ten ₱esos

I have enjoyed so much paddling my 11-foot board in East Bay, chasing dolphins, watching ospreys and pelicans dive for fish, watching F-15s and F-22s banking overhead…

I love it, I love it, I love it! Exercising out in nature … as soon as I push-off, and the board glides away from the beach, I am on the bay, amidst nature, away from civilization, which I don’t see behind me.

I see mostly green water below and before me, and blue sky and white clouds above. The bay is so peaceful. I mean it’s a peaceful place to be, even if the water’s not calm. I rarely see a boat on the bay. Every second or third day that I’m on the water, airplanes are overhead: twin-turboprop planes laden with sensors, little Beech turboprop trainers, F-4s, F-15s, F-22s, T-38s, and/or F-18s. I certainly don’t mind them disturbing the peace; I love to watch them fly, often directly over my head. Many of the pilots fly touch-and-goes, landing, lifting off, then banking left to fly over East Bay (and me) or right to fly over the Gulf. Some days pilots are just returning from sorties and land immediately after approaching.

But many days I quietly enjoy the peaceful ‘wilderness.’ I watch cormorants duck under the water’s surface to swim and try to catch fish, I watch mullet jump again and again out of the water, and I see below me ‘puffer’ fish inflate themselves and swim away. Small- and medium size skates also swim away from my big white board and yellow-blade paddle. Standing on a board I can see so much in the water that I wouldn’t see if I were swimming.

Yesterday I saw a turtle swimming in shallow water. I hadn’t seen turtles or horseshoe crabs for months.

As I did when I was swimming, I admire pelicans gliding fast close to the surface of the bay, other pelicans orbiting twenty meters high, looking for fish then diving upon them … I see egrets or cranes walking slowly along shores, looking for fish in shallow water, and of course I see gulls wandering.

I really enjoy being out there on the water. Every day is different – waves, or lack of them, wind speed and direction, sky brightness and clouds, wildlife to watch, maybe boaters in the distance, maybe airplanes above …

I went to church, I bought ‘back to school’ clothes and shoes, I ate lunch, I saw my nephews on Skype, and I’ve been reading, on the Internet, news of the nation and the world while I eagerly await the start of the IndyCar race in Loudon, New Hampshire on ABC television.  I hope to see Oriol Servia, James Hinchcliffe, and Tony Kanaan on the podium after the race.

Which two movies starring Nicole Kidman involved United Nations headquarters in New York City? (answer is below) »→

…….At Free Rice.com, I reached level 50 in English vocabulary, the default quiz, before losing interest. I encourage you to visit FreeRice.com and do one of the quizzes to donate rice to UN’s World Food Program. Quizzes for adults and kids are:

Famous Paintings

FIA has released the 2010 Formula One Grand Prix race schedule: »→

Do not watch the movie Seven Pounds unless you want to be bored to death as if the movie were seven hours long. It’s a strange, slow-moving, uninvolving movie that no one but the financiers would watch if it didn’t star Will Smith. The movie lacks ingredients that make for a popular American film:  running gun battle, boat chase, car chase, spaceship chase, extraterrestrial persons, cute robots, menacing robots, exploding cars, torture scenes, prurient nudity, dinosaurs, ‘local color’ such as a traditional wedding, funeral, dancing, music, festival, fair, landmark, national park, national monument, …

Do you reside near Homestead-Miami Speedway? You may want to see IndyCar drivers testing on September 30 from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.  free of charge from the fourth floor of the Speedway Club. I don’t know if they’ll use the oval track or the oval/road course configuration.  Scheduled are Danica Pat, Tony Kanaan, Sarah Fisher, Alex Lloyd, Raphael Matos, Mario Moraes, and Justin Wilson.

.

Team U.S.A. won the silver medal in the 24th King’s Cup

Sepak Takraw World Championship in Thailand

Team U.S.A., assembled by USA Takraw Association, got a silver medal in the Men’s Regu event in the Sepak Takraw World Championship.  The annual tournament, called the King’s Cup, is sanctioned by International Sepak Takraw Federation and hosted in Bangkok by the Takraw Association of Thailand. This year the King’s Cup was the first week in July. Though I didn’t travel to Thailand to watch it, I saw many matches on TV in Malaysia.

Without straining too much, I hiked up Bukit Bendera (Penang Hill) in 52 minutes, shaving five minutes from my typical time, so I was pleased.  I know that a time of 50 minutes is soon  attainable.  I think that aside from physical conditioning, the mild weather assisted me, rather than causing the usual heat stress.  Usually my clothes are soaked, I’m dripping with sweat, and I feel quite hot, as if I’m glowing.  Today I was almost dry when I reached the top, and I wasn’t dying for a bottle of water.  Hiking later in the afternoon than usual on a breezy day was undoubtedly a help. †

……This morning hundreds of people walked uphill in The Penang Hill Climb. I had not read of it in a newspaper or heard of it via radio. Around 1 p.m., Dominic and I, on motorbikes, approached the Penang Botanical Garden, Rock Quarry Recreation Park, rifle range and the road that winds up Bukit Bendera (‘Penang Hill’), I saw scores of Chinese people or ethnic-Chinese Malaysians wearing “Penang Hill Climb” souvenir t-shirts on a sidewalk and on the road streaming away from the park. Some had competitors’ 4-digit number tags pinned to their shirts. So I surmised that I’d missed an activity that I’d enjoy … »→

Well, on two consecutive days I hiked up the vehicle road that snakes up the north side of Flagstaff Hill/Bukit Bendera.  I hadn’t done hiked it two days in a row previously. So I was pleased with myself. I didn’t set any speed records, though.  I marched up in sixty minutes on Thursday, never jogging.  After a while of drinking water and gazing at the panoramic view of the eastern side of the island, I began the 5.1 km walk downhill, which I don’t enjoy. »→

I felt that I was king of the hill after I hiked up Penang Hill/Bukit Bendera again in 57 minutes, because I’d never seen anyone else going as fast as me. As far as I knew, everyone else walks slowly up, even backward, or four-abreast. Many people wear long-sleeve shirts and long pants and towels around their necks, and some hold umbrellas aloft.  So I’d thought that I was the fastest, as no one passes me, and I pass everyone. »→

Today I hiked up to the fountain and police station on Bukit Bendera (Flagstaff Hill) in 57 minutes. That’s three minutes faster than the last time. I didn’t march uphill faster, but I jogged further. I didn’t amble; I strode quickly on the inclines. I just didn’t hike faster than the last time. But jogging on more sections, and farther on the obvious ones, made the difference. In April and May, whenever I reached the mostly-level portions of the road after climbing a steep grade, I wanted to rest my legs by just walking. It’s only natural. And last time, when I hiked purposefully, nonstop, up the steep portions, I certainly wanted to ‘rest’ by ambling when reaching some of the easy segments. But I jogged according to my legs’ ability. »→

I hiked and jogged up the north side of Bukit Bendera (Flagstaff Hill) in exactly one hour. I’d intended to ascend non-stop as fast as I reasonably could. In previous hikes and descents I’d stopped one-to-three times to rest or to watch monkeys. One time I carried a camera. So I spent about an hour and a half -or more- each trip, if I stopped once for ten minutes and again for five minutes — or twice for five minutes — or once for ten minutes. I never timed my ascents. »→

The weather here on Penang is breezy and sunny and irresistible, so I went on another motorcycle tour of the island. And I saw teenagers playing Sepak Raga on three courts within a kilometer of each other. I was pleasantly surprised!  I hadn’t brought a camera, because I had only intended to swim from the beach of a fishing village on the corner of the island opposite from home, 24 km away. But after passing the first court then passing the second not so fast and thinking about spectating, I stopped to enjoy watching matches at the third court that I’d come upon at low speed in a neighborhood with a mosque, Islamic school and a small Sepak court.  »→

Today I swam from the rocky shore near Queensbay Mall to a neighboring island, Pulau Jerejak. I’d intended to do so for a while, but I wanted to be sure that I was fit enough to swim to the island and return, and Queensbay Mall and the island aren’t near home. »→

Between the presidential mansion and Mines View Barangay, I found kids sliding down streets on plastic scraps, including a broken personal computer case, a broken computer monitor case, and a cash-register drawer tray.  I made some photos of the gleeful street-sledding kids then joined them in sledding three times.

»→

Yesterday I walked from Vizco’s to, then up Mount Santo Tomas, Kubayao, Tuba, Benguet. I spent two hours, fifty minutes to reach the top, as I knew exactly how to get there, unlike the first time, and I wanted to arrive before nightfall. I saw the city lights this time, as darkness fell while I admired the view from the summit. I didn’t take a camera, though. »→