Semester 12 Chapter XVI: Dear USA, Fuck You

Okay, seems like we just can’t escape fuckery. I mean, the world has been falling apart for some time but it’s literally like every week we get another blow right into the face. And listen, I’m not religious. I believe there are forces stronger then our individual selves, I believe in energy, I believe in love and I believe in empathy and compassion. But I don’t follow the book and I don’t sing songs about that bearded fellow upstairs. Having said that, I don’t have anything particular against Christians. If that shit makes you feel happier, if it makes your time here more bearable, if it helps you with your moral compass… Do what you gotta do. We all believe in something. My problem kinda starts when you start to fuck with other people’s liberties, rights and lives. Now, I’m not gonna blabber about how ass-backwards the whole institution is. How incredible it is to actually have a conversation (in 2022) if women should have equal rights in your system, how crazy it is to discuss whether LGBTQ+ people should be viewed equally as everybody else and should be granted equal rights (and you can kindly stop calling that disease too).. And don’t let me start with flat out acts of homophobia, hatred and pedophilia coming directly from your circles. Today, we’re not here for that. Overturning Roe v. Wade ruling is so stupid, it is actually hard to believe it happened. It jeopardizes safety of women, it takes away their right to be in charge of their bodies and it will lead to very dark things. There’s gonna be more illegal procedures, there’s gonna be more killing of new-borns, there’s gonna be more pain and lives wasted for being put in conditions where nobody is there fit enough to raise them. Rich women might be lucky enough to just travel some place else to do this if needed, poor women are fucked. Congratulations. It really begs a question what the fuck would the conversation would be if men were the ones giving birth. Anyways, by the current development, we are setting a new dangerous precedent, we are erasing decades of progress and we are literally playing with death. And all of you fucking fundamentalists… The blood is on your hands. 

 

Okay, so that’s that. My life tho… So it’s been some diving. The owners of the dive shop got back so I’m not responsible for refilling cylinders anymore and shit takes a bit less time in general which is lovely. I did an Advanced course with this lovely lady from Netherlands on Monday and Tuesday, and I did two dives in Tabaiba with a gentleman from the same country on Thursday. All enjoyable. With the girl I also went out twice for a drink. That’s the good thing about diving. It keeps you around people to some degree. Which is extremely healthy for my introverted ass.

 

The rest of week was dry for me. So I took it slow and enjoyed all the little shit. I went to the wet market on Wednesday to re-up on my veggies, I watched some movies, I caught up with some music… And on Friday, I took the Pluto and drove it to Viaflor; reportedly the highest placed village in Tenerife South. It’s actually only 19km but you get from the sea level to around 1400m. Pluto did it with ease. I quickly found a hiking trail which led me to this Lunar Pasaje spot. Beautiful views, great conditions, lotta pine trees… And not a single soul around. Shit felt therapeutic. 

 

It’s Sunday early morning, I just had my breakfast, I’m gonna do some teaching and probably go meet a friend later on. Hope everyone’s doing well. And when encountered with bullshit, please speak up. This world is upside down, shit ain’t funny, it’s all getting pretty dark… But I really wanna believe that as long as we have some genuine humanity left in us, there’s a chance. Maybe. One!

Highlights:

• The hike.
• The dives.
• The drives.

Semester 12 Chapter XV: Sharks

Let me talk my shit again. Not for too long but let me get back at it. So in the Czech Republic our lovely leaders are about to process the possibility of giving gay people equal rights. I’ve been on this topic before, I’ve made my position known, there’s not much more to say to that. Now… What’s really impressive are some of those confused Christians’ arguments. Let me throw some at you just so we can all have laugh. So apparently, LGBTQ+ lobby is blackmailing banks and financial institutions so they implement and promote diversity in the workplace. I would pay top money to see what to they picture when they say that. And what exactly do they feel is the power distribution in our society. Because if those alleged lobbyists can do that (to accomplish something as heinous as promoting diversity and equality), I should really re-evaluate my life, put together a group of like-minded people and go blackmail the shit out of whole bunch of places. Next… Without mom and dad, kids won’t have both natural role models of different gender. That one is easy actually… Everyone I know grew up in a household where parents either divorced, argued all the time, danced on the verge of alcoholism, straight up fell into it, or were just completely emotionally dead. All of us carry tremendous baggage from our upbringings, so please get the fuck out of here with that bullshit… My recent favorite is that gay people raising children is connected to violence and human trafficking. That’s just gold. To be honest, world is shit. We face so many different catastrophes, it’s getting difficult to keep count, and we are still being ruled by cynical privilliged fuckheads with dollar signs in their eyes. We see life being sucked out of people by dead-end jobs that mostly don’t make any sense and are not rewarded appropriately. Every time I really think about anything beyond my micro-world, I slide directly into anxiety. So if you still got people who not only found love but also see some future over here, get the fuck outta their way. Like expeditiously. Marriage should be fucking grateful there’s some people still interested in it, not the other way around. Motherfuckers should be happy that there are loving families willing and ready to have and raise children. If you are against gay marriage, don’t get yourself into one. This shit doesn’t concern you, this shit doesn’t affect you. You are wrong, you are stupid as fuck, you embarrass yourself, and your god is dead. Go deal with something more important… 

 

Aight, back to Tenerife. Life has a pretty convenient pace here. Last week I spent almost all days out there diving. Mostly DSDs so nothing too special, but I introduced whole bunch of people to this thing and majority of them were thrilled. On Saturday, I took this group to Las Vistas beach. See, that spot is a pretty popular one because it’s right in the heart of Los Cristianos and it’s super easy. So perfect for beginners. Beyond that it’s not bad but there’s really not that much to see. Not Saturday tho. Over those two dives we saw a baby shark and one of the biggest rays I’ve ever seen. That thing had to be nearly 2 meters long. Just chilling, slowly swimming around, being cool as fuck. Incredible. Today I went to Marazul for some fun diving… Place was fucking packed. We did see an octopus tho and due to great visibility, dives felt real good too.

What else… In terms of socializing, it was mostly online. Catching up with my close ones, doing some online beers, shit like that. Work is going well, workouts are still a daily thing, I feel pretty good and I do appreciate these summer vibes. When I’ll get some days off, I’m gonna do some trips around the island again for sure. I hope you guys are well, stay safe, stay dangerous, stay humble, stay open-minded and don’t entertain bullshit. One!

Highlights:

• New Westiside Boogie and Yaya Bey.
• All the sea creatures.
• My people.

Semester 12 Chapter XIV: Tripping

Hello everybody, hope y’all had a good week. Tenerife has been pretty nice in terms of weather, things are going well, energy is good… It’s 7pm, I got the new Blxst in the headphones and we are going to dig into what has happened here. 

 

It’s been pretty eventful in terms of diving. I finished the OWD on Sunday, I did some boat dives Monday and Thursday, I helped out with an AOWD for my first Tenerife dive shop in Costa Adeje, I did a DSD, and today I started another AOWD with this guy from Mexico. The ultimate highlight was seeing a shark on one of these boat dives. I totally didn’t have a camera on me but it was awesome. The animal wasn’t that big but it was my very fist time seeing one (if I don’t count angel sharks). The owners of the dive shop went back home for like 10 days and left the key with a pretty packed schedule with me. Which is cool because there’s work and it also sucks a bit because it’s mostly DSDs on it for the next week. I also had to take couple of deep breaths to re-accept the fact that you just don’t do diving for money. I mean, it’s one of the best things in the world and it’s a welcomed side gig but for some reason (and I’m positive it’s because the market is indeed flooded with youngsters willing to slave their ass basically for free) turns everybody greedy. Not gonna go into detail but in diving, everybody is quick to overcharge everybody (including staff) and very reluctant to appreciate some extra effort or time invested into their business (not only with money but some gestures of good will too). Which is fine, if shit works it works. And you can absolutely run your business as if everyone is replaceable but what cracks me up is that these people often complain how difficult it is to find instructors for long-term contracts. Like duh… 6 days working week 9 hours daily on some wannabe contract with no paid vaycay, no employee benefits, often no social or health insurance (salute to the exceptions!). They say that the average instructor stays in the business for about 3 years before they burn out. I feel I found a sweet spot where I’m at with it for now but god… You want to have people staying with you long-term, you kinda have to act on it too. But again, since my livelihood doesn’t really depend on diving and since I fucking love doing it, I’m good. It’s just fascinating… And I wanna send love to all the instructors out there who take this shit seriously and provide great memories with their whole heart, soul and body on daily basis. I know for a fact that it often takes a lot and doesn’t really give back as much. 

 

What else... I went out with the girl I did the OWD once more last Sunday. We went to this lovely shisha spot in Los Cristianos. They were screening a football match between Spain and the Czech Republic which only reminded me how little do I know about what’s going on in the world of sports. The hangout was super nice tho. Yesterday, I hopped in the Pluto and took that motherfucker up north. I went through Santiago del Teide and proceeded to Puerto de la Cruz. My first time being there. Pretty lovely town; a bit touristy but not as much as the south and I really enjoyed the parks, churches, architecture and views. Ocean was definitely wilder up there. In the evening, I met up with this girl for a drink and we had a pretty nice chat. Took me about an hour to get back home. That time I went through the west side, mostly on highways. Easy. Pluto managed with grace. You can tell that it doesn’t like steep hills but it does well. Kudos to Pluto! 

I’ve been in touch with my loved ones, I’ve been trying to write here and there, I’ve been on my workouts, I’ve been reading shit and listening to some new music, I’ve been teaching. All the regular. Oh, and these days I’m testing some new dive computers and wet suits. That is actually pretty cool. I hope you guys are doing beautiful, I hope the weather is nice wherever you at and I hope to see some of you during the summer. One! 

Highlights:

• Testing new gear.
• The road trip.
• Shark!

Semester 12 Chapter XIII: Test Diver

What’s good y’all. Good morning from Tenerife. It’s yet another Sunday morning, got the new 070 Shake in the headphones, energy is good and I sincerely hope y’all doing well too. Last week was pretty busy over here so without further ado, let’s get to it. 

 

I’ve been pretty preccupied diving. I actually had only one day off. Monday to Wednesday I was doing OWD course with this dude from the US and from Friday I’ve been on Advanced with this girl from Japan. Both really enjoyable. On the only dry day, Thursday, I hopped in the Pluto and went to Medano to pick up a spare strap for my diving computer which I ordered couple weeks back through my friend running a dive shop over there. Took the opportunity to get some vegan ice cream and walk around the town a bit. Oh, and my main dive center also approached me with an offer to become a test diver for one of the major scuba brands. See, they are a demo center for it so here and there they receive new gear to test out and since I dive with them a lot, it seems only logical. There’s no money in it but I’ll get to try out different things before they hit the market and shit. Already had to sign an NDA. Had a chance to try a new set of fins and I’m gonna start working with some computer prototypes today. It’s pretty exciting. 

What else… Last Sunday I ran into my flatmate in the living room around noon and we came up with a spontaneous idea of doing a hike up in Adeje. We did like 13km up and down the hill. Visibility was awesome, hike was great, we had a good talk and flushed it with some beer afterwards. I also spent one evening with my diver friend. We hung out in Las Galletas; lovely. I also drove my car into the mechanic’s Wednesday afternoon. My flatmate arranged it, he’s just around the corner, it’s a small family business and they seem really nice. I got to practice my shitty Spanish, they got to practice their shitty English, it was fun. Asked the guy to replace oil and check the engine. He did just that, changed some filters and charged me like 40 EUR. Much appreciated. Pluto definitely sounds better now. 

 

Yesterday I went our for a drink with the girl I’m doing the course with. She only came for the weekend and since she obviously doesn’t know anybody over here, she suggested a meet up. I drove to Cristianos a bit earlier to stop by at the Chinese store for some tofu and noodles. The hangout was cool tho. Nice convo by the Vistas beach, beautiful night drive back home. All good. 

 

Today I’m finishing the advanced course with her and I already have some dive bookings lined up for next week. Enjoying this shit. Sending some good vibes and healing energy to everybody who needs it, sending some love to all my people and shout out to all my readers. One! 

Highlights:

• Testing new shit.
• Hangouts.
• New 070 and Vory albums. Super smooth.