# Shortsweet's Journal!



## Shortnsweet (Sep 16, 2015)

So... I've decided to create a journal! I will be posting updates on my current betta, Sir Arthur, and some of my background with fish keeping!! I am a college student living in an apartment, so sadly I cannot go "fish crazy" as I have to travel home during breaks and take my fish with me. I plan on getting a 10 gallon and either dividing it or creating a sorority. I first started keeping fish when I was a kid. I had a couple bettas in elementary school, but was a typical, uninformed betta keeper. I had a betta in an old washed out UTZ pretzel jar with some rocks and a plastic plant. No heater or filter  Goldie didn't live long and my mom replaced him when I was at school once... lol. Anyway, I got more into fish keeping in middle school and had a biorb with guppies and platys. I did a science experiment with underwater plants and their effects on water parameters once and had lots of bowls with plants! Fast forward to fall about a year ago, and I decided I wanted a betta. I joined this forum and adopted my betta, King! King was a crowntail male from petsmart who lived in a heated, filtered, lightly planted 2.5 gallon tank. I gave him a nerite snail friend and they got along until he died and king ate him >.< King sadly fell ill after tearing his fins on the inside of what I thought was a safe ornament, and developed finrot. SIP King. 

Now, several months later, I have Sir Arthur! Sir Arthur is a male Dumbo Halfmoon from Petsmart. He's living in King's old 2.5 tank (thoroughly cleaned of course). I brought him home on Sunday, and so far he is doing well, swimming around and exploring. I had to put up paper on one side since he was flaring at his reflection too much. That's about all for now though! I will update later today with more pictures of Sir Arthur!


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## Shortnsweet (Sep 16, 2015)

Wow, I completely deserted my journal. Lol. School has been difficult lately and I've been working hours on a Revit Building Information Modeling project that makes me want to throw my computer! But this week I got some terracotta pots and a small betta silk plant for Sir Arthur's tank and he seems really happy with his new decor! I also got nail art stuff. I'm obsessed with painting my nails, its very soothing to me. I always mess them up too quickly but oh well. I have to clean my apartment since my parents and sister are visiting me this weekend. My sister has always been a huge fan of any fish I've had and she can't wait to meet Sir Arthur. I got him to flare the other day and got a couple pictures and was super happy with the results! I didn't have him flare for too long though, I was worried about stressing him out too much.

It's funny, he would stress out over a reflection, and here I am stressing out about college, tests, projects, cleaning, and so many other things. Can I trade places? LOL. Here's a couple pictures of Sir Arthur that I took. I'm actually going to try to use this journal and keep up with it so hopefully I can do that! Bye for now to anyone out there who might be reading this!


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## Shortnsweet (Sep 16, 2015)

Hello again to anyone reading this! (not sure if anyone is, if you are leave a comment haha). I've been wanting to get another betta for a while. I need to find out if I have space in my room to put another tank! I would really like to get a 10 gallon and divide it or try a sorority. I am actually in a sorority at my school called "Pi Beta Phi." My roommate, who is also in my sorority, said it would be funny if I called my sorority tank Pi Betta Phish!  The good thing is my roommates are okay with me putting a tank in the living room, which could be an option. If I don't get a 10 gallon, then I think I will get another 2.5 gallon or a 5 gallon. Maybe I'll start working on a Christmas list and ask for a nice tank! Sir Arthur has been using his terracotta pot cave more, and its so cute to see him hanging out in there! I haven't been able to get a picture of him in there since he gets SUPER excited when I walk over to his tank and he starts swimming around and blowing bubbles. Speaking of bubbles, his bubble nest has gotten huge! Last water change I did, I accidentally disturbed his bubble nest and felt bad. I'm glad to see he's moved on from this little destruction and rebuilt it! (Too bad he has a water change coming up today... sorry buddy!). I have a calculus test this week and am starting to feel nervous. Engineering calculus is awful! Luckily I have a good study buddy on my desk cheering me on! I have had issues with testing anxiety in the past and am hoping I can get over this. I have accommodations to take my exams in a small or private testing room due to my ADD. Last year, my calculus exams were at 7:30 at night and it was terrible! I couldn't focus as well that late at night and was unable to take them earlier, sadly. I had to withdraw from that class and retake the first half of calculus over the summer at community college. My professor this year is a lot more understanding, and is letting me take my exam on Wednesday morning at 8:30. It's pretty early, but I figure that I'd rather take my exam early in the morning than late at night, when I have all day to worry about my test and build up my anxiety. Well, I'm off to a brunch with my family who visited this weekend, so bye for now journal!


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## Shortnsweet (Sep 16, 2015)

So I've been procrastinating studying for my calculus exam, oops! I made a list on Amazon for my sorority needs (if I do start a sorority). I found a nice 10 gallon tank set for a decent price with LED lights and an adjustable filter, meaning I could slow the flow! I decided that I'd want my sorority to be live planted, and added root tabs and substrate on my list. I also added test kits and a larger siphon, since I just use a turkey baster for cleaning my 2.5 gallon tank. My birthday is right after Christmas (on January 3rd!) so I normally get money from relatives from Christmas and my birthday and would be able to afford all of my wish list items for my sorority tank! I should probably go study now since I told myself 1:30, then 1:45, and now 2:00. Time to study! 

Here's a picture of the tank that I want to get (for anyone out there who is curious, lol)


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## Shortnsweet (Sep 16, 2015)

Hi there Journal. Taking a break from studying calculus and figured I'd post. The tank I posted above, which I loved, sadly won't be available or shipped for 2 months  So scratch that. I really want to get a 5-7 gallon and divide it. But I'm starting to think the financially responsible thing to do right now would be to just get a large kritter keeper and set up a betta in there. I really want a female, I think they're so cute  I also recently got some money from house sitting over the summer which is exciting! My test tomorrow is really stressing me. I feel like I know the material, but at the same time I don't. I can't fail this class.

A bit of background on me. I started out in the College of Architecture in a 5 year undergrad program. My whole life, I had wanted to be an architect. I worked my butt off in high school to get into a top notch Architecture program and was suddenly surrounded by very competitive, artsy people. I'm gonna just say it, I can't draw. Lol. I love working with computer software to design buildings, but that wasn't what we were doing. It was more like vague arts and crafts class. Very deep, sort of like "How does this paper cube SPEAK to you?" At the start of my sophomore year, I decided architecture wasn't for me. I switched into Building Construction, which is more technical and much better suits me! I'm happy I made the switch but its hard to feel like I didn't waste my freshman year. Luckily, I was already planning on 5 years, since only 1 of my freshman year courses was needed for my new major. I couldn't get into the first half of engineering calculus in the fall, so I took it during the Spring 2016 semester. During that time, I was struggling with my anxiety and depression, and was skipping classes and getting sick a lot. I had such bad testing anxiety that I was throwing up before exams. It was awful. I ended up having to withdraw from the calculus class since I was going to fail. I took it over the summer at community college and luckily I passed it with a 97!!! Now, as a junior, I am in the second half. Mind you, this was something I was supposed to have finished my freshman year in the major track. So, if I fail this, it might take me an EXTRA year on top of my 5 years. I can't do that to my parents, and that would honestly just destroy my confidence in college. I'm terrified of this happening, I really am. Stupid pre-requisites make it so this calculus will be the death of me.

I've learned to not compare myself to others. I went from valedictorian and National Honor Society President at my high school to being one in the crowd at a large state university. I am suddenly surrounded by overachieving, successful people who seem to be able to handle everything at once. But I am not them. I am my own person and if it takes me longer than some other students, then that is okay! It took me a while to realize this about myself and (if anyone is reading this) if you are in the same position, know that it is okay. This is kind of lame, but when I feel depressed, it helps having my fish. I am providing a good home to a living thing. My fish is someone who counts on me and I am able to be there. My life may be a mess, BUT at least my fish is happy. LOL. Yikes. But taking care of my fish is kind of therapeutic to me. And I love this forum because I get to learn new things and share my love of fish with others. I have friends on here who understand me and don't think I'm obsessed with a "cheap petstore bowl fish." We know they're something more 

Wow, this ended up being really long and completely went from talking about fish tank plans to opening up about my life. Wow. With that, I should probably try to work some more calculus problems. I'm excited though, I think I'm going to Petsmart this weekend and who knows, I might come home with a new betta. Bye for now, journal!


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