimming. I would have been a drum by now, and even a bigger drum by September, if I hadn't!

And I'm very upset with my uterus at the moment. I'm "overdue" almost 10 days. And because of that I "can't" go for scuba diving this weekend, because I need to confirm in advance. Imagine come Sunday morning I start bleeding. The diving part is not a problem. But sitting up on the bost during surface intervals, I imagine, would be quite bloody.

So shit my uterus. Maybe I should consider taking OCP, solve the waiting bit in future.

My theory is I'm stressed out because of waiting for my internship posting. Subconsciously. Maybe because if I get KK, my life would change quite a bit.

Because I usually have this problem only during exam time.

Ok, whatever. No bleeding means ok with swimming this afternoon! :) That's the consolation.

Have a nice day people!

Oh ya, what is it? Lesung dan...? I seriously don't remember.

New campus

unimas new campus, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

The first phase of the new UNIMAS campus is in its advance stages. But I heard there's going to be 3 or 4 phases altogether.

Very impressive, particularly the library (which is 3-storey tall) and the chancellory.

Would love to see the campus again once all the plants and trees are tall and lush!

Went there this morning with Hema to settle my graduation fees. Will be collecting my robe next week!

A visit to Mama's

grandma's grave, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

My Vancouver cousins (that's how they are refered to by my aunts and uncles) and I visited our grandma Lucy's grave yesterday because they had not been back to Kuching for 5 years, so they missed mama's funeral 3 years ago.

We lighted her 4 beautiful candles.

As we said our little prayers for her, I can hear the song "Roses Never Fade" in the wind...

Baby dentition

cookie's teeth, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Cookie's slightly a year old, but she still has the cutest baby teeth! :) I love!

By the way, Cookie's my uncle's doggie, not mine. :(

Hormones vs. Willpower

The damn hormones definitely won.

I can't control feeling cranky, and touchy and moody.

This thumps my previous theory of "forced disposition". That means that even though I'm not really stressed out (like when I was studying, or having a dateline) I still get the full wrath of the monthly affliction of being a woman.

I mean we can pretend to be under control despite feeling highly irritable, but truly we are just a clicking timebomb. Any careless handling would mean a disaster.

But one thing I learnt from my overstimulated sensoria today is that we take a lot of crap from people around us every day.

People take us for granted on a daily basis and they get away with it.

Worse, they make us think that we deserve it somehow.

Summary

Wednesday - Had my very first blog blackout, but lasted only about 12 hours.

Thursday - Went shopping the whole day with mum. But couldn't go swimming in the evening because of thunder and lighthing! It looked like the end of the world... :) hehe.

Friday - Went swimming in the morning instead of evening because I anticipated the rain (I was right!) but now I have a nasty sunburn on my back, with the most horrendous pruritus!

This morning (Saturday) - Woke up, wanted to swim, but the sun a little furious-looking this morning... besides feeling a little fatigue. Maybe it's that time of the month... *sigh* Oh my uterus!

Happy weekend!

Swimming in the rain!

How exhilirating it is to swim under a heavy downpour! And those in Kuching would know that the aftermath was a calm and cool and refreshing evening.

Have some relatives over from Vancouver so busy the whole morning and also tonight, so I decided to go for an afternoon swim, depending on how hot it was. But to my delight (and my mum's relief) it started raining, HARD.

Started driving to the Waterpark at 2.30pm, and almost got into an accident on the way because a lost dog suddenly ran towards my car in the middle of the road. Visibility was already poor, on top of my super-duper astigmatism.

In the split second trying to avoid the doggie, I was deciding whether to do an acute change of lane or just step on the break.

I decided to step on the break, just missing the doggie, but my car made a 90 degree swerve to the side of the road.

Immediately I felt that it was sooo cool, but when it hit me, I thought I was damn lucky not to be hurt or something.

So I just thanked God and continued my journey to the waterpark, where I had the best swim EVER in my life!

The rain hitting my head and my torso everytime I surfaced for a breath, and today I did 30 continuous laps! Usually I break the laps into 10-10-10, with each pit stop for breathing exercise 6-10 times.

Yesterday I did 20-10, so today I did 30 solid! But I guess towards the end, I did lose a little of the breast stroke form because my lowerlimbs were getting kinda weak.

But it's the physical challenge that's so exciting, pushing my body beyond what I never thought I could do.

I'm sure season swimmers can go 50-80 laps without any strain. Striving for that in the near future...

I better swim as much as I can these few days before that time of the month comes. ;)

Yay, I'm famished after the swim but tonight Japanese buffet at Crowne Plaza! Yummy!!!

Cheers!

More cuties

cutie pies, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Was at my parents' friend's place this morning... she has 4 doggies. The cream doggie's name is Brownie, who's round and cute, but very, very fierce... she didn't even let me play with the puppy, who by the way looks like a piglet with his snorty nose.

Ranting and some more...

Today I'm seriously reconsidering not to attend my convocation. Initially I didn't want to attend because I thought it's just stupid crap ceremony, but because my parents thought it would be nice to go since they didn't attend my sis'... but NOW, I'm so seriously fed-up with the university.

This morning I went to the faculty ot help a friend who's back in Penang to settle an outstanding RM1.20 library fine so she'll be able to attend her convocation. BUT, none of the 3 librarians could issue the receipt for the RM1.20 fine! It had to be one of the 2 other "special" people in the library (and both were not around).

So I have to go back to the faculty tomorrow. Crap. And with the stupid receipt, I have to see another person who would finally give her the clearance to attend her convocation.

Then today, the big issue about paying RM160/- for the convocation through special UNIMAS bank cheques, which the university conveniently forgot to attach together with the all the invitation letters they sent out to hundreds and hundreds of graduates in the country. So many of my collegues throughout the country find themselves in a fix when they make their ways to the nearest RHB bank to buy the cheques, only to be told that they needed the special cheques. Then when they contact the university, they were told that they could use the "usual" cheques then later exchange them at the university treasury to be used for get the robes and for the convo fees.

So up to now, we don't know to settle this problem because the banks refuse to process for us without the special cheques. Whatever.

I so don't need to put myself through all these stupid fuss.

And it's not fun at all this convocation thingy. It's going to be hot like crazy... and I doubt it my mum can walk all the way from the designated carpark to the hall.

My dad was even saying that when the time comes, if my mum can't make it, I'll just have to attend the ceremony myself.

What the hell for???

So better don't go.

Save money, save car petrol... I imagine myself making several trips just to borrow the robe, return the robe, the rehearsals, and then the actual ceremony...

Better use the money for a trip or something. Angie just contacted me... she wants to kayak! So probably can make the trip that convo weekend! And she was saying something about making a trip to Lundu or something... whatever... sounds so much fun than attending the convocation.

If nothing comes out of that, I'll just fly to Miri. There, so simple.

I know I'm ranting, but what I hope from this is after I hit the "Publish Post" button, I'll sleep tight tonight and dream about my swimming today... :) Then tomorrow I'll announce to my parents AGAIN that I won't be going for the convocation.

OK. Ranting stops here.

:)

Did 30 laps again today! Could actually go for a couple more but decided to use the extra energy for skin diving! And I think I finally got the hang of it today. I even did what Alex did the other day while we were snorkeling. He postioned his body vertical head down in the water and feet sticking out of the surface to capture a shot of some some corals at Satang.

Harold said that skin diving after doing laps would help with my "breathing".

I think what he meant was that it was for practicing holding my breath.

But I didn't ask him why particularly only after doing laps. Forgot.

Ok, got to stop here. Need my beauty sleep. Hehe. :)

Oh ya, Brenda's sitting for her PADI Open Water Diver exam tomorrow! Good luck!

Sweet dreams people!

Beautiful Sunday!

I'm the happiest when surrounded by furry, cuddly and perky doggies (guys included, hehe) who shower me with kisses and unconditional love.

That's my utopia.

So when Francis Ho (yes, Kuching kayak royalty himself) invited me over to his place to visit his YingYang (a very prosperous-looking black-and-white doggie), I quickly accepted his invitation, and made myself free yesterday afternoon.

It's relatively easy to bribe/lure/cajole me when you have doggies for me to play with... heheh.

I usually decline meeting new people really, because I can be shy and tongue-tied, but with fellow doggy-lovers, I'll make that special effort. :)

But I got more than I bargained for because Francis had 3 other boisterous doggies in his yard, all so hyper and eager to play! SOOOO cute!

But unfortunately I only brought 4 siow bees (for YingYang, because I didn't know about Penny, Cuddles and Cookie...) so had to abort the bribing because they were all getting overly excited because of the food.

YingYang was friendly, but at the same time, I could feel that she was weary... not being overly open or submissive, so she's a smart babe. Even though Francis said that she's too lazy to be a guard dog, but I thought she's smart and knew how to live her life to the fullest! Heheh! Way the go YingYang!

She reminds me of yours truly... hehe... "generously endowed", intelligent and cute! So perasan! Heheh.

Cookie was just a darling... still a puppy (he nibbled my hand with his still very puppy dentition), he's just so playful and loving... I can play with him the whole day!

Thanks Francis for your invitation and hospitality! And tell Kim I love the cap!

Funny thing though, Francis, hope you don't mind me saying... I thought you were kinda shy yourself! :)

So today no swimming for me... parents a little disturbed with me that I swim every day and said I should rest on Sunday. :) I finally reached 30 laps yesterday. Would attemp 35-40 laps next week. Mum was nagging me about how dark I've become.

With my new suit, I had new areas of my body exposed to the sun yesterday morning. So those areas were itchy the whole of last night, presumably due to my PMLE. Was kinda difficult to sleep, but popped in anti-histamine and tried to sleep...

Nevermind la. Will endure that. I think I look pseudohealthy with a tan. I looked so white-wash in my pics taken before my holiday started.

Ok I'll stop here. Parents want me to cook my spaghetti today and we're having Uncle Tine over.

Have a nice Sunday people!

New swimsuit & the stupid black butterfly

Went on a swim suit shopping frenzy today. Tried out 4 at Parkson and thought none of them provided the ideal "support" ;)... then drove to several shops in town and discovered that the shops in Kuching only stock up Arena and Speedo suits to size 38, to my dismay. I feel more comfortable with a size 40.

The second last shop I went into was selling the suits at RM129/-... but told me that they could actually order size 40 for me... but luckily I decided not to place my order because I thought that what if it didn't fit very well?

Finally went back to the little shop at KMC swimming pool and discovered that the pattern I wanted (cross-back, triangle) only had up to size 38 (the lady explained that the manufacturer didn't make that pattern up to 40 because when one is that size, she won't wear that pattern!!!) ???, LOL!!! It's ok, I get the hint. :) She then advised me to give 38 a try because sometimes the fit depends on the pattern.

It fit nicely and it was RM119 (yup, they don't mark up the suits there).

So now I have a new suit and a new pair of non-powered goggles (got an extra just now because I thought sometimes I'll be wearing my contact lenses).

So very happy. :)

Even though the suit showcase some of my less flattering anatomy/bulges, but I figured that it can serve as a motivation for me to lose weight. :)

Then rushed to Stampark for my mandatory daily swim. But managed to do 22 laps only today because of the crowd.

Remind me never to go to the pool on Friday evenings.

Imagine an aquarium full of black goldfish in the pet shop.

And a swimmer collided with me because he couldn't streamline... he unknowingly just swam into my line and HE almost drown... could tell he was a beginner like me too... then some stupid guy on the next lane was doing butterfly and actually hit my head when we swam past each other!

Stupid black butterfly.

No more swimming on Friday evenings for me. Going tomorrow morning.

Cheers people!

The joy of learning to swim

breast stroke @ survival stroke, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

I did 25 laps today!

The actual breast stroke is more tiring than MY version of the breast stroke. LOL! :D

But the real thing is faster because it's more efficient. And when I got the techniques right my shoulders and my head were nearer to the surface, just like Liesel Jones'.

"Swimming's not about strength, it's about technique..." Harold was explaining while constantly fine-tuning my technique.

And now my whole body's aching because of the work out.

Still kinda rough here and there... but I'm feeling very pumped. Can't wait to hit the water again tomorrow!

Harold also taught me how to skin dive even though I was a little apprehensive initially because of what I read about hyperventilation and shallow water blackout recently.

Scary.

It's like this put simply. People who skin dive tend to hyperventilate before diving. This causes the carbon dioxide level to drop, arresting hypoxic drive. Our body needs a certain level of carbon dioxide to trigger respiration. So when hypoxic drive gets arrested, the divers don't "feel" the need to breathe, hence they experience blackout because of cerebral hypoxia or the brain runs out of oxygen.

This causes, of course, the divers to drown, even in shallow waters.

I read too much sometimes.

But I gave it a go anyway, and I found it fun in fact!

"It's like child's play" I think Brenda mentioned once...

But it wasn't child's play for me... it was scary and quite a daunting prospect before my first attempt.

But couldn't do 25m, I think just about 15m. Will try again tomorrow.

Don't worry. This will pass. I'm not a swimming nerd now. It's just something that I never thought I would be doing, so now when I'm actually doing it, I just can't believe it.

I saw some 5 or 6-year-olds learning to swim too just now... so cute and so much fun! And I also saw their watchful parents by the poolside...

I'll make sure my kids get the chance to learn to swim if they want to as early as possible....

Hehe... my kids? Hehe..

It's really my dad's fault for being overprotective and having irrational fear of the water I guess. He's never let me swim into waters higher than my waist growing up.

That's why I never told him about swimming in rivers and waterfalls, boat rides in choppy seas, white-water rafting in Sg. Padas, snorkeling in Redang when I went on "trips" with friends.

So can you imagine what his reaction was when I told him I wanted to go kayaking and then scuba diving during my current holiday?

He claimed that I had very high risk interests... LOL!!! But that he couldn't stop me if I wanted to go ahead anyways...

That wasn't the answer I wanted. I wanted him to realize that I take every safety precautions seriously, and that I'm not reckless. I also wanted him to realize that when it's time for me to "go", whether before or after him, it's really up to Him.

And I also wanted him to see that my sister's lifestyle was more "high-risk" than mine.... smoking, drinking, clubbing, late nights driving home alone...

:)

That sort of talked sense into him. Now he's very supportive of my swimming endeavor, even bragging a little sometimes to his friends that I'm learning to swim, WHICH IS EMBARASSING.

Like 90% of the population can swim.

LOL!!!

That's just dad. I wish I can convince him to learn to swim. It's for him to feel a little empowerment.

Mum persistently declined because of the swim suit issue. :) Muahahah!!!

Ok. Better stop here. Can yak the whole night. Bonne nuit!

PADI certified!

padi, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Some of the questions for PADI open water diver test were kinda ambiguous and kinda dumb.

Ernest said that the instructors have been debating over some of the questions like for ages.

But anyways I still aced the paper! And finished it like in less than 30mins. Hehe. Bren, no worries, so easy that you'll be kinda disturbed doing it.

It's more like an English test because they twist and play around with words.

:)

So now where do I go from here? I need lots of money to make as many diving trips as possible. Ernest said that 10-20 dives would suffice before I'm fully confident and skillful...

!!! Quite expensive lor.... each dive about RM150...

Then I was thinking of getting my own fins and mask and snorkel.... those are definitely in my priority list because I can go snorkeling with them if I don't dive, and the fins would be great for my swimming.

Fins about RM250 (the one I'm eyeing, the price range is huge)...

Snorkels about RM100...

Mask about RM150...

*sigh* Can't wait to be earning money...

But I try not to contemplate too much... when the time comes, I just know everything will work out. :)

I was looking at some websites on swimming techniques and realized that my breaststroke is FAARRRRR from ideal... eek.

I even downloaded a video of Liesel Jones swimming the breaststroke in the Sydney Olympics to see how the pros are doing it.

Her head and shoulders are so much higher near the surface. And then she doesn't do any extra kicking after the glide.

So I was cheating. Heh.

Nevermind, tomorrow I'll ask Howard my swim instructor to correct whatever stroke I've been doing into breaststroke. :)

BTW, anyone knows where I can get nice swimsuits/bikinis in Kuching?... so far Parkson has the most choice but I'm not very impressed with the selection...

I so want to go to KL for the mega sales! *cry*

Ok. Got to stop here. Heena's on... don't laugh.... got hooked to the soap because of mum.

Good night!

Breaststroke

100m breaststroke world record - 1:05.71

My personal best - 4:07.31

LOL! :D

Initially I was very disturbed when I clocked a disgusting 2:45 for only 50m. Then I tried harder and that got reduced to a 1:55! So I knew that it was possible... just need to persevere a little more...

Then I bumped into my swimming instructor and asked him to correct my technique when I meet him for my 3rd lesson on Thursday.

"Just kick-glide-breathe!" he started showing me how to do a proper breaststroke.

Currently I'm just doing what I saw other swimmers were doing in the other lanes... I think some of them were not doing it right though... one fat man looked like a lazy frog doing the breaststroke.

That's what I've been doing the whole morning at Stampark. I'm pretty good at amusing myself!

I ended up swimming 20 solid laps! And not tired at all! Cool...

I was thinking while showering in the cubicle with only plastic curtains (aiks) that this was the life I wanted.

I want to have a steady job, and the the time to myself after to do the things I like, like swimming for the moment. :) It could be mountain biking, jet skiing, para sailing, whatever it doesn't matter.

Then I treated myself to sashimi bento for lunch for a good morning. :)

I love my life right now. Or is it just the extended holiday? I can't wait to start work and all... but I'm afraid of what I can't possibly imagine to expect.

Uptight? Maybe.

When I'm not in the pool, I'm feeling so uncomfortable with the heat. Wish I have my own pool. Next time I'll build myself a single-lane 50m pool. Cool.

Ok. Want to shower (again). Then I should actually do some revision for my exam tomorrow yes?

Cheers!

Nudibranch and new swimming watch

The corals wanted to make sure that I won't forget the whole scuba diving experience by giving me lots of rash, whealing and scratch marks, with the most unbelievable pruritus in the whole wide world, which was of course my fault because I clumsily landed on them (oops) or brushed against them. And need I mention the the psoriasis-like skin-peeling?

But I need not worry...

Loratidine is a wonderful drug. Kept me very happy the whole day today. Minus the sedation.

I would never forget my first encounters with all those beautiful and vibrant fish and corals. Lots of nemos (but apparently there are 5 types of nemo-like fish which I can't really differentiate now...)

Even saw a cream and chocolate nudibranch! But the funny thing was when I saw it when a fellow diver pointed it out to me, I was thinking it looked so yummy! Just like oreo cheese cake! Hehe. :)

We even saw a huge lobster hiding inside a crevice... I thought it was huge and I was a little scared but the other divers later told me that it was actually very juvenile. Remember 33% magnification under water...

But no close encounters with the elusive green turtles. I seriously need to make another trip to Satang soon.

*happy* *happy* *happy*

So happy that a highly unreliable friend did not not dampen my spirits. The hell with the so-called friend.

*happy* *happy* *happy*

I'm taking my final scuba exam (written) this Wednesday. Ernest said that it would be easy. Just out of curiosity I asked what would happen if I failed the paper. He said no problem, they have a Set B. :)

Funny. That means I won't leave the Kuching Scuba Diving Centre without my license this Wednesday. Or anybody for that matter. Hehe.

Will go for a swim tomorrow morning at Stampark because I decided to skip today because of my rather volatile skin condition, but decided too that tomorrow I must resume with my "regime" or else I might lose the momentum.

Met Adeline last night at Satok. She was telling me about her horse-riding adventure... then she commented that I didn't look as dark as she expected! (One of the main reasons why she decided not to join Brenda and I for scuba diving was because she was scared of the "scary sun").

Crazy (or blind)! Maybe I don't look hardcore African... but I'm well-toasted bread, which makes my face look blotchy and oily. And I won't be able to wear pink lip colour for a while.

Anyways, I was at Satok because I wanted to get a water-resistant watch (hence, a "swimming watch"). I found it quite a hassle to climb out of the pool repetitively just to keep track of the time.

And thanks to the silly (not so silly after all) "World Cup" promotion, I got quite a bargain for Casio 50m water-resistant digital.

The interesting thing about this watch is that I can actually use it to calculate pulse rate just like an analog watch because of one of its unique feature (which can be located of the upper left corner. It's a medical student thing. :)



I even slept with it last night. Hehe. :)

Ok. Better key off now. Need sleep for swim tomorrow.

p/s: I've decided to revamp my links. No offence to those I removed. :) Cheers!

Fringe benefits

battle scars, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

As you can see, I got more from my 2-week scuba experience than expected... lol!

Pictures from 2nd open dive!

turtle's bay 9 july 2006, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Ginger Boy

in memory of ginger boy (1996-2004), originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

My day would have been better if Baghdatis won last night. :( He went down to Nadal in straight sets. Now not so excited to watch the final on Sunday... nevermind I'll be rooting for Federer just to avenge Baggy's defeat. *evil*

Die Nadal DIE!

Went to the KMC pool this morning. Have not been there since Primary 3??? :) Decided to go there instead of Stampark because parents had something on at St. Peter's church so they suggested I just swim at KMC so that I could easily pick them after my swim.

I kind of like the water at KMC better...feels like water at home... but the problem is they don't open to public on weekday mornings... only in the afternoons (2.30-4.30!) and in the evenings (6-8)... so that won't suit my schedule very much.... too bad.... it would be nearer to my house. :(

Did about 10 laps of breast stroke today! I really feel like I'm getting stronger everyday! The only bad thing is my poor skin... but so far 3hours post-swimming, no itch... that's a good sign. But it's burnt like nobody's business.

I really look ugly with all my peeling skin and obvious demarcation lines of my swim suit! Haha!

But it's my intention to lose weight and be physically stronger. I'm sure I need to be when I start my housemanship later. It helps to be physically strong on top on having mental toughness.

Imagine having to do continuous chest compressions? Haha! One time I saw a resuscitation in progress at the red zone of the A&E department. The doctors, nurses and medical assistants were taking turns to do chest compression because it's tiring!

But the poor man did not survive his heart attack.

The most heartbreaking moment was when his wife came into the red zone to see her husband's limp body on the resusitation table.

Why Ginger Boy's picture today? Yesterday my uncle orange persian cat (just like Ginger Boy except that Pippin was long-haired) was run over by a vehicle. Instant death because his head was crushed.

It's always heartbreaking for the whole (extended) family when a pet dies.

The only good thing that came out of it was that the family came together. Because being a HUGE family (dad has 8 siblings), there always tend to be squabbles/conflicts... but once a tragedy like this happens, whatever disagreement gets buried and forgotten.

Ginger Boy died of FIV (feline equivalent of HIV) 2 years back. H'es one tough cookie until he succumbed to FIV.

He literally lived out his 9 lives with us. He had many near death experiences, the most memorable one was when he came home one day with epistaxis (nose-bleeding) and haematochezia (bleeding per rectum)...

We rushed him to the vet, but dad did not expect him to survive despite his amazing track record.

He remained in the vet for 3-4days unconscious and the doctor explained to us that his prognosis was grave and that he had the classical symptoms and signs of rat poison (warfarin) ingestion, causing him to bleed in the brain.

The family faced many difficult moments whether to euthanize Ginger Boy or not, until the 4th or 5th day when he suddenly woke up and began drinking and eating on his own.

We were estatic but he had some neurological deficits, to which the doctor thought would affect his quality of life substantially, and continued to press us to consider putting him down humanely.

He had the typical cerebelar signs. He could not walk properly, kept on falling down or twisting his limbs. Then his head kept bobbing back and forth and his eyes made sideways jerky movements.

An excellent hunter, Ginger Boy couldn't even jump up the couch which was less than a meter high.

Dad tried to persuade us to let Ginger Boy go, but I was adamant to have him with us for some more time...

And you know what, I've never prayed so hard or wished so hard for anything in my life. Ginger Boy recovered completely after about 6 weeks!

He continued to bring home rats, snakes and lizards after that incident until he died of FIV several years later.

Ginger Boy, hope you're enjoying heaven!

Cuteness!

pheoinbasket2, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

That's baby Pheobs back in 2001! :D She was the size of her head now. Dad was the one who spotted her first in the pet shop... (Read this post back in February)

Just got back from swimming a couple of laps. Was spying on the swimmer on the next lane... he was doing breast stroke and I thought it looked more relaxed and natural... copy cat him and voila! I was swimming 2-3 laps effortlessly! Nice...

Have a nice (and very sunny) day people!

BTW, I think I'm not going for the convocation dinner. Not in the mood to socialize... will see you guys for the actual witchcraft ceremony though... till we meet! *muah*

eeww...

These ants burrowed into our honey-scented candles. I have no problem with the hardworking critters, but doesn't it just give you goose bumps looking at those burrows? *shudder*

The square hat

convocation, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

My Baghdatis is sizzling on the court! Currently outplaying Hewitt. :) I want to marry Baghdatis! Hehe. ;)

My parents and I have been playing mind games these couple of days. They know I don't want to attend my convocation, but they want to, but they didn't want to insist.

I was telling them it's going to be damn hot and even more boring and that mum has to walk quite a distance to the yucky hall and all...

I gave up today and finally thought that if it gives them so much pleasure to see me dorn the vampire robe, then I owe them that much to oblige.

But it's going to cost RM160! Would rather use that money for something else... like buying a pair of fins... :) Or go kayaking...

As soon as I said that I would go, my dad quickly suggested that we go for studio pictures. ARRGGHHH.

Anyways...

Finally completed our knowledge review with Ernest, our scuba instructor this afternoon. He's in a perky mood today... I thought he had some pressure of speech, but I guess it's passion. Passion for for diving and the underwater world.

It sort of rub off a little on me. I'm feeling very excited and interested to learn about marine life... and after our discussion about the "science" of scuba diving, I'm determined to be more "informed".

I guess I liked his approach. Whether he was sincere or not, I was impressed with his take on what scuba diving was all about. The big picture.

It comes with appreciation, awareness and responsibility. He's hoping that we would be much more than just divers.

On our very first descend/dive last Sunday, we landed on some sea grass, which didn't seem very attractive at first. I was more concerned about the visibility (which was only about 1m) and the current.

But when we ascended, Ernest was so excited about the grass! He said that it was seasonal, and when on and on about the small fish and some other plants.

It hit me that I was not getting it.

BTW, won't be going to Talang-talang after all this weekend. No boats available until next month according to Ernest. So heading to Satang again. No big deal. I didn't quite get enough of Satang the other day.

Hoping to get my buoyancy issue fixed. For some reason, I couldn't stay down the other day. Ernest thought it should be fixed by adding some extra weights.

Other than that, I'm just waiting to be able to dive more freely and start exploring for real, meaning not having to worry about not drifting away from the instructor and worrying about performing the skills and all.

One thing I learnt about myself during the dive was that I was very uptight after all. :) Very funny. I was fooling myself that I was letting everything go and relax, but the truth was I was TRYING too much to relax. Note the keyword TRYING.

That would be my greatest challenge. Because everything about me is hasty and abrupt and very gross motor.

Ok. Better key off here. Oh ya, Wendy got her posting in KK and Jane in Tawau! Very, very happy! I can feel KK in my grasp... :)

Just for fun!

farewell medical school, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Taken back in 2002. Hema, York Tien, Mooi and I having a blast in the anatomy lab. :)

Fight club

sheeba, max & cookie, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

As brutal as it may seem, Cookie actually got what she deserved for being the practical joker / resident pest.

Cuteness!

Overdose on antihistamine

sunburnt me, originally uploaded by sharonhappymorgue.

Didn't blog for couple of days because I've been drowsy continuously because of the antihistamines I've been taking for the incessant itch of my rash.

Damn PMLE.

Very suffering.

But going swimming later. Hopefully the chlorin will be harsh enough to dampen the itch.

Will blog more about my 1st open dive experience when I'm feeling less "irritable".

Cheers!

Sore toe

I'm itching all over my body with the yuckiest whealing you ever see (most probably due to the chlorin and also the sun). Remember I have PMLE (Polymorphous Light Eruption, see this post).

My left toe (yes, THE left toe) got smashed by the 13kg scuba tank. And it's hurting like hell now.

Popped in anti-histamine and paracetamol (because ran out of NSAIDs).

But I can't stop smiling and thinking of my extraordinary experience today, and absolutely looking forward to tomorrow's dive at Satang Island. Hope to see some green turtles!

We did all the required scuba diving skills required by PADI (Professional Association of Dive Instructors) from 9-4pm at Stampark. It's quite overwhelming, but the basic principle is to relax, NOT panic, breathe slowly and deeply, THINK and look out for your buddy. And follow all plans agreed before dive.

At least that's the message I got. Some of the skills were a little scary like the free-flow air in the case of a faulty regulator... I have to partially release the mouthpiece to air source some couple meters deep and try breathing. That was scary but I just brace myself and thought clearly what I had to do and tadah, AIR!

My tank also ran out of air just now half way so I got to experience what it's like to have NO air... so I had to use my instructor's emergency regulator (a.k.a. the octopus) and we swam to the intended spot in the pool.

Reminded me of the time during white water rafting at Sg. Padas when I got trapped beneath the boat when I got thrown out of the boat. I remember having no air for God knows how long, and my life flashed in front of me in that few seconds. There was no real fear, just thinking of my loved ones. Funny eh?

But at the same time, when the moment I started breathing in the water, I felt soooo elated, like life was beautiful and sooo worth fighthing for....

I expect more life-altering moments tomorrow when I go for my first open dive tomorrow. Need all the rest I can get tonight. Hopefully my toe won't hurt as much tomorrow.

The anti-histamine has kicked in. Itch relieved some. But the pain is still there, with some paraesthesia.

Sweet dream people!

p/s: I'm bummed that Argentine lost to freaking Germany.