Monday, October 02, 2006

My Review of the Not-So-Amazing Race

Remember last week, when I said that there wasn't a whole lot going on in The Amazing Race, but at least I had some stories about horse accidents and stampeding wildebeasts? Well, this week there wasn't a whole lot that happened again, and unfortunately, there were no horses or wildebeasts, either. So it's sorta hard to write a spicy re-cap when there's not much spicy-ness other than two hot boys named James & Tyler...but I'll try.

The race kicked off with teams learning they were heading to Vietnam. This was a big deal for coalminer David, as his father served for the U.S. army in the Vietnam war. And you could tell that Dave was pretty overwhelmed for the whole leg of the race. However, his wife Mary apparently wasn't in the mood to sympathize with him. Dave was in the midst of sharing some of his dad's stories of his time in Nam with the camera when Mary butted in and ordered him to pay attention to where he was going. Dave was so flabbergasted at her rudeness that he couldn't even utter an intelligible sentence. He muttered some gibberish and just kept on driving.

In the meantime, Duke and Lauren were trying to figure out how to pay their cabbie, as this leg of the race provided them with no cash. With only $11 U.S. dollars to their name (and a rule stipulating that they could not beg for any more money), Lauren was certain they were heading for a stay in some dingy Vietnamese prison. It didn't help that they picked up some local dimwit, who had the cab take her to her brother's house before taking the racers on to their destination. They lucked out with a cabbie who accepted their misfortune, took their 11 bucks, and wished them well with a handshake. Either that, or he had no idea what they were talking about and thought they were gone in search of more money. He may still be waiting there for them to come back with the rest of the fare. Who knows.

At the roadblock, one team member had to ride around on a bicycle wearing a silly Vietnamese cone hat, and selling flowers to the people on the streets. They had to make $80,000 in Vietnamese dollars - which apparently equals about $5 U.S. And we thought our dollar sucked. Ha! The challenge didn't seem particularly difficult, aside from the few people with sticky fingers who thought they could just grab the flowers and run off without paying. Those Vietnamese rebels! It really pissed off the little gay guy. And Erwin or Godwin, whichever one of those Asian brothers has the long hair, seemed to have the most difficulty out of anyone. Odd, considering he was the only one who looked like he should know how to do it. But that's just being stereotypical of me. My apologies. And by the way, who names their kids Erwin and Godwin? Like, is that some kind of mean joke? Poor lads.

At the detour, teams had the option of either making a bunch of coal blocks, a traditional source of fuel in Nam, or puttering away at constructing some bird cages. Coalminer Dave thought this challenge was made for him until he arrived and realized Vietnam's coal is mud, whereas the U.S's coal is hard. One's familiarity with coal really didn't make any difference in the challenge - all they had to do was whack it into this thing that looked a lot like the machine my mom makes riced potatoes with at Christmastime. (If you've never had riced potatoes with gravy, you must try it...mmmmm....) The challenge didn't seem that difficult to me. But apparently it was for that jackass Rob, who kept whining that he was going to pass out. I was glad his girlfriend didn't baby him up too much - sort of retribution for how insensitive he was last week when she was knocked off her horse by a tree branch.

Unfortunately for Duke and Lauren, they got separated from the group while looking for the coal place and they stumbled accidentally upon the birdcage-making station. They chose to stay there and work at that, but the task was a tedious one, and it put them behind. They did have a shot at it after the gay guys made an almost-fatal error by hitching a ride at some point on some motorbikes. It was stated in their route information that for safety reasons, they were not allowed to ride motorbikes in Vietnam. They arrived on the mat in second place, where Phil slapped them with a half-hour penalty, and they had to stand off to the side while every other team landed on the mat. It got kinda tense towards the end, but Duke and Lauren just didn't make it in time, so the gay guys dropped to last place while the father-daughter team was eliminated.

My hot boys weren't in the spotlight much this week, and I'm not sure I like their idea to team up with the Beauty Queens and Rob & Kimberly, but they did finish in second place (thanks to the gay guys screw-up), so I can't complain much. I do, however, wish this race would get a little more exciting. So far the most drama we've had to face is how much more Sarah's failing hydraulic knee can withstand, and how much more of that dumbass Rob Kimberly can withstand.... Ooooo, the suspense!!

One last thing before I wrap 'er up: Big birthday wishes going out to a regular reader of the blog...SHARON! Hope you have a good one, m'dear! Eat some cake for me!

Take care, gang!

8 comments:

Jill said...

Sara - This message is in reply to what you wrote on yesterday's blog. Yes, around the time you called, I was actually on the verge of tears, for no apparent reason. I couldn't tell you about it because I was sitting right beside mom, and anytime I talk about being in a rut they all jump all over me about being silly. It was just how I felt, though. You know how I am. I know it never lasts long, but by Sunday afternoon I was just feeling awful about everything. Anyways, I did the whole thing where I try to remind myself how lucky I am and how grateful I should be for everything...it sort of worked. Actually, talking to you made me feel better too. So I'm back to normal now anyways, so it's all good, and I'm looking forward to all the fun stuff ahead. OH - And I didn't tell Stacy yet about Graham's idea. The two of them can start planning Friday night...haha!
Oh, and you also mentioned another school shooting. If I was ever going to get depressed, it should be about something like that. Those poor little girls. I don't understand how screwed up someone can be to do something like that. And the fact that it was in a one-room Amish school - like, jeez. It just seems to be happening in some unlikely places...
Anyways, better get back to work! Talk to ya later!

Anonymous said...

You're right Jill - Amazing Race has got to get a little more intersting. Oh well. Tonight is Super Bingo for Ricky and I - haha - lastnight we didn't win :( - tonight maybe we'll win something, seeing how its like 10 cards and 3 hours long, at least its in the comfort of our home. We'll have to talk about the "plan" for the car rally. Poor Ricky is a little confused about the upcoming events. He thought that he would be out drinking both nights next weekend because the ball bannquet and car rally - i corrected him and told him that the ball banquet was this Friday - then he thought it was this Saturday that we were in the car rally - I think I explained it to him and I think he has the dates ok now. Anyways hope everything has a good day today - yea the school shooting was in Pennsylvania i believe - an Amish school - a guy went in and told the boys to leave, tied the girls up and shot and killed 3, injured 7 others and then turned the gun on himself - drama drama drama - i just don't get why they kill themselves afterwards - they go in thinking of shooting up a school just to finish themselves off - well leave the others alone and do it yourself. Oh well. Anyways again, have a good day!

Anonymous said...

Good Recap of the race Jill! Thanks for the birthday wish. Although it's not off to a good start. I am sick as a dog. Sore throat, no voice, chest pains and head congestion. Kind of reminds me of my last birthday! Friggen cold! Last night I watched 7th Heaven. I love that show, but it's a little dull right now... I didn't stay up to see the season premiere of the Bachelor because 1. my bed time is 9:00 and 2. he's SO UGO!
I finally made a Dr.'s appointment so I get a day off in a couple off weeks for that.

Jill I found a new radio Station... 88.5 FM it's LIVE is the name of it. It's kind of like XFM but plays a lot more of everything old and new. I stream it online all the time now!

Well I guess that all. And I did hear about the Amish School shooting this morning. That's really too bad. I thought the Amish were such peaceful people!

Sharon

Anonymous said...

Wasn't the shooter an milk truck driver? I don't think he was Amish himself. I watched Primetime a few weeks ago, and they had a story about the Amish people. A girl was being raped by her brothers but she couldn't do anything about it. She told her mom but she just ignored her, and said that they confessed to it at church so they were forgiven, but they kept on raping her. They followed her to the barn and to the outhouse. She would lock herself in her room, but the hinges were on the outside of the door so her brother would just take the door off to get in and rape her. I think her older brother did it like 100 times, and her younger brother did it 25 or something. Then she found out that another younger brother was doing it to her younger sister too, so she went to the police. The whole town looked down on her then, and she had to leave the community. There was a trial, and her brothers confessed and were charged, but the whole Amish community was crying for the boys because they were going to jail, they didn't feel sorry at all for the girl. She joined the army after she left and she was smoking and wearing makeup, and she got her driver's licence. I always thought that the Amish were so peaceful too, but now I wonder if it's like that in every Amish community and it's kept quiet or is accepted. It was a pretty interesting story. Just thought I'd share that with you folks. Oh, Chad shot his buck last night, finally. Only a little guy though, just 2 little spikes sticking out of his head. I saw him in the field last Friday, we were driving really close to him and he didn't even move, kind of a stupid looking deer, I guess that's why he got shot! Now maybe I will get to see my boyfriend again. :)

Jill said...

Hey PK! Wow - that's quite the story about the Amish girl who was being raped. How horrible. I read a story on the Net today about how it's very rare for the outside world to infringe on the Amish community, but it has happened in the past. One case said two Amish men were arrested for buying cocaine from biker gangs and selling it to children in their community. In the case of the school shooting, the man was not Amish, and they say he wasn't targeting them specifically, just young girls. And because he knew the school was not secure due to Amish custom that dictates they do not use phones or other modern technology, it made it easy for him to act out his revenge. It really is sad - those poor girls. I read that the families have already forgiven the gunman. I don't know how you can forgive someone for such an awful act. They are a stronger kind of person than I am.
Oh, congrats to Chad on his buck! And congrats to you for getting your boyfriend back! lol
Sharon - that sucks that you're sick! I had the cold last week, it wasn't pleasant. And I'll have to check out that new radio station! And also, I'm probably going to recap the Bachelor tonight...I don't know if I'm going to keep watching it, though...I really didn't enjoy it! Anyways, hope you're feeling better and that you have a good birthday!

Anonymous said...

Congrats to Chad on his little buck - was it with the bow? You may have your boyfriend back now but will he be back out in November and hunting deer with the rifle? That's when Ricky goes. He has a bow and usually went bow hunting but not anymore. He also partridge hunts...yippee!

Have a wonderful evening everyone!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, he shot it with the bow. No, he can't shoot another one with the rifle. But his brother Scott still needs to shoot one, and his brother Todd only hunts with the black powder gun and the rifle, so Chad will still need to be out there looking for them. You're not allowed, but I think sometimes you shoot one if you see one and use the other guy's tag. But at least I will have him on the weekends now, hopefully he will only go out during the week when I'm not around.

Anonymous said...

Well I think I have heard before about Amish ppl being kinda different- like being mean to the girls, and everything bad that happens is kept a secret.
Pk nice to hear from you. Congrats on having your boyfriend back...but sorry I have no congratulations for Chad and his buck! LOL.
Sharon- sucks to be sick today...are you coming to ball banquet Friday night?
Sara