Against my better nature, I decided to take my final assessment today. And, despite answering a few questions wrong, I actually managed to pass it. At least I know now what I need to study in order to make sure I know what I'm doing. And some of them were ridiculously easy, anyway. Don't know how I managed to get them wrong.

Anyways, all I need to do is write the Quick Review at the shop I'm taking my lessons from. Will probably do that closer to the time of my pool instruction.

Finished my online knowledge development today. Now all I gotta do is take the final assessment and I'll be done. I'll probably hold off doing it for a couple of days in order to devote my time to fully studying for it. (I ended up answering a few questions wrong on it, especially in the last section, which I actually DIDN'T pass the first time.)

It's not like I'm in a rush to do so, though, seeing as how my confined underwater training isn't until August (I imagine the intro course I'm taking in July is very basic, covering stuff I've already done.) In any case, things are looking up. Hopefully they'll stay that way.

Completed section two of my online learning course last night and found out that there's an Open Water class on August 5th. I'll be heading down to the show tomorrow to talk to the instructor about signing up for it. Hopefully by then I'll have the money to pull it off. Well, I KNOW I should, because, unless things go horribly wrong, I'll have the money next week.

Just completed section one of my online learning course. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, mostly because I had already done a lot of reading on the subject, so I was more than prepared. Still, I ended up missing a question on the assessment quiz, so even though so I still passed, I've still got a lot of learning to do.

I’m looking forward to continuing my knowledge development.

So tonight I rearranged my top eight friends. I feel kinda guilty, because I didn’t really want to, since I love SO many people on this site, and choosing eight specific people to be my top friends makes it seem like I'm playing favourites. The fact that I’m choosing different people to be in my top eight makes me feel like I’m doing a disservice to those who had been there before, so I just want to say that the friends I've made here are so awesome and that if you’re part of my SG family, it’s because I’m thankful for your friendship.

Went to the doctor's today for a physical, and was declared fit enough to dive. I therefore went to the dive shop I intended to do my training at and signed up for the Discover Scuba class on July 8th. I would have preferred to choose a closer date, but I've got conflicts the only two times the class is offered next month. On the other hand, it will give me the opportunity to get some more pool time in so I can be more comfortable in the water, and also do some reading to make myself more knowledgeable on the subject, so I can’t really complain.

One month and one of my dreams comes true. Exciting doesn't even begin to cover how I feel right now.

Despite a small hiccup in my weekend (which I'd rather not get into; suffice it to say that the weekend didn't turn out the way I wanted it to), I still went ahead with my plans for the day: spending time breaking in the wetsuit at the local pool. I have to say, it was a very interesting experience. I had tried it on several times after I had bought it, but this was the first time I had worn it in water. It felt strange and exciting at the same time. And, I must admit, a little sexy. I mean, I've only recently come to terms with the fact that there are people out there who find me good looking (something I myself have never believed in), and I've always had a fascination with seeing women in wetsuits, so the combination of those two feelings was certainly something interesting to think about.

The experience has also led me to shift things around in my plan. I had originally been planning to wait until I had gotten enough money to take both the Intro course and the Open Water course at the same time. However, I think I can't really wait any longer to have my first true underwater experience, so I've decided that I'm going to go see my family physician, explain to her what it is that I’m planning to do, and undergo a complete physical to see whether or not I have any potential health issues that could scuttle my entire plan. And if things come through, I’ll be signing up to take the Intro course the middle of next month.

I love it when things go right.

My plans to begin my dive training hit a little snag a while back (the money I was saving to do it mostly got spent @ FanExpo), but I've managed to get back on track now. Yesterday I bought the last piece of equipment I needed to complete my basic kit (the wetsuit I had previously posted about but was unable to purchase at the time), and now it's time for phase two.

The shop where I intend to do my training has an intro to diving course for $45, and an open water course for $450. Together, and with tax factored in, it comes to $520. I had most of the money saved up back in April, but as I said, most of it got used for FanExpo swag instead, so I had to start from (almost) scratch. Thankfully, I've worked out a plan whereby, with a little skill and luck, I'll have the money I need by the end of next month. Then, one clean bill of health later, and I'll be ready to begin my journey under the sea.

I'll be heading to the pool on the weekend to test out my complete kit. It should be interesting to see how well the wetsuit works underwater. I've never worn one before. Should be fun.

Here's a couple of pics of me in the gear.

Hey, everybody. As you may or may not know, my birthday is on Saturday. I just wanted to request that if you are planning to send me a birthday message either in a PM or in a blog post, please refrain from saying "May The Fourth Be With You". Yes, I am a Star Wars fan. No, I do not find that joke amusing. Thank you in advance.

Well, FanExpo Vancouver has come and gone. And despite only getting an hour's worth of sleep the entire weekend and spending Sunday operating on a combination of energy drink buzz and good wishes, a fun time was most assuredly had. The main reason I went to the con was to meet Juliet Landau and James Marsters. James told me that he loves coming to conventions. It's nice to know that celebrities love to do cons. And Juliet was incredibly gorgeous, in an elegant kind of way.

I attended a number of panels: one on Continuum (a locally shot sci-fi show) the Landau/Marsters panel (which I left halfway through, as I hadn't eaten at all by that point in the day and was hungry as hell) and the Stan Lee panel (where someone swiped the question I was going to ask him.) Apparently, according to him, the reason The Avengers made so much money was because we were all searching for his cameo appearance.

Also got a chance to hang out with Aadie and Chevvy, who were there to promote Jack of All Trades Clothing [/Cheap Plug Ala Mick Foley] on Saturday, and Alkaline on Sunday. Gave Chevvy and Aadie some of my old comics. (Chevvy's a big Buffy/Angel fan, so I gave her some of my old Spike comics, while I gave Aadie some of my old Transformers comics.)

Oh, and then this happened.





Feel that? That's your mind exploding after seeing the epic awesomeness of these pics.

Some more random pics from the con:




















And my swag.