Poke It With A Stick

One of my exes, after I broke up with him, offered the dagger throw of, "Each time your heart gets broken, it's a little easier to put the pieces back together, because you know how they go."

I don't know that that's the case, and I don't know that I'd be that histrionic, but I do know that this time when I get a particular piece of somewhat recurring bad news, well, I still react to it. But not by flipping out or forming my own hysterics. Rather, I apparently just lose the ability to focus. And, okay, this is bad because I had a lot of work to get done this weekend.

And instead, I'm using my lack of focus to check out cool and lethally poisonous Australian marine life. Because, they're cool, y'know? And it's stuff you can die from that it's highly unlikely I will ever encounter (unless I fall in an aquarium or something, and I don't think you can legally possess any of these in the U.S.), so, I can just admire it.

Australia's got all KINDS of cool dangerous animals. I don't think Britain quite realized what they were doing when they planned their colonies. "Gee, the Americas rebelled, we can't use them as our prison anymore. Hey, what about that great big island way off yonder that we never do anything with? Let's send 'em there!" Decades later, "What's that you say? Nine of the world's ten-most-venomous snakes? Evidence of saber-toothed kangaroos? Walnut-sized invisible deadly octopi in the tide pools? We're brilliant!" Also, "Let's send the really bad'uns to Tasmania. Wonder what they'll find down there?"

I don't know why, but I find marine life relaxing, and often, the more dangerous it would be to me, the better. Possibly because I'm observing it through thick practically-transparisteel glass, and it can't possibly get me, so I enjoy the metaphor, because whatever stress-monster is currently chewing at me I would very much prefer to have on the other side of the glass. And I just find water relaxing in general.

Back in the day, I was at some point planning on going to school up in the Cities. This is not so very far from the MOA, which has, among its attractions, some very, very cool aquariums. And I'd planned (because I already knew how stressful nursing was going to be) that at least once a week, I would go down there and just...chill. For a couple hours, or whatever. (Yearly pass to the aquariums doesn't actually cost all that much, especially if you're going once a week). I still want to do that. Whenever I get too stressed, go to the aquarium, and watch the sharks. The sharks make me feel better.