Needed: Grammar Guru

A few weeks ago, I was browsing through one of my Facebook friend's photo albums (Riley O'Neill), and stumbled upon the pictures he took at his good friend's wedding. One picture, in particular, caught my eye because the caption simply read "the groom and me", but then in the comments section, someone had corrected him, saying it should be "the groom and I". Being the closet confrontationalist that I am, I decided to enter the debate and put my two cents in, supporting Riley's original comment on the picture.

Unfortunately, I already deleted my two comments before I decided to write a blog about it, doing so in order that I would not receive any more notifications from the picture, because clearly nothing good was coming from it. I was only getting frustrated every time I was reminded of the event. But I will re-enter to the best of my ability what I commented so that you will fully understand the debate and situation.

Keegan O'Neill

groom and I

July 4 at 12:58am

Riley O'Neill

thanks mom

July 4 at 3:56am

ELISABETH JONES: No Riley, I think you're right with the "groom and me", because if you left the groom entirely out of the picture, you wouldn't write "I" in the caption. At least that's how I think the rule goes. :)

Keegan O'Neill

nope, groom and i

July 11 at 8:00pm

Riley O'Neill

i have to agree since my mom would correct me all the time on this, hence the "thanks mom" above..

July 11 at 8:31pm

ELISABETH JONES: "I" can only be used as a subject of a sentence, and "me" as an object. and in this picture, there is an implied "This is a picture of" in front of your caption, making you and the groom the direct objects. I'm not trying to be argumentative, just giving my opinion! :)

Brock Kenneth Robert Thulin

hahaha now son, it is "groom and I"

July 13 at 6:01pm

Riley O'Neill

Elisabeth for how smart i know you are you should know this one, its one of those exceptions...

July 13 at 6:11pm

Matt O'Neill

i think its Elisabeth i suppose to have a 'z' , not an 's' ... u might wanna check on that one too while you're at it ;)

5 hours ago

As you can see, the debate ended very tactfully! Personal attacks on something a person has no control over and completely irrelevant to the topic is very mature, and it only makes that person's stance on the debate that much more convincing. In response to Matt's comment: Elisabeth with an "s" is the original way of spelling the Hebrew name in the English language, and is still how the Dutch spell it. It is how the British spelled the name for centuries, which can be seen by opening up any King James Version of the Bible (click here for confirmation). Elizabeth with a "z" is the Americanized version of the name. I'm not arguing one as being better than the other, I'm just explaining my name is not misspelled! Other people who share my unique spelling: Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Elisabeth Elliot, Liz Claiborne.

But back to the point. I have asked 3 people whether "I" or "me" should be used in this situation, and all 3 have said "me". I gave my reasoning above as to why I believe it is "me", but the people arguing for "I" never backed up their claim with a stated rule or example. I searched online this morning for almost an hour trying to find the proper way to use "I" in a picture caption, but could not find a credible source (yahoo answers has no validity in my book). If anyone out there knows the answer, or would like the healthily debate this all-important linguistic enigma, please do so. I really want to know the correct way to caption my Facebook pictures!

But until proven otherwise, I'm sticking with "me".

Me? Uncultured?

Yesterday my beau hunk got off of work early at Ft. Knox so he decided to drive up to Lexington to spend a few hours with me before driving back that night. What a doll. We decided to have a quiet night in at his place, so we headed to Yu Yu Asian Market to buy some goods, in hopes of concocting the ultimate Asian meal. After selecting the perfect tofu, spices, and dumplings, we went to the check out lane. Not surprisingly, I got distracted by the assortments of Asian candies nearby. My eye was drawn to a small 6 oz bottle of Korean Ginseng Drink. I don't really know what ginseng is, but it seems to be in a lot of health drinks, so I figured it couldn't hurt. Plus, it was Korean, so I figured Ed would know what it is. So I held one up and asked Ed if he wanted it. To my astonishment, he said no. Ed never turns down anything, especially gustatory items, so I asked if he was sure, and he confirmed his answer. I put it away and went on my way, but Ed had a funny look on his face. As we walked out the door, he began laughing then explained to me what had just taken place. Apparently in Asian cultures, that drink is used as an aphrodisiac! When I unabashedly asked him in front of everyone if he wanted the drink, the guy at the checking out started chuckling under his breath. You live, you learn. Apparently you don't have to go to another country to make a cultural mistake! I should have known better, I lived in Taiwan for 2 years (although I was much too young to know the secrets of aphrodisiacs).

At least I made some mean Mapo Tofu last night. :)

Finding the positive

I learned an incredible amount of information this past year, more than I thought humanly possible. I must also admit that most of it has left my long term memory bank, but I am sure it will come back quickly when I start studying for boards next summer (this is my new optimistic side). One of the greatest things I learned was about myself: I am most definitely not perfect. Now, now...don't freak out on me...I never thought that I was actually perfect, but I did have a pretty high self-esteem...you know, Aggie soccer babe, good grades, great friends, All-American accolades...a fairly fabulous life. Then as much of you know from my numerous self-defeating, ranting blogs over the past 11 months, I was greatly humbled this year. I had to get used to the B average, to not being the best at everything I do, to not being in shape and have a rockin' bod, and had to learn how to set lower goals and standards. While you may think that is pathetic of me, it had to be done for my sanity. I would have been miserable if I had not learned to find joy and satisfaction in a B.

But the point of this blog post is not to be self-deprecating. I want to talk about the positive aspects of being mediocre. I played soccer for the first time last night in 8 months. I stepped on the field with low expectations, and didn't even live up to those. I am in horrible shape. I have lost my quick first step. And let's not even talk about my first touch. It really was a pathetic display of athleticism (which someone pointed out by saying "I thought you were a D1 athlete?" after I whiffed the ball). Surprisingly, I walked off the field afterwards like nothing had happened. After 11 months of being brutally beaten by med school (particularly biochem), I am so used to be a loser and being mediocre that my crazy competitiveness has gone. Out the window. Vanquished. I never thought it would happen, but it has. And praise the Lord, because my competitiveness was just a wee bit over the top.

I have now reached a healthy level of aggression, and I am that much wiser because of it. And you can trust me, because I'm 1/4 of a doctor. :)

J&K+8

Big whoppin surprise with the outcome of last night's show.  Everyone and their mom knew they were going to get a divorce.  I don't understand why everyone is so shocked by this news...it really has been coming for a while, and the show did not try to twist the facts in any way to make us think otherwise.  I do understand though why people are upset by it.  Here is a couple that claimed to be Christians (even had a family "mission statement" which stated their top priority as loving and honoring God and telling others about God's love).  Ironically, Jon and Kate "renewed" their vows to one another a mere 9 months ago in Hawaii, with the title of that episode being "For Better or Worse."  HA!  Kate stated on that episode that renewing their vows in front of the kids was really important because while "not all mommies and daddies stay together, and even though we've told them a million times, we wanted to show that we will always be together".  How quickly things change.  

I am mad about this divorce for multiple reasons:

1) It most definitely is NOT what is best for the kids, like Jon and Kate were both claiming in last night's episode.  What would be best would be for them to stay together.  Duh.

2) The hypocrisy of the J&K just eats me away.  No one is perfect, and I am sure marriage is hard (obviously I have no experience here), but it seems like they didn't even try to make things better.  Ever heard of marriage counseling?  

3) The TV show needs to end (and I say this reluctantly because I am a big fan of those little kids, especially Alexis and Aaden), but it is ruining their family.  I completely blame the downfall of their marriage on the money.  It truly is the root of all evil.  I believe if Jon was still working and was the bread winner for the family, no matter how meager that income was, then Jon and Kate would still be together.  Jon lost his identity when he became the stay at home dad.  And at that same time, Kate started writing her books and traveling the country doing all her media gigs, leaving him in the dust.  God didn't create men to play second fiddle like that.  Men are supposed to the leader of the household, and not the punching bag that Kate made him out to be.  She was as rude and demeaning as any wife could be to her husband.  With that being said, I am not completely blaming Kate.  Jon shouldn't have gone out clubbing with those girls back in February, even if he wasn't cheating on Kate sexually (which I don't think he did), he was emotionally.  

4) These poor kids are going to have to deal with this traumatic experience for the rest of their lives, not only because divorce scars them emotionally, but because it's on tape.  Every little second of it.  Oh, and don't forget about all the millions of newspapers, magazines, and blogs that have written about it too.

Enough ranting for one day.  Signing out.

Confession

"Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.  It has been 24 years since my last confession."

I lied to a homeless man this past weekend, at a Christian Medical and Dental Association function of all places.  We were having a BBQ at a local park and the man came up asking for some water.  We willingly obliged and then offered him food since we had more than enough.  He took that as an invitation to sit at our picnic tables for the next 2 hours and eat to his heart's content (which we were perfectly fine with).  But near the end when we started to clean up, he started sweet talking some of the girls.  As I handed a full plate of food to him, he asked me if I was married.  Innocent enough question, I suppose.  But I immediately went into panic mode and responded, "Yeah, I belong that that kid over there" and pointed to Ed.  At first I thought it was no big deal, answering that way for my own protection.  But then the guilt started setting in, and my conscience attacked me.  A lie is a lie, no matter what the situation.  I was trying to validate my sin by claiming my safety was compromised, but in reality, me answering, "no not yet, but I am lucky enough to be dating that handsome guy over there" would have done the same trick, and I would be guilt-free right now. 

"So Father, how many Hail Mary's do I owe you?"

Out of the Loop

I have now been back in Kentucky for over a year now.  At times my heart longs for A&M.  Well, most of the time actually.  And while I know I'll always be an Aggie, it's harder feeling part of the family when you are 1000 miles away.  With the physical distance from Aggieland and the time consumption by medical school, keeping up with the ins and outs of what is going on at my beloved university proves to be a challenge.  So I am calling on my fellow Aggie readers to help keep me in the loop here.  What is going on with Dr. Murano stepping down as president?  All I know is that she retired suddenly for "the good of the university" and that everyone is saying that Gov. Rick Perry controls Texas A&M.  

Explanation please.

Also, if there is anything else going on down there that I need to know about, please inform me.  I was hoping to work A&M soccer camps this summer, but it looks like the numbers are down due to the economy, so they won't need me.  Who knows how long it will be until I make it back down there.  :(

I would like to take some time to congratulate A&M's golf and women's and men's track teams for their 3 National Championships earned in the last 2 weeks.  WHOOP!  I also want to give former Aggie pitcher Kirkland Rivers a shout out.  He got moved up to the Astros Single A team, the Lexington Legends, a few weeks ago and I got to go see him pitch the other day.  Always fun to see Ags in the pros!  And hopefully this means his girl, Amber Gnatzig, will be up to visit him (and me) shortly!

Luck?

I got a call this afternoon that my brother, Andrew, had been in a bad accident on I-65, on his way home from college.  My mom quickly told me that he was fine, but for that split second before I heard the good news, I panicked.  It's amazing what your mind can come up with in such a short time period. I immediately imagined my brother laying in an Emergency Room bed, hooked up to a ventilator, grasping onto life with everything that he could, and completely alone, no one next to him to love on him. Fortunately, this was not the case.  He was not injured, and no one else was either.  The police were called and everything went as smoothly as possible.  His accident occurred about an hour north of where Matthew & Elizabeth live in Indiana, so Matthew drove up to get him and is bringing him down to Lexington tonight, which was their plan anyway since the family is celebrating Mother's Day tomorrow.

I talked to Andrew briefly on the phone and he sounds fine...much better than I would be if I was in his shoes.  He said he was "lucky" for surviving the accident, seeing as he was on an overpass and was minding his own business before someone pulled right in front of him and he swerved to try to miss them, and instead hit the median on the bridge, bounced off of that one and went across the two lanes to hit the other guard rail.  The car was totaled, and we probably won't get any money from the insurance company for it since it was an old car with a ton of miles on it, but it's hard to focus on something like that when you consider what else could have happened.  

That being said, I don't think Andrew was "lucky".