croaking geckos

11 new skills:
1. enjoying coconut shakes on the beach and only getting a teeny bit sunburned
2. staying awake through 3 hours of dive videos starting at 8am
3. properly identifying the sound a giant gecko makes
4. hooking up a scuba tank/vest (BCD)/accoutrements while in and out of the water
5. getting water out of my mask while underwater
6. tackling the windblown, wavy vacation hair
7. getting to the surface without a scuba tank
8. getting to the surface with a broken respirator that's shooting out uncontrollable bubbles
9. getting to the surface with a buddy, using their air tank
10. learning how not to explode my lungs, fill my blood with nitrogen bubbles or get decompression sickness11. appreciating the serious, scuba instructor side of emil, who i had previously only seen only the silly, tigger suit wearing side of. he's awesome, direct, fun and comforting.

keith and i did scuba in the pool today and it was scary/fun. it took me a few minutes to stop thinking about how weird i felt to only breathe through my mouth, but it's ok now. it all makes me appreciate my kids and how we demo something once and then expect them to copy us without making any mistakes on their first try when they've never done it before. i had forgotten how hard it can be to do something you've never ever done before. but we did it.. in the pouring rain, too (not that it matters i guess, when you're already all wet).

we did 4 chapters in the book and 4 tests. 3 hours of pool stuff. it was a long, scuba-y day. tomorrow we're headed into the ocean for 2 dives. they don't mess around with the progression of things.
HEY i was just watching a show about mt. everest climbers and it was interviewing the men and what their next plan was and the man just said 'i'm headed to thailand to hang out in a hammock on the beach for three months.'

p.s. the internship emailed to say they still haven't decided and they're pushing the notification back one week. good thing i'm too busy to drive myself crazy wondering about that for another week. keep thinking good thoughts.
p.p.s. for those sappy romantic readers, tonight allen said i was his 'angel of the air and water, flying around me and with the fish in the ocean'. we go back and forth with being friends and being sparkley. i think long absences fuel the sparkle.