Jericho: Plastic Fish

My coworker and I have been talking about getting a fish tank here at work for over a year now. Neither of us have ever had fish and we are both stupid enough to think it will be fun and easy. Pets may be fun, but they are never easy, or cheap. But, like I said, we're morons.

Recently at work there has been a series of shake ups. We're all waiting for the other shoe to drop. Actually, it feels like we're waiting for a whole lot of shoes to drop. An entire chorus line of plummeting Shoes of Doom. Anyway, our jobs are all in question and no one is happy right now.

I was walking through an asian market in the Downtown Seattle area, I found a pair of plastic fish. The fish look like little gold fish, they have little lead weights affixed to the undersides via a bit of fishing line. The package also came with a bit of plastic foliage with it's own weighted bottom. An entire aquarium of fun with none of the work, all for $2.50. I bought it. I found a large clear glass vase, filled the bottom with gravel I had from my Desk Top Bonsai project, added water and dropped in the fish.

My coworker and I talked about this. We both think it's cute in a stupid way. But, with all the shake ups at work, it's probably smarter to bring plastic fish into the equation than the real thing. Plus, if we lost $3 in the shuffle of quickly packing up our desks and hustling out the door, who cares?

Now, there have been days where I found myself jealous of fish. I mean, pet fish have it totally easy. In the wild they are running from predators and waiting to starve to death. In a tank, they are pampered, they don't have to worry about predators, food or even cold water. Just swim. Swim. Swim.

Today, I found myself jealous of those plastic fish. Between the bad vibes at work and the crappy product I support with all the same problems it has had since it was installed four years ago, I'm completely jealous. They just float there. They don't even have to think about breathing. They just exist. They exist in a bubble of clean water that is slowly evaporating away. Do they care that the water is leaving them behind? Of course not! Either some human will refill the vase or they will slowly, over the coming weeks, sink to the bottom. They don't need the water. They don't need food. They don't need anything. They just exist.