Meet my....Fish?

Josh-Josh-Josh-J-J-J-Joshhhhh (it’s a song),

            You may have already heard this directly from the source, but I am going to tell you anyway because I am EXCITED J J J Guess what? I got FISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, it is now officially a party on the eighth floor! If you didn’t know, mom got me a fish tank for my birthday. The rule in Regents is NO PETS except fish; therefore, I immediately wanted one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.

So, here is what we did! We went to Walmart (for the twenty eighth time that week) and bought a tank that has a changing colors light, some pink and blue rocks, some plants, an awesome/creepy/flirtatiously-winking starfish, a fish net, and some tropical fish flakes (they smell bad, don’t try to eat ‘em). I had to wait two whole days for the tank to be ready before I could go buy the fish, but when it was time I was EXTREMELY excited. After waiting for an incredibly long time, this tall, skinny guy who had never caught a fish in his life came over and I told him EXACTLY which tiny fish in the tank of 37 fish that I wanted. 45 fish-chasing minutes later, I left Walmart with three neon fish (pink=girl, orange=boy) and another bigger tetra fish. I gave them the Murray tour and let them loose into their brand new home.

Top to Bottom: Sam, Wythe, Unfortunate 1, Unfortunate 2

I named one of the neon orange fish “Sam” because it had a red face, so it looked kind of embarrassed. In Spanish, sometimes people accidentally use the word “embarazada” when trying to say they are embarrassed, but really it means pregnant. Sam is pregnant, so my fish was named “Sam”. It makes sense, I promise.

I named the larger tetra “Wythe” after George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson’s mentor. He was an incredibly intelligent man that mentored two presidents and a bunch of senators and famous people. We studied him in the Presidential Fellows meetings. I named the fish “Wythe” because he was bigger, therefore older and, obviously, wiser. Well, let’s just say, DON’T JUDGE A FISH BY THEIR WISENESS!

Poor Sam. This was the only good
picture I got before he was
swallowed!! Notice the rosy face.

I didn’t even get a chance to name the other two lovelies because Sam died! Just stopped moving! He was floating at the top of the tank with that awful dead fish look in less time than it takes to read the Sparknotes for Pride and Prejudice! So, I went to take out the trash, and when I came back? Sam was gone! Completely gone! And wise ‘ole Wythe was looking quite a bit chunkier.

NOT. COOL.

See? Pure evil. 

Well, with quite a bit of disbelief and shock that Wythe would do such a thing, I thought maybe Sam had just zapped away, but the next day? My other orange, nameless fish was gone, too! And that one had been alive!! So, I snatched Wythe out of the tank and took him back to Walmart. I told the lady that Wythe was a PESCETARIAN (she looked at me like I was nuts), and got two new fish in exchange for that hater. It all turned out alright though because the two new fish really got along with my other fish. They were three musketeers right off the bat.

Survivors! They did NOT get swallowed/
voted off the island. 

I am proud to say that two (ish) weeks later, I am the proud owner of two little glow neon fish. I feed them almost every day. I smile at them a lot. I trained them to follow my finger, and I think they really like me. We may have lost one or two or three or four fish in the process, but I think two fish is the perfect number for me!

Fish-lovingly yours,

Maddie 





P.S. Do you have any suggestions for names? My two little survivors are still nameless, and I don't think they appreciate it. 

Maya Speaks... (Kind of like Martha Speaks on PBS, but better!)

Hi-ya brother,

            Okay. So, everyone tells you college is filled with new opportunities and you have to embrace the opportunities and blah blah blah blah blah. Right? Well, if they haven’t told you yet—they will your senior year of college. I know you’re similar to me, so you will probably just nod your head and agree as you store the information in the useless side of your brain, BUT if you are going to choose to listen to only one person say that? I hope you will choose to listen to me say it because I am sitting here in Regents commons area thinking about just how true that is right this very second. This past week I had the opportunity of a lifetime. Cheesy, but true. (And if you’re already rolling your eyes and calling me a cheese-ball you better prepare yourself because this particular blog is practically Winslow grilled cheese material. Have I mentioned that in Winslow grilled cheeses have a 3 cheese-slice minimum?)

So, as I was saying, this past week I had the opportunity of a lifetime. I mean, how many people get the chance to hear from a poet/writer with 80 doctorates? How many people get the chance to hear an 83-year-old woman say “hey! YO!”?  How many people get the chance to see Maya Angelou speak FOR FREE?

          Do you want to know the answer? Not many. THAT is the answer, not many people get that opportunity, but I did. And that is why you should listen when I say that college has some of the coolest opportunities.

We were stoked to see her!

            First, the facts: Wednesday night (a couple of weeks back—my blog posting is a bit slow because of school work) Maya Angelou came to the CFSB center at 8 o’ clock to speak to basically whoever wanted to come. She spoke for about thirty-five minutes, and then rushed right back onto her ginormous RV. She could barely walk onto the stage without help, but her voice dominated the basketball center (Arena? Court? Field? Rink? Track?)

My Maya-Seeing Buddies :)

            Maya came out and sat in this rocking chair by a table filled with books that she had written, and the ENTIRE gym fell completely silent. Barely anyone let out so much as a sigh as the room filled with a thick layer of respect. That alone was enough to tell you what kind of woman we were dealing with, but when that lady opened her mouth, I think even the most prepared people were blown away.  Okay, Okay. I am not going to ooze about how phenomenal she was because I know you will skim my letter (I’m onto you, Josh :P). However, I would like to tell you a little bit of what she said that I really liked. You SHOULD find this this interesting, I mean, she DID say hey-yo…not typical of an 83-year-old.

A list of things that Maya said/did that made me laugh/smile:

---“You’re in this institution so you can ‘bloop’ drop this tote bag of ignorance” (She was talking about Murray State, and why we are here. She actually motioned chucking a bag on the ground and made funny sound effects. A natural HI-er. I laughed :P)

My photography skills were definitely lacking on Maya night,
but I tried my best....I swear, it's Maya! 

---“I don’t care if they’re serious or not, they’re boring as hell”

---“ I know A LOT, but I don’t have to know everything”

            Maya kept emphasizing the impact that we could make on those around us by saying, “Hope that you’re able to grow up and say ‘I am a rainbow in someone’s cloud’”.  Her whole speech was about that concept of putting rainbows in other people’s clouds, and it made me think of that thing Max always says about how he is filling up my bucket when he gives me a hug. She said, “Here you are to change the world, to make it a better place for those that are yet to come, “ and I thought that was SO awesome. She really emphasized that we need to pay attention to the world around us and refuse to be ignorant. She was awesome.  College opportunities > Black Ops.

Love J

Maddie “wanttobemaya” Mucci