April Blogging Challenge: Z is for Zoology

I DID IT! I managed to write a post for each letter on the day it was supposed to. And thank God I'm done, because writing six days a week was killing me. Seriously. That's a lot of blogging people. But I made it, I did it, and I managed to snag a few new followers. Although it appears I lost one in the last couple days, but oh well. So, to the new followers that I haven't welcomed, Welcome! Thanks a ton for stopping by and commenting. I hope you continue to stick around. *hint hint*

Onto today's post: Zoology. This was one of my favorite classes at Chico State. It was hard, but I enjoyed it. Well, most of it. I didn't really enjoy the spiders we had to look at; I didn't give a snit if they were dead - they were still spiders. Seriously, someone near me dropped a spider out of the little dish they were in, and I jumped and screamed like it was alive and going to kill me or something. (Sad, I know).

Sharks are also quite disgusting. Did you know they still excrete their slimy coating even after they're dead? I didn't either until I had to dissect one. No, it's wasn't a big one. It was one of those small shark species. But let me tell you, a week left in a drawer made that lab room quite rank. Seriously. None of our dead things were kept in coolers (which might have been slightly more logical); they were kept in drawers. Each lab section had their own set of drawers, and then we had to put our names on our own drawers so we knew were our lovely leftovers were. We would hate to unknowingly grab someone else's screw up. But, yes, the sharks got quite rank. And even wearing double or even triple layer gloves on did not prevent said shark stink from permeating those gloves. You'd leave the room smelling a bit like dead shark stink. Yeah. Not something I'd go marketing to the masses, that's for sure.

We had to learn dog and cat skeletons. We had to do the frog. Seriously? I started dissecting frogs in like 3rd or 4th grade. Why must kids dissect one every year of their scholastic lives? It's not like the frogs change or anything. (Oddly enough, every time I type the word frog, for some really strange reason I want to type like this: frong. Don't ask.) Same with squid - they are all the same. Not to mention we had to do other species of fish, other than the sharks. Luckily, the other fish didn't smell nearly as bad as those sharks.

One of the hardest things to study for was the fetal pig towards the end of the semester. We had to know the respiratory and the circulatory systems. Luckily educators are smart. These pigs had these systems dyed blue and red so us confused students could keep them separated in order to learn them. So, we had colorful piglets.

I know some people have a hard time with people (scientists or educators) raising animals for science like that, just so evil people like us science students can cut them up. I can understand their side, but how else are we to learn? Growing up, I knew kids who couldn't handle dissecting animals in biology. I knew kids whose parents refused to let them do so. I was usually the kid who thought it was gross but did it anyway. I was also usually the kid who was the least grossed out by all of it and being that my other lab partners were far too grossed out, I had to touch it or do it by myself because the others were bigger pansies than myself. By the time I was in college, I was among pre-vet students, so I was among "friends". Some of you would be shocked by some of the things I did in class - and not Zoology.

Maybe another day I'll gross you out with those stories.

And that my friends, concludes this year's April A-Z Blogging Challenge!

April Blogging Challenge: Y is for Why??

Dear Mother Nature:

Why do you insist on toying with us? You give us sunshine for a day then you take it away again.

Why do you deem it necessary to throw more snow on the ground? You do realize it's nearly May, right?

Why must the rain keep falling? It's back the kind of muddy slop that it's far to easy to go kersplat in. You know, the kind of slop that you fall face first into. Although it's not two feet deep all around anymore - that am thankful for.

Why must you blow the wind so hard? Twelve hours and two showers later, I'm still plucking hay from my eyeballs. And thanks to said wind, I also involuntarily ate my fair share of fiber this morning in the form of the alfalfa and grass hays that you blew straight at me. Think of the cows, Mother Nature, I don't want them to starve.

Why can't you make up bi-polar mind?

That begs the question - who did not give Mother Nature her happy pills?!

In conclusion, Mother Nature, it's not just me that's complaining here. You dropped record amounts of snow in the Midwest and the northeast. You just sent countless tornadoes through the south wiping out cities left and right. You've basically flooded the west. And that's just the US. I'm quite sure there are citizens from other countries who have a few complaints of their own. We kindly request that you get back on your happy pills and bring us some freakin' sunshine.

Or we're going to start getting really crabby.

Thank you so much for your time.

Hugs and Kisses,

J.Day (and consequently countless other citizens of Earth)

April Blogging Challenge: X is for eXample

I was a lucky child. I had parents that set good examples for me. I had grandparents that set good examples for me. I'm not saying they were perfect people; they made mistakes and learned from them. They worked hard and treated others with respect. And all that I strive to do as well.

I fear that kids today don't always have good examples to follow. More and more kids are looking up to celebrities. With the likes of Lindsay Lohan running around I fear the human race may be doomed. I'm sorry but I fail to see how a girl who has had several run-ins with the law, should be serving tons of jail time, has drug issues, and has recently turned to thievery (because she obviously doesn't have a dime to her name - maybe because she spent it all on lawyers and drugs?), should be allowed face time on the evening news. Or allowed to be a role model for today's youth.

Okay, should could be the new poster child for what drugs and alcohol will do to you. That whole egg in the frying pan and "this is your brain on drugs" is so last century.

While we all dream of fame and fortune at some point while growing up, I'm quite glad I'm a nobody so that the paparazzi don't follow my every move. The paparazzi would likely push me over the edge.

April Blogging Challenge: W is for Watching

I'm watching The King's Speech.

So no talking.

Turn off your cell phones.

Don't kick the back of my couch.

Or I'll throw buttery popcorn at you.

Muah.  :o)

April Blogging Challenge: V is for Vices

We all have them, whether or not we like to admit it. Good, bad, or indifferent - these are things we do even if we know we shouldn't. Here are a few of mine.

Soda: I know I shouldn't drink soda at all, but I can't help it. I should probably go to Pepsiholic's Anonymous.

Hamburgers: I could live off them. Seriously.

Sleep: Me and sleep are thisclose. No matter what time I have to get up be it 5am or 9pm (for when I worked night shift), I hate when the alarm goes off - it means my sleep is over. Me and my snooze button are thisclose as well. Those little 9 minute snippets are bliss.

Torturing the cat: No, I don't mean I'm stringing her up by her paws or anything. I shower her with love and all I get is a look dripping with disdain. Sometimes it's a look that says, "You do realize that I know where you sleep, right?".

My dislike of cooking: I've never been overly fond of cooking. Thus, I have determined that I must marry a man that loves to cook. And is good at it.

April Blogging Challenge: U is for Unknown

Okay, so this is my sad, horrific post for the letter "U". I'm typing this at 11pm, to barely make my cutoff time, and I'm tired and I want to go to bed as I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow finishing my route.

I've been at a loss for the letter "U" since the beginning of this, and seeing as how I didn't have the brains to attempt this post on Saturday night and have it scheduled for today I'll never know. So, stupidly, here I am, with still nothing to write. Since I don't know what to write for "U", I'll just simply fill you in on my weekend.

Saturday, I went to work at job number 3, got home and cleaned out the back of my car to make room for paper bundles. Then went to my grandparents house to load up my car. Had dinner, and came home to finish cleaning house. I finally flopped onto the bed around 9 - yeah, I know. Got up early on Sunday, drove 3 hours to my destination, and delivered some papers. I was surprised to get an extra day off, so I met my parents for a movie - Source Code. Good movie.

Didn't get online at all on Sunday - it was kind of nice actually. Thought for a split second: Hmm, maybe I should write a blog post for Monday. Hmmm, I still have no idea what to write for the letter "U". Eh, I'll think it about tomorrow. Seriously.

That evening, we watched a movie my parents had from Netflix - The American. Never ever watch this movie. Unless you can't sleep and counting sheep isn't working. Worst. Movie. Ever. 

Monday, my mom and I went into town to visit with her mom, and my dad's parents. Then ran my errands. Bought a couple scrub tops, a collapsible back scratcher (I've really missed the one that broke), and some random Target stuff. The one thing I have withdrawals from is Target. Although I did also have my first fast food in nearly 3 months. I got a 5 Layer Burrito on Sunday from Taco Bell, because that was oddly the first thing that popped into my head. Man was it delicious. Today, mom and I split a Quarter Pounder Meal at McD's. The burger was okay, but the fries were delicious. And the funny part about the McD meal, was that we pulled to the side in parking lot to quickly eat it, only realizing after we'd parked that were to eat this artery-clogging meal directly in front of a gym. And in front of about 5 people running on treadmills - facing us. Whoops.

Once home, mom fixed my dinner request, which was her taco salad - YUM. Then we ordered The Last Three Days on video on demand. Good movie.

Now I'm sitting here typing this sad "unknown" post so that I technically have a post of the blogging challenge. And after typing this, I still don't know what I would have written for the letter "U".

*sigh*

April Blogging Challenge: T is for Thanks

To the powers that be, thank you for:

My wonderful parents.

Allowing me to get to know pretty much all of my grandparents.

Allowing me to know several great-grandparents.

Bringing Miss Harriet into my life. (Although, next time, I politely request a cat that doesn't shed so much and doesn't leave me hairballs to step on in the middle of the night)

Letting my parents buy me a horse when I was in high school; that was fun.

Bestowing on me the bestest best friend a girl could ask for.

Granting me the wisdom that I would not survive prison so that I wouldn't cause any bodily harm to the old psycho roomie or the old psycho co-worker.

Giving me the opportunity to get my extremely stressed self away from night shift and the horrible excuse for management. I really do appreciate that.

Giving me the opportunity to work with my grandparents on their ranch. In the daylight.

The opportunities for travel that I've had - to Florida, Chicago, the East Coast trip in high school, and the cruise Mom and I took.

Oh and home-made chocolate chip cookies. Those are delish.