EM107
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Too bad..i ain't got much of a choice. Couldn't get my first choice BS803..unlike some lucky folks..*nudge*..RAWR.. so i have to settle for second best..hmph..or wat seemed like second best to me. Point is I just wanna clear all my electives by this semester and I've only got one GE left to fulfill!!! HURRAY!!! so EM107 it is then...
Attended my first lecture for the module today. It was ok... the lecturer was rather long-winded though. he cld go on and on about the definition of 'Safety' for at least 10 mins. My goodness... its just a simple word for god's sake. But other then tt, I found the lecture rather interesting..refreshing in a sense, like a break from the usual physics and aero stuff that we take everyday. Well, at least I didn't feel like slping halfway thru the insanely long 3 hours lecture. Kudos to me! tee hee...
Most interesting part of the lecture wld have to be about electrical safety. was reminded of my near death experience on top of Tahan last summer. Found out that human skin when dry has a resistance of 0.1 - 0.6 mega-ohms but is reduced to a meagre 1000 ohms when it is wet..making us very likely conductors (especially in the case of lightning strikes). In the notes there was a scale of the different magnitudes of current and the effects of the electrical current on the body. Think what i suffered during the incident was a current of 50-150mA but in the lower range though. Its effects: extremely painful shock, respiratory arrest(breathing stops), severe muscle contraction. Flexor muscles may cause holding on; extensor muscles may cause intense pushing away. Death is possible. Thank God i lived on...
Recalling the fateful night, my heart is full of fear and i feel it pulsating through my chest. Having turned in early that night, the team had already settled in to rest in our tents in preparation for the tough climb the next day. Torrential rain was experienced two days in a row and as a result the rocky camping ground was soaking wet. It was a pretty pitiful sight, staring at a ground filled with pools of water. Slping was an entirely grotesque experience as the floor was immensely wet and the tent did nothing to protect us against the chill and the cold. But slowly, even the most restless of the bunch fell into gentle slumber after some time, probably due to the exertion of having scaled and descended the summit the day before. That night, we camped on high grounds, on the ridge of the magnificant mountain, exposed to strong winds that tore at the tent and shook it furiously, never did we realise that slping on such exposed grounds with a floor as wet as a swimming pool would prove lethal... It was a rainy night, lightning flashes frequently lighted the sky overhead and thunder rumbled nonstop... Aware of the situation outside, i shifted constanly in my sleep, feeling cold and miserable. Suddenly, I saw a bright flash of light before me, and almost immediately, my body jerked up into a sitting position. At that moment, it felt like ALL the muscles in my body had contracted involuntarily. I couldn't breathe, had no control of my muscles..pain wreathed through my entire body... In my mind, I was strike with the immediate fear of death, I struggled to gain control. I saw my mom calling out to me. So this is what it feels like to die. the pain was excrutiating, my jaw dropped and I screamed out..but nothing came out from my throat. A silent scream... My world was just a piece of bright mozaic and a high pitch buzzing sound in my ear.. It seemed like ages before my body slumped down on the tent floor, exhausted from the exhertion. I was fatigued... feeling bruised and battered... I struggling to breath, my chest hurt and my throat was parched. Thank goodness i was still in good mental shape and figured out that we got struck by lightning... a one in a million case... Then, I was paralysed from waist down as I was not able to feel both my legs and worst still not able to control any of the muscles. The tent was filled with a burnt smell, my worst fears played in my head. ' what if my legs were terribly burnt..and i can't walk forever?'... I panicked.. thank goodness after shining the torch light on them, they were perfectly fine except for a burn mark on my ankle due to the current passing through. It took a million years before i gained composure of my legs again and I was able to move my toes. The next day, I found out that I was screaming throughout the whole incident. gosh. Thank God that I survived the incident.. not many pple live through a lightning strike to be able to tell the tale of it. It must be God's grace...
But even as trekking has almost cost me my life, I never gave up on it. Its something that i enjoy doing. Pushing myself, challenging my limits, the physical and mental exhertion, play a huge part in helping me realise who am I and what i'm capable of. I will never stop climbing...
a picture taken after the fateful night at gedung.
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