Wednesday, September 24, 2003

DASHBOARD IS TOMORROW!!!!! AHHHHHH! im so excited. hehe. nothing much has been up, took a test in Chem today, ditched Spanish yesterday, been chillin w/ peeps. Yesterday Assmar and Mary came over afterschool and fell asleep. Adrian and Edwin came and Mary came w/ us job hunting, while Assmar stayed at my house...lol. Now that i think about it, thats really wierd. So yeah, im gunna apply to World Market. Hopefully i can get a job there....there is a position open, im just waiting for Winters to email me back. Yup yup...tomorrow is minimum day and imma go see Dashboard Confessional!!! hehe, should be really exciting. haha. afterschool Alex and Haley came by (the next generation). they are so cool, and funny. okay, well, im gunna go get some croisant crap that Adrian brought me earlier. Hope i dont die.
~me~ at 5:07 PM

One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd."

I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes.

My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him and as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said,
"Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives." He looked at me and said, "Hey thanks!" There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.

I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now.

I would have never hung out with a private school kid before. We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends. He said yes. We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.

Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, "Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!" He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors, we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation.

I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak. Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous.

Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the back and said, "Hey, big guy, you'll be great!" He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled.
"Thanks," he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began. "Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story."

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.

"Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable."

I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize it's depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person's life. For better or for worse.

God puts us all in each other's lives to impact one another in some way. Look for God in others.

"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly."

There is no beginning or end..Yesterday is history.

Tomorrow is mystery.

Today is a gift.
~me~ at 5:02 PM

Sunday, September 21, 2003

well, a week w/o blogging. Not much happened. On Tues we had our first dance. I was getting ready for it and Adrian came over all dressed up...lol. he went for a job interview at Circuit City and believed he blew it. So later on i took Josh and his friend Matt Le Blanc (his real name) to Auto Zone and Josh bought some hub caps for his ghetto little car. The dance was awesome, and i stopped over at Edwins afterwards to talk to the guys. Then on Wed me Mary and Dray were chillin at my house and Adrian, Albert, Jowin, and Edwin wanted to rent Monsturd. So they did and we watched it. If anyone wants to see it, talk to me or Adrian, he made a copy of it over here on Thurs. On Friday Adrian came over after ROP, and we chilled here w/ Andrea (whos grounded) until she went home. I went over to Adrians for awhile and waited fro Andrea to call me from the game to pick her up (she had to go for ASB, bt she told her parents she had to stay till the end so she could leave w/ us) I drove us to Jowins house and waited for his dark ass to get home. We planned to go bowling on base, but my car died so they guys had to push-start it. They call it the "little death trap". well, i dont think so. We got to base, couldnt decide on movie or bowling, so we bowled. Afterwards, when i was taking Jowin home, i full out raced this one guy in a ghetto old Honda down Ventura Rd. it was freakin crazyness....lol, once it was on, he blasted his stereo and turned on his neons, it was hilarious. So yeah, after that we were goin down Gonzales and i almost ran the light in front of OHS. I saw it at the last minute, so i slammed on my brakes, and they locked, and we skidded to a stop. Poor Adrian had his head out the window (like a dog) and he hit his neck against the pillar and then he flew into the back of my seat. My car reeked of burnt rubber, so we had a hard time getting into Jowins neighborhood (the watch lady wit the stick was suspicious). So exciting... yeah, so yesterday was kinda crappy. My mom is hardcore PMSing so yeah, i had to deal w/ that shit yesterday. Maryann came over to visit before going to Lyan's. 18 YEARS OLD!! freakin old geezer. LOL. Today i wanted to shoot my family, cuz my mom is still all crazy and so is my Nina, so yeah...lol. o well.
~me~ at 2:28 PM