I love the water.  Something about it calms me and stirs my creative juices.  I believe that in some way all of us are connected.  When I was in college, I studied something called the universal subconsciousness. It espoused the belief that all creatures have this deep soul-level connection, and that there are certain times when existence strums the strings of creation and humans can hear it.  Not really hear it though, feel it. I know this is a bit obtuse and abstract, but I think we all feel a connectedness sometimes.  I feel it most when I am around large bodies of water.  Two times in particular this feeling, that I got a glimpse of the pure awesomeness of the universe were in Colorado Springs on the top of Pike's Peak and in Michigan on the beaches of the great lakes.

I think the water does it for me because it makes me think of life, birth, baptism and a host of other things.  Langston Huges wrote an essay called Salvation which used water images.  He's one of my favorite writers.  In Salvation he recounts a story of when he was a young boy, and his church held a revival.  His aunt had told him that people saw Jesus when they were saved.  Langston sat peacefully in the church until every single child except for him had gone to the altar to be saved.  He didn't want to go because he kept expecting to see Jesus.  It's a wonderful essay about disillusionment, but it isn't what I would call anti-Christian.

I played trivia tonight at Central High School to benefit Central's project graduation.  I was a little nervous about wearing my North County High School sweat shirt in there, but no one mugged me.  When I was in high school, Central and North County were bitter rivals.  Not so anymore.  At any rate, my team, the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) which is primarily composed of Central and North County teacher won handily.  It was a lot of fun.  I have much room in my brain for useless knowledge.