What the future holds

Based on the conversations and communication from incoming first-year students, I think we have a lot to worry about for future generations.

First, most of the time it isn't them calling but their parents calling "on behalf of" their student. I understand most of these parents are paying the bills, but are they always going to be there when their kid has a problem? Are they going to teach them responsibility and self-reliability? No wonder kids these days can handle anything themselves.

Second, they are rude. This generation has a sense of entitlement unlike any before. When things don't go their way, they get upset and yell at you. Or they treat you like you're an idiot because they are the ones not articulating their problem correctly. Apparently we are supposed to meet every need and demand of these students. Sorry, folks - not realistic.

Third, similar to the second, they have no manners. Phone etiquette is a big thing to have to learn in one year, and the way these kids communicate over the phone will result in major catch-up when they leave the university system and are forced to call a future employer or take care of finances. Getting upset with the office assistant and demanding that changes be made immediately also do not work. The title "office assistant" alone should provide an idea of the amount of power she has in fixing the problem. That would be zero in case you're still wondering.

Fourth, the need for immediate gratification means they'll never have fun. These are kids who don't know what the world was like before the internet. They had a keyboard in their hands by age five. Text messaging was always an option for them when they got their own cell phone, at age 12. We've been getting phone calls from people who aren't willing to experience something different for once. They are unhappy about their placement and were spoiled as small children to get everything they want. Guess what, kiddies - life isn't fair and you're not always going to get what you want, so suck it up and get used to it.

A lot of these seem redundant, and perhaps that is because the fifth problem is they are redundant. No original ideas will come from the generation getting ready to enter college. The same reasons why theirs is a different situation from others keeps coming up. The redundancy comes from their concept of the world, which revolves around them if you were to ask them a question. They probably have never had to think for themselves, and they probably have had few experiences with thinking of others.

Hopefully attending this school, which highly values making people into good citizens of the world, will at least open their eyes. Many of the students here don't care. They think of college as a party every night, don't worry about studying, many of the athletes are getting a full ride and expect to become pros immediately after graduation. I laygh at the student athletes.

I see the future full of egocentric people who can't think for themselves and expect things to be handed to them. It's going to be a hard time getting these kids motivated. But maybe they'll surprise me and turn out to be the best generation yet. Doubtful, but there's always hope.

A little gross

If you're a pet person, specifically a rat person, then this will be slightly entertaining to you. Gross and entertaining. And, surprisingly, I've heard a similar story recently involving two dachshunds.

Bringing my babies some food this morning, I saw Annabel coming up to the cage in anticipation. She knows that when a human comes to the cage two things happen: she is either released from her metal prison and gets to roam around, or the miracle that is a full food dish comes into being. So, I looked down on and saw something at the bottom of her neck. Why, it was a poop, one that looked like someone consumed too much dairy. I flicked the piece off of Annabel using a tissue, which she thought was a game and tried to take the tissue from me. I thought about taking her out to give her a mini-bath, but thought that making her do something else against her will might make her angry with me. I had already force-fed her the antibiotics for her respiratory infection.

I got a little concerned. Buffy was already running around the room, getting in her morning exercise. I decided to lift up their wooden house, since there is only one way to get poop to land on a rat without sitting on her directly, and thought that a second-story attack was probably what happened. Well, I was correct in my assumption, but I had no idea to what degree. It was like a rat had exploded. I have never seen so much crap. It didn't help that they probably spread it around with their feet and investigated it with their snouts. Thinking about that latter makes me nervous. So I removed the poop bombed bedding with a glove - there was no way I'd have removed that without some sort of protection - and replaced it.

I decided the possible reason for the explosion was a food source. One of two items will be temporarily removed from their diet: cilantro and milk. The cilantro is an herb they love. They eat it up as though they were slurping up spaghetti. The milk is a little treat they discovered on their own. I had left my bowl of milk on the floor and they found a delicious white liquid was located in the bottom of the bowl. I'm not sure which of these could be the culprit, but I'm concerned that spoiling the rat babies with these treats might not be the best decision. Exploding rats is not something I'm fond of, especially given the amount of poo I found on their bedding. It took up probably 1/6 of the 3" by 4" piece of towel they sleep on. Impressive that that much came out of something so small. Not so fun to clean up or find on the back of one of the rats.

I'm still not sure whether Buffy intentionally launched her poop bomb onto Annabel or if Annabel was an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time. We'll see what surprises they have for me when I get home today. And I just cleaned their cage!

Ugh, work

By the way, I really don't want to be at work today and I'm going to do my best to get out of here early to go shopping, pay bills, and clean the house. Thrilling, I know. It'd be more productive than sitting here and blogging and looking for jobs.

I want to get a Tiffany's necklace, but I might save that for another day. There comes a point in your life when jewelry becomes a treat. Like doughnuts or cupcakes.

Maybe I'll write a novel when I (hopefully) go home early. I'm feeling inspired, creative. I could totally do it.

Maybe find airfare to one of the American Idol tryout locations and fly there. Damn not having a vacation until after 28 August. I'd abandon my obligations to go do anything but be here.

What we did today at the office

Basically, a few of my coworkers and I decided that we didn't want to be here, so for the first couple hours when I got here was did absolutely nothing but chat. And what did we chat about? We chatted about how it sucks to be a single woman in today's society.

We stretched the gamut from the apparent social requirement to participate in dating websites to the potential of finding a date through a matchmaker to the effort it takes to date these days. Does it really have to be as hard as it is? It's not like I have had a stream of dates lately, but I'm not willing to give up on old-fashioned asking someone out in person yet. And why is it that men you are interested in (or women for those of you out there interested in women) always seem to be involved with someone else?!

I hate the world of dating. I want it to be over with already. I'm probably doomed, anyway. Looking at the role models for the world of dating that I've had (divorced parents, and then their attempts at relationships with others), I'm going to have to work really hard to defy the same behavior. I am stubborn and determined to do so, but it's not a guarantee.

When you've gone out with the following types, you would be happy for one nice, normal date:
- rejection because the guy was hung up on some girl who dumped him
- guy takes you on one date and forgets to tell you he thought asking you out one month before summer was a bad choice, so he just ignores you
- having to man-up because the guy doesn't know how to date (seriously?) and talks about pigeons for the first 20 minutes
- dealing with awkward hug-hold things for only two dates because you know that guy is only interested in one thing
- (this one's not a date, but still) honestly not knowing a guy had a girlfriend and flirting with him, building some feelings, and then finding that out and have him still flirt with you and confuse you

Is there any way to make this phase of your life go any faster? Sad panda.

Job hunting

I think that anyone out there who is currently looking, or has looked, for a job would agree with me: the whole process is ridiculously stressful, exhausting, tedious, overall a horrible experience. Finding and getting the job you want rocks. The process to getting there does not match up on the level of awesomeness.

Update your resume. Look for job postings. Network with people - not just finding your network, but asking them to keep you in mind when they hear about a job that opens up. Pressure from outside elements (parents, mostly) asking if you've found a job yet or how the job hunt is going. Submitting applications. Not hearing anything back from the companies. Submitting more applications. Maybe getting an interview. Tweaking your resume so you look more appealing to the employers. Submitting applications again. It's never-ending! And I keep hearing that I'm doing everything correctly.

Maybe I should be more active in my application process. It gets to a point when I get home from work and the last thing I want to do is apply for jobs. Or I research potential jobs at work when I most definitely should not be doing that. And the stress of not doing everything I possibly can gets to this point where I feel completely apathetic towards the whole process. When I get stressed, whatever it is I'm stressed about gets temporarily pushed out of my mind and I focus on menial tasks. Watching back to back episodes of NCIS, mostly. There is always something else I could be doing.

Won't someone just give me a job? S/he hears that I'm looking to move on into a world of living on my own and commuting and happy hours, and that I'm perfect for this one job available at her/his place of work, and I'm set. I've got a job. Oh how I wish some things in life were just handed to you. Or that the government would have a job waiting for you when you left your current place of employment. That'd be grand.

I guess we know what I'm doing this weekend. Woo-hoo.

And we call it the 4th of July

It was a pretty great day. It was relaxing and not a lot happened, and that was great to me. How often do we, Americans, allow ourselves a day off? Not very often. That is why it was great. Hanging out with friends. Having a barbecue, as is tradition for any proper 4th of July celebration. Playing some games, in our case some Redneck Golf in the middle of the driveway. Watching friends get tipsy-drunk. Watching fireworks and playing with a few of our own. Classic 4th of July.

However, for all those reasons it was great, it didn't minimize the increasing concerns over the course of the day, concerns being related to one specific thing: fireworks. Oh, yes. We Americans love our fireworks on the 4th, maybe a little too much. We go to states where we can get fireworks illegal in our own state. We start lighting them as soon as the sun begins to set and the shadow of night begins to fall. We create our own fireworks show because the one put on by the city could never be as good as ours. We, Americans, become pyromaniacs as soon as the week of the 4th is upon us, and there is no holding back when flame and fuse are in the same vicinity.

I'm all for fireworks. I'm as big a pyromaniac as any American out there. However, I would like to suggest some guidelines for where and when fireworks are acceptable for the two weeks surrounding the 4th of July. Here they are:

1. Small fireworks, such as sparklers and spinning flowers and fountains, are good ideas of what should be lit in the comfort of your front yard.
2. Large fireworks, such as Piccolo Pete's and the kind they use in official productions, are not appropriate for home use. Yes, they are cool, but they are dangerous in areas where houses are close together and grass is dry. What happens if they don't make it past the treeline? Possible visit from the fire department is what happens. Maybe go to an open field or a large water source to use this kind of fireworks.
3. Shooting roman candles or fireworks across a main thoroughfare is not a wise decision. You might hit a car. You might hit an unsuspecting pedestrian walking on the sidewalk. Or a bicyclist who cannot divert their route due to obstacles in their way, like cars and buses. Or worse, a car could divert their route into a bicyclist or bus or pedestrian. Generally, shooting fireworks across the street is unwise.
4. Shooting fireworks for one hour after the official show is over is acceptable. That would bring most firework activity to a standstill at about 11:00 pm, maybe 11:30, midnight is pushing it. Still lighting fireworks at 2:45am is not cool. It's juvenile. It's disruptive. It's annoying. I'm really sure the neighbors and their pets don't appreciate the splendor of an exploding firework above the house as much as you do. In some places, this kind of behavior would warrant a visit from the police department or the distinct sound of a shotgun getting ready to be fired or even water coming at you from the garden hose. It's not nice, so don't do it.
5. When the 4th of July is over, so is the usage of fireworks. Get over the fact that you still have fireworks left. Store them in a safe place and use them next year. It's not our fault you failed to use them in the appropriate time frame.

Hopefully, these guidelines will assist in future fireworks activity. Like I said, I love fireworks, but there's a limit that we as people of this lovely nation should follow as a sign of respect to those around us. We call ourselves the greatest nation in the world, so let's show them we're not blowing hot air out of our ass.

Happy 4th, everyone. Hopefully you were all safe and had a great day.

Rat babies

I was going to write about my annoyances in cleaning the house yesterday and how I kept finding a ridiculous amount of my mom's stuff everywhere, but instead the rat babies have drawn my attention. And please don't be grossed out, because these are rat baby pets.

When I was younger our family had pet rats. We probably went through at least ten over the course of the years. Started with the best rat of them all, Splinter, named for the best rat of them all, who thought of herself as a human essentially and expected to be treated like one. Ended with the saddest rat story ever, Tiny Tina, who upon arrival was the smallest but then swelled to gargantuan sizes due to the large tumors residing inside her. It was very sad to see a beloved pet uncomfortable, in pain, and generally living a poor quality of life.

In preparation for my future life doing whatever it is I will do, I became the "mother" to two new babies: Buffy and Annabel. Buffy is aptly named, as she terrorizes Annabel daily by pinning her in an attempt to groom her or maybe put a wood chip stake into her heart. And she has a blond hood, which makes the name more perfect. Annabel was supposed to be a feeder rat - so I basically saved her life from the jowls of death by snake - and therefore has taken quite some time to get used to human touch and not being skittish.

Now, rats are very good pets. They're loyal, they like affection, they take care of themselves during the day when you're gone, they're self-contained, I could go on. However, because it's been so long since I last had pet rats, perhaps my concept of them is off because I've forgotten what they do. For example, these two are extremely picky. They get the cream of the crop of food and they've ignored the fresh strawberries and get upset when the dish does not contain cilantro. They throw little rat tantrums when they go back to their cage after roaming around in the wild, which to me is called the office. They'll go berserk and run around their cage at lightening fast speed for no apparent reason - it's insanity. One minute they're happy as clams in their little world, and the next minute a neuron fires wrong and sends them on a ballistic romp up and down and up and down the rat ramp.

I'm also slightly terrified the Buffy is going to kill Annabel, or the reverse. Buffy usually instigates the attack, appearing to want to groom Annabel and then pinning herself on top of Annabel when she doesn't get her way. However, Annabel is a bit larger than Buffy, and though Buffy has the tenacity to fight back, Annabel has the strength and size in her favor. And Buffy is not as adventurous as Annabel. She refuses to leave my shoulder when given the opportunity to wander about and see what the house looks like. When she finally does climb down my arm to the carpeted floor, she moves in slow cautious movements, or she will follow Annabel. She's still small enough that she can stick everything up to her shoulders through a cage hole, but she always returns to her sleeping palace where Annabel awaits. Clearly, Annabel has assumed the role of matriarch.

I guess I'm getting used to having pet rats again. If you're thinking of getting a starter pet, I'd recommend them. They are pretty entertaining. And they're smart. Despite the fighting with these two - I'm starting to think it's racial because Buffy is a hooded rat and Annabel is a dumbo rat, and I don't know if maybe Buffy has developed a small rat complex - they've been grand. Hopefully they do stop fighting, though. It makes me nervous to leave the house. I always expect to see a still body laying in the bedding, while the other one sits on the top level of the cage, cowering in a corner, in complete terror of what she's done to her companion.

Here's a quickie

Just to get you familiar with who I am. According to most of my friends, family, and random acquaintances, I'm a strange girl. Normal on the outside, but a weird personality (I like to think of myself as quirky). I think weird is good. Perhaps unusual is a better descriptor of what I am. Yes, I'm unusual.

I'm not sure how much I'll write in this blog. I'm hoping to pick it up again. There will be random topics. I will probably end up blogging to myself because I highly doubt anyone will read. If you do read, I apologize for the random topics ahead of time.

And because I tend to ramble, my quickie blogs will not be very quick; at least, probably won't be.