hewwo

Just saying hi to my dear friends of MG...and that i'm so sorry i missed Eric and Gottheit's birthdays, and that i wish them very happy and blessed belated birthdays (woo 3 b's in a row)! Aaand that I have not died or forgotten about you guys, how could I forget? But I admit I have not been keeping in touch like I should. I've had a pretty busy summer, so thankful to see family and loved ones, sometimes I browse but don't post... How is everyone doing, how is everyone's summer going? many hugs and yay stuff

go noles

 

oh! and I have an awesome new avatar I will introduce to you guys soon. It's magnificent (and surprisingly not Will Ferrell )

 

And any avatar that's not Will Feral (spelling intentional ) is bound to be an improvement.

Good to see ya again LLC.

 

Well hello there! Nice to see you drop by! Sounds like you're having a good time of things!

My summer is going good, been to Menorca and learnt to scuba dive! Open Water Diver PADI qualification - waiting for my card to come from swizerland now. Very awesome.

 

Good to see you too Halo Having at least a little bit of fun yourself, I hope?

GT: !!! I take that as a personal insult.

...........ok i forgive you

goldy, *gaspchokedie* I am so jealous...I've wanted to dive since I can remember! I've been asking my dad about getting a license, he told me it's just a few courses then you take your test, not difficult at all, just takes some time. What an experience though...wow. Maybe I can get it next summer, I dunno when I'll have time this school year. Take pictures if you can!

 

Oh yes getting the qualification is fairly straightforward, you just need to do a couple of written multiple choice questions, and complete a few excercises underwater (in a confined water pool and in open water (sea or lake)). Excercises I had to do were:
Clearing your mask underwater,
taking off your mask underwater, breathing for a while, then putting it back on an clearing it
Taking out your regulator then recovering it by reaching behind your back
Doing a Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent
Breathing from someone elses alternate air source
Achieving neutral buouyancy on the bottom

For the paper exam you do stuff like what all the parts are, what they do and how they work, how to care for them, etc. What to do in an emergency, the priorities, some of the risks involved (Decompression sickness etc.) and how to use the RDP (Recreational Dive Planner) to work your nitrogen levels out.

It seems complicated now I read it but if you're good at learning from textbooks then you won't have a problem All the work is well worth it when you get to experience the sea in its full glory... looking at huge rock formations buzzing with wildlife at 18m is really quite extraordinary.

Hopefully when I get some money together I'm going to do the Underwater Photography speciality course, which should be uber-cool

EDIT: tee hee, just saw this come up for the google ads on this thread:
More Cowbell

 

I'm so glad for you Halo, that sounds wonderful; a job you actually love to do! Things are going fine for me, can't really complain, only about school I guess (starts next Monday). My senior year though...feeling many different things right now. And it hasn't hit me yet; but oh, it definitely will sooner or later.

goldy, thanks for telling me all that! I won't be so shocked when I go in. And it sounds a little complicated but i'm sure it's fine, like most things, driver's license for example. whoaa, the photography thing sounds great! wow. I would love to do something like that. too bad I don't have a natural gift for photography. But i do remember some of your shots, you're wonderful at it. Make sure to post the pics here!