A Moment to Reevaluate

So. 
Back at the beginning of the month.
Specifically the first weekend. 
Where we had General Conference.

President Nelson asked us to go on a 10 day fast from social media.

Which....
Was a lot to ask really. ^^;;

Lol mostly because I'm online like....all the time on various different outlets.

Facebook. Twitter. Blogger. Tumblr. I'd even just started an Instagram because...well why not? I like taking pictures and it seemed like a good platform to post pictures...

But in any case. 

10 days away from social media??

:S :S :S

I mean, the only time I'm away from my computer is like...when I've gone on vacation where there's been no internet access.
So like...on cruises and such.

I'm constantly online.
Constantly writing.
Constantly posting.

Constantly doing...well a lot.

Because I like making people smile. I like talking (writing?) about the antics and frustrations and amusing things I encounter on a day to day life. 

And I'd already kinda been....idk. Working to keep things more positive.

So I did have to wonder...

Was this a challenge I needed? 
Did I need to take a 10 day fast?

And like...one of my main struggles....
Was that I'd already had online goals for the month of October that I needed to complete.

Namely that I had the goal to take pictures of the sunset every evening of the month and post them online. 

And I don't like giving up on goals when I have no cause to.

Which meant...
That I couldn't really do the 10 day social media fast in October when I needed the social media platforms to be able to accomplish my goals. 

But.
I did decide to...kinda take a step back and set some boundaries on 'when' I could be online.

Which made me realize that I was checking my phone and being online a lot more than I was meaning to be.
….mostly at work.

Like I hadn't realized how much I'd been ducking into the back to look online to see if anyone commented on a post, or liked a photo, or you know...interacted with me.

I was constantly looking for validation online....

And that was probably cutting into my productivity at work. 
I mean it's only thirty seconds or so. Where I'd glance at my phone while waiting for the sink to fill up with water, or things like that. Things where I couldn't just walk away and do something else. 
So I could take the moment to look at my phone then.

But at the same time.
Right after conference I took a moment to just...not look at my phone. To keep it in my pocket.
To focus on work and such.

Which is how I became so aware of how much attention I was giving that small device.

I also tried other things...like waiting to get online until later in the day.
Not coming home and getting straight on the computer.
But you know....taking time to do other things.

...Like nap. ^^;; haha.
And yah. Okay, get on the computer. But I was using the device for writing instead of simply spending hours scrolling through social media. 

In any case.

This past month has made me more....aware. 
Of what I'm doing online.
But also...what frustrations I'm experiencing with online stuff.
What gets me in a down mood.
What perks me up.
What wastes my time.
And where I could...reevaluate and such.

I mean I've spent basically the whole month dithering over which social media I would cut out for the fast period. Do I need to cut out ALL media all together? Or just some? one? ALL? Limit them? :S :S :S

Because I wasn't ignoring the Prophet's advice to do a 10 day fast.
I just needed to finish my October goal of posting a sunset a day first. 

So this entire time.
I've been waffling.
Deciding.
Figuring out which sites I would fast from...and how I would fast from them....

Which has led me to the decision to fast from Blogging for 10 days.

As I've noticed...that this actually takes up a lot of my time.
You wouldn't think it would.

But because I run four different blogs...and three of them are updated on a daily basis....
It actually eats a lot into my time.

With the different perimeters and such I've set for each blog...some things are more time consuming than others...but I've realized that I can take two or three hours (if not more) to write in all four blogs.

And like...that's a lot of time. 
Two hours is a lot of time.
Especially when a blog post shouldn't take more than like...maybe 10 minutes to write if I'm venting? 

So I've decided to take a step back.
To not blog for 10 days. 

And just...take the time to reevaluate. To decide moving forward how to take each blog.
Like this one? Still going to be my everyday blog. I still plan to post in it, once I get back, on a daily basis lol.

But the other three? 
Do I need to post in them everyday as well?
Or can I just...cut back. Post on specific days?

I don't know.
Not yet.

First I'm going to just....step away from it all and see if getting that two blogging hours back can help lessen the stress in other areas in my life.

Like...just story writing and such.

Of course. I'm taking a break from other social media as well. So it's not just Blogger. 

But yah.

It's kinda nerve-wracking actually.
To not look online.
To be 'out of the loop.'

*exhales*
This is going to be interesting.

But I have been looking forward to it too. 
It's a chance to try something different.
Figure myself out.
Realign my priorities. 
And decide what is really important to me when it comes to my online presence and how I present myself. :D 

So yah.
This blog is going to be on a brief hiatus. ^^;; I'll be back to posting on November 11th! :D 
Cya guys then!!

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Gone

They actually did it.
They took away the fishtanks. 

So. Remember like a week ago when I said that my store was finally getting rid of our three display fish tanks...after like six years of telling me that they were going away?
And how on Thursday they're like "Surprise! We're cutting the power to the tanks today instead of Friday so HURRY AND FISH OUT ALL THE FISH!!" 

Yah.
Good times.

In anycase.

Yesterday was the actual day of them taking out that little endcap wall enclosure.

-Which meant that from Thurs-Mon Night we had these empty fish tanks sitting there.
Which made it all the more depressing to be at work those days because...there used to be fish and water in those tanks.

Not no more.

Last night, after the store closed.
They came in and got rid of that tank set up wall thing.

That's probably been there since the store opened really. 
...I honestly wonder how old those tanks are...

But in any case.

I came into work this morning...

To find that the three fishtanks had been taken into the back and wrapped up on a pallet (at least two were...I'm not quite sure where the third ended up) 

And the area where those three tanks had stood. 

They had replaced and put another section of shelving stuff in.

So that we can old yet more fish tanks...but ones that we sell to customers. 

*exhales*

It's all so boring now.

Though I suppose a weight off our shoulders as a) we don't have to worry about caring for the tanks and b) we don't have to worry about needing to fish fish out of the tanks for customers.

But still.
I enjoyed standing up there and just....watching the fish.

Now it's just...boring tanks. XP 
Bleh.

But it is interesting to note that the floor is discolored where the tanks had stood lol.
I can still see the patterns and such on the ground....

So I wonder if those will ever go away...or if it's like a permanent stain now....

*shrugs*

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Aches Away

My manager mentioned to me today that he was suffering from a slight headache.
Which. What do you know? I've been suffering from one today as well...well one that's continued from yesterday, but in any case...I too had a headache.

So I briefly commiserated...and went back to work.
But as I was finishing some task in the morning, that brought me by the manager's office....I briefly stopped to ask him if he needed any meds.

After all it's well known that I get headaches by now.
So I have a variety of different medicines on hand to try and get rid of the headaches should they be bugging me at work...or anywhere since I keep them in my bag.

And I didn't know if he would have any or not.
So I asked if he needed any.

And he asked what I had.
So I said Advil and Excedrin.

To which he was like "Excedrin? I think I tried that one once. What is it?"

Which it's so weird to me that people don't know what Excedrin is....like I feel like it's a 'common' pain killer...but it's apparently not because I get so many people asking what it is.

Which it's like Tylenol, Aspirin, and Caffeine all mixed together.

And usually is the best for when I'm suffering from mind pain. 

-It wasn't helping with this headache though because this headache was a jerk.

But after some discussion with the manager.
I gave him one pill to try to see if it would help his headache go away.

And it did!

Woot!
Yay for helping at least one of us chase away the horrible headache beast today. lol.

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Color Shift

So a little bit ago I got a couple of new bettas for my tanks...as two of my bettas had passed on.

And since my remaining bettas were mostly a combination of blue and red/orange....
I decided my next bettas would be completely different shades.

Because like...while I love the blue and red look...I probably should have my bettas look a bit different.

And so ended up with one that is white and gold and the other that's like an opalescent white with blue and orangish hints to it though overall it's a white betta....

Or was. 

Did you know that bettas can occasionally change colors?

I did....after both my sister and my mom had bettas that shifted in their coloration.

Me?
I'd had multiple bettas...and never really experienced this.

Until now.

That opalescent white betta I have?

His body is turning blue.

Which is so crazy.
Because like he was pure white in the body a couple of weeks ago.

and now...it's getting more and more blue. 

Which does leave me wondering if his fins will also turn blue too...
Or if I'll end up with a blue betta with white fins....

Which would mean that most of my bettas are blue again. *shakes head* lol.

Guess I'll have to wait and see how that turns out. ^^;;

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Confrontation

My coworker had been at the fish wall for a bit.
Helping customers with their questions and catching fish for them.

Which was great for me so I could finish the opening tasks I'd been struggling to get done in between helping customers.
Though as I walked behind the fishwall, I was focused on isolating a couple of hamsters -one that had been returned, the other from the floor because there was odd furloss on its neck that we wanted to observe and such. 

And that was when I heard over the radio my coworker requesting my manager to come over to the fishwall.

Which usually means there's a problem with either a fish or the customer.
My guess was the customer.

And I knew that manager wasn't currently in the store as they'd gone to pick up a couple of animals from the vet. 

So I went to investigate to see what the problem was just to see if I could solve it without needing to get a manager involved.

The problem was more of a ….differing of opinions. 

This particular coworker is a bit more....stubborn when it comes to selling fish to customers. Usually if the customer doesn't meet the requirements of the recommended tank size for certain fish...they refuse to sell the fish to the customer.

Which was halfway the case here.
I'm not quite sure how it all started.

But basically the customer had a 20 gallon tank he'd just set up and had...maybe one or two fish already in there?
As he'd had a 10 gallon tank, but apparently gave the fish away to someone else, and bought the 20 gallon and such so he could have more fish.

And from what I could gather, the customer had come in looking to grab like 20 fish to put in his 20 gallon tank.

As he'd had 10 fish in his 10 gallon tank and 'hadn't had any issues in three years.' 

I'm pretty sure my coworker was working to convince him to not buy 20 fish right then.
Because you don't want to add in a ton of fish at once into a new tank because that can stress out your tank and cause the fish to die. 

So she was trying to talk him into buying only a few fish. 

Which we usually recommend. 
You don't want to buy more than 'half of your inches' when it comes to adding in fish.

So 20 gallon tank. 20 inches of fish. 
You only want to buy 10 inches at the most when it comes to adding in fish the first time.

Which depending on the size the fish get when they'll be full grown.
Is usually 3-6 fish. 

But I think the dude was taking it to mean that he could only have like 3-6 fish in his tank and 'no more' 

Which is why he got frustrated and went on his "I had 10 fish in a 10 gallon and it was fine!" rant.

Proceeding to accuse my coworker of being a 'tree-hugger' -which my coworker took offense to. 

And stating that "I guarantee your CEO doesn't care about how many fish I buy because he doesn't care how he gets the money, and if he did care the fish wouldn't be $2 each they'd be $20!" 
Which...doesn't compute. (my coworker was like "I guarantee he does care" etc) 
Because the cost of the fish doesn't = how much we care about them. Nor does it correlate with what the CEO thinks about the customers. 

He was also like "That thing about fish growing is a total like because I had those fish for 3 years and they never grow so it takes YEARS for them to grow" 
And my coworker was like "Well it's because the nitrates were probably high in your first tank because too much nitrates can stunt their growth which is why the didn't grow."
"But it will still take years for them to get that big!" 

*exhales*

In any case.

I ended up mediating a bit between the two of them to defuse the situation because the guy was like "I JUST WANT TO BUY MY FISH LET ME BUY MY FISH!" 

And my coworker is like "I can get you fish but not ALL the fish you want TODAY."

To which he was like "So I can only buy like 5 fish here because of your 'tree hugger ways' and then I'll have to go to another pet store and LIE about the size of my tank to them there and say I have like a 50 so I can then buy all the fish I wanted to buy here!" 

*exhales* 

Dude. Chill out.

*shakes head*

In any case. I think I managed to clarify the situation.
To explain to him that it's fine to have more fish in the tank.
But to help keep the fish healthier and be less likely to die from stress, we recommend that he only buy 5-6 fish today, wait a week or so and then come get 5-6 more fish.
Basically that it's fine to have more fish in the tank he can get more fish.
We just don't want him getting them all today.
Patience is the key.
Buy some fish. Wait. Buy some more fish. Just to help the fish live.

We kinda had to reiterate that concept a couple more times.

Where I was like "yes it's fine you want five tiger barbs and this catfish, but you don't want to add any more fish in today. You want to wait another week and then come grab the rainbow shark and other fish you want. You can get more fish, just you don't want to get them all today."

And I think me trying to keep a calmer tone and sympathizing with him helped to calm him down a bit. As he became much more willing to listen after that. 

So yah.
In the end he ended up with 5 tiger barbs, a shark and a catfish. 

And I had to talk him out of getting a couple plecos because it was a brand new tank. Barely 24 hours set up. Therefore....there would be nothing for the pleco to eat so he just needed to wait a while before getting those.

Hopefully he left happy.
Hopefully he didn't go straight to another pet store to buy more fish. 

*exhales*
But I suppose if he did that and a bunch of fish end up dying...he'll realize that we were right to caution him to not buy a ton of fish at once. 

Guess we'll see....

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

An Interesting Place

It was supposed to be a simple outing to get dinner.

You know...fast food...it's meant to be fast.

But as we walked up to our chosen place....

Things already felt a bit...off.

The dude washing the door windows was quick to apologize for being in our way.
Which...he wasn't? I mean, we get that keeping the windows clean is a thing and he moved right out of the way when we approached so it wasn't like we needed to ask him to move or anything.

But he was like "Tell them that you get a free grande meal on me!" as we walked in.

O.o 
Ummm okay?

We didn't ask for that lol. 
I mean....we were barely arriving. No inconvenience and really....why would the employees inside believe that the dude cleaning windows had said that? 

In any case.

We went to order our food.
And I noted that the cashier was acting....a little off.
Constantly adjusting her shirt and such....
….and struggled to understand what "Nachos" I meant. Asking if I was wanting the 'supreme' or not and I was like "you know....the regular nachos...with the chips and the cheese in a cup?" 

I didn't think much beyond that.
Having ordered my food and gotten my drink cup.
I was content to put the matter behind me. 

Until our order was called and I went to grab it.

You see, after I had ordered, my mom had made her order and then my dad.

But when I got our food back to the table....
My mom's order was nowhere to be found.

And checking the receipt...
Her order hadn't even been entered into the computer.

Somehow the cashier had gotten my order and my dad's...but missed my mom's. 
Not sure what buttons she'd hit or not hit to totally miss that.

But yah....I went back up to the front to order her food for her.

And was confronted with a different cashier.
A guy.

Only there were people standing in line in front of me.
So they were getting their order first....

Only apparently they didn't have enough cash?
Because they said they'd 'be back later' and left without paying for anything.

But as I approached to get my mom's order....the cashier left to go back into the kitchen area....

So I stood there awkwardly for a minute until someone realized I was waiting....
And the dude who'd been washing windows came up from the back to take my order. 

*shakes head* I was beginning to think of it as a merry go round since I'd seen three different cashiers in like five minutes when usually you see one ...maybe two.

In any case.
I gave my mom's order. 

And the cashier couldn't figure out how to put 'shredded chicken burrito' into the register.

…..Like I wanted to help him, but I was ordering for my mom. I had no idea where on the menu it was and I had no idea how to work the register for him since I've never worked in fast food lol.

Thankfully he figured it out in the end. 

And I ended up mention "Yah this is the second time I'm making this order because the first time the other cashier didn't get my mom's order so she didn't get any food."

He was like ()_() What?! 
And demanded to see the receipt.
Which I showed him...not that there was much to see since my mom's order wasn't on that lol. 

But yah, he ended up giving me the burrito for free. ^^;; 

So yay!! Mom finally got her food. 

But yah....
Definitely a weird vibe to the place...to the people. We left wondering if half of the workers there were...well high. *shakes head*

Definitely an interesting experience. 
Interesting.

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Get Them Out

So you remember how like...two days ago, I wrote that post that they were taking out our display fish tanks and that we would need to have the fish out of the tanks by Friday because that's when they were coming to shut off the power to that part of the aisle and like...totally remove that section to...revamp it as something else?

>.< Guess who showed up TODAY (Thursday) to shut off the power?? 

*exhales*

It's not Friday guys. Why did you come today when you said you were coming tomorrow?

In any case.
I had had this nice little plan to attempt to get the fish out of their tanks once I was done with my opening tasks -if  I had time.
And if I didn't have time? I would have the evening people do it.
No big deal.

But then, halfway through my opening tasks.
My manager comes up to me to say that the electrician guy was here. Right now. And that the power to those tanks would be shut off within the hour.

-Like ten minutes later.
The power had been shut off to the tanks.

….And the tanks were still full of fish. 

AHHHHH.

I mean. It's okay for the fish to be without filtered water for a little bit.
They're large tanks.
It's not a big issue.

But like...now there was a time crunch.

So I had to delay opening my department so that I could make sure all the fish were taken out of their tanks and put back into their spots on the fishwall. 

It was stressful.
Especially considering I had a shorter shift today.
And I had no idea how long it would take to get the fish out.
And I had to make sure all the fish were out. 

*exhales*
I managed it.
Thankfully.

Except for one pleco that is in this big tree decoration and refuses to come out.
But hopefully we can get him out sooner rather than later....

If I saw him in there at all...which I'm pretty sure I have.
But he vanished after a couple of attempts to get him to swim out.
Sooo no idea.

But I placed the stump in water to make sure he wouldn't perish at least. 
Hopefully one of my coworkers got him out. *fingers crossed* 

In any case.
I succeeded.
But didn't succeed in getting the rest of opening done. :( foo.

And as an interesting note.
Apparently the manager is planning to raffle off our three tanks to coworkers. 
So whoever wins the raffle.
Will be able to take home one of the three tanks. 

I mean...there's not much else we can do with them lol. They're so old.
I don't even know how old they are. 
But they've been in that store longer than I have.
So it's not like they're in top tier condition. 

I suppose we could try and sell them if the raffle idea doesn't fly.

And I'm just wondering what I'll do if I end up winning one of these tanks. 

Because like I already have a 125 gallon.
Lol I don't necessarily need another one. 

I guess I'll figure it out if it actually happens. 
^^;;

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi