or: One Week of Vicarious Fish Spotting

I have given up on sword and razor-blade swallowing practice while sleeping. Over the past week, I have broadened my talents / skills in the event that I do have the opportunity to go on one of those Got Talent / X Factor shows:

– in attaching a hose to my nose, I would be able to put out fires for at least thirty minutes before needing a little time to rehydrate and then continuing. This talent has lasted almost the full week. I’m not sure how many fires I could have put out in that time and would assuming it would be based on the size of the fire, the combustible nature of the materials involved and the prevailing wind as well as if there was another water source being used.

– I can sound like a Persian cat coughing up hairballs complete with the same facial expression. This has also lasted a full week. I think it stops when I sleep.

– my dreams have taken on a life of their own and while incredibly unreasilistic (I was a burglar in one, robbing high end homes in Sydney during the Olympic Games because that’s when transport was free and I could make my getaway. I talked myself out of capture at a train station during one of my escapes as I had mistakenly exited the platform through the guard’s gate due to my backpack haul overflowing (silverware can be cumbersome) and needling the wider passage. The guard had pulled me aside to explain that exit wasn’t for me and was going to take me into the little room to have a proper talking to when I explained I was going to be late for some out of town guests and that wouldn’t look great while we were hosting The Games. I was then on my way).

This has had two rather unpleasant impacts:

– I have felt so lousy that I have taken some medication to help either relieve symptoms or make me better

– I haven’t dived the entire week.

The upside of all of this is:

– aside from this cold / flu thing going around, there is a gastro one also going around. I don’t think I’ve had the opportunity to catch that due to the various medications and this particular illness too.

Or because I’ve fended it off with my not inconsiderable sword skills.

In the meantime, I’m missing the fish.

I have been helping others identify the fish they have seen and have even been giving some fish identification lessons so people can look for something in particular and count how many of each of a few species they see. They are so pleased when they can do it and can see the difference between a few fish they thought were all the same kind previously.

I’m pleased they can get more out of their diving experience and come to enjoy the fish spotting as much as me.

I’m vicariously fish spotting.

Next week, back to the real deal.

* Thanks to The Cure again for the title to this post.