April Blog Challenge: P is for Psycho Suzi Flashback!

 I felt like doing a flashback post for "P". For more Psycho Suzi stories, please click here. For quick reference, Suzi is a girl I lived with for one academic year in college - what I refer to as my "dark year". It was actually cathartic writing a series of posts about her, and it's great that they became entertaining instead of aggravating. And btw, if you read other Suzi posts, trust me - this shit really did happen. I'm not that imaginative.

I was spoiled by my first roommate experience. I have to admit. When it came to sharing things, we typically didn't mind. We tried to be considerate about it. Like if she and her boyfriend used the last of my butter, they'd buy me some next time they grocery shopped. Her boyfriend often asked me for stamps. He actually would give me exact change for each stamp he took. If I ate some of her crackers, I'd buy her a new box next time I was at the store. Often we'd ask before we took anything, but there times we'd have to say something after the fact.

During college, my first three years anyway, I lived close enough to campus that I walked. I enjoyed my walks to campus. Mornings were always nicest, in the summer it was before the heat of the day. In the winter, the crisp air was nice even if it did sting my eyes. In the winter I often walked with a travel mug of hot chocolate to help keep me warm. This was in addition to a sweater, a coat that goes to my knees, mittens, scarf, and a hat. No I didn't attend school in the Mid-West where temperatures can often be below zero. It's still California, but for those that live in the Northern part of the state, winter can get cold.

With my first roommate, I'd often "borrow" packets of hot chocolate if I ran out. I'd replace them. She didn't have to ask me to. I did it on my own, out of consideration. That and Karma's a bitch.

The winter I lived with Suzi, I, at one point, ran out of hot chocolate. I hated buying cups of hot chocolate at school, because even though they tasted awesome, it got expensive. Plus I would burn the taste buds off and the roof of my mouth with the first sip, so everything felt and tasted funny for the rest of the day. You can stop giggling at me now.

The morning I realized I was out of hot chocolate, she had already left for the day. I decided I'd take a packet. I had every intention of making sure I bought her more - I had to go to the store in a couple days anyway. It wasn't like she drank it near as much as me; I rarely saw her drink hot chocolate. She used the Nestle brand, with the marshmallows in it. I used, and still use, Swiss Miss. It's cheaper and you get more packets in a box.

I left her a note on the whiteboard in the kitchen that I took a packet, just in case she kept inventory. It wouldn't shock me. I made it up, and ran off to school. When I came home, my note was gone. She had written nothing in return. When we were home together she didn't say anything, either. I figured she didn't mind.

Next day, same thing. On the third day I finally made it to the grocery store. When I picked up a box of her Nestle hot chocolate, I discovered it was twice the amount mine was, and she got less than half of what I got packet-wise. I hadn't noticed a taste difference. And the marshmallows got in the way of the sippy-hole of my travel mug. I still bought the damn box, because I had every intention of giving her the whole box to repay what I took.

I got home, groceries in tow. Her mom was in town for a couple days. Again. While she came across as nice, the woman was a hoverer. Way more than the average mother. She was constantly worried if we kept the front door locked, as "some stranger from the street could just show up" since we lived right on the road. If she was so worried about her daughter's safety, why didn't she have Suzi move? In fact, we weren't in a bad part of Chico. That's what I didn't understand. Minus the random dumpster-diver, we had no trouble at all.

Sorry, I digress, again. Suzi and her mom are out for the time being. I start putting my groceries away, and I opened up a cupboard. What I find is rather upsetting.

It was a box of Suzi's hot chocolate, with torn pieces of binder paper taped all over it. In Suzi's mother's handwriting, it said the following, "Suzi's Hot Chocolate!", "Suzi Only!".

I was more than offended. I had left the bitch a note regarding the hot chocolate. And she has her mommy go out and buy her a new box because I took 3 packets?! WTF?

I grabbed the box I bought for her and nearly tossed it. Instead, I took 3 packets and rubber-banded them together with a sticky note that said: "Here are the packets to replace what I took. I had every intention of replacing them". I had intended on giving her the whole box. Oh hell no. Not now. I stuff the remaining three packets into my box of Swiss Miss that I had just bought. I stuff the box down into the bottom of the garbage - out of sight.

A few weeks later, it was Christmas. She had made us stockings to hang outside our bedroom doors and put presents in. I put shit in hers. Whoa. Not literal shit. Just shit. I bought stupid kids toys and she was in love with them. Second childhood my ass - she never left her first. What did I find in my stocking?

A fucking box of Nestle Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows.

I got bitch-slapped without being touched.

(Just so y'all know, I have never quite lived this post down. I still get teased by family if they offer me hot chocolate. I'll get, "Well, we only have that Nestle crap. . . " and a sly look. Just to be clear, I don't really care about the brand of hot chocolate. It's all good. In college, I was looking for cheap. Swiss Miss is cheap. Nestle was twice the price for half the amount of packets. That's what I thought was crap. lol) 

"Agriculture is our wisest pursuit . . .

. . . because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness." Thomas Jefferson

I came across this article a couple weeks ago on Yahoo! about "useless degrees". Now, while many professions could be called "elite" or extremely hard to break into and make the fortune we all seek, I'm not quite sure any degree is completely useless. Although, I do think many thousands of jobless people may disagree with me at this point, and I don't blame them.

However, I take offense to three of these so-called "useless degrees", as they are agriculture related. How on earth did ag majors wind up on this list? Probably from some dingbat who lives in NYC and thinks a fairy delivers everything to the grocery store. 

Useless Degree #1: Just plain old "Agriculture".

Their reason? 

When schools such as the University of Idaho cut their agriculture programs, you know times are tough for this degree. The state has more than 25,000 farms, for cow's sake, according to the most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture census, in 2007.

Still, if your idea of a good day is getting up with the sun and working till it sets as an agricultural manager, a degree in agriculture might be your calling.

Just don't expect farms and ranches to be calling you, says Laurence Shatkin, Ph.D., and author of "The 10 Best College Majors for Your Personality." "It's true that farms are becoming more efficient now and so there is less of a need for farm managers," he says. That means less jobs. In fact, the U.S. Department of Labor projects 64,000 fewer jobs in this field over the next seven years.

Total Number of Agricultural Managers in 2008: 1,234,000

Projected Change in Number of Jobs 2008-2018: -64,600

Percent Change: -5

Okay, so I completely understand that this "Ag Manager" job is becoming a bit more scarce. But it's not like a degree guarantees you a job in your field, even if you're a business major. In this economy you'd be fortunate to get a job at McD's working the drive-thru. However, if your family in farming/ranching then this is a decent major. Even as a vague degree, this can be helpful in several situations - such as the world supposedly ending or beginning to end as of May 12 of this year. Who the hell is going to bring back farming if not for the ag majors? Who will feed you hungry city folk when the world goes to hell in a Gucci handbag? Yep, the ag majors, that's who.

"We used to be a nation of farmers, but now it's less than two percent of the population in the United States. So a lot of us don't know a lot about what it takes to grow food." - Judith Redmond, Fully Belly Farms

Useless Degree #2: "Animal Science"

Their reason?

Here's another degree aimed at a career that at first glance doesn't look all that discouraging. After all, animal scientist employment is projected by the U.S. Department of Labor to grow 13 percent from 2008 to 2018.

But crunch a few more numbers and you quickly realize that you could be in for stiff competition to grab a piece of that pie. Fewer than 5,000 animal scientist jobs are projected to exist in the field by 2018.

The problem, says Shatkin, is the degree is so specific that trying to apply it to anything else means a tough time convincing people it gives you any useful skills for jobs outside animal science jobs.

Total Number of Animal Scientists in 2008: 3,700

Projected Change in Number of Jobs 2008-2018: +500

Percent Change: +13

Again, useless? I take special offense as this was my major in college. My degree (as well as past job experience) gave me a leg up on my first job after college. It was a nice push for when I worked at Petco. Now granted my first "real" job at a vet lab wasn't my ideal job, but it was a job that technically utilized my major and my minor (biology). And it was a push to get my job at the vet clinic in Town. And even though I've basically forgotten everything in the 8 years since graduation (it's actually just filed deep in the back . . . ), I still have lecture notes and books to assist me in re-learning while I'm attempting ranching. Yep. Not exactly useless.

“The only difference between a pigeon and the American farmer today is that a pigeon can still make a deposit on a John Deere.” - Jim Hightower

Useless Degree #3: "Horticulture"

Their reason?

If you like the farm life but aren't all that keen on all the whining and clucking of an animal farm, perhaps a degree in horticulture is growing on you.

Unfortunately, the number of jobs in the field itself is not growing, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. And Shatkin agrees. "Better than agriculture, but not by much. If you're lucky, you may find some way to apply that to a related business like food processing or production," he says.

Total Number of Farmers and Ranchers in 2008: 985,900
Projected Change in Number of Jobs 2008-2018: -79,200
Percent Change: -8

Okay, not much job growth, like the other two, but these (again) are the people you want to know when Armageddon hits and the world begins its end in May. These people are going to know plants and soil like it's nobody's business. Even as an Ag Major I had to take basic horticulture and soil classes - and they bored the hell outta me, therefore, I retained that plants require water and sunlight. So, I'm obviously not some poor city-dweller's ideal prospect for planting. But, it pays to know someone who majored in it, because they can assist with educating folks on how to properly grow crops - enough to feed the village and maybe some extra to appease the Gods or Aliens or even Zombies who are trying to kill people or even Earth.

“The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn't still be a farmer.” - Will Rogers

(By the way, other useless degrees mentioned were Fashion Design and Theater. Now,  considering I can't stand 99.9% of the fashion trends out there, I would consider this a useless degree. But for the folks that live for fashion trends, this is obviously not a completely useless degree.)

Considering that farming and ranching feed the world, people should really stop knocking the industry. Especially since many who do the knocking haven't a clue what farms and ranches have to go through in order to put that food ultimately on your plates. It's not an easy life - it's not an easy job.


"Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands." - Thomas Jefferson

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!