When you breathe in freestyle you should have one eye in the water and one above. I see a few people rotate their head all the way up and it kills their momentum. I want to say something to them, and at that moment I crack my knuckles into the lane line, and realize who am I to judge.

I have this thing I do when I push off the wall and you are swimming towards me, (this sounds weird) I hold my breath and glide till you pass me. Just a note if you see me, please swim faster.

From the silence and weightlessness of water comes an excellent medium to exercise the mind.

When you have an issue or a situation you need to resolve, taking a swim might be a good option.  A little trick I do is to place an object in my lane as a reminder of the problem to digest.  So besides the old band aids, dead frogs, and cracked tiles; you got something new to look at.  When you pass over it, after a couple times of thinking this is a dumb idea, your mind will work on the problem as you swim.

If a little kid takes your marker, just visualize your problem going away.  Let the kid worry about your mortgage.  :)