"She had a love of exotic pets"

So summed up the life of a woman killed by her pet camel, as it attempted to fornicate with her. It had previously attempted to kill the family pet goat by "straddling" it.

Oddities, fragments that say so much. My life this summer, so ineloquent. Flickering fragments. Our shared refrigerator as a way-station for food that gets tossed out. A pool I'm learning about bromine and algae balance in. Learning to make friends in a community I don't intend to be in long, and where I have no "formal" purpose. Conversations in bed about the likelihood of non-earth life forms and the time arc from learning to use tools to spinning off into space. A newfound obsession with Dr. Who (the Torchwood years, not the mangy old stuff). A motorcycle ride through the green roads where I catch a glimpse of two people dancing a waltz in a garden, awkwardly, before we rocket on.

Pulled by currents across the border, tentatively palpating the possibilities of America. Living in a low-level buzz of anxiety all the time about the 11 months I have left to Finish Everything related to my phd.

Loving my new yellow greenland style kayak, even as I battle with it in the crosswinds and go from serene exhilaration to clenched frustration. Learning to feel the water, not feel like I have to fight against it. Everything's a metaphor.