Random thoughts...

*I listen to Pandora once in awhile and I always love when I choose a station and it is perfect. It plays tons of music that I love. One of the main reasons I love it is because it makes me feel validated. I've been teased many times when making quizzes about how well people know me that it should actually be called "How well do you know Beth today". This has made me think that perhaps I don't know myself very well or perhaps I'm not very passionate about things. So, when I chose the Ingrid Michaelson station on Pandora and a bunch of artists that I love and listen to regularly were also on that station I felt like maybe I know one thing for sure about myself. I know the kind of music I like and Pandora is the validation I need that I do, in fact, have a style of music that I enjoy the best. Whew, that was harder to explain than I expected.

*This goes along with part of the last point that I made. A few months ago my lovely former roommate Kiely came to visit. We went to The Chocolate with Laura and then I drove Kiely home afterwards. We ended up talking in the car for a long time and we discussed many deep things which is what we tend to do when we are together. One of the things I told her was that I am afraid that I don't know myself very well. I feel like I've been in a fog for years so it makes me wonder if I've missed out on a large part of the growing up process. I'm not sure if that is necessarily the case but I've started paying closer attention to the things I do and do not like. Kiely and I also decided we would share things with each other when we figured something out that we knew for sure we liked or didn't like. Here are a few of mine: I like the color red, I like green bananas, I love rice, it is very important to me that my clothes smell fresh etc. Random? Yes, but they are things that I am sure about.

*We all have pet peeves, want to hear some of mine? I knew it. Gum chompers/snappers/poppers. I can't stand it. I think it's obnoxious and completely unnecessary. I'm sorry if you are one of them, don't worry I won't tell you if you are. I'm pretty good at ignoring it most of the time. Another is when someone asks me a question and then very clearly doesn't listen to the answer. I'm not talking about "What's up?" (which is another pet peeve) but something that very clearly is looking for a response. I hate when I'm half way through the answer and realize the person isn't listening. The best part is when you stop dead in the middle of the answer and never finish and they don't notice. I won't be offended if they don't ask the question so please don't do me any favors! (I only complain about this here because I know that the person that does this the most won't be reading this.)

*Another thing that I have been wanting to blog about for a long time is respect, specifically respect from guys. I have been thinking about this for months but it isn't enough alone so it is perfect for a random thoughts post. I have to say that in my life I have been surrounded by the most respectful guys. I've had some opportunities to watch guys that I am not friends with and see their actions and it has made me so grateful for the respect that I have received. Not only in the way I am spoken to but in the way I am treated. I know for a fact that if I was ever carrying a lot of stuff (or even a little) and one of my pals saw me they would help me carry it or at least open a door for me. I know that they would never speak of inappropriate things in my presence, not because they don't think I can handle it but because they respect me. I also know that they are that way with all women because they respect them and for that I am grateful. I'm grateful that my first experience (on a regular basis) with disrespectful guys is as an outsider watching it happen. I'm glad that I know that I can demand respect because there are people that will give it. That isn't the most complete thought but there it is!

*My elbow hurts. It has been hurting ever since my car accident but seriously, how did I hurt my elbow?! It wasn't that hard of an impact and the only thing I can think is that I held tight to the steering wheel and locked my arms when I was trying to stop when the girl hit me but I really don't see how my elbow could be hurting from it. I can still bend it but there are times when it hurts pretty bad (mostly when I'm sleeping). I'm sure it will go away, all of the other aches and pains I had have slowly gotten better. But c'mon, that's just random right?

Thanks for reading friends. I hadn't blogged in so long but I kept thinking of random things I wanted to express and this was the best way I could think to do it. :)