Punish the Fish

Let me just say outright: I don't consider myself a "fish" girl.
I've always enjoyed most animals as pets. In my lifetime, I've cared for four dogs (and countless vagrant strays), seven cats, two guinea pigs, a lovebird, and a crawdad (it started as a science experiment- don't ask). I even took this love for animals so far as volunteering at a small local zoo for a summer in high school. Walking snakes and avoiding angry badgers is a grand way to spend extra time as a teen.

But never did I have an interest in owning fish- just didn't cross my mind. Now, living with my boyfriend, I also by default, live with a 10 gallon tank with six fish. They have names-- Twitchy, Whiskers, Orange Whip, Big Joe (he's the smallest in the bunch), and Mama and Papa Gup (guppies). Mama Gup had her first school of babies last week-- well, the first we're counting. She was pregnant before, but we never got to see any of the little guys because of something called fish CANNIBALISM. Much to my horror, we found out that right after giving birth the mother guppy becomes quite ravenous and proceeds to eat her young. How's that for a tasty treat? I'm sure ALL mother's of ANY species have thoughts of gnawing on their unruly children now and again. But to just go and EAT them after they've barely made it into this world? It's a little too Wild Kingdom for me in my living room.

At the thought of another litter brought into this world only to be swallowed again, Mike and I bought a mini fish tank which floats serenely inside the main tank. Once Mama Gup started looking "fishy" again (pun intended) we put her in there and sure enough, she produced about 50 babies! We fished her out of there before the smorgasbord could begin, and saved all but two or so. The excitement of seeing these little guys grow has been fun indeed, particularly with the satisfaction of knowing that we saved them from almost certain snacktime. I have grown fond of the tank, and enjoy watching their world behind glass.

Back to the title of this blog-- "Punish the Fish". This week my feelings of consternation over the fishy world were brought back by an incident involving Whiskers. Whiskers, who's considered a "community fish" at Petco (but upon further research we found can have aggressive tendencies), has taken it upon himself to thin the herd. Apparently, there's one too many fish in the tank, and Orange Whip is the crux of the problem. Orange Whip is also the largest fish in the tank, and hands-down the most docile. She's like an orange sea cow, placidly going about her fishy day, and I quite enjoy her aquatic antics.

Whiskers, on the other hand, has taken her existence as a personal affront, and started to nip her repeatedly. We came home after work a few days ago, and she was hiding in a lava rock looking stunned and nipped half to death. Her fins were holey, her tail had a chunk removed and she was breathing erratically. It only took seconds for us to see Whiskers approach her from behind, Jaws-like, to start biting her again. It was too much for us to bear. Obviously, Whiskers needed to be removed from the tank so Orange Whip could heal for a couple of days. We managed to nab him and place him in a vase my mom gave me to hold seashells, but has now become the "fish holding tank". For two days we "punished him". Don't get me wrong, he had food and plenty of warmth and swimming room. He swam recklessly, his color faded to a scary white, and he ate sporadically. We started feeling sorry for him. Last night, Orange Whip was looking better- her color was back and her spots mostly healed. She was eating lots and swimming around in the tank like she used to. Whiskers on the other hand, looked awful. We felt bad, deemed the punishment term over, and plopped him back in his home.

It took ten minutes for his color to come back, his appetite, and his bad attitude.

Damn fish.

It's Holiday Time

Why is it that December seems to be the fastest month of the year? If I could just find the brakes to slow down this bus and cherish a few more moments...ah well. Here's a few that I've been able to enjoy recently:

--I spent an early December weekend picking out a tree with Mike at the local Home Depot and going through the laborious process of getting it home and up in some kind of vertical position. We now have a beautiful holiday bush filled with lights, ornaments, candy canes, and tinsel. I'm guessing if we had popcorn strings, those would be on there too. I'm surprised the tree is still standing with how much is on it, but it looks beautiful nonetheless. Presents have steadily grown under its branches...I can't wait to see what they hold!

--Lisa, my longtime friend and 'till recently roommate, had a housewarming party a couple of weekends ago. It felt good to see her setup and happy in a new place with a kitty warming the hearth no less! Good friends, laughter, and games livened up the night.

--Danielle had a fabulous birthday shindig where a bevy of people came out to celebrate the coolness that is "Miz D." After a yummy dinner and gift opening at Hamburger Hamlet, we sacheted onto the El Capitan for some late night movie watching- "The Chronicles of Narnia" to be exact. If you haven't had a chance to see a movie at the El Capitan, I'd recommend it. There's a little bit of magic in every show-- this time they had props and costumes from the film on display everywhere including the giant wardrobe of Narnia fame. It also started to snow before the film began! Only in L.A. would you venture to a movie theatre to experience winter. :)

--Lisa, Mike, Adam and I had a grand time seeing the Weepies in a show last week at the Tangier. Sweet, beautiful, and rapturous songs enveloped us in a blanket of warm holiday tidings. They had quite a turnout, and packed the room solid. Their fans were applauding for encores well into the next set, embarassing the heck out of them. I hope to hear more of Deb and Steve next year. I missed them quite a bit these past months. But their new cd should be released in March, providing all us Weepettes with much to cry about.

--David's Christmas Party was once again a resounding success filled with fresh homemade goodies like his infamous "knock you on your butt" egg nogg, Amanda's yummy wassail, and delicious mouth-watering fudge and cookies provided by the dynamic duo of Danielle and I. We had our Annual Baking Day earlier in the afternoon, and unfortunately didn't get to all the recipes we had planned, but had a fun time getting flour everywhere nonetheless. It was wonderful to spend party time decorating David's tree, chatting with friends, and sillifying the night with new versions of stupid Flash movies like "Badger! Badger! Badger!"

Enough for now...I'm exhausted with memories! I'll have more later I'm sure...

The Mystery of My Job

So for everyone who's been aggravated lately by not being able to see me, hear me, touch me (er...) or whatever this past month-- here's why!

Our labor of pain is finally over and my studio's documentary "The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle" will finally be aired! Set your tivos folks- it's on the History Channel, December 8th which is THIS Thursday. 8pm. Got it? Good. :)

This is what the History Channel has to say about it...

For interested parties-- I designed the main titles, lower thirds, and maps as well as animated, designed, or assisted much of the moving illustrations. All done in combustion, photoshop, and smoke. Sweet! Hiro, Maurice, Andrea and I were the entire team for these and we rocked!

And what do I plan to do now that I've finished this project?
I'm going to Disneyland!
But only cuz my annual passport expires soon (like I need a reason).