Peas On The Moon

Mike and I came across an image of a "pea car" the other night. This was followed by a search for a song that apparently came with the car. We found out it's a video, actually a commercial advertising vegetables.

Here is a link to the commercial of the Pea Car . I want a pea car.

About a year ago I bought my first Betta fish, Phyllis . Phyllis recently celebrated her first birthday. She's about doubled her size and is as crazy as ever. She no longer fits comfortably into a shot glass. Happy Birthday Phyllis!

Since the purchase of Phyllis last year I have also added Mouse to the family. Technically Mouse lives at the Shoppe but she's still part of my betta family. She almost makes Phyllis look sane.... almost. Mouse likes to be the center of attention and will even do some tricks.

Today I added yet another member to my Betta family. Meet Squishy.

Squishy lives in her own tank on my desk like Phyllis. So far she's settling in wonderfully. Phyllis is intrigued by her. Theoretically I could put them together as female Bettas have been known to live in groups (unlike male bettas who would kill each other), but Phyllis prefers her tank to herself. So now i have two of my girls at home, and one at work.

I realize here i sound crazy... people keep telling me they are "just fish", but they keep me company and i look more sane talking to my fish than myself. Plus, they are my fleet of feminist fish. They betta world is a very patriarchal world. Males are bred to be long finned and flashy. The majority of the Betta's sold are males. The males are also the poster fish for advertising bettas. Females are mainly for breeding purposes though they too are fairly colorful. They get the short end of the stick. Pet shops still sell the females though, to people like me who realize that these girls have a ton of personality and though they are small, they are mighty.

Edit (01/13/07): Mouse had been fired from her job and is now living at home with me. She's a bit depressed and the car ride shook her up a bit so she's not her usual energetic self, but i'm sure she'll bounce back in no time. Just call me crazy Betta Lady.

I spent a lot of time with doctors and nurses over the holidays. Most of them I am very grateful to. It began with nasty headaches. I'd had them before, but they were back and getting worse. They inhabited the left side of my face, concentrating on my jaw and temple. By thursday the 28th I had had a pounding headache for almost 2 days straight. THe next morning i ended up at a walk-in clinic because my Dr's office couldn't fit me in. The other DR was nice, he asked tons of questions, and gave me forms to get blood tests done, but didn't fix the problem. Enter long weekend and no let up from the pain. Tuesday morning i went in to get blood taken. I do not like getting needles. I don't mind giving them to animals, or other people getting them, but not me. I didn't faint though!!! And i got taken out for pancakes after. I also managed to get in to see my DR that day. He quickly diagnosed me with TMJ, gave me antiinflammatories and told me to go see my dentist. Google had also diagnosed me with this.

A problem began however because the pain got worse, and the medication didn't help. I couldn't sleep. Every time i started to drift into the unconscious the pain exploded in my head. By Wednesday night i had had very little sleep in previous nights and no chance of it that night. By 4am i was in tears and shaking the pain was so bad. My mom took me into the ER. You get very fast service at 4am when you tell them you haven't slept in days the pain is so bad. Though they could do nothing for the root cause of the pain (my mouth), they could get rid of the ache, and they did. I had my very first IV, some fantastic pain killers, and i slept for the first time in a long time. After a couple hours they sent me home. I slept a couple hours more and got in to see my dentist.

I bonded with my dentist that day. He hummed and hawed about what to do. He thought the problem was a tooth i've had issues with before. He wanted to pull it but was scared i'd faint or something as i hadn't eaten and was shaking again. I was not leaving without some fixes though and he decided to pull the tooth. It didn't want to come out...but it did. I went home, and other then sore gums I have had little to no pain in almost a week. Looks like the tooth was the problem. This is not to say i don't have TMJ (i still have many symptoms), but that was not the root cause of the pain. I don't think i have ever has as much medical treatment as i did that week. I'm glad it's over. The needle holes in my arms are finally healing.

Every now and then I get these feelings that I can be easily replaced. That everything I love and want can be taken away from me. Or that my plans are going to be uprooted leaving me with nothing. I don't like these feelings. I wonder if there is any justification in me having them. Some of these things have happened before. I think that's why I believe they can happen again. Perhaps it's because I've had a good year and I'm wondering if it was too good and that i don't deserve it. I have great people surrounding me, I have had a successful year in school, I have a fantastic job, and I have my health. I like to think I deserve to keep these things and that they want to keep me.

I survived the semester. It was defiantly one of my most stressful semesters. I had a really heavy course load and a ton of writing to do for all of my courses. I don't want to write another paper for at least a month. For the most part I enjoyed my courses. With all of the writing and reading i had to do i wasn't able to put the amount of time i wanted to into some of my courses, but hopefully things will turn out ok anyway.

I've read nine novels this semester... but they were for a course i was taking. Still, i enjoyed most of them. I worked a couple shifts a week but that was more enjoyable than stressful (with a few exceptions of mentally unstable customers). I also managed to almost fall behind when i went on a trip to Boston but the trip was fantastic so any stress related to it was more than worth it.

My stress level maxed at the first of November when i was in a car accident. I was fine. I was driving down the road and a guy ran a stop sign and pulled out in front of me. We have our car fixed now, and the insurance company finally tracked down the guy who ran the stop sign. The police had been at the scene but he gave them less the complete info. Blarg. He was "reluctant to come forward" at the end but took responsibility. Luckily that's all more or less cleared up now.

I have three weeks off for Christmas. I'm going to work some and relax a lot (hopefully). Next semester i only have 4 courses then i'm gradumicated. Woot!

I'm one of those women. thewomenareangry.org

Neko and I are bonding. I have taught her speech commands this afternoon. I call it productive procrastination. All Mac's come with the ability to do speech commands but I have had less luck in the past. Mind you, i haven't tried very hard. But upon reading a new article on it today I decided to give it a chance on Neko. SHe still gets confused sometimes but it's working.

English project- Wednesday 29th (A Success!)
Poli Sci Final Paper (16pgs) - Thursday 30th

Anthro FInal Paper (12pgs) - Friday Dec. 1st

History Take-home (6 pgs) - Dec.4th

Feminism and the Body Final paper (min. 15 pgs) - Dec.8th

Freedom!!! for a few weeks.

Insert panic here.

I need ideas for a fictional story about mental illness. It must take place between 1900 and 1970 and have historical factual material behind it. I hate writing fiction. Especially 10-15 pages of it. Help Please.

I am still alive.

Phyllis is blowing bubbles at me. Is it wrong to want to hug a fish?