Adventure Courses Coming out of my Butt

It's true. I've got the stretch marks to prove it. Tonight, for instance, Sonja and I will have our third "confined water dive" for our SCUBA open-water certification course. It's pretty fun, but swimming around for three hours in a heavily chlorinated pool after thirty 1st graders all pee in it does tend to irritate the skin/eyes/nose/stomach. Although, to be honest, I actually contributed to the pee-content of the pool during our last dive. It's been a long time since I've peed in a swimming pool, and I can tell you that the experience is every bit as wonderful as I remember from childhood.

Here's what I look like when I go SCUBA diving while wearing a very masculine-looking mask. Unfortunately, the Alaska Sealife Center (who is sponsoring this course) doesn't have any pink masks, so I have to wear some girly black ones. I'm also a lot more muscular than I was when that picture was taken, so I make a much more dashing figure in my wetsuit nowadays. Just ask Sonja. However, since the open-water diving we'll be doing here in Seward involves swimming around in water that's only 38 degrees Fahrenheit, I'll have to cover my manly physique with a big, bulky drysuit. I suppose it's a good thing, though, since I noticed one of my instructors was getting jealous of my rock-hard abs and massive pecs. Probably better not to make your dive instructor cry right before a big dive, eh?

The other adventure course I'll be participating in this weekend is my Wilderness First Responder re-certification. I'll be travelling to Talkeetna and staying at the Roadhouse for the weekend while I spend my days treating all sorts of gruisome, albeit pretend, injuries.

That means I'll be in a non-posting mode until Monday, so don't expect any updates over the weekend. I'll hopefully have lots of cool fake blood and compound fracture pictures to share when I get back, though, so be sure to check back next week.