A bit of BERSIH, a lot more of other stuff

Ohai.

I was going to write a long post about my participation in the BERSIH 3.0 rally in Kuching last week, but halfway through I just ran out of things to say. I mean, it was for a good cause and all, and I do have strong opinions about it and how the KL rally turned out, but I've already said what I wanted to say on Facebook. I'm still angry with the mainstream media and the people that walk the corridors of power (VERY angry), but if I were to rant, it'll just be angry and depressing all the way. No point.

But just for the heck of it, here's proof of me at the sit-down protest, which was very peaceful in Kuching:

Getting yellow balloons from the person I voted into the State Assembly = fawesome!

I'm sorry for not really updating the blog. School's been rather crazy as my molecular work seem to be working out really well lately (yay!), though that also means that I've a bunch of data (double yay!) to analyse and a responsibility to churn out papers on them if possible. Compared to the final year students who did some pretty similar stuff, my sample size is so HUGE that the work got rather dreary after a while and procrastination started setting in. And then, I started losing focus.

Or maybe it's pre-/post-menstrual syndrome making my emotions go out of whack. But it's been nearly a month. *Insert look of horror here*

I feel...like a chicken. A bird with wings, which one would automatically assume, logically speaking, that it could fly. But it can't. For some weird reason, chickens are just confined to the ground, pecking at the dirt, laying eggs everyday, and they can't fly. Yeap, that's how I feel.

A friend who listened to me when I told her that said I'm probably more suited as a penguin. Same concept really, only penguins dive, don't lay eggs everyday and are separated from their partners nearly half the year.

However, in the midst of all this, it was still nice to know that the same three people I normally sent SOS signals out to still respond and although they're all far away, they can still make time to listen to me rant and wail while letting me know that I'm loved and dearly missed.

Well, I'm not sure what's the point of this post, but it felt good letting it out. I just may delete this later on, but here you go. Hopefully it'll be better by a week, haha. *Insert fake smile here*

Toy impresario, wonder afficianado and avid shoe wearer

First heard in Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium:

How apt, that I should re-watch the movie, after so many years, on Easter Day. :)

Happy Easter!!

Love poured out

This is an excerpt from a Holy Thursday vigil booklet in my church. I thought it was very very meaningful:

We all know that when we love someone, we want to share with him or her all that we have. We want to belong to each other and want to feel and experience being loved.

However, all of our human experiences of love is only a trace of what God's love really is. God is love without end, without condition, without limit or restraint. God is love without caution or regret, even when we are not faithful or trustworthy, or even when we disappoint Him again and again.

If love is to make a gift of oneself to the beloved, then God is the greatest lover of all time and beyond time. In His love and mercy for all of us, He gave us His only begotten Son, who became like one of us except sin, to teach and guide us, to reveal His love for us, to heal us body and spirit, and to lay down His life got all of us so that we may be saved. By His self-giving and resurrection, we are raised to a new life and made heirs of the Kingdom with Him. By His love, we are no longer called servants but His friends. Any by way of response for all that Jesus has done and is continuing to do for us, God makes upon us the simple demands of love:

"My son, give me your heart," - Proverbs 26:26

An old story about ghost nets

Just a little over a year ago, I was out on a survey dive with my boss at my old workplace at Lankayan Island. I can't remember what it was we were supposed to be looking for, but as I was adjusting my mask underwater, I nearly finned right into a ghost net.

You might be wondering, what's a "ghost net"? Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been left or lost in the sea by fishermen. These nets, often nearly invisible in the dim light, can be left tangled on a rocky reef or drifting in the open sea. They can entangle fish, dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, dugongs, crocodiles, seabirds, crabs, and other marine creatures, including the occasional human diver. :-/ (Source: here)

Upon finding the ghost net, we went along the line to find out how long/big it was. It took us nearly 40 minutes (the average time for a dive) to go from one end to the other and along the way, I noted at least five turtle skeletons, presumably from when they got caught in the net and drowned.

The damage to the reef was also quite substantial. We found many overturned corals, probably due to the movement of the net during storms.

So my boss and I went back to the island to recruit some volunteers (most of whom were divers in our dive group that week) and armed with scissors and knifes, we went back to the spot to try get as much of the net out as possible.

It took us four dives over a period of two days to clear the net. There were some left over that was hanging over a cliff at the edge of the reef. It was pretty deep at that part so we didn't continue. The waves were also pretty strong by then so by the last snip, most of the net drifted off into the open ocean. None of us could quite hang on to it. :-/

By the time we were done, most of the holiday for the other divers was over too. I remembered feeling a bit sorry for them because the work was very tiring and they didn't get to explore much of the reefs around the island. However, it was indeed a good opportunity to spread awareness on the effects of destructive fishing methods. All of them left with a sense of accomplishment and of course, free beer that night helped everyone make friends with each other too! ;)

A few days after, a tsunami struck Japan. But that's another story... :)

Endless possibilities *scoffs*

I saw something on Facebook which threw me back into a forever-alone-funk, so I texted a close friend about it. Here's what he had to say:

Which brought me to a picture which I got tagged in by another friend:

*Throws hands up in the air*

If I really do turn out to be a bi, I think life might still be the same. Unless girls like me more than guys. *Glares at EJ*