I bought myself a Red Green Dragon and a Twin Tail Half Moon. Both are the most expensive fish in the house, although the twin tail cost heaps more. Along with these 2 fish, I bought 2 new females betta splenden to put in the planted bowl. And today, I bought 6 peppered Cories to accompany them. Aside from the fish purchase, I bought a new tank (for the twin tail), plants, wood, air stones and heater. I still need to purchase a light for both the bowl and the new twin tail’s tank. At the end of all this, I’m going to be so broke! But look at them, aren’t they pretty?

I still have my other bettas though. But I have 4 of them without a name. So any suggestions will be much appreciated.

Ben has been taking pictures of Azul and Marcus lately. They’ve been flaring at each other all the time and I thought it will be a good action shot. So here you go.

Pretty eh? As you can see, Marcus is still growing his fins from Celeste’s attack. It’s just funny to see that he’s not scared of mean old Azul. Just between us though… Marcus was scared the first time he met Azul. He hid behind his furniture before he realised that Azul can’t touch him. But don’t tell him that I told you.

               Azul                                                 Rojas                                    Marcus                   

Celeste

All of them were doing ok until a couple of weeks ago. Rojas just wouldn’t eat and always seem to be hiding under his cave. I thought it was just the cold since it’s gotten colder at night. So I bought them some heat mats to keep the tanks warm but still Rojas didn’t want to eat. The other three though were and still are feisty and unaffected.

Concerned, I transferred Rojas to the big tank with the other fish: tetras, cories, bristlenoses, otos, platies and guppies. Initially, we put him in a breeder net since I was scared that he’ll attack the guppies. But, he jumped out twice so we just let him be. He was happy. He even claimed his own territory near the air stone (he seemed to be infatuated with the bubbles!). He also started pushing the other fish to go away when I was trying to feed him.

Last Monday, Ben decided to play with the filter of the big tank and made the water flow stronger than usual. The by product of the change in water flow was that Rojas lost his territory near the bubbles. We came home Tuesday night to find Rojas swimming with tail down, unable to control his position in the water. With close inspection, I saw some of his scales were bitten off and he had clearly been very harassed by the other fish. Worried and panicking, I quickly took him out and put him in the cup while I prepared his old tank.

Rojas was barely moving in the cup and when I put him back to his old tank, he just pressed against the glass, barely moving. I put some aquarium salt in his tank and some Betta Fix. He was like that for the entire day Wednesday. And this morning, at 7:30am, I was going to feed my babies (ie the 4 fighting fish) brine shrimp when I saw Rojas lifeless at the bottom of his tank. I was so heartbroken. I was hoping that he would’ve recovered. But it just wasn’t meant to be.

Rojas is now in Betta Heaven and I’m hoping that he was happy when I was caring for him. He was a very nice fish with full of personality. He will be missed.

To Rojas, as I often say before I leave for work, bye bye baby and NO JUMPING!

I know I should call it something like Red Devil but I think Matilda suits it. It goes fast and everything about it is nice. Seats are comfortable. Controls light up a nice blue at night and the rear view mirror turns a bit green when the car behind you have their headlights too bright. And if I forget to close my windows or sunroof after I locked it, I just have to press a button on my key and everything closes. How cool is that!!!

I had rear parking sensors put in (you should get it put in. It’s so worth it) and an iPod jack. I do have sunroof too. Absolutely love it!

Unfortunately, my dear, loving boyfriend scratched the mag wheels the day I got it. He went too close to the kerb and scratched it. Surprisingly, I wasn’t pissed off. It’s just the wheel anyway. Performance is still the same. The handling is superb and the gearbox is fantastic.

Will I buy this car again? Hell, yeah!

As usual, Jek was her usual bubbly and talkative self. She was telling me that Supre has a sale and also what my mom bought her in the Philippines. She told me that she’ll be getting 4 shoes and a jacket (but she’s not sure whether she’ll like it since Ate Jeng was the one that chose the style).

After all the chatter, she told me that she can’t sleep at night. Concerned, I asked why. She replied that she usually lay in bed thinking what she’s gonna cook tomorrow and whether it will rain or not and whether she should hang the laundry outside or inside etc etc. Mind you, she’s only 13.

I was laughing. I just find it so funny that a 13 year old will worry about things like that. And then she told me that she won’t be a good mom since she couldn’t plan properly. At that point, I completely lost it.

Anyway, just to make her feel ok, I told her that she doesn’t have to think and lose sleep because of these things. And she replied saying that it’s my mom’s fault for leaving her with 3 hopeless males who do not even know how to feed themselves (2 brothers aged 19 and 22 and my dad who’s 55).

I think my sister is learning, at a very young age, how hopeless men usually are

Initially, like 4 days before the event, I only had $200 to show for (thanks for my loving bf who contributed half of that amount). But due to desperation and sheer willpower (more desperation really), I was able to raise more than a AUD$1000 the next 4 days. Thank you to all the people who sponsored me. It is greatly appreciated by me and by all the people that you will help.

Do I miss my hair? It is still quite a shock to see myself in the mirror that’s for sure. Still trying to get used to it but I’m getting there. One big plus about it though, I don’t have to worry about styling or fussing about my hair anymore. Not to mention, no tangles and hairball.

On the other hand, I feel the cold so much nowadays that I have to wear some headwear to keep warm. Not to mention, the gorgeous Australian sun is burning my scalp too.

So will I do it again? Hell yeah! It’s worth pissing off my sister. I’ve never seen her so worked up in my entire life over such a simple thing.

More info about the World’s Greatest Shave can be found at http://www.worldsgreatestshave.com.au/

Also, check out the action shots at http://au.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kreshcharette/album?.dir=/a1c1scd&.src=ph&.tok=phYm9cGBZmC6zJRt

On behalf of the Leukaemia Foundation, a really big thank you to everyone who helped!