2011-05-25 Grateful and Grumbles

A Bluesynergy Story

So my good friends, V and E, use this technique to find out how their children are really feeling - its called "Grateful and Grumbles." Basically, at dinner time, each person around the table talks about what they are grateful for and what is bumming them out. So, although I am not a child, here goes:

Grateful -

I am grateful for the opportunity to do three dives in one day. I went to my first boat dive - we had two stops, the Seabees junkyard and Western Shoals. The Seabees junk yard is as it sounds, the place in the harbor that the Navy dumped a bunch of garbage. This garbage includes trucks with tires, 36" diameter pipes, and other odd pieces of machinery. It is environmentally sad, but otherwise pretty cool to see the coral and other sea life living in and around the junk. I saw two huge puffer fish and tried to race a sea turtle. The puffer fish look like they were brought to life by an anime artist, with their head just too big and cartoonish for their long bodies. After the two dives, I was offered another opportunity to do a night dive - i turned it down because I was exhausted. Next time!

Grumbles -

My grumble is that Guam does not have any good bookstores. I tried finding a book for my friend C, but neither the book store in the mall or KMart had it. I was in a mood when I went to the mall bookstore and I ended up buying three books for myself instead. They were:

The Swiss Family Robinson, Johann Wyss

Lord of the Flies, William Golding

The Jungle, Upton Sinclair

As I relayed this information to B, she asked me if I knew that the Jungle wasn't about being in the jungle, as the other two books had a jungle theme. I reassured her that although my degree is in engineering, I was aware of the Jungle's subject matter.

Until she mentioned the jungle theme, I hadn't realized that my subconscious was trying to figure out how I felt about being on Guam - you know, since two of the books give different perspectives on what happens when one is trapped on a small tropical island and the other is about "the New World visions perish in the jungle of human suffering."

Rest assured, the book I had started reading first was the Swiss Family Robinson, so I think that means that deep down I feel like Guam is an exciting adventure!

2011-05-19 "It's like putting a pillow over your face"

A Bluesynergy story

So I did it! I am officially open water certified! It means I can swim down to 60'. I go on my first boat dive this weekend - without a teacher watching. One of my dive mate's husband encouraged her to learn to dive by telling her "its like putting a pillow over your face." I think they may lead a spicier life than I do...

2011-05-17 It's like being a turtle, shell side down

A Bluesynergy Story

Ok, so when I first got my flippers and tried to talk down the stairs into the water, I face planted twice - once while I was on the stairs and then again when I tried to get up in the water after falling off the stairs. After the third fall, just onto my knees this time, I realized I should have waited until I got into the water before putting them on.

Tonight, I did my 3rd of 4 dives to get my open water diving certification. Having learned my lesson from the face planting session, I entered the water with my scuba gear on, but my flippers in my hand. Despite this precaution, I still fell. Although I was spared the embarrassment of the face plant, when one falls into 2-1/2' of water with a scuba tank on, you kind of become like a turtle who has been cruelly turned onto it shell - a sad creature with short ineffectual arms and legs flailing towards the sky, unable to generate enough momentum to turn yourself over.

Luckily, one of my dive mates lent me a hand - otherwise, I would have had to wait for the tide to come in, so I could float away, or out, so I could have rolled over.

Moral of the story, don't be mean to turtles.

My dive mates, Jessica, me, Todd and my instructor, Greg with the rabbit ears.

2011-05-14 I sat on a sea cucumber's intestines

A Bluesynergy Story

Yes, I did, but more on that later.

The day started out with me being late (of course) to my dive class. 15 minutes, as always. I get to MDA, the dive shop where my class is being held and thankfully, there was someone else that was later than me. After a tour and explanation on the shop and how to rent gear, we drove to the Naval Base to dive at Gab Gab Beach. No, I don't know the history on the name - I only know that there is a Gab Gab 2 just beyond Gab Gab 1. I am sure someone can google it and let me know.

Our first test was swimming 200 yards. Some of my class mates struggled a little with this - one might say it is the organic chemistry of the diving course. For those of u that didn't ponder pre-med , it's the weeder class.

After a few other tests, we were all given 6 lbs of weight and told to hold them to our stomachs to see if we would sink. I did not sink, much to my dismay. I required a hefty 8 lbs of weight before I sunk to the bottom. The boys, all of whom are at least 60-80 lbs heavier, mainly because they are 6'7 and 6'5 - only required 6 lbs to sink. It is very disconcerting to know that I require more weight - but then my female instructor noted, silently, that I have my own personal flotation devices that may have contributed to my buoyancy.

After some more tests and a trip to McDonald's, we got to the hover test. This required me to use my breath to hover in the water about 4 ft above the sand. I successfully completed this task. Unfortunately, I often forget I have legs when I am in the water, and as I descended back to the bottom, I did not allow enough room to get my legs under me. I slammed into the ground. As I flailed in the water to get myself standing again, I felt a little tingly sensation on my bottom. I turned around to see a very disgruntled sea cucumber waving it's intestines at me. Apparently, sea cucumbers defend themselves by shoving their sticky sticky intestines out of a small hole to trap their "attackers". I reached around and rubbed the back of my suit - my hand became covered with intestines - they were streaming from my ass. I freaked out - but u can't actually talk underwater - so you just flail and your eyes get all bulgy. The intestines look like silly string - bright white in color - and they tingle. My dive mate was laughing so hard at me that he had to hold his regulator in his mouth. I couldn't get it all off - its one of those, u rub it and it just gets on ur other hand, or arm, or in your hair. I had to peel it off when it dried on my bathing suit later that evening.

I give nature an A+ for sea cuccmber defense. I can assure you, I will not be sitting on any more.

2011-04-18 I shoot guns

A Bluesynergy Story

So I am all moved in to my palace... it really feels like I live in a
boarding house, because you can never tell when someone is actually
home. I bought a TV and have cable for the first time in my adult
life. After de-stressing by watching part of the storage wars marathon,
I walked down to the main street with all the hotels in search of
food. I couldn't decide what to eat, so I ended up in TGIF's. I know I
now have a kitchen but with milk and juice costs $10/gallon, sometimes
it is cheaper to eat out.

After a boring onion soup and salad, I started the short but extremely
muggy walk home. To my left was the Great American Western gun store
and indeed, there was a life size Native American chief carved in wood
standing guard outside. This was one of several shooting galleries
/strip clubs that are along the main drag. Not really needing a strip
show on a Monday night, I entered the gun store. There were two life
size wood horses pulling a carriage in the front. I continued in the
back and saw that there was a special today - $50 for the rental of 1
shotgun (6 shells) 0.38 (12 shells) .22 (12 shell) and a bunch of
other guns and their corresponding ammo. Now, I never like to pass up
a good deal and as Rita Rutner says, its not about what you spend, its
about what you saved if you had paid full price, but I wasn't really in
the mood to shoot a shotgun. So, I went for the cheapest option - 30
shells for a .22 revolver for $17.

Now, I had flip flops on and my glasses. This attire apparently was ok
and, as my host, Richard, indicated that I didn't need to wear the
safety glasses because I was already wearing a pair of glasses. This
made me nervous. Oh, and by the way, Richard's full time job is as a
paint distributor and he will be stopping by the office tomorrow to
chat with me about the hospital project.

Anyway, I shoot my 30 rounds and do just marginally better than a
beginner - they score u after every round and give you a certificate
of completion. You'll be happy to know I hit the bulls eye 1 out of
30, but 1 is better than 0, My excuse is that I couldn't really see because my eye
glasses fogged up under my safety glasses that I insisted on wearing.
After that, I walked home, quite pleased with myself. I couldn't
legally do this in Oakland.