Of crustaceans and men

It seems, in the aquarium universe, shrimp are the canaries in the coal mine. I had a very nice Singapore wood shrimp in with my more finned aquaria for a couple of months. It seemed to be doing quite well filtering the water as they do. It had even shed for the first time. I had been meaning to do a partial water change this weekend, but that wasn't soon enough. Two mornings ago, it was lying on its side out in the open, which it never does. The aparent cause of death was excessive ammonia, which is quite deadly to them. An albino tiger barb and a diseased rosy barb had died in the tank the night before and the released ammonia was enough to do the job. I should have removed the two fish once I realized they were ill to protect the others. A lesson learned.

"That's just sad."

I admit it. I said it. What prompted this pronouncement of dispair you may ask? I saw an oppossum waddling across the road this evening. On a busy four lane road. It made it all the way across without fainting(as they sometimes do) or being hit (as they likewise sometimes do).

So why did I utter that phrase? Because my honey sitting next to me in the car, after squeeling in delight at seeing it, said, "That really made my day."

I didn't know what else to say. It just popped out. But seriously, how bad a day must she have had for THAT to have been the highlight?

I don't even want to know.

I was just glad the little critter made it all the way across.

Work anywhere but at work

Do you enjoy office politics?
I abhor it. My best days are whe I get out of the office
and get to do some actual work, please a customer in person
and feel like I'm earning my pay.

There are other days when I can remotely log in and
read all the e-mail at work that describes what I've been missing
while I'm out. I find it stressful just reading it, and I feel thankful I
was not there to have to deal with any of it.

Then there are the days when you go to work and you feel like you
just wandered into some odd foreign movie where nothing makes
sense and everyone is speaking some other language that you
never learned. And to top it off, all of the previously intelligent,
well-meaning, dedicated people have been mysteriously replaced
by a pack of insane fast food employees. I'm not quite sure what
that would actually be like, but it feels the same when I think about it.

So, do I need to start looking for another job because someone
might read this and be offended that I had the temerity to speak,
even in veiled phrases and non-specifics, and fire me?

But then who would help the customers?
Not everyone wants fries with that.

How tired is too tired?

When you fall asleep while eating and you do a face plant into your unfinished meal? When you are sitting on the toilet and you doze off without flushing?

Although I can't claim to have experienced these things, I can say I've witnessed them. In person. Really.

So I thought about it a bit. Especially at 2:40 in the morning. I can tell I'm tired. In fact I'm passed being just tired. I'm almost delirious. But am I too tired? For what? I already successfully ate. I didn't fall in. Flushing did occur, although not without some assitance.

So what is next? Do I just fall over in a stupor while trying to type these last few words?
I feel certain that would be a new low, even for me.

*thunk*

The good, the bad and the WTF!?

Some days are just better than others. You know the kind I mean. Things at work go smoothly, you get a lot done and feel appreciated. Then you have the after work pleasures of eating something good(if not healthy) and engaging in a relaxing pastime.

And then, it hits you. Some emotional wreckage of a person drags you into hell and stomps up and down on you until you are nothing more than a little pile of stomped on you. But hey, that's what friends are for, right? Someone to help lift your spirits when you are feeling that self loathing that only comes to the truly self absorbed. Except that now YOU are the focus of the loathing and squirm as you might to extricate yourself, there is no escape, all the while trying to molify this raging bomb of a damage personae. And here I was, having an abnormally good day.

I should have known there would be a karmic rebound. Or at least a poorly scripted western B movie to scavenge for snappy dialogue.