6 posts tagged “fish”

Had a weird dream last night. It all begins with me waking up and finding that my beloved 3ft tank had been decimated. The custom background I made for it was torn down, gravel removed and my fish were in with a load of huge ugly fish - albino creatures with big red eyes and barbels on its lips. There were also huge blue cichlids in there with my fish.

Now needless to say, I was infuriated and looked to my dad to demand an explanation. Beside my tank was his now emptied out 4ft tank and all of his fish were inside mine. He offered some bogus explanation about wanting to clean out his tank and so he put his fish in mine. In order to make my tank safe for his fish, he had to take the background down and throw out the gravel and plants.

Then, strangely, in the dream I broke down and started to cry bitterly. He looked at me and told me to stop being silly. I told him I wasn't being silly. All my effort and all the love I had put into my tank was ruined now, his ugly monster fish had eaten all the small ones that I had and my angelfish who I love was being killed. I don't understand how I could have been so badly affected in my dream. I cried and cried and wept as I tried to rescue my surviving fish from his monsters.

The question now is not so much what this dream means, but rather whether or not I require therapy.

It's probably no surprise to many that I've never had a boyfriend. Sure there's been the assorted crushes, miscellaneous kisses and hugs and what not. All pretty innocent. There had never been a proper romantic love affair for me. Usually the situation arises and I either get the hint two years too late, or I clam up and run for the hills. There's always been an innate fear of rejection for me, and I suppose sometimes it can be a problem.

Lately, I've been trying to overcome that, little by little... However, there are times when I seriously believe my hobby of fish keeping beats having a significant romantic male specimen in my life any day.

Think of it this way:

• Fish do not need to be reminded to bathe. Men sometimes stink like open cesspools.
• Fish are relatively cheap to feed. Men can be fussy whiners.
• On the topic of food, Fish are fed with a few pinches of flakes daily. Men seem to believe they are entitled to home-cooked food on a daily basis.
• Fish are also enthusiastic about seeing you, and not just because a fin-operated flake dispensers have not been invented. Men sometimes find you a bother despite the cooking.
• Fish also, and this is the important bit, do not make you get up before the crack of dawn to travel from the west to the south of Singapore to meet up for a hike and then NOT. SHOW. UP. Men do that.
  

The last point shows clearly that Fish have far better survival instincts than some men, because when I see the chap who stood me up today I will beat him in the head. Kind of gently, of course. He's still sort of a friend. Maybe I will just beat him until he's very very very sorry instead of till death. Well, we'll see.

I just find it highly ironic that I was planning on telling soon-to-be-made-very-sorry chap that I had a soft spot for him today. Well, he'll be having a soft spot soon as well. In his jaw. Because I want to break it. (Yes, I am sweet and wholesome, thanks.) Perhaps this is a sign that it just seriously wasn't meant to be. It's a sign that sometimes eloquent charm does not equate to a man who's good to you. Lesson learned.

If there were ever a time when the age old phrase of 'up the creek without a paddle' applied to me, it was today. I've been feeling unhappy in my job lately, and have complained about it a lot to a buddy of mine, Senthil. It was his idea then, that since I had hit a grind, maybe I needed to go and do something new. So he suggested, being a fellow fish enthusiast, to explore a wild creek near our area.

Frankly, I've always been fascinated by the outdoors and wild areas of Singapore. I like getting my feet dirty. Unfortunately, my fish buddy, in all his well-intentioned advice, scared me with stories about snakes. Still, we trekked out this morning to Brickland Road and followed the train tracks overhead to a tiny creek in the grass.

It was idylic, peaceful and muddy. I got my brand new shoes dirtied on this little adventure. However, it was great fun to catch fish, who were wise onto us and soon began evading our nets and heading into the deeper parts of the creek where we dared not venture. After a while, with mud in our toes, we left the creek with our plunder of fish to rest. We managed to haul some green barbs, two-spot barbs, lots of endlers, and a long-finned danio. Sadly, all these fishes were feral and therefore, generally worthless.

After a while, with our feet now dried and shod, we headed off to the army camp to plunder the rambutan trees. The rambutans were the sweetest I've ever had, though I had this slight irrational fear of eating some larvae that lived in the fruit.

Our plunder complete, we went to another part of the creek, trekking through jungle this time to get there. We found the creek sadly paved with concrete and devoid of any visible fish to catch. There were, however, many rocks with pretty moss on it. Several are now in my tank, and I am waiting for the inevitable death of the moss so suddenly submerged. Still, the rocks look awesome and craggy.

I was of half a mind to forgo this little outing this morning, and I'm glad I didn't. It was good to get out of my comfort zone and try something so painfully new. I had good company, good fish, good fun and a good beginning to the week ahead.