for somebody who’s scared shit of jumping into the water, not because i can’t swim but because i start to get petrified the moment i couldn’t feel the solid ground beneath me, i do find the underwater life amazing. mesmerizing, even. especially so when i view it in a controlled environment.

like in a mega petri dish an aquarium.

or when i’m snorkeling and the salty water hasn’t yet penetrated my already-fogged up goggles and i see all them fishes darting in, out, and around gloriously colorful corals that seem to be dancing to the rhythm of the sea.

although i don’t mind watching the underwater life on the background of a videoke too. or on any tv screen, for that matter. 4k or not.

but aquariums are pretty terrific by themselves. especially the huge ones that could house practically the entire ocean in there.

and you’re there right in the middle of it all.

grounded in your smallness.

the huge stingrays swimming effortlessly all around you. giving you that awkward smile you’re free to interpret as either mocking or charming. it’s cute, though, their smiles. although i’m not a big fan of their stings because, you know, steve irwin.

they say that fishes are a good therapy for ADHD kids. calms them down. i don’t have it (jeff does. lol.) but something about the fluidity of the fishes’ movements calms me down. sitting there, i must have looked like an autistic child with her hands cupped on either side of her eyes, almost kissing the thick glass panels. (“look, jeff, this is so cool!”)

but trust me, you get the best view that way: an unobstructed macroscopic tunnel vision of the mini schools of fish scattered by the sharks that are not being chased by the stingrays because, for some reason, they all coexist together.

here’s a video of what it would be like once you drop your guard and pretend you’re a mermaid (which i may or may not have done at the time).

it’s not the best video, i know. i’m still in the process of working on my video editing skills, although i don’t know why i should bother when i have someone who can do it for me for free (hi, jeff!) but i didn’t want those clips wasted. jeff took some really nice videos. you can even watch my blonde moment in HD which he captured as well.

me (reading a sign on the aquarium about how the glass distorts the actual size of the animals): …(blah, blah, blah) can make the animals appear up to 1/3 smaller so it’s like, they’re 3x larger.

like, DUH! *facepalm*

but seriously, though. am i the only one who loves aquariums?!