Bad choices

There are some foods that just should not be eaten. At least, not by me. I avoid them most of the time, but at times I get strange cravings for them. I eat them, and immediately regret it. For example:

1. Fish sticks: What an awful creation. For me, no fish is more disgusting/less edible than cod. (I love fish such as mahi mahi, Atlantic salmon, swordfish... You know, the expensive fish.) About once every two years I suddenly crave them, have some, and promptly feel sick.
2. Donuts: Way too much sugar in a small package. I eat them perhaps twice every six months. Every single time, they taste good, but within a few hours I'm dizzy and sick to my stomach.
3. Hot dogs: I'm talking about soy or turkey dogs, of course, since I refuse red meat. But still, all hot dogs are pretty nasty. I like the idea of easy access meat (most meat requires too much preparation for a busy college student with no kitchen to have often), but I wish the taste and intestinal effects could be improved.

Reading

I started reading The Last Unicorn for the first time this week. I know, I know, I should've read it as a child. I've loved the movie since it first came to video when I was just a little speck, but for some reason never thought to read the book until just recently.

Even though I know very well that movies usually leave a huge amount of content from the books they're based on out, I'm surprised as how much was left out of the cartoon. So many important things! Shouldn't the movie have mentioned that the reason why Haggard's castle fell apart when the unicorns were released was that the castle was cursed to fall when the sea overflowed with Haggard's greed? That seems pretty damn important to me. I always wondered as a kid why the castle just fell over when the unicorns came out of the sea.

And there's so much to Schmendrick that was left out of the movie. I always found him rather silly and dumb, but he's actually so much more! Silly and dumb sometimes, yes, but also funny, clever, kind, and wise. What about the fact that he's immortal for the majority of the book? Doesn't that seem rather important and worth noting in the movie?

I'm just hoping that the new film slated to be released around Christmas 2006 addresses these things better. Peter S. Beagle himself is writing the screenplay, so I would think it would be better... Well, even if it's not, at least the actor cast for Schmendrick is pretty hot. ;)

Titan

I named the new boy Titan. After he was released into his new tank he went from a dirty copper color to a fabulous blood red. He's in good shape, considering he's been on two planes and in several vehicles since Friday -- the only damage he's suffered is a few bent rays. I like him very much. I just wish he'd start eating. It's normal for bettas to not eat the first few days after they move to a new home, but it's not that he's not hungry, he's just picky. He'll suck a pellet into his mouth, spit it out, suck it in, spit it out, repeatedly until it falls to the bottom of his tank. I think he's been spoiled on something like mosquito larvae or brine shrimp. I suppose if he doesn't starting eating the HBH pellets by tomorrow night I'll offer him some Hikari Bio Gold, but I'm not going to get started on feeding my fish live food. That's just too expensive and poses a risk of parasitic infection.

Photos of Titan are available here.

Mourning

Cuba was buried today. His death didn't really bother me until just now. I suddenly realized that he's in the ground and that's that. My chest hurts.

Another fish loss and gain

I have bad news and... Bad news or good news, depending on who you are. =P

Cuba died yesterday, six days after Holly's death. As I stated when Holly died, I knew it was coming. He just couldn't live without his best friend. I would be more upset if he had died of illness, or mysteriously like Holly did. But because he had a reason to die that was not my fault (I would blame illness on myself) and he seemed to genuinely wish to die, I'm not that sad. He had a good, long life for a fish. He stayed with me for 9½ months, and he seemed somewhat old when I bought him. By the time of his death he was starting to get age spots on his head, so I know that he didn't die young. He'll be buried soon, in the same style as Holly.

The other news is that before I was even sure of his death, I bought two more bettas. I had no intention to buy either. I was pricing an Eclipse tank at Petsmart and Petco so that I can divide it up and get rid of my multiple small tanks, and at Petco a very large blue and red male flared at me. His fins were very impressive, and I just kept thinking, "What are the chances I'll find such a beautiful fish again for only $3.75?" So after other business, I came back and bought him.

While taking care of the other things, I stopped by Walmart for a bowl to quarantine the new guy in. For once, Walmart had bettas I would actually want: Four identical tiny white females. Two appeared to be constipated, so I took one of the healthy ones. On the walk to the cashier she started floating on her side, a sign of swim bladder disorder, so I put her back and left with apparently the only truly healthy white female they had.

I've named the tiny white female Amalthea, and the big blue male Prince Lir. Photos of the new acquires (and a couple of Hugo) can be found here for the curious.