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| So I have been putting this off for a really long time. But it being Tuesday and all, tonight is the night.
This story begins my freshman year of college at NDSU. We were told there are to be no pets allowed in the dorms, except for fish with less than 10 gallon tanks. Well I thought nothing about it at first, but in about November I started wishing I had a pet to keep me company. I decided, however, with Christmas break coming up, that I would wait until January to make any rash decisions.
The week we came back from Christmas break, I made my way to the great oasis that is Wal-Mart. I purchased a small beta tank, and picked out the coolest, most lively beta they had. Now I had a fish tank at home, but there are about 50 fish in it, and our guppies died and reproduced every other day, so I was never attached to any. I had a beta one time also, but he only was around for a few months. So naturally I was hoping for the best, but since Wal-Mart has a 24 hour guarantee on fish, I wasn't getting too attached right away.
I got my tank all set up, and my newly purchased beta in his new home. I named him Killer Kyle, and he was immediately at home. He kept me company at my desk when I was doing homework. Hell, every beta that I have ever known doesn't do anything but sit there, even when you feed them. Not Killer, the second I dropped a beta pellet in the tank, he gobbled it right up. He was just a fun fish to watch, and even feed.
He went through several near death experiences. First, Easter of freshman year I loaned him to Jesse to fish-sit while I went home. He was so excited for her to feed him that he jumped out of his tank on to her desk! And he made it through several trips back and forth from Fargo to Bismarck. After every journey, he looked so pale and sickly I was sure he wasn't going to make it, but every single time he surprised me. He even survived a whole summer at my house with my cat not even eating him. But his closest near-death experience occurred last winter, when I brought him home. I usually kept Killer in a butter dish with holes poked in the top for car rides, so water wouldn't splash out like it would in his tank, and I would duct tape him to my center counsel so he wouldn't slide around anywhere. Well a few hours after arriving home, I realized that I had forgotten him in the car! I rushed out only to find that I had elbowed him into the back seat, and he was only hanging on by a piece of the tape, with nearly all of his water drained out. He was seriously in just enough water to cover him, as long as he didn't move. I rushed him into the house and into our fish tank, with no doubt in my mind that he was a goner especially since fish do not handle cold water well at all. Needless to say, he returned to his normal red and blue color the next day.
Now a few months back, Killer started to grow some white bumps by his top fin. I thought nothing of it at first, and just changed his water thinking it would go away. Instead, these two bumps continued to grow. I thought it might be Ick, so I bought treatment and added it to the water. It did nothing. These two white bumps grew into pea-sized balls. I like to think they were cancerous tumors. I was amazed he could still swim around with these huge tumors, one on each side of his top fin, but he acted as if nothing were wrong. Then a few weeks ago, one of his tumors broke open, and his water got extremely cloudy. I researched everything I could find on the web, and nothing could explain his condition. He was slowly getting less active, and I was feeling horrible. However, when I changed his water, he seemed happy and normal the next day. His other tumor was so big though, that Jess even suggest that we try to dissect it off. I didn't want to take any unnecessary risks, since he seemed to recover fine. A few days later though, his other tumor burst and his water was once again cloudy. I continued to change his water daily after that, but it was always cloudy, and there was even blood coming from his gaping wounds. And on May 18th, Killer Kyle Dosch swam his last swim, and took his last breath. I can honestly say that was the saddest day of my life.
I will never forget the coolest fish I ever had. He made it through a few scary swims to the desk, some near-death trips, a summer with a cat watching his every flap of his tail, and battled two huge cancerous tumors for several months. He always made me smile. He was greatful when I fed him twice a day, and seemed to enjoy watching and swimming next to Dexter, Jesse's fish, in the tank next to his. Not only did he make it through his 24 hour guarantee, he made it through two and a half years, two dorm roommates, a summer and holidays at home, several pet-sitters, and one year at an apartment. So Killer Kyle, I hope you rest in peace, free of your cancerous tumors, temperature changes, and car rides. You are greatly missed.
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| This is a true story. All dates are approximate.
Well it all started last year. First semester I would say. My friend asked me if I had ever heard of this TV series he had recently been watching. I said that I had, but I didn't know much about it. I heard commercials, but had never watched it. I thought it was some sort of reality show like Survivor where they took some strangers, and stranded them, and we watched them survive.
A few weeks later, he brought over season one of this show. I believe it was his sister's copy, and he said I needed to watch it. Well to tell you the truth, I thought I had much better things to do than watch a TV series on DVD. Plus, I had cable anyway...so why watch TV on DVD?! So I set it on my bookshelf, intending to get to it eventually. I had more important things to do, and schoolwork to be done.
A few more weeks passed. Maybe it was a month. I was thinking I'd better get watching this TV series before my friend wanted it back. I figured he didn't want me to keep it for a year, he expected me to watch it. So I asked Jesse if she wanted to watch, and she said she would rather work on homework. So I ended up asking Andrew, my suite-mate, if he'd watch it with me. We watched the first episode and were surprised at how good it was. Heck, we might have watched two episodes, but I feel like it was only one looking back on it.
A few days went by. Andrew and I had a Trig test, and he was just re-taking it to get a better grade since he was already through Calc III, so he was trying to help me understand it all. Jess was bored just watching us do Trig, so I said she should watch the first episode and catch up. Reluctantly, she watched it as we went about our studying. She enjoyed it too, much more than expected.
We then went on to watch an episode here and there. Andrew's roommate, Brett, watched one with us and was hooked. He borrowed the disc and watched the first couple episodes to catch up. All we did is watch an episode here and there, for about the first five or six episodes.
Soon, we were watching two episodes at a time. Then three. This time is all kind of blurry as I look back at it now, but my roommate Luke started watching with us. Next Sheyann started. Then Casey and Kara. Then Luke's girlfriend (Not necessarily in that order). Before we knew it, we went from Andrew and I to watching, to having to call up eight people to get together so we could watch the next episode in Brett and Andrew's dorm room. We had three people on each bed, and one on each of the three chairs for some times.
Next we acquired season two from my friend. We went from watching it with everyone down to just Me, Jess, Sheyann, Andrew, and Brett. Everyone wanted to watch, but we always had things to do, so we just watched it with out them. What I am trying to say is that we had conflicting schedules, and we didn't want to wait around for everyone to have free time so we could watch. The rest were watching too, just trying to catch up to where we were. At the peak, we watched five episodes in one night. The case almost always had three discs missing: the one we were watching, the one Casey and Kara were on, and the one Luke and Liz were on. As soon as we finished a disc, we just passed it down. We flew through season two.
As soon as we finished season two, I was horribly disappointed to find out that it had already started the third season on TV. Lucky for us, they had only shown six episodes, and then were taking about two months off before showing the rest of the season. Brett quickly downloaded the first six episodes of season three, burned them to DVD (all legally of course), and we watched. We were caught up in two days, max, and had to wait about a month for the third season to continue on TV.
Finally the moment we had all been waiting for came. We were caught up and could watch the show as the episodes appeared on TV. We planned all our schedules around it. No basketball Thursday nights, we had to pick another time. No homework. Thursday night tests had to be rushed through so we could make it back in time. It killed us to sit through commercials and have to wait a whole week in between episodes instead of watching five in one night, but the episodes were better then ever. Nobody complained.
Season three ended. We were all very upset we would have to wait a whole season to watch it again. I borrowed season one again and copied it to my computer hard drive (legally of course) so I could begin to watch them again. I had to wait to get the discs, however, because Chad and Jessica had borrowed it to watch. I burned the DVDs to give to a friend, but they apparently were rogue. I then brought my hard drive over to copy it to my friend's hard drive, so they could watch the show...but they never got around to it. They were going through the same thoughts I had when I was first given the show I am sure.
Months went by. I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't afford the $50 for season one or two, so I hit the world wide web. I got season one off of Ebay just in time for my trip 75 miles away to visit some friends. I tried to talk them into watching it as soon as I got there, and got shut down repeatably. Finally, after midnight, I convinced Alex and Mike to try it out. Jon and Sara both decided "sleep" was better. All I heard through the first episode was "That would never happen during a flight," and "This show is so gay." After one episode, Alex said he would "never watch another episode" due to the "bad robot" at the end of the credits. After the remote was "accidentally" pushed to start episode two by Alex, and after episode two was over, Alex got some Dr. Pepper saying "I'm hooked!" Needless to say, we ended episode four that morning about 4:00 am.
They ended up buying season one to watch, and I watched season one for the second time with Jess. I even purchased season two off of Ebay, both for Alex and Mike to borrow and for me to watch when they were done. Alex and Mike flew through season two, even getting Sara and Jon addicted. Alex acquired season three and Mike and Alex have now watched every episode to catch up. They have also switched their Myspace to have the show's background and/or music. I, as of two weeks ago, own season three from Best Buy. Jess and I are 3/4 the way through season two for the second time. All leading up to the start of season four on TV in just two days. I can hardly wait.
If you haven't figured it out by now, it is "Lost" that I have been talking about. And we all owe my friend David a huge thank you. Without David bringing over that first season of Lost over a year ago, we would have all never been hooked.
So David, from me, Jess, Sheyann, Brett, Andrew, Luke, Liz, Chad, Casey, Kara, Jessica, Mike, Alex, Jon, Sara, and whoever else's life you may have touched, thank you! You are an American Hero!
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| I sure do love North Dakota.
I was walking back from class yesterday, thinking to myself, "It is actually not so cold out for a change!!" Then I got back, looked at the temp, at it was -2. -2 felt warm. Now today, I was thinking about taking my hat off on my way to class it was so warm. What was the temp? 10 degrees. What could be better?!
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| Another Tuesday, so another post.
I hope Jon isn't missing Halo too much in Jamestown.
I hope all of Mike and Alex's dishes aren't dirty already, without Jon.
I really like Jesse Dunn.
I hope a new House is on tonight.
I hope this new semester isn't as gay as my class schedule looks.
I hope my car gets fixed, without a huge headache.
I hope David is having a mild to moderately great birthday.
I hope my roommate isn't using the TV tonight when I want to watch House.
I hope my computer starts working so I don't have to borrow Jess's or sit in the lab.
I hope Alex Kassian looks at the jibjab greeting I sent him 3 weeks ago.
I hope Papa John's still has the 5.99 Tuesday carryout special.
The End. That is two e-props from everyone, no doubt in my mind.
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| Maybe I just feel the need to post every Tuesday. So what?
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