Random Thoughts

I was browsing through my pics today and I found an old folder. It was from when I was back in Canada. Reminded me of all the people I left when I came to Taiwan. Sometimes I feel like I've been a bad friend because I haven't tried harder to keep in touch. I mean the phone is always there, the emails are easy, and yet I just don't feel like I have the time.

I feel so out of touch with everyone from back home sometimes. I call home and have the feeling of an outsider, on different wave lengths. Even to my own family. I just really feel like I have found out who I really am as a person. When I was back home I was always trying to find the time to try different things, like yoga, or just something random off the broken record. Here in Taiwan, I have the freedom to do anything I want to, I love it.

And when I do talk to my friends back home, the feeling I get is that of someone who did something bad and avoided others and is now trying to get back in touch and reconcile. I dunno why. I left Canada with perfectly good relationships with no bad blood with anyone. Then again, maybe I am just thinking too much. I guess everyone is doing their own things. It was just so much easier when I was younger with less hassle, less drama, just kids being kids, run run run eat eat eat sleep sleep sleep, repeat.

I do miss people, I am just happy at where I am. I think if I had to pick just one person that I missed most, it would have to be my little bro Johnny. Johnny is a big time up and coming hockey superstar. He was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, and has been in the minors for the past 2 years gaining invaluable experience before making the jump to the big show. I admire him for all his efforts and sacrifices. He is a great hockey player and my best friend. In the summers is when I got a chance to hang with my little bro. We would literally be together everyday. We did everything together and sometimes I miss that. I am really happy for him and just can't wait to see him. This pic is from Stampede a few years back, what a gong show. My older bro Sam was so wasted that he took the Queen of the Stampede home, thanks to Johnny, dirtiest player in the game. haha.

Just a random though for today.
I always have these casual conversations in my head, and how I would share them. I find that when I am running on the treadmill is when I daydream the most. Random ideas, like how I could possibly work for Tiesto. Or how I would open up my own tea shop back home. Or, coming up with ideas to make millions. I wish I could capture all my thoughts. As soon as I step off the treadmill, it is as if I had been unknowingly beamed to another time and universe. When I come back down, I am back to reality. Cwazy. That's all for now... Stay tuned in next time for....I dunno trying to be witty, no dice. I got nothing STOP

Days go by......

Herrrro, it's me. Again. What's new. Well quite few things on the go at the moment.

First off, I decided to stay for a wee bit longer, AGAIN!!! Financially speaking, it just wasn't the right move. I mean my plan was to get my Dive Master in July, go home in August and start school in September, in Kamloops. Quite a full plate. Plans just never work out, well for me at least. I'm just not the best planner, money-wise or time-wise, etc.... So well I will be here for a wee bit longer.

Second, is the Dive Master program. I am hoping to head off to the Gili Islands this July. The DM internship program takes at least a month or longer to complete, so I want to head off at the beginning of July, and finish around 5-6 weeks later, so until latest.....mid August. I want to be back for the new school semester here with a new job set in place, more on that later.

I have been in contact with Joe Cooperman, Dive guru of Taiwan Scuba, he lives across the street from me. I 've been inquiring about this DMI for months now, and have kind of been following an outline he gave to me to achieve my goal of completing all the prerequisites for my DMI. So this past weekend I went over to his house for another installment of "Dave asks Joe a million questionsathon" about this final leg of the DMI. He completed his Dive Instructor training on Gili Trawangan at Manta Dive, and has suggested that I do my DMI there as well. He says it is awesome, he knows the people, he has contacts there, so I'm going to trust him as I have nothing else to go on. Plus I have heard from other divers that the Gili's are absolutely amazing.

As a bonus, after completing my DMI, Joe said he would hire me to go on his diving trips he organizes on the weekends. That wouldn't mean getting paid in cash, but going on these trips, guiding and gaining experience, while having all my expenses paid. Deeeecent! I think that t would be a greater asset for me going into the adventure program, with experience as a dive master, rather than just having my certificate saying that I am one with no experience.

Next on my check list is......Oh ya new house.
L and I went and signed our new contract for our new bitchin pad. We have lived in foxhole/cockroach infested shanty long enough. We have been paying a mind boggling 5000NT, ha a mere $175.00 Canadian dollars, per month for rent for the past 2 years for our place. Now we are moving into a 2500 square foot beaut! A little pricey for Taiwan standards, but split between 3 people, it works out to 6000NT each. We move in on the 10th of June, exciting!!

Next, me.
Just me.
I joined a yoga studio here in Taichung a few months back called California Yoga. I had previously attended the yoga classes at the gym I go to, which was fine for awhile, but it grew old, hence the move to CY. I love it. I feel great, and I'm noticing improvements in my flexibility and in strength. It is really amazing what some people can do with their bodies.
Also, I have been running for quite some time now. Now that I wll be staying a little longer, it will give me the opportunity to run in the Taroko Marathon in November. I am planning to run the 1/2 marathon as it will be my first competitive run. A friend of mine here gave me a number for a guy here in Taichung who trains for marathons/triathalons. I am going to call him up and see if I can train with him for the November marathon. I feel that in order for me to be able to successfully complete and compete in the run, I need some guidance from someone who has done this, plus it will add a motivating/competitive factor which has been lacking in my workouts due to my independent training.

Oh and today I met a foreign guy today in yoga that has a golf academy, who runs in the mountains near Taichung on the weekends. I chatted with this him and he offered to allow me to tag along for his mountain runs. He has a car, so could pick me up. Deecent! Just adding alternative training methods.

Finally, work.
I have been working at a school called Sesame Street for the past 2 years. I have been taking it up the hoop from them knowingly, like a deer in headlights. I am finally putting my foot down. Enough is enough. I just cannot continue to make pennies when there are sweet-well paying jobs out there. I mean I love the school, love the kids, I just need a change. I have an interview tomorrow at one the "SWEET" jobs available. I am pretty excited as I definitely need a change in jobs, and more moolah. I have taught at a number of schools, teaching various ages and levels, so I have the experience. We'll see. Crossing fingers, toes.......

On a side note, if any of you out there find my lost money tree, I am looking for it to answer my economic issues. I am putting my name out, making phone calls, trying to get another sub job until I head off, I just need a little more dough to make all my present dreams come true.
Oh and my kitty is sporting his new mohawk! True punk rocker! He loves it.
Cheers.

The Perhentian Islands

So ya it has been awhile since my last post, but whatever I've been busy.....ha.
Anyways here is another installment for all my avid readers out there.

Just writing this blog reminds me that I should write a bit more, just a'lil bit. I have this mindset that I don't really have anything to write about, but really I do.

For all of you who don't know, I am and have been working on aquiring my Dive Master. Why you say? Well to sum it up quickly before I start an incoherent ramble.......When I head back home to Canada I'd like to enter in an adventure tourism program, and for one of the areas of the program you have to be masterful in one aspect of outdoor education. The only experience in outdoor educaton that I had prior was well.... none.
I am in Asia surrounded by some of the best dive sites in the world, so it was a no brainer for me to which outdoor speciality I would attain, prior to entering the program.

Which brings me to my next point. Last week L-bomb and I ventured off to Malaysia for a week long getaway. Before we left Taiwan, L and I had picked the Perhentain Islands to go to. I have coordinated my visa runs this past year with my diving excursions. The visa run before this one (March, 2006) I went to Koh Tao, Thailand which is an amzing treat if you ever end up there, I'll have to save the details for another session, another excuse to blog.

Anyways........back to Malaysia. K, so we flew into KL on Sunday, caught a domestic flight to Kota Bharu, gong show, and were in Kuala Besut (jetty for boats to Perhentians) by night fall. No boats leave for the Perhentians at night so we found a room, rested up, and caught the first boat in the morning.

The Perhentians are compiled of Perhentain Kecil (Small) and Perhentian Besar (Big). We chose to stay on Kecil, which is more of a backpacker destination rather than Besar which caters to the resort crowd.

We arrived early Monday morning, and I started my EFR (Emergency First Response) course within an hour of stepping foot on the isle. I had checked on the net for dive shops and chose Coral Sky Divers. I left L to fend for herself, but I knew she would be ok as she is an experienced vet.

Met the other student for my EFR and Rescue course, curious George from Singapore. Good guy, took awhile for him to grasp the concepts being taught, but persevered. I found EFR pretty easy, maybe because I found it to be more commonsense, and I had taken a CPR course a few years back in college.

The next day I started my Rescue course. Lots of reading, watching videos, and excercises and scenarios. My instructor, Rory, asked us to read every night and complete the knowledge reviews for the chapters, which would help us to understand more of what and why we were doing everything. So, I was reading before breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. For the 3 days during my Rescue course I never really got a chance to hang with L, which was kind of shitty, but I knew that I came there primarily to get my courses done. I found that because I did all the readings, I was able to perform better in the water during the scenarios and exercises, while C.G. had some difficulties completing the tasks at hand. I felt as though I had done all this before, or maybe I was just a fish out of water.

After three long days I completed the Rescue course!! It was definately more intensive than the open water and advanced open water courses, but I really enjoyed the challenge. I enjoy being in the water. The whole scuba experience feels so natural to me.

So, now I am a certified Resue diver, cwazy. My next trip will be to attain my Dive Master!!! I have been souting out a few places but am seriously looking at doing my DMT in the Gili Islands, in Indonesia, Gili Trawangan to be exact. The DMT course will take at least one month to complete, so it will be a long one. But from everything I have heard about it, I'm extremely excited and raring to get my feet wet again. Deeeeee-Cent!

You can check out the pics here.