in love again (or why I finally said yes to scuba diving)

It's Monday morning. Half of the office is scrambling to make copies and last minute changes to the board papers for this morning's special BOD meeting. As for me, I'm here updating this blog while skimming through Kam Raslan's column in The Edge. Yup, I'm doing nothing. I have two more weeks in this company, so nothing is the thing that I should be doing right now. I better get on with the Perhentian Trip update. I know, I've been slacking.

I haven't been on a vacation in 7 years. Throughout the 7 years, vacation meant going back to my then in-laws in Alor Setar/Sg Petani and whack Nasi Kandar. Or going back to BP/JB and whack Asam Pedas and Briani Gam. Or dropping by Penang to visit my SIL. My last real vacation was with my sister and her friend in Tioman before I was married. And oh, the honeymoon at Langkawi's Tanjung Rhu Resort.

We had this Perhentian trip planned over someone's drunken stupor :P (not me, ah) two months back I think. And I'm glad it materialized - I suppose GemGem threatening to whoop the asses of those who will chicken out of this trip really worked.

The stunning view from our chalet...

Betch President mengamuk after my coup attempt.

My Snorkel Master.. hahahahaha...a.k.a. The Sea Cowboy

We left for Perhentian on Thursday 29th May and came back on Sunday nite. It was one of the best vacations in my living memory. It did help that the trip was with The Diver and friends that I've known since forever. We stayed at this nice little place called New Cocohut, the normal rooms are a bit crap (we stayed in one of those for a night because chalets were full) but the Seaview Chalet is much much better and worth the money. Gombak4Life and LiverBabe did their Discovery Scuba, Rina taught me how to put on a snorkel mask, I taught her that spit helps to keep your mask fog-free. Good eh, for someone who's never snorkelled before.

LiverBabe enjoyed her Discovery Scuba so much that she kept on mentioning to me HOW BEAUOOOTIFOOOLL it is to experience the joy of diving, the magic of the underwater world etc etc... 10 million gazillion times, I think she must have forgotten that I'm going out with a diving legend (or so, they say). Sebab mulut bising dia tu lah, The Diver proclaimed during one of the makan sessions in Perhentian, "She (Read: Me!!!) is going to take up diving as well..."

And that statement came out of nowhere. See, during the first few weeks of our relationship, both The Diver and I agreed that we were not going to share the same interests, and that he will not persuade me into taking up scuba-diving just because that's his passion. Cis. Tipu je semua tu.

The only valid excuse that he uses now is: "If we're on a trip together, what are you going to do when I dive?" And since we're planning for a Sipadan honeymoon, it got me thinking. But then there's always books to read, food to eat, Internet to surf, hotbods to ogle, beaches to stroll (ada ke?).

Pasal korang la aku kena ambik open water ni...

Last week he took me to the dive shop at Sri Hartamas, just to inquire about the open water course and maybe to get me comfortable with the whole thing. Remember, I never said I will do the open water course, I never said yes but he ASSUMED that my silence meant that I agreed. So there I was in the dive shop, and I saw some LOVELY pink fins and some really really really cool Dive Junkie t-shirts... Hmmm... And some cool dry packs/bags and other dive paraphernalia that are quite fashionable. And when I saw The Diver in his wetsuit at Perhentian, it DID make him look much slimmer. So instead of doing my usual shopping at shopping malls, maybe I can switch to dive shops... So technically, I only made up my mind that I will do the open water course only after the trip to the dive shop.. hahahah.. Can you believe that? Not even a diver boyfriend, or a trip to Perhentian can convince me that I should take up diving. But one trip to the dive shop and I'm in, man!!! I mean... I would love to wear those Dive Junkie t-shirts... but I can't be wearing it if I don't dive, kan? I'm no poser, OK.

Big-ass digression up there. This was supposed to be a Perhentian update, kan.

Well anyway, the Perhentian trip was just brilliant. Had a lot of food stops, and berak stops - because all the other passengers in the Naza Ria except for me have excellent metabolism and crap every few hours. And oh, my baby's Naza Ria is definitely more ganas than GemGem's Beemer (7 series ok). I didn't have my camera with me, so the pics are all taken from LiverBabe and The Diver's Facebook album.

I don't think anyone's seen us this happy. Not in a long time.

And this was the sunset that we shared, The Diver and I. It felt like falling in love all over again.

Shoot, they're still milking me for what I'm worth here. The CFO just said Hi and wants a media release out by 3 pm. Cipet.