Rednecks

At one point, I was thinking of various redneck jokes and started making new ones up.

If you've been driving for an hour and have only seen three other cars in all that time, and you consider that to be bad traffic, you might be a redneck.

If the worst traffic jam you've experienced all year was because of a cattle drive, you might be a redneck.

If your closest neighbor is five miles away, you might be a redneck.

If you regularly drive a tractor on the road, you might be a redneck.

If your car has been so filthy, for so long, that you've forgotten what the paint color is, you might be a redneck.

If you get your car washed, and less than twenty-four hours later it's covered in dust, mud, and a billion dead insects, you might be a redneck.

Ways I'm Most Likely To Die

Because I'm somewhat insane, I decided to create a list of probable causes for my death.

CAUTION: May cause uncontrollable laughter, beverages shooting out of nostrils, shortness of breath, and aching sides.

Still In Prayer

My father has an infection in his elbow, and at the site where the arteries from his leg for his bypass surgery. He'll have to be in the hospital for a while until the infection clears out, so please continue to keep him in your prayers for his recovery.

'Graystone' Has Arrived

So, I finally got the book I've been so eager to read. After ordering it online with one of the many gift cards I've accumulated, I waited with bated breath for the wonderful story to arrive. When we checked the mail today, there was a package which had a shipping and return address handwritten on it. Upon seeing 'Darkwoods Inc.' as the return address, I cried, "Yes!"

Upon getting into the house, I eagerly peeled away the clear duct tape and opened the package. Inside, I found 'Graystone', the third book of the 'Darkwoods series' by Marta Stahlfeld. The book was also signed by the author on the inside, which I found rather cool.
I also enjoyed the unique way the protective wrapping for the book was sealed. I will now associate the book and the author with 'Angry Birds' duct tape.

Diaries

A lot of people have kept, or perhaps still are keeping, a diary. I, on the hand, have never really been the sort of person to keep a diary.

When I was young, most of my entries were just random stuff that I wrote for fun, and of course I took pleasure in illustrating them. As I grew older, the diary was more frequently used to vent about something that upset me. But it wasn't very often that I wrote in it when I was upset. Sometime around junior high, I stopped writing in the diary altogether, and it just became part of the enormous collection of journals, sketchpads, and notebooks.
Part of the reason, I think, was because I never felt much of a need to write in it, and never really got into a habit of writing in it. The other reason was because when I looked back at some of the things I had written in the past, I hated them. It seemed that whenever I tried to express my emotions when upset, what I wrote didn't sound like me at all. It sounded like some messed-up or ungrateful kid. I sometimes over-exaggerated things, or complained about stuff that really didn't matter. At one point in time, I actually went through my diary and tore out all of the pages that I didn't like, and those pages were thrown away.

Then again, maybe the problem is something different entirely. Perhaps it's just a matter of perception, and how it often changes over time. The things that seem so important at the time are later seen as trivial. In the long run, that argument you had with someone is as significant as a single speck of dust amid miles of desert sand. And of course, there's the simple fact that a person's worst critic is themself. We tend to focus too much on our past mistakes and criticize ourselves too harshly.
So I don't really keep a diary. It's not the style I prefer to express myself in, and it didn't work well for me in the past. These days, I typically express my thoughts through poetry, fiction stories, or on my blog. It tends to work better for me, and I'm usually more satisfied with the result. Everyone has ways of expressing themselves, they just have to find what works best for them.

Best Sister Friend

I invited my friend over, and the following day we went out to do errands and take Dad to a doctor's appointment. My friend and I saw the movie 'Home', which was good. We also went to a crafts store, where we wandered around looking at interesting stuff until my mother called us because it was time to leave.

What was funny was that throughout the day, various people kept thinking that my friend and I were sisters. At one point, someone told my mom that she had beautiful daughters. I suppose we do look somewhat alike.

I joked that I don't have best friends, I have sisters. I've known some of my friends so long, and we both know each other's families so well, I suppose it's almost true.