The dive downward into the murk started out as a bolt for freedom, but elation rapidly faded as the water quality degraded and light dimmed with every inch of travel. Soap was the dominant theme of the stagnant soup, along with bleach that seared delicate gills with every breath. But strength had returned with air once again an option, and the fish drove with increasing power through the murk, hoping for fresh water.

Distance brought no trace of change, nor any current at all, which was even more weird. The mystery was solved . . .

Monday it was 97 degrees out and we were groaning that the car's a/c unit was slow to get going after lunch. One short plane ride and a quick nap later, and this is the scene out the office window. I should probably be all friggin' upset and cranky, but somehow I'm not. Things are damn fine, regardless of the weather, and not just because the bosstypes sent us home at noon and may well tell us to stay home tomorrow if the snow piles up to the 1'+ that's forecast.

Fwiw, that's the Denver Police Mounted Patrol stables, with the interior of my workplace reflected all ghostlike in the window.

[Resurfaces, looks around] OK, what's been going on?

The complex had many small, outdoor hot tubs dotted about the place for use by the residents, one of them along a second-floor walkway a few steps from Ivy's back door. This pleased me a great deal.

Back in the party, Dawn and I chatted amiably and shared a grilled cheese sandwich. . . .

It's Venn Diagram time!!

Cow abductions? What cow? Where? These people are chapping my noodle in a special way, them and their no-cow cow abduction pictures. Feh.

Forgot I'd snapped this photo during the recent Seattle outing. (The only one I took, I think.)

Well, dammit. I was all set to make my first posts to the class discussion groups for my foray into graduate school, after completing orientation last Saturday. Today's the first day of the fall quarter, and I have the readings done, lectures heard, notes drafted. I even uploaded the notes documents to a web-based system I use (and also admin) so I could copy & paste then edit for some bbs posts. Whee!

Back in a world of lint and random grit, the fish indulged in a moment of frustration. Possibly, it reflected somewhat belatedly, the world wasn't quite as universally liquid as it had supposed or hoped. The range of possible dry abrasions seemed much, much wider that would seem convenient or even acceptable. The weird rhythmic locomotion of these weird dry-landers only exacerbated the problem as it continually scraped all manner of scratchy stuff against all the delicate structures that a fish needs most to live its life.

Also, oxygen was in disappointingly short supply. . . .

The adventures available inside the tapered styrofoam cylinder quickly exhausted themselves. The distant droning of the class resolved down to uninteresting background hum, punctuated by random shuffling of no great interest. The fish floated for a while, working its gills and fins, presenting what it imagined would be a pretty (if alarming) spectacle, should the owner of the tea decide to retrieve it and view the scene from above. But this carefully composed tableau remained unregarded and of only passing significance, even to the creature who made itself the material of potential art. Attention remained determinedly elsewhere, and a desire for diversion began to glow, then blaze, then silently, colorlessly, motionlessly explode. The fish was bored. . . .