Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Flotsam, Jetsam and Sodium

I should be sleeping right now. But I always feel the need to blurt out something insignificant when I should be doing something else.

I used to have these two goldfish named Flotsam and Jetsam. They were the kind of goldfish with the puffy cheeks and bug eyes. A couple weeks after I bought them, my friend bought for me two more goldfish to join my lonely tenants. She and I racked our brains to come up with dignified names for my new friends. The best she could think of was Salt and Pepper. Naturally, I objected to naming my fish after seasoning (or an 80's rap duo). But she insisted that she must take part in naming them because she bought them. So to make them sound more dignified, I named them Sodium and Piperidine. Kind of like Salt and Pepper, but fancier. Piperidine is actually an extract of pepper, but whatever, I got close enough.

A week or so later, Piperidine passed away after being shanked by Flotsam over some hoe. Not really, I think I just fed him too much. But anyway, I was left with Flotsam, Jetsam, and Sodium. Now that I look back at it, that must be the most ridiculous combination of names for goldfish.

The names always seemed to broach a discussion when introducing my fish to guests. Everyone wants to know what happened to Piperidine.