I'm having lunch with my friend Tom. I'm asking him about how his career is going - not that long ago, in real life, he quit working at Audio Precision. He tells me it is going well, he's doing this and that, and I say "oh, like mostly web development stuff, huh?", and he answers yeah, mostly like that.

There is a curious fish on the table, flattened and colorful, like it is made out of some kind of gel. But it is alive, and squirms along the table, and along my arm. It reminds me of those "mood fish" that you sometimes get for children's prizes, but it is larger and thicker. They seem to come in several very simple bright colors, and there is one on each table. I am so enthralled with it.

The waitress has a whole bunch of them in her back pocket, in several colors. I wonder how they keep them alive, or if they just leave them on the table until they die.