This year I am going to be hitting 40. As is typical of many people who reach this milestone age, I have a growing awareness of my own mortality and a desire to do "something" while I still can.
Regular readers of this blog for the past year may remember that last spring I became a PADI Certified Open Water Diver. As I believe I wrote in a post last year, I don't know why it never occurred to me do something like that when I was younger and single. But in the last couple of years, I have developed an interest in diving and a desire to explore. What can I say, I'm a late bloomer.
So, in celebration of turning 40 this year, I am going to do "something." In fact, I have already taken the first step. Today I signed up for a trip my dive shop is offering to Belize this coming August and have put down the $1,000 deposit. I will be spending a week aboard the Sun Dancer II as it moves about from one dive site to the next. You can check out the web site for it here.
Even though the trip is not going to be for almost another six months from now, I am thrilled at the prospect of finally doing something adventurous in my life.
17 comments:
Cool. I went scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef a few years ago (Supervised, I havn't done any training), which was amazing. A week off Belize should be ace!
TRF
Unrelated comment, on this. I said what I did b/c I was so surprised to see I'd been banned over there! I didn't know about it until today. You may think I'm intellectually vapid, you may think I'm prideful, but am I seriously the type to lie blatantly? It came as a total surprise to me. I figured the day might come eventually, but I didn't expect it really.
I also haven't been able to find where I was supposedly informed that I was banned. Do you know where? It would be appreciated.
Anyway, see you around,
Rhology
Hi Rhology. My response was narrowly tailored to your asking Johnboy why he would think you were banned for TAE, and I simply offered quotes from the post itself that Johnboy would have read to bring him to that conclusion.
As for whether you are officially banned from TAE, as I am not part of their team and I don't even live in Texas, I couldn't say 100% if you are permanently banned or if it is a temporary thing.
I interpreted Kazim's point in his most recent comment in that thread as being that you are and that it is one of those instances where you should have gotten the hint without being specifically told.
Me personally, I prefer the more direct "Don't comment here anymore", which is what I had to do here with Lucian recently. He was upset to learn that he was on the same Wall of Shame as me, so I told him he should take it up with you.
He's a strange character.
And no, I don't believe you are the type to lie. You may have noticed that I wrote in another thread at TAE, I said that you were not MrFreeThinker, that you were not the type to do that.
Look, I don't bear any ill will towards you, and as I wrote in a couple of comment threads before, I apologize if I let my emotions get the better of me in some of our earlier encounters. I've since learned not to take these things so seriously.
If you really want to believe that I am a horrible person who deserves to suffer for an eternity because I don't believe the same things that you do, I'm fine with that. And when I am on my scuba diving trip in Belize, I won't be giving it a moment's thought. I will be too busy enjoying the beautiful underwater scenery.
Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance. :-)
Yea, Lucian is a weird, weird person.
No, I don't bear you any ill will, actually. I think I'm'a remove that Wall of Shame anyway; it's served its purpose.
And yes, I would have liked just SOME notification that I was banned, instead of expecting me to notice that my comments weren't appearing. If I'm supposed to be Mr. Troll and I leave convos early, why expect I'd see that?
Anyway, yes, you're a horrible person, and so am I. Even if you believed the Gospel of Jesus, you're still horrible, and I believe it and I'm still horrible. It's just that I'm forgiven. I urge you to remember that at least, if nothing else.
See you,
Rhology
"If I'm supposed to be Mr. Troll and I leave convos early, why expect I'd see that?"
Actually, if you've been there in the last hour or so, you might have noticed that I took issue with Kazim on that. It's not that I'm trying to win brownie points with you or anything like that, I just feel compelled to call it like I see it, even if it means taking the theist's side once in a while.
Anyway, yes, you're a horrible person
I prefer to think of myself as a work of art in progres. :-)
I urge you to remember that at least, if nothing else.
Thank you for your concern for my spiritual welfare.
Yea, Lucian is a weird, weird person.
Well, it's nice to see that we are at least in complete agreement on something. :-)
Congrats! That sounds like a lot of fun. I will be 40 in a few years. I too want to "do" something. Not sure what though. Probably not dive.
Hey Poodles! Thanks for stopping by.
I am sure you will think of something really cool that totally suits you!
Hey, we're in luck, Tommy. Since the Bible gives no indication that a person's salvation can or will be taken away, and since we're both former believers, we still get to go to heaven! We'll all get to be together for eternity! We can, I don't know, redecorate our mansions and stuff.
(Unless the Muslims are correct, the Gospel is a flawed message, and we must submit to Allah...in which case we're fucked.)
Anyway, Belize sounds so badass...let me know if you see any sharks, those are my favorite animals.
Hi Andrea!
Yes, like I wrote the other day, any place that you and I will both be going in the afterlife can't be all that bad. It's the place where the people who think we are all horrible are going that is the real hell. Who wants to spend an eternity with them?
I hope I do see some sharks, albeit from a distance.
I was going to mention how I am looking forward to experiencing the Blue Hole, but I can just anticipate that some schmuck is going to make a drive-by gay comment.
Wow,sounds like a beautiful place to go, but not for me, I'd rather be on top of the water, fishing. :O
See you in hell, save a place for me! Ramen.
Tina, we'll have our own tropical island. Those who don't want to scuba can snorkle, ride on glass bottom boats, play shuffleboard...
Belize is frequented by whale sharks, but I'm sure you know that they're gentle giants and not scary at all. You might be a month or two too late to spot them feeding there, but if you do happen to see one, I will be so extremely jealous!
Hell, I'm jealous anyway - you're going to Belize :) I'll look forward to an awesome picture post when you get back.
And you can tell me about the Blue Hole all night long, baby.
Way to go Tommy! I'm turning 40 this year too, but I haven't figured out what I want ot do for my mid-life crisis.
Next time you're in the Phils, you might want to get with Kurt Biebelmann of the Atlantis Dive Center. He's got a lot of packages for the area around Bohol, AND he despises Bush!
http://www.atlantisdivecenter.de/english/enmain.html
Sounds fantastic.
I guess now I have to come up with something adventurous for next year for myself. No water, though. I swim like a rock.
Thanks for the tip, Gordo. I will ask Stuart if he knows Kurt.
Brian, I hope to come up to your neck of the woods one of these days. Ever since I saw The Edge with Anthony Hopkins. Well, minus being stalked by a hungry bear of course. I always wanted to see the Aurora Borealis.
I swim like a rock.
Phillychief, how about white water rafting?
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