Have you tried it with your sunglasses?
Nope – I got 3-4 bottles of cheap Costco lens cleaners in my car (I am very particular about keeping lenses clean – cameras, sunglasses, dive masks, computer monitors, etc). I am a photographer (especially underwater) so there’s a legitimate reason. Can you imagine going through all troubles to arrange a dive trip somewhere, do your dive, then cannot take pictures because your lenses are messed up with your lunch or breakfast crumbs? Not good! Also I just want to keep a perfect 20/20 vision till I’m 80. (There’s your dreamer, and an obsessed one at that!)
My favorite sea creature is fighting fish. What’s yours?
Cuttlefish – it can communicate behavioral changes in nanoseconds. It’s constantly changing colors to indicate its mood. Very fascinating to watch underwater in natural environments. I rarely see them though – only at Aussie’s Great Barrier Reef so far. I followed one for about 15-20 minutes; almost lost my boat in the process (may be that was its intentions). I wish human communication skills are as effective (especially for the fairer sex – there’s a time bomb waiting for me). There’s also a bunch of cuttlefish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium – and when I took my friends’ kids there or my kids from the Big Brothers program (not the reality TV show) – I introduced them as cuddle-fish and gave them a big bear hug. They still remember that to this day.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column]
Philip with Sean (left) and Ryan in one of Big and Little Brothers gatherings in 1995 in California.
Fighting fish abounded in UPLB dorms during our time. But cuttlefish is good. I especially like the Ligo species, which usually comes in soy sauce.
You are going to get yourself in trouble for admitting that (never saw that fighting fish species myself – hah!). Do you remember the Ligo/Portola cans in the Philippines way back – big red tall tin cans? There’s a huge painting of it right by the entrance to Monterey Bay Aquarium, since that’s where they were processed (Cannery Row).
I have Cannery Row, paperback. You are into swimming, endurance biking, and you are a decathlete. Are you not trying out diving through the sky? Are you more afraid to dive without water than with?
Triathlete you mean (as in swim- bike-run)? Decathlon is all done in dry land when you have to run, jump through hurdles, throw shot put, javelin, discus and your coach, then do a ballet dance in Lycra tights and tutus at the tenth event. I only did the Olympic size as a tri-geek:1 mi swim, then 26 mile bike ride, then 10-Km run (no way for the Ironman size of 2.4 mi swim, 112-mi bike, then 26-mi run – training for it is called ‘having no social life’). BTW – forget about the fitness and social life aspect – I only went through the grueling training for 15 years so I can eat whatever I want (Are you going to finish that plate? What’s for dessert? And where do we go for the next meal?). Fellow divers I travel with know that when I say I am hungry they better find a restaurant with the next half-hour (they had been forewarned!), otherwise hypoglycemic crankiness sets in.
I did try bungee jumping once (when it was brand-new in New Zealand in 1990). But I do not want to be in any sport where I go upside down, become facially contorted and lose feelings to the lower part of my body – as in from the neck down! Hey – when I jump into the ocean water for scuba diving, go down and forget something I can always surface up and swim back to the boat. If I skydive and left my parachute behind or forgot to open it – I might not be able to make it back to the plane – won’t I?
You actually can, but in pieces. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Achievement I think is validating your existence through other people’s criteria and applauses. I don’t exist in this world that way. I live life in layers, enjoy each day and hope that my next day can be as good as or better than the previous one according to my goals. If there’s anything – it’s that I made a difference in other people’s lives by being a citizen of the world – I can relate to most people in the world because I can speak their language, appreciate their culture and offer some knowledge and a warm caring heart. Probably my volunteer work for the Big Brothers program for about 15 years was a validation, as I became a part of several kids’ lives. (BTW — Big Brothers/Big Sisters is a volunteer program that promotes the development of children through one-to-one friendships between adults and children. The program matches children ages 6 through 18 with mentors in professionally supported one-to-one relationships. Generally the adult male mentor gets matched up with boys growing up without fathers in the family, or similar for girls growing up without mothers for single-parent families, which is about 2/3 of the population).
If you really want to push it – then I can call myself a true global citizen, very globally aware, and can recognize that I am just a speck of dust in the human highway. There’s virtue in humility, after all. A sales rep in Argentina once told me that he had a client (a company president) who visited our office once at California (we used to get visitors from all over the world during the August summer trials). Apparently he enjoyed his visit tremendously and had blown up a huge picture with me shaking hands with him during his visit and had it posted at the lobby of the company headquarters for posterity. I never saw the picture, but do remember the fellow and talking with him in his language; I was just doing my job.
Last Updated on April 11, 2021 by Tudla_Admin
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