About 6 years ago, I was traipsing along Brooklyn Bridge, New York.  It was a beautiful day.  The sun was shining, the skies were blue and the bridge looked magnificent.  I was one of the hundreds walking on the bridge.  And then I passed a girl sitting on a bench.

Now, the bridge was quite a long stretch to walk.  So there were a few benches strategically placed along the way.

The girl who caught my eye was sporting a pony tail, had green fingernails, chewed gum and wore a long T-shirt over black tights.  Her slim body was curled on the bench while she read a book.

The book title was ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’.

Quite a number of pedestrians who walked past her, raised their eyebrows and/or hid their smiles.  I was one of them.  ”Why would a girl who’s serious about being a highly effective person be doing loafing on this bridge instead of doing something, well, productive?”

She probably knew what we were thinking – she was smiling broadly as she read the book.  But she didn’t give two hoots about what we thought.

Fast forward to the present.  I was reading a book the whole of yesterday.  It was pretty riveting and potentially life changing.  Right after I read the book, I declared to my amused brother that I was too lazy to do anything more and took a nap – which stretched to over 4 hours.

The title of the book?

10 Habits Of Highly Successful People.

Heh.

Happy in Sipadan
16-20 Dec 2009

Before July this year, if anyone were to tell me that I would be:

• A certified Open Water Diver
• A freestyle swimmer
• Complete my Advanced Open Water Diver practicals…
• … in Sipadan

I would have chortled in disbelief and told them that they were out of their minds.

But as they say, real life is stranger than fiction.  And everything in that checklist came true.

Somebody pinch me.

Our happy group

Sipadan-Mabul-Kapalai are truly a diver’s ultimate playground.  They offer a mind-boggling variety of underwater creatures and great visibility (if the water’s not too choppy) that will titillate and satisfy the inner marine biologist in you.

I heard about this trip during my Open Water Diver certification at Redang at the end of September.  Dolphin Sport Adventure (my diving school) was arranging a trip to Sipadan at the end of the year.  Inwardly I dismissed the thought of joining the trip because I thought only Advanced Open Water divers would benefit the most from it.  Still, one thing led to another and I soon found myself registering, paying and finally, going for the trip.  I have absolutely no regrets.

Due to conservation reasons, the Sipadan marine authorities imposed a restriction of 120 visitors per day.  We were lucky to be able to dive there two days in a row (RM40 levy per person per day).  There was a group of snorkellers who didn’t manage to visit the island at all during their stay at Sipadan Water Village (SWV) – the 5-star resort that we stayed.  The Junior Cottage rooms were about RM500 per night and is inclusive of all meals.  The food was alright and I loved the juicy mangoes and succulent squids the best.

I suspect they pound this gong to announce every meal time at SWV

So lovely and peaceful to be surrounded by clear waters and corals all the time

Sunset at SWV

View of the nearby village from my room. The villagers lead a simple and humble life; the little children run around unencumbered by clothes and cares of the world.

We heard a lot of tales about Sipadan before we went.  The oodles and oodles of turtles and sharks.  The schools of jacks and barracudas.  The strong currents that made drift diving possible.

We encountered all of them… and more.  The first turtle we encountered during our first dive at Barracuda Point got our wetsuits in a twist.  I have not encountered a turtle in my previous dives nor snorkeling adventures before, so I was pretty excited.

However, by the end of our second dive at South Point, I soon got tired of the dive master (who was also my dive buddy for that dive) pointing out more and more turtles – and sharks!  I wanted to see other cool creatures such as the mimic octopus which some of the lucky divers in the group got to see because they were hanging out at the back.

One of the many, many reef sharks we saw

I soon got my wish that third dive at Barracuda Point.  The dive master Jimmy could see a cloud of Barracudas right from the boat itself.  He checked out the direction of the current and directed our descent flawlessly.  Soon after we descended into the water, we were met with the spectacular sight of thousands and thousands of barracudas circling us in an endless loop.  Their unblinking eyes and slightly opened jaw revealed rows and rows of sharp teeth.  They didn’t seem to be bothered by our presence and did their circling thing as if we weren’t there.  Awesome!!!

School of Barracuda – Surreal…

At both times when we dived at Barracuda Point, we encountered the marvellous school of jacks.  Just like the barracudas, they were unfazed by us.  There were plenty of strange looking creatures such as the boxfish, blenny, ribbon eel, broadclub cuttlefish, crocodile fish, puppy fish and scary ones such as lion fish and trigger fish that we saw during our 11 dives. 

School of Jacks

Our dive instructor Cyrena and fellow divers from Penang (Tho and Owen) encouraged my dive buddy and I to take our 4 Advanced Open Water (AOW) diving skills right there at Sipadan.  The rest of the group were already AOW divers.  We needed no further persuasion and soon completed:

1. Fish Identification
2. Underwater Navigation
3. Deep Diving
4. Peak Performance Buoyancy

Now all that’s left is the theory part and we’ll be certified Advanced Open Water Divers.  Who would have thunk it??

I still find that hard to believe.  Hee!

Underwater Photo Credits: Cyrena Yong of Dolphin Sport Adventure.

I’ve always liked ‘Sampaikanlah Salam’ by Alleycats. The beat is cheerful and the tune catchy. I’ve never thought much of the lyrics until McUser pointed it out to me recently.

“It’s far from a cheerful song lah,” the Alleycats fan said smugly.

And so, I took a closer look at the song:

Sampaikanlah salam cintaku padanya (Please send her my love)
Walaupun terluka namunku merindu (Though I hurt, I still miss her)
Kerana cintaku tiada akhirnya (Because my love is never ending)
Walaupun kau telah menghancurkannya (Even though you have shatter it)

Sampaikanlah salam cintaku padanya (Please send her my love)
Walaupun sengsara namunku masih sayang (Though I suffer, I still love)
Kerana cintaku mewangi dan harum (Because my love is fragrant)
Walau tercampak di mana jua (No matter where it is thrown to)

Andaiku tiada, andaiku pejam mata (If I’m gone, should I die)
Biarku abadi, cinta yang setia ini (Let me live forever in this pure love)
Biarpun kau jauh, sambutlah salamku (Though I’m far, receive it)
Kerana aku masih menyayangimu (Because I still love you)
Tidak pernah aku membenci dirimu (I’ve never hated you)

Blimey, the dude was right. The whole song reeks of jiwangness! Egads!

Jiwang is a Malay slang for ‘emotional’. I steer clear away from such songs. If you are sad and broken hearted, these songs will sink you further into despair and hopelessness. If you are secretly crushing on someone, the songs will exacerbate your longings and anguish at unrequited love. If you are happy and in love, they will make you ‘angau’ – lovesick.

Think about it, do the following lyrics contribute to you being a happy and healthy individual?

… I can’t live, if living is without you….
… How am I supposed to live without you…
… What can I do to make you love me…
… Can’t you just love me, you stupid fool?…

In short, these songs make you sappy at best and suicidal at worst. Here’s the thing, there’s no use pining over someone who doesn’t want you. Life is so much better without that louse, trust me.

Here are my suggestions of alternative songs that will get you off your fanny, get over your grief and moving towards fun and life:

Broken hearted? Listen to ‘I Hate Myself for Loving You’ by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Unrequited love? Listen to ‘Keep Me Hanging On’ by Kim Wilde

Say no to depressing love songs!

Twinnie once blogged this:

And to quote the character Jesse in one of my favourite movies Before Sunset, “I guess when you’re young, you just believe there’ll be many people with whom you’ll connect with. Later in life, you realize it only happens a few times.”

And when you do connect, you grab it – be it in friendship or in love. It doesn’t happen as often as we think.

She’s right.