Captain's Chronicles May 2022

Conflicted / Endangered Species / Goldilocks in Rehab / Anger or Depression?

Conflicted, in so many ways. Most of the time I wish I could collectively slap all of humanity in the face. I continually feel a strong sense of sorrow for how we have treated Mother Earth. I also feel a strong sense of sorrow that more of us don’t feel that same sense of sorrow. Maybe then we could repair the damage that we’ve inflicted. Human (nature) is a disease to which there seems no cure. Yet that same human nature can and does do amazing things for our Mother Earth. Take reef clean-ups and the upcoming Great Goliath Count for example (more info below). 

BREAKING NEWS: Humans have just been added to the endangered species list. We (humans) bend over backwards, create and re-write laws, and displace the professions of many when an animal species makes that list. We do whatever we can to bolster any species that is in peril and on the brink of demise. What bleeping good does it do to save a species if we don’t save the place where that species lives?? Arrggghhh: Humans! I’m not saying we shouldn’t do what we do for all those animal species… We will be doing that the first two weeks in June, as it’s time once again for the Great Goliath Grouper Count! Paul D. has been in discussion with Mike Sippos (long title, I just think of him as an environmental bad-ass) absorbing the details and information needed to properly make a dive to count the big species. Paul has also expressed a desire to do as much diving and counting as possible. He will be at the dive club meeting this Friday to share the details and probably invite you to go diving with him! Thanks Paul, you’re another environmental bad-ass! He is helping pick up the slack as Jessi and I will be at Jayden‘s graduation Friday. If you remember Jayden and especially Jayce (probably naked) in those toddler years at the dive shop… you’re old now! 

While brainstorming for original ways to approach recurring themes, I started to contemplate the Goldilocks fairy tail and did a little research. It was fascinating to read about how that story has morphed through the ages. I think it’s time for a current redo, so here we go! 

The first bowl of porridge she tried was too dry, as there was no water to add to it due to drought. The second bowl had good consistency but the taste was bitter due to the use of fertilizers on the oatmeal and pollutants in the water. The third bowl was completely empty… Panicking mothers had stolen the porridge to replace their unavailable baby formula! So, a still hungry Goldilocks decided to sit in a chair. The first chair she tried was too big and it made her feel so small it gave her an inferiority complex. The second chair was too small and it made her feel fat which depressed her. The third chair fit her just right, but then it broke. Although she had burglarized the Bear’s house and didn’t get hurt when the chair collapsed, Goldilocks retained Morgan and Morgan and is suing the Bears. The mental anguish she endured when that chair broke made her sleepy so she decided to lay down.

The first bed she tried was too hard, there was no mattress, it was stuck on a freighter waiting to unload. The second was too soft, since the mattresses couldn’t make it into port, that bear decided to scrape the asbestos off the ceiling and improvise a mattress. Goldilocks threw her back out on that one and subsequently ended up quitting her job to collect unemployment. The third bed she tried had a mattress that was just right, however there were no frame or boxsprings to support the mattress. They were made in China which is under lock-down and they have no ETA on when to expect a new supply. Hungry, sore, tired, and emotionally distraught, Goldilocks was Baker Acted and is currently in rehab!   The End

I am realizing that I am in a mental funk and I have been for a while! Undoubtedly (at least in part) due to the fact that my current dry spell of not diving is the longest it’s been in 25 years! I started this life off being an optimist… Which by definition are not depressed. Then I became a realist. Realists are subject to bouts with depression but usually have enough optimism and/or hope to squelch negative emotions. Now I think I’m on the verge of becoming a pessimist. As a pessimist you have lost the internal optimism to pull yourself out of a depression. However, I'm finding out that anger does a decent job of moving me out of that funk. Personally, I prefer anger over depression by a landslide, as long as my anger doesn’t hurt anyone. 

So I’m Mad Damn It! I’m Angry at Us!! Humans!!! Aarrggghhh!!!!

Until Beyond Then: Live Love Dive —Jeff