One of those long, boring RL posts. You've been warned!

[pacificpikachu]

Yet again, I really should be studying for my Zoology test tomorrow, but I set aside three hours for studying tomorrow before the test so I should be okay. I'm rather tired and have a headache, so studying right now sounds like an absolutely terrible idea.

Going back a few days--Saturday was much fun. ♥ Daniell came over from 1 PM until 7:30 PM-ish, and I got her all enthused about cosplay by showing her around Cosplay.com and telling her all about Fanime, and then (after several hours of internet stuff) we watched Millennium Actress. No matter how many times I watch that movie, it never ceases to be absolutely amazing and gorgeous and almost tearjerking. I love everything Satoshi Kon does, but I must say--I think Millennium Actress is my favorite of his works. There's just something so transcendent and moving about it--I can't quite put it in words.

So, Daniell went home and I was goofing around online, and KK called at 11 PM saying that we were having a Mob revival and we were going down to Auburn for milkshakes. After a few phone calls, our group ended up being: KK, Cody, Nicole, Makayla, and myself. Not as big as we initially thought, but it was a blast. 8D We went down to Auburn, found a random Denny's, and ended up staying there until 2 AM talking, laughing, having straw-paper fights, and, y'know, the usual insanity. It was nice having that particular group back together--I hope we can all spend time together again sometime soon.

Yesterday, er. It poured all day, and I don't honestly remember what I did. Probably absolutely nothing. When I went up to the chicken coop to feed my chickens/ducks/pheasant, I felt bad because the ducks were sopping wet and I thought it was because they had nowhere dry to stay--but later mom said it was because they were attempting to swim in the big puddle that had formed near the entrance to the coop. So adorable. XDDD ♥ I love my ducks!

I had a boring Animal Science test today, then I went to Calculus. Latham still isn't back, but we had a pretty cool sub. He was all excited and talked really fast, but he explained things well (I think?) and was generally very entertaining. I don't know what it is with Calculus teachers and being entertaining, but so far all three I've encountered in my life have been hilarious.

Then we got to go out to the Lincoln High School Farm for our lab to weigh the chickens. 8D I carpooled with a girl named Ari (not the same Ari I normally mention in here) and another girl named Kelly, who I decided are pretty cool people. Ari had a bunch of different types of music and she was just about blasting them the way there, but I mean that in a really fun way, not an annoying way. As we drove up to farm, she started BLASTING My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yard, which was hilariously appropriate with all the cows that were around. XDDD

There, we got to capture SEVENTY-TWO baby chicks and weigh them. My classmates and I had far too much fun, I assure you. XD But I think I had the most fun of all, catching chicks and rushing them around and putting them in buckets and weighing them. It was brilliant. I'm totally snatching two or three Buff Orpingtons to add to my flock when the experiment is over in six weeks.

It was sad, though--the Cornish Cross chicks are only a week old, and you can already feel the fat building up on their bodies. :( It feels so...unnatural and disgusting. I mean, I've raised hundreds of chickens of many different breeds and types--and this just doesn't seem right at all. Of course, that's what they're bred for, but it seem so inhumane for them to gain weight like that. I wish I could save them from their fate as broilers, but--alas, even if I did, they wouldn't live very long because all of their organs would start failing thanks to the rapid weight gain.

Ugh, humans seriously disgust me at times. D:

I GOT GURREN LAGANN WORKING ON THE BIG TV. SO EXCITED FOR THE NEXT MARATHON, WHENEVER I DECIDE IT IS. 8D

I have a slight headache still. Done being boring for the night! \o/ Time to go chain Pokémon go to bed.

Comments

[wao.livejournal.com]

Just out of curiosity, are chicks normally genetically engineered/manipulated/bred to gain fat very fast, or are they always injected with the hormones from birth? (I'm guessing the first one but I guess both ways there's no way to reverse the fat gain...)

The kind of stuff you do for Zoology in university sounds like the kind of fun I can't even imagine of - driving up to farms in a group and weighing chicks! I yearn for the days when we even had the VERY occasional 2-hour field trip to the Yakult factory (we have very little in the way of farms; long ago we did)...

But it's incredibly sad when you know what the fate of the animals are - and what, perhaps, many people will go on to do with the knowledge they've learned.

I'm not vegetarian (although my mum is; I have absolutely no problem with vegetarian food) because of convenience, but I am similarly disgusted by the tactics used to grossly fatten animals up - it's just downright disgusting when it gets to the point when they can't even walk properly; basically they become stationary meat machines. And there are people who like it that way which I simply cannot understand.

[pacificpikachu.livejournal.com]

Those breeds of chickens have been selectively bred for years and years to gain weight that quickly, so there's no way to reverse it or change it, unfortunately. I wish it was possible--if it was, I would definitely take a few as rescues.

It's Animal Science, actually (we mostly just dissect and look at specimens in jars in Zoology), but--yes! It's great that we get to do some real hands-on stuff as opposed to just learning about it dryly in a classroom. My area and the area my school is in are both quite rural, so we might as well make use of the nearby farms. Of course, I live on a semi-farm with a bunch of pet chickens to begin with so it's not that big of a deal for me, but it's still really nice to go out and get some fresh air and work with real animals. :)

Grossly fattening animals is so disgusting and wrong. It's really sad to me that people will accept that just for the sake of efficiency; where's the humanity in that? Having spent a lot of time around chickens, I know that they're reasonably intelligent animals who most certainly feel pain and boredom--and having them fatten up like that and sit in cages as their bodies die around them is a disgusting way to have to live.

[bjango.livejournal.com]

YAAAAAAAH! MILKSHAKES! MILKSHAKES!

[hitchi.livejournal.com]

That icon is adorkable.

[bjango.livejournal.com]

Awww, thanks! I'm honored that you think so! >w

[toggy.livejournal.com]

That is A LOT of chickies! But Cornish Cross ones... that just really disgusts me. I can't stand it when animals are mistreated.

[pacificpikachu.livejournal.com]

Yes! They're quite cute. ♥A♥ I raise chicks on my own that are smaller and cuter (mine are stripey!) but these guys are adorable and cuddly, too.

I know, it really is disgusting. :/ It often gets to the point where their legs are breaking underneath them, which is just...ugh. I can't understand how anyone can be that callous to breed something like that. It's completely unnatural.

[kirarakim.livejournal.com]

Millennium Actress is amazing, I love how it switches from things actually happening to filming a movie and you are never really sure which is which. I also loved the message at the end that the search was more important than finding what you are looking for. Sort of like its the journey not the destination.

[pacificpikachu.livejournal.com]

I completely agree. I love Satoshi Kon's blending of reality and fiction in all of his movies, but it seems particularly masterful in Millennium Actress, for some reason. And, yes, the message is wonderful. ♥