Week 26: The perils of marine science.

at first i wasn't sure if i wanted to talk about this on the blog. reason being, i didn't want my parents to go all ape-shit crazy and start calling my ass every single day (not like they don't do it anyway HAHAHA!). but then i thought to myself, what the fuck...just tell la, maybe people will sympathise with your sorry state. so hear i am, telling you what happened.

if you have me on msn, you would've noticed that since sunday, i have been expressing my distaste for oyster beds (i.e. i fucking hate oyster beds). here's the story behind it.

last sunday, i went out to collect some abalone with eunice and hong. it was a pretty bad day, i had woken up at 7.30 in the morning (something i haven't done in months!), it was wet and windy and cold, i was still coughing like a bitch and here i was dragging myself off to parsley bay. but it was cool, i was up for it and 3 girls in a car can only mean good times.

so we arrived at parsley bay, and the wind still hadn't eased up. we did some recon work around the bay because none of us had ever been there. we approached the water and it was BLACK. yes, the bay water was as black as cincau and at that very instance, it made me so thankful that i had Little Bay to go collecting urchins in.


Little Bay: Oh limpid pools of crystal clear waters!

we were told by maria that abalone could be found around the rocky edge so we walked over. after much poking around we came to this area between the sand and the rocky shore which we had to cross and it was completely surrounded by oyster beds and slippery lichen-moss. hong went first, and she slipped but managed to right herself instantly. eunice went next, and she too slipped and stumbled but managed to maintain her balance.

at the back of my mind, i admit i sniggered a little and thought to myself, no way will i slip like them. and then it was my turn to launch myself across that treacherous stone and over to the other side. as i stepped over, i felt my foot slide beneath me and give way. the next thing i knew, i was flailing around trying to keep my balance while my left leg slashed its way through the oyster beds.

pain! embarassment! humiliation!

i quickly righted myself and scrambled over. i inspected my left foot and it seemed ok so i shrugged it off and continued ambling off albeit in a slightly awkward gait. 5 minutes later, eunice turns around, stares at my foot and shrieks, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR LEG WHY IS IT RED!?

huh? red? what?

i looked down and there it was in all its glorious vermillion - BLOOD! forming streams and streams of rich crimson sanguine running down the sides of my toenails and down my toes. and then the all-powerful omniscient moment that does not discriminate between persons and strikes without warning: the OH SHIT moment.

i quickly hobbled back towards the shore (blood trails = shark attack = oh my god!) and when i got to that treacherous stone, my heart stopped and i thought, shit, to jump or not to jump? then i took a deep breath and leapt across. THANK GOD I HAD PRIOR TRAINING ON THE BIG STEP FROM OB! i then washed up my foot and bemoaned my sorry state.


the Big Step as shown by Jote. you step off that red pole and onto a platform 230469234m away (ok la 1m).

ah the perils and dangers of marine science. there is a running joke in the byrne lab that one of us students will slip and die on the rock pools and rocky shores from a broken neck. and i can tell you that thought crossed my mind when i slipped on sunday - IZ ME! if only i had armed myself with a calculator instead of a snorkel and mask to face this big world. kinda makes me hate marine science sometimes HAHAHA!

yet, little things seem to materialise to steer this ship away from hate back to love. little things like this..WHOO HOO!



to-be-published BAYBEH!