Finally, after years of procrastinating...

I'm finally a dive instructor! I can't believe it. Well, actually, what I really can't believe is how emotionally draining the instructor exams turned out to be. It's one of those "you had to be there" experiences that you can't really imagine unless you went through it. It was totally nerve-wracking, and one reason why I don't want to spell out the details is that part of me wants to just forget the whole experience and instead just remember that I came out of it an instructor.

Well, I'm glad it's over, and now I can move on with the rest of my life. (It was kind of on hold while I focused on studying and preparing for the exam.)

The spirit of the chain letter

When I was a child, I would occasionally receive chain mail from my classmates, usually written on cheap stationery. We all have received these, in one form or another, over the years. Email made it easier in the 90s, and recently, we receive these over text messages as well.

They bear the same message. "Pass this on, and something good will happen to you." The more dire ones say that something bad will happen to you if you don't pass on the letter/text message/email.

I got a text the other week from a friend, and I found it highly amusing. This is what the text said, verbatim.

"Sory ha, needed lng kc! Pass ds to 25 prsn: JESUS I LOVE YOU! F u ignor ds n nka-unli ka, u wl sufer 4 8 yrs. So jz do 8! after 5dys 30 mrcles wl come 2u!"

Translated, it basically says "I'm sorry to be sending this, I just needed the help. Pass this to 25 persons: JESUS I LOVE YOU! If you ignore this, and you are on an unlimited text plan, you will suffer for eight years. So just do it! After five days, 30 miracles will come to you!"

Now, I don't intend to belittle my friend's desire to have 30 miracles happen in five days. I don't know what she needed the miracles for, but I'm sure it was important to her. What I found funny was that apparently, you will be punished for having access to unlimited texting and not using it for chain text messaging.

Remind me to downgrade my cellphone plan.

Another lucky thresher sighting in Malapascua, Cebu

A few weeks ago, my friends and I again went to look for thresher sharks in Malapascua in Cebu. We were unlucky for the first four dives in Monad shoal. No threshers, no mantas. Only then did I truly realize how lucky we were last year, when we saw either mantas or threshers in almost all our dives in Monad.

I was glad to find out though that we still had some luck left, because we were blessed by a close encounter with a thresher on our last dive.

Work excuse of the week (year?)

I got this text message from one of my staff members this morning, and I'm writing it here verbatim. He was asking to be excused from our weekly meeting. I have to say, it's the most creative excuse I've heard so far in my career. So creative (and honest) that I just had to accept it as legitimate.

"maam, hindi po ako maka attend ng miting. ang pimples ko. hndi ako makalabas. i dnt look good. sorry po. please."

Translated from Tagalog and text-speak, it says, "Ma'am, I won't be able to attend the meeting. My pimples. I can't go out. I don't look good. I'm sorry. Please."

Monkey see, monkey do

I recently had dinner with my climbing friend Angel, and she had this story to tell about her three-year old son, Tyke.

Angel's husband Mars was driving in horrible traffic, with Angel in front and Tyke at the back. Road rage was building up in Mars, and he honked his horn at a particularly rude driver. He said something equivalent to "Get out of the way!"

Tyke: Papa, you forget to say something.
Mars: What's that, Tyke?
Tyke: Ashul.

Angel has since decided to be a tad more careful with what she says around her kid.

The Chowchow from China

Note: After this blog entry, I researched on this story for a few months, and have concluded that it's some kind of new urban legend, as I've heard it from so many people, featuring slightly different details. Unless someone can give me the actual name of the person who supposedly bought the "chowchow", I am sad to say it will have to be filed as "fiction" in my book. I still think it's a good story, though.

My friend Zara told me a true story that's got me cracking up each time I think of it. I think this story is worth sharing with many people, and I've in fact told and re-told it to many friends already.

Anyway, Zara heard this story from her friend Luanne. Luanne has an officemate, whom we shall call "O". "O" recently went to China, and while she was travelling, she came across a chowchow, which is a popular pet dog in Manila, for sale. She proceeded to buy the dog and planned to make it a pet back home.

On the way back to the Philippines, she had to go through quarantine with her newly-acquired pet, first in China. "O" encountered no problems with the airport officials, and she was able to fly home. She also had no problems clearing the dog when she arrived in Manila.

"O" excitedly brought her new pet back to her house. She went back to work, but her helper called, sounding quite panicked. "Ate!" she said. "Yung aso, sinapian! Naglalakad na parang tao, at sinusundan-sundan ako!" (The dog is possessed! It's walking like a human and is following me around!)

"O" rushed home to see what the matter was. She brought the dog to the veterinarian, and had it checked to see if anything was wrong with it. She thought that maybe the front paws were infected with something, which made the dog favor its back legs.

After a brief examination, the vet found out what the problem was. "Hindi ito chowchow. Bear ito." (This is not a chowchow. It's a bear.)

New Year's Resolutions

So... more than half of January has already passed by, and I have yet to start working on my new year's resolutions. I've thought of another way to have a brand new start. Chinese new year is on February 14, so I've decided to implement my list of resolutions then.

No, in case you're asking; "stop procrastinating" is not on that list.

Welcome, 2010! You're going to be fabulous!

Watching fireworks from the ABS-CBN helipad

For some inexplicable reason, I have a strong feeling that 2010 will be a great year. Maybe it's blind optimism born of the desire to believe that this year will somehow cancel out the bad things that happened to our country in '09. Maybe I've been reading too many astrology websites. Or maybe it's just a premonition of something that's going to come true.

Whatever it is, I'm going to try to maintain this highly positive state of mind that comes so rarely to me. I have my usual list of new year's resolutions that I will try to tick off. Oops, make that... resolutions that I WILL tick off. To paraphrase Yoda, there is no try, only do. There are so many things I want to achieve this year, and I am hopeful that they will be realized by year's end.

Bring it on, 2010!