These Genes Die with ME!

The Lovely Carla and I went to a movie last night, we watched little Emperor Penguins marching across a desolate landscape of snow and ice, (seventy miles of marching!), to their breeding grounds to enact an elaborate ritual of sacrifice, endurance and reproduction. Wow, I'm kind of glad I'm not an Emperor Penguin. They certainly know their place in the universe, they are strange and remarkable creatures, their little communal society is an incredible testament to cooperation, family values and survival; but if I were a penguin, (aren't there any renegade, rebel penguins - hanging out at CBGB's, chomping on smoked salmon?) I'd be looking for a way out of the whole thing. Let me swim in cool waters, let me live on fresh squid and sushi, let me "die in my footsteps." I guess I'd be opting out of the whole "reproduction cycle," but really, isn't one little "jimmydumps/sunnyjimmy" enough for this little ball of confusion!