I love Ferris Plock's work.

The Seafarers - Sea of Love from Eighty Four Films on Vimeo.

I'm a fan of Ferris Plock and Kelly Tunstall. I dig this video. It hits home where possession vs. freedom is an issue I struggle with. I'm torn between submitting to the joy of monogamous love, safety and passion with Joel or reclaiming freedom, momentum, and peaceful clear sense of self.

Keeping ocean fish as pets is a sucky idea, impressive as it is. I saw a nearly floor to ceiling tank while serving papers at a fancy law firm in Chicago once and dreamt of owning fish myself someday when I'd be "rich." Now I'm thankful I've had the chance to scuba dive, swimming with the fish, viewing them in the comfort of their own natural homes instead of imprisoning them. (Read The Voyages of Dr. Doolittle, Fidget's Story, for more ocean fish perspective.)I've learned that a lot of reef habitat gets destroyed by aquarium industry while capturing live fish for sale. They squirt cyanide in the rare fishes faces to stun them, often killing them and always destroying coral and other life nearby. This practice developed in the Philippines but is now widespread where ever there are pristine coral reef and beautiful rare fish . There are regulations against these practices; however, like all animal poaching, the business is so lucrative that while the demand for pretty aquarium stock is so great, cyanide fishing will continue to ruin reef environments. Sorry to spoil it for you, but notice that your favorite restaurant's fish tanks often change stock. Some aquarium fish may live a few years with excellent care and a lot of luck. In their own habitat they would live a lot longer. Most aquarium fish last only a month or so. This is great for the aquarium industry. Its ironic that many aquarium hobbyists are also scuba enthusiasts. I wish these fellow divers and snorkelers would feel more empathetic for the animals they enjoy viewing and for the world's prodigy that would like to view these animals in the future. I wish restaurants would post photos (or those nifty animated digital photo frames,) of their underwater experiences and leave the actual fish to their own homes and lives so we can all visit them again on vacation.

Here's another related pet peeve. I was swimming in the Colombia River gorge Saturday, instead of vending. Super fun. Anyway , I'm such a good swimmer, Joel grabbed my toe for a ride. That made it super tough to swim as you can imagine. That was fine and fun for us having a good time on the surface of the water where I can breathe but I immediately sympathized with all the poor turtles that stupid tourists in Hawaii and Mexico grab onto for a ride. That is soooooo lame. Please don't do that y'all. O.K? You can swim so close as to touch them, which is sooo cool and beautiful an experience. They're so docile and curious, they'll let you swim along with them, especially if you wear a tie dye shirt because they think you are part of a healthy reef then. Watch how often they go up for air. They can't do that as easily if you are dragging them down. Imagine their panic. Yeah? Lousy idea, huh?

I've decided to take a break from school this fall and do something with what I've learned so far, in a Montessori way, validating and reinforcing things, utilizing the info, rather than just gathering and gathering it uselessly to no avail.

Well, shoot. I really want to take the research writing class with O'Laughlin. I obviously need it, especially for the bug project mentioned below. He's the best most inspiring English teacher. I want to take the Entrepreneurship class too that walks you through writing business plans to supplement my Tahopia site. If I could just take the classes for what they're worth to me, ignore the grade and go about my business. I wish that the powers at the Learning center that grant amenities to "disabled" kids like me could see that if they're giving me extra time on tests and junk like that which I don't really need as much, they should also give incompletes more freely and give more time to finish assignments. If I could go to class, attend lectures, struggle to keep up with the reading so I can participate in discussions but have extra months to finish the written assignments, then I could get somewhere. Well, as it is, its just a bummer.