This story is all about steroids. Chuck had a couple friends in highschool that were super duper into body building. They'd buy chunks of egg white and drive from Sacramento down to mexico to buy steroids. These friends of his were HUGE on the steroids and all protein diet. Chuck was mostly brought along to be contrast. Or so he says. I assume he'd largely be welcome most places with most people as he's a good hang. I wonder if he's ever hung out with Paul Holes. Can you imagine hanging out with Chuck and Paul? Anyway, there was this one specific night when Chuck and his two friends were hanging out with some other friends and there was a cougar on the loose in Sacramento. But Chuck's friends are body builders and they ain't afraid of no cougar.
Fast forward to the late ninties when Chuck's dad dies and he starts losing weight. His doctor prescribes him steroids to help with the weight loss. This is also around the time that fightclub the movie is coming out. This is germain to this conversation because he made a deal with a friend that if she got to meet Brad Pitt, she'd let him help disect some medschool bodies. One of these bodies was a teenager the size of a much older man due to big time steroid use. He had an enlarged heart and a pace maker. His heart couldn't keep up with his steroid use and he kept having heart attacks until he died.
Chuck was feeling real good with the steroids. He didn't get all that into it. No crazy high protien diet or excessive exercise. But still, it made him feel like such a man and it was good. That is, until his testicles started shrinking. He was straight done with steroids at that point.
ch 8 the people can pg 99
This chapter is about time Chuck spent on a subamrine. He loves navy slag, things like baboon ass and what not. No big surprises. life on the submarine is real crampped. Sometimes you gotta re-inforce your matressw ith towels if the guy that sleeps in your bed on the other shift is a bigger guy. But everyone's working real hard to make life good for everyone else on the sub. The navy was real worried that chuck was gonna make the whole story about gay sex. Chuck hadn't thought about it until they brought it up. Chuck's just not that kinda guy. but submarine life can drive ya crazy. Self harm is a big problem. Life on a sub can be hard. But not everybody wants an easy life.
ch 9 the lady pg 109
This is a fun supernatural chapter. Chuck's friend has a farmhouse he claims is haunted. Chucks friend claims there's a lady that's always screaming in the basement or rattling the photos or whatever. Chuck thinks the guy's just an exagerator that wants the attention of someone that lives in a haunted house.
Chuck has similar feelings about a friend of his that claims to be a psychic. She's always gasping in the middle of your story and declaring you shouldn't be near cars for a few years. Reminds me of professor trelany from harry potter. Chuck decided to do some science and stay in his friend's haunted house for a a few weeks to see if he could experience some supernatural phenomena while he was there.
To raise the stakes even more, he had a party with his other friend who's a psychic and a bunch of her friends who also claim to be psychic. There's a fun sort of thing where one of them tells him that his father's ghost is there and he's sharpening an axe. This sorta rings a little true cause there was a thing when he was a kid where he got a washer stuck on his finger and his dad thought the only solution was to cut his finger off. He ended up sharpening that axe for a long time but when he swung he missed. The ended up soaping up his finger really good and getting the washer off. But the fact that there was no possible way this lady could have known that story gave Chuck a bit of the tingle that night.
Chuck never had a sighting of the lady at his friend's haunted house. Never heard any screaming. Didn't have any rattling photos or anything. But even so, chuck's a little more open minded about such things than he used to be.
Ch 10 in her own words PG 119
This chapter chuck hangs out with Juliette lewis. She's got a fun list of questions. She's talking about fun movie scenes she's been in. Sucking Robert Deniro's thumb. Feeling like her performance just straight up sucked one day on Natural Born Killers when she had her period. About how when you're acting all your reactions have to be HUGE in comparison to how normal people live. Uncontrollable sobbing, deep down belly laughs. She doesn't do that sort of stuff in real life, but there's TONS of footage of her doing such things.
CH 11 why isn't he budging PG 132
Andrew Sullivan is a gay man that grew up Irish Catholic. He's inspired by saints, people that won't back down from doing what's right when if it Costs them their life. Living today like it might be your last. That attitude attracted him to people that were HIV positive. Live like you're dying. Lot a of drama, but it keeps but from being boring.
Hes a writer and he talks a lot about linelyness. He rejexta the idea that people not in a romantic relationship must be lonely. Friendship is a lot more valuable than romance when it comes to not being lonely. Lots of married people are lonely. He talks about how he's got a lot of uniqueness that makes it hard to be part if a group. He's Irish catholic English gay. Lots of internal conflict on those things in one person.
He, as Chuck has previously said, talks about how writing is a thing you do alone. When you do it for a living, you're alone a lot. He talks about politics. How due to all homophobia his simple existence necessitates that he be political. As a youth he thought he might want to be an elected official. Now as a famous writer he does all sorts of political stuff, talks, fundraising, etc.
CH 12 not chasing Amy PG 141
This chapter is about minimalist writing. Mostly Amy Hempel. She's his favorite minimalist writer. Minimalist writing is very dense. One might read the same sentence over and over to get the rich dense meaning out of it. Amy's best book is out of print. Chuck bought a copy at Powell's for $75. He's a big fan.
I'm intrigued. I'm not gonna spend $75 but I'm considering buying it on kindle for $11.99.
CH 13 reading yourself PG 147
This one is currently topical because Chuck us hanging out with Marralyn Manson. He's into tarot cards. He says its hard to do a tarot card reading on yourself. Hence the chapter title. Lots of talk about loving to be despised. He's writing an autobiography. Lots of confidence that thus record and tour will be a success despite many challenges. He says he's spenr so long trying to change the world but found he can only change himself. He's obsessed with death cause he was such a sickly kid.
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