It shouldn't be a problem, just don't hold your breath...

That was my pep talk for my first time breathing underwater. It was at Alexander springs, about three in the afternoon. Scott and I has arrived and already been in the water about half an hour. I have just begun open water scuba school and finished watching the video and the self-test book. I have been doing freediving on and off for many years, but have always wanted to learn scuba. Scott, among his many talents has done extensive work as a scuba diver and thought it might be fun to prep me for my class. After watching him at the headspring for fifteen minutes he looked up and gave me the share-air sign. I cleared my ears and swam down to the bottom, maybe 20-25 feet, he handed over his second stage and boom, I was breathing underwater. It was terrifying for me to take the snorkel out of my mouth and switch to the regulator.( It was a talisman against the invading water, If I died snorkeling they would have to bury it with me)But after a few seconds of sweet sweet air, I was able to relax and enjoy it. I gave scott back the reg and swam over to the headspring, gave it as through an inspection as my extra breath would allow, then began my slow accent. Knowing that the air I just took was under more pressure than on the surface, I began to slowly exhale as I rose to the surface. Later in the shallows scott handed the bc and tank to me a said "knock your self out" I counld'nt be any happier if it had been a 1000$ hooker and bottle of crown. sweet. I put on the bcd and checked the pressure 2000lbs, fixed my mask was ready. "Oh yeah, don't hold your breath, It could be bad....Anyway have fun" he said with a gleam in his eye and a smile.

I fiddled around in six foot deep water till I got the hang of things. Then slowly swam toward the spring. The decent to the boil is a slow hill with a drop to about twentyfive feet at the end. At that part I stopped and looked up. Being able to stop and look around while underwater has always eluded me. I'm either on my way down or up. Continuing down I was so fascinated by the light and the absolute quiet, I could hear my breathing, which I remembered to continue doing, the sound of the escaping bubbles on the way to surface...And that was it. At the spring I floated, just looking at everything, picking through the small rocked and sand, chasing a small mouth bass and waving to the other snorkeling. This was very very very cool. After about ten minutes I began my accent, slowly. Your cant go more than one foot every two seconds or thirty feet a min. Nor should you want to. I reached the top and went to the shallow end. I gave scoot back he BC and smiled...I was totally hooked to scuba diving. My open water class begins on the Aug 5 and I'll be done Aug 13. I am really excited about it. After getting a chance to play with some of the gear and fiddle around on my own. I might not look like a total monkey fucking a football in the pool on the second day of class. And that's a good thing.

later
sungod

If you try and take a cat apart to see how it works, the first thing you have on your hands is a non-working cat.

Let me take a moment to review some of things that have been on my mind as of late.

butterflies
tests
ciarettes
travel
employment



I'll start with those and see if I cant make some sense of things.


I was sitting out in the backyard later one afternoon when a butterfly flew past me and landed on the back of a chair next to me. I thought it nice to have some company and said hello to it. It seemed to be the quite type and since I can be chatty at times I thought it best not to annoy it with idle chit-chat. So I returned to my silence and continued contemplating why the cigarette I was smoking tasted so stale, it was a new pack. Of course that led me to ask why I was still smoking it...I didn't have a good answer to that one so I let it be for the moment. I relaxed a little as the wind picked up and resumed my thoughts about the state and national reg test coming up and what they mean in the long run. You see, Now that I have finished school and received my certificate, I am now uncertain of my next move, Evac did not chose to hire me due to my mvr. This has really begun to trouble me because if they would not pick me up then the question now is..Will any ems in Florida pick me up, I had Bryan run my license out of state and it clean. So no trouble getting hired in another state. Which begins me to a sad point, it is possible that in order to be a medic I will have to move out of Florida again...hmmm...This is not a bad thing but I have worked very hard to develop good relationships with my friends here and feel that moving would be a large personal hardship, mentally. I really enjoy Florida and all the things it offers, but, on the other hand there is a fantastic opportunity to see some more of the country and meet new people and have ruddy good adventures. That really appeals to me. So the heart ache of leaving again is counter balanced by the thought of new explorations. The butterfly at this time saw fit to wander on and flew away. I watched it go and wondered if it felt the same way, it occurred to me that it mostly likely did not, seeing as it just enjoys it's self wherever it is. As the last light of the setting sun shined through the trees, I took a lesson from that insect.


sungod