In 1969, my dad immigrated to the U.S. of A. and started his “American Dream”. Today, 37 years later, he retired. He made a living for himself and his family of 4 and now it’s time to par-tay! So, with the huge weight off his shoulders and a round-trip ticket to Thailand, he is ready to do just that. Tonight, we had a celebratory dinner at our usual Thai restaurant in Cypress and he leaves tomorrow for a month-long trip to Thailand. Woohoo! Congratulations, Daddy!!
This is one of the goldfish in our pond in the patio. I found him floating upside-down and spinning around with the flow of the filter’s current. Around and around he went. I thought, “Hm…I guess it’s time to flush him.” Then suddenly, he wiggled, turned himself over, and swam away from the current. So I guess he was OK.
Later in the evening, I told Jes about this morning’s incident and we searched for him with the flashlight. At first we couldn’t find him but then later found him upside-down and stuck inside the container that holds our plants. Oh no…he croaked. So we poked him with the net to dislodge him from the container and he floated to the top. Just a moment later, he flipped himself over, and wiggled away. So, we scooped him up and plopped him into our empty fishbowl (AKA Farshie’s old studio). He’s now comfortably resting in his new home without a current to fight.
I looked up his quirky little problem and apparently it’s common with these ornamental goldfish. His air bladder is malfunctioning and he may or may not recover. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Until then, I shall call him Scrappy and maybe I’ll take him to work as our clinic mascot. He’s a “special” just like the little kids I treat!
It was time to clean out the fish bowl this weekend and Farshie was looking rather sad. I remembered that he’s actually a tropical fish that’s supposed to be living in the warm waters of Southeast Asia and realized that poor Farshie’s been hanging out in a bowl next to the window with no heater. How unfortunate. I am one mean slum-lord.
To the left is Farshie’s old studio with cramped quarters and no central heating.
He’s down by the rocks hiding somewhere.
So, we drove up to Buena Park to pick up an old 5-gallon tank that has been sitting empty since we moved to our house. Unfortunately, it was given away. You’d think that after our stupid college days of 50 million tanks in one apartment that we’d be able to find something for him. But no…that was not the case this time. We actually had to go to pet store to buy him a new crib. So now Farshie’s stylin’ in an Eclipse 5-gallon corner acrylic tank with a BIO-wheel filter. We also got him a nice heater to bring his water temp up a little bit. We’re hoping it will bring his color back to a sapphire blue and he’ll be swimming around a bit more.
This is Farshie in his new condo with central heating and extra square inchage.
He’s looking happier already. We might need to get him a couple Cory Roombas in a week or so.
I started my day as I usually do. Got up, walked the dog, and went to work. At 1:30, I got a phone call from Jes and thought, “Oh no. What did the dog do now?” That wasn’t the issue at all. It was much worse. Jes went into work this morning and got laid off. It’s not a huge surprise but it was much earlier than he expected. Their company was expecting a big layoff in June but he got the boot much earlier. When he told me, I wasn’t mad, surprised, or anxious. I was just speechless. So, I asked to be excused from this afternoon’s staff meeting and went home to console the husband even though he was probably more relieved than anything else. Fortunately for us, this was a lay off and not a firing, which means a nice severance package will be coming our way. We also found out this afternoon that shortly after Jes left the building, they had a big meeting to announce that no one would be getting raises or bonuses this year. It sucks that we’re a single-income household for a while but it sorta looks like Jes won in the end.
In other news, the WoW Expansion Pack came out today and we went to Target to go get it. He also applied for a job at Blizzard today. It was a funny coincidence that he was going to apply for the job opening even before getting laid off today. It’s pretty ironic that the game that took over our house these past 7 months may potentially support the house after wall. Stupid WoW.
I spent this New Year’s Eve at home for the first time in many many years. Back when I was a kid, my brother and I would try to stay up until midnight while our parents slept. The tradition was to watch TV and bake some brownies. Unfortunately by 11:30, Johnny would fall asleep on the couch and I’d have to wake him up while the ball dropped.
This year, Jes and I went to dinner at Houston’s before going out on the town. After a couple glasses of wine, I was feeling the buzz and Jes was barely sober enough to get us back home. We, however, were in no condition to drive 50 miles up to the Downtown LA loft party that Holly’s friend was throwing. So, we stayed home, watched TV, and opened a bottle of champagne. If my brother was here, we’d bake some brownies but no brother so no brownies.
The next morning, we went to Polly’s in Cerritos to have breakfast with Dayantha, Huy, Brother, Ti, and Thilan. It sounded like everyone had a pretty low-key NYE this year, which is a nice change. With the risk of being in the way of a drunk driver or the massive headache the next morning, I may be better off either out of town or at home sometimes.
So, it’s Week Two of my Winter Break and I’m hoping to have a little more productivity this week. Time to tidy up the house, clean out the fridge, and take down the Christmas lights. Have a great year, everyone!
It’s New Year’s Eve! I don’t think I made any real resolutions this year and I don’t think I have any for ’07. Work was really stressful earlier this year but it got better by September. Home life was good but also filled with WoW and TiVo.
This was a big year for weddings… Congrats to Holly, Roy, Patty, Johnny, Derek, Elise, Bang, and Vyl. This was also a big baby year. Debbie and Johann were blessed with a baby boy, Jack, this fall and Debbie and Pish are expecting their first child (a girl!). Patti and Howard are also expecting their second child. Yay!
We spent the New Year in Thailand. We camped in Yellowstone this summer and took a week-long vacation in Hawaii with a bunch of friends too. I spent my 31st birthday in New York with Brother and had Thanksgiving at home with the family.
Now it’s the last day of the year and I’m still in my PJs. I’m not sure what we’re doing tonight but I’ll be sure to make the most of it. Happy New Year, Everyone!! See you in 2007!
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