During a viewing of Titanic a few months back a good friend of mine broke the sentimental silence and proclaimed, “You know what blows my mind? The Ocean.”

Despite the fact that back then I laughed in her face, I have to agree now--she was totally, utterly, entirely right.

I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium this weekend on a retreat. In one of those usual “Oh, cool, Aquarium” teenage-I’m-just-alright-with-everything sort of ways the rest of the group moseyed towards the ticket line. I’m going to be perfectly honest, I was freaking psyched. My mom once bought me a shirt from the Bay Aquarium that I never wore, and she eventually took it back after I had wasted its cotton-y goodness but hell, I was ready to make up for lost time.

For some reason I had spent Winter Break uncovering the wonders of the Discovery Channel with specials about Giant Squids, Killer Squids, Giant Jellyfish, Killer Jellyfish. And now, the prospect of having almost an entire day devoted to ogling over Sea Horses and giant Ocean Sunfish surrounded by elementary school field trippers seemed like quite possibly the most awesomely amazing weekend retreat a self-respecting 18 year old college student could ask for.

After just screaming, “AQUARIUM! AQUARIUM!” before even entering the building I proceeded to simply stare at the Moon Jellyfish tank for about 6 beautiful, unrivaled hours of my life.

I watched. I learned. I took aquarium pictures that were bound to fail because flash and glass don’t jive, but I did it anyway! It’s part of the aquarium experience—the experience that has the power to turn me into a giddy school boy. I should have gotten a T-shirt.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 6, 2007 at 8:18 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.