car revived from death ... but now tire punctured ... 真是他妈的！

car was dead due to low battery... not serious ... so paid 70 bucks (35 for towing, 35 for battery) to solve this problem.

problem solved in 2 days, quite fast, so mood getting better....

but today just discovered 1 back tire puctured by 2 nails ... had to change the tire in the office car park (Thanks Mumin for helping!) RAV4 has a spare tire behind. I have always thought this is just cosmetic, and not useful. But I found out its usefulness today ...

... tomorrow have to get new backup tire ...

I am so tired ... sianz ... ever since 8 July, things are getting unlucky for me ... how many more unlucky things can there be? ... sianz

LATEST UPDATE: went to workshop to see what can be done to the punctured tire. the guy recommended me 80 bucks for a new tire, or 8 bucks to fix the 2 holes. So guess which option I take? Of course the fix la ... couldn't bear to pay more again ...

Thanks for everyone's concern! Hope my luck will change for the better now.

car break down again ...

car is dead ... cannot start up .... try jump start also cannot ... now the only choice is to tow the car ...

damn damn damn unlucky these 2 weeks since 8 July ...

nothing seems to go smoothly for me... bloody moody now ...

sunabe de diving o shimashita ...

US economy is bad, shares are dropping, USD is crashing, I am lonely ... so what to do?

my loyal blue car accompanies me & carries all my tanks and gears...

have to walk down this slope, enter the shallow water, battle with the waves, then reach the corals

nice?

summer wear wetsuit ... 2 words can describe my feeling ... f@#$king HOT!

setting up my BCD

8 July 2008 - sad bad day

Today is exactly 1 month before the Beijing Olympics. But I am not interested in the Olympics.

Today is the day my laptop broke down. All pictures and whatever files I saved inside were gone... knnbccb

Mind totally cannot focus ...

Today is a damn sad and bad day ...

diver certified!!

29 June is a great day ... sunny Sunday, damn bloody hot ... and the day when I got my PADI open water diver certificate!

Dive spot: Maeda point
Depth: 50 feet (yap, I am starting to use feets and pounds here ... )
At my 1st dive of the day, I still had problems with my buoyancy. I kept going up and down in the water, so I couldn't enjoy the dive fully. Steve, my instructor decided to add my weights to 18 pounds (around 8 kg I believe) and kept reminding me the technique to keeping neutral buoyancy is BREATHING.

So at the 2nd dive, I tried his ways ... and woo wow... I finally got the hang of it. I started to glide slowly above the corals, watched the fishes at close distance and it was really AMAZING! Frankly before I learn to dive, I have this subconscious worry of drowning. But after some dives, I found out that this sport is really safe and there really should be no worries. No wonder, people say diving is so addictive!

So to my diver friends out there, please inform me if you wanna dive. We can dive around the world now, yippppeeee!!!

my diving group

Maggie-Q (Lesa actually) look alike and my instructor from UK Steve

Tons of people come here to snorkel and dive ... so moral of the story? Get to Maeda Point early! How early? for us is 0700!

Due to the great market here, there is a dive shop renting all sorts of gears. So most of the Japanese mainland tourists wear the same color and same style dive suits ...

staircase to underwater paradise ... but before you can get there, and when you are carrying the full gear (meaning BCD, weights, fins, tanks etc) , it is damn damn damn SIONG! ESPECIALLY after diving and coming up. Under the summer heat, really can die lor!

那霸市民吹奏乐团演奏会 Naha concert

经日文老师介绍，昨天晚上去那霸市民馆欣赏那霸市民吹奏乐团演奏会。票价800日元（10新币左右），算是非常便宜了。演奏会分成三个部分。第一和第三个部分是典型的演奏会，演奏者都穿着端庄，坐在台上正经八百地演奏澎湃的古典和新派乐曲。

最让我印象最深刻的是第二部分。这个时候，大家穿 上夏天的轻便服。表演穿插了一些类似话剧的小桥段，表演者非常搞笑，把现场观众逗得哈哈笑。演奏的曲子也是日本电视剧的主题曲，一些还是我求学时候听过 的，非常回旧。这种表演方式完全颠覆了我原来对古典乐器演奏会的刻板看法。

演奏家，连指挥家一起参与搞笑

Power Rangers!

Even babies attend! Do you think this will be allowed in Singapore?

演奏会结束时，乐团邀请有兴趣的观众上台一起表演。非常互动！

另外一个让我印象深刻的是出席的1000多名观众。里面有小学生，中学生，5岁小女生，老太太，各种各样的人。大家都踊跃地支持这个由市民组织的非专业演奏会。这演奏会真的是一个属于市民的演奏会！我就跟一起出席的新加坡同事说，这种情况在新加坡应该不会见到。

第一点，就是我们的市民应该不会这么"bo liao"搞一个这样不赚钱的乐团。我想多数新加坡人还是会喜欢到JB吃海鲜，打油，去shopping。

第二点，就算有，演奏会应该也不会便宜。老实说，800日元能欣赏这么突出和创意十足的演奏会是非常物有所值的。在新加坡应该没有办法用这种价格租适合的场地，又要cost effective又要creative。

第三点，就是我看多数新加坡人也不会掏钱（就算免费给他们）出席这样的演奏会。我看lao ah peh rather go Geylang, lao ah ma rather sleep。小，中学生rather go Mac。还有年龄小过10岁的小孩搞不好也会被禁（怕他们吵闹）！

割草真他妈的！

差不多一个月没有割我家周围的草。昨天有空，决定展开“斩草除根”行动。

真是他妈的。。。累！由于草太长和茂盛，割草机不断死火。我得不断拉线让他复活。割草机又重，要前后不断重复推拉，过半小时后，双手开始酸痛，好像刚刚去gym举重一样。昆虫一大堆，很多像蟑螂的虫到处在我脚底下蠕动，超级恶心。夏天就是这么麻烦！

经过一个小时，我拼了老命才结束“斩草除根”行动。全身布满小草，全身酸痛，心里下定决心，以后一个星期割一次草还是比较务实。

me, my damn heavy mower and my sianz look

my backyard

have to use this to cut the grass at the edges ... wa lau siong!!

my yard in the foreground, my neighbour's in the background. can see the difference?