No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse. — Randy Pausch

It is midnight, and I am floating on my back in the pool under a full moon. Often, I feel as though many of my experiences are surreal in both the timing and the quietness of the moments, however, this is short lived, as I am splashed by the others that surround me. First, by Marc as he cannonballs into the middle, which causes a chain reaction by the rest of the group. Stephen and Alix are hugging the edge laughing hysterically, while Babs seems to enjoy the moment of what is happening on what began as a quiet night at the Surfing Donkey. Clara, who is another CU grad (Go Buffs) from the class just after mine in 2007, bringing me back to another connection to Colorado even though she hails from Chicago, and I cannot escape my roots from the three oh three. The night is perfect as the pool is warm, until I realize this pocket of water is most likely the result of an unnamed British bloke that might have just emptied his bladder before swimming away with an almost perfect crime. What a sinister yabo, this old timer is. There is nothing I can do but pity him, as he thinks swims in the pool are equivalent to taking showers, even though I have drawn him diagrams, put on puppet shows, created various pop-up books, even had Stephen paint him a colorful 40-foot mural of the importance of showering, but still, he refuses to accept this as part of daily life. I suppose his occasional dips in the pool do help the smell that permeates from him regularly and the buzzing of the swarm of flies that surround his side of the room tend to dissipate when he is covered in chlorine. So, cheers new best mate for your efforts, as little as they may be. Now, if only we could get you to use dental floss in the appropriate manner. This modern day invention is not an alternative to replacing broken shoes laces or for hanging your prized collection of My Little Ponies, no matter how beautiful you think they are, but for your teeth you freedom stealing red coat. Cheers to independence, and to fluoride.