My dream last night was something different from usual, but I didn't sleep well. Went to bed around 12+ and then woke up around 4 something, tossed and turned and I cannot sleep back again till like around 6+..
In fact, I am beginning to feel its my normal sleep pattern. Either that or I will wake up at 6+ automatically..
Anyway, my dream last night was about the family home.
I woke up from my sleep this morning crying badly.
I had another bout of those sad dreams again. It goes something like this...
On Sunday, I went to tryout sidemount.
There are many types of configuration as to how you want to mount the tanks.
Basically only you will know how you set up your equipment because of so many things you have on your body, how you assemble the equipment is also important.
You have two or three tanks and one regulator for each tank, straps to hold the tank, to hold regulator, plus all your normal accessories - camera, torch, lights, pointer stick, slate, dive com, compass etc.
Sidemount is also for you to progress to technical diving, tecrec etc.
One of the main benefits to dive with sidemount is for wreck and cave diving where overhead space can be limited.
I have been having sad dreams often where I would wake up with wet eyes.
One of the dreams that keep recurring a lot throughout the years sounds something like this:
As a young boy, probably not more than 10, I had an estranged stepbrother. But he is an enemy. He and I have been fighting since young and live elsewhere.
He would always appear in my room looking for something - a yellow toy truck-car from the 1980s. But it wasn't just any toy car. It was a radio remote controlled toy car the size of a palm, like a Hotwheels. It was yellow. The toy car was small and looked fragile made of steel/metal, but the remote control was green, bulky and rough, made of plastic of good quality.
[In real life, as an older kid in late 80s-early90s, I have a very similar remote control toy car but way way bigger, like a feet long with a long antenna sticking out of it!]
This toy car was special to me because my father (also his father) bought and gave this toy car specifically for me, this toy car was meant for me. But stepbrother wanted it for himself too, hence the fight ever since.
Every time he would sneak and come into my room just to look for this toy car. But he never find it because I hide it very well. I then chase him out of the room and told him to get the fuck out of my room, and then slam the door, but the door cannot be slammed because there is a small blue dolphin soft toy wedged between the door and the doorframe, so I try and try to slam the door with stepbrother outside helping to pull away the dolphin so that I can slam it.
Then mother would appear and ask me why don't I share my toy car with him?
I said, "No. Father bought it for me, not him!"
I then go on to explain why this toy car is special, unbox it, and take it out.
I show mother the car, part by part.
First I show her the car. Then I explain what it does. Mother flip the car around and look puzzled. Then I show her the remote control. Then I show her, the battery slot.
And ask her, "So when there's a battery slot, what is it for?"
Mother said, "so it can move".
I said, "Yes, it can move on its own!"
[In real life, a radio remote controlled device, let alone a toy car, in 1980s is very rare! Even the remote control for the TV have a very long few metres cable wire to it with a jack to plug into the TV.]
I put in the batteries and play with it and show mother how special it is. I said something totally unrelated to the toy car.
"It is special to me in the same way you are special to me. I cannot share it with anyone else!"
Mother sit down beside me and shed tears. It is tears of joy of love.
I wipe her tears away with my fingers, hug and kiss her on the cheek.
- - - - - - - - - -
And I would wake up with tears. This dream in its exact details have occurred at least 3 times as far as I can remember, and every time I would wake up very sad and usually its around 5,6am and then I cannot sleep back.
In my dream, it was never revealed who "stepbrother" was, who "father" was" and why "father" was never in the dream.
I also do not understand the significance of the "toy car" but because it appeared so often and the details so obvious to me, it had to mean something. Nothing in real life I can relate. I don't have anything yellow that is of significance to begin with.
But I'm also troubled because its a dream about family, fight, tears and mother.
Its been more than a year since I last went home to my parent's. I just hoped in phase 2, interstate would be allowed freely and I will take a few days off or work from my parent's place.
It is always a small reminder that year after year, as we grow older, so are they.
Discover Sidemount
This Sunday I will be joining for a session on Discover Sidemount at UCSI swimming pool. Begone with the roadblocks to interdistrict travel, and I don't have to worry about the roadblocks in Cheras!
In short, what is Sidemount?
Well, not all scuba tanks are placed on the back, some well, like the name suggest, is placed on the side, below the arms. The setup is different from a normal backmount scuba tank.
But why?
The most "useful" reasons I can think of is when we dive in caves or wrecks where there's low head clearance for us to swim through. Since the scuba tanks are under the arms, there is little to no obstruction.
As someone who is very interested in wreck and cave diving, I am very keen to have a first hand look at the setup and things like that. I only have a couple of wreck swimthrough dives and one cave dive plus one rock formation swimthrough so I cannot say I have been in tight spaces.
PADI Sidemount is a specialty course, which means it's a full course by itself and count towards attaining Master Scuba Diver certification. Will I take up the full course? Well, I might in the near future, depends on what I want to do later with my dive journey. Right now, being a rescue diver with so little dives is all I want to focus on right now. Collecting certification cards is not my goal.
To be a better diver, it's not about having how many cards - it's about what you do in the sea. Simply put it, more dives more dives and more dives will make you a better diver.
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| Tom Chan PADI Master Instructor, Scuba Dobedo Divers |
Scuba Dobedo Divers have been very proactive in reaching out to divers, new and experienced alike, throughout the MCO since March 2020 with webinars sessions thrice weekly, and with a Whatsapp chat group for all diving-related chats.
They are based in Cheras and regularly go for dive trips in lakes around Selangor and in the seas around the region. In between the MCOs, they also organised tryout sessions, like equipment tryouts and courses tryouts, one of which I am taking this Sunday. I have participated before in equipment tryouts trying out different fins, different BCDs, different regulators, mixing and matching them to get the best combo that suit my body.
They also have a fully equipped store where you can buy dive gears, and is also a service center for various manufacturers. As a PADI 5-star center, they teach all levels of PADI courses from pre-beginner to instructor.
It was from Tom, the Master Instructor, that I learnt more about sea creatures like coelacanths, bobbit worms, the haunted wrecks in Brunei etc.
I owe many thanks to Scuba Dobedo Divers for their passion and proactiveness to keep us divers sane during the MCOs, and the friendship built over the past year and half will certainly go beyond the lockdowns.
If you would like to connect with them, you can find them on various social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scuba.dobedo.divers
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scubadobedodivers
PS: This post is not sponsored by Scuba Dobedo Divers!
I have been swimming daily ever since the pool reopened last week, and became so regular that I made small talks with the counter aunty.. She's been really nice and talkative and tells me everything and about her day..
She even tell me how agigated she was at her lawyer when she bought a new house for not doing the work.. I wanted to give her advice but its not my area of expertise, so I just give her a listening ear and just hear her vent..
Anyway, I have been swimming roughly 1km on weekdays and about 2km on weekends, its all my workout right now, since gym have not reopen..
Need to maintain my physical and built, else I'll come out of lookdown looking like a druggie.
Thanks for dropping a message, Mike.
This post is for you because email got bounced.
Why my approving comments have been slow? Basically I am not so actively on Blogger as before, back in the heydays, I aimed for one post a day, but that also because I shared a lot of guy pics, before the Internet broke and now there's so many places you can get pictures and videos.
Back then, I have to go into forums to find pics and shared it out. There was no Tumblr, Twitter back then, so thats why I aimed to one post a day. And thats why comments have been very encouraging and I leave the comment open without moderation - and tonnes of spams as well.
But now, I don't really have the motivation to write as often because work took up much of my time over the years. Outside of working hours, I don't want to even touch the laptop, hence that explains why my posts have reduced drastically over time. I still like to write, but I also struggle to find things to write about, other than rants.
Now back to the comments, I only check for the comments when I open Blogger. So my apologies if the approving comments have been slow.
But I really appreciate the comments and I personally reply to each and every comment, even if it is just acknowledging you.
Chris and I have been online friends for way more than a decade. He began reading this blog in the very early days. He never failed to comment on most of my blogposts, and slowly over time, we began to connect and talk.
When I was in a major financial crisis a few years ago, Chris offered assistance, and thought of many ways to help me, including offering to loan me money and offered to buy my used underwear.
When I visited London in Sept 2016 on a holiday, Chris opened up his home and hosted me for the entire week I was in London, cooked dinner on one of the evenings as we talked over wine. As he was recuperating from a surgery just before my visit, he wasn't able to accompany me or bring me around London or outskirts to the countryside (which I went alone), all the way to Bath.
The last time I spoke or rather chatted with Chris was a just a week or two ago, where he offered to send me gifts of white underwears and white swimtrunks from various British brands as I have a thing for underwear and swimtrunks. But I did not take him up on his offer.
Dear Chris, it's been my pleasure and honour to call you friend. Even as we are at opposite ends of the planet, technology have made things possible, and our friendship possible,
Thank you for your friendship, your kindness and your bitchiness and wit. I will miss you. May your soul rests in peace.
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| Chris passed away at his home in London at noon on 3 Sept 2021 |
So firstly, I would like to wish you guys a very Happy New Year 2023! I spent the New Year's holiday with my boyfriend in Thailand, in P...
