Musings of a barefoot traveller

A good friend set off for his new life yesterday, by driving towards Minneapolis. After the hustle of packing, loading, farewell gatherings, last-minute item finding and him finally leaving, there was an unsettling solitude that blanketed my state of mind. It's different, sending someone off, who's going overseas to study, or on work placement. There's a sense that they'll be back after their course is done, or least visit home ever so often. But when someone uproots completely and is actually moving away, there's really no future planning. No 'I'll see you when you come back over Christmas then!', and promises to visit are tenuous at best. So I found myself sitting on the porch late yesterday afternoon, watching long fingers of sunrays stretch over the plants. Those who know me know this is my favourite time and light of the day. Everything's aglow, backlit with this soft-focus light. Cool breezes dull the harshness of the afternoon sun, yet there...

Passport gods, please allow for the safe and speedy return of my passport...

...life throws another curve ball at you, and then sticks a rusty knife in your ribs while you lie winded on the ground. I love being Malaysian and all, but this passport and visa business is making me sooooooo.....frustrated. Some might remember the big hoo-ha last year, and the hoops I had to jump through to get a visa to enter Panama to take the Smithsonian sponge course. Next year, I vowed to myself then, next year would be different. Fast forward to this year, with me feeling pretty confident, having submitted my visa application in February, giving the consulate 3 months to approve my visa this time. Was overjoyed to see my return envelope sitting in my mailbox yesterday, and gleefully ripped it open, extracted my passport and flipped to the visa page. Was thoroughly deflated to find that my approval dates run from April 9th to July 9th! WTF! It's already April 18th, and besides the point, my fieldtrip is in August. To add insult to injury, my gender is listed as 'M'...

Was trying to work with high-resolution photos in Photoshop on Sunday, and it's very frustrating, because my (kinda old) laptop kept freezing, and it took FOREVER to force quit the programme and try again. Finally got so irritated with the whole process that I went to make steamed tau sar pau instead. And got 20+ paus out of the whole process (yum!). For some reason, people think that it's a very weird reaction to have to a computer problem... No photos 'cos I ate most of them before my batteries could charge up :P

People frequently ask me here if I miss the food at home, and of course I do, but I think it goes deeper than that. Even if we find an authentic restaurant here that serves great laksa, there's still something missing. There's something about going to the corner Malaysian coffeeshop dressed in my faded t-shirt, comfy but crummy shorts and RM3 flip-flops, especially after a whole day of fieldwork, when I have just showered and my hair is slightly damp, and ordering a bowl of piping hot noodles, then sitting down on the plastic chair by the vinyl covered table, taking in the bustling noises of the various hawkers in the coffee shop, the attendant smells, and sounds of life passing by outside. I really miss that...

It's been eventful, to say the least. Never thought an Easter weekend could be so packed. Went for my second critical mass ride on Good Friday, and met the person who sold me my bike again. He seemed rather surprised that I was still riding it, causing me a small measure of concern for a brief moment...Also the day I got knighted, as my rear tire went completely flat on the return leg to the Mellow Mushroom (thus, Sir Rides-a-Flat). Had to walk the last three blocks back- told Wai to order pizza for me while waiting :P. But at least I had company, in the form of a fellow rider who had detoured into the fairground to get funnel cake. After wolfing down a medium pizza, headed over to the dance studio to learn some swing! After doing all the stately tango, salsa and whatnot, was a little hard to start bouncing around the floor like a battery-operated bunny, but had a pretty good workout. Since my mega-night ride was foiled by the flat, had to make up for it by riding to campus on Satu...

Not because I feel science and reason is under attack and the foundations are crumbling, but to see such blind faith in spite of reason, logic and evidence. http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=7090861&ch=4226713&src=news

Kena soundly thrashed two nights ago in pool, and even though I'm not a good player, that really stings. That will teach me to play 'just for fun' with yet another person who claims to be a 'bad player'. But at least I didn't play for cash :P. Still, having all my balls on the table with only the 8 ball left for the other side is terrible!! It stung so much that I briefly considered getting some secret training in, and probably would have today if my oxygen administration course didn't run so long. Not that I hate the thought of losing that much (yes yes, even if I'm very competitive by nature). I can stand to lose, just not in such a lau kui fashion.

I guess I literally ran myself into the ground last night. And now I have two small marks under my left eye to show for it. We were at Mike's house watching George Carlin, and thereafter he was showing us around. I remember the dizziness started as I looked out of the guest room window. Mike was telling me that was where he used to put the study table but the words seemed to be flowing through a fog of treacle. Felt really puzzled as all I had was a glass of wine, and I had eaten dinner beforehand. Blood was pounding through my head so hard it was all I could hear, and I could feel the veins in my neck pulsing with every erratic beat. Weird. Was about to find a place to sit down, and the next thing I knew, found myself on the floor, with the distinct impression of carpet imprinted on my left cheek. Apparently the first words out of my mouth were,"Did I just faint?". They said I was out for 2-3seconds, and of course got everyone really worried. Sighs. Felt really cold even...

It's nice to see initiatives to promote green (and natural) spaces within cities, showing that nature has a part to play even in urban areas. So I was pretty stoked to read about the Jakarta Green Monster program in Jakarta, one of the biggest and most sprawling megacities I've been to. That the program was initiated by a friend, Frank Momberg from Fauna and Flora International, makes these reports all the more sweeter. Well done guys! http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com/2008/02/jakarta-green-monster-protects-wetlands.html Project website: www.jakartagreenmonster.com

In between marking assignments and searching for differences between protostomes and deuterostomes, came across this really funny article by Carl Hiaasen in the Miami Herald. I've not read his books before, though I've heard good things about them, but maybe now I'll start! http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/carl_hiaasen/story/421075.htm

Turned out to be a surprisingly packed Saturday. Woke up at 7.15am to judge the SE Regional Science Fair for middle and high-schoolers in the Biology section. Gobbled down lunch back home before heading out to a secret riding location in Wilmington with Wendy and Morgan. Had a pretty beginner level washout on a sandy downhill but managed to brake and hop off before anything untoward happened. Ironically, all my blood-letting today occurred from hitting various soft parts of my right leg with the hard spiky parts of my pedal. Got lost as usual, but managed to find 90%(?) of the entire trail, and even did a creek crossing. Tried out the scary downhill section but didn't even get halfway on the impossible uphill climb following that. How did those guys do it? $%^%$^#%^$#%#@ Of course all that effort has to be replenished, and after washing all the grease, blood and sweat off, popped by Daisy's house for her annual CNY dinner! Yusheng, a whole casserole of char siew, chicken curry,...

Just did a 2 hour lap of UNCW's trails and met my Clear Run ramp nemesis again. Since I got away from our last encounter with (only) a bruised butt, it was time to try again! Especially also since Wendy went off it a couple of times like nobody's business. I must say, the first time I went over the handlebars I did a beeootifooo forward roll and landed on my feet. I can't remember much of the second endo except that I landed in a pile of soft pine straw and got up unscathed. Then Wendy borrowed my bike and cleared the ramp a couple more times, so I have nothing and no-one to blame but myself. Oooh, just noticed a scratch on my left forearm... Briefly considered jumping off a couple more times, but my bruises from last week (yup, esp the butt) were killing me, so I'll live to bike another day. Then towards the end of the ride we found a small ramp over some rotting logs. Oooh-er! Went over 3-4 times and stayed on my bike each time! Heheh...now for the Clear Run one! To T...

I am extremely fond of Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy (the movie does the story no justice, though the visuals were pretty darned good), so it's refreshing to read about his take on the environmental state of the world today. Philip Pullman: new brand of environmentalism Enjoy!

We started out at 3.30pm today, shrugging off sweaters and shivering slightly in the chill air. Still, despite the mostly overcast skies, the sun peeked out occasionally and the ground was dry and fast. Wendy took the lead as she rode here most recently, and it is easy to get lost in here. As we approached the 'Clear Run' ramp, Wendy went over like a seasoned fearless pro, and I thought,"What the hell, I don't need to dive till May." So I acclerated and went up the ramp before rational thought could kick in. Felt the exhilarating split second of air-time, and then the front wheel landed hard (I think), and before I knew it, I landed (hard, oh %$#%$@%) on the ground on my butt. Douglas Adams was right about flying being easy. It's the landing that's difficult. It was then a distinct pong assaulted my senses. Did I just run over fresh dog poo??? On both wheels, my fork and my down tube no less!!! ARRGGGHHHH I guess the silver lining is that I didn't LAND...

One of my course mates, M, works on penguins, and was stationed on a cruise ship over our winter break. Aside from chasing penguins by day, he was the resident biologist for the Antarctic tourists, and met a couple from Singapore, who I think, work for one of the big oil companies in Singapore. They got to talking about coral reefs and voiced the common refrain that there are no reefs in Singapore . And M said that they had to check out BWV, that we do a lot of conservation work, bring people out to see reefs and all that. Except that he forgot the full name of Blue Water Volunteers, and could only remember our programme names like ReefFriends and ReefWalk. Still, a guy studying in Wilmington, advocating Singapore's reefs to a Singaporean couple in Antarctica. I think that's pretty neat!

One of the things I love about aikido is that I can visit a dojo in whatever strange new city and practise there with little fuss. Well, I'm sure that works with other martial arts as well (challenging the seniors in a new dojo to a sparring session?), but I've always felt welcome and had a really good time in all of my visits. It's kind of my perk whenever I travel. Some may say that you can't gain much from only one or two visits, but I'm keeping O Sensei's advice in mind, to touch 10000 hands to get a feel of the technique, and besides, it's interesting to me to see how different instructors interpret the various techniques. And it's fun lah, I get antsy after no aikido for sometime anyway. So I have been kinda grumpy the past 2 days (for various reasons), and was contemplating not going for training and watching Wicked instead. The grumpiness was compounded by me waking up this morning with a head full of green snot, and having to blow copious amount...

When you switch on the TV next, and see the screenshot of the famous LA hotdog stand Pink's in the background, don't be surprised to hear Wai exclaiming,"This chili tastes BEANY!!" That's what you get for eating at a famous institution in Hollywood Land. Just landed this morning, and changed the initial plan of going to Joshua Tree National Park immediately cos 1) I'm still recovering from this damned cold that Steve passed to me (it has noe progressed to the coughing stage), and 2) we were damn exhausted from the fieldwork, illness, 12 hour car ride, trying to finish homework madly and pack the night before, plus the flight was a little delayed due to fog in Wilmington. By the time we picked up the rental car (another story there, and it's a PT Cruiser!! That's so funny...), it was close to noon. Slumming it out at the cheapest hostel in LA which provides all sorts of free food. For one night, I'm willing to overlook the fact that I have to flush ...

I was enjoying the Key Largo weather last week, it was sunny and the water was a manageable 26degC. Suddenly this week evening temperatures dipped such that people around here started wearing their fleeces, and the water temp is now a frikking 24degC. Have resorted to wearing 2 wetsuits to keep warm underwater, but the wind on the surface is...brrrr..... The whole dive rack area smells strongly of pee and I've started bringing a towel on board as a wrap between dives. Hopefully would be able to keep my immune system up and stave off an impending chill as we finish up our last 2 days here!