Ah, but one phrase struck a chord: “salmon day.” That’s the kind of day where you swim upstream and then something bad happens to you at the end — you know, like you get hooked in the mouth and eaten. Salmon day. It explains a lot, aye?

You wake up some morning expecting everything to be just peachy, and by the end of the day your truck has died, your computer’s memory has gone walkabout, your spouse has taken up with a Spit Rat and your boss just dumped a project on you due tomorrow that he thought he gave you two weeks ago, didn’t you get the memo?

For every salmon day, though, there’s shark day. Upstream, downstream, who cares? Sharks can swim any which way they want to. If someone tries to hook ’em, they chew on the hook and spit it out like BB’s. Most days we’re salmon, but every now and then, we get to be sharks.

So celebrate your inner fish — salmon, shark or Irish lord — and face each new day with courage, or at least a strong quad espresso. No matter what life throws at you, there are always things to do, like these Best Bets:

BEST MORE GET WILD FILMS: If you missed the Telluride MountainFilm Festival Tuesday, there’s a second showing with all new films 7 p.m. today at the Mariner Theatre. Proceeds benefit the Community Schools program.

BEST WHY NOT? BET: You know the joke about what Gandhi said when he was asked what he thought about Western Civilization? “That would be a good idea,” he said. The same could be said about evolution. Hey, why not progress to a higher level of being? Chew on deep ideas like this from 5:30-7:30 p.m. when Herr Professor Deland Anderson leads a discussion of “Evolution and Creative Design” at the Pratt Museum, this month’s Community Conversation topic.

BEST COMMIT RANDOM ACTS BET: Those Drama Debate and Forensics team members commit random acts of kindness all the time — especially when they’re ripping an opponent’s argument to shreds. They’re pretty good at random acts of DDF, too. Catch them at 7 p.m. Friday at the Mariner Theatre, for the third annual presentation by teams from Homer, Skyview, Soldotna, Kenai and Nikiski. Admission benefits Kenai Peninsula DDF teams.

BEST AFTER HOURS BET: Who knows what goes on in museums after the doors close? That’s the idea behind “Night at the Museum,” showing this week at the Homer Theatre. Go to the 8 p.m. Friday showing, and help support your own place of strange happenings, the Pratt Museum.

BEST BACK AT YA BET: The DDF teams aren’t the only ones debating issues in town. Over the past few years, Northern Dynasty and opponents to the Pebble Mine have been duking it out — civilly, of course — over the proposed mine near Iliamna. This week, Scott Brennan of the Renewable Resources Coalition makes his case against the project. He speaks at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 23 at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center and then at noon Jan. 24 at the Anchor River Inn for the Anchor Point Chamber of Commerce meeting.