Redang!

Back and missing the sun, sand and sea sorely. The resort (Berjaya Beach) was a bit too resort-ish though, not really the demographic I was hoping for*, with ridiculously overpriced food (there aren't many options outside of the resort either). The accomodation itself was well worth it (imagine a maze of rustic wooden double-storey houses amidst gorgeous lush greenery that positively glow during the day's "golden hours"), and I'm a bit miffed about not having booked into the ocean-front rooms instead because the view must be breathtaking. The service staff are a bit slow but very friendly, and the resident spa was fantastic.

But the most important bit, the sea. The waters around Redang are plain amazing, the diving spectacular - at one point a black-tip reef shark approached the group and followed the guide for a short distance before disappearing into the blue/green. Incredible range of fish, nudibranches and corals, including these strange "caterpillar"-like creatures on some of the corals with transparent bodies and fluorescent yellow insides. Not many rays, although the bizarre devil-fish more than make up for it. Caveat lector: tonnes of jellyfish around the two best dive sites, preventing us from going in (well actually we did, got summarily stung and so we decided to abort the dive). The dive guide says that it's really unpredictable when they appear, so it's best to go for a long-ish diving trip to make sure you get to cover all the sites.

Gotta go back, but will probably base in the Perhentians where it's more backpacker-style. Wish diving wasn't so bloody expensive.

Oh and while Berjaya Air is really quite a fast and convenient no-frills service, note that they use the DeHavilland Dash 7 turboprops for which production ceased in 1988, i.e. they're at least 20 years old as of 2008. And the ones I was on didn't look too well maintained. Plus the windows have no covers, so if you brown easily like me, be prepared for an uneven tan. So it's quite a leap of faith getting on one of those. But since they cruise at a maximum of 17,000 feet, the view is awesome and may be well worth the risk.

(Yeah, didn't take too many photos.)

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* There were a lot of noisy and uncivilised packs of people from The Pore, but the resort is big enough to offer several ways of getting away from them. Aside from that, loads of young European couples on romantic summer getaways, and young expat families from the region. Solo travellers are definitely a minority, although that seems to make the service staff want to go out of their way to make sure you're doing fine. Which is rather nice.

Redang...

... oh beautiful Redang, I hear you calling my name. Just 72 more hours and I will be there, trapped in your warm embrace of pristine white sands and crystal clear azure waters...

Meanwhile I'm trying to get rid of this awful bloat. Actually, it's probably just fat...

(Also, I'm not entirely certain if the island pictured above is in fact Redang. But I will be sure to take photos from the dingy little 47-seater propeller plane when I do get there.)

!

We have wild dolphins!!!

Timeliness.

Found this brilliant compilation of ridiculous office jargon on the Beeb:

"50 office-speak phrases you love to hate"

I'd add "blue sky R&D" (i.e. research with no positive market value in sight) and "domain mindshare" (a transmogrification of "info-sharing" that allows it to be used as a project objective, nebulous enough to contrive in case none of the project's quantitative targets are achieved).

Green-blooded.

For yonks I've been telling people to avoid consuming Chinese goods, particularly food products, but it's only been in the last year that people have started taking me seriously due to the deluge of mainstream news articles over health and safety hazards that have accompanied various Chinese exports. Now I'm telling you that it's seriously not a good idea to live/work/play anywhere close to the petrochemicals industry, i.e. if you're in The Pore then stay as far east as possible. And it looks like CSI's Grissom agrees with me:

(Grissom to Dr. Robbins) "You know atmospheric sulfur levels are on the rise? [In] a hundred years we will all be look[ing] like spinach."

Yes. There is actually a rare medical condition called sulfhaemoglobinaemia, where sulphur is incorporated into the oxygen-carrying compound haemoglobin in red blood cells, which can turn blood a dark green colour. And it's happened before.

The shipping industry has been a key user of sour (i.e. containing high levels of hydrogen sulfide) crude oil - the main source of bunker fuel - and much of the sulphur oxide created during the combustion of a ship's fuel is emitted all over the world along shipping routes. But now various politicians desperate for popular platforms are provoking regulatory changes that will force ships to use bunker fuels with much lower sulphur content.

So where's all that sulphur naturally lurking in crude oil gonna go? It's just a matter of time before all ships will have to use "cleaner" bunker fuel which has had most of its sulphur content removed in refineries. Which probably means that the level of sulphur oxides emitted by refineries will rise rather significantly. You see, nobody wants to use fuels with high sulphur levels because it damages engines and machines. The "invisible hand" has, over the past century, directed the use of high sulphur crude oil towards a use that minimises its cost to society. And now we're about to undo all its work.

The only way to reduce atmospheric sulphur levels is to reduce aggregate global consumption. That means, inter alia, no more bananas for you. Failing that, would you rather have unhealthy levels of sulphur in your body or randomly dispersed the world over? It seems that the latter would be the lesser of two evils.

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I thought I'd post a stunning pic of hammerhead sharks in the sea around the Galapagos Islands because that's where I intend to celebrate my release from indenture in 2011:

Human Beings - EPIC FAIL.

When I've done my time I want to work with animals. You know, give up luxuries like food, electricity and running water, to save small brown mammals from extinction. Or maybe burnish my potential bitter old lady status by setting up a cat sanctuary that pisses off the neighbours.

Because people suck.

Be afraid.

So yesterday I sat through six gruelling hours of the CFA exam and SURVIVED. Despite issues with my calculator, convexity and ethics, I'm feeling pretty good about it (or maybe it's just sheer relief). ANYWAY this means my weekends will no longer be devoted to textbooks and plagued by the pretence of studying!

And what better time to have the weekends to myself again than when I've found my psyche's near-doppelgänger. I'm really looking forward to indulging in possibly one of the highest forms of narcissism - self-validation (and perhaps a spot of exaltation) by spending time in the company of a Virtual Me. My dogma has been to learn to be happy alone, because if one can't be interested in one's own company then how can one expect others to be so? Now I'll get to "test" the results of my efforts by physically being in "my" own company!

No, I am not insane. But I must warn you that if you used to think I was selfish or/and that I believed the world revolved around me, well, you ain't seen nothing yet!

US$10

So two weeks ago I was PMT-ing pretty badly and paying some Indian astrologer over the internet to tell me when I'd get married. I've finally received the report - a week after it was supposed to have arrived - not a good omen, on hindsight. Here're the key snippets from the report, for your reading pleasure:

The good news...

"denotes love marriage for the native which would be happy ... indicates approval from parents as well" (that's nice)

"assures a happy married life for the native"

...and then the bad news (in ascending order)...

"rules out the immediate realization of your query"

"points to certain delays and hindrances for your marriage" (hmm...)

"also some cause for concern" (okay...)

"a delay of one to two years for your marriage" (getting hitched at 28 ain't too bad)

(and again) "indicates a delay of a year or so for you to settle down in marriage"

"indicates that marriage is influenced by relations (eh??) and comes through correspondence or advertisement" (really can't imagine that)

"It also indicates difficulty in choosing a partner" (didn't have to pay to know that)

"usually delays marriage till around the late 70's." (late 2070s? or when I'm in my late 70s? either way, NOT GOOD)

Oh well, what the hell. At least now I know and never have to worry about it. And I can go off and pursue all sorts of activities that would be "irresponsible" if I were a married person. Like being unemployed or engaging in extreme sports such as doing water jumps out of a plane. Bright side of things people!