My heart's on the island, my heart is not here...

Do you know how hard it is to concentrate on your work when your mind keeps fastforwarding to 7:30PM tonight when I finally leave SG for my long weekend on Tioman??

I don't think I can fully describe it. The tingling sensation of exhileration, the high anticipation, the steadily growing excitement that I am trying to hide inside, at the thought that for the next four days, I will be doing something I love so much - DIVING!!!

The gurggling noise of the bubbles, that hiss of the nitrogen tank, that certain scent of salt water, the rock of the boat, the breath-taking scenery on the way to dive sites, the cold water engulfing you when you giant-step off the boat, freefalling down down down 15 meters, 18 meters, 20 meters, the incredible delight of being surrounded by a huge ball of fish, living and breathing down in the underwater world... it's been five longggg weeks, and I miss it all already! I can't wait to be once again in my cool blue rashguard and no-grip purple slippers, strapping on my mask and black jet fins, poking with my trusty pointer, pulling on my brilliantly blue gloves, and taking underwater pics with THIS!!!>>>>>

Honestly, I am scared and thrilled at the same time, just thinking about my newly-bought dive cam. It's an 8 mega-pixel CANON Ixus 80 IS, and an absolute beauty. Slim bodied, sharp and focused lens, a wide screen, and perfect for taking shots of my brother doing his rescue course! I hope hope hope to be able to take atleast several if not MANY good underwater shots for the rest of my family to see when I get back.

For now, I shall prepare my sign to hang up on my desk: "Gone Diving." Goodbye for the weekend!

*The time is passing agonizingly slowwwwww*

Fighting Sleep!

Despite my best efforts, it is becoming quite a struggle to keep my eyes open. Four hours of sleep for two consecutive nights, lots of activities, and a monotonous workday are not the best conditions for maintaining alert and sharp in office, I’m afraid.

It is scary. One minute your eyes are focused on the words on the paper. And then a few seconds later, the images blur and you start seeing double. Then you fling your eyes open, realizing with a start that they had slipped closed without you even realizing, and leaving you to wonder worriedly just how long had you blissfully lost consciousness in front of your desk.

I’m already blasting the music through my earphones into my ears, choosing the especially fast-beat one to get my adrenaline moving. A Ferrerro chocolate has disappeared from my drawer, in an effort to create a sugar-high. Sipping water, stretching and rubbing stiff neck muscles, and shaking my head to clear the fogginess has been of little avail too. My little Wakasa teddy bear looks on sympathetically at my losing battle from his position in front of me, beside my lappy.

I’ve even contemplated splashing some cold water on my face, except that I don’t want the half-hour spent doing my make-up this morning to go down the drain with the water. Help, I’m running out of options!!

I must concentrate on the contract writing, I really must. In this area of work, no mistakes can be afforded.

Come on, gal, you can do it. Just hang on another half-hour till lunchtime….

**Desperate times call for desperate measures.**

Romantic Comedy

First let me clarify that NO, I am not a sappy, starry-eyed teenage girl fan of Zac Effron. Although I do not deny that he has both looks and talents to wield for his many melting fans in the Hollywood scene. But watching his latest movie 17 Again, it was impossible to totally ignore his charm and the endearing manner with which he portrayed his character to the audience. I do not wish to give account of the entire story, but the most heartwarming thing for me in the entire movie was seeing how the main character Michael Donnell, even when transformed into a handsome young 17-year old again and daily interacting with pretty high school girls vying for his attention, always had eyes only for his wife.

The most touching scene was of the transformed Michael reading a 'letter' in court to his wife, who was trying to get a divorce from the man he once was. It was a really romantic love letter, recalling how he felt from the first moment he saw her, and yet ending with the saying that loving someone meant being willing to let that person go. The entire way through, he was fighting back his tears, struggling to maintain a clear voice amid the overwhelming emotion. After he finished 'reading' from the piece of paper, he was escorted from the courtroom by the police, and the stunned wife asked the judge permission to take a look at the piece of paper he was reading from. When she picked it up from where he had laid it, the only words on the paper were the address and time of the court meeting. At that particular point in the movie, my vision got blurred by the tears, and I had to wiped them away to watch till the end where the husband and wife are finally reunited with rekindled love for each other.

Call me a romantic and a chic-flick lover if you will, I cannot remain untouched when such scenes like this are shown, especially when advocating a good moral principle of faithfulness in true love. To me, it was $8.00 well spent.

**Love is giving someone the ability to break your heart, but trusting them not to**

The Road Less Travelled By

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Too often, we are caught up in the rat race of Life, with everyone competing and comparing with each other about anything and everything. How often do we do something that we really want to do, without worrying so much about what other people might and will say?

Perhaps you will find that the thoughts released in this blog are not always along the same lines as everyone else. Hopefully it will reveal a character willing to think out of the box, and who doesn't mind looking at things from a different viewpoint.

More than that though, it is an outlet of expression for a young girl growing up and finding her place in this world, as she struggles to maintain a positive outlook no matter what comes her way, and lives her life to the fullest!

**Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away**