(Pardon the dust. I got tired of the see-through head and became entranced by the pirate-looking devil doll above. And no, that doesn't explain why I haven't dealt with the archive of entries you currently see sprawling all the way down one side of the screen. This is what happens when you start a website redesign and then--hey is that a penny? So shiny!)

While this did start out as an entry about my various misadventures learning to scuba dive, the stories are actually way more than one entries' worth. Summary: I am an enthusiastic but uncoordinated sports participant.

Lately, I have been pelted by benthos. I'm making slow and steady progress through the Marine Conservation Biology book mentioned earlier and it is all about benthos. And then this morning I was tooling around various New Zealand university sites (what? Do other people not do this?) and the words "deep-sea benthic megafauna" became wedged in my brain, where they are currently scrolling merrily along my mental marquee like an early 90s screensaver.

"Benthos" refers collectively to all aquatic organisms which live on, in, or near the bottom (substratum) of water bodies. Clams? Benthic. Caddisfly larvae? Benthic. Scuba divers, shipwrecks and treasure lost over the side in a big storm, lying unclaimed for centuries? Ditto. And so, in order to stop the marquee from scrolling, I will swing by the library and get out a textbook on benthology. Or perhaps I will just finish the Marine Conservation one. The day is young, life is good and my library card has no limit set on it.

At one point, I loved words. I got many, many (too many) degrees in words, and then one very frightening day I woke up and found that I had fallen out of love with those words. And brains. And hospitals. The list goes on. The Project apparently removed a larger part of my self than previously thought. Although, in conversation with friends I'm finding that I'm not alone. The geneticist has gotten a certificate in tech writing, the toxicologist wants to go massage people and tell them how to eat right and get in the raft already. It must be something in the water.

Let me know if the devil doll layout is too much. I won't change it, but at least I'll know.