Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving was a really fun event with my family this year. I, of course, tried to screw it up with my own personal issues (after the fact). However, the good thing about that was that it cleared a lot of issues up for me, such as my oldest daughters are more patient than I have ever given them credit for.

We all went to T's (and Brandon's) home. All my kids were there: T, Steph, the Student, Travis, and Tristan. Well, T and Brandon's kids were there, too. :)

I didn't think it was possible to drink and eat as much as we did. The evidence as to how much we ate was, were you feeling a twinge of hunger? Time to eat again!

There was no break between hunger and satiation. You were either completely stuffed, or possibly feeling a twinge of hunger. Mind you, a very, very slight twinge.

We went out on the Friday night after Thanksgiving to play a game at a restaurant that I have played before but had forgotten about. What a fun game! What was especially fun was beating everyone every single game. I didn't mind. I felt a little bad for my kids and their spouses that they were all so retarded that they couldn't beat me, but then, I'm an attorney, and very smart, and they are all schmoes, and probably very fortunate that they did as well as they could.

:)))))

More scary stuff.....

It's always about oil. Watch.

Sitting in my underwear. Nothing, nothing...

I was in my office today, working on documents. No court, no clients, front door locked.

Good time to sit in just my nylons and a t-shirt. Don't ask.

I look up and see a client staring in through my front window. Mind you, my big huge window faces the street. There is no walk-way in front of it. The front door is on the side of the building. Because it was locked, he decided to come peer into my front window to see if I was here.

I could tell that he realized I was in nothing but nylons and a t-shirt because he peered in close to the window, started to wave, and then suddenly stopped waving and left the window. He obviously realized that I was not appropriately dressed for a client/attorney meeting at that very moment.

I have learned a huge lesson today. If I'm going to sit in my nylons and t-shirt, close my drapes.

Somewhere over the rainbow...

Love this song:

I don't know if I'm going to vote

And let me tell you why.

First, I will have to figure out where I am registered to vote. I think it's too late to register in time to vote, so I have to figure out where I last registered to vote.

Second, I am somewhat overwhelmed by the stupidity and avarice of the current politicians currently in office, both republicans and democrats. The state of our economy is a result of politics, various activities I won't go into right now (such as the democrats wanting all underprivileged people to have houses, just like the rich people).

I don't think it matters any more who we vote for. The people who run the government are supposed to be our "servants", and I think they are all just a bunch of self-interested political hacks trying to have power so that they can get rich and do what they want for the people who donate to them.

So what's the point?

Except that I have always felt that if I don't vote, I have no right to complain.

The problem with the current candidates is that no one says specifically what they will do to fix the current problems, especially so that they will never happen again. They each speak in generalities, and then the other side tries so scare us by telling us what specifically the other side will to to achieve their agenda, and we can't tell if they're lying or not.

More reason not to vote for Obama - The Democrats will get away with this if Obama wins

It's long but worth every second.

Obama

I think it would be a disaster if he were to be elected.

Court today...when does respect come in?

I had court today and I was up against an attorney whom I had never been up against before. That sounds a little ominous, as if it's going to turn out that he ate me for lunch, or I kicked his butt, or something.

It's really interesting how these hearings go when you are up against an unknown opponent. It's a small world in the family law court. You frequently run into into an attorney you have been up against on a prior case, if you practice in family law long enough.

If you are up against someone you have been up against before, you know their modus operandi, whether they are tough or a push-over, whether they are just in it for the money or if they are in it to protect their client's position at all costs.

So this was the typical operating procedure (I am learning based on the experience I have had of being in this situation) for when I am in court for the first time against an attorney who has been practicing for a while in family law who doesn't know me:

When the attorney arrived, he went to talk to his client. Even though I had spoken to him by phone, we hadn't met in person yet. I had seen his client before, so when I saw her, I approached and asked if her attorney would be appearing this morning, and she said yes. I went to a different area to wait for him.

When he showed up a short time later and went to talk to her, I went up to him to let him know I was there and asked if I could talk to him when he would be ready.

Now, what I am explaining sounds really mundane. "I went up to him to let him know I was there and asked if I could talk to him when he would be ready." How boring. Except that this is all part of the "game."

When I asked if I could speak to him when he was ready, obviously implying that I could perceive that he was talking to his client and wasn't ready at that very moment, he said, "I'll be with you shortly." Except keep in mind that even though that that is a very mundane statement, it is said in a tone of voice meant to show his client that he can tell opposing counsel that he doesn't have time right then, please go wait somewhere else, and when he's ready, he'll talk to me. This is such a game. :)

I wasn't ready to do battle yet, because I just wanted to settle the case, so I said, "No problem. I'll be right over there."

When he came to talk to me, he started playing "the Word Game." The Word Game works like this:

"I know we're not trying to get rich off this case, so let's see if we can get this resolved."

"I never try to get rich off my clients' cases."

"Well, what I mean is, let's see if we can resolve this without causing our clients to run up too much money in attorney's fees and costs."

"I only charge my client for what I do."

It is designed to put the other person in his/her place, or me in my place in this case. Many attorneys say things like this, and we laugh and agree with each other and try to get the case worked out.

But with the "word" game, every statement made is subject to attack or being twisted because the other attorney is trying to find a position of power, I believe. I don't play. I usually tell the other attorney that I am not going to play the word game, and from now on, to put everything in writing.

So I did finally tell the attorney that I wasn't going to talk to him any more, and I left him. He was really irritating.

After the initial conversation, we went into court for the hearing and the judge told us to go out in the hall to see if we could work out a settlement. The attorney was really nice and polite and helpful this time!

Before we went out in the hall the second time, my client told me that the first attorney came out and spoke to another second attorney to whom I had said hello because I was on another case with him. The first attorney had seen me say hello to the second attorney.

My client said that the first attorney approached the second attorney and asked what I was like as an attorney, and the second attorney said that I wasn't a push-over or a "lay down." (I'm glad my client heard that, lol!) So it's interesting that after that, the first attorney was really nice and we worked out the case.

I think attorneys do that to try to get the upperhand. I think there are weaker attorneys who will lay down in the face of strong opposition. I don't lay down. But I do get pissed of, and rather than say something I might regret, I tell them to put it in writing because I will most likely say something rude that will be used against me in court. :)

Pain, Pain, Pain

I have been really busy in court for the last several weeks. And not just busy, but painfully busy.

These cases are too painful to even write about them. There's no humorous anecdotes to brighten them up. Just pain, pain, pain.

I keep thinking that something is going to give way and the calendar will lighten up, but no such luck. Just more pain, pain, pain.

And none of it is satisfying really, yet. Nothing redeeming. Just pain.

Time for a new cell phone

This is going to be the 4th time that I am getting a new cell phone. The first time I bought this phone, the PPC 6700, was about 2 years ago. Since then, I have had to replace it for the following reasons:

1. Slammed the trunk of the car on it.
2. Drop kicked it and broke the face plate.
3. Broke the inside connection where the charger cable plugs in.
and now
4. Lost it.

On Monday, I was in court and I set it down somewhere (I'm assuming) and I haven't seen it since.

Like Travis (Fairy Boy) said once, "People with ADHD have to have good jobs so they can pay for all the stuff they lose and break."

Tom (Houston) ordered a new phone for me and it should be here in a couple of days.

It seems like me, the Student, and Aspie Boy can't hang on to our phones. The Student just got her phone back. She had left it in Tom's car for several days. Aspie Boy has lost his phone for the second time this year. And now I have lost mine.

A Monday-ish Wednesday and Nasty Attorneys

Today started off as if it was Wednesday, but it turns out is was a Monday IN DISGUISE!

I say it started out as a Wednesday because today is Wednesday, but that's where Wednesday ended and Monday began.

The phones were extremely busy all morning with existing clients/new clients, plus trying to get paperwork done for the various hearings that are coming up. This is why I call it "Monday" because this is how Monday usually goes, not Wednesday.

And at first it was just busy with existing clients/new clients, but then at around noon, it turned into nasty attorneys and nasty insurance people. Houston and I spent from noon until about 3:00 p.m. dealing with nasty attorneys and nasty insurance people. Actually, this lasted later than 3:00. I took a couple of calls from one nasty attorney on my cell phone.

She was one of those ugly female attorneys that thinks that rather than find out why you are filing a motion for a hearing, it's better to make threats that she's going to ask for sanctions against you. Forget that her client is currently facing criminal charges for domestic violence. Let's just threaten sanctions!

And then tonight I have had to prepare documents for tomorrow. I'm not done yet. I'm annoyed, and I'm stressed. Stressed because tomorrow morning I have to deal with the nasty attorney. I'll be back with an update.

Signs

I rode my bike to Newport Beach yesterday. It took a little longer than I thought it would, so it gave me a lot of time to think about...

Signs. I hadn't thought about signs in a while, but I have seen several signs lately. Signs are never very important by themselves, but they keep us pointed in the right direction, or make sure we have something we need, such as a piece of information, or direction in life.

The day before yesterday, OCD went bike riding with me from her place to the Pier in Huntington Beach. Gorgeous day, by the way. You could see Long Beach to the North and Catalina Island to the West pretty clearly.

We stopped at a Starbuck's and a guy sat down next to us, who started talking to us about something he was doing online that would cost .50 to watch at his website. It was sort of a random conversation that he started out of the blue, but from there he went into how he does what he really loves for work, and that too many people are stressed and don't stop to smell the flowers.

OCD doesn't really like talking to people. She is very shy, and an introvert. I think she gets embarrassed that I talk to just anyone I want.

And so, on the bike ride today, I was thinking how it is that if you are nervous to talk to people, or afraid to talk to people, or don't like to talk to people, you are giving up one of the avenues through which we are given information from God.

OCD and I were riding back down Main Street after we left Starbuck's when I saw a guy in a very cool-looking car. Now, how would I know the name of the car if I didn't ask him what it was? This is a small example that means nothing except to prove that people are all around us to help us. In fact, when I asked the guy what make the car was, a woman crossing the street right then called out "Saturn" to me. People are all around us to offer help, and it's so strange how all the answers from different sources add up to help us head in a certain direction.

Yes, I'm crazy.

There is this whole picture of life that looks like a painting, and if we look for clues, we are directed to our niche. Each mark on that painting is there for a reason. New strokes are added every day.

What is it that you are meant to do here on Earth? I believe we each have a destiny, and if we find it, it will be as Emerson said:

A little consideration of what takes place around us every day would show us, that a higher law than that of our will regulates events; that our painful labors are unnecessary, and fruitless; that only in our easy, simple, spontaneous action are we strong, and by contenting ourselves with obedience we become divine.

Belief and love, — a believing love will relieve us of a vast load of care. O my brothers, God exists. There is a soul at the centre of nature, and over the will of every man, so that none of us can wrong the universe.

It has so infused its strong enchantment into nature, that we prosper when we accept its advice, and when we struggle to wound its creatures, our hands are glued to our sides, or they beat our own breasts.

The whole course of things goes to teach us faith. We need only obey. There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening we shall hear the right word.

Why need you choose so painfully your place, and occupation, and associates, and modes of action, and of entertainment? Certainly there is a possible right for you that precludes the need of balance and willful election.

For you there is a reality, a fit place and congenial duties. Place yourself in the middle of the stream of power and wisdom which animates all whom it floats, and you are without effort impelled to truth, to right, and a perfect contentment.

Then you put all gainsayers in the wrong. Then you are the world, the measure of right, of truth, of beauty. If we will not be mar-plots with our miserable interferences, the work, the society, letters, arts, science, religion of men would go on far better than now, and the heaven predicted from the beginning of the world, and still predicted from the bottom of the heart, would organize itself, as do now the rose, and the air, and the sun.

There were signs that led me to law school. I think OCD is seeing signs that are leading her into photography. If each of us simply pays attention, there are signs that will guide each of us in our endeavors.

The point is, if you're afraid to talk to people, you will possibly not hear something that you needed to hear. You might miss a clue.

There was something that happened yesterday or the day before that was also causing me to think about all of this. I'll try to remember and then come back with it.

But this is not just about destinies. There are different, smaller goals that we work on, such as my cases that I work on. I get information from many different sources, not just my law books.

Feather Duster

The other night I posted some pictures of the reef aquarium, but when I tried to upload a video, it didn't work. All my edits that I had done to the entire post were gone, too.

So instead of trying to go edit that post, I'm adding the video of the feather duster here. Because I had so much trouble getting the video to upload, I had to learn to edit videos.

You can see the feather duster open up, or come out, I should say, and then he immediately closes back up, or goes back inside. See, the feather duster had been startled by the Chocolate Tang (who will startle it again after you see it come out), and the feather duster disappeared into his tube.

The Tang is a pain in the butt. Just as the feather duster is coming out, the Tang comes by, hoping for food.

Old Pool Pictures of the Student and Aspie Boy; Aquarium Pics

After seeing the pictures that OCD posted of the Student and Aspie Boy, I was reminded of some pool pictures taken just about 3 years ago today.









The pictures didn't come out too well because I took them with an old cell phone whose quality wasn't that good.

The Student and Aspie Boy sure have grown.

In looking for those pictures, I came across one of the very first pictures of the aquarium. (OCD: Create a link to one of my blogs about the aquarium that has recent pictures, k?)



The first step was to put in the sand and water and live rock, and then we had to wait a few days for the dust to settle. At first, the dust in the water was so thick we couldn't see anything at all. This picture shows that the dust is almost settled. We could finally see the rock, which had been invisible up to this point, because of the dust.

This next picture is how it looked after we added more rock and a couple of corals:



I'm going to see if I can find some other pictures to show how the tank has evolved over the last year and a half.

It's interesting the things you learn along the way, and the things you discover growing in the tank that you didn't know were there. We have seen some interesting creatures.

For instance, the little things that look like roly poly bugs that come out at night. Or the things that look like underwater centipedes or millipedes.

Or the tiny little white things that almost look like starfish that I have found in several locations:



Can you see the little white star-like things?

And here is something else that is always entertaining to find:



See the body parts? Turns out that crabs and shrimp shed their exo-skeleton. I remember the first time Houston and I went to the office and found poor Mr. Shrimp's carcass. I was so sad that he passed. Except that later, we found him hanging under a rock.

This time, it's Mr. Crab shedding his skeleton.

And just for fun, here's a feather duster:

The Student ran different races that occur just once a year at her school. One of the races was the 200-yard dash, and she won!

This means that her name will be on the "wall" that she beat the 22-year old record (last year) for the 400, and this year for winning the 200.

WTG, Student!!!

Good Day in Court, aka Free the Criminals!

I had a good day.

About a month ago, a mom came to see me because she didn't feel like her son's attorney was doing a good job. The son had been charged with felony grand theft. The attorney had initially said that he would be able to keep the son out of jail, as the son didn't have any priors, but after a few appearances, the attorney told the mom that although the attorney could get the charge reduced to a misdemeanor, the son was going to have to do 90 days. The mom was very distressed.

And what I hate about taking over on a case like this is: What if I can't get a deal for the defendant that's any better than the deal that the prior attorney was getting? I would feel bad charging additional money for my time if I can't do any differently.

But the mom understood this. I explained what I could do that was different from what the prior attorney had done, and that I had had success with my tactics in previous cases, but that I couldn't guarantee a different outcome.

I made one appearance about 2 weeks ago, met the D.A., and he said he wasn't budging on his offer to the prior attorney. I figured that, and I had told the mom to expect this result at the first appearance I made.

Today, though, I asked for a chamber's conference and the unexpected happened. The judge undercut the D.A.! My client got the charged reduced to a misdemeanor, 30 days caltrans, and 500 hours of community service. No jail! And if my client goes back and shows proof that he enlisted in the service, the judge is going to dismiss the charges.

Now, I am taking credit for having the insight or experience to know to ask for a chamber's conference. But I can't take credit for the fact that my client got lucky that he got this judge. I'm not going to say who the judge was, or where, but there are reasons (I found out) for why the judge undercut the D.A.

This wasn't supposed to happen this way, but I'll take it.

I almost forgot to add the ditzy parts. I had gone into chambers to talk to the judge and the D.A. and I thought the judge said it would be charged as a felony, so I filled out the felony plea forms. But it didn't make sense that the client would be able to go into court and show proof of enlistment if he had a felony on his record. If you have a felony, the military won't take you.

I went back in to talk to the judge and he explained that the kid was being charged with a misdemeanor. I had already told the kid and his mom that he was being charged with a felony but that if he did the military thing, it would be dismissed. You can imagine their relief when they found out that the kid was only being charged with a misdemeanor.

But it gets better. I had put on the form that he was still looking at 3 years in prison if he violated probation. Turns out that because it was reduced to a misdemeanor, he was only facing 1 year if he violated probation.

I kept looking better and better and ditzier and ditzier. Good thing I did such a good job.

Rolly Ride

I learned what a "rolly ride" was yesterday. Don't ever go on a rolly ride unless you are seeking death.

First, I should say "thanks" to the tandem rider who contacted me when I was trying to sell the tandem that Houston and I bought last summer. Houston and I rode it once, and then it sat in the back until now. I had really wanted to go riding a lot, but Houston wasn't as motivated as I was.

A few weeks ago, I decided to sell it and buy a regular bike so that I could go by myself. In fact, when I posted the ad on Craigslist, it said, "My husband prefers the exercise couch."

Tandem rider contacted me and said, "Instead of selling it, I'll go riding with you." He said he needed to get back into shape because he hadn't ridden in a while and had had bypass surgery about 6 months ago and was looking to ride with someone.

However, the next week he said that it might be better to meet at "BCI" for a group ride. The first Saturday that I showed up, he wasn't there, but I met some really nice people. I ended up riding for 5 hours, but it was a flat ride. No hills, or very few and very small.

The next week, tandem rider showed up, but he acted as if he didn't know who I was when I arrived. He acted indifferently. It was strange. (Later, Houston and I deduced that his wife must have been irritated that he was going to meet a girl to ride with so he was probably trying to blow me off so that he wouldn't get in trouble.)

Tandem rider signed up for the short ride. I had gone on the medium ride the weekend before and I wanted to go on the medium ride again, but because I had agreed to meet him there, I signed up for the short ride, too.

On the ride, he didn't act much differently. It was very strange to me. Finally, I gave up and started following this guy who was going at a pretty good pace. I thought he was on the short ride, too, but after I followed him for a while and then caught up with him, he informed me that he was on the medium ride which included hills, i.e., the "rolly ride."

Turns out that all of the rides started in the same place and went along the same route for a short time, but the medium ride split off to head up and down the hills of Mission Viejo.

Those hills were killer. I suppose if I was as in the same shape as I was 20 years ago when I used to ride all the time, they would have been challenging but do-able, but as I told the guy I ended riding up with, in my current condition this was "suicide by bike."

What a way to go. You almost want to die just to end the ride. There comes a point where you just want to get off the damned bike. And at the point that you realize that you want to get off the damned bike, you realize that you are still heading further away from the starting point, and there are more hills in front of you.

And at some point, you start whining like an 8-year old in the back of a car, "Are we there yet?" Actually, I was whining, "Is this the last hill?" with every hill we climbed. At some point, I was tempted to telephone Houston to come get me. And there was a train station really close to the route we were following. Why couldn't we just go buy a ticket and go home and have a starbucks???

Thank God that the trip back included no hills. The worst of it was over. We stopped at a Starbucks, didn't buy anything, and got back on our bikes and headed for the beginning stop.

As we got closer to the starting point, I started riding faster. I told my riding mate, "I think my bike can tell that we're getting close to home."

I still need to be better prepared for these kinds of rides. I need to bring more water. When we stopped at Starbucks, the guy that I ended up riding with gave me some of his water, which was really nice of him, but embarassing because I wasn't as prepared as I should have been.

I need holsters for my water bottles so that I don't have to carry a back pack. I need to exchange my pedals for the clip on pedals. I need to wear suntan lotion. And I need to bring some type of energy food. I also need to do a couple of rides during the week. I need to work on getting in shape for the rolly rides. Geez, I hate those rides, but I love the challenge.

I have to edit this to say why I should say "thanks" to tandem rider. If it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't have been introduced to BCI, or the Bicycle Club of Irvine. I've had fun on both rides and I'm going to do it again this coming Saturday. Really nice people. Not just nice, but entertaining. Makes the ride very enjoyable. Thanks, tandem rider!!

From the bottom to the top

Something you didn't know about me. Or maybe you did. I think I have discussed this before.

I dropped out of high school. It was just a couple of months before graduation, but it's not like I would have graduated if I had kept going to school. I didn't have enough units because I had ditched so much.

I hated school. Or maybe I didn't. I certainly proved to love school later in life because I went to the local community college when I was 26. It took me about 12 years, but after 1.5 years of community college, I went to UCI and obtained a B.A., then enrolled in a paralegal program for a year and a half, and then went to law school for 5 years and obtained my J.D. and then, of course, passed the bar exam.

There was so much going on in my life when I was in high school that I think I was distracted. And having ADHD, it's no wonder that my personal circumstances prevented me from doing well in school. No wonder I ditched.

Both of my parents were abusive. My dad was a major pedophile. He managed to die without ever having been in jail. Back then, the measure taken by law enforcement was to make the child molester move. We moved several times as a result of my father's actions, but it wasn't until later in life that I learned that we moved several times because of my dad.

My dad molested not only his daughters, but friends of his daughters. It became hugely embarrassing, as years went by and high school memories receded, that friends of mine or of my sisters would inevitably confess to one of us that they had been molested by my dad. These days, my dad would have been charged with something and would have had to register as a sex offender.

My mother was physically abusive. She would lay in bed all day in her dark room with her T.V. on, eating (she weighed over 300 pounds most of the time). She would throw things at us from her bed. I remember going into her room once to answer her questions about something she had found out about me and I had to walk over to her bed so that she could hit me.

She was a nurse who worked the graveyard shift, and it never failed that she would get out of bed at about 10 p.m. and start screaming through out the house about any mess she found, as she started getting ready for work. I especially remember her screaming about her missing hairbrush. It would seem to me, in hindsight, that she should have bought more hairbrushes. Holy shit, she had 5 daughters. Of course her hairbrush was missing!

I have forgiven both of them, although I didn't have a relationship with my dad for quite a few years before his death. My mom is still alive. I have come to terms with my mom, but it's not an easy relationship for me.

I don't know how my kids grew up to be so well-adjusted. I didn't start out very well, and I was pretty messed up until I finally got counseling from the time I was 26-years old until I was 32-years old.

Considering that my life was pretty messed up while I was a kid, I am really proud of myself that I got counseling. I'm glad I didn't cause my kids to be too messed up. I can see, in small ways, how I messed them up, but for the most part, they came out good in spite of myself.

I became an attorney! My kids are doing great! How is this possible?!?

It was the counseling, of course. I wish I could remember the names of all the counselors that I saw over that 6-year period. I remember the name of the last one, but I think that each of them helped me in their way to overcome my emotional problems.

Each of my kids has been through something, as a result of my problems, that has specifically affected them. If they each come to me and asked, "What?", I would tell them honestly. I had a part in how each of them was affected because of how I was affected. I'm not going to post it here at this point, and probably won't unless I get their permission since several of them post here, too.

For Teeter and OCD, it was a direct result of me "pre-counseling" that messed them up, and yet they turned out great. For Fairy Boy, the results of my messed up childhood came later, and were an indirect result. Same for the Student and Aspie Boy.

Okay, I'm done for now. I might post more about this later. I can already imagine OCD shrieking, "You posted WHAT???"

It's that time of year again!!!

Does this fall under "random confessions"?


















Some of the pictures are duplicates, but that doesn't matter. One simply can't get enough of the Jacaranda tree, now can one?

Here is a video from last year that I took while roller blading:

Lazy crabs, Sneaky fish, Moody coral

I bought a new fish a while back who is supposed to eat the detritus off the rocks. I forgot that I bought him until today, when I caught him on a rock, looking like he was snoozing.




He kind of blends in with the rocks so he's hard to see, but today, there he is out in front, taking in the light, I guess.

Today's lesson, from Wikipedia:

There are an extremely large number of detritus feeders in water. After all, a large quantity of material is carried in by water currents. Even if an organism stays in a fixed position, as long as it has a system for filtering water, it will be able to obtain enough food to get by. Many rooted organisms survive in this way, using developed gills or tentacles to filter the water to take in food, a process known as filter feeding.

Another more widely used method of feeding, which also incorporates filter feeding, is a system where an organism secretes mucus to catch the detritus in lumps, and then carries these to its mouth using an area of cilia. This is called mucus feeding.

Many organisms, including sea slugs and serpent's starfish, scoop up the detritus which has settled on the water bed. Bivalves which live inside the water bed do not simply suck in water through their tubes, but also extend them to fish for detritus on the surface of the bed.

I hope this new guy is doing his job. We bought an emerald crab last year that is supposed to eat this slimy green mossy stuff and he didn't do his job. It grew all over the tank. We thought the little crab died because we never saw it again after we put it in the tank, but then a few weeks ago we saw him. He's 4 times the original size, and he's white. It's as if he has become albino because he's been hiding under rocks.

Here's someone else who is supposed to eat the green mossy stuff but doesn't do his job:



He's under the rock around the center of the picture, hanging to the underside of the rock. That's all he does. He just hangs under the rock until I put some fish in the tank, and then he runs out and grabs some to eat. He doesn't eat the green mossy stuff like he's supposed to. He's a moocher.

Here's a very happy coral:



He used to be half that size. It's interesting how he grows. He doesn't attach to the rocks and grow. He divides and gets larger. One arm because two, then four, etc. I'll have to post a picture of what he looks like when he retracts.

Here's a not-so-happy guy:



In the top right corner of the picture, you can see the elegance coral, all closed up and not doing anything. He's usually open and sprawled out, but he's all closed up looking like he has a stomach ache or something. I'm still trying to figure out what's bothering him.

In the left side of the picture, you can see another coral. He was given to me by a client who makes new corals. I forget the name of the process, but basically you slice off a part of the coral and it makes a new coral. The piece he gave to me is doing well.

Since I scrubbed the tank out a few weeks ago, the green stuff hasn't grown back. That's a good thing because I'd hate to see any of these guys have to work for a living.