First and foremost, I want to say Happy First Wedding Anniversary to Mathra. After a year of marital bliss, I'm as happy to be a part of the Lucy family as you are to be a part of the Keckler family. May we always have chocolate, wine, memories, and the unyielding agreement that Michigan must now and always kick the poo out of Penn State. I love you. ["Awwww. Congratulations, you two crazy kids." -- Sars]

Props also to my very busy forums -- y'all keep me hopping and laughing and I promise this will not be as long as the last one.

Close-up of Hoshi's face, suspiciously close to a reddish-brown slug. She clicks her tongue at it. "I didn't realize you spoke slug," Phlox comments in the background. "Wish I did," Hoshi says in a depressed voice, "she doesn't look any better, does she?" "'She'?" Phlox asks, putting his face next to Hoshi's in front of the black-lit slug terrarium. "We haven't been able to determine its gender, if it has one." Hoshi comments that she should have left "her" where she found "her." Phlox pooh-poohs this and tells her they all are on a "mission of exploration," finishing, "There's something to be learned from every life form." Hoshi insists that her pet slug wasn't meant to be on a spaceship. "I promise to do my best to keep it alive," Phlox reassures Hoshi, bowing his head before waddling off to check on other experiments. Hoshi taps on the terrarium. That can't be good for it. I know you're not supposed to do it to fish -- it gives them night sweats or something. "He's going to make you all better," Hoshi baby-talks. Bending over a different darkened cage, Phlox comments that he was actually thinking of his Pyrithian bat: "He won't eat anything once it's dead." Did he say "Pyrithian" or "Klingon"? Hoshi gives him a sidelong glance. Trip saunters in and tells Phlox they've "routed more power to sick bay," and to let them know if it's sufficient. He hands over a Power Palm Pilot, which Phlox examines. "How's Sluggo?" Trip asks. That's an excellent question -- how is William Shatner doing lately? Hoshi tells him that Phlox thinks the argon lamp might help, "but she's barely moved all day." Excuse me, but I thought that was the definition of slug behavior. Trip sticks his face next to Hoshi's, scrutinizing the traumatized slug, and says, "We've been out here for two weeks, and the only first contact we've made is with a dyin' wurm."

It's been a long road
Getting from there to here
It's been a long time
But my time is finally near.
And I will see my dream come alive at last
I will touch the sky and they're not going to hold me down no more no they're not going to change my mind
'Cause I've got faith of the heart
I'm going where my heart will take me
I've got faith to believe
I can do anything
I've got strength of the soul
No one's going to bend or break me
I can reach any star
I've got faith
I've got faith
Faith of the heart.