已经有一段时间了,是吗?
Amazing what changes while you’re “away.”
令人惊讶的是,当您从自己喜欢的东西中脱颖而出时,会发生什么,不是吗?
最近,我(对我来说)从“临床”的冷藏片到“练习”凉鞋了(对我来说),这真是令人难以置信。
I found myself slipping into the role of what I call “clinical” reefer.
What do I mean by “clinical?” Well, there are a lot of people in my position, owning and building hobby-related businesses, perhaps writing, speaking, and “living the fish geek life”, who don’t have a tank that they maintain everyday; who perhaps ply their stock in trade in the aquarium world without maintaining an active aquarium. Yes, they’re in touch with the hobby, and the animals, and the gear…but they’re not in “the final few inches” of what is really happening.
我并不是说这很糟糕,我只是在量化它。
当您发现自己时,它可能会变得不好反流的东西从很久以前,在向他人提供建议时,这种情况变得更加过时;或者,也许您一直在最新和最伟大的情况下保持最新状态preaching it without actually practicing it…THAT is a sin in the aquarium world, IMHO. There’s lots of that percolating around the hobby, especially when you find yourself “in the know”, speaking and traveling around hobby-related conferences and events.
Then, there is an even smaller fraction of people, who spend much time criticizing others in the hobby and industry, slinging negative publicity for practices/products/people they don’t “approve” of, and generally rallying their buddies to give them a social media “pat on the back” while they spew forth their vitriol with unabashed nastiness…all while not even being a “practicing” reefer.
Yeah, there are a bunch of people who are just like that, and it’s sad. It’s sad, because they don’t experience the real pleasure of actually keeping an aquarium. It’s sad because they are so myopic in their focus that they can’t get past themselves, their self-appointed grandeur, and the adulation of their small “rooting section” who heap on the “attaboys” whenever they pop up on social media discussions, etc.
他们不明白。根本。
It’s also sad, because some of these people are immensely intelligent, focused, and dare we say, experts about certain things, yet they can’t get beyond their negativity and disdain for others who they feel have “violated” the sanctity of “their” fields of expertise. Rather than sharing something useful, they choose to simply criticize.
他们没有以一种有用且有用的方式来传播他们的巨大知识,而是发现在消极的海洋中蓬勃发展,试图减少他人并从他们的小而声音的小组中脱颖而出要容易得多朋友,没有一个人有勇气独自站起来,让自己的声音听到,以免他们遭受半神人的“愤怒”.
完全可悲。而不是你想去的地方。
我意识到不久前,我正在逐渐进入更大的“临床”凉鞋,尽管他,虽然我经营着一个珊瑚设施我半“动手”the animals, equipment, and practices on a daily basis, found myself without a home aquarium of any significance, and felt oddly “detached” from the “real world” of the hobby. Sure, I talked to hobbyists everyday, but rather than relating to them in a manner based on “Yeah, I’m going though that algae bloom, too!”, I was falling back on my experiences of the past (“Yeah, I had an algae bloom back in 2010..er, 2009- maybe 2007? Anyways, it sucked…”).
我在连续9个MACNA,几个Reefapaloozas,Reefstock,Imac以及世界各地的数十个俱乐部和较小的会议上讲话或演讲。我的客人在礁石建造者上写了博客,并在杂志上出版了所有这些东西。我的日常“咆哮”和Reef2reef上的博客是联合组织的,并由世界各地成千上万的礁石进行了阅读……我被告知我是“早晨咖啡” - “冷披萨”,许多礁石开始了他们的日子。
Satisfying to a great extent.
然而,一些东西 - 我永远无法完全了解它所缺少的东西。
那真是可悲。奇怪的是,令人不满意……我的意思是,所有这些很酷的东西,友谊等。这一切都不是我的生活:在实践的个人层面上成为积极的业余爱好者。
我们(乔·卡帕拉塔(Joe Caparatta)和我)建立了这家令人惊叹的公司(独特的珊瑚),该公司与礁石保持爱好的艺术和科学紧密相关,但是,我觉得一路上的某个地方,我实际上忘记了它是多么酷真正的业余爱好者。我不知道这是我经历的个人悲剧当我父亲去世时,或者我经历的生活变化,或者只是花24/7/365超过24/7,以建立独特的珊瑚和我的另一家公司Tannin Aquatics…不知道。但这没关系。
重要的是我知道我想再次成为自己。最怪异类型的简历。
这就是为什么我雄辩地说,我决定“回家”并再次成为“练习水族馆”的原因……我再也不喜欢它了。这对我从来没有更多。I’ve started work on a new reef system, and have never enjoyed the process more..It’s awakened the familiar, yet seemingly atrophied feelings of excitement, anticipation, engagement, responsibility, and true camaraderie that you encounter when reefing, which have been amazingly satisfying thus far. As someone who likes to write, every day provides new topics and ideas about things to share, question, laugh at myself, discuss…I feel like part of the community again.
That’s really good.
而且我感觉更多,也许不知道吗?就像一个生活过的人一样,可以接受这些经验并将其应用于他的日常水族馆实践中,这是超级授权。这并不是我“不在”,但感觉就像我在“在外面”,看着别人享受着这个了不起的东西,我只能通过肮脏的窗户渴望凝视。肯定也会使我成为一个更好的行业人士。与我的顾客更好地联系起来 - 我的鱼极客。
I remember many days, when hobbyists would call or visit, giddy with excitement about receiving that cool Acro frag or new fish, and we’d talk about it…And they’d ask questions, and I’d answer them and discuss their issues, feeling just a little twinge of…I dunno- jealousy, perhaps- that they were enjoying this amazing little thing that I just sort of took for granted. And it just kind of built from there..the need to get back over the fence.
I actually feel like apologizing a bit for not feeling it for too long.
Working daily with guys at Unique like Jake Adams and Dave Botwin- two guys who practice geeked-out reef keeping at its highest level- just kept the fire burning. Jake must have just known- sensed it…He would always pull me away from my desk to check out this or that coral, light, crazy project he was working on…or to cut frags, help move some corals- whatever- just to get me away from the darned computer and get my hands wet. Dave would urge me to “go fishing” at the wholesalers with him..to just geek out on the cool fishes and corals.
它起作用了。就像从昏迷中醒来一样……
I learned that you能够再次回家 - 我了解到,有时候您在眼前有这个奇妙的东西 - 您只需要欣赏并享受它的本来……这种爱好,这种文化 - 我们拥有的这个世界是令人惊奇,宝贵的……和美丽。现在,我走上了珊瑚的赛道,确切地思考了其他访问我们设施的业余爱好者的想法:“伙计,我很想在我的水箱里看到那个acro!”
Why am I sharing this strange personal journey with you? Well, perhaps it’s a bit therapeutic for me…Perhaps it’s almost a public apology for “being away”, if you will. Perhaps it’s simply a public affirmation for me about being back and never wanting to stray from the path again. I offer this to you as less of an explanation of my hobby journey, and as more of a “life raft” to those of you that, for whatever reason, feel like you’ve strayed away from the hobby that you love so much.
If you’re out there, drifting in the current. Just know that it’s never too late to climb back aboard.
从来没有比现在更令人满意。
保持潮湿。
Scott Fellman