Just Keep Swimming

Some people have pets because they think they're cute. Some people have pets to get attention from other people (ie. "oh your dog's sooo cute"). Some people have pets because they have no patience with humans, and some people have pets because they have no friends. I, however, have pets for reasons not previously listed.  

My two fish. In this case, that is a complete sentence.  Obtained by abandonment by their original owner, my fish came to me out of need for a new caretaker.  There was no love between the fish and I, no bond had been formed, I just felt like they needed me so I'd take care of them.  It's very easy really, you know...to take care of fish. They don't do much.  Except grow. Mine grow a lot, all the time actually.  They have no names, because apparently when you name pets they die????? I'm not sure about that one, but its working so far.

So there's a goldfish and an African Cichlid. I'm suspicious that some chemical has found its way into the tank and is not only being tolerated by the fish, but also embraced by them as they continue to grow, nearly having doubled in size within the last year. I am not a hater of large creatures, however, the daily waste produced by the duo has become unmanageable by the standards of any man or fish.  A slippery film of green algae often glazes the inner walls of their rectangular existence, simply because I neither have the time or desire to constantly clean the tank.  The small lifeless statues I've put in the tank to try and resemble some distant aquatic haven, are also frosted with the lovely green fur. I imagine the inside of the tank smells repulsive...a combination of fecal matter accompanied by a stale metallic stinging sensation in the back of the throat, most likely caused by the aforementioned rogue industrial solvent that was probably planted in the tank to make my fish so large that the tank cracks and I am left with nothing but two 3lbs jumbo alien fish wreaking havoc among the broken glass and scum covered pink pebbles all over my saturated carpet. Then what? I'd have to touch them, and that's just disgusting.  That's what the fish probably smell anyway.

Today

I'll start off by saying that I work at the new Yankee Stadium...the outrageous, pretentious, billion dollar plus facility. I was standing at the bar (doing nothing), because that's mostly what I do there; and this wild-looking colorful tatooed girl was giggling. I just started staring at her, to examine her style, her way. After probably three full minutes of pretending that I wasn't looking, trying to decode her tatooes, a young looking girl sat next to her. I immediately felt like I knew this new person; that I'd somewhere seen her before. I assumed there was a possibility that she could be "famous" because of the typical clientele of this particular restaurant. After much intense and dodgy analysis it came to me. Amy Lee, from Evanescence- I love her. "It couldn't be her, get real," I thought to myself. I poked the bartender and mentioned my idea, and it was quickly discarded as ridiculous. After more staring and curiosity, I snuck in a side closet to pull out my super awesome iPhone and googled "aimee lee".....no hits, clearly I mispelled it, but what do I know? Retry: "aimee lee evanexcence"=many hits. Click Images, done, millions of pics. I scrambled for a decent, real looking photo of this girl's face. I stare at a simple photo with the lead singer of the band posing for a photograph on the red carpet. I was more sure of myself now.

At this point, I need to show someone else. The bartender, again, shook me off with my childish thoughts so I turned to a fellow waitress. She looked at the pic, she looked at the bar, and repeated the process twice more. "Yeah" she said, with a glimmer of excitement. At this point, I'm pumped. I can't even believe that I might actually be right, and that this girl, who I think is amazing, is sitting right in front of me. After one more nay sayer I was determined to prove the others wrong. My one follower encouraged me to say hi. The alleged Amy Lee begins to get up from her seat and joke with the tattoed girl and some sailors. I twitched and dared myself to talk to her like a giddy little school girl. As she started to walk away I couldn't resist. In a poor attempt to be nonchalant a quickly slid my crocs toward the ladies quietly shouting, "girls...girlsss!!" The stopped and openly invited conversation by each turning toward me. Nervous and ashamed I shook as my words tumbled out of my mouth, "I know this must be super annoying but I was wondering if anyone ever told one of you that you look like Amy Lee from Evanescence...or I was wondering if you are Amy Lee from Evanescence (turning quickly toward the dark haired elvin-like creature). With a confident but warm smile, she said "which one, her or me?"

"you"

"yeah" and she laughed modestly

more nervous"k, cuz I totally knew it was you, and no one believed me but I knew it you are sick, you are so awesome, you are sick, I saw you in Jones beach, you're so sick"

"are you a fan?" she asked, I couldn't if she was being genuine or not

"yeah definitely, you're sick"

she was patient and friendly and just chillin there while I babbled and then she reached out to shake my hand and asked me my name. On my way out I saw her again and probably too loudly yelled it was really nice meeting you and waved. She said "you too" and that was it. I was elated.