After my first technical interview, my dad gifted me a five year old juniper bonsai that he bought off Amazon. I wasn’t expecting a congratulatory gift and a bonsai wasn’t anything that I had asked for before, so I was quite surprised. I’m not gonna lie, it did stress me out a little bit to have to take care of a living thing. To give you an idea of how much I don’t trust myself with plants, my friend Julia bought me a DIY daisy months ago that I still haven’t planted it, because once I do, I’ll probably kill it. The idea of taking care of a daisy also stresses me out because daisies seem so delicate.
My dad shipped the bonsai with Amazon Prime, so it only took two days to arrive, but I left the package at the post office for a week and then left it untouched in my apartment for another week before I got around to unboxing it. By some miracle, it was still alive. I’d feel so bad if I killed it after it had grown so diligently for five years…
I unboxed my bonsai on Snapchat and had my friends help me name it. Meet Chirrup! Kathleen came up with it and told me that it’s a character from Star Wars. I didn’t know because I’m pretty new to the Star Wars scene. The first time I watched it was in Navajo (with English subtitles) in my Structure of Navajo course last semester. I felt like a fraud for naming my bonsai after a Star Wars character because I don’t really know Star Wars, but the name was so cute I just had to. I subsequently watched Rogue One to educate myself about Chirrup. After watching it, my verdict is that I think the namesake is very suitable for my bonsai.
Before receiving my bonsai, I remember randomly musing, “I wish I was the kind of person who had a bonsai.” Whenever people say, “I wish I could be the kind of person who…” my first thought is, “Well, you can be.” A common situation would be, “I wish I could be a hat person.” Well, you can be. Just wear a hat. There’s really nothing else to it. Yet, I’m still wishing I could be a hat person. Why is it so hard to just wear a hat??
Anyways, now here I am, a person with a bonsai. But I don’t feel like the kind of person who would have a bonsai. What kind of person is that, you may ask. Well, I imagine that kind of person would be very zen and have their life together. I have a bonsai, but I have yet to be zen or have my life together. Maybe I’ll make it there eventually.
Will the bonsai make me or will I have to make it?? *Get off Twitter, I say to myself at 2AM* Excellent question. You will have to make it [the bonsai] to make yourself [a bonsai person]!!
To care for my bonsai, I need to water it once every two to three weeks, fertilise it once every three to four weeks, and trim any new growth. But how am I supposed to notice when there’s new growth? Isn’t that stuff minuscule?? Also what does a dead branch look like? I’m supposed to trim that too.
I’m having my roomie take care of Chirrup whilst I’m gone for the summer. I’ll be texting her every two weeks to water him. Hopefully Chirrup will still be alive when I get back. *The Force is with me and I am one with the Force.* I mean, if my roomie kills Chirrup, I don’t blame her, because bonsai are pretty high maintenance and I accidentally killed her DIY lavender over spring break. But I shall be sad if that were to happen.
In conclusion: How does one spot new growth and what does a dead branch look like??