Fishes

As I was feeding my goldfishes, Yoke & Apricot, I started wondering whether fishes will suffer from gastric-related problems (which are similar to that of human), if they are fed irregularly. I know of someone (Mr. Sun) who has adopted the following method to reduce the frequency of changing his tank water.

Mr. Sun. felt that food pellets will clout the water easily if the fishes do not finish consuming all the food. He realised that this happened often if he were to feed them everyday. Moreover, more food consumption will mean more defecation, thus clotting the filter easily. Therefore, he chose to feed his fishes every two to three days.

Mr. Sun’s feeding habit isn’t rare. It is a common practice for people to not feed their fishes if they are away for a short vacation, (which are usually shorter than a week). If those fishes’ owners are away frequently, will their fishes suffer from gastric pains?

I am quite baffled by that. Does anyone have the answers to my questions?

(I will try to ask my family vet when I see her, but I highly doubt she has the answers as there is only one vet in Singapore who specialises in treating aquatic animals.)

On a side note, I feel that fishes (in comparison to other domesticated animals) are relatively pitiful. They are not able to communicate their joy, pains and sorrows to their owners. Most importantly, they do not have the ability to relieve themselves of any stress or frustrations. Not that I know of.

For instance, my dog bites her paws when they itch, or when there are ants crawling on them. I once have a goldfish with a parasite that was stuck between its fins and the parasite was clinging itself on my goldfish’s flesh, which was near its dorsal fin. That poor fish could not do anything to remove it at all. In the end, my father had to remove it with a pair of tweezers.

Even animals which are though to be quiet are able to express themselves. A fine example is my boyfriend’s hamster, Pixie. When Pixie was first introduced to Sugar (my pooch), Pixie stared at Sugar with an astonished look in her eyes before giving out a loud sharp squeak and quickly reversed into the safety of my boyfriend’s palms

I do not remember hearing any fishes scream when cats are near their tank. Maybe the fishes do not know what kind of trouble they are getting into, or maybe the fishes did shouted for help, but their voices are not within my audible range.

Most fishes are not able to ask for help when needed so; when a cat starts sticking their fur paws into the fish tanks, it will be Doom’s Day for most of them.

Sighs. Life of a fish!

To make up for their inability to express themselves, I tried to observe my goldfishes for various tell-tale signs of what they are experiencing.

After half a year’s worth of effort, I have come to realize the following.

When my fishes are hungry, they will start swimming to the surface and begin sucking the air, creating a ‘plop’ ‘plop’ sound. I have the tendency to not remember feeding Yoke & Apricot if I do not hear the ‘plop’ ‘plop’ sound.

I know my fishes will like to be served worms instead of pellets for dinner, if they do not swim to the surface of the water excitedly for food each time I reach out to the packet of fish pellets that is placed just beside the tank.

There are times when my fatty goldfishes will attempt to swim out of the water before heading in with a loud splash. This often means that they are sick of swimming in their own urine, and will be glad to have the quality of their living environment (or rather water quality) improved.

This behaviour will usually cease for a short period of time after I change their tank of water. (If you are thinking of praising my fishes or I for being smart, think again. According to one of the books I have read, this is one of the reactions that fishes will display due to the unbalanced pH levels in the tank.)

Then again, life of a fish is not that bad when you have an observant owner, like me. =P

When I was a Kid

Just to share with you some thoughts I used to have, and some things I used to do when I was still a child. Who knows, we may share the same sentiments too.

It’s Christmas Day!

From as young as I can remember till the age of 8, my parents will bring me to Orchard Road to view the Christmas lightings and decorations. I never failed to be fascinated by Snowman, Rudolph, Santa Claus and man-made styrofoam snow (bubble foam were unheard of back then).

Even though I get to see them year after year with minimal changes in the decorations, I never failed to go “woah! wOAh! WOAH!” and I will often go back home dreaming (or rather day dreaming) about my trip in Winter Wonderland.

How nice it was to be a kid. Kids are so easily to be satisfied.

Oh, allow me to correct myself. Kids those days were so easily satisfied.

Kids today are … I seriously refuse to comment.

Dear Santa, I Love You

Okay, like I have mentioned above (with regards to Winter Wonderland), I (used to) always day dream about living in a cottage with a tall chimney, and that Santa would brave it to my house despite the snow storm outside because I was a good kid. (I would often blast my air con when I’m about to sleep. And yes, I often day dream a lot before I sleep.)

So during one fine day in the month of November, someone emailed me a link to Santa’s website, stating that Santa from North Pole will, along with Rudolph go around the world to deliver presents. All you have to do is fill in your name, country of origin, wish (or rather desired presents) and justify why you want/need the presents.

That was like a dream come true!!!

I could not stop ‘spamming’ the website. I will start thinking of what I want and what I need, and I will visit the website at the end of everyday without fail. I even started asking what my sisters wanted for Christmas, and faithfully keyed in every single item they stated. And all of us looked forward to December 25^th.

I started thinking of the number of presents I will receive. Will Santa give me all the presents that I have wished for or will he say that kids should not be greedy and can only have one present each. If I can only receive one present, which one of it will it be? If he is going to give me all the presents that I wished for, wouldn’t they pile up to the ceiling? Where should I keep them? Will my parents scold me for accepting presents from ‘strangers’?

I thought, and thought, and thought about it.

Then, came the Big Day!

I started waiting excitedly from the day before the eve of Christmas. No sign of Santa (and presents).

I waited till the even of Christmas. No Sign of Santa.

I waited till Christmas day itself. Still No sign of Santa.

I tried to force myself to sleep early that night (insomnia always comes along with excitement), because storybooks I thought of the song that goes “He knows when you’ll be sleeping, he knows when you’re awake.”

I woke up on Boxing Day, only to feel betrayed. All my time and efforts in the past one month has gone down the drain. Sobs.

Darn the person who created the website and conned me (and millions of others) with those cute little animations of Santa, Rudolph and snowflakes.

And yes, I still feel much betrayed till this very day.

Money Money Money

During Christmas season every year, my parents will bring me to Toys’R’Us. Oh my, it was Kids Heaven. At least it was my little heaven. I will be allowed to choose any toy I wanted. At least that was what I was told.

There were several times my father stubbornly refused to buy me the toys that I had wanted, citing that they were too expensive and I got really crossed. I got crossed because I was told I could buy whatever I wanted, and most importantly my father told me that it was expensive and I had to spare a thought for his hard-earned money.

Usually by then, I would have thrown a tantrum. Please do not be mistaken. I am not a spoilt brat by throwing tantrum. I was crossed because I saw how easily money was retrieved from the wall after a few buttons were pressed (ATM), and how bank tellers always hand money over to my father upon request and yet my father told me money is hard-earned! How dare he!

I always thought that the moment u reach adult age, money will come to you easily. Be it writing the amount desired on a piece of paper along with your signature (cheque), or swiping of a plastic piece (credit card).

Well, you can’t blame me, because nobody explained to me the psychics behind it.

Diamonds

It is a common knowledge to all that diamond is expensive, and some even term it ‘priceless’. Well, I’ve come to realize this fact since I was real young.

Back then, I have no idea why diamonds were so pricey. (Not even now. Yes, I know that diamonds are rare gem that are commonly available, and that the prices are subjected to mainly the equilibrium of demand and supply, but when I think of it as carbon, it really does not justify the price. Why pay so much for carbon (diamond) when charcoal cost so much lesser? But nonetheless, I still am very fascinated by the glitter that you see in diamonds. Hahs)

So I decided to make my own diamond! First I took a thin stripe of transparent scotch tape and pulled a lot of it. Then I started rolling and folding small portions of the scotch tape into the shape of a diamond. After several tiers and layers, I felt that they look a lot like the cuts of a diamond. And I started presenting them to everyone around me as a gift.

Everyone was amused, with the exception of my father. He started scolding me for wasting his scotch tape, and I was really sore about it. I don’t see why he should be so angry with me for using $2 worth of scotch tape to make diamonds which can easily cost $2000!

I seriously felt that he should thank me for being economical, if not, my creativity.

Over Dose

When I was in primary school, my mother always felt that I was sleep too late and therefore having too little sleep. She felt that I would have problem concentrating in school due to my sleepiness, therefore she always like to feed me chicken essence.

As I usually have Milo for breakfast, I would usually be too bloated by then to consume anything else. Thus, to ensure that I still get energized before class, my mother will give me a bottle of chicken essence to bring to school.

As I had little strength to open the ever-so-difficult-to-open bottle cap, my mother prepare a used medicine bottle and pour the chicken essence in before having me to bring to school.

When I finally reach school, I will usually sit with my class before assembly and dutifully drink my chicken essence. When my classmates first saw it, they freaked out! They thought that I was over-dosing myself, and that I was poisoining myself with toxic, since there was almost always a layer of foam on top due to bumpy bus rides and my constant running.

One of them even wanted to report to the school teacher, as she kept explaining (in great anxiety) how her mother once told her about the consequences of drinking too much medicine.

I just smiled and tried my best to assure them that I was really fine. Till this day, they must still be wondering why I did not die from poisoning due to an over dosage of medication.

Just Because …

I have to admit that I can be quite stubborn, since I was a kid.

When I was much younger, I used to wear my watch on my left hand. One day, by accident, I wore it on my right. I was told by my granny, then my uncle that I should not be wearing my watch on my right hand. When I asked why, they merely say “because I am a right-hander, and no right-hander wears their watch on the right hand!”

Just because I am right-handed, I can’t wear my watch on my right hand? That does not make sense. If I am right-handed, doesn’t it make more sense for me to wear my watch on my right hand? Just because no right-hander wears their watch on their right hand, so I have to follow suit? Since that day, I stubbornly refuse to wear my watch on my left hand, and it has become a habit that is too difficult for me to get rid of.

This is the same reason why I use a spoon with my left hand and a fork with my right. The only difference is I started doing that instinctively since I learnt how to use my cutleries. I felt that this was my trademark because my relatives will start questioning about my ‘unusual’ behaviour, therefore I felt really pissed when my sister did the same thing because I felt ‘imitated’. It’s funny but true.

During most of my Toys ‘R’ Us outing, I get very attracted by remote controlled cars. Those remote controlled cars are not the usual type of cars that I usually see. They are those with real thick tires with rough surface and have those controllers which has a sophisticated gear, unlike those with two buttons – namely up and down. Those remote controlled cars are usually displayed in shelves with bright white light.

How I wish I could own one of those. * Woahs *

When I expressed my interest in those cars, my father will always refuse to purchase them for me and will try ways and means to dissuade me form getting one. When I asked why, he will always say “Because you are a girl.”

Just because I am a girl and I can’t play with remote controlled cars (and other toys that are thought to be meant for boys)? That does not make sense either.

Thank goodness that did not make me dislike myself for the fact that I am a girl. It merely made me dislike the word ‘because’.

No wonder people always say 不要解释，因为解释就是掩饰。Usually people who have the intention of explaining will use the words because.

Moral of the Story: If you cannot justify a reason behind your explanation, I don’t see why I should share your views.