Just Read....

 

 Long story short - I read this book recently.  I found the whole story very intriguing - I saw this woman once on 20/20, which is what made me pick it up at the booksale in the first place.

Basically, in short, this woman remember every single day of her adult (and teenage) life.  She can recall everything from every given day.  Aside from the oddness of this - what I find most odd is that she can identify the day of the week and the specific date of every event.  As if it's not enough that she, specifically, remembers ever day - I can think of many days of my life in which I remember what happened, but never even thought about what date it was and was sometimes confused at times about what day of the week it was.  

Anyhow - scientifically - brain scans prove this woman is, scientifically, different.   I can remember random details from random events - like what everyone ordered at dinner from a random girls' night out (maybe this is my four years of waitressing coming into play).  I once corrected a close friend about the date in which she lost her virginity (and she conceded I was correct).  However, I cannot touch this woman.

There were a lot of random tidbits throughout this story that sparked my interest - the fact that this woman was never heavy but her mother constantly tormented her about her weight, the fact that she met her husband in an internet chat room (before meeting someone online was trendy), the fact that she's a young widow who has her dead husband's, uh, genes preserved so she can one day have his baby....  Sigh.

I am most curious, however, if there is anyone else out there like her.  She is the only documented case of this circumstance - I wonder if there are others.  Hmm.  

 

Frenemies - Part One

So, as usual, I have been reading a book.  It is book #8 of the year - I am getting back on track to my goal of reading 12 books this year.  Woohoo!

Anyhow, the book is entitled "Friend or Frenemy?" and it reads much like a magazine (which makes sense because one of the writers works for Cosmo), especially with the font variations and layout.  It offers up some hilarious observations about friend relationships.  I am not sure if this book is supposed to offer up some advice or has a thesis of any kind; however, it sure was a pleasure to read.  I do realize that MY readers might not be all that interested in hearing my personal detailed literary critique of every book I pick up, so I will save that for amazon.  :)

Anyhow, there is an interesting point from the book I'd like to touch on.    The authors talk about dealing with the end of a friendship; however, not just drifting apart, losing friends to marriage or geographical distance, or major fallouts, but also actually 'breaking up with a friend'.  They go on to give advice on how to do so (pick a neutral place to do it, not a location you frequented together during the friendship, 'it's not you, it's me', etc.).

Please correct me if I'm wrong - this NEVER happens this way.  I believe that my celebrity crush (if you've been reading this blog carefully, you know who this is) outlined in his early career that this just CAN'T be done.  Friendships can end for many reasons, but it's usually the result of some form of an angry confrontation ("I never want to speak to you again!")  or casual drifting (which can sometimes be an intentional way of ending a friendship with someone whom you no longer want in your life). 

However, the conversation we have to end a failing relationship - "it just isn't working, this isn't what I want right now, we don't have enough in common, it's not you, it's me, etc etc." - is never used to end a friendship, no?  I think mostly because we can break up with people we do genuinely like, just not romantically, and we can use the old 'let's just be friends'.  Cause, in theory, you can only be dating one person, but you can be friends with many.  If you don't want to be friends with someone, it's not that you don't like them enough, it's that you don't like them AT ALL.  

I'll elaborate more in a later post (I'm getting the message that people don't like long rambling posts), but I am just wondering - food for thought (I don't understand that expression either) - has anyone out there ever broken up with a friend? (without it being a major blowout)