felicem diem natalem tibi Domine

Merry Christmas!

Mahalia invited me to join the 2nd Annual OTWOMD Christmas Tree Blog Parade 2008 , so here is our family's Christmas tree.... a tree of light that heralds the birth of the Christ who grew up to hang and die upon the tree of life....

Hope you and all your loved ones have a great holiday. God bless!

TECHNORATI TAGS: Merry Christmas

Hypostomus plecostomus

Happy Philippe Friday folks.... Philippe III, my pleco and Mushu's janitor fish refused to pose for a picture unless I devoted an entire blog to him, instead of just being mentioned as Mushu's sidekick all the time.... so today is the first Philippe Friday.... also, he would prefer the title "practitioner of the custodial arts" or "custodial engineer", instead of janitor....

I didn't realize that what he meant by posing, was that he would scurry from one cave to the other.....
but I sneaked up on him in the middle of the night.... GOTCHA!!

I'm sure Mel and Robyn won't appreciate Philippe's unique brand of handsome, but he's just going to get uglier as he gets bigger, so enjoy while it lasts.... look how cute he was two years ago.....

those cute goldfish have since been converted into Mushu poop.....

Have a great weekend folks, from me, Philippe, Mushu, and Nermal....

TECHNORATI TAGS: Hypostomus plecostomus, pleco, janitor fish

Osteoglossum bicirrhosum Part 7

A happy Mushu Monday folks..... It's been a long time since I have updated on my Arowana Mushu No. 5.... I received him as a Christmas gift from my family three years ago.... This is how he looked back then when he was only 6.5" long....

Today, he is 18" long....
After his move into his present 75 gallon home, I started feeding him live food again, as you can see from his previous updates... (Warning: do not click on previous updates if you are a goldfish or minnow lover).... I've limited the number of live feeder fish he gets now because it makes him grow so fast, and I can't afford to keep buying him ever bigger homes.... He seems comfortable in this present tank, and I'd like to keep it that way as long as possible, so it's mostly arowana pellets for Mushu.... not that he's complaining, he attacks those pellets with a voracious gusto.... in the summer I gave him a couple of goldfish from the pond as a treat though.... but that's another blog.....

When he was living in his cramped 20 gallon tank, Mushu developed a deformity in one of his opercula, which protruded outward instead of resting flush against his body.... this developed as a result of swimming backwards in such cramped quarters.... that problem has resolved....

He also chewed his tail off over 2 years ago..... it never grew back completely, but it looks much better now....One problem he has developed however, is a droopy left eye....

apparently this may have something to do with genetics or a high fat diet.... yet another reason why I should limit the live goldfish....

Oh and remember Phillipe (or as Aiden calls him "Flee-play"), his "janitor" fish? He's gotten bigger too.... after Mushu ate the original Phillipe II, I let Phillipe III grow a bit in a separate tank, before introducing him to Mushu.... I also constructed "caves" beneath the tank gravel, so that Phillipe had a place to hide.... I stuff food into the caves so he can eat in peace.... eventually Phillipe grew big enough so that he can come out of the caves to swim around without the risk of being eaten by Mushu.... he gets nipped occasionally, but he's a tough fish, and I think they're just friendly love bites from Mushu.... ya right.... Phillipe is afraid of the light though, so he only comes out when it's dark.... I had to snap this shot quickly before he scurried back into his cave....
Well, that's all for now folks.... Mushu enjoyed seeing y'all again.... until the next time.... good fortunes in the coming new year....

TECHNORATI TAGS: arowana, osteoglossum bicirrhosum, silver arowana, dragon fish, mushu

Tagged By Gina

Sorry it took me so long to get around to this tag Gina, but now that you're in studying mode, I'm sure you understand....
so without further adoooo, here's Gina's Alphabet Questions Tag:

A. Attached or single? Single.
B. Best friend? Nermal.
C. Cake or pie? Both.
D. Day of choice? Friday.
E. Essential item? Laptop.
F. Favorite color? Black.
G. Gummy bears or worms? Both.
H. Hometown? Brampton.
I. Favorite indulgence? Sleeping in.
J. January or July? July.
K. Kids? Nermal.
L. Life isn’t complete without? Laptops.
M. Marriage date? TBA
N. Number of magazine subscriptions: None.
O. Oranges or apples? Both.
P. Phobias? Awkward social sitations.
Q. Quotes? "Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore'"
R. Reasons to smile? Nermal, New York city.
S. Season of choice? Spring or Fall.
T. Tag 5 people. any takers?..... got one, thanks Mel
U. Unknown fact about me? hmmm.... even I don't know.....
V. Vegetable? No I'm not a vegetable, I'm very much conscious, coherent, and with spontaneous movements .
W. Worst habit? Procrastinating.
X. X-ray or ultrasound? It would depend on the indications.
Y. Your favorite foods? Sashimi salmon, white tuna, and sea urchin.
Z. Zodiac sign? Cancer.

TECHNORATI TAGS: alphabet question tag

For Soulmate

I liked it better when I was in New York.... being home now, I've settled back into my not-so-happy place of anxiety and self loathing.... at least my mind was preoccupied with other things over there.... it's 2 in the freakin' A.M. and it's another night of insomnia for me.... unfortunately, there's no nuit blanche to run to.... all I seem to focus on in the darkness of my room is the ticking of my clock.... each tick screaming another second of my life that I will never get back again.... geez, I'm so tortured..... time is such a beeyatch though.... my thoughts remember part of a poem that I sent to my ex-fiancee before I left for good...

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep - while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

~ E.A. Poe

Wow, talk about tortured eh?.... Soulmate says that I'm a tortured soul.... that I seek relationships that are troubled, or that I seek trouble in my relationships.... probably more of the latter.... she said that I thrive on this masochism because it brings out the creative side of myself.... a side that I'm always seeking to express.... I never really saw it that way.... I always just thought that I have bad luck when it comes to girls.... maybe she's right.... maybe TA isn't really that neurotic.... maybe LM didn't really have such big man feet.... maybe MC really wasn't such a slut.... maybe A really wasn't too old for me.... maybe M wasn't that much of a schizophrenic.... maybe R's baggage could be manageable.... maybe J... she was fine actually.... maybe MA wasn't too much of a scatterbrain.... I don't know, it's hard to tell.... and hindsight is always 20/20.... maybe I'm the neurotic one?..... nah....

I don't really want to be tortured anymore.... even if the masochism is my muse.... I don't want to end up cutting off an ear like other creative tortured souls.... and let me tell you, after a fight with TA, it's not just your ear that you'll want to cut off.... also I'm not really a big fan of S&M.... I think it's disgusting.... but at this rate, it looks like the M of S&M will be the likely evolution of my behaviour.... eww sick.... thirdly, I don't want to be an insomniac anymore...

Soulmate, this post's for you.... I hope it was tortured enough :) ..... geez I need some sleep!

TECHNORATI TAGS: torture

Deep Thoughts from the New York City Subway

I found myself on the M15 heading N on 1st Ave.... last time I was on this bus I was with soulmate.... I found myself alone this time.... I glanced up to look for some "Poetry in Motion".... instead I found this "Train of Thought".....

"I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

- Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
from Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton (1855)

the last time I glanced up on this bus, soulmate had "taken wings".... I still find myself looking for smoother pebbles and prettier shells.... but thanks to her I got me some feathers.... hopefully I can fashion them into wings and follow her to the other side of the great ocean of truth.... or at least to the other side of the East River....

I realized, getting on the 1 line at 96th street on Broadway that there were no "Poetry in Motion"s posted right now, just a bunch of "Train of Thought"s.....

"America was discovered accidentally by a great seaman who was looking for something else; when discovered it was not wanted; and most of the exploration for the next fifty years was done in the hope of getting through or around it. America was named after a man who discovered no part of the New World. History is like that, very chancy."
- Samuel Eliot Morison (1887-1976)
from The Oxford History of the American People (1965)

Hey, America, you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, America!.... armpit fart sound....

Okay, this deep thought comes to us from Robert F. Kennedy....

CELEBRATE THE DEDICATION OF THE ROBERT F. KENNEDY BRIDGE
"Each time a man stands up for an IDEAL, or acts to improve the lot of others, or STRIKES OUT against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of HOPE, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can SWEEP DOWN the mightiest walls of oppression...."
- Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968)

posted on occasion of the dedication of the Triborough Bridge in honour of RFK.... I'm happy to be alive to see this new era of Kennedy-esque HOPE and IDEALism with the election of President elect Obama.... but why did it have to cost me $4+ to cross that bridge coming from LaGuardia.... and I remember when I drove to New York last year, paying $10 to cross the George Washington Bridge and another $6 to cross the Queensboro bridge.... all in one trip....what the heck!... and it's not like you have a choice because Manhattan IS a freakin island.... oh well, just another argument for why you should use public transportation.... despite this, bridges sure are purdy to look at, especially at night.... here's the Triborough Bridge, now RFK bridge at night....I'm hoping that this will be my view next year.... fingers crossed, knock on wood....

TECHNORATI TAGS: new york city, MTA, train of thought, triborough bridge, robert f. kennedy bridge

Happy Thanksgiving Santa et al.

I bumped into Santa Claus on his annual Thanksgiving day visit to New York City.... In New York he arrives on a big swan... I never knew there were swans in the North Pole, but hey this is New York.... anything is possible here.... It was my first American Thanksgiving, so I decided to check out the tail end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, before heading to my aunt's for Thanksgiving lunch... thanks for reminding me about it Leah, it was much more crowded than our parade.... I wanted to finally see the huge ass balloons in person though, and I wasn't disappointed....Whoaw Horton, you're huge.....Mamma Mia, dats a bigga candy cane....Sorry that's the best of what I got on film, next year I'll try to catch the whole thing... ya right....

For my first American Thanksgiving I'm thankful for old friends and new....
Family.... old and new.....and brand spanking new....these two are my newest niece and nephew Ava and Jaiden.... we've been waiting for them for a long while now and after years of trying on my cousin's part, they're finally here.... I'm not only thankful for their arrival, but for the successful surgery to correct Jaiden's tetralogy of fallot.... He's only 2 days post-op here, and I'm hoping he'll make a speedy recovery.... please say a prayer for him or send some good vibes in his direction....

I'm thankful for the possibilities when you don't give up, and keep the faith.... and I'm thankful for closed doors and opened windows.... Happy Thanksgiving y'all....

TECHNORATI TAGS: thanksgiving

Hey Santa, Remember Me?

Nothing like a Santa Claus Parade complete with marching bands, Christmas carols, humongous floats, and excited kids (of all ages) everywhere, to get you infected early with the Christmas spirit.... Luckily, I dropped by Leah's blog yesterday.... she inspired me to take a break from my anxiety riddled nerd-fest in the Gerstein Library, to greet good ol' St. Nick on his annual pre-Christmas eve visit to Toronto.... I think I'm finally starting to shed the humbug that's been hanging over my head for the past couple of years.... Thanks Leah, I'm glad I found you and your family in that crowd.....
Gimme a big cheeesse Samantha Claus....Whoaw Clifford, you're huge....
Lookin' good Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.....
Check out SPUDerman in the back....
Watawat....
Weeeeee.....
Santa's workshop, must mean a certain somebody is close by.....KIDS GONE WILD.... I guess they sense the big guy's near.....The big guy himself....
A Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night....
TECHNORATI TAGS: santa clause parade, toronto

Oh No He Di'int!

OH YES HE DID... 338 electoral votes? Whaaaaat.... yaaah boooyyyy!

My faith in America was restored at 11:00 PM EST on November 4, 2008....

Wow, the words my mind sang to itself..."we shall overcome".... my faith in a persevering hope in better tomorrows was also restored tonight.... I never thought that I would see this day, this soon.... I used to be an optimist, so I imagined maybe seeing this day in the distant future, with grandkids on my lap telling them that a black president would never have been elected in my day..... in a few hours I'm going to wake up to a world with a little more hope in it, and with a renewed sense of optimism..... God bless America....

But now, what am I going to watch on t.v.?

TECHNORATI TAGS: president elect barack obama

We Interrupt Regular Programming To Bring You This Message

I AM CANADIAN, AND I APPROVE THIS MESSAGE....

canadavotesobama.com

TECHNORATI TAGS: Canada Votes Obama