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lotsofplantsAbout two weeks ago, went to the aquarium with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gfish and corivax and vixyish. Very nifty, many pretty critters. They had a large tidepool exhibit where people could touch the critters--sea urchins and star fish and crabs, sea cucumbers and a whelk guarding its eggs, and fish in the deeper pools with little signs saying not to touch them, because they would be injured by it. A big tank of tropical fishies, bright blue and yellow and orange, black and white and purple, the water extending past our heads, swimming lazily or rapidly or poking at bits of sand or coral. A small display of sea horses and sea dragons, tiny graceful hippocampi from another planet, swaying with the current in contemplation, their tails wrapped around a thread of weed. A dome tank of fish native to this region, with prominent signs announcing feeding times (done by divers). And playful otters and lazy seals and a couple very confused birds. And jellyfish. This large ring, sideways in the floor to make an arch large enough for a tall person to walk through, water circulating the jellies. And some of them swam, and some of them drifted with the current, and some were dead. There were a couple, smaller ones, on the side the water was going up. They were very determinedly swimming down, so intently that their downward motion exactly matched that of the water upward, keeping them suspended in the same location, just below eye level, their four-part symmetry illuminated by a colored fluorescent lamp. And it kind of felt like an analogy for life lately. Swimming as hard as you can, and managing only to remain in the same place. And it's tempting to stop swimming and just drift. But most of the drifters were dead, tissues torn from impacts, perfect symmetry spoiled.
gfish and corivax and vixyish. Very nifty, many pretty critters. They had a large tidepool exhibit where people could touch the critters--sea urchins and star fish and crabs, sea cucumbers and a whelk guarding its eggs, and fish in the deeper pools with little signs saying not to touch them, because they would be injured by it. A big tank of tropical fishies, bright blue and yellow and orange, black and white and purple, the water extending past our heads, swimming lazily or rapidly or poking at bits of sand or coral. A small display of sea horses and sea dragons, tiny graceful hippocampi from another planet, swaying with the current in contemplation, their tails wrapped around a thread of weed. A dome tank of fish native to this region, with prominent signs announcing feeding times (done by divers). And playful otters and lazy seals and a couple very confused birds. And jellyfish. This large ring, sideways in the floor to make an arch large enough for a tall person to walk through, water circulating the jellies. And some of them swam, and some of them drifted with the current, and some were dead. There were a couple, smaller ones, on the side the water was going up. They were very determinedly swimming down, so intently that their downward motion exactly matched that of the water upward, keeping them suspended in the same location, just below eye level, their four-part symmetry illuminated by a colored fluorescent lamp. And it kind of felt like an analogy for life lately. Swimming as hard as you can, and managing only to remain in the same place. And it's tempting to stop swimming and just drift. But most of the drifters were dead, tissues torn from impacts, perfect symmetry spoiled.
