Something I Hate

After writing blogs all summer, it is incredibly difficult for me to get back to the style of essay writing.

Blog in the Round: Would I Rather Marry the Ice Cream Man Or the Garbage Man?

What an interesting topic.

I think that if you asked the average person if they would rather marry the ice cream man or the garbage man they would say, "Duh. The ice cream man. You get free ice cream!". Well, if that was really true then that would be awesome. The problem is, its not.

Actually, the ice cream man scares me a lot. At least the only ones I've ever seen have. I think that the requirements for getting that job is to be mean scary looking ghetto man, and know how to rob little kids of their money. I think that these kind of people should be put in jail.

Ice Cream men used to be nice. When I was younger there was a really nice man who used to come every day and even if we were missing a quarter, he would still give us the Popsicle we wanted. Once this guy came in a van. He was selling Popsicles really cheap so I bought like 5 of them. A few years later I started thinking about it and I'm pretty sure that his business was illegal and I'm actually surprised that we didn't die from any kind of poisoning he put in the Popsicles.

Garbage Men, on the other hand, stink. They have been around garbage so much that they can probably never get rid of that smell no matter how many times they shower. However, they always seem to be nice. Whenever the garbage man would pick up our trash, I would wave at him(although, I'm not sure why) and he would always smile and wave back. Unlike the ice cream man, he always seemed very friendly.

If it wasn't for the fact that there is smelly garbage involved, I think I would want to be a garbage woman myself. I mean, who wouldn't want to ride on the back of a truck? Sounds like fun if you ask me.

So I guess the only set back on a garbage man is the fact that he stinks all the time. And most likely he's a redneck. But I'm sure the ice cream man smells like cigarette smoke, so it doesn't really make a difference. So I think that my final answer is that I would rather marry the garbage man then the ice cream man, because honestly I would rather be married to a smelly red neck than a man who smokes weed and tries to steal my quarters.

~*Elizabeth

BITR: Auburn Football

Thanks to my wonderful friend Davis, I get to write about Auburn football this week. I don't think this will be a whole lot of fun because as I'm sure you already know, I'm an Alabama fan. BUT that doesn't mean I hate auburn like a lot of bama fans though. It's kinda hard for me to hate auburn because my dad and brother are auburn fans, and so is my best friend. Some people think it's crazy that our family actually gets along during football season because we are a house divided, but I think thats dumb. Why should a stupid thing like football get in the way of life? I don't think that the reason it took my dad so long to propose to my mom was because he couldn't decide if marriage would be worth it since she is an alabama fan. Or at least I hope not.

But anyway, I'm getting off subject. I think that auburn football is pretty cool. That is, as long is Alabama is doing better than them. Unfortunatly, the last few years hasn't been that way. I found the fear the thumb thing to be a little annoying. I hate obnoxious fans, even Alabama ones. I really like to celebrate when we win, but I'm not going to rub it in other people's faces. So if your an auburn fan who doesn't do that then I will still like you.

But overall, I really like football in general. I can't wait until this season starts, and I especially can't wait until the Iron Bowl. I'm really hoping that this year we will step up our game and beat Auburn. We haven't beat Auburn since I've actually really cared about football(and understood it.) I am most definatly ready for a good season!

This is probably one of the worst-written blogs I have ever done, but sorry I just couldn't put my heart in this one.

~*Elizabeth

Blog in the Round: People That Annoy Me

Here is a list of people that annoy me and why. Some are specific while others are very generic.

• Preachers that yell: If going to church and getting yelled at is your kind of thing, then that's fine with me. Personally, I think that yelling is what you do with your family so it is not very enjoyable to go to a church where a preacher screams at the top of his lungs.
• Teachers that think their class is the only important one: I hate it when teachers think that whatever class they teach is the most important class you will ever take in your life. Therefore, they expect you to put all your time and effort into all of their assignments; forgetting (or maybe just ignoring the fact) that we have 5 others classes to deal with.
• Rosie O'Donnell: Rosie is annoying because Rosie scares me.
• Politicians: Politicians annoy me because they have a tendency to change their "beliefs" according to what the general public wants to hear. Most Politicians are very inconsistent with what they say.
• Jef Park: For the few people reading this that actually know who this is, I think it is pretty self-explanatory. Although Jef(yes, it is spelled with one f) and I get along much better than we used to, he is still way too loud and obnoxious for me to be around for more than a short period of time.
• People who don't know how to shut up: I already wrote a whole blog about this, so I don't think there is a need to say anything else.
• Ryan when he won't just give up an argument: My dear brother Ryan always has to have the last word in every single conversation. In every single debate he has been in, Ryan has ALWAYS had the last word. Even if the conversation has come to an end, Ryan must jump in with his last input. My father has a tendency to do this sometimes too, but I'm not gonna talk about that because I don't feel like getting in trouble.
• People who stereotype things: Being homeschooled for however many years I have been now, I think I would know a lot about stereotyping. Because of course we all know that homeschoolers are dorky kids who wear glasses and braces, don't have a life, read Shakespeare all day long, and always have a sinus infection. We don't know what grade we are in and we cringe when people say words like stupid and fart. Our hobby is planting tomato seeds, and our best friends are our stuff animals. I'm just naming this stereotype because I am very familiar with it, but there are also many more.
• People who actually are the stereotypical homeschooler: Seriously, how hard is it to keep up with what grade your in? I'm counting down the days until graduation(which is still 2 years away), and all you know is that your somewhere between 8th and 11th grade. So please just put down your kazoo, pick up a calendar, and figure out that we're not in 1872 anymore. You give us all a bad name!!!
• People that never admit when they are wrong: My brother Ryan is once again a perfect example of this. Everyone knows that humans make mistakes, so how hard is it to admit when you have??
• People who cut in line: By cutting in line, you are basically saying "I am better than you so I do not deserve to wait like everyone else does". Once I accidently broke in line, and after I realized it I felt horrible! Do you line breaking people not have a conscience or something?
• People like my wonderful sister who don't know how to show anyone respect: I believe that everyone deserves respect no matter how annoying I may think they are. Laura, on the other hand, apparently only cares about herself and it doesnt really matter to her how she makes other people feel.
• Danielle Goodwin: Enough said.

~*Elizabeth

BITR: What Scares the Living Daylights Out of Me

Even after all the talking I did about how I am fearless, I suppose it's time for me to face the facts and admit what I do actually fear. So I've been thinking about it, and have realized that the one thing I fear the most is the unknown. Not knowing what is there, or what is going to happen, or what my future holds does scare the living daylights out of me. While I was on the cruise, I would stand at the balcony and look over into what seems like an endless sea and although I knew that I was safe, it sorta gave me this weird feeling. I really started to think about how we are floating in the dark and who knows whats down there swimming around ready to eat me. I starting thinking about how incredibly scary it would be if I fell over, and how the scariest part would not be drowning but being out there and not knowing where you are or what is around you. That all goes back to the unknowns. I think the reason the unknown is so scary is because we experience a complete lack of security. Its easier to walk down an alley in the daytime because we can see what is there; but at night, when we have no clue, it is much more terrifying.

I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and there was one line in the book that really stood out to me. Harry and Dumbledore are crossing a lake at night and Harry is afraid when he sees a dead body floating in the water. Dumbledore offers these words of encouragement, "There is nothing to be feared from a body, Harry, any more than there is anything to be feared from the darkness. Lord Voldemort, who of course secretly fears both, disagrees. But once again that reveals his own lack of wisdom. It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more."

So I suppose that gives the answer to why we fear the dark, why we fear death, why we fear the middle of a deep ocean, and why at times we fear tomorrow. It is because it is all unknown and we can't stand not knowing. But I guess that's what faith is, isn't it? Having courage through the unknown. As Christians, we live in a world of unknowns. There isn't much of an explanation to many things that happened in the Bible, and I think that's what turn a lot of people away from Christianity. They have a fear of not fully comprehending what they believe. At times, I think we all do. But without the unknowns, where would faith come in? If we knew everything then faith, one of the key essentials to being a Christian, would be meaningless in itself.

Tony Snow was a television commentator who later went on to become President Bush's secretary. In the midst of his terrible fight against cancer, he shares his testimony. I read it, and found a lot of it to be encouraging. He is staring death in the face, the ultimate unknown and that's when it all makes sense to him. Here is a paragraph of his testimony:

The moment you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change.
> You discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive, pious,
> and soft. Faith may be the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
> of things not seen. But it also draws you into a world shorn of fearful
> caution. The life of belief teems with thrills, boldness, danger,
> shocks, reversals, triumphs, and epiphanies. Think of Paul, traipsing
> though the known world and contemplating trips to what must have seemed
> the antipodes (Spain), shaking the dust from his sandals, worrying not
> about the morrow, but only about the moment.>

Faith being the evidence of things not seen may not be an answer that will get us very far; but if that's all we really have to lean on it. Lean on it and allow it to hold you up until we leave this world of unknowns and realize that maybe what we come to know doesn't matter as much as we once thought it did. We know what we need to know and nothing more, so what is there to fear? I don't really know. I just know that I do, and it's most likely because of the fact that I'm human.

Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4

~*Elizabeth