Kenshin

Betta Kamikaze

Not so long ago, Uesugi decided to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) by way of kamikaze-ing out of his bowl. I wondered why I didn't see him when I fed that morning, but he had a tendency to hide, so I didn't worry too much about it (and I was running late for school). But then when I got home, Uesugi was nowhere to be found. :( Finally I found him. The poor little guy had catapulted himself out of his bowl and landed on one of my posters that was rolled up on the floor. His once vibrant colors were dark, almost black; and his little body was mummified. It was traumatizing. He is now buried in the start of a new pet graveyard out front. :'(

A few days ago, I bought a replacement. The empty fish bowl sitting on my shelf was depressing, it called for another little finned creature to be swimming around in it. So I then aquired Kenshin, a gorgeous royal blue betta. He's just now starting to catch onto the feeding routine... but what does he do the other day? Nothing less than try to imitate his predecessor and fly out of his bowl. Fortunately Holly came home and checked on him just in the nick of time. She found him on the floor, looking very dried out. But when she went to touch him, he flopped, so she promptly threw him back into his fish bowl. Thankfully she got there in time... I'm crossing my fingers that he's going to make it. Kenshin is just today starting to swim around a little bit - his fins are very damaged... I'm hoping they heal up okay. And just tonight he took a pellet of food. (Compared to not touching it for the past couple days, but before he flew, he would eat about 3 pellets twice a day). But any progress is good.
I should have known better than to continue on the name of the previously suicidal fish, but I wanted to complete the little naming thing I had going. (Takeda, Shingen, Uesugi, and now Kenshin.)

Sometime in the near future I'll post pictures of my new guy. He's absolutely beautiful, though a bit tattered now.

Bettas

I have three colorful additions to my bedroom! Three betta fish! I haven't quite decided what I'm going to name them yet... they'll let me know given time. I feel like they must have Asian names, preferably warrior-esque names... after all - they are fighting fish.

So, given my insomniatic behavior over the past couple nights, I decided to capture in pixels their absolute beauty. I had varying levels of success... the products of my efforts can be seen below.

This little guy has one of the feistiest personalities I've ever seen in a fish. I haven't thought of a name for him yet - with his attitude, I'm sure he'll eventually scream it at me. (Just kidding... but seriously... to give you an example of his temperment... he was sitting there in his bowl perfectly content, his tail fanned out beautifully. When I brought the camera out, he proceeded to make sure he never stayed in one place long enough to get a good picture. This went on for what seemed like an hour... the little brat.) :-P

This guy is a ham. The camera came out and he posed for it.

This little guy, or rather, the biggest of the three, is a little odd. He alternates from sitting so still one wonders if he's dead, to swimming around like a banshee. He's cute though.

The two reddish ones hate each other with a passion. They glare at each other through their bowls, and so I am thinking of naming them after two Japanese rival daimios (barons). I'm thinking of calling the red/blue one Takeda, and the reddish/white one Uesugi. Rather odd, I know... but that's what popped into my head. Historically, Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin spent their entire lives competing against each other. They had large daimios but all they wanted to do was beat the other... so... seeing as the temperment of these fish are as such, I believe that they will be called Takeda & Uesugi. Or I may call them Takeda & Shingen - that would actually be fairly cute. But alas... I really need to get some sleep. The Hoggetowne Faire starts tomorrow and it's going to be fun, but a lot of work. :)

Goodnight.

A Painted Sunset

I took these pictures about a month or so ago... it was a glorious end to a beautiful day. The evening sky was painted with contrasting brushstrokes... the horizon was ablaze in fiery orange slightly muted by a soft pink. Higher above the horizon, the sky was a little softer; the pinks faded into soft violet before morphing into the soft blue of the almost-twilit sky.

Bushido Blanket

Blanket with the Bushido kanji I made as a Christmas gift for Josh.

A Flower in December

Not all those who wander are lost...

I thought it might have gone away, but alas, I was wrong. This wanderlust has plagued me for as long as I can remember thinking about it. I got the wandering itch a few weeks ago, but then it went away and I thought it might have left me alone for another year... but I guess it hasn't. It's almost 2:30 in the morning, and I'm supposed to be sleeping, but I can't. I have that lust to move on to somewhere else, go somewhere I've never been...
It makes me wonder sometimes if perhaps I am fated to be a wanderer until the end of my days. But then I know that is not true. I will wander around, travel around, probably move alot, but then I will someday find some land and know that that will be where I will stay, forever. But until then, I must put up with this wanderlust that hits me about once or twice a year; for I cannot just pack up and move... it's not in the cards right now, nor do I particularly want to leave. It is rather perplexing I suppose if I was to actually think about it... having the urge to move along somewhere else, and yet knowing that I'm supposed to be here at the same time. It is rather odd, but this is me we're talking about, and how surprising is it really?
Anyways, enough of that, I am finally feeling sleep come upon me... sleep well and sweet dreams of dancing through moonlit forest glades with someone special... :)