Know what I did last weekend?

We had planned for the trip for a while and so the long awaited trip finally came. The last time that we went, I promised myself to get unto one of these. The Scuba-doo.

(Picture from my last trip)

I wanted to experience what was portrayed on this board.

(Picture from my last trip)

Cool eh...

This time around, I made sure I would get on one, eventhough I have no inkling how to manouvre a motorbike or a motorboat,  much less 'riding' a mini submarine. (Reads: UNDERWATER)

I would figure it all out once I am there, I thought..

However when we were buying our tickets at the Jessleton Point, we were told that Manukan Island is 'closed'  to give the corals a rest from the tourists. We were offered Sapi Island instead. It is much smaller, but 'good enough' we were told.

Since we were at the jetty already, we thought, why not. After all we have been to Manukan Island a few times. Why not try a new island, yes? So we did.

And this was what we found..

Just look at that crowd

Not too shabby, but rather crowded for me.

You can even find a pen of mean looking monitor lizards..

Do not worry, despite their mean looks, they were not interested to have me for lunch. They were focused on something yummier..

In fact, they were salivating over the smell that came from what was on the BBQ pit, just next to their pen.. Satay!!

After exploring a bit of the small island, I went straight to the fun part..

Parasail!!

And then some...

I went around looking for the Scuba-do,  but was told that they only have it at Manukan Island. So, I tried the next best thing..

Sea-walking..

Oh, how I love this experience. You need to take a boat ride from the island to a boathouse anchored 10 mins away. Then, you will be briefed on what to do. (What sign language will be used underwater, what to do when your ears ache from the change in pressure; that kind of stuff)

For those who went unprepared like me, they even prepare shoes you could use underwater, as you seawalked. (Not the sophisticated kind you see divers used on National Geographic, though. It is the same kind my grandma use to go to her farm. Yes, those rubber kind. But good enough. Better than barefooted, I'd say).  

One by one, the tourists had the helmet put on them by the divers, and climbed down the ladder and disappeared from my sight into the sea. I was the last person to go.

Oh, by the way, none of my friends were game to do this, so I was with a group of strangers. By the time it was my turn to don the helmet and started to climb down the ladder of the boat house into the arms of one of the diver, I was starting to feel a tad worried. A scary thought keeps creeping into the corners of my mind; but I pushed that thought away.

I did not know what to expect, but my curioisty got the better of me, so I just had to give it a go.

So I clung to the diver as we climbed down the ladder unto the sea bed. The diver was excellent, he did not rush and dragged me down to the sea bed. On the boathouse during the briefing, we were told that we can ask the diver who is assigned to lead us, to stop anytime we feel we need to blow our nose to ease the pressure in our ears .

So I did ask him to stop. Almost every few inches downward. Not only to blow my nose, but  to give me time for the much needed self- pep talk, 'You can do this, Yellow Chickadee!'.

It felt like a long way down. For a moment, I felt as if I was in the movie 'The Abyss'.. :)

Once we reached the sea bed, it was amazeeeeeeing....

I found Nemo!

Adorable, right....

The diver captured the whole thing on video too, and we were each given a copy. Oh, and a certificate too! :)

So, that was what I did last weekend.

Oh, by the way.. You know that scary thought, I had?

It was ' But you don't know how to swim!'...

'Get fit' for idiots

 

I fell in love with Pinterest one fine day and have not looked back since. In fact, I love it more than I do Facebook. There are just so many Pinteresting things you can find on Pinterest, and create boards for them.

 

One of the first few amazing visuals that caught my eye was this.

 

 

Isn't it amazing that you can be this strong and do this 'whatever- you- call- this -position' by a railing? I take my hats off to all those fit girls out there who could breezily do this. If you ask me to do this, I'll land smack on my head and break my neck!

 

Ok, so I am not quite the fitness buff type, as you might have gathered. My only consistent 'get moving' exercises, comprises of moving my jaw while munching on that extra calorie I do not need; and of course, channel surfing in my TV room. That, (I am proud to say), I do diligently.

 

But today, I was some how inspired by the fitness pins that continue to stream through my Pinterest feed. And drawing inspiration from the caption in the above picture, I was inspired to create a fitness board, title 'Can I do this?'. {It's my way of starting to 'get moving'. Pinning fitness pins do count in getting fit, right? It has to start mentally first, I mean.}

 

So, I imagine by the end of the year, if I am to follow all the moves on my 'Can I do this?' board, I'd be having them fit abs like in that picture too. Let me share one of my pins.

Oh, I love this one.. At first glance, it gives you the game plan on what to do throughout Monday till Sunday! Yes, we exercise- challenged people need a plan to kick start our fitness program!

 

So on Monday we' ll start with:

 

1. Jumping jacks!

Yes, I know how to do that! Did those when I was kid some decades ago.I am sure, my muscles still have enough muscle memory on how to do it, once I get started. I may only be able to do 20 at first, but I will be able to get around to 100 {gulp} of them... {Eventually...}

2. Crunches!...

Hmm... Not too sure how one does this, maybe I google it later. {Yes, we must google, since we have to do 50 of them after our jumping jacks.}

3. Tricep dip!

Ok.... The only image that came to mind is another dip. And it has nothing to do with exercising, but eating. {So into my google list this 'got- nothing- to- do- with- eating' dip will go}

4. Squats!

Hah! I'm not so useless, see. I do know what squats are. First we stand then we squat, just as the name says, and we do that 20 times. {*Patting self on the shoulder for knowing this*}

5. Lunges!

Ok... The only image that came to mind is when one person lunges at another in anger at the start of a fight. I am not completely sure that was what it meant here, since fighting is far from healthy. So into the google list this goes..

6. Russian twist.. (?)

So how do the Russian do their twist??.. {*sigh* Need to google this too}

7. Standing calf raises

Ok, so as the name suggests, we stand, then we raise our calves.. We do this 20 times.

8. Push up!

Yes, I know this one, and it has got nothing to do with a bra... Demi Moore did this in, what was that movie called? Dang she made it look easy, though.

9. Second plank.

Hmm.. Do I need to get any wooden planks as a prop for this? {Ok, need to google this too}

10. Lunge split jumps

Dear Lord!.. What form of acrobatic act would this entail?...It sounds painful, especially the spliting part.

And I have covered only Monday...

We have more alien terminologies to google.. Randomly, they are:

• Vertical leg crunches(?)
• Bird-dog (What the...??)
• Downward dog ( Huh?????)
• Obliques crunches (I have not googled what 'Crunches' are, now there are a 'Vertical Leg' and  an 'Oblique' versions, too)
• Last but not least.. 'Superman'... (Is this where we hold one arm over the chest and another arm with clenched fist positioned skyward and then hold this position for 30 second?? And this pose can make me strong?)

Help!

 

 

Hope

And so today we shall enter Part 2 of the 'Decision'.. I was told that the submission would be done today..

Let's pray that it does, shall we..

Ah.. I am hopeful...

So hopeful..

I cannot deny that at the same time, I am scared.

But what's scarier than not trying at all, and left wondering for your whole life, right?..

And so, today, we shall focus on  'Hope' instead...

Over and Over- Puff Johnson

I have not heard this wonderful song in a very long time. When I first saw the the movie' First Wives Club' and heard this soundtrack, I love it. It became my pep-up song during that time when I need some 'kicking'..

Today I feel like being reminded of how far I have come since I heard first this song.. And to celebrate it..

 

~.~

So you stood there on the corner
With your suitcase in your hand
Ready to quit this place
There were just too many people
With too little left to lose
You were just one more face
But you weren't born to give up easy
You weren't raised to just lie down

And you saw the sun that rises up for more
Over and over
You watch the wave that wears away the shore
Over and over again
And if there's any justice in this world
Gotta keep fighting on
Over and over

They say God always forgives us
But can we forgive ourselves
If we let our hope die
Cause if passion is a weakness
And silence is a strength
Who's gonna hear the cry?

So we gotta climb the highest mountain
We gotta shout for all to hear

And we'll see the sun that rises up for more
Over and over and over
And we'll feel the wave that wears away the shore
Over and over and over again
And if there's any justice in this world
Gotta keep moving on
Over and over
You gotta keep fighting on
Over and over
(All that we dream)
All that we dream can come to be
All that we lost we'll find if we
Just strike the match
And fan the flame
We'll build a blaze
That lights the way

We'll be the sun that rises up for more
Over and over
We'll be the wave that wears away the shore
Over and over again
And if there's any justice in this world
You gotta keep moving on
Over and over
Gotta keep fighting on

We'll be the star that rises up
Over and over
Over and over and over and over
'Cause if there's any justice in this world
You gotta keep moving on
Over and over
You gotta keep moving on
You gotta keep fighting on
Over and over

Over and over again

Highlight of my Gawai 2012

So our Gawai 2012 festival has ended. And what a celebration it was! Most of our family members do not live in the longhouse per se, so just being there, and observing the activities during gawai it self have always been a treat.

My cousin  who always took it upon himself every year to organise and coordinate events and activities involving the longhouse folks around this time, had always been more than happy with the response so far. However this year, he was not too happy with the response he was getting and made it clear.

In show of support for his effort, the younger ones  (cousins) decided to jump in and participate in Kumang and Keling competition.

Since I no longer belong in the 'maiden' bracket, I no longer qualify. But hey,  we must support our cousin, no?.. Here are some pictures taken during the preparation.

Here's me with one of my younger maiden cousin who participated in the competition; getting her all pretty up in her costume.. We both had problem try to get the coin belt hooked.{Thanks to  my inexperience in sorting out what goes where}. But after much perseverance on my part and holding her breaths for the umpteeth of time without fainting and being extremely patient with my cluelessness, on her part; we succeeded.{Yay!}

Now this is how the expert does it.. My grandma and my younger sister..

My nephew outgrew his shyness this year and said he wanted to participated too.. So one of his uncles helped him get ready.   What's a war hero without their tattoo, eh? Check out my nephew's tattoo.. He wanted one too, as he was inspired by an orginal he saw on one of his many uncles. So my cousin tattooed (gel-linered, to be precise) him..

Here's the young man with another contestant. There were only the two of them in this category, so no prize in guessing who won. :D

The line up of contestant and winners.

My nephew, cousins, sister and her friend..

Aah.. And here is the highlight of my gawai this year.. My lovely angels and their equally lovely family came for a visit.

I am still reeling from disbelief from this visit. I would only come back to the longhouse, once a year and mostly during gawai. To have my angels visit me during gawai and to have dinner on a table that my late grandfather built was so surreal. One of them and her family even stayed a night..

Thank you , my lovely angels, for making time to visit me...  Let's make this a tradition, shall we... :)

Today..

For the past couple of years, I subscribed to two wonderful blogs that inevitable impacted my life today.The first was  Rare and Beautiful Tresure. I was drawn to the blogger's voice{choice of words, to be precise} because she sounded so soothing. I was at point of my life where I was constantly bombarded with negative vibes, negative words, being put/looked down upon, being lied to, etc, but was clueless as to how I should handle it.

When I first read her blog, her words were so soothing to my soul and what scared me in a way was, how 'foreign' that seemed to me. I have not 'heard' that in a very long time. It only occur to me then, how conditioned I had been to receiving/ accepting all things negative in my life. And it made me realised how much I needed some form of gentle influences in my life, instead; for I was getting very tired and weary.

Once I have started following the 'gentle' path, there would be times when I find that it was so hard to keep a positive outlook. It was like whenever you try to stay afloat, you feel you keep drowing. Then I came across this wonderful blog Positively Present.

The blogger shared a very critical part about being positive.

Always surround yourself with people who bring you up. Choose not to be around people that cause you to be unhappy. Sadly, you're probably around a few people that bring you down, not up. If you find people in your life bringing you down -- yes, even family members or significant others -- find a way to separate yourself from them. If you want to live a truly positive life, you must be surrounded by positive influences.

 I realised then, that in order for me to stay afloat and breathe, I need to separate myself from people who seemed to suck all form of joys out of daily lives or those who are intent in finding faults as if there was a reward for it. It was not an easy feat if the person is someone you are close to.

But when you have reached a point where you could no longer bear being lied to or told half truths, or looked down upon; you will decide that enough is enough. While it is very convenient to just point at the other person and say, 'Oh he's/she's the jerk', it certainly takes more effort to work internally and ask your self, 'What are you going to do about it?'.

Then you will realise that you deserve better.

That is when you will love yourself enough to only surround yourself with those who will bring you up.

(Pinterest)

You would naturally choose to let go of any negative influences in your life.

(Pinterest)

And so today I am a much happier person than I was before..

(Pinterest)

Thanks to the wonderful blogger Erin & Dani.

Wordless Thursday