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Back I apologize for having been "Missing In Action" for the past two months or so. Many of you have known me for many many years and know how much i have been dedicated to the betta hobby and how much and how many I have helped over the last 12 years. You must have wondered what happened to me, so I finally have a chance to take a moment to update everyone. Three years ago, I set out to make an Independent Feature Film, a period drama titled DEUCE OF SPADES. Initially, this was supposed to be merely a home made film, made for fun. I then discovered I had an incredible gift for cinematography, and the idea of my film appealed to so many, all over the world, it started generating a very BIG buzz. Within a mere few months, I was on the cover of major car magazines (the film is a period drama that sets place in the hotrod era, hence the cars). As a result, I realized I would have to deliver a film of quality to my audience and basically decided to take my filmmaking seriously and take it to the next level. This meant learning a very intricate, technical craft in a year and then rolling camera for two. This also meant having time for nothing else at all, not even myself. Please read what people have to say about my film and incredible efforts. I was able to continue fulfilling betta orders for a year then had to stop bettas, but kept selling the meds, in an effort to help you guys out. This was very taxing on me, especially during production, when I was sustaining 18 hours days spent filming under very rough conditions. But I still pulled it off.Then the film became even BIGGER. I ended up on the cover of Europe's largest Hot Rod magazine. My email inbox was filled daily with requests from magazines, car entities, people wanting to become involved in the film etc etc... Add to that the massive logistic hurdle of coordinating large shoots single handedly, dealing with over 150 actors, a crew, volunteers, car owners, props, wardrobe... The list goes on and on... It got to a point where I just could not do it all and was not longer able to keep up with the incoming bettatalk emails, orders etc... Although I posted on the website to that effect, it seems many did not see the warning and ordered anyway, expecting to get their goods promptly. I apologize for the confusion that may have resulted when you did not get the goods. I know all of you got your money back, so we are OK, but I am sure it aggravated you and for this I am sorry. Under the very unusual circumstances, I did the best I could do, and priority had to be given to the film. As of last month, I completed the film. I was able to deliver the finished product about 20 minutes before the plane took off, flying my production assistant to Florida. In order to make that deadline and finish the 2.5 hour drama in time, I basically had to work around the clock , sleeping in small shifts of 2 hours every 8 to 10 hours. I am very exhausted. I will be taking the next two days to rest and will start tackling cleaning up my bettatalk emails and orders Monday. I suspect it will take me a week or so to clean up the massive amount of incoming emails that are stuck in my inbox and suspect I have lost hundreds more, so if you emailed me and never got a reply, now you know why. It was never done in a malicious intent or because I don't care. I just COULD NOT humanly do it all. Thank you for understanding, and for supporting the film and myself. Please see the film website www.deuceofspadesmovie.com to see trailers, screengrabs, upcoming screening etc... Many of you might wonder how this recent, unexpected new career will affect my ability to continue providing the Betta First Aid kits... It is hard to predict how well the film will do. So for now, I think you don't have to worry about this and I will continue to help you guys out with the supplies to the best of my abilities and availability of said supplies / meds. Furthermore, now that I am done with the BIG PUSH to give this film birth, I should be able to resume shipments in a more normal, every day manner. One again I apologize to all who were not able to get their supplies and hope that now you at least understand why this happened. Many blessings and please support the Arts and Independent films. FAITH GRANGER
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