Blog Assignment # 2!!

http://www.pandora.com/#/stations/create/

This is one of my favorite websites! Pandora is a new way of internet radio that you can listen to a variety of music that you like. For example you can type in an artist or genre, and it will play a plethora of music from that artist or genre. Also for example if typed in, let's say John Mayer, there is a button were you can click on that will provide you with music like John Mayer, so its a cool way to discover new artists as well. If you have an iphone or droid, it is free, but I am not sure about just going to it on a computer. This is convenient if you are in one of those moods, and you just want to listen to a certain kind of music. Also they have thousands and thousands of artists and songs. Check it out!!

Blog assignment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwRo0iCvoYE
This video is a present to oprah for 24 seasons of Oprah


observation: thousands maybe millions of people
crazy lights and colors on stage giving it an upbeat vibe
the unitity literally gave me goose bumps
dance moves were fun and energetic
the way the image looked like a ripple of domino's it was AMAZING!
It looks like they are just having the time of their lives, dancing and partying!



inferences:
they were telling a story with there body and there body language
Maybe the story could resemble how it can all start with one person, and one person can make a huge impact.
Oprah was in a state of amazement, and wondering how this could all be happening.
It kind of remids me of how birds fly in the sky in syncronized movements

20-50 Mistaken Identity

So I figured out that the way the author is writing this story is every other chapter, its switching families in the order that things happened in. So for example, the first chapter is about whitneys family and when they first got the phone call, and the second chapter is when lauras family first got the call, and it just keep alternating in sequence of how things happend. I am so into this book, just because i know that it is 100% real. So in i think it was the third chapeter, Whitneys family gets that phone call pronouncing that she is dead, and they get the chance to go see her but she didnt because she didnt want the last image of her daughter to be of her dead. The only problem with that is that she couldnt 100% confirm that it was her; they just trusted the "profesional". So in the next chapter, Lauras family gets the phone call that she has been in a horrible car accident and they need permission to stick some device in her brain to higher the chances of her living. They approve, and they are on their way to the hospital. All of her family and freinds from taylor were at the ICU waitng in the waiting room to hear any new news. First her parents went in the room to see her, and were stunned on how bad she looked, but they insisted that it was laura. When Aryn her boyfreind (but it wasnt really her boyfreind, since it was really Whitney)got there he sat by herside and the nurse came in with some of the stuff that was hers, like a pair of five star converse, but Aryn and her mother claimed that they did not belong to her, but they didnt think anything of it.

The one thing that I really love about this book, is that both of the families put the situation in the hand of God. All that Lauras mom Susie could do is pray that God has a plan for her and her family. Also Taylor University had praying ceremonies the night of the accident and a couple after. That just shows that they are strong in that area and they are going to get through it allot better knowing that they have God.

Mistaken Identity....du du duuuu!

So i know this is probably a bad idea, but i have started another book, hoping that it will not interfere with the other 2 books I am trying to read. If you live in Indiana, you probably have heard about this story. Right off the back, it tell you the end result, and then tells the story of what happend. So in the first chapter, it explains how this story on April 2006, a tragic car accident claimed the lives of several college students in Indiana, and put others in the hospital with critical injuries. Also to find out that 2 of the people where victims of mistaken identity! The story is told in 3rd person, but does a good job of being specific so you can really picture everything happening, and the emotions that the families felt. Whitney was a 2005 high school graduate, attending college near Ft. Wayne, Indiana. She was the kind of girl that loved everyone and everyone loved her. Her mom is a teacher at one of the local schools and her dad is an assistant pastor at a church, so most of the town knows the family. You can tell that Whitneys family was very religious, because as soon as they heard rumors, to the actual phone call announcing that her daughter had died, all the could do was pray, which at times brought me to tears. I couldnt even imagine hearing such news. The only thing that is confusing me is how the family didnt go to her and confirm that it was her....becasue it obviously was not.

Nights in Rodanthe Chapters 1-3

This a new book I am reading, and the first thing that I read was the acknowledgments because usually you can get a feel for what the authors personality is from who they dedicate the book to. For Nicholoas Sparks, he tried to thank everyone and anyone that he could which really shows that he cares about the people around him, and wanted them to know that they impact ths life.

In the beginning, it is basically giving background information on the main character, Adreienne and is very descriptive on her personality traits and characteristics. The story is told in 3rd person, making it feel like you are watching the story from affar. Adreinne is an older women around 60, and in the beginning, there are some flashbacks an Inn that her and her husband used to stay at, (very descriptive). She lived alone, she was divorced from a man named Jack, her father had died in 1996. She had childeren that were in there early thirties. All of them were happily married accept for the youngest whos husband had died of testicular cancer which took a huge toll on there family. Ever since Amanda's husband died, she had not been the person she used to be. She was in a major depression, and most of the Adreinne would help take care of her kids while she weeped in her bedroom. Adrienne was a good grandma. She understood that is was hard, but what Amanda didnt realize was that her kids were suffering too, and it probably seemed like they had lost not only one of there parents but both.

My thoughts about "Tweaked"

Well, this book is basically trying to tell you that once your an addict, you have a 93% chance of never recovering from your horrible habbit. Once Chase died, there whole lives were different. They were in so much debt, so much pain, that they didn't know what to do with themselves. Gordies parents ended up splitting and living far away from each other, and Gordie stayed with his Dad. One of Chases previous druggie friends, Ryan, went to rehab, and from the looks of it Gordie thought he was doing great until he ran in to him and his Mother hat the grocery store. They chatted it up for a few min and the very last line of the book was him asking Gordie if he could barrow 20 bucks....That line is probably the most meaningful line( in a bad way) in the whole book. That line indicates that he still needs money to go get that fix, that high that has taken over his whole mind to the point where I am sure that is all he thinks about. The sad part is, that his Mom thought he had recovered.

Getting to the point where getting the next hit is all you think about, you have major problem and you need to go get help before you end up like Chase, dead. I am sure Chase was a good person on the inside, and I am also sure if he had not gotten into the wrong crowd, that he would be normal, with a normal life.

If you are someone like me, who is totally oblivious to stuff like drugs, this book will give you a detailed description on what an addicts life is like. READ IT!

159- to the end to the BOOK

So before I read the last of the book, I made sure that I some pretzels handy to munch on because I knew it was going to be suspensful. Anyway at this point in the book, it is the start of summer, and Gordie has allot on his mind. Work, summer school, Chase, Mom and Dad, the band, and his crush Jade. He drops in the pawn shop almost everyday to check on his bass guitar that he has almost saved up enouph money for. He really wants to have it back. It was just one of those things that was so precious to him.

One day when Gordie was working, a strange man that was skin and bone, and there were deep hollows of were his cheeks used to be, and when he got up close, Gordie had to step back because the odor was that bad. Once the man got closer, he had realized that it was Chase. Chase was asking Gordie for 500 dollars or else Ractchet and DC were going to kill him. Gordie was so mad at him, but he didnt want his brother to die. Ratchet and DC were outside of the store waiting and watching. Gordie locked the doors so that they could not get in. He calmy tried to tell Chase that he was going to call the cops, and as soon as he told him the plan, Chase freaked out and started shaking, and did what he did best and ran away and tried to get out.  Before Gordie could call the cops, he was out and when Ratchet and DC saw he didnt have any money with him, they started beating him, and pushed him into the backseat of there car and sped off. The cops later found Ratchet and DC but no Chase.

Gordie rides the bus home, wandering if Chase is alive. He is scared to to go home and tell his parents that Chase was with him and once again got away. Gordie looks at the newspapers everyday at the section reading unidentified bodies wandering if it were Chase. It seems as though this whole thing has screwed there family up mentally and emotionally. Gordies dad is starting to drink, and his Mom wont get out of bed. His parents are not speaking, and his Mom is turning on Gordie and his Dad. The cops do not trust Gordies Mom, so everynight they speak with his father. 

So one afternoon Gordie is watching the news, and sees that a man has stolen a womens car in the rain. The man gets to the highway and is chased by cops at over 150 kilometers per hour when they finally stop him, he is seen with his head down on the wheel, and swallows something which is later found to be a large amount of drugs. Its guess that he just wanted one last hit before he got arrested. Even on the TV with all the cops surrouding the man, Gordie knew that it was Chase. Chase went into cardiac arrest, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he stopped breathing. My post is getting too long so therfore.....to be continued....muhahah

Tweaked pgs 100-157

With the book almost being over, the suspense is building up on what Gordies family is going to end up like, and what will happen to Chase. Gordie is describing his parents to be ageing allot in only less than a year, and I am sure we can all guess why. Chase, financial issues, etc. His mom seemed to non intentially blame the situation on Gordie, when Gordie is just tryig to help. Gordie is failing two of his classes, and gets a chance to re-take his finals, or go to summer school. The night when Chase dissapeared was the last night he had to study for his exams, so that didnt happen. He went into his councelor the next day and signed up for summer school because he new that there was no hope for him passing the exams. I personally think I would have a tremendous amount of difficulty studying when my life was as bad as his. While he is in the councelor he finally opens  up to her and tells her almost everything about Chase which lifted a huge weight off his shoulders. Over the next week Chase doesnt call or show up. Everyday that Chase does not turn him self in to the police, the more the police are not going to play mister nice guy, and his punishment will get even worse.

At this point, he feels like nothing else can go wrong, so he tries to look for his bass guitar at local pawn shops. While he is downtown in a nasty area, he gets hit on by a grundgy looking man with no teeth, and smells horrible. The old man asks him if he wants to go on a date for money. This incident just show you how messed up people can get when they do drugs.

Later on Gordie finds out over the phone, that his Mom has been contacting Chase for weeks now, giving him almost 200 dollars a day. Chase has been using a pay phone right outside a conveniance store. Some how the police find out, and try to catch him at the phone booth calling his Mom. Gordie is watching at a distance, and as soon as the undercover cops seem a little too obvious, Chase runs! Gordie cannot help himself but to run after him as well. Chase gets away. At this point, Gordies Mom and Dad are not talking, and his Mom is contantly wasting gas looking for Chase.

At this point I really want to know what is going to happen to Chase. I personally think he is going to be dead, and there is not going to be a happy ending, but who knows, this book is pretty "Tweaked".....haha good one. Anyway if I were in Gordies shoes I would be on the verge of giving up, but something inside of him keeps looking for his brother.

"Tweaked" pgs. 63-100

These next few chapters are intense and quite depressing. Chases freind Harris has committed suicide by statbbing himself when he was high and thought that there were bugs on him that wouldnt come off, so he tried to stab them to get them off leaving him on the side of the rode with 27 stab wounds his body, and died before they could get him to the hospital. At this time Chase is at home, and surpisingly doesnt react as he should when he hears the news about his druggie freind. He doesnt show much emotion at all. Later we find out that Gordies Mom has lost her job due to asking for time off too often, becasuse she was having problems with Chase that she needed to take care of, and work was a second priority. Now they are really screwed finanically. I can not imagine having almost no money, and then right after that loosing a job. So in that case, Gordie decided to sell his precious bass guitar from his band to help pay Chases debt. He also gathers up all of his birthday money and savings to meet the amount needed to help pay Chases drug dealers, so he could get out of the house and start working, and maybe even become normal again. Gordie helps Chase out big time and goes to the bank and gets the money.

Gordie refuses to let Chase go by himself with his money; who knows Chase would probably run off with it. Anyway, for some odd reason Chase gets all spiffed up to go to the drug dealers house leaving Gordie confused. Disregarding that, they are on there way and Chase directs Gordie into an actually nice neighborhood, and Gordie is very shocked to see where this is where Chase comes to gets high at. As they enter the drive way Gordie wants to go to the door with Chase, but Chase refuses and promises he will only be 5 minutes. 20 minutes go by and Gordie is worried, so he goes up and a creep answers the door and says Chase isnt there, he had run off.....again. Gordie is scared to go back home because they had told there parents that they were going to a movie. Gordie feels like an idot. He looks for Chase all night in the rain and almost gets jumped by some crazy men downtown. He finallly gives up, and goes home to tell his parents the truth, but the police had beat him to it. They had found out that the man that Chase had hit on the head, and was in the hospital had just died that night, and its possible he is going to be charged for murder. His parents are so upset, and scared of whats going to happen.

Right now Gordie wishes that Chase was dead. I dont blame him, it just seems like one bad thing happens after another, and its not fair. Gordie hasn't done anything to deserve this life, and if it stinks to think if Chase had never acted the way he did, nothing would be falling apart like it is. Right now I feel like I am Gordie, and I fell the pain he is going through. The book is doing a great job of being descriptive and telling every detail so you feel like you are actually in the story. Honestly I feel like I could ring Chases neck right about now, he is just screwing up time and time agian and it is not fair to an innocent family like theres.

"Tweaked" Pages 38-62

By this point in the book Gordie has been faced with things that probably would be traumatizing to most people including me. For example, he gets jumped by two gangsters on the side of the road named Ratchet and DC. Shocker, Chase had owed the gangsters two grand, and when didn't get there money on time, they went after his family. When Chase gets home from rehab, Gordie can barely talk to him because he is so disappointed. They get into a small fight, and Chase breaks down in a whimper and tell Gordie that he is scared for his life. He is scared that he is going to get killed by Ratchet and DC, because he had already broke his best friend Hatchets hand because he owed them 500 dollars. Chase begs Gordie for money, and Gordie leaves him hanging and tells him he will think think it over the next couple weeks.

Gordie's Dad lets him borrow there sports car they own that Chase used to drive all the time. Making it all the way to the highway, they began to be chased by another car, ending up reaching dangerous speeds of 140 kmh. They eventually see that it is the gangsters trying to kill them. Gordie and his friend eventually get pulled over and the cops found records of drug possessions and steeling all because it was from Chase leaving them in the Police station. After his parents picked them up disappointed about the speeding ticket, they knew the drug talk was not Gordie. Chase disappeared for about two weeks and the two grand was over 2 weeks overdue. Chase had lost around 50 lbs, and had broken out in "speed bumps", sores all over his body oozing gross stuff trying to get rid of the noxious chemicals in his body from the meth.

Gordie and his parents have had enough after they get a phone call from his grandma terrified for her life because Chase entered her house with a knife demanding for money. They had finally kicked him out. They changed the locks and didn't see Chase for two more weeks. He would come back once in awhile begging for food, and a place to sleep, but as hard is it was for his parents, they had to say NO.! It seemed like Chase did not learn his lesson though; he would break in occasionally when no one was home and try and steal things so he could sell them. Also, he applied for a credit card in this mothers name and nearly drained there family bank account. It just seems like one thing after another, and there family doesn't get a break from Chase being a bastard and selfish. Gordie is livid with this situation because his parents are barely paying any attention to him because they are constantly working with there finances or worrying about Chase and why he is the way he is. Truthfully, I think Chase just got ahold of this horrible behavior from hanging around the wrong people. If I were Chases parents right now i would use all of the money i had left to put him back in rehab, because there is no way he is getting better on the streets. I think this whole situation is scary and has gotten out of hand.

Pages 1-38 in "Tweaked"

I got interested in this book because getting addicted to crack cocaine is something that would never cross my mind as something that would take part in my life. This story starts off with this boy named Gordie, and he reminds the reader of some of the good memories of him and his brother when they were younger. Soon enouph, he break out into present happenings, and informs us about his life and his brother. Gordie's brother Chase, asked his dad one day if he could have some money to go buy some unbleached Egyptain cotten. Confused, his dad and him went to get it, and later that night Chase had done something terrible. Chase had put his neighbor into the hospital because he hit him in the head with a bottle. Chase had been arrested before, and finally we find out that he is a serious crystal methamphetamine user.

Gordie has to deal with not knowing whether his brother is safe, or when he will come home. Most of the time he comes home he is "hyped up, pupils flickering in his head like a pinball machine, skin yellow-gray, and sores festering all over his face." Gordie had described him as being so thin that he could break. Chase would always be going out and lying to his parents who were worried sick, and coming home with the police beacause he had been found on the side of the road or something of that sort. The parents had given Chase way too many changes, and were somewhat of pushovers in the beginning. Teachers, freinds and family gave him every oppertunity to redeam himself, but he ended up screwing it up again. Gordie is emberassed to have people such as the girl he has a crsuh on name Holly over because he is afraid his brother will come home high, and scare them off while trying to steal whatever he can to sell for money for the drugs. Gordies mom and dad don't have money anymore beause they litereally have spent it all on Chase, with bailing him out of jail countless times, and getting tricked in to giving money for things when he only spent it on drugs.

My personal outlook on the book is that  Gordie is taking is better than I would be. Seeing my sibling tearing his life apart, and knowing that he is a drug addict, I dont know how I would deal with it, I would probably need counseling. This book reminds me of that show on MTV about the drug addicts, and honestly it is a depressing show to watch these wonderful people turn into monsters because of an nasty addcition. It changes there whole personality and willingness to live life.