The second AIM (Applicant Informational Meeting) at Moorpark is now over. I didn't have to attend the second one, since I attended the first. But I was thinking about it while it was going on for a couple reasons. First of all, it's the last landmark event before we're sent our letters in April. Secondly, my friend, Kirsten was attending. I met Kirsten online because of some stuff I'd written about EATM, and she and I are both crazy about animals as well as EATM. Our mutual insanity makes for some lovely internet conversations, and I was happy as a clam to see her online tonight! We got to talking about the AIM she attended and as we talked, I realized I have several stories I still want to share here. So, here we go!

Well, for one, Joe and I both had a few crazy EATM dreams. I guess it was on our minds a lot, especially last week! I know I had some generally average dreams, like that I was studying for an EATM class, or walking around campus. I also dreamed that I tried to pick up a mouse and accidentally killed it by crushing its neck (I was aiming to pick it up by the scruff of the neck but pushed too hard). That dream freaked me out, and I know it stems from the real-life EATM policy that every student is required to participate in euthanizing the food animals (rats and pigeons mostly). The rats are gassed. The pigeons? You have to pull their heads to kill them. If it absolutely, totally horrifies someone to do that, then they'll only have to do it once. But no one will get away with not having to do it at all. It freaks me out, so I dreamt about it. I remember it being on my mind before I fell asleep that last night in Moorpark. I also dreamt that the giant from Big Fish was the trainer for Shmoo, the sea lion. Shmoo stood up on her flippers and was as tall as the giant! I'd also misplaced my car in that dream. Weirdness!

Anyway, I also have plenty of stories about the actual day of my AIM. For one, when Joe and I first got there, we sat down and waited for the day to begin. I was eavesdropping on everyone around me, because it's easy to learn a lot from the things people say. Well, a woman behind me, who I think was the mom of a prospective student, and not a prospective student herself, was making me crazy by talking about evolution vs. creationism to the woman beside her. At first, I thought she was arguing for creationism, but Joe said she sounded like she was just talking about it in general. I heard her say, "Evolution is really just a slap in God's face," and that's when I rolled my eyes. "If Adam and Eve evolved, that means they weren't created, and the whole concept of the Bible and Jesus are totally invalid," she said. It was weird. I never hear conversations remotely resembling that, so it was just a strange experience.

The first person of the day to speak to us was the nurse. She said, "If you're accepted into the EATM program, you'll be seeing a lot of me!" All the current students laughed and nodded. Apparently, there are lots of bites, scrapes, scratches, and other injuries we'd be likely to experience. One parent said, "What kind of bites are we talking about?" Dr. Petty asked the students, "What animal bites you the most here?" All the students answered almost in unison, "Birds."

The nurse talked some more, telling us of the health services and staff they offer at the school. Low cost health care is offered to the students, which sounded great. Nurses, a physician, and a psychologist are all available to see any time the students need them. They wanted us to know that the potential is there for serious injury, because we'd be working with exotic animals. "We don't want you coming here under any false pretenses," we were told.

Another parent raised his hand and asked about how often there are serious injuries. Everyone paused until someone said, "Define serious." Everyone laughed. The nurse began talking, saying the level of injury is usually not severe, and that the main problem is risk of infection, which the staff is happy to monitor in students with injuries. "So," the nurse said, "there have been no serious injuries recently."

"Recently!" everyone muttered as they laughed. It really was a funny moment! The nurse laughed too, and said, "Well not in the last twelve years that I've been working here!"

One faculty member told us that about 20 years ago, a woman was bitten in the face by a lion, and survived, but her facial nerve was permanently severed, so she looks kind of like she had a stroke when she talks. Yikes. "Again, just a reason to be cautious and aware," he re-emphasized. "The potential is there. That's why we have to be careful."

After the intro, it was time to head back outside for a tour of the EATM compound. That morning, I'd worried it might be hot, so I dressed in shorts and a tee shirt. It was freezing! Fog filled the sky and I was very glad I'd brought my sweater "just in case," even though my legs were still cold.

We separated into groups, and one of the first-years led us around. She was okay, but talked to us like we were a bunch of pals, not like she was giving an Official Tour. On questions she didn't know the answer to, she just said, "Uh, I dunno." About behavioral enrichment, she said, "So there's the lion's play toy... Some ice with blood and meat and junk in it. And over here..." It was so weird!

On the tour, I thought I was being oh-so-sneaky by snapping a quick shot of the primate cages. After all, we were on this special tour where the public never gets to go! Just my luck, I shot a picture of the area the public is allowed to visit every weekend. Damn!

We saw all the cool animals and heard a lot about how they act, how they're treated. Seeing the little marmosets made me think of walking around London Zoo with Laura! Their faces are so tiny and cute! We saw Michelle, the white faced capuchin, who looks like Marcel, from the first season of Friends. The raccoons rolled around as we walked by. The camels hummed. A girl walked by leading a giant sheep, too! The sheep seemed very strong. I heard the girl use a clicker and I think she told the sheep, "Steady, steady," as she walked on by. Most of the folks in my group didn't have any questions. I managed to come up with a few, and our tour leader answered them as best she could. It was a nice tour, all in all.

After that, we got to watch an animal presentation. Two first grade classes were there on a field trip, and we were told that this is how the program gets a lot of its funding. One of the EATM girls said, "This is the kind of thing you'll have to start doing right away, whether you're scared of speaking in front of a crowd or not." I got all kinds of excited! I love giving presentations!! Especially to kids! That's my kind of thing, for sure. I watched the six year olds dancing in the bleachers before the show. As I climbed into the bleachers, I banged and scratched my leg. I watched it for a bit, hoping it wouldn't start bleeding, as I thought to myself, "Oh that's the type of thing that sends kids to the nurse's office so much!" I also thought about all those nurse's office jokes, and laughed, thinking I'd look like a big joke if I actually had to go there just from climbing into the bleachers! (My leg never started bleeding, though it did bruise quite nicely! So no nurse's office for me, at least not that day!)

The show itself was very cool, and the kids were incredibly excited. For some reason, one kid kept suggesting each time a new animal was brought out to, "Put it in the water!!!" It was very funny, especially when it came to animals that just should not be put in water. Of course, they were thrilled when Hudson the beaver was brought out, because he did get to go in the water! Hooray!

They also brought out sugar gliders. That's when I learned that sugar gliders pee everywhere they go, to scent mark. The sugar gliders' handler was wearing a sweater covered in streaks of urine. So disgusting! I hope I don't have to handle those guys!! Cute, but gross. Wow.

Then they asked for volunteers! I raised my hand, but alas, I was not chosen. Two kids and an adult were chosen to stand up front and close their eyes. A Madagascar hissing cockroach was placed on each of their backs. They all seemed plenty grossed out, especially the adult. I wouldn't have minded, actually, because I like those little guys. They're pretty cool! The other kids laughed at the volunteers' obvious discomfort. Fun for all!

After the kids headed out, we were given a brief tour of the campus on the way to the cafeteria. It's a nice campus. There's a golf course on it! A huge library, a good size computer lab, and generally nice looking buildings. I'd say it's nicer than the local college I've attended, but still not as nice looking as Santa Monica College, where I used to go. Still, a very cool place. The cafeteria was nice, too, and had tasty food. I was worried all they'd have is junk food, but there was plenty of fruit. I also had a tuna sandwich. After lunch, we headed back to toward the classroom. Joe and I took our time, as we were incredibly sore from trekking five miles a day, two days in a row, at Disneyland!

Once we got back near the classrooms, we realized that the rehearsal for the Spring Spectacular show was going on. Joe and I sat down with some other EATM prospects and watched the rehearsal. It seemed to be going pretty well. With no costumes, it was hard to figure out what on earth was actually going on (costumes can tell a lot about a character!). Some of the animals weren't quite doing what they were supposed to, either! That cracked me up. At one point, not part of the rehearsal (I don't think) was a pot-bellied pig going over an obstacle course. He went up the ramp partway, then got stuck, began sliding backwards, then bailed on the whole thing. He just turned around and ran off stage. It was so funny!

As part of the rehearsal, a woman asked if anyone had a dollar. One man did, so the cast member told him how to fold it, then to hold it in his outstretched hand, and her macaw flew over to him and took the dollar. It was awesome!

Suddenly, people were moving in droves back inside the classroom, so Joe and I headed in. I signed in next to my name, and took a seat, where a girl behind bragged to everyone around her about how she had taken all the classes you can possibly take without actually being in the program, and this was her third time applying. Also, she's getting married in nine months. That's six months after the start of the program. Did I mention she's getting married in nine months? Because SHE DID about fourteen thousand times! She went on and on in such a way, that she might as well have just come out and said, "I'm so sophisticated and beyond all you peons that I deserve to be accepted this year!" Well, we'll see, missy! I mean, we all want to believe we'll be accepted. And every single last one of us prospective students were walking around like it was our school, like we already were accepted. I know I wasn't the only one thinking, "I belong here! I can SO do this! This is MY school!" The sad part is, many of us won't get accepted. Many of us will, but many of us won't. And it's weird.

At that point, it did feel a little like American Idol. I mentioned that to Joe, then said in my best Ryan Seacrest voice, "Who will make it to the final fifty??" Of course, my Ryan Seacrest voice is not that good, but hey. That's all right.

After the meeting started up again, we learned all kinds of stuff. The main guy talking to us was Dr. Petty, who told us about the faculty and their career history, just so we'd know where they came from. It's good to know the kinds of work people have put into their lives and this program. Cool stuff. Chuck talked to us quite a bit, too, and now I can't remember who talked about which subjects. At one point, though, someone in the audience asked about the L.A. fires. They went out of their way to ask it in a professional sounding way, as in, "What is the responsibility of the faculty and the students in times of dire crises such as those? What was that emergency situation like for the EATM compound?"

Dr. Petty sighed and said, "Well. It was a bitch." Joe and I just laughed! So unexpected from this guy, and the tone of his answer was so contrary to that of the question. It was a riot! The actual tale of what they did during the fires was quite sad, though. They had to evacuate, and two of the animals at the zoo died.

In the same vein as that somber mood, they shared with us that a student had died only the day before we got there. She'd died in her sleep and no one knew why. It was a very tense moment. He said, "I'm only sharing this so that you'll know the reason if you see any students being very emotional today. And also, these kids are still out here doing what needs to get done, taking care of the animals, preparing for tomorrow's show. These are her friends doing all this. So now you can see the kind of dedication that's here. These responsibilities must be accomplished no matter what else is going on." It was pretty heavy, but definitely sent home the point that you don't get to miss school because outside life has gotten tough. The animals still need us. They depend on us, and are our responsibility.

Another responsibility comment that Petty made actually made me laugh. He said, "I mean sometimes people say 'oh my sister's getting married. I need a day off for dress fitting!'" He paused, then said, "In all honesty, that kind of thing is frowned upon here." I LOVE it! So many people are all "Ooh, weddings! So important!" And EATM is like, "Screw that, we got cages to clean!" Awesome. This is my kind of place.

Next came the FAFSA lady to tell us all about money stuff. The only thing I have to say about her is she was making me CRAZY by pronouncing it, "Fass-fah." DUDE. It's FAF-sah. Just like it's spelled! I cringed every time she said it, which was really damn often. "FAFSA! FAFSA!!!!" I wanted to scream. But I didn't, and eventually it was over. Yay!

Then there was the traditional EATM fashion show, which was really, hysterically funny! It was done just like a real fashion show, but with buckets and tongs for scooping poop! Or rain gear, or winter gear, etc. It was great!! I love that you have to wear the EATM uniform every day you're there. Either an EATM polo shirt, tank top, or sweatshirt for the top. And blue jeans, khaki pants, or khaki shorts for the bottoms. Thank god! I can buy EATM clothes and never have to shop again, as one girl said! Well, at least not for two years!!

Lots of girls had dyed hair, and they said that's perfectly acceptable, as long as it's "natural" colors. No pinks or blues allowed. No dangly earrings, either, because monkeys like to yank those right out!

Speaking of monkeys, just real quick: I learned that some primates have female-dominated societies. That means that those monkeys or apes interpret human females as a threat (because we might want to be dominant over them or over-power them). So since we're this huge threat, they might attack!!! One ape allows females to be near her, so she can have female back-ups (back-ups are the people who go with the trainer, in case there's an emergency of some kind... just a safety measure). But one of the apes won't even allow female back-ups! He needs a male trainer AND male back-ups. WOW!

One girl was wearing a pink belt, and Petty said, "She's pushing it with that belt. That's about as far out as you can go and still keep in line with the dress code!" Awesome. I like the conservative rules. It's like animal boot camp! Or something! Lots of discipline and a strong work ethic. It lets me know that the folks there are serious about those animals, which likely means there's no time for pettiness or stupid crap. There are too many jobs to be done!

So after the really funny fashion show, they talked a lot more about the program and took a bunch of questions from the audience. It was great! That basically concluded the program.

After all was said and done, I went over to talk to one girl who looked super familiar. I asked if she'd ever visited the wildlife center where I work, but she hadn't. So I chatted with her a while anyway. She mentioned she just got engaged, and she told me that she had dated this person all through the program. He was not even in it. I said, "Well, that's cool, because this is my husband!" And she said, "Oh, cool! Yeah, some people say that this program could break you up, but that SO doesn't have to happen! As long as you've got someone who's understanding, you'll be fine."

"Well then, I'll be fine," I said with a smile. Joe pointed out that our schedules will suddenly become kind of similar, which is true. He works late, usually. Now, I'll be working late, too!

After that, I talked to Chuck for a bit, and thanked him for all the info. Then I bought a cool EATM key chain! Yay!

* * *

The next day, Joe and I returned for Spring Spectacular. This time, we were going to watch the real deal. Right before we went in, Joe handed me a dollar bill. I said thanks and put it in my pocket. Finally, I realized what it was for! Of course, the parrot!! "OH!" I said to Joe. "Thanks!!!"

The show was really funny and cool, and sure enough, the narrator asked who had a dollar. "I do!" I shouted, and put my hand up really fast. That girl must have wondered what the heck was up with me! So excited over having a dollar bill! It had been a different cast rehearsing the day before, so I'm sure she had no way of even remotely possibly recognizing me. Anyway, she called on me! I stood up, folded the bill the way she instructed, then waved my fingers the way she told me so that a military macaw could fly over to my arm! The first time, he didn't take the money. So we tried again, and he took my dollar the second time! SO COOL! I was beaming from ear to ear. I probably thanked Joe for that dollar a thousand more times during the day. They even gave me my dollar back. Cool!

After that show, Joe and I wandered around a bit. We went over to see the monkeys at my request. There was a woman from the general public looking at the tufted capuchins. These are ones that see women as a threat. He was raising his eyebrows at her over and over, which I'd learned the day before, was a threat sign.

"What?" she said to the monkey. "What are you thinking? What? What IS it?" She was asking like he was actually going to answer at some point, which annoyed me greatly. I wanted to slap her. I almost said, "I don't think he's going to tell you!"

Instead, when he started chattering his teeth and showing his huge fangs, I said, "Those are all threat signs." She glanced at me, then went back to talking to the monkey. I motioned to Joe that we should move along. As we did, Joe said to me, but a few people overheard, "He's trying to tell you that he wants to kill you!" Joe makes me laugh!

We went to look at the lemurs and one lemur leapt to the front of the cage and began staring me down. He was scary, dude! Again, with the not-liking of females! I just laughed a lot, as the men around me were like, "What the hell? Why's he doing that?" I briefly tried to explain, but they seemed not to care and wandered off. Joe and I wandered off too and looked at some other monkeys before heading to a show in the smaller theater.

In the little theater, they brought out three animals, and talked a bit about each one. The sugar gliders came out again, with the same handler as the day before, again covered in a pee stained shirt. Eww! Someone asked why they're called sugar gliders and one girl said, "Because they're so sweet!" Another EATM student suggested it was because they taste like sugar if you lick them. Finally someone said it's because they eat nectar. Too funny!

Then there was a macaw, followed by the coyote. The macaw was very beautiful and clucked like a chicken! That was funny because they said something about cueing only natural behaviors and Joe said to me, "You mean like imitating chickens?" He cracks me up!

The coyote was cool! We all howled and made her howl, too. Then the wolf next door howled!! So awesome! Coyotes are so beautiful and interesting!

After that, Joe and I decided it'd be good to go get some lunch. We headed out and did just that. Later, we saw our good friends Blocker and his wife Beth, and spent the rest of the day with them! It was great! We went out for ice cream and laughed a lot. Then we went to a music store, followed by a trip to Borders (for a snack). After that, we even saw Secret Window, in a newly refurbished movie theater, and I thought, "Ah yes, this is what it's like to see movies in L.A.!" I love it! The movie itself, though, was, I'm sad to say, quite disappointing. I'll just leave it at that. But an evening with the Blockers is never disappointing! We had a great time!

So that was my Moorpark experience, in far more detail than I first gave you. Somehow I thought I'd talked about all that stuff, when I hadn't. I guess it was almost too overwhelming to try to get it out all at once right after it happened. Heck, I may have more to say in the weeks to come while I wait for my letter that will let me know what on earth is going on in my future.

I'm so happy I got to see the compound, talk to the students, and listen to the faculty. I'm glad I saw the animals, the shows, everything. It's an amazing program, and I want to go there more than anything in the world! Now we'll just have to wait and see. I almost didn't want to leave, because I didn't know when I'd be back again. Then, because I'm always saying hello and good-bye to places out loud (like stores and restaurants and stuff, just to be silly), Joe said, "Bye, Moorpark! See you in the Fall!" And that made me smile. I forget if he added, "Hopefully." I think he might have. It definitely fits. Hopefully, indeed. Hopefully...

Pictures from Disneyland and Moorpark

Disneyland Anniversary Entry finally posted here