Hey peoples. Today I am writing the Alone part two blog. Here it goes.
So I am starting where I left off. I am still walking up the steep hill with hundreds of other kids in the dark and the rain, the song still playing on my iPod. I finally get to the top at the end of the sidewalk, and at the top edge of the building, in front of where the sidewalk ends, there is a light next to a loudspeaker. The light is bright white in sharp contrast with the soft yellow of the bus headlights, the only other source of light. The rain seems softer now almost slower. I can only see it falling in front of the light and the bus headlights. It patters on my hood and starts to drip slowly near it's point. The light shines down on us and I see the light illuminating our faces below depicting pale and ghostly creatures. To my immediate left is the road and the buses lined up and to the right the main entrance with a teacher to the side of the twin double doors. Past the wall at the end of the sidewalk are a few more buses and another strain of kids pours in from that end like the water flowing steadily at the side of the road. Right before I enter the building the loud speaker booms with some kind of non important message from the principle. My song isn't loud but it seems like this message and my other senses are a little dull and my steps seem slow, the sound of people around me and the speaker a low buzz. This mass of kids slowly squeezes in the two doors, not to close again for another steady fifteen minutes after I get in. Here it is slower and I have to stop and wait often. We enter into a small lobby before another set of doors leading into the school's main hallway. It is like a a big release and we separate the six-graders going right, down the hallway, and me with the seventh and eight graders going the other direction. We pass the gym on our right and some kids go in the cafeteria on the left for breakfast. Here the social clicks and groups become visible. The most prominent, the little tribes of popular kids.
Another right turn for us in order to go down this hallway. At the end is another pair of double doors outside again. It is just a sidewalk going vertical across our path before entering the separate building for seventh and eight grade. I get out and for some reason I stop. I look right just outside and hold the door open. At the time I had never done it before in this particular place. To this day I still don't really know why I did it. The song is long and still playing; I am now much more aware now and the alone feeling steadily faded away when I began entering the building. The rain is slower now and the sky has shifted to a gray despite the sun not being up at all. I am still holding the door for the endless torrent of people and most of the people walking through don't say anything, if they notice me at all. The other small group of people either teased me a bit or thanked me. This is going to sound a bit weird but I don't think that I really cared what any of them said. I took note of the people that did say thank you, still in a haze with the song and that feeling I had earlier, but it felt like it was something I was doing for myself or for no reason at all, not really out of the pure kindness of my heart. As for the people that teased me, I didn't really care, besides this is middle school and you can't let anything get to you. During this it felt a little like everything was in slow motion, the rain, the train of people moving from one building to the next. Some of the people in my head barely even passed through, people I didn't know and had no connections with. Others I knew and had me thinking a little about the long day ahead of me. Finally they are these spare few that set off powerful memories. Some of these people I don't even know and something about them just triggers something inside me. The rest from this group I have powerful memories about spending time with them and these people seem to notice me but say nothing. At last a few little groups of teens dribble out. The song is near its end as I walk down the hallway past the people at their lockers on either side. A teacher on the side barks at me to put my hood down. I arrive to my locker on the bottom at the very end of the hallway and squat to get my things and put my book bag away. With my things in hand I head to homeroom to start the day and think about the time in the dark and the rain when I was completely alone.
I am writing this blog at 9:05 PM in the car on the highway on a long trip back from Pennsylvania. Bye.
By Ashton
The Grey Jack Frost
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Alone
Hey peoples. Today I'm talking about music, fate, circumstance, and what you think of the three. I think I am going to write this blog in two, maybe three parts, one each Sunday. Here it goes.
I get up at 5:50 in the morning take a shower eat breakfast and I'm off for the bus stop with my backpack my hands in my jean pockets and my hoodie with the hood up at around 6:50. Usually it is still dark and often wet. Eventually I get my iPod and my earplugs and set it to shuffle through all my songs. I listen to sad songs, party songs, songs from the Heart. This particular morning in the fall of sixth grade. It was very dark and raining. At the bus stop there was nothing to do except listen to my music and watch the rain. I was standing so ahead of me was the road that led to my house. A road to my right led up to a hill so you could see not much but the tops of the trees on the other side. To my left another road and a turn to it's left where the bus came around. The only lighting was the porch lights from the surrounding houses and the occasional early morning commuter in his or her car. I was still perfectly engrossed in my music and I was fixated on the blacktop in front of me the rain pattering in puddles. The bus came into view out of the corner of my left eye and stopped for some other kids. The headlights bright in the still pitch black sky. I shared the bus stop with only one person and there and we rarely talked. The bus started again and stopped in front of me. I walked inside and sat at the first available seat. The bus started again. I was the only person in my seat near the front of the bus the whole time so I had the window. The window was fogged up with the rain but good enough for me to see clearly. The bus is filled with middleschoolers and highschoolers. Then we go through the woods on twisty turns. There are fancy old houses there, a pond where geese hang out, and even a farm. Still listening to my music I get this feeling it is like when your sad and theres not much to do but your not bored. I almost felt like I wanted to be sad and nature was setting the scene for me. Then we go through crowded downtown Martinsburg. Finally we arrive at school. It is around ten minutes before the principle gives the go to let us out of the buses. The buses are lined up and mine is last in line. So I have to walk up a long sidewalk on a hill to get inside. I step off the bus and immediately this song comes on. It is completely in tune to everything going on around me. It is everything that I believe in. It is everything that is me. I don't think I'm ever going to share this song or why it is me. This is the first time I have ever voiced this to anybody. The song continues and I continue walking in the pitch black and the pouring rain with my hood up, my hands in my jean pockets, and my backpack. Hundreds of people all around me are all talking at once but somehow, then, I was completely alone and I liked it.
By Ashton
I get up at 5:50 in the morning take a shower eat breakfast and I'm off for the bus stop with my backpack my hands in my jean pockets and my hoodie with the hood up at around 6:50. Usually it is still dark and often wet. Eventually I get my iPod and my earplugs and set it to shuffle through all my songs. I listen to sad songs, party songs, songs from the Heart. This particular morning in the fall of sixth grade. It was very dark and raining. At the bus stop there was nothing to do except listen to my music and watch the rain. I was standing so ahead of me was the road that led to my house. A road to my right led up to a hill so you could see not much but the tops of the trees on the other side. To my left another road and a turn to it's left where the bus came around. The only lighting was the porch lights from the surrounding houses and the occasional early morning commuter in his or her car. I was still perfectly engrossed in my music and I was fixated on the blacktop in front of me the rain pattering in puddles. The bus came into view out of the corner of my left eye and stopped for some other kids. The headlights bright in the still pitch black sky. I shared the bus stop with only one person and there and we rarely talked. The bus started again and stopped in front of me. I walked inside and sat at the first available seat. The bus started again. I was the only person in my seat near the front of the bus the whole time so I had the window. The window was fogged up with the rain but good enough for me to see clearly. The bus is filled with middleschoolers and highschoolers. Then we go through the woods on twisty turns. There are fancy old houses there, a pond where geese hang out, and even a farm. Still listening to my music I get this feeling it is like when your sad and theres not much to do but your not bored. I almost felt like I wanted to be sad and nature was setting the scene for me. Then we go through crowded downtown Martinsburg. Finally we arrive at school. It is around ten minutes before the principle gives the go to let us out of the buses. The buses are lined up and mine is last in line. So I have to walk up a long sidewalk on a hill to get inside. I step off the bus and immediately this song comes on. It is completely in tune to everything going on around me. It is everything that I believe in. It is everything that is me. I don't think I'm ever going to share this song or why it is me. This is the first time I have ever voiced this to anybody. The song continues and I continue walking in the pitch black and the pouring rain with my hood up, my hands in my jean pockets, and my backpack. Hundreds of people all around me are all talking at once but somehow, then, I was completely alone and I liked it.
By Ashton
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Mowing
Hey people's. So as you know it is Spring in Martinsburg and for us that means mowing the lawn. Let's see how that went.
So Dad tells me that I am mowing the lawn today. Color drains from my face. Number one: my setup is pretty bad. I use to have 1-2 problems a mow about my iPod, hat falling off, or trying to get to my water bottle without stopping the mower and having to start it again. Number two: the Nerf darts. Alex and I constantly shoot each other in the yard with foam darts fired from plastic guns. I always try to find them all but sometimes that is impossible. If I am lucky I can get one or two saved. Sometimes I just heard Bzzzzzt! Pow! And I am afraid to look at the poor dismembered Nerf dart. Number three: the obstacles. In the backyard alone I have a huge shed, several trees, a long row of other trees right up against the fence, the Cabana, and a tree bush monster that I suspect used to eat people rules the long gone pond area. There is also another thorny bush, and a risen garden close enough to both bushes to hurt me and far enough away I have to mow there. Not to mention in the fall the pine needles shoot out like bullets in the front yard.
The cabana.
The people eater.
First I have to get out my last pair of shoes which are for yard work. The shoes I have used over the years have differed as I get new shoes and old shoes expire but by the time it is Springtime they are all super small. This particular pair was even worse because the bottom front of one of the shoes flopped down only connected to my shoe by the back half of the rubber. There was still a cloth protecting my socked foot from the elements but my mom had to glue the rubber back it. The glue worked fine but somehow over the months the glue bunched up into a tight roll right in between my toes and the rest of my foot. With every step the back of the shoe dug into my heel and the glue lump kept my toes pressed against the roof of it.
Work shoes
See the glue.
Next I have to make sure that there is nothing in the yard like the hose. Everything goes well. Then I get out the mower and fill it with gas. It starts fine especially for the first mow of Spring. 5-10 minutes of mowing and I hit a root grown just enough since last Spring to hit the blade but not big enough for me or Dad to notice the difference. There is even a patch on the side yard I don't mow because of the roots there but in the back yard there has never been a problem. So anyway, Bzzzt! clang! The mower stops immediately. I flip it on it's side and I see the root with the top chopped off and the mower blade bent downwards so bad it left a rut in the dirt from hitting the root. I rushed inside and found Dad with a smile on his face knowing I did something but not that bad. I told him what happened and his smile disappeared. He examined the mower and I put it away along with my things.
The root.
The grass clumps shot out when the blade bent.
Oh by the way, a few weeks ago Katie broke the dishwasher so Katie and I are the new dishwasher.
Bye!
By Ashton
So Dad tells me that I am mowing the lawn today. Color drains from my face. Number one: my setup is pretty bad. I use to have 1-2 problems a mow about my iPod, hat falling off, or trying to get to my water bottle without stopping the mower and having to start it again. Number two: the Nerf darts. Alex and I constantly shoot each other in the yard with foam darts fired from plastic guns. I always try to find them all but sometimes that is impossible. If I am lucky I can get one or two saved. Sometimes I just heard Bzzzzzt! Pow! And I am afraid to look at the poor dismembered Nerf dart. Number three: the obstacles. In the backyard alone I have a huge shed, several trees, a long row of other trees right up against the fence, the Cabana, and a tree bush monster that I suspect used to eat people rules the long gone pond area. There is also another thorny bush, and a risen garden close enough to both bushes to hurt me and far enough away I have to mow there. Not to mention in the fall the pine needles shoot out like bullets in the front yard.
The cabana.
The people eater.
First I have to get out my last pair of shoes which are for yard work. The shoes I have used over the years have differed as I get new shoes and old shoes expire but by the time it is Springtime they are all super small. This particular pair was even worse because the bottom front of one of the shoes flopped down only connected to my shoe by the back half of the rubber. There was still a cloth protecting my socked foot from the elements but my mom had to glue the rubber back it. The glue worked fine but somehow over the months the glue bunched up into a tight roll right in between my toes and the rest of my foot. With every step the back of the shoe dug into my heel and the glue lump kept my toes pressed against the roof of it.
Work shoes
See the glue.
Next I have to make sure that there is nothing in the yard like the hose. Everything goes well. Then I get out the mower and fill it with gas. It starts fine especially for the first mow of Spring. 5-10 minutes of mowing and I hit a root grown just enough since last Spring to hit the blade but not big enough for me or Dad to notice the difference. There is even a patch on the side yard I don't mow because of the roots there but in the back yard there has never been a problem. So anyway, Bzzzt! clang! The mower stops immediately. I flip it on it's side and I see the root with the top chopped off and the mower blade bent downwards so bad it left a rut in the dirt from hitting the root. I rushed inside and found Dad with a smile on his face knowing I did something but not that bad. I told him what happened and his smile disappeared. He examined the mower and I put it away along with my things.
The root.
The grass clumps shot out when the blade bent.
Oh by the way, a few weeks ago Katie broke the dishwasher so Katie and I are the new dishwasher.
Bye!
By Ashton
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Psycho
Hey peoples. Today I have another horror movie to talk about. Here it goes.
On Friday me, Katie, and my parents saw the movie Psycho. It came out in 1960 in black and white. It focuses around a woman in her mid thirties who ends up stealing 40,000 dollars so her boyfriend could pay off his ex wife and so they could get married. On her way from Arizona to California where he lives she has to stop at the Bate's hotel. A small hotel next to a creepy old house a ways off the highway with some dark secrets.
Even Norman Bates' actor looks creepy.
A few weeks before we saw it, it was me that asked Dad if we could watch it. Unfortunately when we did get around to it we found out we didn't have it on the apple TV. Another week passed and eventually we were able to rent it on Netflix to watch. One of the funny things is I originally wanted to watch it because I saw a picture of this dude.
I'm not sure what happened but i guess that somehow my brain remembered him and remembered that there was a famous movie called psycho,me not knowing much about the movie, and my head put the two together.
Norman Bates
No matter what happened I still enjoyed the movie a lot. Here writing my blog Dad is telling me that that guy is from Halloween and that I can't quite see that movie yet. I think both me and katie were very into the movie.
Spoiler alert
Going on the title in the beginning of the movie I thought at first that maybe her Boyfriend was the psycho because it would add the horror of her lover trying to kill her. As I stated previously I didn't know much about this movie except the title and for some reason I thought that the dude I mentioned earlier was in it but with the mask he wears he could of been much of anybody really.
After this shower scene I still thought that the Halloween dude was in it because when they showed us only the outline it still looks like it could of been a dude with a knife, mask, and messed up black hair.
Later in the movie when Norman is carrying his mom down the stairs I couldn't see her face but she was unusually unmoving even for a sick woman. I thought maybe he had bouts of madness and killed people like his father, later his mother and boyfriend, and eventually the girl. Maybe he also stuffed his mom and the later killings were just covering up his and his madness. I was still a bit off however.
All in all psycho was a great movie. Bye!
By Ashton
On Friday me, Katie, and my parents saw the movie Psycho. It came out in 1960 in black and white. It focuses around a woman in her mid thirties who ends up stealing 40,000 dollars so her boyfriend could pay off his ex wife and so they could get married. On her way from Arizona to California where he lives she has to stop at the Bate's hotel. A small hotel next to a creepy old house a ways off the highway with some dark secrets.
Even Norman Bates' actor looks creepy.
A few weeks before we saw it, it was me that asked Dad if we could watch it. Unfortunately when we did get around to it we found out we didn't have it on the apple TV. Another week passed and eventually we were able to rent it on Netflix to watch. One of the funny things is I originally wanted to watch it because I saw a picture of this dude.
I'm not sure what happened but i guess that somehow my brain remembered him and remembered that there was a famous movie called psycho,me not knowing much about the movie, and my head put the two together.
Norman Bates
No matter what happened I still enjoyed the movie a lot. Here writing my blog Dad is telling me that that guy is from Halloween and that I can't quite see that movie yet. I think both me and katie were very into the movie.
Spoiler alert
Going on the title in the beginning of the movie I thought at first that maybe her Boyfriend was the psycho because it would add the horror of her lover trying to kill her. As I stated previously I didn't know much about this movie except the title and for some reason I thought that the dude I mentioned earlier was in it but with the mask he wears he could of been much of anybody really.
After this shower scene I still thought that the Halloween dude was in it because when they showed us only the outline it still looks like it could of been a dude with a knife, mask, and messed up black hair.
Later in the movie when Norman is carrying his mom down the stairs I couldn't see her face but she was unusually unmoving even for a sick woman. I thought maybe he had bouts of madness and killed people like his father, later his mother and boyfriend, and eventually the girl. Maybe he also stuffed his mom and the later killings were just covering up his and his madness. I was still a bit off however.
All in all psycho was a great movie. Bye!
By Ashton
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