Saturday, July 17, 2010
turning 25!

i turned 25 doing what i absolutely wanted to!

the day started at 2+ in the morning (that part i didn't want) and with eyes still half shut, i went about washing up and preparing to go to work. i took a cab, picked up some people and arrived at the pier half an hour early (could have spend that time sleeping!). half an hour went by and we went to board the boat heading to Raffles Lighthouse.

when we arrived at the lighthouse, it was still dark and i could hardly see where i was going. armed with eric's lousy headlamp and a borrowed torch, i waded through the shallow waters hoping not to step on a stonefish.

the early morning and walking in the dark turned out to be all worth it!

having never explored our local waters, i was simply amazed at the diversity it holds. saw quite a bit of corals, although many were bleached. there were also other tiny creatures i never did expect to see on our shores. all was exposed at low tide.

here are just some of the things we saw...


feather star


a clownfish and a anemone shrimp playing around the tentacles of the anemone


a close-up of the anemone shrimp


some kind of sea cucumber


a pretty pink-purple coral


the reward of waking before dawn



it was a lovely birthday present!

after that day... i had 3 other early morning starts this week.
all reeling in wonderful finds.
being at work at 4/5/6am does not seem like fun to most.
but honestly, i would rather do an early morning start than to squeeze in the trains during peak hours.
besides, with a job like that... it's hardly even work.
running away to islands... it feels like a holiday!

have i told you i love my job?

(added) oh and after i went back to the office to conduct a couple of workshops in the afternoon, i got more surprises! i was conducting a workshop for some CHIJ girls and my colleague secretly told them it was my birthday. so after the workshop, i had 12 year old girls running to me to wish me 'happy birthday'. awww.... i was so touched. it was my first such experience. i never had my own students. they were sort of considered my first batch of students that i handled on my own and they were great! =D

at the end of the long long day... just before i headed home, my colleagues surprised me with a birthday ice-cream cake! yum yum yum...