The monkey made me do it

Swimming with the fishes

Warning: I'm still not sure this really happened.

I went to a wine tasting last Sunday night that was also a birthday party for a pal of mine. Guests each brought a bottle of their favorite wine and then we went through them, ranking each 1-10 and then compiling results for a grand prize (I think it was another bottle of wine. What can I say? They had a theme). I got through about 5 before a troublemaker started talking smack and said that I couldn't possibly taste all of the bottles. There were about 20 at that point, so like a huffy 6-year-old I took his challenge, not realizing that there were more people coming with their bottles and that the final count would top 30. And also forgetting that I am completely unable to pour a tiny glass of anything (my friends who have become victims to my bartending skills can attest to this). Still, I managed to keep it together, discussing everything from travel to sound engineering at the start of the night and looking at my friend's pretty pictures while some guy played with my hair by the end of the evening. And of course I'd forgotten which guy had laid the challenge in the first place so I couldn't even gloat that I'd "won".

But the part that I'm still trying to figure out happened relatively early in the evening, when I met a woman who told me she was a marine naturalist. I got all excited and told her that I was really interested in marine ecology and that I'd started diving this year and loved it. She got even more excited than I was and asked if I'd been diving a long time and if I did cold water stuff. I practically wet myself and said that I'd done nothing but cold water and had logged about 14 dives at that point. She reached the octave only dogs (and slightly tipsy women) can hear and asked if I was interested in being part of a program at the Seattle Aquarium where I would dive in their big entry tank and feed the fishes as part of an educational program. We both almost fainted with happy, and I of course said yes and gave her my number and she gave me her number and I gave her my e-mail and she gave me her e-mail and then we hugged. Girls are strange.

I found a few other people who are also interested, and we're finding out this weekend exactly what is involved and how much of a commitment they need. And I've been trying to remember exactly what we signed on for - I know it's fish-feeding, but I also remember something about whales and sharks and waving at the people watching and somehow teaching groups while underwater and unable to talk. So the next time you find yourself in the Seattle Aquarium and you see some poor schlub wrestling with the sharks in the big entry tank, wave!

posted by LadyJay @ 10:20 AM