Day 002?

Or 003. Still working on the circadian rhythm there.

Spent the entire day unpacking and trying to get settled in, it wasn't very fun. The gravity and conditions are still being tweaked a little, and you'd be amazed at how much tiny differences in gravity can mess you up. Either way, I thought I'd try to describe our living areas here. They sort of remind me of nice, big dorm rooms. Maybe...ten, twelve feet across either way, with a little bathroom going off the far end.

Our first meals today are designed specially to make sure that we don't' carry anything that could hurt the rest of the crew, so we're still in quarantine. Like fish in plastic baggies from the vet. There's the uncomfortable side effect of spending a lot of time feeling like crap.

And passing it, too. Ugh.

But while sitting in the common area for us I got a good chance to watch John and we all got to know him better. John's not his real name, of course. His real name sounded kinda like a mixture between popcorn and a lawnmower going off, and I don't think I could ever hope to pronounce it, so he's taken to calling himself John. He speaks fluent English and like seven other earth languages, which is rather nice, since it gives us some time away from our translators (I'll describe those tomorrow).

John's a squiddie, you know them. I'd seen pictures before, but never one up close. They're those big, creepy, kinda lobster-looking types with all the tentacles. I'll have to ask him to hold still sometime so I can actually draw what he looks like. I sketched out a basic body shape while watching him.

I'd seen pictures before, but they don't do squiddie justice. I hadn't even seen video. They're constantly moving, it's almost dizzying because you can't focus on all their limbs at once. All those tentacles are holding up and carrying their bodies, and those big...slugbutts, or whatever you'd call them, are shifting and wiggling. It's gross. I also didn't realize they've got these huge pincers on their rear ends. It's downright scary.

Of course, that's not even counting their face. I can't draw his from memory, but they've got all these...plates that make up their faces. Complete with these big smiles full of sharp teeth. They don't open their mouths to speak at all, so there's this constant grin where their mandibles(?) overlap. It's really unnerving.

Anyways, I guess John's studied pretty well for our arrival, and even lived on earth for a while! He seems pretty nice, although squiddie are a little hard to get used to. I think they think differently or something.

Speaking of John, he just announced that everybody should really be getting to sleep, now, since it's so late.

More tomorrow, I guess.

-Ana Out