Zen Dude?

Zen continues to perplex me. In class yesterday we were talking about nitrogen narcossis, which is a condition that happens on really deep dives. The book and video said it affects coordination, impairs judgment, etc. It was in the same section as decompression sickness, which is no small thing.

But Zen got off on this thing about how it's like being drunk or high, only you ascend a few dozen feet and you're back to normal. He said that it affects people differently, so some people are just giggly and whatnot and others are trying to give the fishies their air to breathe and others are panicking and trying to rocket to the surface (bad idea that deep).

He said he was on a deep dive once and the numbers on his compass went away and he was thinking it was broken. Once he ascended a bit the numbers were magically back, and it was only then that he realized he'd been impaired.

One part of me wanted to experience it-- like a loophole in the Mormons-don't-get-high thing. Another part of me wanted to scold him for making light of something serious (that's the teacherly part of me). And sure enough, my friend/colleague who dives said that nitrogen narcossis is a big deal and very dangerous. Hmmm.

In any case my original impressions of Zen are changing just a bit.

I've had several friends comment that Zen seems, from my blog entries, to be kind of a dude-- but that's so NOT how I thought of him-- not how I still think of him-- and not how I meant to describe him. He's very serious. I mean really serious. Sometimes he teases members of the class, but with such a serious tone that it takes them a minute to realize he's teasing. This is the guy that had me freaked out with all of the "if you don't do X your lungs will explode" stuff. He's so NOT "what up, Dooooood? [insert surfer laugh]. I wouldn't have taken the class if he had been.

And then he does things like telling these stories.

I get the idea that levity is part of the package with scuba, though. You'd have to have a sense of humor to be seen in a wetsuit-- I don't care WHO you are!