Jan. 29

1/29/2026 9:09 Correspondence 133

It's 9:09, yet it feels to me like 11:53. My body shakes, and my eyes droop with exhaustion from my excursions of both land and sea. My long, long walks between each class with a heavy book bag are not the most fun. Now try adding another heavy bag full of scuba stuff. makes it even less fun. I feel somewhat like a nomad, with a bag and bende walking alone from place to place. I can see myself from afar, my slow, steady steps with a mountain on my back. My rest for my limbs is exercise for the brain, for I get to my destination (my classes) and jump right into it. It makes for quite a day. There is one exception to this, however, when I walk my walk down to scuba, and shortly after arriving am jumping in with a metal tank strapped to my back. Its an experience for sure. Let me take a step back and say, I put on a wetsuit. And let me say this, I love that wetsuit. It feels like a warm hug, all safe and secure. I should mention that I am only wearing it as a precaution from being allergic to the cold. A friend in that class, who also just so happens to have the same condition, also has to wear a wetsuit for the class. We stood there together, in our wetsuits, and she was all but cursing them out. "They are too hard to put on, too hot, too itchy, too annoying," I stood there listening, and thinking, "I never want to take this off". I have never been more cozy swimming. Now, let me mention the actual scuba diving part. It's strange. Like, re-wire your mind to freely breathe underwater strange. You sit there with a bunch of wires and tubes and things strapped to your back, and you put this mouthpiece in your mouth and just breathe. Just breathe. Just breathe. Just breathe. And you sink further and further, and a part of you starts to panic. I think it might be something primal, your mind yelling, "Hey! You are underwater! That's not where you are supposed to be taking deep breaths of air." But I think it's a step further. I think it's your brain, maybe even subconsciously, releasing that all that's keeping it alive is this metal tank. You are tethered to that metal tank. That metal tank is your everything now. Love the metal tank. Worship the metal tank. And then you serve and become independent once again. The way we like it. 

Sweet dreams, folks. 

Calvin Landreth