Thursday, March 31, 2005
indeed, a series of unfortunate events.
today, yet another fish died for no apparent reason. no wreaths please. so i asked my maid to help me get it out cos i'm scared of dead fishes that are floating on water. i think it all started a few years ago when a koi in the pond died and somebody left it on the grass for one day. the next morning, the was covered with maggots and flies, and because it was humid and the fish was damp, the fish looked as if it was decomposing. so totally gross. the stench's not for those with weak stomachs. ironically, i'm not afraid of the dead fishes you see in markets. sigh. maybe i'm just not fated to keep fish. i'm just an amatuer. anyway, the water was quite green because of the growth of algae. got my maid, again, to help me siphon out 30% of the water. see? i've learnt my lesson. and as a precautionary measure, i decided to fill the pot with filtered water. according to the label on the brita box, it says that by filtering, it would reduce the amount of chlorine in tap water, remove tiny particles and reduce metallic impurities [in my own words]. i figured that since the water was fit for human consumption, the fishes wouldnt die so easily in this water condition. after all, goldfish are quite hardy creatures. it was tedious work man. the amount filtered each time is only a fraction of that of the pond. so imagine how many times i ran in and out of the house. and time consuming as well, as the water only streamed out from the filter from four little holes, each only about 2-3mm in diameter. anyway, all my effort was all worth it when i saw that the fishes were swimming gleefully around, and had no sign of bloatedness or stiffness like the other time. chlorine poisoning!!! at least they did not jump out of the pot, unlike my class guppies who jumped out of the tank and into the sink [we were in the toilet changing water]. it was quite funny actually. some poor fish even went down into the sink hole.
all the fishes died except one goldfish who survived the whole ordeal. soon, he graduated from a fish tank to a water feature. the water feature was like a small pond, with a little fountain to aerate the water. it was given to us by the OMs, namely mr kam and mr lim, or better known to the cheapo gang as lifty and shifty. know why their called lifty and shifty? beacause they are the school's operations managers. sometimes, if they dont have anything to do, they'd move the school's furniture [like the yellow tables and the sofas] around so that they'd look busy. and they. especially mr kam, also thinks that he always moves the furniture to the best position. the next day, if he isnt satisfied with the position, he'd shift them back again. if you still dont understand why they're called lifty and shifty, it's because when you move things, you have to lift them, and shift them. that's why. the names came from happy tree friends and we thought it suited them perfectly. haha. they also had a lot of problems with our class. however after all, it was still the guys' fault. you see, they liked to throw the key onto the wall. one day, the key broke and whenever we wanted to open our classroom door, we had to look for them. and whenever we asked them to open the door for us, mr kam wold also tell us how much trouble we've cause him bla bla and always threatened that that would be the last time he opens the door for us. but there was never a last time cos as i said, he always tells us the same thing. anyway, back to my water feature story. i digressed so much. it was given to our class by them cos they found it in a storeroom. as usual, they were trying to act kind. i hope the oms dont read this. har har. so the lone fish spent the rest of the days swimming aimlessly in the little pond. every now and then, heidi would bring her two terrapins, tic and tac to join that lil fish in the pond. [now only tac is left cos she lost tic in a bus].
finally, it isnt known what happened to the little goldfish. it was due to the sudden announcement of the closure of school for graduating classes. thus, in the midst of clearing the rubble in our classroom, the fish was forgotten. i think the school attendants took the fish home. or maybe the oms took it away. or maybe it died. sad ending for a little fish right. but i'm sure the goldfish led a good life in our classroom together with us. it provided us a good source of entertainment, and i'm sure it had great company, us. three cheers for 4e6, and our surviving lil' goldfish, named dorothy.
today, yet another fish died for no apparent reason. no wreaths please. so i asked my maid to help me get it out cos i'm scared of dead fishes that are floating on water. i think it all started a few years ago when a koi in the pond died and somebody left it on the grass for one day. the next morning, the was covered with maggots and flies, and because it was humid and the fish was damp, the fish looked as if it was decomposing. so totally gross. the stench's not for those with weak stomachs. ironically, i'm not afraid of the dead fishes you see in markets. sigh. maybe i'm just not fated to keep fish. i'm just an amatuer. anyway, the water was quite green because of the growth of algae. got my maid, again, to help me siphon out 30% of the water. see? i've learnt my lesson. and as a precautionary measure, i decided to fill the pot with filtered water. according to the label on the brita box, it says that by filtering, it would reduce the amount of chlorine in tap water, remove tiny particles and reduce metallic impurities [in my own words]. i figured that since the water was fit for human consumption, the fishes wouldnt die so easily in this water condition. after all, goldfish are quite hardy creatures. it was tedious work man. the amount filtered each time is only a fraction of that of the pond. so imagine how many times i ran in and out of the house. and time consuming as well, as the water only streamed out from the filter from four little holes, each only about 2-3mm in diameter. anyway, all my effort was all worth it when i saw that the fishes were swimming gleefully around, and had no sign of bloatedness or stiffness like the other time. chlorine poisoning!!! at least they did not jump out of the pot, unlike my class guppies who jumped out of the tank and into the sink [we were in the toilet changing water]. it was quite funny actually. some poor fish even went down into the sink hole.
all the fishes died except one goldfish who survived the whole ordeal. soon, he graduated from a fish tank to a water feature. the water feature was like a small pond, with a little fountain to aerate the water. it was given to us by the OMs, namely mr kam and mr lim, or better known to the cheapo gang as lifty and shifty. know why their called lifty and shifty? beacause they are the school's operations managers. sometimes, if they dont have anything to do, they'd move the school's furniture [like the yellow tables and the sofas] around so that they'd look busy. and they. especially mr kam, also thinks that he always moves the furniture to the best position. the next day, if he isnt satisfied with the position, he'd shift them back again. if you still dont understand why they're called lifty and shifty, it's because when you move things, you have to lift them, and shift them. that's why. the names came from happy tree friends and we thought it suited them perfectly. haha. they also had a lot of problems with our class. however after all, it was still the guys' fault. you see, they liked to throw the key onto the wall. one day, the key broke and whenever we wanted to open our classroom door, we had to look for them. and whenever we asked them to open the door for us, mr kam wold also tell us how much trouble we've cause him bla bla and always threatened that that would be the last time he opens the door for us. but there was never a last time cos as i said, he always tells us the same thing. anyway, back to my water feature story. i digressed so much. it was given to our class by them cos they found it in a storeroom. as usual, they were trying to act kind. i hope the oms dont read this. har har. so the lone fish spent the rest of the days swimming aimlessly in the little pond. every now and then, heidi would bring her two terrapins, tic and tac to join that lil fish in the pond. [now only tac is left cos she lost tic in a bus].
finally, it isnt known what happened to the little goldfish. it was due to the sudden announcement of the closure of school for graduating classes. thus, in the midst of clearing the rubble in our classroom, the fish was forgotten. i think the school attendants took the fish home. or maybe the oms took it away. or maybe it died. sad ending for a little fish right. but i'm sure the goldfish led a good life in our classroom together with us. it provided us a good source of entertainment, and i'm sure it had great company, us. three cheers for 4e6, and our surviving lil' goldfish, named dorothy.
TheServant
3:05 PM