Shadow Void

Unnamed Poem

I wonder when you sit and stare what thoughts are passing through your mind? You seem to be in some other place at times and I wonder where that might be? Is it a place that I can visit or see? Are your thoughts confused or filled with fear? Sometimes through your eyes, I try to envision just what is locked behind your eyes. I try to envision just what is locked behind your soul's door. You speak but I don't always comprehend the words that come forth. When I hear with my ears those words that you spoke, I try to take each one into my heart. I want to know each sound, each word that passes from your lips. What grand intelligence exists within you? Your veil keeps you locked away from the world. It's hard sometimes to get a feel for what lays on the surface. Your voice is masked behind your veil. It's hard sometimes for you to get your words out, does that ever cause you anguish? I wonder if it makes you angry when others don't hear the words that you're speaking. I wonder.

A Potential Poisonous Fish

I had a hard time selecting a fish for the last installment of my venom series. I had forgotten about the barracuda. It hit me a couple nights ago that eating barracuda does lead to a form of poisoning. We are now going to be jumping into the ocean. You are going to be facing the Barracuda on it's on turf.

Great barracuda ( Sphyraena barracuda )

This large predatory fish can be found from Massachusetts to Brazil. It can also be found in the Gulf of Mexico. The smaller sized fish can be found near the shore while larger speciemens can be found offshore. They have worldwide distrubtion as a species. There are a total of 8 species found worldwide. They feed on squid, fish, and shrimp. They can swim at speeds of 25 to 27 mphs. These fish are known to attack humans. In fact, these fish are even known kill humans. They've even been known sicken even more people. The large fish between the size of five to 8 feet are considered to be potentially dangerous. Unlike sharks, barracuda make one large bite that removes a large chunk of flesh. They hunt by sight so divers or swimmers should avoid murky water, wearing bright clothes, or wearing anything shiny. Barracuda will approach and follow humans. Though they aren't as dangerous as most people think. So I mentioned that they are poisonous.

Unlike other poisonous fish, the barracuda gets the poison from the animals that they eat. More precisely, it gets the poison from it's prey have eaten. In humans, the poisoning is called ciguatera poisoning. It's quite the nasty little poison too. The toxin is called ciguatoxin. It's commonly found in micro-organisms. In humans, the symptoms are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, muscle aches, parethesia, numbness, ataxia, and even hallucinations. It cannot be destroyed by heat, so cooking won't get rid of it. Oh...and on top of it, the poisoning leads to long term disability.

This biological technique is called bio-magnification. It's used in barracuda as well as many other animals. Bi -magnification is pretty hard to explain but I'm going to try. Basically, what happens is that little animal contains toxin. A small animal eats that micro-organism. Small animal gets eaten by larger animal until it ends up in the body of the last stage of food chain. There it builds up to the point where it becomes dangerous. Hence the reaon why only larger sized barracuda seem to cause the poisoning. Any way, I am going.

 

Four Day Off; YEAH

Long time no talk guys and gals! So what's been going on with all of you?

 

Work is still going crazy. It's been going really fast lately guys. The time between paychecks seems to be coming closer and closer. I guess that is what happens when you get older, right? Is there something else going on? Oh this week, I got accused of not doing enough at work. As if, these feet walk at least a mile or two every day at work. I was pissed off to say the least. So much of what is happening at work, I can't relate to you guys. It's times like this when I really need to have someone who I can talk too and now that I'm safe.

 

Okay so now, let's talk about my health. I went to doctor on Tuesday. H1N1 might have been in the air. Can you say happy times? My sugars were still around 5.6 based on the A**** test. I forget what it's called. Yes, it is within normal range. Pretty good huh? Doctor and me discussed my eating habits. He's worried that due to the way we eat at the house, that I'm causing my sugars to drop to low and then spike high. His fear is that I'm going to damage my organs. It's also my fear. Tomorrow, I have to go in for a blood test. The entire spectrum. I hate blood tests. Actually, I'm getting kind of use to them. This is another example of where it would be awesome to have someone by my side. You know what bothers me more than anything else, it's the infernal wait and anticipation of the needle and the blood leaving my body. My brother, the one that got hit by the drunk, has therapy or a doctor's appointment at the hospital.