J still went up to Madison today (he had an interview...keep fingers crossed), so I stayed here to catch up on life. I should have worked as I have a million change plans to write...but I didn't. Instead, I spent time with the puppies and the fish.
Background: In September of 2005, I set up a 37 gallon aquarium in my apartment. My friend Venus helped me get set up and educated on the art of owning fancy goldfish. I selected 5 baby goldfish for my tank, with plans to bring 2 or 3 more into the tank. These goldfish were tiny. They were the size of a quarter. They were so cute. One looked like Elvis. Two had huge read Brain-heads. One had pom-poms over her eyes. And the smallest, she could only look upwards. And, no one expected them all to survive. At least, that's the feeling I got when they warned me not to name them...yet. (But I did...Lil Elvis, Girl, Steve Zizzou, Klaus and Hari)
Now it is March 2007 and I think it is safe to say all 5 are still living and swimming. They inhabit a total of 92 gallons in the condo after we added a tank so they could spread out...and each goldfish is the size of a small fillet. I remember as a kid, whenever we'd go to a fancy restaurant with an aquarium (I always thought it was fancy if there was an aquarium), invariably there would be an Oscar the size or a dinner plate...bleakly oblivious to his surroundings and the fact that all the jokesters entering the restaurant would point at him and say "Look, it's dinner. Har har." Now I live with 5 of these creatures, and thankfully for them I don't eat fish.
They have been through some harrowing events...first the move to the condo. Then being left alone for 5 days in an unconditioned condo in July. Then the power outage in August. 2 of them actually were upside down... but I brought them back to life. Unfortunately for Lil' Elvis, he lost his sideburns and became Lil' Priscilla.
So, Fish Friday takes on a very different meaning for me than it would my Catholic friends...I've been cleaning the tanks, watching the fish float and bump around the tank, and contemplating why goldfish create such copious amounts of waste. It's been productive and relaxing. As Venus says, it's very meditative to give your tanks a good cleaning. Ok, she may not say it exactly like that...but, however she says it, she's right.
1 comment:
Yup, they are some freakish goldfish! Beautiful ugly. I know exactly what you mean by the meditativeness of cleaning and caring for animals. I get that with the 11 chickens I am taking care of at the moment. The 4 heifers are too big and unpredicatable to be meditative, but they are very pretty and friendly.
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