My Next Story.

A detective who handled the case was shocked to see a juvenile who was convicted of armed robbery and placed under house arrest playing on the high school football team.
Detective Larry Chevez was attending his son’s football game at Kennedy High School last Saturday when he noticed a 16-year-old youth that he arrested several months prior playing on the opposing team. “I was amazed to see someone charged with an armed robbery with a handgun playing on the field,” Chevez said today.
The youth was charged with armed robbery of a pizza delivery woman and released from a juvenile detention facility and subsequently placed under house arrest. He was ordered by a judge not to leave his house except to attend school and is monitored by an electronic bracelet that was attached to his ankle.
He plays for the Colonial High School football team, coached by Tony Guarino, who gave an exclusive interview today. “We just taped the bracelet up real good,” he said, acknowledging that he is aware of the youth’s house arrest and constant monitoring. School superintendent Gary Hubbard addressed the issue by saying that juveniles under home detention are allowed to participate in school functions, adding that students are not always suspended for crimes committed off campus.


Once again, these are all fake stories, put into my textbook by means of a paragraph of information, and then I turned it into this. My teacher read it today and asked me if I had any prior experience and when I told her I didn't, she told me that I have a knack for writing the news.
Yay!

September at the Beach.

I brought a long curtain, and laid it out on the beach. They set down their stuff, backpacks, shoes, and they left with their roller blades to go along the lake. I sat in my swimsuit in the oddly warm September air, and let the sun wash over me. I walked up to the water, and walked in up to knees, finding it too cold to actually swim in. As the sun faded into shadow behind the buildings, I watched the people around me. A little girl pulling a makeshift kite behind her. She was skinny, like little kids are, running back and forth between the edge of the lake and her mother, sitting in a beach chair a little ways away. Two men, laying on a blanket, enjoying the sun and obviously their mutual adoration of each other. A man in a thong, super toned and tan, actually jumping into the lake and swimming out to the orange and white buoys that mark the end of the pedestrian swimming area. I pulled my book out and read, uninterrupted, for the first time since I've been here. I took a picture of the sand, the city and the lake and sent it to him. It was nice to lay there, and to talk to him and to read and to watch everyone. When they came back, the sun had almost gone down and there was a little bit of a chill in the air.
And I finally slept well, for the first time in awhile.
He had a nightmare about me, and I felt bad, because I've been upset lately before I go to sleep and last night we talked for an hour before bed and we laughed and it was like we were hanging out again. As soon as I hung up the phone, I slipped into a peaceful sleep, and didn't wake up until six. And then again at ten.
Fifteen days. I called and made sure that my miles were going to count for that trip. I'm excited, because he's going to come out for last week of his winter break, maybe. I've been planning ahead, lately.

My Very First News Story. Sort of.

Well, here it is: It's fake. And I only had limited details to work with, but here's my final draft of a news article. Ah! Sort of exciting.

A 9-year-old Rockford resident’s challenge of a decision to close her roadside business led to victory today, allowing her to reopen her lemonade stand after it was shut down yesterday. A city code enforcement officer stopped by Stephanie Courhesne’s lemonade stand and forced her to pack up her things yesterday afternoon.
Stephanie’s father called city councilman Alyce Cycler to complain immediately. The councilwoman promised to have the issue resolved immediately and today, the code enforcement supervisor overruled the original decision.
After hearing about the decision, the mayor announced that she intends to become a regular customer of the lemonade stand, located on Highland Drive.

Stephanie Courhesne sets up her roadside lemonade stand outsider her home at 1186 N. Highland under the supervision of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Courhesne. On weekends during the summer months, Stephanie charges a quarter for a cup of lemonade and a dime for a cup of water.
Her business is successful, bringing in about $3 to $5 a day, sometimes more when the weather is nicer. Stephanie must reimburse her mother for the cost of goods, but after that, she divides her profits between personal interest and her church. Ten percent of her profits go to the church; another ten percent goes into savings, and the rest is hers to spend “to buy toys, clothes, candy, and stuff.”
After she was noticed by a city code enforcement officer yesterday, she was forced to pack up her stand and take her cups, cooler, cardboard sign, and umbrella inside. Her father was upset, and after complaining to city councilman Alyce Cycler, the issue was resolved in less than twenty four hours.
The city code enforcement officer’s supervisor overruled the original decision and said that it was an error in judgement and also that Stephanie is welcome to sell as much lemonade as she can.
Stephanie’s lemonade stand is in a perfect spot, because Highland Drive is a popular place for people to jog, roller skate and walk near Lake Clarity.

Boston Legal

and to cap off my better night:

James Spader won an Emmy for best actor in Boston Legal.

I don't even know what it is about him, but James Spader....yum.

Countdown continues....

First off, happy birthday Aunt Joan! I hope you have had a wonderful birthday, and will have a wonderful year.
Secondly, in 18 days, I'll be in Oregon. And I cannot wait. This is insane. I've never been so happy. And he's 2,000 miles away. We're getting through it, though, so that makes me feel as though this year will fly by and then we'll have three months to see each other everyday next summer. It's not at all like my last long distance relationship, where I was basically single the entire time. We see eye to eye on almost everything, he listens to what I have to say, we don't fight, and if we do have an argument, he calms me down and then we talk it out. Strange, I know.
I'm keeping all major Jewish holidays this year. I explored a little bit of Judaism second semester of last year. I went to services, plays, and met a considerable amount of nice people. So next weekend is Yom Kippur, and I'll be fasting for 25 hours. I will allow myself water, though, because since I'm not technically Jewish I can make my own rules. My friend Becky is actually Jewish, so it'll be nice to have someone to guide me through my quest for religion.
Emily Bates, from St. Louis, came up to visit me this weekend and brought some of my stuff with her. It was fun, but a little strange, because her name is still on the door, as though she should have moved in.
In our crazy last few weeks in Colorado, we foolishly overlooked the two hour time difference and how it would affect our life. It's weird, but so worth it. I wake up to his text messages and I fall asleep to his voice, and my obsession is completely returned by someone who's not a no-good white-rapper-wannabe. It's nice because he's actually in college, learning things, and getting out and meeting people.
He'd be so mad if he knew I was typing this, but one of the last days that I was in town, we were having a picnic in the park, spending the afternoon sprawled out in the grass with just each other, and that's when it hit me that I wouldn't be able to do that anymore. My head was turned away from him, and so when I suddenly got silent, he knew, but wasn't sure. I saw the grass and the sunshine and I just lost it. He asked me what was wrong, and once I knew I had to answer, I started crying. He let me cry for awhile, telling me all the things he knew I needed to hear, and when I finally looked up, there were tears in eyes too. When it was time to go, we just got up, and left. It was the second most beautiful afternoon of my summer.
Mike likes him. I like that. Mike is very protective of me. I can't even wait to see Fruitypants in Chicago!!! Maybe it will kick-start his college application process. But even if it doesn't, it's weird not having Mike around. We're completely different, that much is painfully obvious, but him and I are still super close. We get each other, even though we definitely didn't hang out enough this summer, him and I are still playing the games we used to play over the dinner table when we were twelve.
I know, you're all sick of hearing about young love, but I'm ridiculously happy. And you have to read about it.