It's War

I'm at war. I'll finally admit it. At war with the goddamn bloody bugs. I hate them. I hate their sneaky ways, their ugly tiny faces. I really, really hate that they eat me alive while I sleep. The ants have been gnawing on me from my first night onward, the bites covering my body will prove it. I'd post a picture, but the little red dots on my shoulders, arms, hands, and stomach don't make for interesting viewing. I first struck the ants with an Insecticide Chalk. Literally a stick of "chalk," used to draw a line of insecticide across any entryway the little buggers can get in. I also drew a nice thick line around my bed. That hasn't worked as much as I'd have liked.

   Now that I've become accustomed to the heat, I can sleep with the A/C off (it's just cheap) and the balcony door open. This, while stunting the bite my wallet would take at the end of the month, has allowed the ever nefarious mosquito into my room to take a bite... out of me. All the while I try and get the beauty rest required for exhausting days spent diving. This turn out to be difficult when the blood suckers buzz in your ear and nibble on one's flesh. Today, I expanded my arsenal. Mosquito coils, check. Ant poison/trap thing, check. More/THICKER chalk lines around everything? Well no, not yet. But when I return to my room... watch out! If none of the above lessen my plight, I will succumb to buying, and in turn smelling, like Off! I know, hot, DEET, sweat, and ocean.

   You haven't the foggiest idea how good my room is going to smell. To be honest, the mosquito coils are masking the smell of stale-ish dive gear... Sadly, the Lavender Gel air freshener I purchased for my bathroom isn't doing the best job of covering the foul stench of sewage. Keeping the door shut contains the lavender/pooey stench yet when actually in there trying to either shower/wash face/brush teeth/shave, I just have to live with it. Fun. Dunno about you, but I have always felt cleanest when smelling sewage in the shower! Not.

   So, after that lovely glimpse into my life, here's more interesting news. The Deep Spec I was team-teaching went well. Completed sans difficulties. I manged to certify two out of the four students who ended up finishing the course. We started with five, but the allure of the bottle and a group of rambunctious interns was too much for one. Good though, being drunk/hungover is the last thing you want to be for a dive to 40m (131ft for you imperialists). The 2 students I certified have also offered me to certify them as Master Scuba Divers, which requires no work on my part beyond checking out that they have 5 specialties, are rescue divers, amd have over 50 dives. Then I sign the paperwork! Score.


   Tomorrow Mike (the Instructor I'm working with) and I begin teaching Navigation. This spec takes a day, 3 dives. The following 2 days will be spent doing Search and Recovery. Fun courses to teach, but tough. There's a lot of logistics involved, and loads of stuff I've forgotten. So, I must get back to studying. I'm just waiting on a lovely Red Curry, Medium spicy, on rice, from my favourite Thai restaurant. Jealous? All for about 2 bucks.

See you later,
B