how precious, and short, life is

i guess you can say today was a day, one of those days where you realize how life short is, and not to take anything for granted. after working on creating labs, materials, and software for the class, we took a break today to go out and explore more of kenya. we went to paradise lost, a place where there were waterfalls, caves, and lots of green scenery. maybe not as exciting as last week's visit to Hell's Gate, but still a great way to relax and enjoy a Sunday morning.

Tess also came along, and we headed out by riding another matatu. if you haven't heard of what a matatu is, it's pretty much a transportation system where mini vans with like 9 seats come driving along roads to pick up people at designated location. and although there are nine seats, they want to make the most money, so they'll jam pack as much people inside a van as possible. so i was scqueshed up into one of these vans today, and the ride wasn't as pleasant as during the night, but nevertheless, i'm not complaining. it was cheap, and hey, there was rap music, so i was fine. after about an hour or so, we got to our destination. turned out we needed to walk about 2km before we reached the entrance, and paid our fee. it was a good walk, very relaxing, nothing but trees, more trees, and mini villages.

we hiked up to the top, where there was a nice little waterfall, as well as a cave that we crawled through. i was a little scared, cause it was completely dark, and i wasn't sure where the heck i was going. finally saw some light, and the inside of the cave. a man was preaching to everyone in the cave about peace, and then asked for donations. we left the cave, walked down of the hill, and saw a lake with people on mini boats paddling along the lake. zach wanted to swim real badly, and michael and tess also joined him. the rest of us weren't sure whether it was a good idea, one being that the water may be super dirty, and another, well not quite sure.

after five minutes of watching them three swim off to the other side of the river, i decided i needed to get into the water. i mean, i'm from hawaii, and when am i going to get the chance again to swim again. so i guess this is the part where i didn't use common sense. if i was smart, i would have known to not go into the water with no lifeguard, and the fact that everyone was already on the other side, so that if something were to happen to me as i was swimming across the river, and like all of a sudden maybe i got tired out or got a cramp, no one would come to get me. even if they did, i would have probably passed out, or worse. but you know me, i never think before i do, and so i just swam ahead.

things were going great. the hawaiian boy was swimming merrily across. i reached like maybe not even 1/4 of the way before i started getting tired for some reason. my arms felt like they wouldn't be able to handle the rest of the swim. i didn't panic or anything, but somehow got the feeling that maybe it wasn't a good idea for me to continue swimming on. it wasn't worth going to the other side, and i was already running out of breath. i was already in the deep zone, my legs trying to help my body stay afloat. i saw a group of school girls on a boat, and started chatting with them, asking if they could take me across to the other side of the river. i hung onto their boat for awhile, hoping to get in, but didn't have the strength to pull myself in, and i was afraid i might tip the boat over, causing a bigger mess for myself and others. i also saw an african man talking to them, or maybe me, and i figured he was saying something about me not suppose to be in the waters. screw it, i decided to just swim back to where i started. it wasn't worth trying to swim to the other side, especially since i was getting fatigue, and somehow my gut was telling me that somehow things could turn bad by the time i was halfway through, all tired out. damn, i'm still scared right now just thinking about it. i started swimming back, the whole time telling myself i wasn't going to die today, not here not now. by the time i almost reached back to the shore, i was tired. i thought i had reached the shallow area, and so i stopped swimming/treading, and put my feet down. crap, i felt no floor bottom, and sunk in for awhile. i pulled myself together, and just barely made it to the grass area. the african guy saw me, and i just reached out my hand to him, asking him to pull me up. i wouldn't say i almost drowned....i would say i was a stupid boy, not having common sense and not using my head. i'm lucky to have been able to swim back to shore. i don't really know what would have happened had i decided to try and swim to the other side. my god, the entire time after i was back on land, i was just staring out into the lake. somehow, things could have turned out badly. my body would have just sunk into the lake, and it would've just been over for me. the guy who pulled me back out told me that swimming was prohibited. a tourist died last year from swimming, cause somehow he was just tired out. he also told me that the lake sloped downwards, especially in the middle, and that if one was tired in the middle of the lake, they could get sucked in and not get back up. i don't know if he was saying this to scare me, but i for one knew that i probably wouldn't have been able to make it to the other side, nor be able to swim back to shore had i gone out further.

long story short....life is short, and can dissapear in an instant. in my case, a cramp, a panic, a breakdown, or anything simiar would have ended it for me.

i'm lucky to be able to blog about this at this very moment. i'm back at the apartment safe and sound. we went to a nice morracan restaurant for dinner, and i ordered the beef carai, which was pretty good and filling. we relaxed to the candle lights and fireplace, and quiet night right outside. it was great, and the entire time i was thinking, wow, i would not be here right now had my actions been different earlier on during the day.

it's so scary sometimes. people joke about death all the time, but holy shit, till you actually know you could have died had you done soemthing stupid, joking about death isn't funny anymore.

i learned my lesson ( hopefully ) and think twice before doing something that could put my life in danger. i don't want my parents to have to worry about me, and i will make sure to not do stupid things like this again. never swim alone, and never swim without making sure someone is there to save you in case somethign happens.

today was a lucky day for me. i will make sure to cherish every moment i have. life is just too short. we're all just a breath away from losing the things we love.

well, on a bright side, we have classes again tomorrow, and we'll start introducing OOP, as well as SMS technology this week. should be fun. i still need to finish up what i have to do for the phone emulator.

other than that, stay safe, and i will make sure to stick around to post more blogs on the upcoming days. aloha.