Anyway, i left you guys on a cliffhanger last time around. Yes, my accident. It might have been long time ago, but it is actually still in my head, and I replay it sometimes to remind myself, NEVER take the small lanes ever again! and make sure I look before I go! The bill came back yesterday, total cost of repairing his car, my car and his laptop screen amounted to RM3k!! crap man, that's alot of money for a mistake! In brief, what happen was I was crossing this intersection of the small lanes, and because there were alot of cars, I couldn't see the oncoming traffic, so I just went, and the other car suddenly appeared. And so, with no time to react, the car hit my car on the side. According to witness, my car skidded badly and they all thought my car was gonna topple! Must have been some hit! But thankfully, everyone was fine. At one stage I thought I was gonna crash into the shop coz it was really close to it! Thankfully the car stopped in time. Although, that would have definitely made the headlines for crashing in the shop, haha!!

Enough of the accident, lets move on to MJ. Yes, as everyone knows, MJ is now gone. No one can say they have not heard of MJ's songs, be it "You Are Not Alone", "Heal The World", "Black or White", "Thriller", "Earth Song"... and the list goes on. That shows how many hits he has given us, countless! But the song that strangely stood out for me from the rest is "Remember the Time". I love watching the video for that song, strangely. The dance moves is not as great as "Thriller", and the vocals are not as good as "You Are Not Alone", but somehow, I feel this song gives a perfect blend of dance moves and vocals. Dance moves can get too much for "Thriller", and "You Are Not Alone" has no dances, so "Remember the Time" blends both his aspects really well.

Another song that I really like is "Scream", which he did with Janet. They both sound really good together, and their voices gelled in the song. Pity that was the only collaboration they had. Anyway, I spent the afternoon just watching MJ's memorial service (yes, I downloaded it!). It's really sad to see all his friends, coming up to the stage and talk about his life, and how they described him as a caring and loving person, far from what the media has told everyone. It really shows how much impact he has made over the music industry. I mean, he is the ONLY one that could pull off one hand glove, ridiculously colourful jackets, change from black to white(!) and still adored by millions, young and old. His accomplishments show that he stood the test of time. I mean, we won't remember say Pussycat Dolls in 30 years time, but we will probably still adore MJ for that long. Ok, as you can see, watching the service will undoubtly get you a little emo-ish. But hey, in 30 years time, not many can say you lived in the same era as MJ right? Brooke Shields gave the most heartfelt speech by far during the service. You can see when the rest of them came up to talk, they didn't talk with so much passion and love for MJ as Brooke did. She must have really gone through thick and thin with him! I was still ok watching the service, but when it got to the daughter's speech, when she tried so hard to hold in her tears and told everyone how much she loved her father, I had tears rolling down! It's so heartbreaking to see a child lose her father!

Anyway, watching that kinda made me emo already, so I decided to find back an old TVB series, Burning Flame 2. Now, for those of you who have no clue what happened in the show, at the final episode, the main character died in the fire. His girlfriend and cousin had to lie to his daughter that he was caught up at work and couldn't come home while trying to hold themselves together. In the end, the scene was she was looking at pictures of her and her father, and the cousin came in and ask her what she was doing. When she turn around, she started tearing, as she figured out that her father will never come home again. That whole scene was so sad, I cried again (a rather emo afternoon!). If that was not enough, I went and watch PS: I Love You!! That movie was so sad, but at the same time interesting how Jerry planned everything out for Holly to move on, crazy!! So yea la, you get how my afternoon went that day!!

Shifting the mood AWAY from emo, let's talk about Redang! My dad and I went to Redang for a dive trip, convenietly a day after my final paper!! I was a little worried of the trip actually, not because we're going diving, but the journey to get there and back!! The last two times I went to an island, it wasn't so fun!! The last time I went Redang with friends back in 2005, we took a bus from KL to Terengganu, then a boat from the jeti to the island, and a speed boat from the island to the resort. I tell you, it was NOT fun!! The bus is some kinda bus mini-turn-coach kinda bus, and the suspension is in serious need of servicing. When we reach the jeti at 5am, we had to wait another 2 hours before the first boat leaves! It was terrible as there was no shops that was open, and everyone was so tired we just bored ourselves to death! The trip back was no fun either. The bus decided to turn itself into a public bus, picking and dropping people off at every village! So the whole trip back was start, stop, start, stop..... So a reminder to everyone, NEVER, EVER, TAKE THE BUS!! The other time I had to go to an island, was when I took my diving license. We had to squeeze in a minivan, all 10 of us!! And we had to sit for 4 hours before we reach the jeti! And the island was SO FAR the boat ride took 4 hours!! If you guys don't know already, Im prone to motion sickness, so the whole trip was just me trying to hold myself from vomitting, terrible man!!

Anyway, back to Redang. This time, my dad decided we took a plane instead to the island, instead of bus and boat. Now that's what Im talking about!! Ok, so the plane is not the 747 ot private jet type, but so what? As long as there was no bus, Im fine anyway!! The plane we took was Berjaya Air, which is a propeller plane used during the war times. Obviously, they had to refurbish it and all. It's actually quite fun to see the propeller spinning and the wind that comes off it when it is in the air! Of coz, its more expensive than bus, but I don't care!!

So we arrived at the resort, and settled in, then we went to check out the dive centre. As we didn't dive for like what, a year? We had to do a refresher course just to remind ourselves of how to gear up and the signals we need to know. This refresher course must be sucker's money for them I reckon, since they will ask you "So, What did you forget?". I mean, if we can't remember, do you think we actually know what we forgot?? In the end, we just ask him to teach us everything in 2 hours la! RM 190 gone just like that, pooofff!! After the course, the guide took us for a shore dive, which basically means diving near the shore no deeper than 7m. Obviously, the shallower it is, the less things to see, but I enjoyed it anyway, maybe because I actually forgot how it felt great to just stay in the water and see corals and fishes!! Somehow, diving makes you tired, even though you're actually doing nothing but let the water carry you around for 40 minutes =.=. So we came up, and slept right away til dinner time. Oh, which reminds me, the whole trip, we only did 3 activities. EAT. SLEEP. DIVE. Every minute that we didn't dive, we slept, wake up for food, then sleep again until the next morning to dive. Now, that's life isn't it?? haha!! Overall, the diving was fun, but not the carrying the gears part!!

Back when I took the diving license, the tank and gears was all on the boat. So we just have to step into the boat and gear up from there. Now, when you are doing fun dive, its obvious that this luxury is no more! So we had to gear up at the centre, wear all the equipment except mask, put on the tank, and walk with all of it from the centre, across the beach, into the water, and CLIMB up to the boat!! It was not fun lugging all the gears, plus weights on ur waist belt, walk for 10 minutes while you are sinking into the sand every step you take, and get burnt by the unforgiving sun, get into the water, and then have to climb the ladder with all the weight around you, to the boat!! I tell you, getting to the boat was like a bull ride man! Bu once you dive into the water, you'll forget everything that you have to go through, and get lost in the beauty of the underwater world. The corals, the fishes and the colours in the sea will leave you in awe, as was I!! This time, we managed to see turtles and huge sting rays up close and personal!!! It's so fun seeing them stare at you while they swim past you. It's like they're saying "What the heck are these foos doing here?". Of coz, it was not fun, when during one of the dives, one of the bigger fishes decided to play chasing with me and chased me, while biting me!! Not harmful, but certainly not fun! Never know what's biting you in the waters right?? One of the guys managed to see a blue-tipped shark!! Damn it, I want to see!! Guess haven't paid my dues yet, next time I'll get it! Sharks are seriously misunderstood creatures really. Most of the species of sharks are actually not aggressive and will only attack if provoked, like smacking them. But honestly, who won't retaliate if someone smacks you right? Other than that, you can actually touch them and they will be friendly! Only of coz, if you meet a bull shark, hammer head shark or a great white shark, then you really gotta flee for your life!! Other than them, the rest are friendly creatures!

So, to wrap up this post, somehting Brooke Shields said in the MJ service really touched me. She mentioned that MJ's favourite song, was "Smile" written by Charlie Chaplin, and in the song, there is a line that says "Smile, though your heart is aching". So whenever we feel sad, let down or grieving a loss, just remember:

Smile, though your heart is aching,

Smile, even though its breaking,

When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by,

If you smile, through your fear and sorrow,

Smile, and maybe tomorrow,

You'll see the sun, come shining through for you.

Light up your face with gladness,

Hide every trace of sadness,

Although a tear, may be ever so near,

That's the time, you must keep on trying,

Smile, what's the use of crying?

You'll find that life is still worthwhile,

If you, just, SMILE!!