College Happenings

Just when the puking seems to ease up, it starts again and combines itself with a nasty head cold.

Lord, why are you mad at me?

I have nothing to write about because nothing has been happening. I am sick all the time, I miss school, I watch soaps.

Thank goodness All My Children has been good lately.

You know how soaps go through thier boring month.

Well, All My Children has been jam packed full of drama and good story lines. I love it.

Poor Chris. It just happens to be on when he is home for lunch.

Then at night when fake wrestling is on, I say this is so lame, it is so fake. He says oh yeah and your dumb soap is so real and has such great actors. Then he does an impression of Jonathan. Who has a brain injury so he talks all slow. Chris can impersonate him pretty good. I probably just spelled that wrong.

Kristin will let me know.

So, here’s to getting better and feeling better and spending a whole week in class.

I just saw a preview for a new show on FOX. It is called uninanimous. It is a reality show. It looked like some sort of spin off of The Real World.

I guess most reality shows are spin off of The Real World.

Just from the previews I don’t think I will like it. They showed a grown man crying. I don’t like that sort of thing.

Give me dramma between two snotty teen age girls. That stuff is kind of funny. Teenage girls cry at the drop of a dime over anything.

Grown men usually have a pretty good excuse to cry. Usually it is something sad and upsetting.

I don’t want to see people make a grown man cry. That would probably make me cry.

No thanks.

My ducks are the most ungrateful animals ever!

I feed them and change thier water and they just talk smack. Oh to the untrained ear it sounds like quack quack quack. But I know what they are really saying.

A**holes.

The really jerky thing they do, is act like they are going to attack me. Everytime I am near them and I turn my back they duck thier heads and charge at me.

I have seen them do this to my cat. Only they actually bite him. They grab chunks of his fur and bite his tail.

I think we trained Darrell too well when the ducks were little. We didn’t want him to get them when they were babies so we trained him to leave them alone. So now when the ducks attack him, he takes it. He looks a bit annoyed but he won’t hit them. I wish he would. The jerks would deserve it.

Those sexy little vixens over at Girlspoke had a link to this today. I just had to share it with all of you.

It is from The Smoking Gun.

Sicko “Marriage Contract” One For The Ages
Repulsive “Wifely Expectations” pact emerges in Iowa kidnap case
FEBRUARY 17–This country, as you know, is filled with the deranged. And then there’s Travis Frey, a 33-year-old Iowa man who is facing charges that he tried to kidnap his own wife (not to mention a separate child pornography rap). Frey, prosecutors contend, apparently is a rather demanding guy. In fact, he actually drew up a bizarre four-page marriage document–a “Contract of Wifely Expectations”–that sought to establish guidelines for his spouse in terms of hygiene, clothing, and sexual activities. In return for fulfilling certain requirements, Frey (pictured right) offered “Good Behavior Days,” or GBDs. Each GBD, Frey wrote, could be redeemed by his wife to “get out of doing the things” he requested daily. A copy of the proposed contract, which Frey’s wife never signed and later provided to cops, can be found below. While we normally point out the highlights of most documents, there are so many in this demented, and very graphic, contract, we really can’t do it justice. So set aside ten minutes–and prepare to be repulsed. (4 pages)

You’ll have to click this link to TSG to get to see the contract. It is worth checking out.
To see the contract click here.

James Frey has recently encountered immense criticism for embellishing the truth in his memoir A Million Little Pieces.

A Million Little Pieces has sold more than 3.5 million copies and after it was picked by Oprah Winfrey to be a part of her book club the book has spent more than 15 weeks atop the The New York Times nonfiction paperback best seller list.

Shortly after Frey’s appearance on Oprah, The Smoking Gun ran a 25 plus page piece on its website about Frey’s embellishment entitled A Million Little Lies: Exposing James Frey’s Fiction Addiction.

The Smoking Gun’s story focused on the criminal background Frey claimed to have in the book. The Smoking Gun had planned only to search for a mug shot of Frey for their website, but they became further interested when they found a lack of mug shots. They then dug in for an investigation that left Frey pegged as a liar.

Frey is not the first author to embellish a memoir.

Augusten Burroughs’ 2002 memoir Running With Scissors proved to have falsities. He was even sued by the family that raised him, which feels it was badly portrayed in his childhood memoir.

Books like A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers and Julie and Julia by Julie Powell come with introductions that basically say, “This book is true, except for the parts I made up.� After all, who can be expected to remember word-for-word a conversation they had three months or five years ago?

Are people so upset over Frey’s lies because he was on Oprah? Many people say the large number of copies he has sold is due to Oprah.

Or is it because he won’t fully admit that he lied? There are no disclaimers on A Million Little Pieces that say “Part of this is made up.�

Perhaps people are so upset because the book felt so honest. Even Oprah said at the end of the book that she wanted to meet the man who had lived this life. His book is intriguing and gut wrenching. The part where he has two root canals filled with out Novocain made us clench and cringe for him. It turns out that he only had one root canal and we’re not sure if that was with Novocain or without.

But to us, it doesn’t really matter. Sure, he probably should have called it a novel instead of a memoir. However we may have never even heard of his book had he called it a novel. The fact that there are non-truths in the book doesn’t take away from what a fantastic read it was. Frey’s voice stayed with us for days after finishing the book. It caused us to rush out and buy My Friend Leonard, which to us was just as wonderful as Pieces.

We doubt that there are many completely factual memoirs out there. There are probably small lies in every memoir.

To us, if the story is a good one and the writer knows how to draw the reader in, then go ahead, throw in some fabrications. The truth will come out somewhere, and if we want, we can read that too.

This is an editorial I wrote for Opinion Writing.

I saw Huey Lewis at the grocery store. Even though he is not like Brittney Spears famous anymore, it is still a celebrity sighting.

And yes, I have waited on him before and he is only a 10 percent tipper, still its Huey Lewis. He was huge when I was growing up. Huge.

One thing I really like about him is that he is smart enough to appreciate the Bitterroot Valley.

The Bitterroot Valley is one gorgeous place. Before I went to the store, I went for a drive by myself. I went up on Illinois Bench. It is so pretty, you can the the Bitterroot Mountains forever. They have fresh dusting of snow and look just amazing. They’re so rugged and majestic. I love it!

I saw bald eagle too. He was in front of me for a lot of my drive, just soaring and being beautiful. I went through the Lee Metcalf Refuge and saw some ducks and other birds. I thought briefly that I should take my ducks there and let them go. But they would probably die with out Chris. They think he is their mother.

I just finished reading Black Boy by Richard Wright. I was reading it as an assignment for my history class. The class is African Americans’ Struggle for Equality.

The book is about Wrights life from about four-years-old untill he is about twenty-years-old. The book begins near the end of World War I and is set in the south.

I really liked the book. It made me think alot about race and diversity.

White people treated Richard horribly. He was never beaten badly by a white person, but they treated him less than human. In every way possible.

I hope that people aren’t treated like that anymore anywhere in America. I know people are jerks to each other, but I hope that race is not a reason to treat someone like crap.

There is a lot more diversity here in Western Montana than I ever saw in Wyoming. But there are not alot of African Americans, so I can’t really say how they are treated. I guess even if there where, I couldn’t say how they are treated. Seeing is one thing but experiencing is another.

The book made me sad over all. America has a messed up history. We as a country have done and continue to do some crappy things.

On a positive note, I thought it was great how my proffesor picked this book for us to read, because it goes so well with what we are doing in class. It really helps you get a sense of the times. You getter a better sense than simply having the teacher tell you about it.

So, if you are looking for an intersting book read Black Boy.

Tanja Frieden, of Switzerland, won the gold medal in the womens snowboard cross yesterday.

Lindsey Jacobellis, of the USA, placed second and recieved the silver medal.

Lindsey was in the lead most of the race. About 100 yards from the finish line she hit a jump, got a ton of air, and then landed on her butt.

Tanja passed her and won.

The thing that bugs me about all of it is the way people talked to Lindsey afterward. Like ooohhh poor girl, she only got the silver.

I am sure she wanted the gold and Tanja probably knows if Lindsey wouldn’t have fell, she would have taken the silver.

But, still, it is a frickin silver medal in the olympics. Do any of the sports casters have silver medals? Do any of us have silver medals? No, I don’t think so.

I say Congratulations to you Lindsey. For you accomplished something many of us never will.

I used to hate Valentines Day. Especially in highschool. I would see all the popular girls getting candy and flowers and I was getting nothing.

After highschool I started to like it. Probably because that is when I started getting stuff.

But it is not just the getting stuff, it is having someone say, hey I care.

Since I never got stuff in highschool, the valentines I got later meant more to me. I can recall every valentine I have ever got and who I got them from.

In fact, I sort of lied, I did get a valentine before highschool.

In kindergarden we learned about Valentines Day form Mrs. Green. My kindergarden teacher.

The next day I came to school and I was sitting in the playground. My best friend Sonja walked up to me grinning and handed me a beautiful red heart cut out of contrsuction paper. It had silver glitter on it and said “Be my Valentine” I looked at her confused.

“It is from Nick Jones” she said.

I remember being so excited. Nick Jones was the cutest boy in class.

I could tell he had had his older sister or mom help him with it. It was too perfect for a boy to make. But I didn’t care. I had gotten a personal valentine from him.

Yesterday I got a dozen roses from my perfect man, who despite cowpokes advice, I will be keeping.

Some people may say Valentines Day is just a dumb holiday created by card companies, but I think those people are just bitter cause they aren’t getting anything.

Fortunately for those people the day is done and now they can look forward to the next great holiday. I think it is St. Patricks day.

A Holiday to get drunk over. Who can’t appreciate that?

Ahh there is nothing like a nice visit to the emergency room at 10:30 pm. Especially after a day of puking your guts out. Now that is what I call a great Sunday.

Yesterday I could not stop getting sick. So finally after taking medicine and having nothing work I had Chris call the Dr.

Come to the emergency room he said.

Just becuase you think it is an emergency, doesn’t mean that everyone at the hospital will.

When we got there, all I wanted to do was lay down, but they make you throw up a few more times and wait about a half hour before they get to you.

I finally got to a room and they began sticking me with needles and hooking me up to machines.

I don’t mind that stuff, hook me up to all you want just make me stop puking.

At about midnight I started feeling better. They gave me three bags of fluid and ani-nausea stuff.

Then they had to run tests and that takes forever.

Chris was wonderful and patient, untill about 3:30 am. We were still there and I was starting to feel sick again. I just wanted to go home and sleep.

Chris started getting really crabby and tired. I wanted him to be able to sleep too.

Eventually the Dr. came back and said I could go. I didn’t care how I was feeling anymore, I just wanted to get home.

As soon as we got home I got sick again. I thought Chris was going to freak out. I told him I was fine and to go to sleep.

Thankfully he did. I was also able to get to sleep and start feeling better. Still totally zapped of energy, but not puking on myself.

Chris was super crabby today. Now he is sick. I would rather myself be sick than him. He is crabby when he is sick. I always tell him that crabby is my role, patience and kindess is his.

I guess it is only fair that I switch sometimes.