Thursday, March 20, 2008
spring is coming!
so i was walking the long walk to school this afternoon (like all of FIVE minutes), and for once, i was walking on pavement! like honestly, the snow and slush were gone (for the most part) and i could actually see the road for once. and the next stunning occurrence, i heard birds chirping in the trees (although they were nowhere to be seen, which, considering the fact that the trees were all bare, made me wonder if i was hallucinating). so all we're lacking is the sun shining through the trees to make it spring.that and me ignoring the fact that temperatures are currently 4 degrees celsius, and are slated to drop to -12 over the weekend.
amendment to earlier post: i'm in class now and it's a freaking blizzard outside. so much for spring.
wen was dreaming at 11:50 AM
Monday, March 17, 2008
of sharks and words
taking a break from writing my shark essay (yes it was supposed to be finished long ago and yes i still have another essay on canadian entertainment law....) and realising that 5000 words is actually very little. just that citations can be a real headache sometimes. and that i haven't actually started researching on my second essay yet. and also i've been spending the last 2 weeks slacking around, bumming in my room watching anime and reading manga, and wandering around the snow-covered roads of kingston (yes, it's still sub-zero here).
i was just looking at the calendar the other day, planning my next few trips, and i realised that i have less than 20 days left in kingston (because i'll be travelling elsewhere). which is kinda sad, come to think of it, since a year (okay technically 8 months) flew by so fast. but when you actually count the days i've been in kingston (which i approximated), i've actually spent about one and a half months in NYC, and about a month in toronto, with 2 weeks spent travelling in mexico, and another 2 weeks last december along the east coast. throw in my trips to halifax for a week, random forays to montreal and the weeklong trip to chicago, and i've probably been in kingston for slightly under 4 months in total, maybe less. which is kinda funny. almost as funny as the fact that i've been sleeping at sunrise and staying awake all night.
oh wells. back to the essay writing. nyc in a week or so, so i have to finish 2 essays by then. and survive another week of my own cooking. bleargh. at least i have nobu to look forward to.
i was just looking at the calendar the other day, planning my next few trips, and i realised that i have less than 20 days left in kingston (because i'll be travelling elsewhere). which is kinda sad, come to think of it, since a year (okay technically 8 months) flew by so fast. but when you actually count the days i've been in kingston (which i approximated), i've actually spent about one and a half months in NYC, and about a month in toronto, with 2 weeks spent travelling in mexico, and another 2 weeks last december along the east coast. throw in my trips to halifax for a week, random forays to montreal and the weeklong trip to chicago, and i've probably been in kingston for slightly under 4 months in total, maybe less. which is kinda funny. almost as funny as the fact that i've been sleeping at sunrise and staying awake all night.
oh wells. back to the essay writing. nyc in a week or so, so i have to finish 2 essays by then. and survive another week of my own cooking. bleargh. at least i have nobu to look forward to.
wen was dreaming at 10:27 PM
Thursday, March 06, 2008
diving in cozumel!
hi, still alive, survived diving alone in cozumel! and cancun was pretty fun by the way (photos on facebook). so more about diving. cozumel, one of the top 5 diving spots in the world, was insanely awesome to dive in! okay i honestly don't think the top 5 rating is warranted, but it's a really good dive spot.
marine life is pretty good, corals are healthy and huge, and the reef is awesome! but not many sharks. although i saw my first octopus and toadfish there. the diving there's mostly drift diving, so it's a shame i wasn't able to explore all the nooks and crannies that abounded in the hugeass reefs (maybe if i did i'd have thought it'd be more awesome, because everytime i looked under a rock there was something, cute fish, lobster, crab, octopus...you get the idea). but current was quite tiring to fight against so i just chilled and went with the flow. plus the fact that diving alone you kinda wanna keep the dive guide in sight...
now on to the highlight.... the visibility. first dive i went down to 20m straight, and thought i was still at 8m cos of the sunlight and the clarity of the water. until i saw my dive comp. looking around, i saw rays and turtles swimming around in the distance! i.e. the vis was easily 30m. sadly though, while this was the vis for the entire trip (which made for damn happy photo taking), the only sharks i saw were nurse sharks. oh wells. it was pretty cool nonetheless.
lastly, the people i met while diving. interesting couples who keep coming here (as well as various parts of the carribbean, like the caymans) so conversation was fun. plus we met up for food and drinks afterwards, and they were kind enough to buy me lunch/dinner, so life was good.
quote of the trip: "i want to become a dive instructor, so i can teach my granddaughter how to dive and love the sea" (isn't that just so sweet)
marine life is pretty good, corals are healthy and huge, and the reef is awesome! but not many sharks. although i saw my first octopus and toadfish there. the diving there's mostly drift diving, so it's a shame i wasn't able to explore all the nooks and crannies that abounded in the hugeass reefs (maybe if i did i'd have thought it'd be more awesome, because everytime i looked under a rock there was something, cute fish, lobster, crab, octopus...you get the idea). but current was quite tiring to fight against so i just chilled and went with the flow. plus the fact that diving alone you kinda wanna keep the dive guide in sight...
now on to the highlight.... the visibility. first dive i went down to 20m straight, and thought i was still at 8m cos of the sunlight and the clarity of the water. until i saw my dive comp. looking around, i saw rays and turtles swimming around in the distance! i.e. the vis was easily 30m. sadly though, while this was the vis for the entire trip (which made for damn happy photo taking), the only sharks i saw were nurse sharks. oh wells. it was pretty cool nonetheless.
lastly, the people i met while diving. interesting couples who keep coming here (as well as various parts of the carribbean, like the caymans) so conversation was fun. plus we met up for food and drinks afterwards, and they were kind enough to buy me lunch/dinner, so life was good.
quote of the trip: "i want to become a dive instructor, so i can teach my granddaughter how to dive and love the sea" (isn't that just so sweet)
wen was dreaming at 1:41 PM