Diving In

My husband and I like to scuba dive. Shortly after we started diving we discovered Cozumel, Mexico which has some of the best and most accessible diving for people who live on the west coast. On one of our very first trips, we happened upon a sponge orgy. At the time, Don and I had no idea how lucky we were. Apparently, sponges are not moved to passion all that often. Fortunately, when one gets going, all the other sponges in the neighborhood like to get in on the action. 

So, there we were, diving on a beautiful coral reef off the Cozumel coast. I was trying hard to remember to check my air, maintain the appropriate depth, keep track of my hoses and my dive partner; basically trying to not do anything stupid. (There are a lot of things to remember in scuba diving.) So, when we saw these sponges, spitting out this white fluff all over the reef we didn't know how extraordinary it was. The amount of eggs and sperm that were excreted by hundreds of sponges was so excessive it collected on the ocean floor much the way cottonwood tree fluff collects in parking lots and on the sides of the road in spring. It was fascinating and beautiful. 

When we were back in the boat our dive master and the other divers were so excited to have witnessed the spectacle. Despite their years of experience, most of them had never witnessed sponge sex. Don and I were incredibly lucky to have been there so early in our diving experience. We were just in the right place at the right time. 

I am beginning to think that getting published is similar. You need to have the good fortune of having the right manuscript in front of the right person at just the right moment. That trifecta of publishing good fortune can take a long time. Someone told me it takes an average of ten years to get published. But, you also need to be brave enough to dive in. I'm hoping I'll get lucky again.

Why CephaloPodium?

I love octopuses. They are fascinating creatures. Extremely intelligent invertebrates shouldn't really be a thing, but they are. Octopuses are great problem solvers. They have personalities. Some even seem to have a sense of humor. They can change shape, color and the texture of their skin to blend in and disappear in seconds. I've even watched video where they seem to materialize out of nowhere.  Octopuses are cephalopods - creatures with a head attached to their tentacles. I like to think of them as having brains to figure things out and feet to take them where they want to go. Seems like a complete package to me.

I have been a teacher for over two decades. I am now at a point in my career where I would like to branch out and try new things, writing for one. I find that changing my form at the age of 53 is not as easy for me as it is for an octopus. Each day brings new challenges, new decisions to make, new priorities. I hope that I have the brains to figure things out and feet to take me where I want to go. So, CephaloPodium is my way of journaling some of that adventure. A place to stand on my feet and speak from my head. Let's hope I have something worth saying.

A few random things I find interesting:

• "Octopuses" is correct when referring to several individuals of different species. "Octopus" is both singular and plural if referring to multiple individuals of the same species. "Octopus" is derived from Greek. When people incorrectly pluralize octopus to octopi they are using a Latin ending on a Greek word.
• Octopuses have 9 brains. They are also famous for being able to squeeze their bodies through very small openings - an advantage to having no bones. How could they be so intelligent, I wondered. How could you squish a brain through a tiny crevice without doing it serious damage? Well, it turns out they have a walnut-sized central brain and other brains in each tentacle. It's kind of like an internet. If only we all had brains in our feet. We would probably spend a lot less time feeling lost.