Brrrr!

I'm back!
From lovely, lovely Florida. It was...you guessed it, lovely! I left last Sunday and just got back tonight, Friday (yea I missed blogging yesterday but hey! I was on vacay). I went with my dad and we stayed with my grandma near Fort Myers. Omg the weather was so beautiful. Leaving the frozen wasteland that is currently Toronto for a tropical beach in Florida is the best!! And of course grandparents always spoil you so we got to go out for dinner a lot and stuff. She even bought me my birthday present while we were there, yay shopping!
I think my favourite thing to do was go biking along the paths they had near the condo. They wind through big palm trees and other types of trees that I don't know the name of but are equally pretty and green, and circle around ponds where exotic birds hangout in plain view and a light breeze breaks the intensity of the hot sun. You can even ride down the street where all the millionaires live and ooh and aah at the ginormous mansions they built. It's just....perfect. My ideal morning or afternoon.
You may or may not know but they have alligators in Florida. I tell you this because I want this next sentence to receive the appreciative ooh it deserves and my cool-o-meter should definitely go up a few points for this. I went kayaking with my dad. In a canal. Where there was wildlife. Now I did not see an alligator with my own eyes but the family friend who let us borrow the kayaks said when she went the other day she heard one, apparently they grunt like pigs...weird i know :P But seriously, how BRAVE am I?? I know right? I'm like nature girl or something. I even saved a salamander later that day when he was stuck inside the screened in porch. Nature was my friend that day. Except I actually did freak out a little when we were in the kayak. I may have even wobbled the kayak at one point. Alright fine I screamed and yelled "OH MY GOD!!" because I thought there was an alligator beside the boat but it was a fish sunning itself. Wouldn't you freak out too if you had just heard there were alligators around and all of the sudden a big fish splashes some water like right beside you in the water? Yea. I was on the lookout for anything creepy like the whole time. Talk about high alert my friends, my eyes were peeled!
Anywho I should probably get to the Friday question right about now eh?
Respect. You know it's not a word I really like. My parents didn't really talk about it too much so the only place I really heard about it was from teachers who were always yelling for a little respect. So I sort of associate it with angry teachers that I don't like. To me it feels like this awful way of getting kids under control or something. Like it's a way of getting us to do whatever our elders want us to do. People are always saying we have to 'respect our elders' or whatever. It's got a lot of negative connotations in my mind so when I hear people saying so-and-so doesn't deserve my respect I feel angry. Why should I have to earn someone's respect? Why can't I just be and let other people decide if they like me. Except I've got this thing where I want everyone to like, so I guess I'll work on my end of that :P But maybe it's how I was exposed to the term. I don't like to use it, it feels too much like harsh judgment.
Hmm I must be getting sleepy my arguments are pretty shitty. I apologize for not arguing very well or being very clear. If you were inside my head it all makes sense :P I guess I'll just say I don't like the idea of respect so I don't refer to it myself, a personal choice, but I understand when other people use it and why so I don't judge anyone for it!
Seeya!
Evie