RATS!

Joanna talks about important rats in history and her fear that croutons are actually ground up hamsters. Kaitlyn remembers Chicago's famous Rat Hole.

Follow the show on Instagram @mywholepersonalitypod
Produced and edited by Joanna Clark
Theme music by Rebecca Jaffe
Podcast art by Michelle Hong (michelleyhong.com)

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

So the Chicago rats, you were saying, I don't know, I don't know, rat breeds. I'll teach you one. Okay, that's here. The rats that we have in Chicago, those are called Norway rats.

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Oh. How'd they get here? Oh. These are questions for a later podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

I don't know. There's no way to know. But they also call them sewer rats, which is less cool.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

I like this one thing. So I made it my whole thing. Now no one wants to talk to me at parties. Please listen to my spiel, because I made it my whole deal. I made it my whole personality. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Welcome back to my whole personality. I am back in the States. I had a great time in the Netherlands. Um could have done a better job about checking the weather. I will I will own up to that. One of my friends lent me some clothes, which was really nice. But uh it was a really good trip. It was a good trip. I learned a lot, I saw a lot, I met a lot of really interesting people. Um I think I mentioned that it was one of those Smithsonian tours. So we pretty much like, I mean, we were hauling ass every day all over Holland. I saw we saw a lot of art. Um that was kind of the focus of the tour. It was like an art history tour. And then we saw the tulip fields, and that was wild to see. And like I don't even care about flowers, but that was it was pretty impressive. The whole thing though was kind of leading up to the girl, we were gonna go see the girl with the pearl earring, and I ended up having to miss that day because I came down with some strange illness, which is so upsetting because as you all know, I spend so much time um actively hello Joan. Sorry, Joan just tried to jump up. Okay, excuse me. Which is so upsetting because I spent so much time, you know, trying to avoid getting sick. I wore a mask on the plane. Um I guess that's it. But yeah, it was a great trip. Though I am like it was a lot, so I am kind of exhausted mentally, physically, emotionally. I am part of the reason why I think I'm so tired is because I spent, my sister and I spent probably 90% of the trip trying to make sure my mom didn't walk into traffic in like in Amsterdam, in Harlem, where we were staying. I mean, everybody bikes, which is great. Everybody was biking, but the bikes were just ripping down the streets and they didn't slow, they didn't stop for anyone. Uh it's it was like imagine like car traffic, but it's bikes. And it was kind of confusing because you'd have the street, you actually you really didn't have a sidewalk. Like they they said pedestrians have no rights here. So as soon as you walked out of a restaurant or a building or whatever, you had to immediately make sure you weren't walking into a bike path. And the guides were really good about prompting us, saying, like, watch out for bikes, you know, make sure you're looking for bikes, and they told us to keep our head on a swivel, which in my mom's defense is kind of hard because she has a lot of neck problems, and it's hard for her to keep her head on a swivel. Like, I don't even think I've seen her turn I don't think I've seen her look over her right shoulder since the 90s. Okay. So she was having a hard time with it. Um but I really liked everybody on the trip. Everybody was really nice. I think I was probably the my sister and I were the youngest people on the trip by maybe 30 years. But it was fun just kind of observing people. There was this one guy on our trip who, like as we were getting off the bus in Howda, I heard him telling somebody else about how he was on a bus one time and he fell off and he hit his head and he woke up in the hospital, I guess, weeks later, and he said, I was surrounded by strangers. And then he goes, and those strangers were my family. And I kind of thought, not a great story to tell us, uh, as we're all getting on and off buses all day. But yeah, really beautiful city. I'm trying to think of anything else. I mean, I did learn a lot, I couldn't tell you any of it. One thing I learned, Rembrandt. You can usually identify a Rembrandt painting because he liked to have the light coming in from the left. And then in those, in a still life, like if you ever look at a um like an old still life painting, you'll notice that they had uh cups, like their goblets, had these little glass like nodules, little knobs on them. And I always just thought that was like an aesthetic thing, but apparently when these were drawn, it was at the time where they didn't have um like forks or silverware, really. All they had was a knife, so they were eating with their hands, and so they had to have bumps on their glasses in order to hold on to their glasses because their hands were so greasy with what I would imagine is just like turkey legs, just like turkey leg grease. And so I think I should get some um I think I should get some some glasses with some bumps on them because I also do I put on a lot of userin cream and so I'm constantly slipping, like sometimes I've gotten trapped. The amount of bathrooms I've gotten stuck in because I've put userin cream on my hands, and then I uh oh, I can't get out. Okay, well this episode is I recorded this a couple weeks ago with Caitlin. You will remember her from the Star Trek episode that I did. She came back on and we talked about rats and we talked about mustard. Rats was what I made my whole personality, mustard is what she made hers. And this is just the rats portion of the interview. I will be releasing the mustard portion next week. So um enjoy, and I hope that you all learned something about rats. Joining me on the pod. I don't want to say pod, I want to say podcast. Joining me on the podcast again. Back for the first time of many times because Evan just pitched us an idea that hold on to your hat. So I can't wait to do it. Buckle up. Um, but this is Caitlin. Woo! And you guys might know her from the Star Trek episode, the powder, and then the Star Trek episode. I did want to say, is there anything you want to clear up from your Star Trek appearance?

SPEAKER_02 6:34

Okay, well, I did listen to each of those episodes without like I did listen to them wholly as a fan, and I laughed a lot during them to my own jokes, but I did say some inaccurate things. But at this point in time, I don't remember what they were. I think it was all accurate. To me, it was very factual. To the novice, all accurate. Um, Emily and I never claimed to be Star Trek experts. So I feel okay being like saying some things wrong. I can't even imagine what you have what you would have gotten. It was really minor stuff, I'm sure. But like I remember listening to it and being like, oh, oh, misspoke, misspoke. But you know what? This isn't school. No one's grading me on it. And I would say this is a comedy podcast and not a historical accurate um source of information.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

I am dreading the day that somebody um fact checks me or requests that. I mean, everything I said about powder though was factual. It was factual. You really were like, you came with receipts on that one. And we learned so much. Yes. Like you when I plugged in my computer just a minute ago to that extension cord on an extension cord, I said, get the get the stool.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Yeah. My TV setup looks like the scene from Christmas Vacation where they're plugging in the Christmas tree and you're like, oh my god, the whole house is gonna burn down.

unknown 7:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

It really does. So I'm out of here. Wait a minute. So we're gonna be talking about a couple things here. And first of all, we're gonna start with something that I made my whole personality for many years, which is rats. I have a lot of questions about how it's your whole personality. Oh no, I forgot to bring up my visual aids.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

Do you have like a slide deck we should pull up?

SPEAKER_01 8:07

Uh, I do have a picture. It's uh you know what? I'll I'll send it to you later. Sure. But yeah, let me describe it to you instead. Okay, let's hear it. Okay. So I liked rats a lot growing up. So did my sister. We had pet rats. Oh, I didn't know. I think maybe I knew this. Yeah, we had a couple pet rats. Okay. Names. First, I had whiskers and Jesse had Chester. Oh. We thought they were both boys. Not both boys. Chest Chester put that baby in whiskers. Chester put a baby in whiskers. Right. So then we had to get rid of whiskers, and then I got squeaky.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Get rid? I know.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

I mean, we took her.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

You killed her.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Yeah, we took her to the hospital.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

We took her out to the farm.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Yeah, I don't know what they I that has to happen quite often. Like you have people come in and return pets that are Pet Smart? Yeah. Like my mom must have taken the rat back.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

Yeah, where did your mom get this rat?

SPEAKER_01 8:50

I well, we had a our pet store was called Feeder Supply. But I did know, did you know? Because I go into pet I used to go into Pet Smart quite a bit, and there's this manager at the one that I go to that's amazing. He's great. And one time I went in and this guy, I was like checking out, and this guy ran in with a fish in a bag, and he was like, Hey, can I? And he goes, Yeah, I'll be right with ya. And then he was like, his fish died. And I said, You can return a fish if it's dead? He said, Yeah. And I said, How often does that happen? And he says, It happens every day.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

That's that's crazy. I know. Those are that's like the people that go to Costco with like their mattress they've used for nine years on the 10-year warranty and return it.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

That's crazy. Do they actually allow that? Yeah, Costco has a really generous return. Well, I returned oatmeal from I returned oatmeal to Costco one time because it had a weird smell. No questions asked. I took in a 20-bag 20-pound bag of oatmeal.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

I just like wouldn't want to go through the pain and trouble of taking a dead fish, traveling with it to wherever the pet store is, and then talking to another human to be like, I want my money back. 89 cents back. Or however much a beta fish is. That's crazy. Yeah. I mean, I guess good for that person and good for that returning policy, but like well, it's not like he was recycling. Yeah, what's that? What did you like? I'm assuming that toilet, right? Flushing the dead fish. Is what they do at PetSmart.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Well, that's what everyone does, right? I would hope that PetSmart had a little bit more of a Oh, I'm sure it's a tasteful.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

They have a they have a funeral every Friday for all of the dead fish that have been returned.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

That's very sweet. Yeah. I like to think of that. Okay, good. Um so yeah, I had so I had Jesse and I both had rats growing up.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

And then when my mom, I don't know why we decided to take family photos, not even family, like we just like took like photos.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

Like professional photos. Professional photos.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

And Jesse and I, I'll send you the picture and I'll include it in whatever visual thing I can. Jesse and I are sitting on, I think, stools. We both have black turtlenecks on and overalls, and we each have a rat on our shoulder and a couple beanie babies. I think I have a beanie baby on my head, and that was my professional family portrait. Do you remember what the beanie babies were?

SPEAKER_02 10:54

No. But I can look, I'll look it up. Okay. This is like, I think, iconic. And if you ever release like a like a stand-up album, that needs to be the cover of the album. That should be the cover of the album. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Because yeah, rats get um, rats get quite a bad rep. They do. So I think that's where my I think that's where my love of rats started. And I, like you, I'm planning a rat tattoo. Oh, I'm getting a rat tattoo. It's a rat talking on the phone with his little legs kicked up.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

I love that so much. I think you should go to my guy Brandon at Great Lakes tattoo. Um, I he probably does a rat tattoo, I would say at least twice a month. When did you get your rat tattoo? I got mine at right before I left my old job. And that was around the time uh for all the Chicago, I guess like maybe also chronically online people, that the rat hole was having a moment. Remember the rat hole? Oh yeah. Yeah, so it like lined up that 2023. So like early 2023. Did you ever go visit the rat hole? I didn't, but apparently they so for folks that don't know, the rat hole, which I think has been debunked as a squirrel, but like I think it's more of a But squirrels are rats of the trees. Exactly. So a rat type animal landed in some wet cement and left like a full impression and like a Jurassic Park situation. Jurassic Park situation, like full body print of rat squirrel, whatever it was, outside of just like a normal apartment building on a normal residential street, and it's been there for like years and years and years, and the internet found out about it and dubbed it the rat hole, and people were like paying homage to the rat hole, leaving gifts, making sacrifices. It became a huge people died. Yeah, many deaths occurred over this rat hole, and to the point where the people that lived on that street right in front of it were being essentially terrorized by the random people coming to visit the rat hole in the city in the middle of the night, cut out that block of concrete and removed the rat hole. They did, yes, but they kept it. It's it's apparently it is on view at some city office here in Chicago.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

My God.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

It's like that's so funny. That is so funny. So that's like not the reason I got my rat tattoo. But it's not not. No, but it like happened in the same time of me getting it. So like when I rolled up to my like normal tattoo shop, I was like, um, it's not because of the rat hole. And they're like, the what? I was like, how do I am I the only one that knows about this? I am fine, I promise. Because the rat hole is pretty close, because we're in we're recording this in Westloop. The rat hole is in like West Town, it's like pretty close to here. So it wasn't like out of our like geographic sphere of knowledge. So I was like, why am I the only person that knows about this goddamn rat hole?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

What I like to think you did is I like to think that you do you remember when you were in Girl Scouts and you would go to you would get a piece of paper and a and a crayon and you would go to a graveyard and you would put the piece of paper on the stone. You know what I mean? And like I I imagine you going to the rat hole, putting a piece of paper on the imprint and then sketching it out and then taking it to that to your tattoo artist.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

I love that. And the original idea I had for this rat tattoo. Yeah, let's get a good look at it there. It's like kind of if I if I were shaking your hand, it would be kind of like, hello, rat. Oh my god, is she mean? Um, she's not. But um, I got this tattoo and originally I wanted to like smoking a cigarette, which is famously something I also don't do.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

But they're cool now. They're cool, they're cool. A lot of people are smoking cigarettes now.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

Like everything is back in the worst way. I know.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

War, cigarettes, yeah, skinny people. Yeah, I know. Heroin chic is back in. So upsetting.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

It's so I got this rat tattoo, and the person working the front desk was like, you know what? This is kind of like the iconic Chicago tattoo that isn't like the fucking Chicago stars tattoo. That specific drawing of a rat? No, just like a rat in general, because rats are very prevalent in our beautiful city. And it's just a part, like a little like nod to the city. This um random, like scurrying. Um he's got little bites out of his ears, and he's got talons and teeth, and it's like on the inside of my wrist, on the inside of my forearm, and it's just like a little rat going, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

So my tattoo is gonna be a little bit more um tasteful. No, I feel like yours is the alpha. Mine is sitting on the phone on his tummy, legs up, kicking a back, gossiping. But I think that they'll love each other.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Okay, so yeah, I had I had a bunch of rats growing up. Um, took that family portrait.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

I can't believe that. That's one, your mom an icon for letting that happen. Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Your parents in general cool for letting you have rats. We had a lot of weird pets. We had, I mean, not weird, but we had hamsters. We had rats. My mom had a couple bearded dragons.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Okay, so you ought like from the get-go were a weird pet family.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Yeah, I was set up to um have a strange life for sure. Have you tried to pick up a hamster as an adult?

SPEAKER_02 16:17

I don't know if I've ever picked up a hamster. I didn't know anyone who had like non-traditional pets.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

That surprises me.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

Like, I mean, I guess I did. I had a friend named Sarah in elementary school, and her family had a bearded dragon, I think named Fluffy, if I remember correctly, which I think is kind of an iconic lizard name.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

That is, I want to get a bearded dragon named Courtney. It's on my notes app of things that I want.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

Um, they had a rabbit and they had like cats and dogs, but I don't, I don't think I've ever held a hamster or anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Then you might not get this, but like as a kid, I would just put my hand in there and pull it out with like reckless abandon. Like, I would be like, Oh, I'm gonna pick up a hamster now. No questions asked. My friend has a hamster for her daughter, and I was scared to pick it up.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

Because they're little, they're very little.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

They're little, but also like, I don't know. I think that's sad. It's like the older you get, the less trusting you get.

SPEAKER_02 17:17

You know? You just have read um what is that John Steinbeck book about Lenny? Vernacula. Yes, the famous queer click.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

Do you remember that? I do.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

I love that book. Yeah. I was thinking, is it um you know the John Steinbach? It's not Grapes of Wrath, it's the other one we all of mice and men. Oh. Where Lenny like kills the is it a puppy? I've never read it.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

How'd you get away with not reading that in school? I don't think I maybe I should have. Maybe I should have read it, but I did. I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

It was like a part of the assignment, but you're like, I'm not reading that.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Yeah, but it seems like I'm a rule follower, so I would have it was ever assigned to me. I think was it are you were you in like AP English?

SPEAKER_02 17:58

No, I was in dumb kid English because I am dyslexic. So they're like they're like, uh-uh.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

No, I I come across as smart and I think I am, but math can't do it. I I did eventually conquer reading.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

I'm so happy. Like I started with a couple couple Star Trek novellas. I've been reading for nine months. I don't want to put you on blast, and we can cut this if you want. Have you finished your Minotaur sex book?

SPEAKER_02 18:27

Oh, yeah. Okay. I have you read it yet? I read that years ago. Joanna, you will read it, and I'm gonna say you could read it in two hours. It's gonna fly by. Okay. It's you're gonna be so incredibly horny. Yeah, I I bet. I bet. And it's just it's a great read. And it's called Um Morning Glory Milking Farm. And everyone should read it. Okay. Everyone should read it.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

You heard it here first. I know that a lot of people are like, oh, the rats are bad for the city. Yeah. One thing that they carry disease. They do carry disease.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

Famous for the bubonic.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Well, and you know what? It was the fleas. It was the fleas.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

They got, you know what, you're right. Bad rep.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

But like infrastructure-wise, I like how rats chew perfectly circular holes in the tops of garbage cans. Because then you can throw the dog poop bags in there, like you're playing cornhole.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

I can't say that I've ever noticed that, but now I'm gonna not be able to not notice it.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

Check it out. Because like when I was a dog walker, it was always really handy because I'd be I'd have my hands full with poop and dogs, and then you'd walk by a dumpster and you would throw, you'd just be able to like bank sh, you know.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

How do you know it's the rat's doing that?

SPEAKER_01 19:43

I don't know who else would be doing this. You know?

SPEAKER_02 19:47

Yeah, I mean it answered right.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

And I think on my notes I have that rats can chew through pretty much anything.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

I believe it.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Yeah. Um, okay, my favorite kind of rat.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

Let's hear it.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Is aside from a pet rat, is a rat that's stealing food.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

Oh, of course. Pizza rat.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Pizza rat, a thief. Yeah. Love that.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Do you remember when pizza rat went viral? Yeah. That was probably, I'm gonna say, off top of my head, 2013.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

I think it was that long ago.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

I remember being in in college.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

I don't remember where I was when pizza rat happened.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

It was like late college for me, so maybe 2014 at the latest.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

And I was I was in my Ann Taylor Blazer, tick-tapping away at work.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

You asked me what, like, in the preparation for this podcast recording, you're like, what's your favorite like fictional rat? And I was like, okay, I'm just gonna Google fictional rats because like none of none came to mind, but then a whole list of them appeared and was like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Bottom of the list, pizza rat. And I was like, iconic rat, pizza rat.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

He's my favorite, or that type of rat is my favorite rat. My least favorite rat is the rats that you see in spring that have been dead.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Like the snow has melted, and they've revealed the carcass.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

Yeah, I don't like those rats. I feel bad for those rats. That's my that is, if we are going by the rules, that is my least favorite rat.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

I agree. Like, how could that be anyone's favorite rat? Unless they're like the rat czar of New York City, I guess. That's your favorite rat.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

What's your favorite rat?

SPEAKER_02 21:12

Um, I don't know any of the breeds.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

Oh no. Oh, well, I do now because I looked it up. I have some information to come.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

I have to agree with the a rat like stealing food. I think it's great. I also love a rat that you see like you're crossing an alley and you see it on the periphery periphery of your eye, and it's just like a little phantom scurry. Yes. And you're like, was that a rat?

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Speaking of rats and alleys, um, my friend Evan one time was riding a Divi and he hit a rat on a Divi. Oh god. I know. Um, we were at Pizza Lobo.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

And Heather and I were leaving, and we were like on the corner and we were walking home, and we'd already said goodbye to Evan, and all of a sudden he comes flying out of an alley on a Divi and he just screams, I hit a rat! And then he keeps flying. Yeah. So I think about that a lot.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

I I would too.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

I don't think he thinks about it the way he should, which is with remorse.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

Yeah, no, I would feel really famous.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Yeah, I would too. Okay, here's just like some famous rats from history.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Let's hear it.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Obviously, well, he's not historic, but Rizzo, the rat from the Muppets.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

I have Rizzo on my list of rats.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

No, I hate him. Do you like him?

SPEAKER_02 22:17

I think he's really cute. But I my main source of knowledge on Rizzo is from the Muppets Christmas Carol. And it's just like those little like vignettes of him and his like rat wife, just like in the little in the wall.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Okay. So you're like, it's nice that he's in love. And yeah. You like that he has like a nuclear family. Yeah, I was like, oh, it's cute. Yeah. He drives me nuts. Um, oh, this is this is not, I don't know why I have these under the bullet points. This is not another rat in history, but the rat king from the nutcracker, very scary.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Oh, yeah, he is scary. But the like the rats that dance on the nutcracker that like twirl their tail around less scary. Sexy. More sexy.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Till right. So here's the most famous rat that I could find. Oh my god. Okay. So his name was Magawa.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

He was a famous mine clearing rat. So they would put it in Cambodia. They would send him in to look for landmines. And his five-year career, he sniffed out over a hundred landmines in Cambodia. That's crazy. They gave him a gold medal and called him a hero. That's really fucking cool. He died in his sleep peacefully.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

I hope he's like on like a coin or something. I hope they like memorialized him on like a piece of currency. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

Isn't that pretty nice?

SPEAKER_02 23:31

I didn't realize we were given rats jobs.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

I feel I I I'm conflicted because it's obviously like if he doesn't detect the landmine.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

Boom.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

Splat. Yeah. Yeah. What a beautiful way to put it.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

But yeah. That's a comedy podcast.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

Okay, here's some facts about rats.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

Let's hear them.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

Okay. Uh rats have independent eyes.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

Oh, but they can point different directions.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Independently of each other.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

I wish humans had that. How crazy would that be?

SPEAKER_01 24:08

I would get so sick. I would be so emotion sick all the time.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

I think that's a cool thing to have.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

Chameleons also have independent eyes.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

I immediately went like, oh, well, there's like a lizard that has rats show empathy.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

That's amazing. In a study, they found that rats would free their trapped companions even when given an alternative choice, which was to eat chocolate.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

I I think rats are really cool. And people that are like flat out scared of rats or have like a rat like hatred, they need to educate themselves.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Yeah. They giggle when they when you tickle their bellies. How cute. Yeah. You know, you've probably heard of the naked mole rat. Everybody seemed can possible.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Um, it's the world's only cold-blooded mammal.

unknown 24:55

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

And it can live without oxygen for up to 18 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

18 minutes?

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Well, what's even crazier is when I read this and was writing it down, I thought it said 18 months. And I was like, this is crazy. This is so crazy. But it's 18 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

That's still really crazy. I wonder what evolutionary reason happened. Like, I wonder why they adapted that way.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

That's a good question. I don't know about the naked mole rat specifically, but I do know that rats are good swimmers. And so I would imagine it was for like I got a lot of questions.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

I I know what Wikipedia page I'm reading tonight when I fall. About rats. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Okay. Oh, they can live up to 30 years. That's not all rats. That's the naked mole rat. Yeah. Mine had a much shorter lifespan. Yeah. No fault of mine.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

No, of course not. You were a child.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

No, I was a child. Um, a group a group of rats. Do you know what that's called?

SPEAKER_02 25:48

Um, I'm gonna guess a posse.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

It's kind of cool, like that. It's cool. Okay, what is it? It's called a mischief. A mischief? It's isn't that fun? Yeah, it's very fitting. They're smoking cigarettes. Um, they smile with their ears. So they like show emotion with their ears going up and down.

SPEAKER_02 26:05

I feel like Tyra Banks would like that.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Does she do that?

SPEAKER_02 26:07

Well, she goes, smyes, smile with their eyes. Oh, with your eyes?

SPEAKER_01 26:10

Did you watch the documentary?

SPEAKER_02 26:11

I did.

unknown 26:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

Worth it. Worth the trauma. Oh, you you think the whole production was worth the worth the trauma of me watching it again and reliving my childhood trauma of watching that show when I was 12, 13. Yeah. It was really bad. It was, I can't believe I was consuming that as a tween and then agreeing with the horrible things the judges were saying to those women. Yeah. That's where I was like, oh my god. Yeah, that was fucked up.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Okay. So the Chicago rats, you were saying, I don't know, I don't know, rat reads. I'll teach you one.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Okay, let's hear it.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

The rats that we have in Chicago, those are called Norway rats.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

Oh. How'd they get here? Oh. These are questions for later podcasts.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

I don't know. There's no way to know. But they also call them sewer rats, which is less cool. Seems like a stereotype. Did you know that they can crawl up through the sewers and out of the toilets?

SPEAKER_02 27:08

I I have heard that. I've also heard that about like snakes. And I choose to believe that's not real.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Okay, I'll tell you it's real. You want to know how?

SPEAKER_02 27:18

Did you see it happen to you?

SPEAKER_01 27:19

My friend Grace used to work for a landlord company. Oh god. It was she the all I can't tell her, I can't tell her story because it's so messed up and maybe she'll want to tell it one day. But one story is um she got complaints, she was like fielding complaints for some units, and one of them was like, there's a rat in our apartment, we don't know how it got here, da-da-da-da. And then they figured out they followed, they like backtracked its footsteps, and there were little wet footsteps backing up to the toilet. It came out of the toilet. If you're in a ground unit, it can come out of the toilet or a first floor.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

Oh, I that's horrifying.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

So they can hold their breath for so that oh my god, I'm just putting this together.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

Yes, that's why.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

They can hold their breath for so long, they crawl through the sewers.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

I have a really early childhood memory of my dad trying to like potty train me and him telling me that if I don't poop right now, there's gonna be a monster that comes out of the toilet and get me.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

That's the opposite of what I think that you should be told.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

I know, and I think that's just a lesson on like baby boomers being parents.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Um He better take a shit real quick or else you'll die.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

Listen up.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

That's so bad.

SPEAKER_02 28:31

Yeah, I have a distinct memory of that, and I will bring it up every very often. Because my parents are so married for 45 years, and I love bringing up drama like that because my sister doesn't remember any of this stuff. She blocked it out. She blocked it out, and I'm like, it's locked in here, don't worry. When you dropped me, I remember it.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

God.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

I love starting the poppy, bringing that kind of shit up at like Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

That's what's so scary about being a parent. You have no idea what offhand comment you're gonna make and they're gonna child and stick with for the rest of their life. My cousin told me that croutons were ground-up hamsters, and I believed him for so long. Like every time we would go to Gatty Town, I'd be like, this is an abomination, all these croutons. Let's see, is there anything else about rats? Um, oh, okay. So I found this sentence on, I was like Googling Chicago rats specifically, and I found this sentence that I don't like very much. It was on like the Chicago government webpage, and it said, um, they can crawl through holes the size of a quarter, tread water for three days, and land unharmed after a five-story fall. I feel like somebody was doing some fucked up things to rats to like figure all this out.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

I mean, I'm sure that happened. I'm sure they figured this all out like a hundred plus years ago. So at least the person that figured this out isn't kicking it still, you know. They're dead, probably.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

One can only dream.

unknown 29:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Oh, in case you were wondering, Magawa, that landmine rat, he was he was called an African giant pouch rat.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

Oh, so big boy.

SPEAKER_01 29:58

I don't know. I saw a picture of him, but it wasn't like the scale. He was wearing a metal around his neck, so I have no idea.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

I that's so cute. I know. I love animals that have human jobs. Um I I don't I can't believe we haven't talked about Rami from Ratatouille.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Oh my god, how dare we? Like he's, I think, my favorite cartoon rat.

SPEAKER_02 30:21

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

Fictional rat.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

Yeah, the first, like, well, there's also, do you remember Fifle from American Tale?

SPEAKER_01 30:28

I think um is that from that? Okay.

unknown 30:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

Um, no, I really loved Fifel, but I kind of settled on him being a mouse because his last name is like Mouse Witz. So it's like, okay, not a rat. Not a rat. Not a rat. But I think Remy and Pizza Rat are um have to be mentioned when talking about rats.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Yeah, Remy's really my roommate's never seen ratatouille, which is crazy because she loves food.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

I didn't see it because we were like kind of we were too old for it when it came out. We were in that age where we're like, we're in, I think it came out in like 2011. So we were fully in college.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

I dated a Disney adult.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

Oh, you've seen it. You've been to war.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

Yeah. I saw it quite a few times.

SPEAKER_02 31:10

I saw it late. I saw it definitely probably at least five years after it came out. And I remember thinking, well, this is an amazing movie.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

It's it's a really good movie. It's a really good movie. Like, not even joking. It's worth watching it once a year.

SPEAKER_02 31:25

It's it's sad. You'll cry, you'll learn the lesson. It's like Patton Oswald does a great job with the rat.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

I didn't each like Ratatouille until I watched that movie.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

I don't know if I've ever had the food ratatouille.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

Well, you know I don't like squash.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

Exactly. And it's like that's like all squash.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

But something about it clicked for me after I saw that movie. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:48

I'll have to have it, and I have not had it.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

It's really good. Um, okay, and then I'll get that tattoo soon and then we'll be good to go.

unknown 31:55

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

Uh, do you have anything else you want to say about rats?

SPEAKER_02 31:58

No, I'm all ratted out.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

Okay.

unknown 32:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

Thanks for listening to My Whole Personality. This podcast is edited and produced by me, Joanna Clark. Theme music by Rebecca Jaffe. If you like this podcast, please like, subscribe, read it, review it, wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening. Bye bye.