No more quarantine tank
That’s right, no more quarantine tank. Instead, it has turned into a molly hatchery.
Bitch Fish, Queen Hera, lulled me into a false sense of security: she didn’t have any fry in ages, and she doesn’t look all that fat, so maybe she isn’t preganant… then I wake up this morning, and what do I discover? About 10 fry, and a very skinny mother. Grrr.
J doesn’t see what the problem is.
The main tank is threatening to get algae happening again; it’s on the sword plant a bit, and some other bits… I did some rather brutal-looking aquascaping the other day, in that I chopped out all the bits that had no leaves on them. As a consequence we look like we’ve lost a fair few of the plants, but actually they were bits that just looked rubbishy anyway.
I only have four rainbows left; this is a bit sad. All of the harlequins and Colombian tetras are still going, though, as is Ajax of course. So… I’m thinking I need more plants… ones that might actually survive, this time. And I’m thinking about new fish, too. Serpaes, perhaps. Or silver dollars.
Simmons and others
Just finished Simmons’ Endymion, and I really did nearly cry because I have yet to find The Rise of Endymion and I’m feeling a bit desperate for some closure, thanks to the tantilising nature of this one. Doesn’t matter that I have almost a zillion books to go on with; they’re not the one I want.
I’ve got some books from school to read. One is for the English faculty – Mister Monday, by Garth Nix – to see if it’s fit to be a set text. The others were in a box in the staffroom yesterday for holiday reading, not sure why – whether they’re new (although some weren’t), or the librarians just make up boxes for teachers’ delectation. One is The Pirate Queen, by Alan Gold, which looks like a lot of fun – Elizabethan, not sure if it really is based on fact or not – the blurb says “Through the daring of her piracy Grace nearly bankrupted the English treasury; she caused nothing but trouble for Elizabeth I.” The other book I grabbed is The Ill-Made Mute, which I have largely heard poor reports of but I want to make up my own mind. Bold move, I know.
World hum
Have added a new link to the ever-expanding side bar: but how on earth could I have forgotten to add World Hum? One of my favourite ever websites, their tag is “travel dispatches from a shrinking planet.” I’ve read some of the coolest stories thanks to this site, and found some of the weirdest websites (travel by plane a lot? There’s a site to take pictures of your in-flight meal, post and rate them, or a site that tells you the best airports for sleeping in). Love it.
Bad history
I bought this book at Borders called something like A Handy History Handbook; it wasn’t quite that bad, but it was $10 and I thought it might have some interesting and/or useful facts in it.
It does.
Like the fact that the Roman Empire began in 27BC when Julius Caesar became emperor.
Bad ideas
I started playing StarCraft again on the weekend. I gave it up for ages and ages because I got up to a level that was too difficult and I decided I didn’t like it anymore. Then, on the weekend, I thought it would be fun to try playing a game with J. Bad idea; he has a level of intuition with computer games that just makes it totally unfair for me to play against him (did I mention he has built a new desk for the study? Very nice). But I have started playing by myself… which is not good, since I have reports to do at the moment.
The other thing I think was a bad idea was getting a hair cut. Other people will still think it is fairly long, but I am suffering some anxiety because it just feels too short. Hopefully I will learn to cope with this.
I wanna be like Dan
OK, so it doesn’t rhyme, but it does tell you that Dan Simmonds is my latest literary hero. I read Endymion early this year, having got it second hand and not realising – because it was not made clear on the front or the back – that this was a “500 or so years in the future of [other series]” type book. It wasn’t completely necessary to have read the first – I muddled along quite well – but it would have made life a bit easier. And also not meant that as I read the first two, Hyperion and Hyperion Falling, that I had these weird deja vu things happening (which, if you know the book, is quite a funny little in-joke). Nonetheless… I read what was effectively the third book; almost cried when I finished it because it was so beautiful, because there were two before and one after to read, and because the second-hand bookshop had none of them. I got the first two at Borders a little while ago, and I just finished the second… it is magnificent… I actually don’t think they’re quite as good as the third, but maybe that’s my rose-tinted nostalgia; I’m going to read it again soon anyway, before I read the fourth and because it will make so much more sense now.
Anyway. Highly recommended. I comes under fantasy/scifi, but is not tech-heavy (a few weird concepts, but they’re not vital to understanding), and personally I don’t think the story itself is all that fantastic, in the genre sense of the word.
Algae and snails and plants (oh my)
I feel like I haven’t written about the tank in ages. I think the less light is doing good things for our alage issues, but not sure about the plants; they don’t seem overly happy, but I’m not sure whether this is a light issue or it’s the after-effects of the algae infestation. I’ll leave it a couple of days – over the weekend – and see how it looks then. I’m going to have to do some serious aquascaping I think.
Someone accused me of not writing much about Ajax recently (J then claimed I write about him more than I do about anyone else… possibly, but he is incredibly interesting). Last night, for the general delectation of a 2.5 year old, who didn’t fully appreciate it, he decided to a pull a Floating Stunt. I was suitably impressed, anyway. He was balancing on a lily pad-like leaf right at the top of the tank, and then all of a sudden… he wasn’t on the leaf any more. He was just floating around, easy as you please. Love that neutral buoyancy. Love that snail.
The tank still feels a little bare. All the fish are about the same size – I think this is the main problem. I feel we need some quite different looking fish, preferably on the larger size I think. Maybe gourami, maybe silver dollars… J wants angels, of course, but a) I am still a little traumatised and b) I haven’t really seen nice ones recently.
Play School
I cannot believe all the stuff going on about Play School and the lesbian parent-thing at the moment. How amazing to think that both Johnnies must watch it, and feel the need to comment! Personally I think it reprehensible that they would try to quash what appears to be a genuine attempt to portray Aus diversity. If they had gone Through the Window to see … say… ostrich farmers, or Kalahari bushmen who had migrated, would there be furore? I don’t think so, sunshine. They’re running an anti-gay stance because they think that’s what will get them re-elected (hmmm, am I too young to be this cynical?). And possibly because they’re ignorant, too.
U-571
My goodness. I hadn’t realised how bad submarine movies could get. I guess we have been spoiled, with Red October and K-19: The Widowmaker, but still! Largely boring action bits that don’t compensate for no character development. Disappointing… and you hardly hear boo from Bon Jovi, so even that potentially entertaining bit is squished.
Pft. Boring.
Kids’ books
I took advantage of Borders and their 3 for 2 sale yesterday. I got The Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek, Possum Magic, and Animalia! Very exciting. They’re not entirely for me, of course… at least one of them will go as a present to the Nankervis clan on Wednesday since I didn’t send a present when Aidan was born (like a year ago or something). However, it is a great deal of fun to read them. And of course I also bought Avocado Baby ages ago… that was a good purchase; no one is getting that one as a present any time soon.
On a completely different note, I think I might have misplaced my Bowie CD.
Later: they forgot to take a book! I’ll have to send them one now.
Also: this is what I like; talking via comments on the blog, rather than email or some other media.
Randomly Yours, Alex 