Ryan's Trip to Thailand

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I actually was told the pool session was called off, and I’d be able to go on the boat this afternoon for the two tank dive, plus the night dive.

The first two normal dives, during the day, were pains in the asses. I had to assist in a peak performance buoyance dive, which I was given the task of carrying a manover board ring down to about 20 feet and tie it off to the anchor line. Fuck. That. The thing had easily 50-60 lbs of lift, so when I dragged it down to the anchor line and finally tied it off, I had about 2/3 of the air I should normally start a dive with due to exerting so much fucking effort to bring the thing down. The dive ended up being called due to a ridiculous current, which was good for me consindering my already low air supply.

The second dive was more student skills, but not much to write home about.

The few hours we spent on our surface interval was great. The last hour or so I spent sitting on the sun deck of the boat, just sitting at anchor, watching an amazing sunset. I appoligize for not having my camera on me- it would have been an amazing panoramic shot.

The actual nightdive was a shitstorm debockle of buddy systems, but ended up well. I saw a whole bunch of dark, and a whole bunch of lights shined in my eyes.

I came home, had a good sweet and sour chicken with fried rice meal, and went to bed.

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Tonight, I hadn’t had a care in the world.

I just finished an amazing book, an amazing cigar, and a seemingly not so special beer. I say seemingly, because it’s the same beer as I’ve drank the past week and a half, but tonight it just so happened I felt like it should be duly noted as the beer I had just finished at just this moment.

I had a pretty shitty day, today. I for no reason, really, rushed to the shop to make the boat on time. I forgot my rash guard, I forgot my sunscreen, and I forgot my dive log book. Along the fact, I had surface skills to go over, and rescue skills to repeat, which deemed me a sweet mask tan-line across my face.

Tonight, on the other hand, I just felt great about everythinog.

Despite the fact that I’m in “Sin city, Southeast Asia,” I feel like I should be floating along somewhere along the atlantic with nothing but the sound of light whitecaps and the wind in my ears.

Tonight is the last night before a two day “dry spell,” �?? a two day ban where alcohol is not to be served because of Thai government elections. Overlooking the city, I cant see much but cars scrambling to bars, people stumbling, at best, walking, to, you guessed it- bars.

I just finished “The Kite Runner” a book I’ve been meaning to finally finish for a few months, now. Hands down one of the most amazing, well written, and powerful books I’ve ever read. Read it. As many of you know, my father died on 9/11. For the first time in my life, away from my family, I have been given a little bit of peace about the whole situation. One paragraph, of the whole book, mentioned how the Taliban in Afghanistan “scurried like rats” and gave a sense of peace to an entire country.

Sitting on my balcony, with my scruff sitting in the crook of my severely sunburned elbow, I was able to just sit here, think to myself, and just be content for the moment�?� for what seemed like forever. I somehow blocked out the endless noise of dogs barking, motorbikes screaming their way down the alley, and strumming of electric guitars from all across town.

The “stray” dogs that line the alley I walk down everyday had been scampering along, running after cars, chasing after scraps of food they’d been throw, and then strolling back to their respective homes. For the record, I miss my dog a shit-load. Seeing these dogs happy, running around like dogs should, made me really happy.

I know the last post has been a ton of rambled, unconstructed sentences, but I felt the need to write about it. So, thanks for reading- if you made it this far.

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Sounds like you’er having a blast out there man. Live it up and enjoy yourself.

Don’t worry, you’ll be back in Scar’s arms in no time!

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[quote]rrjc5488 wrote:
Sitting on my balcony, with my scruff sitting in the crook of my severely sunburned elbow, I was able to just sit here, think to myself, and just be content for the moment�?� for what seemed like forever. I somehow blocked out the endless noise of dogs barking, motorbikes screaming their way down the alley, and strumming of electric guitars from all across town.
[/quote]

The calm amongst the storm. I think everyone experiences brief moments like this where, just for a moment, everything seems right with the world, nothing matters, and you feel completely at peace.

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[quote]Roual wrote:
rrjc5488 wrote:
Sitting on my balcony, with my scruff sitting in the crook of my severely sunburned elbow, I was able to just sit here, think to myself, and just be content for the moment�?� for what seemed like forever. I somehow blocked out the endless noise of dogs barking, motorbikes screaming their way down the alley, and strumming of electric guitars from all across town.

The calm amongst the storm. I think everyone experiences brief moments like this where, just for a moment, everything seems right with the world, nothing matters, and you feel completely at peace.[/quote]

I recall having this type of feeling sat on a toilet in Hanoi. Seriously.

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[quote]rrjc5488 wrote:
This guy doesn’t know Tom’s made of stone. Emergency first responders get ready.[/quote]

That chick looks kinda cute. You should hit that. Or try, at least.

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Hey fella! I saw Open Water. You make sure they know you go in the water.

wasn’t that the one… they forget the divers?

maybe that isn’t a good thing to post to you about.

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Although he took great pride in his job, Ryan had a hard time telling his friends what he did for a living.

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cool thread. i have a friend studying in thailand this semester. he says that they have to take like five accelerated classes of learning the language, along with the actual courseload.

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[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:
Hey fella! I saw Open Water. You make sure they know you go in the water.

wasn’t that the one… they forget the divers?

maybe that isn’t a good thing to post to you about.
[/quote]

I believe it was, yes. Never seen the film, but the idea of it makes me laugh (that could be my morbid sense of humour though).

Don’t the scorpions try and grab your lips and pull themselves back out of your mouth when you try and eat them? Seems the sensible thing to do to me…

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[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:

Hey fella! I saw Open Water. You make sure they know you go in the water.

wasn’t that the one… they forget the divers?

maybe that isn’t a good thing to post to you about.[/quote]

I saw the first twenty minutes, then turned it off because it was so fucking bad.

I dont care. Its happened before, and it’ll happen again… I just hope its not me.

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[quote]Rockscar wrote:
Although he took great pride in his job, Ryan had a hard time telling his friends what he did for a living.[/quote]

I bet you’d have gotten all hot and heavy had I posted this picture…

…no homo.