The United Fraternities and Soroieties of the Cast

Membership is simple: Break a castable bone.This of course leaves out toes, ears, and most face bones. Anything else is fair game. As long as the bone is fractured or broken and there is a predominate cast on it, you can join one of these Greek societies.

This Fraternity/Soroity comes with the same membership like applications that other Greek organizations come with. First is the initial application. This can be done in several ways as long as the end result is a broken bone with a cast on it. Some are victims, I mean applicants, of circumstance: They break their bones in car accidents. Some are heroic applicants: They break an arm by allowing the beam of a building to fall on them instead of the innocent child or puppy that the beam could have fallen on. There are double heroic points if the potential disaster involved both children and puppies. Others won't take much thought to their application process. In fact, not much thought is involved at all: These are the dare devils; the stunt doers; the adrenaline seekers. These are the people cwhose parents looked at them at birth and knew instantly the little cute child in their arms would, at some later date, mount some angry bull, fly through the air and land on a completed application to join the fraternity or soroiety of the Cast.

Folowing the application comes hell week. Real men and women take on hell week in the summer. Weak applicants do it in the spring. Hell week consists of having x-rays where the x-ray tech has you place your broken bone into positions that would have hurt, even if your bone wasn't broken, all in the name of getting the best shot. This is followed by a doc, usually of the Emergency Room variety, constantly pushing on your hurt area to confirm that it actually does hurt, before puting the cast on.

After this exchange, Hel week is ready to move into the second phase. If a leg is broken, you get to learn how to put only 15 pounds on that bone when in actuality you weigh 145 pounds. If it is a broken arm or WRIST or hand, you get to learn how to do the most mundane things, like tying your shoes or washing your hair, withonly one hand. These activities are further complicated by the increased energy required for these tasks thus making you sweat and making the skin under your cast itch.

As Hell week wraps up, the final test of Hell week is a patience test. Unless you're still in junior high school, most of your days aren't spent with people randomly coming up to you with a permanet marker in hand asking to write on your arm. However, as your last test of hell week, this is exactly what will happen. Like a collection of random tattoos by non-artistic people, your cast will soon be a mosiac of your patience.The patience test comes frrom people writing slowly, misspelling words and by them twisting your cast in ways not even the x-ray tech dared twist you. You must wait for these sadistic people to stop. After this, your Hell week is over.


Mebership does come with priveledges. For example, you are different than those who have never broken a bone before. You have that experience over them. Additionally, you have the right to seek out other people with casts and tell them embellished, exaserated stories of how you got your broken bone, what 8 million things went wrong while you had it on (including losing your job, losing your signifgant other, or you being convicted of a crime and being sent to prison because everyone assumed you were the one armed-man), and then finally being able to relate how long you were actually in the cast and then adding 2 months (or 2 years depending on how guilble your pledge is).

The best privledge is: Once a member, always a member. From now until the day you die you can look new Pledges in the eye, glance at their cast and proclaim "Oh that's nothing. I rescued 1,000 people from a burning building before the structure fell apart on mer, breaking my arm in 102 different places. I happened to live on the equator at the time and spent my summer down their recuperating. I'm a better person for it. You go that riding a handcrank cycle? That's nothing!"

Irony, $$, stats, and English

I was dipping around on myspace today. (Yes I know - I have a 15 page essay I need to proofread and I have a ton of Stats work to to, but I needed a mental break)

While I was there I ran across a group called Pageant 2006. I joined up of course. While I was there, I ran across a picture of this guy. He's a year older than me. My ex-girlfriend KNJ was really weirded out by this guy. Really weirded out. Like she wouldn't stay in the same room with him, unless I was there.

Anyway, I found out he was married. Guess who he married. KNJ's 20 year old cousin. There is actually a pic on her myspace website of KNJ being a bridesmaid for Erin. That's what I call irony.


On a different note, I'm saddended to report that I'm poor again. I got a scholarship this semester. I still took out my normal amounts in student loans though, hoping to have a bunch of money at the end of the semester to do stuff with (Like go to Cali for a 3rd time this year. Or to go see Grandma, or to buy a car [shh...don't tell dad about that one...]).

So I was saddened to see that I'm still poor in this, the last few days of the semester. So I checked out my bank statements and was reminded of why I'm poor again:

$381 for my new Dell computer after my old computer up and died on me.
$90 for two new Epinepherine shots
$80 for Drugs
$78 Madison Memorial
$~50 Madison Memorial
$23 Madison's Doctor Service
$~80 Mountain Valley Imaging
$348 Madison Memorial
(the last 5 are from my ER trip.)

In Total: ~$1100

This is in addition to two items I purchased that I thought I had budgeted for (I didn't realize my ER trip was going to cost me so much):

Ipod Nano - $150
Rowing Machine - $130

Gee - no wonder I'm poor.


Oh well. At least I have my Stats book and essay to keep me happy.

Amish

Every now and then I consider becoming Amish. Mainly this thought comes to me when I think of getting dressed in the morning or when I'm considering asking a girl on a date.

As my sister will attest - I'm not the best well dressed boy. I have a tendency to wear what ever is next in the closet. My outfit doesn't nessesarily have to match or even be close to complimentary. I just wear what's next. The Amish lifestyle begs me to join it's ranks on clothe selection alone. Black pants, solid colored shirts, black hats and suspendors. what could be more simple than that. In fact, the women have it even better. I'm not known to date women that wear make-up. I hate make-up. I like my women "plain" or "natural." Whose more natural that an Amish girl? Solid colored dresses, no make-up, not a lot of jewlery. This in combination with bunned hair. How cute!

Dating would be another reason why I would enjoy being Amish. It's pretty simple. You marry whose in your village when they reach the age of 18 or 19 and the guy is in his early 20's. There isn't a lot of dating. Guys ask a girl and she says yes or no and then they get married in late October. Simple - and definately not expensive. None of this having to court her with flowers and candies and expensive rings. Just simple down home eenie meenie minie moe.

My last reason for being Amish would be because of the chosen career path. For a guy who has changed his major about 13 times in 2 years, having your occupation preassigned is a pretty cool idea. I'm going to grow hay, raise cattle and have a good old fashion barn raising every now and then. A little hard work and a little sweat, but in the end...no 13 majors to choose from.

However, as I looked over an Amish website yesterday, I was reminded of why I'm not Amish. Two major reasons occured. 1. I am scared of horses. 2. They have internet access on the farms which means no blogging. And what would life be like with out blogging?? It would be primative.
I'm glad I'm not Amish.

Forbidden Fruit

Yesterday I spent my afternoon with an amazing girl. I've known her since she was 3. I used to be her brother's best friend, but at about 17 that started to fade away and I really began to notice JM. We tried the dating thing 10 years ago, but we were in way different spots back that. Last night, after a trip to Mesa Falls and the Teton Dam (Pictures and a blog to follow), we came back to my place and watched a movie while I massaged her shoulders. I loved the softness of her skin. I just love being around her. But she doesn't see me as a potential. She's not going toward me.

In the activities office there is a girl who works for "Talent - Exploration." She is beautiful. She has a great personality. I just love talking with her and hearing her thoughts. She's mature yet can still have fun. She loves life and is living it. But I doubt she has even ever thought of me in any other terms but as the guy in the activities office.

Why is it that we often fall for the people that are just outside our reach? I'm not who I was last year. I know who I am and where I'm going with life. Yet still I can't snag that girl that makes my life. I must like forbidden fruit.

The Boot

I got my license on August 8^th 1995. In total I have been driving for 12 years. In those 12 years I’ve been pulled over twice. One of those times I was extremely lucky to have some one else travel by me going much faster so that just as the officer got off his motorcycle, he got right back on, pulled up along side of me (To tell me to slow down), and drove off after the other guy.

The other time I got pulled over I was a noise violation. My exhaust manifold was disconnected from my exhaust tail pipe. My truck would set off car alarms in parking lots simple by turning my truck on. The officer was nice enough to write me out a ticket and put my father’s name on it because my father was the sole proprietor of the truck (this would be my old truck…not my red one.)

In addition to NEVER getting a ticket, I have never been in a car accident that was my fault. I’m been rear-ended, side swiped, tapped, had a rock (about the size of my fist) hit my windshield, had a tire dent the side of my truck, and lastly fish-tailed my truck into one of those center divides that are on major freeways (by the way, those of you that question the BIG dent in the side of my truck – my dad did that by jack-knifing a u-haul trailer into the side of it). I have never even hit an animal or a jaywalker (though that is not to say I haven’t tried.). And lastly, unlike my brother, I have never purposely caused a stampede or scared livestock.

I am a good driver.

So imagine my surprise tonight. I took a friend of mine out for ice cream. After Ice cream was over (Which cost me a grand total of $1,67) I took her back to her apartment where we sat and talked for a while. We decided to go for a walk and we went out to my truck to get my sweatshirt. She lives at an apartment complex called Royal Crest. I would later find out that Royal Crest has a bad reputation for it’s parking administration. Sadly, I found out the hard way.

Attached to the front tire of my truck was a “boot.” For those of you that don’t know what a “boot” is, it is a C-clamp that clamps onto your front tire and can be locked. The clamp prevents you from driving any where (supposedly it tears of your tires, your rims, and your undercarriage.) – not that you would want to drive any where because if you do, there is a $500 fine for taking off with some security company’s security equipment.

How much do you think it would cost to get this taken off? Would you imagine $40? Yeah – neither would I. $40 for 30 minutes worth of parking. Not even San Francisco meter machines are that bad. But that is exactly what I got to pay tonight to have the boot taken off of my truck. Rachel has agreed to pay for our next Date and she promises it will be worth more than $40. She was very apologetic. I told her not to worry about it, but that to promise me to not let me park there ever again.

But for an Idaho adventure, this was definitely a first. I’ve never been booted. Not in Idaho or anywhere else for that matter.

The tearful Jelwry

I am not a fan of jelwery. (Before I get too far into this blog - I just want to remind you I can't spell. So I will probably spell that word ten different ways.)

I like rings, to a certain extent. Beyond that, I'm not a fan of jelwery, or for that matter any thing that really detracts from being with the girl. I hatet makeup because I like natural beauty. I hate bobbie pins and berrets because if you want to play with a girls hair you have to take them out of her hair first and often times they get caught on her hair and it ruins the moment of playing with her hair (especially if you were making out at the time). In fact I hate that particular item so much that when I moved Joh out of the apartment I used to share with him while I was dating KNJ, we found like 20 bobbie pins strewn across the apartment from when I would want to play with KNJ's hair. I realize there are times when a girls hair requires bobbie pins, but as soon as that time is over, away they go.

But I digress. I hate jewlry. I'm not sure where this hatred comes from except from the days when I used to be a lip whore and make out with a ton of girls (which I haven't really done in about 18 months) When you're making out with a girl and you kiss her ears, if she's wearing studded earings, it can poke your tounge. That hurts. If she's wearing a necklace and you are massageing her neck, you can get your hand tied up in her necklace and choke her. When you're holding hands and you have rings one and you want to give her an affectionate hand hold squeeze, you can hurt her fingers or yours. (I always have on this one ring my mom gave me. When KNJ & I held hands, it was always in the set of hands that niether of us had rings on.)

That said I had two occasions with jewlry today that that affected me. Siting in front of me today at tchurch was a girl with pearl earings and a pearl necklace. It made her look stunning (don't ask me why, but the dress she was wearing made me think she would look good pregnant, but that's atleast three years off for her). For me all her necklace did was bring back memories.

KNJ didn't want a wedding ring. She works with electricity and on ladders and with electrical equipment that could snag her ring and peal the skin off her finger. So for our weddingI was saving up to buy her a beautiful Pearl Necklace. This got me thinking about KNJ for the first time in about two months.

The second event of my bad jelwry day was when my friend "Mooch" (Her knick name for herself) was sitting next to me in church today. On her writst was a braclet of butterflies. My mother loved butterflies. She had butterfly earings, butterfly rings, butterfly necklaces and butterfly braclets. When ever I would ask my mom advice about what to buy a girl for Christmas or birthday the response was either butterflies or dolphins. Mooch saw me admiring her braclet and handed it to me. It only took a few seconds of holding it and watching the polished sea stones reflect in the light before I was crying. Such a simple piece of jelwry and I start crying. I hate crying in public. KNJ was the only person I ever really let watch me cry. But today, for a brief moment, tears streamed down my cheeck for the beautiful butterflies of days gone by.

On Sunday July 30th will be my mother's three year death date. I'm sure there are more crying fits on their way. If a simple hated piece of jewlry can do it...More of it is bound to come up.

Another biking trip

On Friday I picked up 3 of the adaptive bikes, MN and headed out to Steve's place for destination's unknown. I'm still on the hunt for good places to go riding on a bike. We originally went to Harriman State Park because Steve swore it had paved paths. I figured he was the local expert. He was wrong and there were no paved paths.

Next we headed up to Island Park. We found a bike path just north of the road for the Island Park Resevoir. We parked the truck and unloaded the bikes. I was on one of the Freedom Ryder hand cranks. MN was on the other. Steve took the Scraab (like this bike). This was MN's first time on an adaptive cycle, but being bored she decided to come along. It took her a little while to get into it, but eventually she was lapping me.

The bike path ran for about a mile before hooking up with the road leading to the resevoir. Actually, that was the road that led to the road that went to the Resevoir. We went for about a mile and a half on that road before taking a sharp left onto the road that led to the resevoir. Around us for that 1.5 miles was tall pine trees and crows. I saw a couple of smaller birds that were yellow in complection, but, unlike Josh, I have no earthly idea what they were. There were a lot of horse flies and other insects as well.

Once we took that sharp left on to the other road, we continued to have pine trees on our left, but on our right was a marsh. Cattails swayed in the slight breeze next to us. I kept seeing blackbirds with redheads, and it was a bright red: Red lipstick from a pretty girl, not dull red like ketchup. After about half a mile, the marsh opened up to the lake. The water looked sooo blue, I had almost forgot what that looked like. It looked like cool water as well. This road eventually put us right ontop of the Island Park Dam (note the pic in the right corner of the link). Just below the dam is a hydro-electric plant. I rested there for a little while watching the hydro dam work. Well - that and to let MN and Steve catch up. There is a spot to turn around just beyond the dam and we turned back then. All in all it was an 8 mile trip.

Next we loaded up the bikes and traveled out to "Mack's Inn" and Big Springs. Big Springs is the starting point of the Henry's Fork River. If you leave your truck at an LDS church in Mack's Inn (That's the actual name of the town), you can bike in 6 miles to this picnic/historical cabin spot. There is a bridge at the end of the 6 miles where you can watch the water begin to flow down to the Henry's Fork river and then eventually down to the Snake River. Standing on this bridge looking into the water was just freaking awesome. I saw 2-3 foot trout swimming just shy of being under the bridge. And the water was sooo clear, like clearer than any water I had ever seen. It was beautiful. I wish I had a camera to show you how clear the water was.

Additionally to the trout there was a moment for me to prove my City Kid awareness. MN is training to become a Park Ranger and Steve was born and raised here. So when we saw a creature swimming in the water they both laughed at me. At first I identified it as a beaver. Then as an otter. Steve and MN both agreed that it was something called a muskrat.

Anyway, the reason for the bridge and the trout and the picnic area (oh, and the very annoying rivergulls) was that fact that a German imigrant named John Sack used to live there. In the 1930's he hand built the cabin and built an aquaduct system that used the water coming from the spring to operate a water wheel that produced enough electricity to light his cabin. It is pretty awesome to see what he did. I think I'll go there again.

All in all it was a pretty good day. I look forward to biking there again (now if only I owned my own Freedom Ryder or had the tools to build one for myself - then I'd go on these adventures more often.).