Pumpkin Wings

Today I’m going to log on MapleStory for the first time in about a month. Yes, believe it or not.

This past month I’ve realized how much that game controls my life. I get stressed out just thinking about it. Part of me really wants to play, for the fun and the friends. Another part is totally OCD about getting all event items, doing all event quests, etc - it’s like a chore. I haven’t really had the time to play, and when I did have a day or two I just couldn’t make myself because the thought of all the catching up I had to do was overwhelming; especially with the huge ongoing event. Today I’m going to kick that event’s butt - get the quests done and pick up an event chair, and then… I hope Nexon will chill out and let me enjoy some mindless chatting, boss running and just hanging around. I don’t like grinding. I do like quests, but not when there’s a time limit.

What I really miss is Thomas, who’s barely ever on MSN and I almost never talk to outside MS. I’ve missed him like crazy this past week. The last two years or so he’s the person I’ve talked to about everything. Sure I have Emil now, I love him and I entrust him with basically everything, but I still need someone who’s “just a friend”, and Thomas is so perfect. Sometimes I wish he wasn’t so far away, but then at other times I think that’s part of what makes having him as a friend so great. I understand Dutch very well now - I can even formulate simple sentences. We also tell each other about what’s cool in our countries. No matter how much I love Emil and hanging out with him (actually even hanging out with him every day), I still feel like I’m missing a part of myself without Thomas. The only person I’ve ever felt this close to online before was Luis, and both him and Thomas are just as close to me as any “real life” friend.

I’m sending Thomas a package for his birthday sometime this autumn. I don’t remember exactly when it is, but who cares. I wouldn’t hesitate sending that package even if we hadn’t talked for months, but I really hope by the time he gets it we’ll be chatting regularly again.

Not me, of course, but two of the snowball shrimps are pregnant with lots and lots of eggs now! I don’t know if the poor other girl lost her last egg, but it doesn’t matter now; I’ll get baby shrimps anyway - lots of them! One shrimp carries around 20-30 eggs on average, so it’s gonna be a baby boom!

The filters arrived on Thursday evening, me and Emil picked mine up and installed it yesterday. It works, and it’s quiet. The fan shrimps have unfortunately gotten even shyer lately, I don’t know why, so I haven’t seen them filtering yet. However, as I’ve already said several times, those little bastards are well-known for being very shy, so I’ll just give them even more time. Re-arranging the tank a bit yesterday probably didn’t help. I saw Sanjay strolling about yesterday evening, but when I started walking towards the tank she ran away. I assume they’re getting food etc during the night and when no one’s in the room (we once turned the light on in the morning and just caught a glimpse of them disappearing behind a log), so it’s all good.

One of the snowballs is pregnant, and has been for about a week. Unfortunately we noticed yesterday that she’d dropped all eggs but one. That happens, and it saddens me a little, but at least I know the tank’s good enough and getting established as they’ve obviously started breeding. Snowballs are supposed to breed often, and I have several developed males and females, so hopefully I’ll have more pregnant girls soon. Can’t wait for the baby shrimps!

Just in case anyone’d wonder: No, the fan shrimps won’t have any babies. It’s rare for them to breed in captivity, but it happens. However, the larvae need brackish water, and it’s very hard to time it perfectly (moving the eggs to brackish, letting them hatch and get just big enough, moving them back to freshwater). One day I wish to know them well enough to be able to breed them, but at the moment I don’t.

I’m home alone for the first time in weeks. Emil’s probably coming back on Friday, but leaving again on Friday evening. I’m happy with that. I’ll probably spend a while in Skebo in about a week anyway; we have a meeting together in Norrtälje on the 8th (as I think I wrote somewhere before), and then I’ve got a couple of meetings as well. So many meetings… Well, since I got to Norrtälje I feel like they actually lead to something. So that’s all good.

I still don’t have the filter. Apparently the guy we’re buying from orders together with some other dude because his shop is so small, it would cost him too much to order on his own. Now after like a month he finds out the other dude never included the filter in the order. I feel kinda sorry for him, he’s got other customers waiting for those filters as well and it’s not his fault - he called the company several times, and since they didn’t know there were supposed to be filters they just told him the stuff had been sent. Oh well, the new date of arrival is on Friday, and this time it will probably be true since he’s really made sure the filters are ordered. The shrimps will live; the filter shrimps can pick stuff from the bottom and there aquarium is custom built so it’s low, and it’s also fairly well-planted. So, no oxygen shortage. (It’s better with lower water levels for shrimps as they are bottom dwellers anyway, and lower water level = easier oxygenisation. If that’s a word.) I just really want the filter because it’ll provide even more oxygen, and most of all because the fan shrimps are, after all, fan shrimps. They filter stuff. That’s usually all they do, stand in the current all day. The dwarf shrimps also love picking “snacks” off the filter.

I realize that I’ve written a lot about that damn filter lately, but uh it’s been pissing me off.