The Boys Are All Right

Considering I never really asked to have pet turtles - I have them anyway.  My mother got them for me during a time when I was asking for a pet iguana - I suppose turtles are slower and easier to catch?!  And considering pets aren't allowed at the place where we stay - it seemed like a more interesting choice over the usual fighting fishes that I used to have. (They have mostly gone off to the great aquarium in the sky now) I never really named these fishes, since I considered them my - 1st line of defense - it's morbid but, there is a belief that our pets sometimes "take the fall" for us, in the event that we are to suffer some major illness or worse. hmmm.. Everytime a fish would die, I'd tell my mom - I need more fish!! as if it was energy points in some video game and I'm extending my playing time. haha. Now. Here come the turtles.
There are two of them - the bigger one - I've named Sushi, and the smaller, more neurotic one, I have decided to call - Shogun.  They would either walk around the unit, or when it's feeding or sleeping time, stay in a big plastic tub in the bathroom.  A few months ago, my mom took them home to The Sticks, had a 'resort' made (Read: a small cement enclosure with rocks and a bowl filled with water) for them.  I hemmed and hawed over being separated from the two - as we have an ongoing love-hate relationship... I love being able to talk to them and have Sushi actually come towards me when I call him (he fancies himself a dog, I think?) while I hate having to search for and reach for Shogun under the furthest corner under the bed or couch where he decides to hide from prying eyes. I also don't particularly enjoy post-meal clean-ups, since goodness! It's a testing thing, cleaning up after turtles - and it isn't like you can potty-train them like dogs (or some cats).
Although I stay in the city and only visit the house in The Sticks every other weekend or so, my mom has enlisted the neighbor's help in feeding the boys and sweeping up the grounds around the house - to make sure the weeds don't get too high or snakes might decide to take permanent residence there! Eeee!
I was out in The Sticks last week. I noticed, a brighter shade of red in both the boys - they are Red Eared Slider turtles - the brighter the shade of red, the healthier they supposedly are. Seems they're thriving in their new habitat - which is good.  Sushi still remembers me, and Shogun seems less neurotic.  Win-win. They get fresh air, more sunlight now compared to when they were at the condo and more space to walk around in too - which is closer to a turtle's "natural" habitat.

In the soup?

Shogun, seems a whole lot less jittery now ever since the move. Sushi, still curious and intrepid as ever. It can be interesting having turtles as pets - I want to debunk the superstitious belief that allowing children to have turtles as pets makes them "slow" since, my speech hasn't been affected a whit by raising these two - I recall when I was much younger and my grandmother (Loly) found out that my mom got me turtles, she was tut-tutting that it isn't good for children to take care of turtles.  Okay, maybe I get a little dense sometimes, but I don't think the turtles are to blame for this deficiency. haha. 
Those turtles, I brought out to "play" with me, by the gutter of the sidewalk, and er, forgot to bring them back inside with me when I was called back into the house. What?! geez, I was, what? 8? Okay, okay, my bad. I bet they've found their way into the sewerage system and are now bigger than cars. Gee.
But - back to my current Terrapins (the technical and official term for turtles) I miss having them around, and wish they were still here with me, cooped up at the condo.  But it seems the transfer was a healthier option for them - because turtles also need to get some sun - i usually take them out to the Fire Escape with me, in the afternoons in their tub half-filled with water and allow them to "sunbathe". Can I morbidly say - Turtle Soup, anyone??? hee! NOT. But now, although their enclosure is in the shade, they still get more sun out in The Sticks than they ever would if they were here in the city with me. Even if I let them sun themselves in the afternoon, they'd develop a red rash underneath their carapace (that's what the shell is called) and that is an indicator that they aren't getting enough Vitamin D (which you get from sunlight...funny, I would've called it Vitamin S !?!)
My point in all this rambling? CHANGE CAN BE A GOOD THING.
Many people, myself included, resist change. We want what's familiar, we fear the unknowable future and try in vain to ignore the fact that change, is the only constant, and the only things you can be sure of are...wait for it...Death & Taxes. It's one thing to have Lupus, to have Arthritis at an age when I technically shouldn't be bothered by it for another 20-30 years or so, but hey, it's here. Deal with it, Babs. Each day isn't ever really the same except MY constant, is that, it involves pain. I've gotten used to it. You either accept it, or feel sorry for yourself, which, I figure, is useless and makes me feel even worse.
So - I've been stepping out of my comfort zone more and more, each day - a day at a time. I stretch more, drink more water and try to get to sleep earlier than my usual 'vampire hour' schedule - even if that means taking a pill that leaves me feeling like a stunned cow when I get up the next morning.
There are times when the change imposed upon is something we didn't ask for, or is beyond our control. You either resist this, or go with it. I vote for the latter. It's very possible that the new will bring with it better things and a more positive result than if I were to stick to the 'tried and true' (although that also has its merits in many cases)
I worried about the turtles being in a new and unfamiliar environment - and now I see it would have been selfish of me to keep them here when they seem so much better off where they are right now.

from L-R - Shogun & Sushi

I can't say for sure how things are going to unfold for me in 2011, (even with my limited understanding of Astrology - and since I'm not a fortune-teller) I can only try to anticipate possible influences and remain aware of my motivations and plan my days and weeks responsibly on a desk calendar. I can't guarantee that I'll be in the best of moods or in the best of health every single day, but I will do all I can to keep getting up each day, regardless of the urge to just stay lying down like a gigantic paperweight.  
The boys are all right...and I believe - I will be too.
*Rock & Roll*


Note: For those who are wondering where "The Sticks" is - it's our house in Victoria, Laguna. It's an hour and a half's drive from Manila, sometimes two, depending on the traffic.