Ok, so last night was classroom take #2...lol. As those of you who read Andrew to the Rescue.... Or Not?
you are well aware that in February I completed the classroom session with the one other student enrolled in the Rescue course at that time but the following weekend when Virpi was to take us to Wytecliff to drown us and have us rescue each other.... just kidding Moms, nobody drowns, we just pretend... my partner was unable to join us! So the course unfortunately, was put on hold until we could find a suitable date. So, inevitably, in March we finally settled on the end of April to get the Rescue course back on track, so then it was just time to hurry up and wait.... This brought us to Thursday where (since new people had joined the group) we had our second classroom time. Showing up right in time for class and greeted by my good friend Ward... apparently the Wonder Woman herself, the one who never catches anything and, through absolute sheer will, doesn't get sick.... got sick!! No worries though, Ward is an amazing teacher... and besides the irony still play true... he was one of the three divers from the shop that went into the water during Seals to Emergencies to demonstrate a live rescue scenario for us brand new students (how kind of them...) I had decided to attend class to brush up on my Rescue theory, besides, if I was gonna rescue you, wouldn't you want me to have as much training and knowledge as possible.... I thought so!
So as Ward took us through the book, the videos and the review questions, taking his time to highlight specific things and open others up for discussion, the group of us all reached a solid understanding of not only what to do, but why to do it and what to expect when it happens. All in all, as usual, a GREAT class!
The end of Wards class' always come too early, I don't think I could ever talk about diving too much, at least for me, I know it's too much for a lot of people who hear me talk about it but that is also why I type this, so I can talk and for anyone who's interested, they can listen (or read). Class ended and of course the question comes up, who's teaching on the weekend? Was Virpi going to be better by then? Unfortunately this is when things turned, you see Virpi was REALLY sick, so the weekend was out, Ward had a class to teach on Sunday and a previous, unchangeable (believe me we tried to convince him) commitment on the Saturday so he would not be available but as fortune would have it Dennis was available for Sunday! Another instructor you say.... yes, instructor number 3!! But would you believe the fates!!! Dennis, as some of you already knew and others have guessed, was diver number three from the shop that was involved in my famous Whytecliff Seals to Emergencies adventure.... what are the odds of all three of the shop divers involved in the rescue attempt at Whytecliff to be the ones to teach me how to rescue people! So it looks like I will only finish half of my Rescue dives this weekend... who knew you could spread a one evening and one weekend course across 4 months...lol. Talk to you Monday!!
Showing posts with label Instructors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Instructors. Show all posts
Friday, April 29, 2011
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
I CAN BREATHE, I CAN BREATHE....
Or rather you can, or any other injured or distressed diver that I might come across...lol. Last night I had the wonderful opportunity of being trained one on one by Shannon in Emergency O2. The Emergency O2 specialty covers everything you need to know to administer Emergency O2, from how to recognize signals that someone is in distress, how to set-up the air, test it, what to say to the individual in distress and finally how to administer the O2 until medical help arrives.
It's funny how much I am starting to feel like I belong at OPD, maybe one day they'll give me a key...lol. I arrived a few minutes early last night and just waited out front for Shannon but had to laugh when she arrived and opened the door for me. You see Shannon hurt her back recently (that was not the funny part) and was bringing gear (laundry) back to the shop, but due to her injury she is unable to lift anything so I had to go to her truck and bring in her laundry. It's just like being at home, grab the laundry and get it put away...lol.
It was a great night and lots of learning, instead of going through the book page by page and reviewing the chapter review one question at a time, because it was just the two of us, Shannon took me through everything in detail asking me questions along the way. How fast should the flow be? What are the 2 different types of mask systems? What is Oxygen? What is it made up of? Why is it important? What does it do in the body? It turns out in one of the recent classes Shannon was teaching, she had a Doctor in the class who was able to detail out exactly what the process is, from how much O2 the body actually absorbs, how much is exhaled, how that differs with exertion level, and what exactly it is doing in your body. Shannon was kind enough to walk me through a similar conversation, and due to my gross lack of biology knowledge this was a great experience for me. I now see lungs in a completely different way, no longer are they just bags that sit inside you and hold your air, they are complex systems of branches upon branches of what are called bronchi ending in bronchioles the thickness of a human hair! This is where O2 is absorbed and then moved through your body... man we are an amazing creation!
After assembling and disassembling all 3 of the O2 units OPD has, and talking through all of the differences in masks, portability, ease of use, set-up, and additional tools. Shannon then tested me by asking me to, given a scenario, (1) pick which unit I would prefer to have, (2) set it up, (3) talk through what I would say to the diver, and (4) explain why I would have used this unit in the configuration that I did. We went through a few scenarios so that I got experienced with a couple of the units and different masks and the uses of each depending on the divers status and the amount of O2 to be delivered and how it was to be delivered.
OPD (Ocean Pro Divers) has a great policy in regards to their Emergency O2 and their Emergency training. Once you have received the training you are welcome (and encouraged) to repeat the course when they offer it again, free of charge, to ensure you are keeping up on all your skills. Additionally, they allow divers to take out their O2 kits so that the kit is available should a diver need it, instead of just sitting in the shop where it doesn't do anybody any good.
I am happy to say, I am now certified to administer Emergency O2... now I hope i will never need to...lol. I am getting quite the collection of certification cards... and next month... NIGHT DIVING!!
It's funny how much I am starting to feel like I belong at OPD, maybe one day they'll give me a key...lol. I arrived a few minutes early last night and just waited out front for Shannon but had to laugh when she arrived and opened the door for me. You see Shannon hurt her back recently (that was not the funny part) and was bringing gear (laundry) back to the shop, but due to her injury she is unable to lift anything so I had to go to her truck and bring in her laundry. It's just like being at home, grab the laundry and get it put away...lol.
It was a great night and lots of learning, instead of going through the book page by page and reviewing the chapter review one question at a time, because it was just the two of us, Shannon took me through everything in detail asking me questions along the way. How fast should the flow be? What are the 2 different types of mask systems? What is Oxygen? What is it made up of? Why is it important? What does it do in the body? It turns out in one of the recent classes Shannon was teaching, she had a Doctor in the class who was able to detail out exactly what the process is, from how much O2 the body actually absorbs, how much is exhaled, how that differs with exertion level, and what exactly it is doing in your body. Shannon was kind enough to walk me through a similar conversation, and due to my gross lack of biology knowledge this was a great experience for me. I now see lungs in a completely different way, no longer are they just bags that sit inside you and hold your air, they are complex systems of branches upon branches of what are called bronchi ending in bronchioles the thickness of a human hair! This is where O2 is absorbed and then moved through your body... man we are an amazing creation!
After assembling and disassembling all 3 of the O2 units OPD has, and talking through all of the differences in masks, portability, ease of use, set-up, and additional tools. Shannon then tested me by asking me to, given a scenario, (1) pick which unit I would prefer to have, (2) set it up, (3) talk through what I would say to the diver, and (4) explain why I would have used this unit in the configuration that I did. We went through a few scenarios so that I got experienced with a couple of the units and different masks and the uses of each depending on the divers status and the amount of O2 to be delivered and how it was to be delivered.
OPD (Ocean Pro Divers) has a great policy in regards to their Emergency O2 and their Emergency training. Once you have received the training you are welcome (and encouraged) to repeat the course when they offer it again, free of charge, to ensure you are keeping up on all your skills. Additionally, they allow divers to take out their O2 kits so that the kit is available should a diver need it, instead of just sitting in the shop where it doesn't do anybody any good.
I am happy to say, I am now certified to administer Emergency O2... now I hope i will never need to...lol. I am getting quite the collection of certification cards... and next month... NIGHT DIVING!!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
It's Dark... Very, Very Dark....
So last night marked the first two of our five Adventure dives, needless to say I was a wee bit excited. The shop had given me new gear to try, this time using a neoprene dry suit. So after calculating the additional weight required to account for the new buoyancy of the suit, I was all good to go. So with Virpi as our guide we geared up and descended into the depths. Our first of two adventure dives on the night was our Wreck dive, after a surface swim (I hate surface swims.. lol) to the Grant Hall marker, we grouped, signaled and descended to set foot, for the first time, on the deck of a boat that has been serving as a natural reef for years. Once grouped at the bottom we made a slow search around the wreck both down where it was buried in the silt and along it's upper surfaces. With our lights on and a careful scan of the underbelly of the ship we were able to discover an octopus den, not sure if our friend was at home or not, but you could tell he had been eating well, by all the crab shells outside of his house. A beautiful kite fish caught our attention as it skirted along the bottom of the ship but staying just long enough for us all to have a good look. Along the upper surfaces of the Grant Hall we were able to meet up with a Decorator Crab, no, not Martha Stewart, this is an actual crustacean who uses bits of seaweed, sponges and debris and sticks it to itself as a disguise, I didn't see him until Virpi pointed him out and disturbed the water nearby so that he moved a bit. Then out of the corner of my eye I caught what surely have been a shark or a barracuda or some other man-eating creature of the deep. It ducked down inside a crevice between a holding tank and the bulkhead, (ok, obviously not a shark...) so me being inquisitive (and a little dumb) I moved in on the crevice to take a closer look and with the help of my dive light, found myself face to face with one of the largest Ling Cod I have ever seen. He must have been about 12 feet long and at least a thousand pounds... ok, maybe 4 feet long, but the menacing look he gave me was really scary.. lol. After a quick once more over the surface of the boat we found ourselves back at the chain and ready for our ascent to the surface... and another surface swim in and back out for our next dive, our last dive of the night, our Night Dive!
So after a quick break, a Nutrigrain bar and a tank change, no that's not code for bathroom break, although it would work, this was an actually tank change, we headed back down the stairs of Porteau. After some trouble with my fins, which should have been a sign that this was not going to be my night, we made our surface swim out the the marker buoy, fortunately not as far this time as the Grant Hall, and prepared for our decent. I'll stop here so you can get a idea of what this looks like, it's after 8:00pm (closer to 9:00), it's dark, darker than dark. Here in the city, night is spoiled by light pollution, street lights, neighbors, headlights, etc. up at Porteau we have a couple parking lot lights and the lights in the distance on the opposite shore... it's DARK! Add to that the fact that we are now going to drop down 30+ feet below the surface loosing color, light and visibility more and more the deeper we go... it's REALLY REALLY DARK!
Here is where life gets interesting or mildly more dramatic, unfortunately I was already having issues with my buoyancy by this point, neoprene is more buoyant so it takes more weight and a slightly different approach to obtain and maintain neutral buoyancy. Little did I know I was already coming down with a cold and my lungs were already working harder than they should, add the fact that my jaw (a long standing medical issue I've been dealing with for years) decided to act up after nearly 9 months of no issues. So lets condense, we have me 30+ feet under water, pitch black except for my (and my groups) dive lights, body already tired and sore, lungs already working over-time, and a dry suit that wants to make an ascent to the surface with or without me...lol. So we are going to practice our Navigation swim, again not a skill I am fond of but one that is essential. My job is to swim in the direction Virpi points, keep my needle in the marks, and my partner counts kick cycles, hit 15 cycles, turn around and swim back keeping the needle in the reverse position and after 15 kick cycles we should be back where we started. Sounds simple, and I am sure for those with a decent sense of direction or even me under normal circumstances it would have been ok. Now remember, I'm already having issues, so here is roughly what happened, my partner and I started to swim, I can't see bottom, all I can see is my compass and all I can feel is my partners hand on my arm. I am struggling for some reason to keep the needle in the marks and my partner is pulling at my arm, not knowing what he was trying to tell me I turn to see him giving me the thumbs up, which in diving means ascend, so I turn to ascend and grab my low pressure inflator for my BCD to prepare for my ascent, look at my partner and break the surface... completely disoriented, I thought we were still right along the bottom, apparently the pulling at my arm was my partner realizing I was ascending the whole time and he was trying to signal that I was going up. After getting my bearings and swimming back to the marker buoy with my partner we started our re-decent and that is when the "fun" started. The hood i was wearing was too big for me so when I looked down on my decent and exhaled, the air caught in my hood, sliding my hood back and pulled my regulator out of my mouth. Unfortunately I was inhaling at the time and took water down my throat. It's funny though, looking back, how fast your training, if you are trained by good instructors, kicks in automatically. Upon hitting the surface and knowing buoyancy was my first and only concern, I reached for my BCD low pressure inflator, unfortunately my gauges were still over my shoulder from the navigation swim so I couldn't find the inflator, so I did the next best thing, I inflated my drysuit, giving me enough buoyancy to take a breathe or two, take my gauges back off my shoulder grab the low pressure inflator for my BCD and add air to my BCD. Now that I was floating safely, it was time to kick back to the marker so that I was centralized for when my group surfaced, engage my lights in the possibility that in the dark my group may see the light above and realize I was still on the surface. Sure enough, after only a minute (seems longer when you're waiting) my group surfaced, checked on me, we got regrouped and descended for a tour of the dark bottom and a surface swim back to the vehicles and on our way back to the shop to switch out tanks then home to rest. After-all, we'll be back in the water today.
So after a quick break, a Nutrigrain bar and a tank change, no that's not code for bathroom break, although it would work, this was an actually tank change, we headed back down the stairs of Porteau. After some trouble with my fins, which should have been a sign that this was not going to be my night, we made our surface swim out the the marker buoy, fortunately not as far this time as the Grant Hall, and prepared for our decent. I'll stop here so you can get a idea of what this looks like, it's after 8:00pm (closer to 9:00), it's dark, darker than dark. Here in the city, night is spoiled by light pollution, street lights, neighbors, headlights, etc. up at Porteau we have a couple parking lot lights and the lights in the distance on the opposite shore... it's DARK! Add to that the fact that we are now going to drop down 30+ feet below the surface loosing color, light and visibility more and more the deeper we go... it's REALLY REALLY DARK!
Here is where life gets interesting or mildly more dramatic, unfortunately I was already having issues with my buoyancy by this point, neoprene is more buoyant so it takes more weight and a slightly different approach to obtain and maintain neutral buoyancy. Little did I know I was already coming down with a cold and my lungs were already working harder than they should, add the fact that my jaw (a long standing medical issue I've been dealing with for years) decided to act up after nearly 9 months of no issues. So lets condense, we have me 30+ feet under water, pitch black except for my (and my groups) dive lights, body already tired and sore, lungs already working over-time, and a dry suit that wants to make an ascent to the surface with or without me...lol. So we are going to practice our Navigation swim, again not a skill I am fond of but one that is essential. My job is to swim in the direction Virpi points, keep my needle in the marks, and my partner counts kick cycles, hit 15 cycles, turn around and swim back keeping the needle in the reverse position and after 15 kick cycles we should be back where we started. Sounds simple, and I am sure for those with a decent sense of direction or even me under normal circumstances it would have been ok. Now remember, I'm already having issues, so here is roughly what happened, my partner and I started to swim, I can't see bottom, all I can see is my compass and all I can feel is my partners hand on my arm. I am struggling for some reason to keep the needle in the marks and my partner is pulling at my arm, not knowing what he was trying to tell me I turn to see him giving me the thumbs up, which in diving means ascend, so I turn to ascend and grab my low pressure inflator for my BCD to prepare for my ascent, look at my partner and break the surface... completely disoriented, I thought we were still right along the bottom, apparently the pulling at my arm was my partner realizing I was ascending the whole time and he was trying to signal that I was going up. After getting my bearings and swimming back to the marker buoy with my partner we started our re-decent and that is when the "fun" started. The hood i was wearing was too big for me so when I looked down on my decent and exhaled, the air caught in my hood, sliding my hood back and pulled my regulator out of my mouth. Unfortunately I was inhaling at the time and took water down my throat. It's funny though, looking back, how fast your training, if you are trained by good instructors, kicks in automatically. Upon hitting the surface and knowing buoyancy was my first and only concern, I reached for my BCD low pressure inflator, unfortunately my gauges were still over my shoulder from the navigation swim so I couldn't find the inflator, so I did the next best thing, I inflated my drysuit, giving me enough buoyancy to take a breathe or two, take my gauges back off my shoulder grab the low pressure inflator for my BCD and add air to my BCD. Now that I was floating safely, it was time to kick back to the marker so that I was centralized for when my group surfaced, engage my lights in the possibility that in the dark my group may see the light above and realize I was still on the surface. Sure enough, after only a minute (seems longer when you're waiting) my group surfaced, checked on me, we got regrouped and descended for a tour of the dark bottom and a surface swim back to the vehicles and on our way back to the shop to switch out tanks then home to rest. After-all, we'll be back in the water today.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Dry Suit - "It's a relative term!"
Last night brought the last and final classroom and pool sessions for my Open Water course, we were again happy to have Mathew Mendes join us in class and in the pool and the always wonderful Virpi Kangas was able to walk everyone through their questions and put everyone's minds at ease over the upcoming impending 50 question final exam! It was a good class, again most people had their homework done and it was great to have a few minutes to discuss gear with Matt and Shannon. They were able to educate me on the downsides of buying used equipment especially regulators, especially given the cost of service and the warranty on new ones. Case in point, (actual example) I was looking at a used Apeks XTX 200, only $400! New, this reg is $800, that's half off!! What Shannon was nice enough to point out though, is (1) this is your most important piece of equipment, without it, you don't breathe, (2) a used one will need to be serviced, add $150, plus any parts count on at least $100 (if not more), plus any additional parts down the road. A new XTX 200 comes with a lifetime parts warranty and won't need servicing for a year (all regs should get serviced every year). Overall, used is $650+, and any parts until the end of time... a new one is $800 parts included... for $150 (or less) in difference, I'm going new. Shannon and Matt were also great enough to walk me through how to check tanks (as this is an item Shannon says can be a great deal used), they showed me where to look for the inspection labels, hydro stickers and engraved codes required on tanks in Canada. All things that if you didn't know about could result in spending a ton of money.... twice! Once to buy the "Great Deal", and once to pay full price for one you can actually use. The conversation then turned to Dry Suits (which I was learning how to dive last night) and what to look for and the different levels and costs and accessories... etc. Bottom line, if you want to do this right... it's not cheap!
As mentioned, class was great, we reviewed our Review Questions, and took our quiz... 10/10.. yeah me! and then watched our Dry Suit video, and then got into the discussion (this was one of our review questions) on next steps beyond Open Water certification. These steps include, Adventure Diver, this includes a taste of a couple of specialties (typically Deep Diver and/or Wreck Diver), then Advanced Diver, this includes LOTS of specialties to chose from and you get to try out 4 or 5. Then there is the big daddy of them all, the one I am looking at, the Master Scuba Diver Challenge! In this program you get all 12 offered specialties over the course of the year, your Advanced Diver and your Rescue Diver certifications. This is the highest level of recreational diving and the door way to Dive Master and beyond if one is interested. You end up saving almost half the cost over what you would pay if you paid for each specialty separately. This is an amazing deal!
Last night finished at the pool as we learned and practiced our "dry" suit training. After practicing our Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent, righting yourself from an upside down (feet first) ascent, buddy breathing, mask recoveries (yes, again...) and practicing our Neutral Buoyancy we exited to clean up and found out that Dry is a relative term, I WAS SOAKED!! Apparently doing aquatic acrobatics is not conducive to keeping all your seals closed... I have been moderately assured that I shouldn't leak in the cold ocean... at least, not as much... weee! Well, here's looking forward to an early Saturday morning, and my first of 5 Open Water ocean dives.
As mentioned, class was great, we reviewed our Review Questions, and took our quiz... 10/10.. yeah me! and then watched our Dry Suit video, and then got into the discussion (this was one of our review questions) on next steps beyond Open Water certification. These steps include, Adventure Diver, this includes a taste of a couple of specialties (typically Deep Diver and/or Wreck Diver), then Advanced Diver, this includes LOTS of specialties to chose from and you get to try out 4 or 5. Then there is the big daddy of them all, the one I am looking at, the Master Scuba Diver Challenge! In this program you get all 12 offered specialties over the course of the year, your Advanced Diver and your Rescue Diver certifications. This is the highest level of recreational diving and the door way to Dive Master and beyond if one is interested. You end up saving almost half the cost over what you would pay if you paid for each specialty separately. This is an amazing deal!
Last night finished at the pool as we learned and practiced our "dry" suit training. After practicing our Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent, righting yourself from an upside down (feet first) ascent, buddy breathing, mask recoveries (yes, again...) and practicing our Neutral Buoyancy we exited to clean up and found out that Dry is a relative term, I WAS SOAKED!! Apparently doing aquatic acrobatics is not conducive to keeping all your seals closed... I have been moderately assured that I shouldn't leak in the cold ocean... at least, not as much... weee! Well, here's looking forward to an early Saturday morning, and my first of 5 Open Water ocean dives.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
eRDPml... what? "All engines... full stop!", and the thing everyone likes to hear.
So last night marked the wonderful return to class, 2 chapters to review, my eRPDml to learn how to use (don't worry I had no idea what it was either... lol), 2 quizzes to take and all that before getting into the water to try out all the new skills. Soo much work.... so little time! Of course we got it all done and under Virpi's amazing instruction, I even feel confident that I know what I am doing.
I have, however, come to the conclusion that they have this course organized so that all the easy brain (my strong suit) and scary physical stuff comes at the beginning and the scary brain and not so difficult physical stuff comes last. Here's why, in week one, classes 1 and 2, I managed to pull off 10/10 on both my quizzes, nailed all my Chapter Reviews and felt really good about the knowledge component (I even participated in class... imagine me talking.... never... lol). But when it came to the physical side, I was a lost cause... struggling and spitting and waiting for a priest to read me my last rights...lol. (For more on that read through "Fitness... I don't need no stinkin' fitness" and If it ain't broke don't fix it.... and from SORTED to super STARS.) So now we have had a week off, I even forced myself to go and redo the Fitness Test (yes.. without dying, although I think the life guards at Sungod were waiting for me to go under a few times,) and now we are back and we were to have the book finished and chapter 3 & 4 Chapter Reviews completed (some people didn't do their homework... tisk tisk..) now it was time to review, discuss and then take our quizzes. For the most part I did ok, most of my Chapter Review questions were done, couldn't finish the last of Review 4 on the eRDPml (I'll explain that in a second,) and scored a 9/10 on my quiz... I know there goes my 4.0 GPA, I placed the wrong number in the wrong order... I knew the right answer, just put it down wrong.... BAH. So here is the scary brainy stuff I was referring to, in chapter 1 we learned about buoyancy, atmospheres, and equipment, in chapter 2 we moved on to seeing and hearing underwater, more on equipment and working with your buddy. Now we move on to chapters 3 and 4 where we learn about contaminated air, nitrogen narcosis, exhaustion, currents, tides, animal attacks and panicking divers.... at this point we have a classroom of panicking divers... ok, it might have just been me, but I just spent a week off, making sure I was working on my fitness which I thought was going to be the death of me, only to review all of the other ways I could die... yeah me!... lol. So, we review all the questions in chapter 3, take our quiz (yes the one I only got 9/10 on) and proceed to chapter 4. Chapter 4, as mentioned, includes more on all the ways to hurt yourself.. lol, including your pressure groups and understanding how these affect the amount of nitrogen in your body. For this we refer to an RDP (recreational dive planner) or in our case, an eRDPml which, if I understand correctly, stands for Electronic Multi-Level Recreational Dive Planner (don't ask me why the ml comes last, it just does). The eRDPml allows you to enter your dive information (is this your first dive of the day?, how deep are you going, how long will you be there, etc) and then will tell you what pressure group you are in, starting with A and ending in dead... I mean Z. You can then use this letter to plan for additional dives for the day to ensure you do not exceed you maximum NDL (no decompression limit.) You see how this starts to get scary... I'm having trouble even figuring out how to even use the eRDPml, never mind wrapping my head around the fact that this is not something you want to make mistakes with and add to that the fact that the system is built for the "average" person (whoever he or she is) and differs from person to person, often based on weight... yeah me! Time to lose all the extra pounds I've been carrying around. We review, and again thanks to Virpi's amazing abilities as a teacher, she breaks it down simple, and eventually gets me and my classmates through using the eRDPml and actually to the point where we were comfortable.... now off to the pool.
For anyone who has ever piloted a boat, then shut off the engine and tried to stop, you'll understand the humor behind hearing a captain say "Full Stop" or "All Engines, Full Stop" and know what it feels like to continue to drift without the ability to make a hard stop. This is very similar in diving, or at least my diving, water is nothing like a road, if you get yourself moving too quickly (up or down), it becomes difficult to stop... at least under control. So our goal for last night was to realize neutral buoyancy... for anyone who doesn't know what neutral buoyancy is, picture it this way, a balloon in water will float, it is positively buoyant, a rock (or me at times.. lol) will sink, because we are negatively buoyant, but a fish that sits perfectly still in the water neither rising nor sinking, without swimming is neutrally buoyant. It is a complex thing to think about sometimes, but the coolest thing to experience, much like being in outer space, you just sit there. To achieve this you must learn breath control. You ensure you are adequately weighted, with just enough air in your BCD and from there you just breathe... sounds simple... it's not. Inhale too much, and off to the surface you go... exhale too much and prepare to meet the bottom. This is where the "Full stop" concept comes in, if you are not careful, and inhale too much and don't exhale soon enough, you start to the surface and despite exhaling it is difficult to stop the motion, the same is true in reverse, if you exhale too much and don't inhale soon enough you start your decent and often it is too late to stop yourself from dropping to the bottom... this is a scary concept when you think about walls with 200 + foot drops below you and the problems with rising to the surface too fast .. you never want to lose control.. ever. But once you have the concept and have practiced achieving this in a few different ways, there is little else cooler than sitting weightless in the water watching your classmates complete their skill tests as you sit, doing nothing, resting only on water, open space above and below you. I was fortunate enough to have Matt Mendes, (again another in what seems to be a long line of amazing Dive Masters at Ocean Pro), in the water with us, signaling me to move up or down (ascend or descend) in the water while signaling for me to check and advise on air pressure, forcing me to be in constant control and alert of my gauges, instead of falling off to sleep due to the completely relaxing feeling of being weightless. Once you have this under control, and never one to want you to get too relaxed, PADI requires you learn how to breathe off a failed regulator... great... more things that can go wrong... is it too late to transfer to basket weaving as a hobby... lol. To prepare for this and simulate a failed regulator, understanding of course that almost every time a regulator fails it fails in the open position venting air, you pull one side of the regulator out of your mouth and press the purge valve releasing tons of air and learn to "sip" air from your regulator without getting water in your mouth... it works!... I don't know how, nor do I need to, but it works and it wasn't hard. We finish the pool time with practicing diver assistance, by pulling and pushing our partners back and forth across the pool, of course I had the wonderful assistance of Matt who, once again liking to keep you on your toes, took great delight in pulling me off course during my diver pull, forcing me to right myself and get back on course all without losing my partner who is "injured" in the water... oh the fun... lol.
So the evening ends, we clean up our gear, get it washed, packed and moved to the door, then off to change before loading the gear in the vehicles for our return to the shop. It's on the way back from changing that it happens, words that are almost as great as the day my wife said "I do" and the times my parents said "we're proud of you", Matt looked at me and said, "You're doing really great out there" and just when I thought my day couldn't get better as I am sure I was floating all over again, Virpi echoed the comment in saying,"You're doing great out there, keep it up."
Life has it's defining moments, some are tragic events that we survive, some are memories of accomplishments past, and some are simply the kind words someone shares with you at a crossroad in life when you need to hear the thing everyone likes to hear... "Good Job."
I have, however, come to the conclusion that they have this course organized so that all the easy brain (my strong suit) and scary physical stuff comes at the beginning and the scary brain and not so difficult physical stuff comes last. Here's why, in week one, classes 1 and 2, I managed to pull off 10/10 on both my quizzes, nailed all my Chapter Reviews and felt really good about the knowledge component (I even participated in class... imagine me talking.... never... lol). But when it came to the physical side, I was a lost cause... struggling and spitting and waiting for a priest to read me my last rights...lol. (For more on that read through "Fitness... I don't need no stinkin' fitness" and If it ain't broke don't fix it.... and from SORTED to super STARS.) So now we have had a week off, I even forced myself to go and redo the Fitness Test (yes.. without dying, although I think the life guards at Sungod were waiting for me to go under a few times,) and now we are back and we were to have the book finished and chapter 3 & 4 Chapter Reviews completed (some people didn't do their homework... tisk tisk..) now it was time to review, discuss and then take our quizzes. For the most part I did ok, most of my Chapter Review questions were done, couldn't finish the last of Review 4 on the eRDPml (I'll explain that in a second,) and scored a 9/10 on my quiz... I know there goes my 4.0 GPA, I placed the wrong number in the wrong order... I knew the right answer, just put it down wrong.... BAH. So here is the scary brainy stuff I was referring to, in chapter 1 we learned about buoyancy, atmospheres, and equipment, in chapter 2 we moved on to seeing and hearing underwater, more on equipment and working with your buddy. Now we move on to chapters 3 and 4 where we learn about contaminated air, nitrogen narcosis, exhaustion, currents, tides, animal attacks and panicking divers.... at this point we have a classroom of panicking divers... ok, it might have just been me, but I just spent a week off, making sure I was working on my fitness which I thought was going to be the death of me, only to review all of the other ways I could die... yeah me!... lol. So, we review all the questions in chapter 3, take our quiz (yes the one I only got 9/10 on) and proceed to chapter 4. Chapter 4, as mentioned, includes more on all the ways to hurt yourself.. lol, including your pressure groups and understanding how these affect the amount of nitrogen in your body. For this we refer to an RDP (recreational dive planner) or in our case, an eRDPml which, if I understand correctly, stands for Electronic Multi-Level Recreational Dive Planner (don't ask me why the ml comes last, it just does). The eRDPml allows you to enter your dive information (is this your first dive of the day?, how deep are you going, how long will you be there, etc) and then will tell you what pressure group you are in, starting with A and ending in dead... I mean Z. You can then use this letter to plan for additional dives for the day to ensure you do not exceed you maximum NDL (no decompression limit.) You see how this starts to get scary... I'm having trouble even figuring out how to even use the eRDPml, never mind wrapping my head around the fact that this is not something you want to make mistakes with and add to that the fact that the system is built for the "average" person (whoever he or she is) and differs from person to person, often based on weight... yeah me! Time to lose all the extra pounds I've been carrying around. We review, and again thanks to Virpi's amazing abilities as a teacher, she breaks it down simple, and eventually gets me and my classmates through using the eRDPml and actually to the point where we were comfortable.... now off to the pool.
For anyone who has ever piloted a boat, then shut off the engine and tried to stop, you'll understand the humor behind hearing a captain say "Full Stop" or "All Engines, Full Stop" and know what it feels like to continue to drift without the ability to make a hard stop. This is very similar in diving, or at least my diving, water is nothing like a road, if you get yourself moving too quickly (up or down), it becomes difficult to stop... at least under control. So our goal for last night was to realize neutral buoyancy... for anyone who doesn't know what neutral buoyancy is, picture it this way, a balloon in water will float, it is positively buoyant, a rock (or me at times.. lol) will sink, because we are negatively buoyant, but a fish that sits perfectly still in the water neither rising nor sinking, without swimming is neutrally buoyant. It is a complex thing to think about sometimes, but the coolest thing to experience, much like being in outer space, you just sit there. To achieve this you must learn breath control. You ensure you are adequately weighted, with just enough air in your BCD and from there you just breathe... sounds simple... it's not. Inhale too much, and off to the surface you go... exhale too much and prepare to meet the bottom. This is where the "Full stop" concept comes in, if you are not careful, and inhale too much and don't exhale soon enough, you start to the surface and despite exhaling it is difficult to stop the motion, the same is true in reverse, if you exhale too much and don't inhale soon enough you start your decent and often it is too late to stop yourself from dropping to the bottom... this is a scary concept when you think about walls with 200 + foot drops below you and the problems with rising to the surface too fast .. you never want to lose control.. ever. But once you have the concept and have practiced achieving this in a few different ways, there is little else cooler than sitting weightless in the water watching your classmates complete their skill tests as you sit, doing nothing, resting only on water, open space above and below you. I was fortunate enough to have Matt Mendes, (again another in what seems to be a long line of amazing Dive Masters at Ocean Pro), in the water with us, signaling me to move up or down (ascend or descend) in the water while signaling for me to check and advise on air pressure, forcing me to be in constant control and alert of my gauges, instead of falling off to sleep due to the completely relaxing feeling of being weightless. Once you have this under control, and never one to want you to get too relaxed, PADI requires you learn how to breathe off a failed regulator... great... more things that can go wrong... is it too late to transfer to basket weaving as a hobby... lol. To prepare for this and simulate a failed regulator, understanding of course that almost every time a regulator fails it fails in the open position venting air, you pull one side of the regulator out of your mouth and press the purge valve releasing tons of air and learn to "sip" air from your regulator without getting water in your mouth... it works!... I don't know how, nor do I need to, but it works and it wasn't hard. We finish the pool time with practicing diver assistance, by pulling and pushing our partners back and forth across the pool, of course I had the wonderful assistance of Matt who, once again liking to keep you on your toes, took great delight in pulling me off course during my diver pull, forcing me to right myself and get back on course all without losing my partner who is "injured" in the water... oh the fun... lol.
So the evening ends, we clean up our gear, get it washed, packed and moved to the door, then off to change before loading the gear in the vehicles for our return to the shop. It's on the way back from changing that it happens, words that are almost as great as the day my wife said "I do" and the times my parents said "we're proud of you", Matt looked at me and said, "You're doing really great out there" and just when I thought my day couldn't get better as I am sure I was floating all over again, Virpi echoed the comment in saying,"You're doing great out there, keep it up."
Life has it's defining moments, some are tragic events that we survive, some are memories of accomplishments past, and some are simply the kind words someone shares with you at a crossroad in life when you need to hear the thing everyone likes to hear... "Good Job."
Friday, August 6, 2010
If it ain't broke don't fix it.... and from SORTED to super STARS
I have always laughed at the people who look at skydiving and question, "why would you ever jump out of a perfectly good plane?" I laughed that is until last night where I found myself asking "why would you ever remove a perfectly good mask or regulator?" You see last nights pool skills were on switching from snorkel to regulator and on mask recovery. The snorkel to regulator is simple enough and is required so that you can surface swim using your snorkel, see what's below you, reach your site, and instead of coming out of the water you simply exhale slowly switch from snorkel to regulator, clear your regulator, continue to breathe (cause you never stopped!) and start your descent. You practice this by swimming across the pool on the surface switching back and forth between snorkel and regulator, makes perfect sense. The mask recover is a different story, for this you descend to the bottom of the pool, not the shallow-end mind you, where if you panicked you could just stand up... no we are 12 feet down sitting in the deep-end of the pool with Roger Fordham (who I hope to get to know better as I progress to the next levels of training) and his Rescue Diver class right above our heads. Virpi now guides us gently to the ground ensuring we follow the "SORTED" (Signal, Orientate, Regulator, Time, Equalize and Descend) method. After most of us are seated / kneeling on the bottom Virpi kindly demostrates how you remove your mask and calmly (this is key) continue to breathe (another key ingredient for success) with your mask in your hand for a full minute. At the end of this minute she will signal or tap you to indicate you can now put your mask on your face, clear it and carry on "calmly," sitting 12 feet underwater with the occasional weight belt dropping from above... weee. We are able to see multiple methods for breathing through this minute, including inhale / exhale regulator and inhale regulator exhale nose, and encouraged to use the method best suited for us. Remarkably... panic, inhale through your nose and race to the surface before you die was not an option....lol. I must admit as I write this though, it sounds a lot harder than it is... who would have thought that this amazing creation called the human body has some natural abilities and intelligent design, like the fact that your nostrils face down... come on everyone... think back to being a kid and flipping a cup over in the sink or a bucket in the pool.. that's right air gets trapped... same thing with your nose, as long as you remain calm (go figure) your nose will keep air trapped and the water does not rush in! So here I am, 12 feet down, mask off, eyes closed, remaining calm, and waiting for that reassuring tap on the arm to say, "Hey Andrew, you didn't die, put your mask back on." The tap comes, mask on, cleared and still breathing smoothly, give Virpi the "ok" sign get my congratulatory pat on the arm and hand shake that makes you feel like you really might be able to do this and then relax with the classmates who have finished and watch the rest of the class try not to panic as their turn arrives. It is later explained that you learn this skill in case your partner accidentally knocks your mask off.... I'm liking partners less an less... first their taking my air... now knocking my mask off...lol, of course I'm thinking, Lord help anyone who knocks my mask off, they might find themselves doing a "full kit" recovery... lol. So here is hoping that I never need to do a mask recovery but at least I know I can do it if I need to... the key there is need... lol. So time runs out and we end our night ascending to the surface under Virpi's direction as diving super STARS (Signal, Time, Air, Reach, Survey).
So for those of you who had a good laugh at my Fitness test, you will enjoy the conversation I had with Michael Klaver (another of Ocean Pros amazing Dive Masters and soon to be Open Water Instructor). Michael served as Dive Master for last nights class and was present when, during the book part of class, Virpi advised, much to my relief, that they would be no fitness test, and with a smile on her face and just to poke a little fun at me said "But maybe we'll have Andrew tread water for a few minutes." Michael was quick to catch on that this was not my favorite part of the course so far and pointed out what it required to qualify for Dive Master. For those of you who are squeamish or physically unfit like me.. you might want to turn away.. this is not for younger audiences... physically fit supervision highly recommended....lol. Apparently to qualify for Dive Master you have to pass a multi-part test including laps beyond what I can count never mind swim, and a 15 minute tread with the last of it spent with your arms in the air.. not an easy feat. There are also injured diver swims, and a whole array of other things that made my head spin and then to top the whole thing off with a bright red bow and a cherry on top, you have to complete the whole thing within an aggressive time limit! I'm thinking the only part of that I could do at this point in time is the injured diver swim and only then as the injured diver... lol.
Who knows what the pool holds for my next visit, 3 chapters to review, 1 more set of review questions to complete and section 5 of the DVD all before the 17th when next I venture to class, gear up and join my class as we follow Virpi and our Dive Master of the night to explore new skills and new adventures... to boldly go where hundreds have gone before... the bottom of the pool!.
So for those of you who had a good laugh at my Fitness test, you will enjoy the conversation I had with Michael Klaver (another of Ocean Pros amazing Dive Masters and soon to be Open Water Instructor). Michael served as Dive Master for last nights class and was present when, during the book part of class, Virpi advised, much to my relief, that they would be no fitness test, and with a smile on her face and just to poke a little fun at me said "But maybe we'll have Andrew tread water for a few minutes." Michael was quick to catch on that this was not my favorite part of the course so far and pointed out what it required to qualify for Dive Master. For those of you who are squeamish or physically unfit like me.. you might want to turn away.. this is not for younger audiences... physically fit supervision highly recommended....lol. Apparently to qualify for Dive Master you have to pass a multi-part test including laps beyond what I can count never mind swim, and a 15 minute tread with the last of it spent with your arms in the air.. not an easy feat. There are also injured diver swims, and a whole array of other things that made my head spin and then to top the whole thing off with a bright red bow and a cherry on top, you have to complete the whole thing within an aggressive time limit! I'm thinking the only part of that I could do at this point in time is the injured diver swim and only then as the injured diver... lol.
Who knows what the pool holds for my next visit, 3 chapters to review, 1 more set of review questions to complete and section 5 of the DVD all before the 17th when next I venture to class, gear up and join my class as we follow Virpi and our Dive Master of the night to explore new skills and new adventures... to boldly go where hundreds have gone before... the bottom of the pool!.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
"Fitness... I don't need no stinkin' fitness"
For anyone who has ever completed the fitness requirement to start diving, you know how untrue that title is... but I'll get to that later.
So here's the story of my first night of diving. I was more excited than a child on Christmas morning, Jenn (my wife) is watching me bounce off the walls, I'm packed for class with my swim shorts on, I've double and triple checked my homework, ensured I haven't missed anything on my student folder and even reread some of the highlighted areas of my dive manual and I still don't get to leave for nearly 2 hours!
So the grueling 2 hours go by, I make the quick drive from Delta to White Rock to get to Ocean Pro and head on in. At first I thought I was late, Shannon is standing in front of a class teaching... oh no... did I get the time wrong, did I miss something.. could Ashley have written it down wrong... impossible. Shannon see's me coming in and confirms I am there for the Open Water Course and upon confirmation she lets me know she is just finishing up with another class, lots happening tonight. (Apparently I am not the only one that realizes how great this shop is.) Shannon then points me into the shop and encourages me to look around... muhahaha... this is like opening the candy store for a child and telling him to look around to see if there is anything he wants... I WANT IT ALL!!
After playing with some weights, and trying on gloves, and looking at accessory after accessory, I am introduced to, what I will later learn is one of the best instructors around, my instructor Virpi Kangas. She lets me know we'll be starting in a few minutes and to... you guessed it... have a look around... lol.
By the time class starts (and I've only been in the store 15 minutes) I'm researching having my paychecks direct deposited to the store so that I can buy one or two of everything. Not that I'm greedy, but it all looks so much fun!
So class starts, there are 6 in my class including me, Virpi introduces herself, says her name once and I realize... I'm gonna need options. Such a beautiful name and the way she says it adds that extra something to it, I start saying it in my head and I realize we have a problem...lol. Fortunately Virpi advises we can call her Virpi (can you see the difference, one has a fancy roll to it and the other, not so much... lol) or we can call her V. Without the roll I'm ok and I feel less worried that I'm going to kill someones name. We all get out our folders and Virpi reviews to ensure everything is complete.. and who is the superstar who has everything completed... you guessed it.. ME! (Thanks to Ashley not letting me leave the shop the Thursday before until after I had completed most of it and she had walked me through the rest putting a star * beside everything that needed completing.) So after folders are done, we start to go through the units 1 & 2, most of us have our homework done and we review question by question, then on to Quiz #1.... 10 out of 10, yeah me, this diving stuff is easy... lol. Boy was I wrong.. now we were off to the pool....
Here is where the title fits in and my thoughts on the physical requirements go out the window, now the weight of the equipment was, as expected, not a problem for me. My problem came with the announcement of a Fitness test. Not a "Hey can you comfortably lift a BCD, tank attached and support it while your partner gets in"... this was a, swim 8 lengths (4 laps) of the pool, no stopping or you start again. So off we go... I'm on length 3/8 (1.5 of my required 4 laps) when the thought hits me... "I'm out of shape"... by length 5/8 (2.5 of my required 4 laps) I'm praying "God strike me dead, I'm not gonna make it"... at the end of 6/8 (3 of my 4 laps down) I am swimming on my back (and have been for a bit) and look up to see Virpi cheering me on from the side, "Only one more to go!" Ok, great, now I can't quit, I've got a cheering section... lol. So we finish the swim, I get out, and I am feeling muscles in my legs I didn't know existed and remembering joints that were hurt so long ago I can barely remember how I hurt them. I'm not feeling so much the superstar at this point... I'd have given up my 10 / 10 on the quiz and being all done my worksheets and folder for a slightly easier time with the swim... at this point I want to die. We are now fortunate enough to have a break, a few minutes while Virpi shows us the equipment set-up, how to get the tank attached to the BCD, attaching regulators, clipping in hoses, etc. I'm getting excited again... then the announcement... "Ok, now on to our 10 minute tread..." Good news!... now I get to tread water with already sore muscles for longer than I have ever tried before, without touching the sides and not drowning.... I won't walk through the gory details but that 10 minutes seemed like 20 and by 20 I mean hours! ~ note to self: FITNESS IS IMPORTANT ~
So 10 minutes is up, out of the pool we get, muscles are sore, breathing is off and I'm thinking I'm going to die before this night is over.... I think I did. Died and went to heaven that is! Under the supervision of Virpi and Dennis Chow (one of the shops most highly qualified and trained Dive Masters and Instructors), we start to build our kits, dawn our wetsuits and boots and then assist our partners into their gear. Then grabbing masks, snorkels and fins (never call them flippers, Flipper's a Dolphin, Divers have fins!!), we head off to the shallow end of the pool, climb into the pool, put on our fins and masks and upon instruction lower into the water and breathe for the first time.. under water! What an AMAZING experience!
I won't go through all the details of the skills we covered, aside from saying watching the video and reading the required chapters does help, but most important of all, is having a great instructional team and paying very close attention to what they tell you and show you.
Is my life any different after one class, you bet it is. I learned to breathe under water, communicate under water, recover my regulator, clear my mask and even share air with my partner if it was needed... what did you do Tuesday night?
My only question at this point... outside of tank changes, why does anyone ever surface? I love this new world. Thursday can't come quick enough, and who knows what the deep end of the pool holds.
I can't wait to dive again, but I won't hold my breath... cause that breaks rule #1 of diving "NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH!"
So here's the story of my first night of diving. I was more excited than a child on Christmas morning, Jenn (my wife) is watching me bounce off the walls, I'm packed for class with my swim shorts on, I've double and triple checked my homework, ensured I haven't missed anything on my student folder and even reread some of the highlighted areas of my dive manual and I still don't get to leave for nearly 2 hours!
So the grueling 2 hours go by, I make the quick drive from Delta to White Rock to get to Ocean Pro and head on in. At first I thought I was late, Shannon is standing in front of a class teaching... oh no... did I get the time wrong, did I miss something.. could Ashley have written it down wrong... impossible. Shannon see's me coming in and confirms I am there for the Open Water Course and upon confirmation she lets me know she is just finishing up with another class, lots happening tonight. (Apparently I am not the only one that realizes how great this shop is.) Shannon then points me into the shop and encourages me to look around... muhahaha... this is like opening the candy store for a child and telling him to look around to see if there is anything he wants... I WANT IT ALL!!
After playing with some weights, and trying on gloves, and looking at accessory after accessory, I am introduced to, what I will later learn is one of the best instructors around, my instructor Virpi Kangas. She lets me know we'll be starting in a few minutes and to... you guessed it... have a look around... lol.
By the time class starts (and I've only been in the store 15 minutes) I'm researching having my paychecks direct deposited to the store so that I can buy one or two of everything. Not that I'm greedy, but it all looks so much fun!
So class starts, there are 6 in my class including me, Virpi introduces herself, says her name once and I realize... I'm gonna need options. Such a beautiful name and the way she says it adds that extra something to it, I start saying it in my head and I realize we have a problem...lol. Fortunately Virpi advises we can call her Virpi (can you see the difference, one has a fancy roll to it and the other, not so much... lol) or we can call her V. Without the roll I'm ok and I feel less worried that I'm going to kill someones name. We all get out our folders and Virpi reviews to ensure everything is complete.. and who is the superstar who has everything completed... you guessed it.. ME! (Thanks to Ashley not letting me leave the shop the Thursday before until after I had completed most of it and she had walked me through the rest putting a star * beside everything that needed completing.) So after folders are done, we start to go through the units 1 & 2, most of us have our homework done and we review question by question, then on to Quiz #1.... 10 out of 10, yeah me, this diving stuff is easy... lol. Boy was I wrong.. now we were off to the pool....
Here is where the title fits in and my thoughts on the physical requirements go out the window, now the weight of the equipment was, as expected, not a problem for me. My problem came with the announcement of a Fitness test. Not a "Hey can you comfortably lift a BCD, tank attached and support it while your partner gets in"... this was a, swim 8 lengths (4 laps) of the pool, no stopping or you start again. So off we go... I'm on length 3/8 (1.5 of my required 4 laps) when the thought hits me... "I'm out of shape"... by length 5/8 (2.5 of my required 4 laps) I'm praying "God strike me dead, I'm not gonna make it"... at the end of 6/8 (3 of my 4 laps down) I am swimming on my back (and have been for a bit) and look up to see Virpi cheering me on from the side, "Only one more to go!" Ok, great, now I can't quit, I've got a cheering section... lol. So we finish the swim, I get out, and I am feeling muscles in my legs I didn't know existed and remembering joints that were hurt so long ago I can barely remember how I hurt them. I'm not feeling so much the superstar at this point... I'd have given up my 10 / 10 on the quiz and being all done my worksheets and folder for a slightly easier time with the swim... at this point I want to die. We are now fortunate enough to have a break, a few minutes while Virpi shows us the equipment set-up, how to get the tank attached to the BCD, attaching regulators, clipping in hoses, etc. I'm getting excited again... then the announcement... "Ok, now on to our 10 minute tread..." Good news!... now I get to tread water with already sore muscles for longer than I have ever tried before, without touching the sides and not drowning.... I won't walk through the gory details but that 10 minutes seemed like 20 and by 20 I mean hours! ~ note to self: FITNESS IS IMPORTANT ~
So 10 minutes is up, out of the pool we get, muscles are sore, breathing is off and I'm thinking I'm going to die before this night is over.... I think I did. Died and went to heaven that is! Under the supervision of Virpi and Dennis Chow (one of the shops most highly qualified and trained Dive Masters and Instructors), we start to build our kits, dawn our wetsuits and boots and then assist our partners into their gear. Then grabbing masks, snorkels and fins (never call them flippers, Flipper's a Dolphin, Divers have fins!!), we head off to the shallow end of the pool, climb into the pool, put on our fins and masks and upon instruction lower into the water and breathe for the first time.. under water! What an AMAZING experience!
I won't go through all the details of the skills we covered, aside from saying watching the video and reading the required chapters does help, but most important of all, is having a great instructional team and paying very close attention to what they tell you and show you.
Is my life any different after one class, you bet it is. I learned to breathe under water, communicate under water, recover my regulator, clear my mask and even share air with my partner if it was needed... what did you do Tuesday night?
My only question at this point... outside of tank changes, why does anyone ever surface? I love this new world. Thursday can't come quick enough, and who knows what the deep end of the pool holds.
I can't wait to dive again, but I won't hold my breath... cause that breaks rule #1 of diving "NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH!"
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