Self-Pity

I am reading this great book right now (The Dangerous Duty of Delight...by John Piper) and one part I read this morning was about self-pity. It was talking about how both boasting and self-pity are simply manifestations of pride in our lives. One comes from our successes (boasting) and the other from our suffering (self-pity). It says -

"The reason self-pity does not look like pride is that it appears to be needy. But the need arises from a wounded ego. It doesn't come from a sense of unworthiness, but from a sense of unrecognized worthiness. It is the response of unapplauded pride."

I just needed to hear the idea that even at my most pitiful, self-centered and pathetic moments, it is still just pride coming to the surface when I feel as though I am not getting the respect and appreciation I deserve.

Just thought that was interesting.

- j(w)s

Happy Birthday Ben!

It's Ben Harmon's birthday today, so Jeremiah and I thought he deserved the gift of the greatest facebook graffiti to ever be created. So... here it is:





If you're thinking "Thats a tall graffiti." You're right. It took three graffiti boxes to complete. It's pretty much a masterpiece.

Because you never know what could be hiding under your birthday cake,
Robby

The Beach

I have kind of disappeared for awhile and the main reason is that it's family vacation time at the beach. We are back at our usual spot on St George Island and it's incredible. Besides being really hot, it's been good to slow down a bit and catch up with the family. That can be kind of tough since there are 6 of us and it's nice to have time dedicated just to that...and reading a lot of books.

Also, I tried to skim board yesterday for about 9 seconds. It was a disaster. I hate being old. I'm fairly confident that I would have broken some random bone if I hadn't quit after 9 seconds.

Oh yeah, and I just finished the book Kite Runner. It was really good and really intense. Read it sometime if you like to read and don't mind being sad.

- j(w)s

Hmm... do you really want to hear my story?

So, I'm working at Rainbow Elementary School in Madison, AL this week with Booster Enterprises. Today was our first day in the classrooms and right when we walked into one teacher's room I looked on the board and saw something interesting. Hand-written on a giant flip notepad were the words "The bed begins to shake and creak. Tell a story about what's happening." I just don't know how the teacher could not see how hilarious this is, but I'm so glad she did it. I was trying so hard to not laugh in the classroom during Josh's little talk, and I couldn't hold it in once we got out the door. Ahh... what teachers try to get away with these days.

Discovering what people are really teaching our youth,
Robby

Garden Snakes

Gardens are good. Snakes are bad. But where do garden snakes fall? This question is one which many individuals have pondered for centuries.

Leery of venomous gardens,
Robby

So...

I'm a loser. I'm ok with that, though. The whole American Idol process is so hilarious. It's a ton of luck and a little talent. I had a MAJOR lack of luck yesterday, but I honestly know it was for the best. I love how many of our friends (and strangers) kept up with our little adventure through this blog! I really do have the greatest friends in the world. The angry comments at the results of my audition were probably the funniest things I've seen in a while! Bryan Johnson's comment (which is now deleted) was by far the best. Oh, I know what it said, Bryan. Hilarious.
I'm the type of person that continues to run things through my head and figure out how the results might have turned out if I had done things different, but I've got to stop and realize that my steps were ordered by God, and it happened exactly like He planned it. What incredible assurance! The whole process has been a really great motivator for me and my plans for the future. I really do feel like music will play a huge part in my life, but I'm fairly confident that American Idol is not the right route to take in getting there. If I were to sing, I would want to sing about Christ and His impact on my life, and American Idol might not have allowed me that freedom. Yes, it's a great way to propel yourself to the top, but at what cost? There were moments while sitting in the arena that I simply wanted to get up and go home because I felt like I didn't belong. I'm glad I stayed and got to audition, though, because it showed me how much I love to perform and really increased my confidence. I really feel like God has blessed me with a gift, and I'm not going to waste it, but I'm also not going to allow glory to be placed on me. Glory belongs to God alone. I'm excited to see where He leads me in the coming months, and I'm confident that I'm in His grasp. He'll light my way as I draw near to Him.

Letting you know that 14 hours in the Georgia Dome is longer than 14 hours anywhere else in the world,
Robby

recovering...

yesterday was quite a day. for any of you who followed us throughout the day, thanks for keeping up with our adventure. it added a new element to have so many friends and family along for the ride. it wasn't the ending we hoped for, but it was quite a learning experience on many different levels. our 'blog' had almost 1100 pageviews yesterday, beating our previous high of about 50...far more people kept up with us than we were expecting.

just like my battery was dying all day yesterday, my computer battery is about to die right now so i am going to have to cut this one short. here is one more video from our strange week which i don't think i have posted yet...it was also taken on my cell phone so the quality is pretty terrible.



that was Robby and his two cousins at the Chick-fil-a corporate headquarters singing Amazing Grace to the entire cafeteria. you can't make this stuff up...plus, why would you want to?

- j(w)s

sad

Well, the song was incredible and the guy asked him to sing a second one. But he had just sent two through in the last groups and needed to cut the next 288 to stay on track. So he did. What a shame...and it would have to be the one table with one judge who's a guy in his 20's and is by himself.

I just hope robby won't have to be a doctor now...

unbelievable

The judge just sent another person through right in front of robby and then went on break.

I'm not even kidding...

Robby's judge

Just let a guy through in the group before robby's...not a good sign.

Time to pray. 10 minutes and counting...

He's headed to judge #1

Ok, I'm really nervous now

Latest...

Robby is now on the field. He's at the 48 yard line, left hash...pretty good field position honestly.

I'm kinda nervous.

And my phone is almost dead...

This is getting ridiculous

Our section is just now standing up...

Still waiting...

Bryan. The chairs are good. You should type blank a thank you note.

Danielle. I hope you didn't feel insulted earlier...we love you.

Robby is about 10 minutes from heading down to the field. Then it could be up to an hour before he sings...we've been awake for 13 hours now...

Battery almost dead but will try to keep posting...

The chicken tenders here are disgusting.

Getting closer...

The sections ahead of us are slowly dwindling. Very slowly. They are interviewing some of the people who have gotten through round 1 and they are right in front of us. I am actually blatantly typing this write now behind the kids head in the middle of his interview...if they keep the footage I have to be in it...

An asian guy just got through. He might be trouble...

Dan wade

A girl that looks just like danielle is about to audition. They look just alike...except this girl isn't wearing jeans under her dress.

Another random stat...looks like the crowd is about 35 percent male...about 50 people have gotten through so far.

update

They finally guessed jeremiah. It took about 30 minutes...brick and barkley didn't make it. However, barkley was asked to sing a second song so that means he was close. Good sign.

Robby currently estimates his chnces of getting through the first round as 21 percent. Just so you know that number means nothing. Which is also about how much battery power I have on my phone. Which is sad.

Just a couple more hours...

Fun games...

Rigt now the people around us are playing a game where they try to guess my name with no hints. Its been going for awhile now.

Random people

So we told the two girls next to us (who are hilarious) that our names are edward and edmund. We now have an entire story fabricated around the lives of ed and ed. For instance, my mom is actually paula abdul (people call me eddy abby) for short. That is also the reason I'm not trying out (conflict of interest and all that).

The two cousins are next in line...

Still waiting...

Its gonna be awhile. Robby's cousins just got in line...they will probably go in the next 30 minutes. Their names are Brick and Barkley...it will be interesting to see how they do.

It's so strange here. Any place with a few spare feet has guys and girls singing at the top of their lungs...such a weird experience.

best moment of the day (so far)

When ryan seacrest was filming some segment in the end zone to our right, they sent one of the intern camera crew girls running across the field to get something. Of course, with an empty field and 15k bored people, we all had to start cheering for her like she was in a track meet. You could tell she was a bit embarrassed and it only got worse when she crossed the goalline to a standing ovation and everyone yelling 'touchdown!!!'

Kind of a funny story until she runs to the back of the endzone, climbs the first step, and then falls flat on her face. Then it suddenly became a really funny story. It was the worst touchdown dance I have seen in a while. Poor girl is probably scarred for life.

On another note, Katie Lantz's look-a-like just made it through to the next round...

j

They finally started

About a hundred out of the 8000 before us have gone so far.

Oops. The video didn't upload yet...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7Igqn242ZU

We are still yelling and screaming...no auditions yet...

17th take's a charm

Ryan is supposed to say 'this is american idol' and then we were all supposed to scream. Somehow it was really difficult.

Ryan Seacrest just got here...

My life is now complete.

Two New Friends...

We found two new friends...JoAnne and Joy. They are kind of strange...but it's okay. Here they are pretending to have a golden ticket...

Group Song Video...

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Its pretty exciting over here these days...

Worthless Video of Us Waiting

How ridiculous is our world when you can take a video on your cell phone and post it online within two minutes...and that is why you see so many worthless things these days.

The video below is a perfect example...

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/v9Uni0QXcyc"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/v9Uni0QXcyc" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

Put since I'm not sure if the pictures are working, I put it up anyways...

Also, I realized that we might be done and gone by the time a single person wakes up and reads any of this...what a catastrophic waste.

The best seats ever...

We just got inside and found our assigned seats...we are 7th row on the 50 yard line. These seats are better than Vick's will be this year.

Here's a picture (if it works)...

Robby - I'm just hoping that little chick-fil-a cows fall from the rafters like they did at the Peach Bowl last time I was here.

Good luck with that one Robby.

Line...

We are trying to send a picture...not sure if it'll work...

Now I'm Really Hungry

At least it's a beautiful morning.

Long Line

We are currently waiting in line with about a crillion other people. Thankfully our spot is right in front of the porta-potty. Should be a nice couple hours. And I'm hungry

It's Early...

Well, we woke up at 3 and we are on our way to the Georgia Dome...should be there by 4. Its gonna be an interesting day...

American Idol Adventure

So me and Robby are in Atlanta for a few days cause American Idol auditions are tomorrow. A lot of you probably know that already. Right now we are sitting at Atlanta Bread Company cause his parents dont have internet. oh well...

We went to the Georgia Dome yesterday and got our bracelets for the audition. It was a pretty painless process up to this point, only took about 3 or 4 minutes. Two of Robby's cousins drove up from Florida for the audition and went to the sign-in at 4 in the morning. They ended up waiting in line for over 5 hours to get the same bracelet that took us 3 minutes. Needless to say, they weren't real thrilled about that when we told them.

I am going to try and post from my phone all day tomorrow if any of you are bored and want to keep up with the happenings at the audition...

j

Politics

I have given up on politics and am just thankful that the Lord holds this somewhat ridiculous world in His hands. But I read an article the other day about how Hilary is now leading Barack 43% to 22% in polls for the Democratic primary. I don't really care either way, but I think it's really interesting what a disaster Obama's campaign has been up to this point. He must have some of the worst advisors ever...he literally spends all of his time talking about how he voted against the war at the beginning. He honestly believes that is his #1 selling point. As if he can win an election by constantly screaming about how stupid anyone was who supported the Iraq War at the beginning. It's as if his entire campaign is oblivious to the fact that something like 60-70% of the country (maybe more) did support the war when it began. Running a national campaign around the fact that over 2/3rds of the country are stupid and should be ashamed for their naivety and short-sightedness just is not going to be successful and that is what we are seeing as Hillary (yes, he is getting destroyed by Hillary Clinton) trounces him. Whether or not the war was a good idea, I find it fascinating that he has completely forfeited his opportunity to become the next president by vehemently (and constantly) insisting that everyone else is an idiot. Maybe no one explained how the whole voting system works...you need people to like you in order to get their votes and insulting them generally doesn't help with that. Maybe he will move on from that issue and make a comeback, but my guess is that he missed his chance. Maybe him and Howard Dean can be friends.

I just can't get excited about any of it these days.

- j(w)s

Harry Potter

I was at Lauren and Laura's apartment today and they were watching a documentary on Harry Potter and the host said the following line (in a completely serious voice) - "In the 7th book, we find out that one beloved character had his own dark secrets, proving that being magical does not make you any less human."

You could tell she was so proud of herself for revealing to the viewing public the deep and previously undiscovered truth that 'being magical does not make you any less human.' What in the world could that possibly mean. Even in a pretend world it doesn't make sense.

Later in the interview, the host asked JK Rowling what she says to the 20-something-year-old fans who have been reading her books for over ten years...she replied, "I say 'Haha, sucker...I'm a flippin' billionaire cause of fools like you. You may want to consider growing up."

At least that's how she would have replied if I had anything to do with it.

- j(w)s

Happy Birthday J O S H

J anitor (not really)
O rca
S halom (cause Josh is actually a jewish name)
H eterosexual (self-explanatory)
U nder the influence
A bove average

happy birthday josh. hope you had a good one.

jeremiah and robby

Fun Acrostics

R epresentin'
O ctagonal
B ulimic
B ottle-nosed dolphin
Y odling


J am master
E lementry school teacher
R aisins (two scoops, please!)
E xorcism bike
M an thong
I 'm a bear
A pple of her eye (Who's eye?... Gretchen Wilson's eye!)
H otel breakfast (the continental type)


Robby and Jer

Target. You disappoint me.

Today, Jeremiah and I were going to buy a metal, mesh trashcan at Target to make a chandelier using plastic flatware. There were two trashcans, one inside of the other, and we couldn't separate them no matter how hard we tried. We pulled them, bent them, and threw them on the ground, and they still wouldn't come apart. Needless to say, we were both really mad at the world... so we killed some lady on aisle 9. Don't tell anyone.

50% responsible for the murder rate at Target,
Robby

Interesting Conversation

Jeremy Carter: "So, Robby... what'd you do today?"

Me: "I was in a hot warehouse all day."

JC: "Doing what?"

Jeremiah: "He was moving stuff?"

JC: "What stuff?"

Me: "Dead strippers."

JC: "Oh, cool."

Yeah... it went something like that.

Imagining how terrible it would smell if this were true,
Robby

Cheeses. Any type, really.

I told someone that my new job was going to pay me in large blocks of cheese. What if they really did? That would be interesting. I like cheese. Danewad exclaimed that "mice live off of it, how different are we?" Wise. Let's get to the serious questions, though. How often do mice get to eat cheese, and who decided that cheese was the mouse's choice food? Just be thinking about that.

I told Laura Vandal that the moon was a orangish color tonight because astronauts had spread a layer of red clay on it's surface. I don't think she bought it.

We had training for my job on Monday and Tuesday, and I must admit that it was unlike any job training I've ever imagined. The list of activities in which we participated include:

- A giant scavenger hunt in the Mall of Georgia
- A dodgeball tournament
- A mock fun run in which I ran 46 laps (this equals about 3.8 miles... booya)
- A bowling tournament
- Another dodgeball tournament
- A really nice dinner at Taps in ATL

Pretty unique training, huh? All this and an incredible group of guys to work with. I'm actually pretty excited about the next year. Grant McDaniel, Scott Orr, and I also got some sweet sunglasses at the gas station that we stopped at on the way to Atlanta so that we would look awesome when we arrived for Booster training. Grant's sunglasses looked like some that Liz Taylor would wear. He loved them. Scott's were partly pink. Fitting. Mine have some incredible rhinestones on the bridge and some star imprints on the sides. I can't remember exactly where I got them which is unfortunate considering how badly I know you want a pair. Needless to say, we were the envy of everyone on training day... or just the biggest losers. I'm still not sure, but at least we had fun, right?

If you know any awesome schools that would like to raise a ton of money, just let me know. I can help them accomplish that.

Because Booster Enterprises actually pays in real money,
Robby

Giant Stone Horses

My parents, sister, and I went to P.F. Changs today. Unfortunately, I wasn't very hungry which is a sad thing to be when you're at a restaurant that good, but it was great to see the family... part of it atleast. As some of you might know, and most of you don't, I take my fortune really seriously when I get it from the cookie. As I opened the wrapper and pulled out the fortune without even having to break the cookie. I carelessly read the small strip of paper which said "The world will soon be ready to receive your talents." Pretty ironic fortune since the American Idol auditions are in about a week and a half. Telling Danielle Greenwade my fortune, she told me to look at my lucky days on the back of the fortune. The numbers listed on the back were "13 14 17 21 30 47." Kind of weird considering the auditions are on Aug. 14th. I just found all of this kind of interesting and thought all of our blog fans would enjoy it. Keep praying that I'll make it if I'm supposed to.

I had a cat named Rascal that we used to dress in small clothes. One time we put a dress on him and he tripped on the skirt and fell down the stairs.

Slowly revealing my strange past with family pets,
Robby

Custom-Designed Petifores

Next time we order a bunch of petifores from a bakery, Robby wants them to make little crabs out of icing to go on the tops of them all (red crabs...he specifies). I want all of mine to have really small replicas of balloon animals...specifically giraffes.

In other news, we just had a pretty hardcore game of Twister at Laura Vandal's crib. It was pretty sweet and brought back memories of things that never really happened previously in my life (i.e. playing twister).

In other other news, I almost had my big break yesterday. But then I didn't because I don't look shady enough. That's dumb though cause I'm really shady. Anyways, I never said it was an exciting story.

Robby says "I wanted to be part of that break." Thanks Robby, that means nothing to anyone. Thanks...

We are going to Kentucky tomorrow cause my sister is coming back from Congo. I miss her.

And here is a sweet picture we are about to take.



The next two are me doing an impression of that really scary guy that opens the door in the preview for Nicole Kidman's new movie. And Robby is being himself in the background.





- j(w)s

Chicken Salad

Here is a pretty good rule of thumb. Anytime you pay $60 for chicken salad, you either: a) got too much chicken salad, or b) paid too much for chicken salad.

or c) both