I walked out to the welcome reception, where i found an assembly of mostly Chinese delegates and a few whose faces gave away that they must be English speakers. I chatted with four or five different people about things like quantum-dot cellular automata and modeling interferometry measurements, ate a few spring rolls and some dessert, downed an ill-advised coke, heard the same Hawaiian tune multiple times, and returned to my room. There I changed into my trunks and a T-shirt (sans cussword) and walked outside for a dip in the pool.
It was easily warm enough for walking around in shorts and a T-shirt, even after 7pm, but the big news I want to brag about is that I walked barefoot. Yes, I too can walk barefoot, though I suppose walkways, boardwalks, and manicured lawns don’t really count as heroics. I hoped to get in the ocean, but the lifeguard was off duty and even though it’s a public beach and I suppose technically I could go in whenever I wanted to I obeyed and went to the pool instead. The water was a bit of a shock at first, colder than expected, but it didn’t take long to get used to it. Unfortunately, the fun pools were closed, so I puttered about, with the sounds of the Russian Christmas dinner droning in my ears whenever I came up. I hadn’t known that “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” belonged into the Christmas karaoke repertoire, but you never stop learning.
I took a dip in the other pool that was still open, over toward the reception area, and felt a little sorry for the lifeguard, sitting on his chair doing nothing besides watching a mediocre swimmer make waves. At least he got some action when his colleague inadvertently turned off the lights and he had to yell to get him to turn them back on. He never left his perch.
Tired of swimming and tired of Hawaiian muzak, I dried off and walked back to my room. Here’s hoping I find sleep soon.
Every pedetentous journey begins with a small step. You’re well on your way to pedomotive freedom! Do you have any idea how many words are pedestrial? Do I have any idea whether I used these words correctly?
Since I have written so much about George MacDonald elsewhere, it seems appropriate to add here this passage from the beginning of Donal Grant.
[Donal] was nearing the foot of the hill when he stumbled and almost fell, but recovered himself with the agility of a mountaineer, and the unpleasant knowledge that the sole of one of his shoes was all but off….He sat down and took off the failing equipment. It was too far gone to do anything temporary with it; and of discomforts a loose sole to one’s shoe in walking is of the worst. The only thing was to take off the other shoe and both stockings and go barefoot….The thing did not trouble him much. To have what we want is riches, but to be able to do without is power. To have shoes is a good thing; to be able to walk without them is a better. But it was long since Donal had walked barefoot, and he found his feet like his shoe, weaker in the sole than was pleasant.
“It’s time,” he said to himself, when he found he was stepping gingerly, “I ga’e my feet a turn at the auld accomplishment. It’s a pity to grow nae so fit for onything suner nor ye need. I wad like to lie doon at last wi’ hard soles!”