Beard...

...I bid you adieu. I say goodbye to you after near a year together. You kept my face warm. You made me look well beyond my 22 years. Well, I think you made me look gosh darn handsome if i do say so myself (I know at least one girl who would agree). Most importantly, having you around my chin allowed me to avoid my least favourite bit of morning routine: shaving. It's bittersweet, but I'm back with my razor... I'm sorry, I had to!

You see, I've gotten a new job that sounds absolutely wonderful. Having that job requires me to keep up a professional image, not to mention the fact that having a clean shaven face allows my dive mask to seal better. Important when spending hours in the water teaching others Scuba. Yes! The rumours are true. I've accepted a job in the Cayman Islands with Ocean Frontiers. There, I will be Dive Instructor/Boat Crew/Front Desk Guy. To say I'm excited is an understatement.

This is what I spent 6 months on the Great Barrier Reef and 7 months in Poo-Hole Pattaya training for. This is what I'm good at. This is my passion. I've taken a few detours over the past year and a half, but I'm finally within reach of my dream. Don't forget now, these dreams were but seeds in my head 3 years ago when I began my own Open Water training (learning to dive). Now here I am, embarking on a venture that may see me working and living in the Caribbean for possibly up to 7 years. No more Poo Hole. No more Detours. No more Beard. A new chapter.

As of this coming Thursday July 15th, I will once again be a true expatriate (for a while), and life will be be far more interesting to write about. So, I promise to keep this blog updated, regularly, with further tales of my escapades above and below the surface.

I guess I should go shave again - stuff grows in quick over 3 days!

B

I'll be back...

Okay, now that I'm back into my own apartment (a different one - more on that later) I'll get back to writing. I am slowly getting the urge again now that my laptop is back on a desk.

Lots to catch you all up on, but not enough time right now. Its bed time, as early rising for work in the a.m.!

Copper Island Diving

So, it's been a while again, I know. Things are just now starting to get interesting in this town. No longer do I work, go home, eat, read, sleep - with slight variations. Thursday night I joined the owner of Copper Island Diving, Paul, his girlfriend, and his full time instructor Sherri at the pool to practice cold water skills, and to brush up on some teaching.

Friday morning was a beautiful day to work. The sun was shining, and temperatures were supposed to reach 22 degrees Celsius! Our boss took us out for a big breakfast at 6am, as he does some Fridays, then we headed out to the farm where we were finishing up our job for the week. By 10am, I was done work and at home. I phoned the Dive shop to see if I could join them teaching a group of High School students in the pool. My assistance was welcomed with open arms, and I packed up my still wet dive kit, then hopped in the jeep and went down to the shop. We packed up 13 tanks and enough kit for 10 students, then made our way to the pool.

All the students had a classroom session on a Friday past, so we worked with them, helping them assemble their gear, kit up, and enter the water. Once in the shallow end of the pool, we did the usual "Try Dive," or "Discover Scuba Diving" skills, the mask clear and regulator remove/replace. We did a bit of buoyancy practice and confidence building swim in the shallow end, then we made our way to the deep end for a bit of a play. There's a was a bit of up and down, and some fins to the face, but everyone had a blast, and we spent  a good half hour just swimming around, watching the kids try and get their buoyancy down as they swam about and tossed the underwater frisbee around. It was so much fun, and great to be back into an Instructor position, as intermittent as it may be.

This coming Tuesday night an Open Water Diver Class is starting, and I'll be sitting in on that, seeing how SSI does things! It will basically be an orientation for the students, and a bit of an explanation of the equipment, before they get in the pool on Thursday. I'm looking forward to it! One step closer to being both a PADI and SSI Instructor. AND, at some point I may even be able to work at the shop on Saturdays, manning the front desk, doing sales, that kind of thing.

Check out the shop's new website here. The site is still under construction...

Will be Drysuit diving next weekend if all goes well!

Speak soon, Brock

Chatroulette

Not sure if any of you have heard of Chatroulette yet. It's an interesting concept, with limitless interactions available. I recommend reading this article at CNET.com to get a feeling of what the site is about, and to see a few videos of it in action. I think the whole idea is phenomenal. Random meetings with total strangers anywhere in the world. If you need a good laugh, watch both the YouTube Videos embedded in the article. So funny!

I'm too chicken to try it, are you?

Blindness

While I sit here tapping away at the keys of my laptop, I want you to know I am enjoying a piece of nearly the best cake I have ever tasted. This is not your usual Superstore frosted cake. You know the kind. Halfway through a piece you realize the frosting tastes like what you'd imagine Diabetes tasting like, and you start to scrape it off or pass it on to a young child. Preferably the child of someone else. This cake... the frosting is that fancy Fondant stuff they apply in sheets, and it has little flowers stamped on it. Its sweet, but not too sweet. The cake itself... Chocolate. Fluffy, moist, rich. I had a piece for breakfast, and surprising even myself, I saved this one for later. Later being now! The cake is from my Boss' wife's birthday party I attended last night.

The party was an uneventful one. Took place outside, around a wonderful fire. The alcohol flowed freely enough to let the conversation flow as freely. A variety of snacks were set out for the night, and the cake arrived with a tray of matching cupcakes. I had 2 of them. It was a nice little party, with a nice little hangover had by all this morning.

I spent my day on the couch watching a movie and reading a book. The movie was City of God, and I have been hearing mention of this movie for a while now. One of my friends even described it as the best film he had ever seen, and I nearly agree with him. City of God is now up there among my top favourite films. Not the top, but damn near close. It follows the rise of gangs in the slums of Rio de Janeiro from the 60's though the 80's, and we see the story unravel through the eyes of narrator Rocket. Rocket aspires to avoid the violence and crime around him to one day become a professional photographer. The whole film has a grittiness about, a roughness... One particular scene of excessive violence against a young "Runt," the children gangsters, was particularly intense. I highly recommend you see this movie now! ASAP


The book? Blindness, written by Jose Saramago. It was made into a film not too long ago, and I wanted to see it (ironically enough, the film was directed by the director of City of God!), but decided to read the book first. Its the tale of a wave of blindness, affecting a few citizens of a city. This blindness is apparently infectious, so all those affected are quarantined in an abandoned mental institution. As their numbers grow, with the army waiting at the gates to kill any of those attempting to leave, food running short, and tempers short, let the mayhem begin. So far, a good read.


We're working in Revelstoke for the first few days of this week. Its about an hour away, so my day is starting at 6am tomorrow. Fun. I do get paid for the drive there though... I'm looking forward to having a new guy working with us. He starts tomorrow, and from the sounds of it, he and I will be working on a few projects alone this week. He's my age, so will be a good change from working with 2 older family men! We'll see how he works out though. Our work is not for everyone. Matt has had guys walk off the job after 3 hours!


Okay, I need to get off here so I can get back to my book before I crawl into bed super early tonight. Up just after 5 tomorrow!


See you soon, B

It's about bloody time...

Actually, it's been ages. For the first time in my entire blogging career I actually procrastinated. That led to more procrastination, which brings me to this point - Trying to squeeze 2 weeks worth of stories into one writing session. It feels like homework now...

So in the past 2 weeks I have:

• Hung out with my little sister while she was here visiting. We took my Jeep out for a spin in the mud after I had it worked on again at the mechanic. She got to drive - 

• I've fully moved into my own Bachelor Pad. It. Is. Awesome. I've got it all set up how I like it, with my very own book case with all my own books out of their boxes. I've printed out an array of photos from my  various travels of the past 4 years, all mounted in some nice collage like frames. I'll take some pictures of the various rooms when I get a camera.
• I spent half of last week and the weekend with my mom, her boyfriend, my sister and her boyfriend in Sun Peaks while they worked a conference. I got to ski Friday and Saturday. I. Was. Awesome. If I'm never able to dive, I'll sell all my kit and buy some skis and go be a ski bum. It is so much fun, dodging trees, making fresh tracks in newly fallen Snow. 10cm worth. Its another lifestyle I could see myself gravitating towards. I also drank lots, and hung out with my Aunty Nette, who I have not seen in 6 years! Good week/weekend all around.

I think that's you all about caught up. Having my own place that lacks both Cable and Internet (still, leading to my procrastination) has allowed me to start catching up on some long overdue reading. Now, I've been a Dive Professional since late 2007 when I became an SSI Dive Control Specialist. In 2008, I became a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor. It's far too easy for someone of my age to feel near invincible in a sport where pushing limits is the norm, though frowned upon. Once becoming a "Pro," it was far too easy to believe I knew it all, and that I could handle any situation like many of my colleagues. Simple to forget that holding an Instructor Card, like a Driver's License, should only allow you to go out and gain experience.

All new dive professionals need to pick up this book, and read it through cover-to-cover - Diver Down: Real-World SCUBA Accidents and How to Avoid Them. I'm only half way through, but I have learned invaluable lessons on nearly every page. The author has a way of writing that makes even the most mundane bits of information (Cave Diver Certifications) an exciting read. The book is divided into short chapters, each dedicated to a single incident. As a pro, I was able to identify with each situation, some hitting too close to home and seeming all too familiar. Go get this book now, especially if you think you know all there is to know in the dive world.


Then, pick up this book - The Last Dive. I began this one a few weeks ago and finally finished it in Sun Peaks over the weekend. Though not nearly as well written as Diver Down, this book delves deep (bad pun) into the history and origins of the more extreme segments of our sport, cave diving and tech diving. Bernie Chowdhury has a habit of repeating himself every few chapters, as if the reader would have forgotten the science behind something, which I found annoying. He does offer an excellent story mixed with a mystery, leading to a terrible accident can't help but know is coming. It's his chapters dedicated to the accidents that truly bring the book alive, and any pro would be foolhardy not to read this book. Especially if you still feel invincible after reading Diver Down. Maybe not the best read for anyone interested in becoming a diver...


As is my usual, here is a song I love RIGHT NOW. The Artist, Phoenix. The song, 1901. It's from that super cool Cadillac Commercial. Enjoy -



See you soon, hope to write sooner, B

I'm workin' on it!

I'll write a full blog post soon. Really, I will! I've been super buys this week sorting out a place to live. I found a nice suite for $525 month, about a 5-10 minute walk from my Boss's house where I start work every morning. I've spent most of the week moving boxes over, setting things up, and trying to scrounge up some furniture with help from my family. Should be ready to move in this weekend, as I managed to get a queen size mattress, box spring, bed frame, desk, dresser and coffee table for $55 at the second hand store! I'll be buying myself a nice sheet set tomorrow and 2 more pillows, then I just need to do a grocery shop on Saturday.

Very much looking forward to having my own space for the first time, ever! Exhausted now and must sleep after a very tough (physically) week at work, and late nights getting my place ready.

Will right more soon, promise!
B