A chance encounter

[BayouMermaid]

So today a gentleman came into the pet store that I work in to get some feeder fish. We got into a discussion about his fish tanks, and he has one that is 2000 gallons in his home with very large fish. I also found out that he is the former co-owner of a night club that had a 135,000 gallon tank with mermaid performers and even a shark. He's currently working on an aquarium attraction that is closer to where I live and will have dive shows and mermaids. When I mentioned that I am a mermaid, he thought I was joking. I was like... for real, I seriously have a mermaid tail. He was so excited about it and said that he would be looking for people to work there. He gave me his card and we exchanged email addresses.

I did a bit of googling and found a picture of him and one of the original mermaids during the construction of the club.
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I'm so excited that this random encounter might help me become a mermaid performer. I hadn't really considered it as a possibility for myself until now.

Has anyone else had a stroke of luck that helped them with their mermaid career?

[Mermaid Tula]

That's awesome! Closest thing I've had like that is I'm in talks with a local guy who's working on building an aquarium about an hour from where I live.

[BayouMermaid]

Tula, good luck! Hopefully something will work out for you with the aquarium:)

Even if I don't get to perform as a mermaid, I would still like to do aquarium maintenance. I am constantly cleaning and fixing things for the fishies... and I love it! I would love to work with something on a larger scale than what I'm currently doing at the pet store.

[Mermaid Isabel(:]

I hope that things work out for you :)

[deepblue]

I love it when things like that happen! :D

[Winged Mermaid]

So exiting! The universe is giving you a thumbs up I think! :D

[Mermaid Adriel]

Good luck girl! ;)

[Aziara]

:jelly: I am so jelly!! Seriously, that's awesome though:thumbs-up:. Wish something like that would open up near me too!

[BayouMermaid]

It really is awesome! He's so interesting to talk to. I emailed him and he responded! Here are some of the things he said:

"My first mermaid was Darryl Hannah's double for the movie "Splash".

Your mermaid tail is much more impressive than the one we had.

We didnt have the mono fin.

We had two swim flippers inside tail

Just seeing yours make me all excited about doing this next big aquarium.

Your boyfriend must have some artistic talent, too, if both of you made the costume.

I would like to tell you about our plans and get some feedback and suggestions
from you."

And another story that he sent:

"This is me and my Sand Tiger (I am the one on the right)
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Normally they are peaceful and we used to hold on to their dorsal fin
and they would pull us around the tank.

We did this to teach people that sharks were not the bad guys and shouldn't
be killed just because they were sharks.

But one night, in front of 66 guest dining during the restaurant phase, a guest
diver hit the shark on the nose to show off to the crowd, but Sand Tigers have
a trigger mechanism in it's mouth to catch stingrays from the bottom of the ocean
and the shark involuntarily grabbed the diver's hand and dragged him 20 feet across
the main window and put 75 stitches in his hand. (Served him right)

We were packed with customers for weeks after that."

[AniaR]

Congrats what a neat story. Ive had a few encounters but they never turned into anything in the end. Good luck to you I hope it works out

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[Echidna]

"This is me and my Sand Tiger (I am the one on the right)

Bwahaha! :lol:
Neat story, too.

He seems a nice guy to work with.

And he's right, tails and monofins have evolved so much.
If you watch early mermaid movies (or Rusalka, for example), the swimmers have a flimsy fabric tail with two flippers showing legs and all.

We only need more aquariums everywhere!
Aquariums I say! ;)

[PearlieMae]

Great encounter! Good luck!

And never punch a Sand Tiger Shark. :shark:

[Mermaid Dottie]

Woohoo! This is So exciting! Congrats to you, dear.

[Fun123joker]

dude i think its too much of a coincidence. not destiny but some life connection

[BayouMermaid]

I agree, FunJoker. I'm a strong believer that people come into each others lives for a reason. I'll just have to wait to find out what that reason is!

And PearlieMae, that is advice to live by! Never punch a sand tiger shark :)

Thanks everyone for the well wishes :D

[BayouMermaid]

Ok, so I just received a packet of information in the mail about the aquarium, and I am so excited about it! The focus of the facility will be on environmental education and wetlands preservation. The exhibits will feature fish from around Louisiana, including iseveral invasive species. Even though the facility is still in the planning stages, I am so thrilled that something like this is coming to my area.

[PearlieMae]

:dance:

[Aziara]

Bayou Mermaid, that's so awesome! Where's the aquarium going to be? I'd love to go see it once it's finished.

[BayouMermaid]

Near Covington on the northshore.

[Mermaid Adriel]

congrats for this :D

[TheMerDame]

You'll have to let me know the name so I can check it out when it opens! Another aquarium, I'm so excited! I hope you can get some kind of gig there!

[BayouMermaid]

I'll be sure to keep happenings updated here. It will probably be a while before anything else big happens though.