July 17th, 2026 - OCEAN MAN TAKE ME BY THE HAND-

July 17th, 2026

I took the Friday off. What a wonderful life it is to exist at the same time as her. To know and love her. Tania and I went to Ripleys today. We took my car to Clarkson then the train into the city and walked to the fish museum. I love to be alive. We got there an hour later than we expected but it was no trouble. We took turns in the restroom, I took the opportunity to look around. Amusement and amaze at how pretty it was. She told me how during Covid it was so nice to have 6ft of space between you and everyone else, how you could enjoy everything without people in your way. I didn’t mind, beauty was meant to be shared. We spent three hours in the aquarium, we walked around from exhibit to exhibit. My mind was flushed with information, I can’t say I learned anything new but I can tell you I had an amazing time!! The fish were friendly and beautiful, my girlfriend and I were surrounded by colour. I cried at the sight of how cool the Manta Rays were. And when I thought it couldn’t get better, we got to the conveyer belt. I hadn’t even realized it was that part until we were already beneath the fish! It was so pretty, if not for the lady behind us who chose to jump on directly after us(???) then we would’ve had a perfect viewing. It was still perfect in my eyes. The turtles looked like they were flying, everything did. It was so magical an experience.

After the Aquarium we walked to Warehouse, she had told me about it in passing more than once and I was excited to finally try it. She told me the novelty of it was just cheap food. But more than cheap, it was good food for cheap!! We had nachos and Mac and cheese and a burger, all for like, 20 bucks?? Phenomenal.

Afterwards we headed home. I love being alive. ALSO I BOUGHT A RAY, HIS NAME IS DAOCEANSKORG AND I LOVE HIM. When we got back to my place we played Risk with my brother, I genuinely had a good time up until we got into a three way stalemate because no one wanted to attack each other. Finally when our armies were poised for war, a hand of god swooped down and plucked some soldiers from the very earth. The sacrifices were placed into the gods maw, where they were then released, plummeting back down to solid ground. The game ended because someone was eating the pieces.

We headed back to Tania’s after that, we weren’t allowed to stay the night. I went to bed as I always do, happy and so in love. Both the Saturday and the Sunday bleed together in my mind. Only know that it was spent drunk in love, watching movies on a projector outside, watching television on the couch, eating good food, making things for my birthday and planning subsequent birthday, planning Tania’s birthday, and overall enjoying life.