RyRySays

Ok, so the whole James Frey thing. I understand how O is pissed. I would be. He lied to her face and used her name to make millions. (Pamie says it better) That's not the point. The point is he lied. He went around saying that this was his life and telling people that 12 step programs were dumb.

There is a huge difference between something that is true and something that is based in truth. I am in law school, that's something that you learn. Use the facts you've got to make your case. You the law you've got to win. See how your facts can be turned around and used against you. Manipulation of facts and truth is life. You embellish to get a laugh or a tear or a reaction of any kind.

But if you're making money off something by lying, it's called fraud. In North Carolina, the elements for fraud are that person knowingly or recklessly make a false representation with the intention that someone rely on it leading to their injury when they do.

James Frey knowingly told lies about being in jail etc. so that his book would be more interesting so more people would buy it. He told people to stop trusting in addiction programs to help themselves. People relied on what he said and some people were apparently injured.

He shopped the book around as fiction and switched it to the "truth" when nobody would buy it as a novel. He lied to Oprah to her face on a program watched by millions of people so that she would endorse him so that he could become a millionaire. And that's the problem. The book would have been just as good with bits of reality and bits of fiction combined. Look at Dan Brown's books. There is a hint of truth that people seek to connect themselves to the book. But it's a story. And people know it's a story while they're reading it. Frey could have admitted to embellishing the facts the first time he was on Oprah and she probably would have continued to leave her seal on the book jacket and then he'd make bank on his next one.

The point is, people don't like being duped. It makes you feel stupid which in turn pisses you off. He was an idiot to think he could get away with it for so long and deserved to get yelled at.

First of all- Congrats Mathios family on the newest one!

Next, I have discovered grape Smirnoff and it is tasty. Like soda. But with alcohol.

Tomorrow is my birthday and KT and I were discussing that we are old. And it's true. And that's not fun. I always thought I'd be married, in a house, with 2 kids by now. And, umm, I have a dog. And a chair that I actually bought- a cute one. And new dishes from my momma. Square ones.

My brother and sister had a debate about whether or not they should make me a cake for my birthday. Apparently, the cake lost. Although knowing my sister, I'm sure she will try to change his mind. But no biggie b/c Becky and Monica made me cupcakes and a cake respectfully. Because they are cool.

And I've decided that I am scared to death about actually finding a job and working so now I must come up with another graduate degree so that I don't have to actually get a job. How hard is dental school?

I'm sure you've seen the new Wendy's commercials where people think of prices in terms of dollar menu items. I've thought about this for awhile but always forgot to comment on it, but my cousin had an away message up today which made me remember.

When you tell someone they look like a million crispy chicken nuggets, you're not exactly paying them a compliment. Nuggets come 5 to a $1 pack. I know this because Layla loves them and I sometimes buy her those as a treat because they fit nicely into the Kong.

So what you're really saying is, you look like $200K. I mean that's not too bad in the grand scheme of things, it's better than $2 or whatever. But still, you're not exactly saying they look like a million either.

Last weekend I was in Raleigh because my brother and Matt wanted my girl instincts in helping them make their apartment look "more professional". That meant we went to a discount furniture store for Jeff to buy bed rails, for Matt to talk a guy down to $60 for a coffee table (as their last one was infested with roaches) and for me to covet a light green suede sectional sofa with one end as a chaise. Still covet. Yum.
Anyways, then we were off to Pier One and Target. That ended up with a side table, candles, incense, shelves, and a plant, which they tried to eat.
On the way to one of the stores, my brother said something like, "Andy is all about the anchovies" (so I don't remember what he said, it had a lot of a's in it) and I commented on his nice use of alliteration. Matt, who was driving, turned, looked at me and said, "Onomatopoeia, pow" and punched me in the leg all in one motion.

So I watched a "movie' tonight which was the cheesiest thing I think I've ever seen. It was so awful that it was basically awesome. And that movie was...High School Musical! It stars the slightly annoying girl from Suite Life of Zack and Cody and the cut who desperately needs a haircut from Summerland. Yes, I'll be 26 next week and yes, I watch Disney channel movies. Do you really have a problem with that?

See, I've been a fan of almost all of the Disney channel movies. Let's go back shall we?
My first foray into the Disney Channel Original Movies was Parent Trap II. An annoying red haired girl tried to get Hayley Mills to marry her dad. Hayley was first endeared to me in the first Parent Trap and then as Miss Bliss on Saved By the Bell. She then shot that all to hell when I saw her in the musical "King and I" where she played Anna and butchered the role. It was horrible. I still have nightmares about the singing.

The came Anne of Avonlea which was great, except that I liked the ones that PBS did better. I did read all the books in that series- there's like 42. I moved on to the Emily of New Moon series too. Girl could write.

I don't recall watching Danny the Champion of the World, but I sure as heck read it. RIP Roald Dahl.

Then there is one of my all time favorites- Brink! A roller blader (is that how to spell that?) who is a "Soul Skater" and his gang of dorky friends compete against Val and the "sell outs". I don't know why I enjoy it as much as I do. Maybe because Pup & Suds sponsors the team.

Johnny Tsunami - surfer from Hawaii moves where there is snow and learns to snowboard with Jett Jackson. His crazy grandpa calls him Puna and goes "Eeee!" I actually bought a copy of this for my cousin because she too loves the Disney movies.

Then comes Alley Cats Strike - Jett Jackson is in this one too- as an all star sports guy who befriends some dorks to learn how to bowl to get the golden apple. Yes, all that was true. Watch it. This one wasn't the best, but the shirts were fun.

Next we go to Motocrossed where a girl dirt biker pretends to be her brother and breaks the gender barrier of motorcross. Excellent. My cousin and I saw "Radio" together and knew one of the guys and finally placed him because of his role in Motocrossed.

Then there is Double Teamed with twin basketball players. It wasn't my favorite, but it was alright.

There is also the Lizzie McGuire movie with pre-horse face Hilary Duff and Cadet Kelly- also pre-faux chompers. The Lizzie McGuire movie almost doesn't count as it was released as a real movie and not just on TV, but I'm including it because it is cheese at it's finest. Italian boy, geeky friend who helps out and then falls for the girl who eventually falls for him, highjinks, mean teacher, plot twist; check, check, check, check and ehh I saw that one coming.

Next is Eddie's Million Dollar Cook-off. A boy likes to cook- gasp! And he makes some kind of chicken bbq sauce or something with grape jelly I think. It's just like all of the other ones. And yet, still great.

Last is Go Figure- a "twirl girl" learns how to be a team player when forced to play on the girls hockey team to get a scholarship at a school with a great figure skating coach. Her brother is a hockey player and feels left out and then makes a robot to war with the zamboni while his sister is trying to...wait for it...play in the game and skate in the competition at the same time! Hilarity ensues.

But seriously, cheesy Disney or ABC family channel (tomato, tomato - that doesn't work as well written) movies are great. Especially when you are feeling blue. So rock on Disney movies, rock on.

Are there any other awesomely cheesy movies I should watch?

Today I gave my first closing. True, it was in a courtroom with a jury box of law students, but it was still cool. My professors told me that I done did good. One of them told me that because I am tall (which, even in 1 1/2 inch heels, I was maxing out at 5'5", so I think "tall" is a new euphemism for "fat") I need to make bigger hand gestures and move around the room more. But my flow and eye contact were right on- so that's good. I'm not as crappy a speaker as I thought.

I woke up at 9:45 to let the dog out. I love how my dog does not enjoy waking up before 10. Normally she would have slept in longer except that we had a tornado warning last night and there was a ton of rain when we normally go out for the super late night pee-run. Layla won't pee in the rain.

Went back to bed and got up again around 11. Then I went to judge a mock trial competition for undergrads. It was actually pretty cool. I got a talkative bunch and they wanted to know stuff about me and had questions about law school and wanted a lot of constructive critiquing. They also knew all the evidence really well and had tons of objections and stuff that I had to rule on. It was a little bit sad because these kids who had no law school experience were objecting left and right and I had no idea what was going on. I told them afterwards that sometimes I knew what the correct ruling was, sometimes I went with the "wrong" answer on purpose to see what they'd do with it and sometimes I was picking stuff out of thin air. Then again, they were using a made up set of rules and we were instructed not to use the federal rules. Not that it would have mattered much as I probably would have come up with the same basic answers.

After that I watched the Parent Trap (the one with Lindsey Lohan) and cried, Step Mom, and cried and X-Men and almost cried but didn't (hey the part where Wolverine gives Rogue his dogtag is sweet).

Then I started reading Saturday because this site had a whole bunch of book lists and most, if not all, listed it as a must read. So I am taking critics advice. Even if Oprah can be wrong, all book people can't mess up- right?

I am going to bed early because I have to write a closing argument to present on Monday and I need to practice it (ok write it) before class. Plus do the rest of my homework. And go grocery shopping. And do laundry. And take a nap. Guess which one of those tasks will actually get done.

Maybe you read the last post and wondered why it was titled "My feet hurt". It would have made sense if I hadn't been tired while writing it, thus leaving out the 2 paragraphs explaining why my feet hurt.

So, after I tried on the dress and decided it looked like a black potato sack, I tried on a bridesmaid's dress I had from a friend's wedding a few years ago (Good lord, I think they celebrate their 3rd anniversary in May- so fast!) to make sure it still fit. As I was trying to hang it back up in the closet, I tripped over a pair of shoes and fell into the closet. While trying to regain my balance, I somehow stepped on my right foot with my left foot and knocked myself back over. My right foot was stuck under a hamper.

So basically I strained my left ankle and stepped on the arch of my right foot. And that's why they hurt. My left one is ok, and was ok after about an hour. My right arch, on the inside of my foot, has a small bruise. But it was warm enough today to wear flip-flops so I didn't have anything pressing on it and I'm sure it won't hurt by tomorrow.

Moral of the story...I'm a klutz.

Today I got my order from Old Navy - $5 shipping rocks! I got this dress because I thought maybe I could wear it somewhere. Not that I ever wear dresses, but I figured it was simple and clean lined and would look cute.

Not so much. You pretty much have to have an hour glass figure to wear stuff like that. I have the boobs to pull it off, but not a narrow enough waist. Or my torso is too long. Something's just not right and so it looks like I'm wearing a giant potato sack. Which sucks because it's on sale and because the skirt part of it looked good and made my legs looks cute. Most dresses make my legs look shorter than they are.

So today I wore boy shorts. Some boy shorts fit nicely and are actually more comfortable than regular underwear. Others are, well, not so good. The day started off with a wedgie before I even put my pants on. Thus I knew I was in for some problems. I basically forgot about it until about midday. That's when I had to pee for the first time that day (I don't drink enough water). After that, instead of the perma-wedgie, the boy shorts decided they'd had enough and began to fall. Now you can't just reach down your pants and hike them up in the middle of class so I tried the wriggle. This is similar to when you have a wedgie that you want to get out. That just made them slide lower. Then I had to talk to some people before I could leave school. At this point, my underwear were below my ass. When I got home, they were at about mid-thigh. So here's my question: Would you rather have a wedgie all day, or have your underwear slide down your butt?

Which brings me to my second topic. Has anyone forgotten they were wearing underwear/didn't remember to pull them down and peed through your underwear? Because my mother has, more than once. So have some of the ladies she works out with and various other friends and relatives. I have never done this. It's not like they were in a car and couldn't pull off so they peed themselves because they had to, oh no: They couldn't feel the underwear. Does your ass lose feeling when you hit 40 or something?

Someone please tell me what is up with Hilary Duff's face? She was so cute in Lizzie McGuire. Then she got her teeth done and somehow her entire jawline was deformed. She needs to get it back. It seriously looks like she has dentures that are a size or two too large for her face and so she has to jut her chin out to fit them in. Poor poor Hilary.

Layla has a tendency to run away. She always comes back, normally within 30-45 minutes. If you chase her, she won't come back unless you're in the car. In September, her tags broke off her collar at my cousin's house. She mailed them back to me, but they broke through the envelope and are gone. Her "G" tag too. I replaced her name tag right after Thanksgiving.

Tonight we went on a walk and I had her on a pincher collar to help train her not to pull on the leash. The collar slipped and she tore off down the road near a "main" street (I say "main" because more than 10 cars drive there an hour). I went down the road in the car to try and track her down near some woods, but she wasn't there. Over 2 hours passed when I got a call from Christine. She had Layla in her car at her job across the street from where Layla slipped the collar. She said a lady screamed and Layla freaked out and almost got hit by a car before she turned towards Christine. Christine keeps dog food in her car because she works at a shelter as well. Christine was my guardian angel tonight. God, please do a little something extra for her. I wish I had asked which shelter she worked at so that I could at least have made a donation, but I didn't think about it until I got back home.

Sometimes we forget there are great people out there and sometimes we forget that small miracles happen everyday. Tonight I got my miracle in the form of Christine. Don't overlook your miracles and don't give up the opportunity to be someone else's.

Has anyone else noticed that when she's dancing at the end of Center Stage, Jodie Sawyer looks an awful lot like Jennie Garth?

The sugar and salt scrubs from Bath & Body Works are awesome. I especially love the Moonlight Path Scent. Peony is pretty good too as are some of the aromatherapy smells. I don't like lotions etc that smell like fruit or pudding.

I am excited about the new television watching that will go on in 2006. Right now my viewing schedule is as follows:
Monday- Wildfire; Gauntlet 2
Tuesday- Gilmore Girls; House; Meet the Barkers
Wednesday- One Tree Hill; Project Runway
Thursday- The OC; Everwood
Friday- TBD
Saturday- Random
Sunday- If Housewives gets better I'll keep watching; maybe Grey's Anatomy

Some comments about the shows: Junior Davis is hot. Meet the Barkers is awesome. I love watching them because they are so weird that it's almost normal. I hope Andre gets cut soon because he is annoying. Nick rules. Marissa needs to go away and so does Johnny. Ephram needs a haircut and I love Bright- still. The WB needs to stop using the term "fresh" when saying they have a new episode airing. It's creepy.

I am also looking forward to "Ice Skating with the Stars" because I am hoping Uncle Joey drops Nancy Kerrigan on her head. That would be awesome.

And as always shows like The Family Guy, That 70s Show and Dog will be watched when I am able. The amount of shows should clue you in to why I don't have TiVo. I would watch TV all day. And that would be fine with me except for the fact that I have to study in order to make good grades so that I can find a job. Hopefully a job that will allow me to watch obscene amount of TV and comment about it. That would be awesome.

I am seriously trying to think about school. I did my work for tomorrow and my stomach is already churning. I need to remember to buy notebooks. College ruled.

I told you I'd be putting more things on her head. It's so much fun! I tried to get a picture of her whipping it off, but my camera is a pos so I couldn't. I suppose I can't complain too much as it was free.

So my New Year's Eve was pretty uneventful. I went to my brother's apartment in Raleigh so I wouldn't be sitting alone. Jeff, Matt and I went to a bar/best sandwich shop around 10 for dinner and got hats and glowing stickers and random crap like that. There was a decent band playing, but for some reason they stopped at 11. The boys didn't want to stick around for another hour to watch the ball drop so we went home and watched TV. I made Jeff switch over to the ball and Regis and Jillian Barbrie were a second too slow. Dumbasses. The giant ball is behind you- look out the window. Then we watched Mystery, Alaska.

So that marks the second year in a row where I didn't kiss anyone not related to me on New Year's Eve. I guess that's a goal for next year. Hope everyone's 2006 is filled with laughter!