So here I go again...

It's been a while, hasn't it? This blogging thing that is.... What started off as a digital replacement of the not-so-private snippets of my life, has been left by the sidelines as I did my little baby steps out of my comfort zone. I do miss writing, and thus yet another attempt to get back to it. Hopefully, having a tablet would help me draft content a little bit better.

Tablets have certainly evolved quite a lot in the past 2-3 years, and are certainly well on their way to replacing netbooks. You hardly see any around any more, especially with more and more tablets getting more computing power and app support. With laptops getting lighter and slimmer with each year, we start seeing ultrabooks edging out netbooks at the other end of the spectrum.

So with my swanky new tablet in hand, and armed with a Blogger app, I can at least draft up entries on the go. Real basic drafts since I can do any coding on the app, so I can't add images (prefer to use external webhosting).

That's it for now while I continue exploring the capabilities of a tablet, and hopefully not get distracted by the improportionately many games available!

Click for the rambling...

Hermit mode --> activate.......

No, I'm not moving into the Naruto ninja universe.... Just need to stop meeting up with people at shopping centres..... Why? Read on.... *peeks into bank acct* This divejunkie is soon-to-be broke.... Class 3 lessons should be wrapping up within the next couple of months (hopefully with me passing my TP before my PDL expires), and that has already taken up a gd chunk of moolah.... Next step is to consider a 2nd hand car.... haven't really planned out how to squeeze out extra cash for this yet but it's in the works....

Also, LASIK soon, and even with the interest-free installment plan, still $$ bye bye TT_TT PLUS Bali trip in Aug, so will need money for that too....

So in conclusion, it's time for me to be antisocial and hide in my little hermit hole so that I would not be spending quite so much on dinners and outings..... (*dang* with all the nice movies coming out soon.... guess I'll hafta consider skipping a few meals to watch them....) No more meet-ups for me, unless they're at coffeeshops/food centres ;p

Click for the rambling...

Night spent re-visiting a childhood icon....

Last night marked my first visit to Marina Bays Sands, and it was to catch Thriller LIVE, a 2h 20min tribute concert to the music of Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5.


We got seated just in time for the start of the show. It started with a couple of familiar tunes, as well as a summary of MJ's hits and chart toppers... and then came the Jackson 5 songs. So tickled by the costumes and the amazing voice of 14-year-old Kieran Alleyne. Pity that the crowd was either not quite warmed up or were not quite as familiar with the songs... Felt like I was one of the few who were swaying n synching along to "ABC" :( First half covered hits until the 80s (I think. Not THAT huge a fan that I know which era the songs came from, just enough of a fan to sing along to the the chorus, at least, for most of the songs ;p)


After the intermission, we were treated to hits that I remember hearing over the radio or from my uncle's stash of music while growing up. Such nostalgia~~ To be treated to live rendition of "Smooth Criminal", "Dirty Diana", "Beat It", "They Don't Care About Us" etc. And as more and more familiar tunes came along, you could tell that the energy and excitement was spreading from the stage to the audience (*yay!*)


Ricko Baird's another name to remember from the cast, with his spot on performance of MJ's classic dance moves, and as one of the four main onstage "MJs". By the time they got to my #1 favorite, "Heal the World", everyone (onstage and off) were really enjoying themselves, and THAT'S when the HUGE faves came up! "Bad" and "Thriller"!! With the crowd grooving on their feet (and some of us joining in with the Thriller zombie moves ;p) the 2h 20min tribute concert came to a close :'( Thought it would feel long, but when it ended on such a high, I couldn't help but hope that it could go on for *just* a wheeeee bit longer....

Other little details that I liked about Thriller LIVE was the effects and vids on the display screens. The precise timing of what's on the screen and the real life dancers was really superb! Also, I love how they also remind us about the hardworking team doing all the jamming and fast fingerworks on the guitars when the screens part or the few times the guitarist(s) took centre stage for a while. *thumbs up* Certainly felt like a big party/jamming session that we were all part of, rather than *just* another stage performance ^_^

Here's what some of the audience at one of the earlier shows had to say about it:

I'm not a fan of MJ per se, not with the scandals and troubles that plagued the latter bit of his life, but I know I'll be digging out my collection of MJ's hits to listen to it all over again, in pure celebration of MJ's music ^_^ Just 'coz his music is still mighty amazing!

So, join in the fun and catch Thriller LIVE for yourself!

Click for the rambling...

Updates galore!

Apparently last year's blog reboot didn't quite make it. Coming up with new thoughts, stories etc to share needs some kinda inspiration I guess, and a special form of energy that seems to be absent in me right now.... On to some updates directly.... Actually, more like updates on how far I have gotten along in completing the goals I have set for 2011....

(1) *points to pic above* Life Saving 123 class is over and we have all passed! Thanks to Jeremy for bringing us through, and to the other ULC folks who have helped us all along the way! Half a 2011 goal done (marks with half a tick) Hope to see all the new friends I've made at BM class! ;p It has been an interesting semester that kinda started from here...

(2) After my second trip to the Similan Islands, have completed my Divemaster training ^_^ So that's another goal down for 2011.

(3) FINALLY started Class 3 lessons. Long overdue, considering my diving certifications and my damn white elephant PPCDL... Sucking out quite a bit of time and money but I WILL GET MY LICENSE BY THE END OF THE YEAR!! (anybody wanna contribute to my "Buy Juan a car fund"? ;p)

(4) LASIK.... 4+ years of putting in eyes and taking them out when I dive (and with the increasing kinda of water activities I'm doing) it makes sense to go burn my eyes... Target is to get this done in November, after BM and after MY dive season has closed... Bad news is that it's another hole in my pocket, good news is interest-free installment payment (meaning it'll be many little holes eating in my pocket instead)

Guess that's it for major updates. Need to get back into the groove of bloggin before this site is gonna make any semblance of sense again...

Click for the rambling...

Bon voyage~~

So I should have posted this yesterday when you left, but I had a mini-crisis with my contact list/address book syncing between Google-MBP-iPhone.... Kinda miss our chitchat sessions in cabs ;p But am sure you'll have tonnes of stories and (hopefully) wisdom to share when you get back.

Here's wishing my friend, fellow nature adventurer, and neighbor tonnes of fun during the two months onboard Fujimaru!

Wondering why SJ's in ethnic costume? The SSEAYP participants hafta put up a performance/play whilst onboard. A few of us were fortunate enough to get invited to their pre-departure concert, and it sure was entertaining enough. ^_^

Click for the rambling...

Starting the work day with a smile! :D

Sometimes friends/acquaintances ask me why I can tahan working on an island (no, they are NOT referring to Singapore) and despite the extra travel time (and the occasional risk of being stranded), I can say that my work place is pretty special. Whilst literally living the island life (living in an island city state, working on a small island off the "mainland" ;p) I sometimes do lose track of the uniqueness of our workspace, and today we were pleasantly surprised as the boat berthed at St John's Island......

As usual, most of us were catching our 40 winks on the boat, and as the boat was coming alongside the jetty, someone exclaimed "Dolphins!" "Huh? Where?" The few of us who were awake quickly looked out the window to try and spot theses charismatic marine mammals, and sure enough, we saw a sleek grey body breaching the surface of the tranquil waters. And then it was gone again. And then it appeared, further away. Not much surface activity but at least we saw one or two of these strong swimmers as we arrived at work ^_^ Who else can boast of seeing WILD DOLPHINS greeting them near their workplace every once in a while? Unfortunately, they were a bit far for my C905 to be of any use so no photos from me. Will update if I come across any colleagues who managed to take any.
Have marked out on this Google Map the rough location of this sighting.

Click on my "dolphins" tag on the left to read about some of my previous sightings (or just click here)

Click for the rambling...

Re-boot!

After last Thursday's PCG, I've felt the conviction of reviving my journal. (No, journal most definitely ≠ blog) It's PRIVATE, though if there are relevant bits that I feel are OK to be aired publicly here, I will put them here too. I've been keeping a journal/diary regularly since primary school until 2005 or so when it started getting sporadic before I stopped entirely in May 2007. There have been some overlaps with this blog, and even entries here have been few and far between since 2009. Guess I'm posting this here as a resolve and reminder to myself to keep on writing...

Click for the rambling...

8... 4... 2... 1? XD

So what do the numbers in the title mean? 8 of us went for this.... And then there were 4..... Fast forward to 3 years later, and as of last weekend, I finally took the plunge and went for my rescue course ^_^

And if it wasn't clear enough, the title's referring to the number of people in the dive courses that I have taken ;p Too bad I forgot to take a group photo with our instructor. Must have been too long since my last course XD

First time on a LOB, and first time ever visiting SAF Yacht Club @ Changi.

Boy was it a nice comfy trip to Pulau Aur. Yummy Thai food, great fun company... Not to mention the kayaking Hello Panda!

Course aside, it did feel good to be diving in Malaysia, after approximately a year. ^_^ The usual suspects were up and around, but as with every divetrip, there would be some pleasant surprises... Like this HUGE hermit crab we saw during the night dive. It was in a volute(?) shell that was as large as a rugby ball!

Even the most commonly seen nudibranch, Pteraeolidia ianthina, can still surprise me. Despite seeing them on just about every reef that I've been to, this is the first time I'm seeing it's egg ribbon ^_^

Unfortunately, not all is well with the Malaysian reefs. Most of the corals have recovered from the bleaching earlier in the year but quite a few of the anemones we came across were either fully bleached or partially bleached. Only time will tell if the reefs will fully recover from this bout of bleaching.

And with this, I bid you goodnight, and until the next adventure that awaits aboard MV DiveRACE~~

For....

This sign on the door of the saloon says it best, doesn't it? ^_^

Click for the rambling...

Baybeats 2010

August has been a relatively interesting month for me. We wrapped up the mass natural shores guides training; YOG has come and gone along with the torch that went past my house, alma mater(s) AND workplace; went for kayaking certification; tried my hand out in greening; and went for Baybeats ^_^ Many thanks to the many friends who were with me (or in the case of the YOG related stuff, jio-ed me) during these events. Definitely made August 2010 rather interesting and special! Oh, especially you guys who were roped into coming along to Esplanade to catch David Choi ;p (You know who you are! And no, you haven't seen me in proper fangirl mode yet. Would like to think that I have already outgrown that phase, and am now a supporter instead of a fangirl. Heh!)

So to celebrate the last day of the eight month of this year, I break away from my series of photo-filled nature related posts and present to you a short video of some of the action I managed to capture on film during the 2nd Day of Baybeats 2010.
Wonder if I should start doing more videos. The editing can be quite fun! ;p

Click for the rambling...

Terumbu Pempang Tengah - TPT

Yes, I am uber behind on my posts.... But since I did promise that my next entry would be on the visit to TPT, here goes nothing....
15 July 2010 - Was lucky enough to join a smallish team of 6 to explore one of our submerged patch reef. It has been a while since I last visited any of the patch reefs (while on a walk or whilst diving), and it was nice heading out with my cab-pool kaki since we also had a chance to do some catching up ;p

It was still dark when we arrived, but soon the skies brightened and we off we went! It was certainly quite an expanse of shore to cover but with all of us heading out in different directions, I think between the six of us, we managed to cover most of it ^_^ Here's some close-up of critters I came across. Can you figure out what they are? (p/s. click on the pics for the larger image and what it is)



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For more photos, feel free to check out my Flickr album.
Read more from Ria's posts on Darat and Tengah.

Click for the rambling...

GSS02 - No, 'tis not the Great Singapore Sale

15 July 2010 - Since my camera didn't have any battery during the 1st training, no pics for that one >.< But it was all charged up and ready for the second session mass training workshop for our shores ^_^ All this after an early morning spent at Terumbu Pempang Tengah! This is gonna be a photo-centric entry as it sure was a long day.....

Unlike earlier LeafMonkey Workshops, the aim's to reach out to more people in a session. So the usual menagerie suspects turned up early at the Singapore's Scouts Association HQ to set up registration desk, info desk, chairs, projector etc.

Ria kindly brought down coffee table books for the early comers to browse, as well as extra Southern Shores guidesheets to give away.

For this second training session, we were lucky enough to have papaJeff introduce coral reefs to our would-be guides. But alas, there was way too much ground for him to cover in such a short session that he wasn't able to cover coral rubble as well! Glad to see that there were lots of related questions for him but we had to break into groups for the role-playing portion of the workshop.

Based on feedback from the session, we decided to do something different this time round and sent one group down to the Programmes Room, and see if it really helped with noise control. Guess who's group was the lucky one? ;p

For this part of the session, participants are split into discussion groups tasked with different combinations of visitors and shorelife to talk about.

Armed with little factsheets and iPhone(s), as well as "free access" to facilitators, the groups pieced together their little mini-skits. It is good practice for preparing scripts when guiding at any shore. Know the facts about the wildlife that you'll be talking about, angling it....

And once that was done, it was time to share with the others their little skits! We had some rather creative representations of our "die-die-sure-can-see" reef critters... Click on the photos to see what organisms were represented ^_^


Too bad I was already zoning out after the breakout session to take anymore photos.... Will try and remember for this week's session! ;p

And we also welcome SJ back from Trengganu ^_^ Our resident naturescouter has been busy running all over the globe, so it was good to have him back in SG. At least until October....

p/s. Next post to come up *should* be the TPT one!

Click for the rambling...

Ghostly encounters and a little fisher

First off....
HAPPY WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY EVERYBODY!!!

Am starting to feel that I'm getting too old to be doing intertidals for a stretch of 5 consecutive days and heading to work immediately after.... And it sure doesn't help that the sun has been utterly relentless for most of the mornings this week! So here's a couple of highlights from my week of mornings spent in the sun~


(1) Horned-eyed ghost crabs (Ocypode ceratophthalmus)
Generally more often seen at night/dusk/dawn but the ones at St John's Island were rather active during the day! The first few ones that we came across were half buried and very well camouflage, and we literally stumbled upon them as we were walking around. Here's one "winking" at/for the camera even!

The ones higher up on the shore were busy digging out their little burrows, popping out every once in a while to throw out a messy pile of sand. The little black dots scattered around the burrows are actually little Casuarina fruits.



And a closer view of these little ghostly critters. Guess it's a good thing that we saw quite a few adult individuals scurrying around, as well as a number of smaller holes with the same messy "thrown sand", even though there's regular beach cleaning around the area?

For more information about these crabs:
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/crustacea/crab/ocypodoidea/ceratophthalmus.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/crustacea/crab/ocypodoidea/ocypode.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/crustacea/crab/ocypodoidea/ocypodoidea.htm


(2) Collared kingfisher (Halcyon chloris)
There were also at least 2 collared kingfishers out and about with us on almost all the days. Feel so lucky that I managed a quick shot of one of them perched on the pipe, and the next shot on the right even shows a small fish that it caught! Usually only manage to catch them while they're perched up on one of the trees on the island.

For more on this commonly seen kingfisher:
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Halcyon_chloris.htm

Do click on the photos if you would like a look at the larger sized images.

Click for the rambling...