4 letter word

I was perusing a catalog with a friend of mine when we came across some kitchy wrought iron words that you put on your wall - words like "live, love, laugh," etc.. One of the words was "hope." Here is the conversation that ensued:

F: "I hate that word; it's so depressing."

Me: "What word? Hope?"

F: "Yes! It's so fatalistic."

Me: "How so?"

F: "Well, you only use it when things are looking bad, ya know? You never use the word hope when things are good."

So, I started contemplating the hope conundrum and I began to understand. We don't say "I know you will get well soon" or "I am confident that I won't get food poisoning from that bad sushi I ate." We do use hope when things are, well, not so good. Even though it is used in expectancy of a positive outcome, do we really think things are going to come out all right?? Just because I say "I hope I win the lottery" every day doesn't mean that I have a chance in hell of winning it. Just because Brittney Spears says "I hope my idiotic behavior doesn't cause permanent emotional damage to my children" doesn't mean that they won't end up on some MTV reality show 20 years from now. And just because the title of the movie was "Hope Floats" doesn't mean that the movie didn't sink in the box office faster than the Titanic.

Hope - The new four-letter word.

(I hope I haven't offended anyone.)

New Year

Reader: Why bother having a blog if you never update it?

Me: Yeah, I know. Sorry. I'm a lame blogger.

Reader: I mean, it's not like you have anything else to do.

Me: Ha ha.

Reader: I know you're busy but what happened to the blog?

Me: When I started the blog I had more time to work on it - it was summertime and the livin' was easy. When things started getting busy again, something had to go. I mean, I have LOTS of ideas for things to write about....I guess I'm just lazy. Sorry.

Reader: It's OK, I didn't mean to make you feel bad. I just hate it when someone starts something and then doesn't keep it up. Oops -- that sounds kind of naughty.

Me: Hey! This is a PG blog! Well, maybe R but watch it, OK?

Reader: Sorry, sorry. I lost my head. Oh oh, I said "head." Is that bad?

Me: Knock it off!

Reader: OK. So, do you think you'll try to do more blogging now?

Me: Yeah, I suppose so. I have some issues that are burning to be flamed.

Reader: That's good! Flame on! Wait, that's not dirty, right?

Me:............

Reader: Sorry. I couldn't resist. Hey, what does the picture have to do with this blog?

Me: Nothing. I just know that people don't like to read blogs if there aren't any photos.

Reader:.................