Tumorless, Turtleness, and Dirty New Windshields
6/6/1
Now that�s a title to get one�s attention.
Of the guppynauts that I brought from home, only four of the original nine remain. Over the last two weeks, the fifth died. We thought it was a pregnant female. Guppies bear live young, and if she was having a particularly large litter, it would explain her size. But last Thursday, we noticed that not all was as planned. Something started coming out of her backside, and it didn�t appear to be little, lovely, live fish. Yesterday, the amount of her intestines, hanging out was quite disgusting. She couldn�t zip away from the ladle like sampler that I scooped her up with. She was dying anyway, so she took a toilet ride.
I�m a big believer in out of sight out of mind. Besides, she�d foul the water. If I took her out and stomped her like the PETA supporter here wanted, then I�d pollute my memories with violence.
The guy who was bringing a new window for my car, and was supposed to show up at two, showed up at 2:45 p.m. I go home at 3:15. Well, not yesterday I didn�t.
As I sat in the lab, talking to Labman, I got a voice message on my cell phone. I shouldn�t have. I should have had the thing ring. I�ve been having questionable service from [name of company]. I know I�m not out of range.
The message was from Aisai, she said, �Hey. No Tumor. Bye-bye.�
Excellent. But why were her prolactin levels so high.
After I should have gotten off work, I hung out with window man for a while. Then I realized that he worked much faster when I wasn�t talking about cars and music with him. He�s of the ilk that likes �Alice�s Restaurant� and that �I don�t want a pickle, I just want to ride on my motorcycle�. Make it rhyme. The horror...the horror�
He finished. I was under the impression that when one gets a new windshield that it might actually be clean. I was out of windshield washer fluid in my car, so it stayed dirty.
Halfway out to the Parkway and there one is, in the middle of the road: Another turtle.
The stereo was playing the last parts of Weezer�s Say It Aint So.
I didn�t like the look of this. He was all in his shell and had some mud smeared on his back. Maybe he was hit. I didn�t see any fluids below him.
I was in a good spot on the upside of a hill. I got out and went to look at him. He looked back at me.
He might be filthy, but he was alive. I got my camera and took a few pictures. I�ve got to start carrying my real camera, the 35 mm with the semi-fisheye lens. That takes some great pictures. Too bad it�s as big as my forearm.
Not the same shape though.
Well, turtle has mud, huh? So I grab him where he doesn�t have mud and lift him. He doesn�t try to urinate on me, but he does try to unseat my grip with his fat little legs. Those legs have feet with claws.
He doesn�t break the skin, but does manage to make me shift my grip so I get mud on my hand. I set him on the side that he wanted to be on and he scurries. He didn�t scurry far, just about a foot, and then he sat still again.
I got back in the car. The stereo was playing How Soon Is Now by The Smiths. The drive home is uneventful, thankfully.
I get home and there is a message from my mom. Aisai�s birthday is coming up this Saturday and mom wanted to know when they could have us over. I call and we talk about her health. Monday night is the night for Aisai and I to go to their place. Saturday, Aisai�s actual birthday, is taken up with a church thing at noon and going to her mom�s place that night.
We�ll go out somewhere that Aisia likes on Friday. Her present from me was two Ikea chairs. The silver ones made of tubular steel. They�re very comfortable. I forget their name�something like ellne, or maybe that�s our comforter.
With no tumor and no scheduled events, it was a pretty good time. I tried to take a nap, but Velvet, our cat who fetches to the point of irritation, wouldn�t let me sleep. She wanted to fetch. I did the throwing thing for her for a while and then went out to the patio and smoked some Honduran cigar from the bizarro world. How does the Humidor get in so many freakish brands? It was a good cigar, thought I though that I wouldn�t like it based on the first puffs. I think it was Manos Grandes. No, I made that up. That means Big Hands. It was something like Don Reno, but that�s not right. I may review them at some point. I keep the rings.
After a run to Darth-Mart for milk, and I got some stereo cables too, all chores were done. I even did the dishes before I sat down and tried to get that nap earlier. I retired to the library where I connected cables and then listened to some tunes.
Weezer, Home for the Holiday�s soundtrack, a �paint by numbers� rock that Pseudo-Zen Temp gave me, Joni Mitchell�s Court & Spark, and then a little Skylab #1. After that I loaded the changer with music for the cats. Mouse loves Joni Mitchell. What Mouse really likes is Rush Limbaugh�s voice. I used to listen to him all the time when I was in chemical engineering. 1993 was a great year to listen to Rush.
The cats are listening to Joni, Enya, Nat King Cole, Beethoven�s 9th, and a classical collection which sounds really moody.
I slept like a rock. Well, a rock that turns over every few hours but doesn�t have freakish dreams.
This morning as I was leaving the house, some psychopath was running a chainsaw in our subdivision at 6:23 a.m.