Diving pictures - my 1st!

My top 3 (personal favourites). I esp like the cuttlefish that didn't go away and actually tried to frighten us away by assuming a larger personna. Interesting!

Diving with a camera is kinda fun. It gets a little hard to balance and hold still regardless of currents. But otherwise, I try not to turn completely into photography mode, ie I dive per my normal self and the camera comes into play only when something is really interesting.

The full lot is parked at my flickr -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157617298444301/

And of cos the selected lot on FB.

Busy and tired of it all...

Been busy for a bit now... after a row of working til midnight, it's all starting to get to me. I'm tired of working 13hrs in a day and still not feeling I'm in control of things. I hate the feeling of people asking you for something and you do your best 'deer caught in headlight' look.

Walked into office bitching to Emily about wanting a job switch. She in turn has BGR issues, so it was me bitch to her, she bitching to me... Sigh.

The good thing is the weekend's finally almost here.

And, I'm going to Kenting to dive.

Plus, I have a new underwater housing (thanks to Francis!) for underwater photography!

Expect some underwater pix here shortly.

Cycling in Taipei

Woke up early on Sat to go cycling with Rae & Xinhan from the nearby National Taiwan University (NTU) grounds to 和平公园cycling trail by the river.

Me with my sunscreen..

Rae. See our foldies? I just realized our bikes aren't the same models! Her's is Dahon Vitesse, mine's Dahon Roo. What's the difference? Who knows...

Rae - she was folding her bike back up.. yelled at me, no pix! Xinhan in the background.

I used to begrudge the cyclists in Taipei, how they ride so carelessly on pavements and through pedestrian crossings.. so dangerous!

As a cyclist & a scaddy-cat Singaporean, when I approach a crowd, I freak out and try to avoid them all. But Rae and Xinhan just plows straight through into the crowd and magically sail along. I tend to swerve to avoid people and do circles about the crowd only to eventually lose my balance and then stop and walk my bike through the crowds. Sigh.

Seriously, the best thing to do is plow straight through... Also perhaps safer as it's a predictable path and people know how to avoid you.

In any case, NTU grounds are big and very little cars/traffic. Can head back here later.

Of cos after cycling, I went home to take a long afternoon nap til dinner time. Being a slug on weekends feels great.

Stop the world, I wanna get off...

It's been an insane week. I had taken a couple of days off as I had Francis then Yz & Drea visit me in the last weeks. That plus the new platforms are being RFQ-ed right now, a lot of discussions/conf calls of late.

By the time I waved a teary bye-bye to Yz, my ignored work had snowballed out of control and I was buried under an avalanche of emails/undone tasks.

In a valiant attempt at regaining lost control, I worked til almost midnight in the office before giving up.

It's truly, thank Jesus it's Friday and end of week!

Nice song!

Saw Miley Cyrus perform this on American Idol last night. Pretty cool song!

The Climb - Miley Cyrus

I can almost see it
That dream I’m dreaming but
There’s a voice inside my head sayin,
You’ll never reach it,
Every step I’m taking,
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking but I
Got to keep trying
Got to keep my head held high

There’s always going to be another mountain
I’m always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes I’m going to have to lose,
Ain’t about how fast I get there,
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

The struggles I’m facing,
The chances I’m taking
Sometimes they might knock me down but
No I’m not breaking
I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I’m going to remember most yeah
Just got to keep going
And I,
I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on,
cause

There’s always going to be another mountain
I’m always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes I’m going to have to lose,
Ain’t about how fast I get there,
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

There’s always going to be another mountain
I’m always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes you’re going to have to lose,
Ain’t about how fast I get there,
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

Keep on moving
Keep climbing
Keep the faith baby
It’s all about
It’s all about
The climb
Keep the faith
Keep your faith

He hears...

He hears... our risen Lord hears.

I whinged about how He asks me to give all the time. But then in return I received a dive housing for my camera and a pretty little 5 leaf plant.

I whinged about He sends me demanding strangers from out of the blue and asks me to be nice to them. But then I get an unexpected thank you email and that was nice.

I whinge about how I feel so stuck in my career. But then I get a call from a head-hunter offering me a regional director role. Ok, it's just talk for now, but I get it the sweet gesture.

On this Easter week, I wish you all the intimacy of our Risen Lord.

What's in a holiday?

I realise everyone has a different concept of a holiday, my experience of having people crashing at my little apartment here a lot.

So when I read this comic in today's papers, it really made me laugh.

Must life be so action-packed then even our holidays represent our work life? I do recall some years back when I still had a bf (*sob*) he complained that I didn't know how to chill out. Well, yeah, we were lying on a beach on beach chairs reading our books and I got bored after 1 hour.

Guess this confirms me as being a type A character. Great, destined to die the same way my pa did - can't overcome genetics I suppose.

Happy Palm Sunday!

With Palm Sunday, we're into Holy Week. I really can't wait for Easter, I love Easter.

Oh and Yz arrives Thu thru to Tue. Yay! Time to head out to the 1st hot spring :)

Francis here last week, then a couple of days to recover at work (oh the backlog of emails.. argh) then Yz!

It was nice having Francis here - together we explored Tainan (the historical part of Taiwan as it's the 1st capital city) and also climbed at Longdong again (a much better experience this time around vs that eventful trip with the hardcores when I first arrived). Going to Longdong was much easier this time around - we hired a van! And the driver Mr Xie mobile no. 092896928 used to be a climber! What're the odds? He happily took pix of us while we climbed. Thanks Mr Xie, you made the climb trip much more comfortable and convenient.

Me on a nice long climb... ah...

too much holidaying... my head hurts

Normally I'm sluggish while in Taiwan. I make unambitious plans for holiday - I hit 1 city 1 day.

In the last couple of days, I've dragged Francis along to Hualien/Taroko Gorge for the weekend, taken him to various night markets, eaten various taiwanese fare. Yesterday it was Tainan for the day. Tomorrow it'll be outdoor climbing at Longdong, off Keelung and the northern coast.

I'm kinda tired right now. My throat is not feeling too good and my head feels heavy. I had 150 emails today and I'm down to 50 and I need to get my weekly report out as well. It's 7.30pm and I'm a bad host - asked Francis to go explore Shilin night market on his own.

Sigh!

While I love exploring Taiwan and I'm glad Francis is here to do it with me, I think it's too much of a good thing. My mind's exploding with glee, my body's too old to cope!

Wish me luck climbing tomorrow - will need to double down on the anti-inflammatory drugs tonight.