Group P: Don't Be Hatin'

Another band that I am completely in love with is the Goo Goo Dolls. They are a very unique band in many ways. I think the lead singer has the sexiest voice ever. It’s raspy and a little deep. Their music kind of reminds me of NeverShoutNever. It’s calmer music than rock and alternative. They actually have a cd that’s called The Greatest Hits: Goo Goo Dolls, or something like that. To be honest, all their songs are hits. Normally I don’t really listen to them, but ever since I heard “Iris”, on the radio, I’ve been addicted. I just can’t get enough of them. I actually can’t believe that they’re from Buffalo also. They have extreme talent! I know the words to all of their songs…well almost. Whenever my dad and I drive on Broadway, whether it’s dark out or not I always break out into song. “Broadway is dark tonight!” –me

I also enjoy listening to older music, like the 90’s or 80’s. That music is so much different than the music now. It’s not sexual. It’s not about drugs. It’s just carefree and fun. Surprisingly I’m an N*Sync fan and Backstreet Boys fan. I grew up listening to them. My favorite person is Lance Bass from N*Sync and Kevin from BB. I’m a nerd. Hardcore.

My dad also got me into Whitney Houston when I was younger. I’m also a fan of Tina Turner. Their music was always so inspirational. I still have some of their tapes. Yea, tapes. Some kids don’t even know what those are. I was devastated when Whitney died. I always wanted to sing like her. She had the most beautiful voice I have ever heard. It was powerful too. R.I.P.♥

The last person I love is Adele. She truly is an inspiration. She shows women and men how to turn heartbreak into art. She also knows how to be proud of her body. She truly is beautiful and so is her voice. Ever since she became famous in America, I’ve listened to all of her music. I literally love each song.

Group P: Haters Make Us Famous!

For my first choice blog that I will do is going to be about my favorite band, Blood on the Dance Floor. Lately I’ve noticed my taste is music is changing. I still love screamo, but it’s changing mainly to techno. Blood on the Dance Floor has been one of my favorite bands for a couple years now. This was the kind of music I turned to after Karen left. I actually remember writing an article about their album that came out during Online Publishing 1. Their music is really sexual, but I think that’s what makes it awesome. You can be incredibly angry, and then you listen to Scream for my Ice Cream, and you can’t help but laugh. A lot of people actually judge this band because of the way they look. They get called gay every day, but to be honest, I don’t care if they are gay or not. They make awesome music and they have extreme skills. Blood on the Dance Floor has taken me from being in darkness, into the light. Jayy Von Monroe is one the members of this band and he actually barely passed high school because of bullying. He had to be treated as if he was a prisoner. He couldn’t even go to the bathroom alone because the school was afraid he was going to be killed. He had a desk thrown at him before. Look where he is now! FAMOUS. That’s what I love about this band. They don’t care what you say about them. They take those horrible words and turn their pain into lyrics. Some of those lyrics aren’t always sexual though. Their songs are about believing in yourself no matter what. I don’t think I’ll ever stop listening to this band. They are my jam. Listen before you judge.

“BOTDF is one act that will scar your mind. Love is the message, division is not.”

Group P: Rude Much?

Mr. Cayea was actually just talking about this article, or what the article is about in class a couple weeks ago. He went from happy to quite angry within seconds. I think if teachers are going to be rated on how well kids do on tests and their overall averages in class, isn’t going to be fair to the teachers. Mr. Cayea and many of the other teachers here at Alden High, are awesome teachers. The students here though, are really lazy. It’s not the teachers fault if a student does badly on a test, quiz or anything else. They need to look at the fact if the student did bad, why did they do bad? A lot of students lately don’t really care about their grades and give up. Teachers shouldn’t have to be graded upon students who don’t care about school. It doesn’t show how the teachers are good or not at their job. If maybe all the kids were failing then there would be a problem. Even if it came to the teachers being rated on the students’ effort, the teachers can’t do anything to motivate them. You can show the students what will happen to them if they don’t do well in school or even drop out and sometimes it won’t even faze them. It’s sad. It really is. I just don’t want teachers being fired because of kids making stupid decisions. If parents look at their kids’ report cards and see that they’re failing a class, they should be questioned why. They shouldn’t just push it aside. Clearly there is something wrong with the kid. Don’t just blame it on the teacher. I mean, yea, there are some horrible teachers out there, but in the end, they are still teaching us something. If you’re sitting there at the exam and don’t know anything, that’s when you have a problem.

Group P: Not Becoming a Hobo

I’m actually surprised at how well I’ve done so far since writing that one blog, Blog A: Becoming a Hobo. I’ve been on the honor roll the whole year so far and I’m keeping it that way. I’ve had a 95 in English almost the whole year and in Civics, well a 90 is still legit. Bro! I also purchased a car like I said! At first I didn’t want to buy it because I didn’t think I was ready yet, but it happened. I’m starting after Prom with driving lessons and then in June I should be doing my driver’s test. I’m quite nervous to be frank. I’ve driven with Sara and I was fine. But when I drive with my father, I’m a wreck. I’m afraid that he’s going to judge me or criticize me too harshly. Another thing that surprised me over the past school year is the fact that I barely have any homework. I don’t have to worry about coming home after work and have to do homework. I think the only time I was freaking about work was when I had to do the senior thesis and I forgot to skip lines when writing the rough draft so I had to rewrite it. That stressed me out. I’ve also made a lot of new friends. I joined the Creative Writing Club and met a lot of new people, mainly freshman, but they still count. I’ve also talked to more people in my grade that I usually don’t talk to. For example, Devyn Woelfle has been talking to me a lot. I find it entertaining because we’re complete opposites but suddenly we’re like best friends. I haven’t said a word to this girl until the beginning of this school year. She’s literally in all of my classes except for gym. I think this is the first time I actually followed through with my goals. Success has never felt so good!

Group P: Mustache Cash Stash

To be honest, I don’t really enjoy watching television. I mean, I have my moments where I sit on my butt for an hour or two and watch some Spongebob, but when I look back on my week, I’m reading or writing more than watching t.v. Sometimes when I’m bored on vacations and stuff I watch more television than I should. I watch Jersey Shore, The Food Network Channel, and The Regular Show. I watch more movies than t.v. because they don’t usually have gory stuff showing at five p.m. There are six televisions in my house. We each have one in our rooms because if someone is watching something in the living room that we don’t like, than we go to our room and watch what we want. Parents like to blame a lot of things on the media, especially violence. To be on honest, that pisses me off. If you let your child sit in front of the television for hours in a day, then maybe yea it’ll influence them to do stupid stuff. Seriously though, if a kid sits in front of the t.v. watching Dora the Explorer, I doubt that they will grow up to be a serial killer. I mean, you can definitely monitor what your children are watching. Don’t blame it on the media. Also, I think watching television can help kids learn stuff. That’s why they have Barney the Pedophile…I mean Dinosaur, and Dora. They teach kids how to have manners and how to count until ten. For adults though, it’s just a form of entertainment. Sometimes you just need to laugh at Family Guy to really let some anger go after working hard. In closing, I don’t know why I just started my sentence like that, but anyways, I just think people need to learn that the media isn’t to blame in all cases when your child becomes an axe wielding murderer.

Group O: Popsicle!

My mother is…just kidding, that wouldn’t be a school appropriate blog. My father is the best father that has ever existed. He has done so much, before and after Karen’s departure, that has showed that he does really care for us. Before my parents got married, my dad was already taking care of six kids, Karen’s kids. He took his time and devoted it to these kids who didn’t have fathers. Donald, Michael, Brian, Sara, Monolito and Markus, all of my half siblings that I love no matter what. He adopted Sara, Mono and Markus because they were still under the age of eighteen. Since then, my father raised all of them, including Crystal and I. Have you ever met anyone that has done something like that? Besides raising kids, he went to college, and bought the West Alden Kitchen. I think it’ll be ten years this year of owning the business. Yea, it feels like a lifetime. I love my father, and I love buying him things because the expression on his face is priceless. I wrote him a letter for Valentine’s Day, saying that he’d be the only man in my life that would never break my heart. I actually made him cry. He also gets really spoiled because we even do stuff for him for Mother’s Day. We always get him a room at Salvatore’s for a couple days so he can get away. He sure does need it. When he’s home, he’s always surrounded by girls. It gets annoying even for me. I think being with my dad has made me the person I am today. He’s taught me a lot. Even through a struggle, you can still come out strong. Without my father, I would literally be nothing. A huge part of me would die and I don’t think I’d be able to move on. He also has the best sense of humor. “I wonder how chubby police officers chase after bad guys. Do they just roll?” I died.

Group O: End the Government!

I found this article on CNN’s website, and I am really disgusted in the government even more than I was before. I wrote a blog before about the government and my opinion of them. I hate the government. I despise it. In the article, a 77 year-old pharmacist committed suicide because of a crisis dealing with debt and what not. He’s not the only one who has done this before. People, everyday commit suicide do to the fact that they don’t have money. They lose their jobs, homes, family and are left with nothing. I think that the government cares way too much about money. It’s always money this or money that. What about the people? The president is supposed to care about us, yet there are people dying because of him. He’s not saving us from death, he’s causing it. In the article, people were saying that it is murder, not suicide, meaning that the “government” murdered him. I understand that. I hate the fact that it’s true. This happened in Athens, Greece, and this can happen here in the United States. Well, I’m sure it has already happened plenty of times. I think that we should just stop creating money. We should go back to the barter system. There we don’t have to think about problems. We can do things for ourselves, learn new skills, and be more active. Our economy is just crashing and one day it’s just going to be gone and it’ll be too late to do anything about it. I think we should start now and start over. We can make this economy better, easily. You have no idea how many people would be screaming for joy because of that. I’ve lost my house before. I know what it feels like how not to have a house, a job and a life. It’s hard and people are actually poorer than me. The United States needs help, and one day it’ll be too late for help.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/05/world/europe/greece-austerity-suicide/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

Group O: “Happily ever after is a concept I'll never believe in.”

(Choice blog, bro.) So recently I’ve noticed myself reading more, and it’s awesome! I’m really addicted to the novels written by Ellen Hopkins. She is the most talented author. Her stories truly speak to me. Her first book is called Crank. It’s actually somewhat a true story about her daughter that came into contact with the drug, crank. It’s a powerful story and you can literally feel what her daughter is going through when she is on the drug. She uses the most unique words to explain things and you can really imagine all of it. It’s scary. My favorite book so far in her series is called Identical. It’s about twin girls, Raeanne and Kaleigh. Their father is an alcoholic judge and their mother is running for something in office. After a huge car crash because of their father (he was drunk), he nearly took their mother’s life. Their family is splitting apart and Raeanne is using drugs and sex as an escape. Kaleigh is trying to find what true love really means. Further into the novel, we find out that Raeanne actually died in that car crash and is living inside of Kaleigh. I guess you can say she has split personalities. One moment she’s Kaleigh, the next she’s Raeanne. It is incredible. Ellen Hopkins is also a unique writer because of the way she writes. She makes her words look as if they are in a poem, but they don’t necessarily rhyme. She sometimes puts them in a way that they form into a picture. Like in Identical, when she was introducing the father, she explained him as an alcoholic while putting the words in the form of a beer bottle. They might be little books, almost 600 pages each, but they are the best novels I have ever read. If you ever find yourself bored, head on up to the library, they have every single one of her books. You’ll be finding yourself addicted.  

“I'm in love. And I like how that feels. And I hate how that feels. Because love is an invention of fiction writers.” ~Kaleigh

Group O: College...cool story bro.

For the past two months, everyone has been talking about college and I’m getting really annoyed. I understand that people get paid more when they go to college and get a Bachelor’s degree or whatever, but I want to do something other than school for the rest of my life. After school I’m planning on working for a long time. lol. Of course I want to go to college, but only for a couple English courses. Being an author is difficult, and by taking those English courses, it will improve my grammar skills. Also, I don’t really like this government, so I don’t want to borrow money from them because then they will be bugging me for the rest of my life to give back the money. Another reason why I believe college isn’t on my to do list right away, is the fact that not many jobs are being offered right now; especially the ones that you need to go to college for. I wouldn’t want to go to college and then left with all these bills because I can’t find a job afterwards. That’s why I want to raise enough money for myself by working every day. I know that that is tiring, but if you want something really bad, then you’ll do anything for it. That’s what I’m doing. I’m literally working for my dream. Then when I become a really famous author, I can finally start a family. I’m aware of the fact that it’ll take a long time, so many people have told me this. I’m a strong person, and if I fail, I can start all over again. I’m not giving up my dream for some stupid job that I’d not only be terrible at, but miserable. I’ll work for it until the day I die. I was born to write. That’s the only thing I am capable of.