Fuh-mall-E

Psychology of Leaning at BSC is going to be a memorable class. I expect it will be intriguing and enlightening while being difficult and even frustrating at times. Why frustrating? Well, that's the lab portion of the class. Dealing with animals can be annoying, to say the least, but there can also be immense pleasure and reward, too.

I am a dog person; I always have been and always will be. Dogs are fun, socially interactive, and domesticated animals. This means that they are relatively easy to train with enough time, effort, and motivation (don't get me started on sending dogs to training camps). But rats are slightly different. Because they aren't domesticated, they aren't as easy to train, but fortunately, this also means that their "slate" is wiped clean; they are neither primed genetically to accept commands nor be intraspecially (if I may create the word) social. This makes me slightly nervous but also excited; it's a new experience.

By the end of the first lab, my preconceived notions were verified yet slightly altered. I knew it was going to be frustrating, but even though I logically realized it, I hadn't exactly accepted it (or prepared for it) emotionally. That being said, I was actually more frustrated by the FACT that I was frustrated than I was frustrated by the fact that my rat didn't seem to make any progress -- even by the second session. Illogical, yes, I know, yet those were my thoughts and feelings. Fortunately, I was able to hold my rat and it didn't seem to want to jump off my arms (although it did use me as a toilet).

When it comes to names, I had no idea for a while, but I think I have one I will stick with. My thoughts had always been to create something ridiculous, and when I was sharing a story with a friend, it struck me. The story? When my mom worked in the NICU, she had a new mother come to see her baby girl (who was unnamed at that point). The women, upon seeing her child, claimed "you named my baby! You named my baby Fuh-mall-E!" She mistook the label "female" as a name.

Dear Rat, you now act as a surrogate of human idiocy. May you prove to me that even though you may not be able to read, you at least are intelligent enough to behave predictably. Your name, tentatively might I add, is Female pronounced Fuh-mall-E.