Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Ticking away the moments…
I don’t know if you can judge a person by the kind of a pet that they choose. Circumstances sometimes dictate the type of pet. When my daughter was little I had a fish tank for her. We had guppies. One of the happiest days of my life was the day that I got rid of the tank and I knew that I would never again have to spend my Sunday evenings cleaning it. Now my daughter is grown up and has a little son. They have those fighting fish. I believe that they are the fish that must be kept in a tank by themselves. Right? I always get a little sad when I see those fish because I think that they must be lonely. My daughter puts a mirror along side of the tank so the fish will think that it is not alone. (I can’t believe that I just wrote about my daughter’s fish.) Maybe I deserve a break from the more serious stuff. I spent part of the day at the Peace Vigil holding a sign that says, “Bush bombs babies”. Only one car, (actually a man on a motorcycle) shouted an obsenity at me.
Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from in the United States of Apathy 06/04 at 05:42 PMThanks, Rosemarie. You know, I think posts and comments like these are important because it enables us to connect in other ways. As for the fighting fish, they are the metaphorical center of the movie I mentioned: “Rumblefish.” Like the youth gangs in the movie, it’s implied that if those fish had more room (in the river), they wouldn’t fight.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/04 at 06:01 PMOh, Mickey, I did not know that. I think though that there have been many studies done that suggest that living in a crowded area changes a person’s psyche. I know that there are many advantages to living in a city but somehow I find that Nature is very healing. Mostly, I miss the ocean. I lived within sound of the surf for many years on the Jersey shore,Cape May also Florida a long time ago. The winter here seems longer every year so when spring comes and the flowers start to bloom everybody seems to be suddenly very happy. I never take the beauty of Nature for granted. I find joy in every little blossom and every little bug. Right now I have carpenter bees drilling holes in my house, but even that cannot put me in a bad mood. They are just doing what carpenter bees do.Instead of snow falling down past my windows, I now have sawdust.
Posted by rosemarie on from at the foot of the mountain 06/04 at 06:43 PMI’ll trade you, Rosemarie. I have a new restaurant that opened behind my apartment building...and it has an outdoor backyard. The noise--all night long--is horrendous.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/04 at 07:10 PMMickey, do you think the restaurant owners are unaware of the noise problem they’ve created? I’ve found that people are often a lot more clueless than one would expect. They can be, sometimes, reasonable about being considerate. If they are already aware and just don’t care, or think it’s amusing to be jerks, then I consider other strategies. My favorite is convincing them that I’m a persistent man who is easier to appease than harass—I’ll do that verbally, if at all possible, but don’t feel especially bad about disrupting their space if that’s what it takes. I much prefer to be sweetness and light, find ways that assist them going about their business, and hope that that does the trick. I always line up allies before making any approach.
And I just realized there’s a near certainty I’ve laid out something you’re already doing . . .
Anyway, a great man once said, “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully”. These are words to live by. It’s a real pity his version of that really means slaughtering everything in sight.Posted by Harry on from 06/05 at 06:06 AMMickey, I can empathize with your noise problem. That is a difficult situation to deal with and that kind of thing happens in rural areas too, though the noise is usually from a different source. At my end of this really beautiful little town, we now have a major problem brewing. Someone in the government, not sure of who or why, wants to extend the airport runway. If that happens this whole area could be negatively affected. It is not only a noise issue but there are real safety concerns. My house is just one of many that almost has tire tracks on its roof. It is very interesting to note that the same thing has been happening at all of the small airports in this area and I wonder about the airports in the rest of the country. In a small Massachusetts town just down the road things got very ugly. Some of the older folks who were trying to preserve their homes and their way of life, were threatened with arrests and law suits for having protested the changes in their airport. The big question is, why is the government pushing so hard on this issue. Could it have something to do with the military or is this just corporate welfare for the industry. I have the feeling that there’s a story in all of this, if there is a good investigative reporter out there.
Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from at the end of the runway 06/05 at 07:18 AMYeah, at first, I just assumed they had no idea. However, I’ve visited them in person, called them, and I learned yesterday that at least three other neighbors called. Time to regroup.
Good luck with your noise situation, Rosemarie.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/05 at 07:31 AM“What does it all mean?”
Hmmm…
I know what I used to do while listening to Pink Floyd and watching my fish. I don’t know about washing the fishtank, though.
Maybe you’re having flashbacks to your teenage years.
Posted by James on from Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico 06/06 at 07:45 AMFlashback? I hadn’t considered that, James...maybe I’m imagining the whole thing.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/06 at 07:58 AM
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