a note to the reader:

before you begin. i think my paper needs a soundtrack. so when you read it please put on some music and enjoy. just so you know, i wrote it with the album "chocolate & cheese" by ween playing softly. thanks, adam

Water is a fascinating substance. It has some physical properties that very few other substances share. Humans have had an intimate relationship with water since antiquity. This relationship continues to be a very challenging one due to our limitations in the water.

Humans are not particularly good swimmers. Our pace would be a crawl if we traveled on dry land as slow as even the fastest swimmers’ in the water. But we continue to swim. The water provides the perfect milieu to challenge the human body to do things it was not created to do.

Life aboard an Alaskan fishing boat is just as awkward. There is nothing natural about working “twenty-four on, one off” (31). This schedule, coupled with backbreaking work, breaks down the body almost as fast as it breaks down the mind. Hallucinations, dizziness, hand tremors and fainting are just a few of the many symptoms that sleep deprivation can cause.