Excuse me, do you have any Bettas?

I have a problem.

I have far too many hobbies.

I have steampunk, I have photography, I have writing (which is actually more of a lifestyle choice), I have painting, I have reading and now... I have Betta Fish collecting (commonly pronounced bay-ta but actually spelled b-e-t-t-a).

It all started a couple months ago.

A co-worker friend and I decided that we needed to bring life into our sad little cubicles, but babies were too high maintenance. That's when she suggested getting a Betta fish. They're easy to take care of and hard to kill. Perfect for our atmosphere.

So she got a fish and I got a fish and everyone thought it was funny, but a great idea. People love coming into our cubes and gazing at our Siamese fighting fish. And no, we do not put them in a bowl together and have after-hours mail room bare-knuckle fish fighting. We keep them in their own tanks and we love them. We love them a whole lot. So much, it might be unhealthy.

Anywho, the both of us being nerds we scoured the internet and every fish dealer in the DFW area to learn every single fact and opinion about Betta fish care. We are very close to becoming Betta fish experts. So I can add that to my list of accomplishments.

Well a week passed and we went to another pet store that happened to have an amazing selection of Bettas and she caved and bought another one. I decided that I would get things together to make a steampunk tank for my apartment and get another Betta once it was done.

Cut to last Friday. Another co-worker decided she was ready for a Betta at her desk so we all went to the aforementioned pet store with her. While she looked for the scariest fish she could find, I wandered around to the back of the store where a few more Betta's were being stored.

And then I saw her.

A tiny little female crowntail Betta. She looked at me and gazed into my soul. And as I stood there staring back into her beady little fish eyes, I knew that we were meant to be together.

So what did I do? I bought her. I bought her and another tank and more decorations and I set up another aquarium at my desk.

I'm crazy. Just straight up, certifiably crazy. So crazy that I will probably buy the new Coldplay album coming out this week despite it's pretentious title and the fact that I swore to never support Coldplay.

WTF is happening to me?

Thanks for reading! =)

Steampunk

I discovered a new passion last week and it is called Steampunk. Maybe you've heard of it, but in case you haven't, allow me to introduce it to you.

Steampunk is actually a genre of fiction that is more or less Victorian sci-fi. "The future if it happened earlier." The works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells fall under this category as well as many contemporary authors. Of course, when Verne and Wells were around it wasn't called Steampunk; that name wasn't assigned until around the '80s. The movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the movie Wild Wild West with Will Smith from several years ago are also examples of Steampunk. For a more thorough description, please go here.

Anyway, it's developed into a whole movement where people create and bring Steampunk into their lives through more than just reading and writing. They modify and build things like computers with typewriters for keyboards, or just make things look more elegant and all around cooler. Like this:

I think the greatest thing about my discovery of Steampunk is that I've always been a Steampunk at heart. I've always been attracted to old things, I love the Victorian era (the 1890s are my favorite time period), I like to DIY and I'm obviously a bit fanciful. I just never knew there was a name or indeed a community for what I liked. It's a wonderful thing, finding yourself a niche among people with shared interests. It gives you a sense of belonging. But it's so disappointing and disheartening when someone close to you doesn't get it.

Anyway, this weekend I set out to start my own Steampunk project and decided to start small by modifying some electric switch face plates for my room. I bought some solid brass face plates and then went all over town looking for gears and sprockets to add to it for dramatic effect. Once I found my accessories, I used super glue to attach them to the face plates. The problem started when my fingers got glue on them because the peices I was working with were very small. When I stuck the sprocket to the face plate my fingers became stuck to the face plate too.

Now we've all glued our fingers either together or to other things while working on something and we're all familiar with having to give a little tug to get our fingers separated, no big deal. That's not what I'm talking about. My fingers were glued on to the face plate. I tried to just pull them off, but it hurt a lot and I could see my skin stretching in a most distressing fashion and I realized that if I continued to pull I would end up bleeding - and for those of you who know me personally, you know that would not have ended well for me.

I happened to have the super glue box face down on the table next to me. On the back of the box were the words: Fingers glued?

Yes!! Thought I, in response. The box said to rub cooking oil on your glued little fingers in a massaging manner in order to free them. Do not pull!

So, with face plate on hand, I made it to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of olive oil. I had to open the bottle with my teeth since I only had one free hand and my roommate wasn't around to help me. I poured out some oil onto the plate I was using and began seasoning my fingers with it. I'll admit, there was a moment where I feared I wouldn't get the face plate off. Oh my God, I'm going to have drive one handed down to the hospital to get this off. That's going to be so embarrassing. At least it wasn't my right hand. How am I going to explain this? I am such a dork.

But the olive oil worked. It was a process and it took some time, but eventually I was able to free myself.  Here is the finished product:

I like 'em, even if I did almost have to bleed for 'em!

Thanks for reading! =)