to strive, seek and serve? excel?

yesterday, wei checked into the hall of residence to begin her life as an undergraduate in NUS.

her miniscule room doesn't leave her with  space for even a laundry basket, let alone a small fridge as we had thought we would get her. but it was cosy and well thought out. 

a far cry from my single room some twenty over years ago. same hall of residence, different location.

but same spirit, i hope. 

those three years i spent there were, arguably, the best years of my youth. the hall fired, then fueled, my enthusiasm for life and friendship. a small town girl, it was a cultural shock for me to thrown into a boiling cauldron of lovely and strange people, sworn and torn loyalties, grown-up shenanigans and heady romances. 

oz and i believe this experience can only be had at a hall of residence, which is why we encouraged wei to apply for a place.

it's good to know that wei herself believes in new experiences, that she doesn't want to be just another undergraduate working towards her degree and nothing else.

she had butterflies in her stomach during the drive there. i told her it would all be in a blur the moment she arrived.

she stepped out into a welcoming world of seniors who took over completely and swept her into their world the moment the car reached the foyer.

she will have no time to savour all these new adventures until it's all over. and it will run over and over in her head like a well-oiled loop. i still have some parts of the loop in my head today.

it's a new phase for her.

for me, it's like she's flying the coop. already.

so, it's a new phase for mommy too.

fatboy

this is how a normal goldfish swims. upright.

but for the past two months, fatboy (above) has been swimming upside down.

in the beginning, it was able to right itself after a while. it's like it's drunk. it tethers and totters and then flips over. 

it made great entertainment. we would laugh when it did that. at the same time, we thought its days were numbered.

every morning, the first thing oz says when he approaches the fish tank is: still alive ah?

he then proceeds to feed it and fatboy, despite its belly up position, will gobble everything down, ahead of its two compatriots. hence its nickname.

lately, fatboy is no longer able to flip over. when it does, it doesn't stay upright for more than three seconds before it's belly up again.

and far from in the last throes of death, it has a very healthy appetite still.

and there is where the problem lies apparently - the healthy appetite.

i googled "why do goldfish swim upside down" and found to my amusement that our fatboy is suffering from constipation!!

when output doesn't equal to input, the excess pushes against the swim bladder and causes our friend to be off balance.

the solution: starve the bugger!!

apparently, after nature takes its course, fatboy will be right again, pun fully intended.

we'll see :-)