Back into the hobby

I’m back into the hobby of tropical fish-keeping after a hiatus of 6 years. I have always had fish in my life. I remember the first aquarium we had when I was living in Australia was stocked with goldfish. Black moor, comet, pearlscale. I was always tempted to do some fishing and one day I cast my toy fishing rod into the aquarium. Needless to say, I was caught red-handed by dad and punished. Hehehe!

When we moved back to Malaysia, it wasn’t long before dad set up an aquarium teaming with colourful tropical fish. The book that really fascinated me was an encyclopedia my dad bought to assist in his fish-keeping. I was too young to understand the science and nomenclature and instead browsed the pages and marveled at all the colourful photographs and illustrations of fishes. The book is now outdated as taxonomy classification changes, new species and new improved methods of fish-keeping are being discovered. Nevertheless, this book has become my bible for fish-keeping and I still read it now and then despite vast amounts of information now being available at the click of a mouse.

It wasn’t until I was in college that I ventured into tropical fishkeeping on my own. I started with guppies and then acquired a pair of balloon rams and later a pair of brichardi cichlids. They thrived and bred even in what I consider “hill-billy” setups. Later on, I got more adventurous and went into the hobby of marine fishkeeping after the release of Pixar’s Finding Nemo. My pride was a 30 gallon full-blown reef with fish and invertebrates using only a live rock and deep-sand-bed system of filtration. The stars of the display were a pair of ocellaris clownfish, a dwarf hawkfish, a sixline wrasse and a Rolland’s damselfish. The motley crew of invertebrates included coral-banded shrimp, cleaner shrimp, electric-blue hermit crabs, money cowrie, turbo snails and a crocea clam. For corals, I had mushroom corals, plate coral, xenia, leather coral, hammer coral, zooanthids and brain coral.

That was 6 years ago. Now I am back again, and this time with Betta! Of all the fish that fascinated me, the Betta has captured my attention with its spectrum of colours, flamboyant finnage, edgy attitude and ease of care. Betta are undemanding in nature, and I had several as a kid. Back then. I hadn’t heard of the fancy Crowntails, Double-Tails and Half-Moons yet. It was the old faithful Veil-Tail that was featured in my favourite fish book and which were widely available. The very last Betta in my house died from being overfed by grandma when we were on holiday in 2002. Grandma tends to overfeed all under her care, including both my brother and I, although I don’t show it physically.

Post holiday season blues

The Chinese New Year holidays have just ended. The long 4-day break has come to a stop. Traffic is increasing in density as people return to work in the city. The festive mood slowly wanes as businesses reopen and people get down to work. The office is buzzing with people again and emails start flooding my inbox. The sound of keyboard typing, mouse clicks and human chatter fill the air in contrast to the dead silence of last week. After all the spending, celebrating and gambling, bank accounts have run dry and it is now time to rebuild wealth by going back to work and earning THAT hard-earned salary!

How I celebrate Chinese New Year

While most Chinese look forward to celebrating CNY as it is a time of feasting, celebrating, spending time with family and friends, I on the other hand do not enjoy CNY except for the long public holidays. Here are 10 reasons why I hate CNY:

1. I hate wearing red coloured clothing
2. I hate listening to CNY tunes
3. I hate watching gaudy CNY music vids
4. I hate the sound of firecrackers exploding
5. I hate the throngs of CNY shoppers at the malls
6. I hate visiting distant relatives whom I only see once a year
7. I hate nosey aunts who ask a multitude of personal questions
8. I hate it that most shops and restaurants are closed
9. I hate receiving emails about horoscopes for the new year
10. I hate myself for pigging on waxed meat and Chinese sausages

This is how I celebrate CNY at home:

Back to work

The vicious cycle starts again. After a short Christmas break (I don’t have many paid leave days to clear as I just got back to working after quitting a Big 4), it’s back to work again. The reality of going back to work starts to sink in on a Sunday morning. As the day progresses from morning to noon, the dark feeling of doom grows like a storm cell and lingers throughout the rest of the day. As night falls, the bottomless feeling of dread grows and I get all sorts of anxious thoughts as I lie in bed trying to sleep. "What will tomorrow be like? How will the day go by? Will I be busy? Will I be stressed? How will I kill boredom?" The thoughts keep playing in my head until I finally doze off from nonsensical mental overwork at 12.00am.

ZZZzzz.......

Then, after going through an epic battle to get out of bed in the morning (it really is a clash of the titans with Poseidon dragging me back down beneath the sheets and the mighty Zeus pulling me up from beneath the darkness of my bed covers!), I go to work. Here’s a timetable of what typically goes on each day in the office:

9.00am: Wishes “Good morning” to co-workers and boss.

10.00am: It’s only 10am? Gosh! It certainly felt like more than just an hour!

11.00am: Time for brekkie!

12.00am: Hooray! 1 more hour to lunch!

1.00pm: Lunch break

2.00pm: Lunch is over. Belly is filled. Glad that half the day is gone.

3.00pm: Argghhh! 3 more hours to go!

3.30pm: *Yawn! 2.5 hours to go. Hang on!

4.00pm: 2 more hours! What can I do to make time pass even quicker?

5.00pm: 1 more hour to go (keeps on checking the watch)

6.00pm: Sayonara! Balik rumah! Says “See you tomorrow” to co-workers and boss.

Christmas: sacred or secular?

I was in the midst of writing about how ridiculous I feel about there being 12 days of Christmas (in reference to the famous Christmas carol) but I decided to digress for fear of blasphemy. So, instead, I will write about the irrelevance of Santa Claus, reindeer, snow, and Christmas trees to the sacred view of Christmas. Many a time, we hear non-believers preaching about the true spirit of Christmas but what do they know about Christmas? We hear them saying that the true spirit of Christmas is giving, sharing and doing good. And then, with Christmas, comes gifts and presents. It's true. Retailers revel at the thought of Christmas as it brings in an abundance of revenue. Spirits are high. Consumer spending is high. It's good for the economy!

Putting the economics of Christmas aside for now, what has the idealised perception of a white Christmas with snow falling outside, the family huddled around the fireplace and children waiting for presents from Santa got to do with Christmas anyway? On prima facie, this is relevant to the folks living up in the northern hemisphere where Christmas coincides with winter. After all, pine trees are abundant, snow is plentiful in December and there are even reindeer that pull sleighs! But what about those living in the tropics and down south where Christmas comes at a time when the sun shines bright and hot? I watched Carols in the Domain in Australia about a week ago and found it hilarious to see Santa in his full red and white costume on stage. I bet he must have been sweating it out as if in a sauna under all those heavy clothing, beard and boots! And what about the spray-on snow? The only snow you'll find in summer is at the Snowy Mountains! So, you see? We have been sold the commercialised secular view of a Christmas which needs Santa Claus, reindeer and snow to be a complete Christmas. But what about the sacred view of Christmas?

Christmas as celebrated by Christians all over the world is to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ which happened many centuries ago in the town of Bethlehem in Jerusalem. He was born to the virgin Mary in a lowly manger, and His birth was witnessed by several shepherds who were watching their flocks at night. You don't hear of Christmas trees, Santa Claus, reindeer or even snow in the Bible, do you?

Fallen off the face of the earth

I'm back. Well, I didn't go anywhere to be honest. I just stopped blogging because of work commitments. Here's a brief of what has happened since the last blog post:

1. I quit my current job and joined a Big 4 (yeah I know... I gave in to temptation)
2. I quit my job at a Big 4 after working for 3 months (Hooray! Freedom!)
3. I found a job near home that pays well and allows me to leave on time

Yet, I'm still unhappy :(

Random musings at 4.30pm

I'm so pleased with myself for completing my job as scheduled today that I have decided to spend the next 30 mins doing anything but work. The boss has gone home and there's nobody else in the office to assist. Haha! It will be a long 30 mins of being unproductive so why not start off with 5 random things about myself?

1. I started combing my hair from right to left to even out the left parting.
2. I've got 3 moles on my left hand that form an equilateral triangle when connected dot to dot.
3. My fingers are relatively long in relation to my height.
4. The hair on my right arm grows in a circle.
5. My weight hasn't changed in 8 years.