Complete- Drop # 32: Go Scuba Diving

Did this at St. John!

So this isn't me scuba-ing, obviously... Didn't take any pics of the actual scuba
but just know that I DID do it! Pretend!

We hooked up with one of the scuba instructors on the island. Her company is called 6-Paq scuba, and she's been diving for nearly 30 years. She talked and talked, droning on for about two hours in the hot caribbean sun about what to do, how to do it, etc and giving me a physics examination every few minutes. Ultimately, though, it was worth it. I guess she's one of the few people who will take people scuba diving without requiring them to go to a full day class beforehand.
 
     Anyways, after two hours of her talking and telling us how to breathe etc, we put on the gear and we were in! I kind of just dragged along the bottom for a while; my weights were too heavy. Anyways, after she adjusted me and I got used to the environment I was good to go! It was amazing to me how quickly you can  raise to the top just by simply breathing the wrong way. The water pressure plays neat tricks. I'd find myself exhaling what seemed like three times the amount of air that I had inhaled!

     The sealife at St. John is amazing. There's so many coral reefs so close to the shore. She took us to a secluded beach and pointed to a rock formation sticking out of the water to her right. The water was crashing over it, but under the water it was so calm. I told her that my main goal for the dive was to find a sea turtle. Sure enough, she found it! it was gliding so peacefully in the water. It let us pet it, even, and stuck with us for a good ten minutes or so. That was definitely a highlight of the trip as a whole.

     Soooooooo..... One more drop down!

Complete- Drop #45: Win Something

I hadn't really won anything in my life.
     ... Okay, that's not completely true. In kindergarden, I came closest to guessing the correct amount of jellybeans in a container they made look like a bunny for Easter. I won the beans.

Buuutttt.... that doesn't really count, now does it?

     Shows how long it's been since I've updated this thing. A few months ago, I attended a fundraiser for my dad's cousin. The grand prize was a trip to St. John USVI, and I won it!

     It was a very beautiful place indeed, and we tried to do as much as possible while we were there. Turns out my dad's cousin lives on the island, and we stopped over to visit them. The landscape was beautiful no matter what part of the island you were. Wild cows and goats roamed freely and would often block the streets, and deer would graze openly in the fields. We also saw lots of hermit crabs, lizards, iguanas, and a couple of mongooses (mongeese?)

     On the last day of our trip I saw the end of a rainbow. It was literally 200 feet away from me. For the record, there is no pot of gold :-(. But, that's quite all right! Aaand that's the story of how I completed #45!

Summer

     As nobody would notice since I am basically the only person keeping up with this blog, I haven't updated for a while. Definitely not posting every week! It may not be immediately obvious as to why I stopped posting as religiously as I used to. But, upon further evaluation, it becomes clear that my last post was posted on the week of a notable event: The end of my Facebook Sabbatical.


     The sabbatical itself was amazing. I highly recommend it to anybody who has to check their social media site at minimum once a day. For those who stay logged on all the time, I think it is necessary. I found myself much more motivated, and got a lot more done. I finished school, started a garden, started my volunteer job, kept up with this blog, etc. I was hoping I wouldn't slip back in to my old routine, but I suppose it is inevitable. On a positive note, though, I no longer use it on my phone. So, I am no longer FBing on the run. Deleting the Facebook account is looking more and more attractive. Perhaps when summer is over, and school starts again.

     On another note, I haven't not had a job since I was 15 or 16. So, this summer is going to be very interesting for me. I find myself bored quite often (and, hence, on FB). What I have decided to do to alleviate that boredom is to get as much accomplished on this list as possible, and start a few of the bigger, more time consuming tasks. Here are some of the things I would like to either get started on or accomplished, and a bit about how I plan on going about doing it.

Drops to Work on this Summer: 

1. Paint a really incredible painting

• I am not for sure how I am going to do this or what it's going to be of, entail, consist of, etc. I suppose the first thing I should do is really get an idea of what it is I am going to be painting. I think I would really like to do an abstract, but mix in other materials and objects which are quite distinguishable. Come to think of it, even if I get a good idea and perhaps a rough draft of the painting out this summer, I'll be happy. I can always start on it whenever I feel motivated to do so (what I am trying to say is I am not motivated right now... ha ha).

2. Catch up on all my bills
8. Learn Vietnamese

• I do really want to learn this language. I'm going to have to Rosetta Stone it up ASAP, and accomplish as much of it as I can

13. Have a successful garden

• I have already started my garden! Right now I am trying to grow lettuce, snap peas, tomatoes, carrots, scallions, onions, lemongrass, herbs (cilantro, basil, parsley, mustard greens, Thai basil), and attempting Serrano peppers (which started out good, but are recovering slowly from transplantation). I am having two major problems: The first, is that weeds are rapidly spreading. I'm not always 100% sure which one I am supposed to pull and which is the vegetable. And secondly, cats use it as a litter box. Yuck. Other than that, everything is looking pretty good!

15. Become fluent in Spanish

• I'm already pretty good in Spanish. I'm just going to try to change my settings over, make everything in Spanish, and practice that way. My main focus this summer is on learning Vietnamese. If I can catch my Vietnamese up to the level of understanding I have in Spanish, it will be a successful summer.

18. Cut my hair short and give it to a hair charity

• This kind of coincides with the previous drop of growing my hair out to the top of my buttocks. I think it's close enough. By the end of the summer, I think I am going to call it a quits and cut it short. I've had it long for 5 yrs plus. I might chicken out by the end of the summer, though. Yeah, I'll probably chicken out.

32. Go scuba diving
33. Jump off a cliff in to water
40. Read the Bible (Including old testament) and Quran.

• Not planning on finishing, but would like to get started

41. Send a postcard in to PostSecret



     I was going to put drop 45 down also because it's something that's quick to cross off, but I'm not ready for a tattoo yet. And besides, I ended up putting a lot more down here than I thought I would. I suppose that a lot of these are doable in summer's time. I just loose track so easily of the day. I'm so used to being busy all the time that, although no longer being so time restricted is a relief, I also don't know how to properly use the spare time to get things done. I've always had to be somewhere at a certain time, and that more often than not is no longer the case. This will give me something to do and work towards.

     Oh, I also have to do those darn GREs... but that's not on the list