this blog

How often do you think about your past? Your childhood? Riding that little slide in the playground that used to look so big to you just isn’t as fun anymore. At all. People lose their childish innocence much easier now. The world is too serious. When was the last time you did something just to see what would happen? When was the last time you sat down and watched Spongebob Squarepants? When was the last time you did something crazy just to do something crazy? Maybe maturing isn’t always a good thing. Unless, of course, you want to end up like one of those weird people who go to country clubs and play tennis and talk all formal. But no one wants to end up like those weirdos, right? Well, maybe you do, but that’s your problem, not mine.

What you’re supposed to do is be random. Go with any idea that pops into your head, no matter how stupid you think it is(unless it’ll get you killed or in the hospital or arrested). You could turn it into the best thing that ever happened to you. You could be turning a pencil sharpener and singing a song to get ideas for writing, or you could just sway back and forth and sing when you’re bored. Or you could talk about your obsession with a backpack to a random person, or skip down the hallway just to skip down the hallway. Just don’t fall down during a basketball game. And don’t tackle that girl dribbling up the court. You’re not playing football. You’re not learning how to walk. You’re playing basketball.

Josie glanced at her watch. 12:20 AM. She jumped to her feet with a start, dimly acknowledging the fact that the rabbits had left. Turning, she ran home, having completely forgotten her mother was drunk evough anyway to not notice how late she was. She burst into the apartment building and rushed up the stairs. Quietly she opened the door. Abigail was still lying on the couch, fast asleep. Josie walked over to her, tucked a blanket around her, and picked up the beer bottles around the couch. She counted twelve. With disgust, she threw them into the recycling bin, then washed her hands and got a glass of water. A last look at Abigail, sleeping, and Josie went to bed.

The next morning Josie woke to find Abigail still asleep. She made herself a small breakfast, scrambled eggs and a bagel, and sat down on the leather chair across from the sofa where Abigail was still sleeping. Josie checked her watch. It was only eight o' clock. Abigail wouldn't wake up for another hour or so. Still, she sat there, in her chair, and ate her breakfast, not taking her eyes off of her sleeping mother. When the bagel was gone and the eggs were finished, she got up and washed the plate before getting a heating pad and water to sit down on the table next to the couch. Abigail would need it when she woke up. Josie took another twenty from her mom's wallet and left the apartment.

She went to the grocery store and bought a newspaper. Nothing interesting in the front page. She opened it and immersed herself in the article on bald eagles, completely forgetting that she was still walking. It was only when she almost got run over by a bus("Watch where you're going!" the driver yelled out the window) that she came back to her senses. She sat down on a bench and kept reading. A bird landed on her shoulder.

You see, Josie loves birds, and for some reason they like her just as much. She looked up at this particular bird, a robin, and cheeped at it. She didn't notice the strange looks people were giving her. The bird cheeped back, and hopped onto her arm, then her lap. She stroked it for a moment, then returned to her article. The bird pecked her hand, so she petted it while she read. She finished the article, mostly because the bird attacked the newspaper and ripped off the last paragraph. She laughed, then stood up slowly, and the bird flew to the top of her head. Luckily, there were no cats running around. She didn't like cats. She trotted home, whistling a song while the bird sang along.

When she got back to teh apartment building, the bird flew away and she rushed inside. Abigail was laying on the couch, a heating pad on her head and drinking the water.
"Hi, Abigail," she said.
"THERE'S NO NEED TO SHOUT. I'M RIGHT HERE." Abigail yelled. Josie choked back a laugh and gave her mom the news. Abigail grabbed it, wincing at the noise the crackling of the paper made, and started reading without another word. Josie went to her room, holding back another laugh as Abigail yelled after her to please not stomp so loud.

The delete button isn’t working. So I have three extra blank lines at the bottom of the page…

For the record, technology isn’t revolutionizing anything. People say their lives are changing for the better and making everything easier. All it does is make things easier, and that’s when it’s actually working. Otherwise, you become a big fat lazy couch potato. You stare at a screen for hours at a time, whether it’s the computer or the tv. The only workout you get is when you’re typing, getting up to get food or go to the bathroom, or changing the channel. And if it doesn’t work, you’ve become so used to technology that you can’t think of anything fun to do. You think reading is boring now, and you hate going outside. You’re too lazy to get up and go to the gym. That’s what technology’s doing to the world. It’s not making our lives better; it’s making us lazier. Instead of going outside to see if it’s hot or cold, we wait around until the news comes on with the weather. Instead of going for a run outside, we get on the treadmill for 2 minutes and then get bored. And instead of going out to have fun, we stay at home and watch tv.

Despite what people say, you can’t ignore this. Technology is slowly making us lazier and lazier. Sure, it might make things easier, but all that does is give us less of a reason to THINK. You don’t have to remember anything anymore, except where you saved all that stuff you wanted to remember. And it can make word travel faster than some people might want. Like Britney Spears shaving her head. She might not have wanted the whole world to know that right away. But they did. The only good thing that comes out of this part of technology is that people know when something bad happens, like 9/11. So even though technology can be useful, it shouldn’t become your life. Because that’s when people start to fall apart. And sadly, that’s what’s happening to the world today.

If I told you this was the story of an ordinary girl living an ordinary life, you’d call me a liar. In fact, this girl is not ordinary at all. She isn’t the girl next door because no one lives next door to her. On either side. In fact, she lives with her mother in the only occupied apartment in the building. No landlord means no rent. Right? Well, anyway, this girl’s name is Josie. She was named Josie because her mother Abigail thought of it while watching Josie and the Pussycats on TV one day.Josie never met her father. Abigail never talked about him, either. She didn’t even know if he was still alive. Every time she brought him up Abigail would either pretend she didn’t hear her or start talking about something completely different, like the weather. Eventually Josie gave up. She had no brothers or sisters, and no pets. Not even a fish.

To make up for this she spent almost all her time in Central Park, watching squirrels or rabbits rush around, and even calling out to some of the birds in the tree. Every once in a while, she’d get an answer. When she was ten, there was one bird, a sparrow, who always answered. She brought it bread every day and named it Mr. Cheeps. Sometimes he would sit on her finger, and if she was lucky that day he’d sit on her shoulder or her lap. But when fall came he left, as all birds do, to fly south for the winter. In spring she returned to the park, eagerly awaiting the return of Mr. Cheeps, a warm loaf of bread clutched in her hands. But he didn’t come. She saw his family, but no Mr. Cheeps. One of the sparrows looked at her sadly. She left the loaf of bread by the tree and ran home, crying. Josie never saw Mr. Cheeps again.

Now Josie was turning eighteen. She came home that day, her eighteenth birthday, to find Abigail lying on the couch, clearly drunk. She stared, and saw the many wine bottles nearby, most of them empty. Abigail reached for another bottle and started to open it. Josie rolled her eyes and went to her room, throwing her backpack on her bed. She grabbed Abigail’s wallet and searched through it, taking a twenty dollar bill with her as she left.

She went to the chocolate store and bought herself a large box of assorted chocolates and chocolate covered gummy bears. She sat down on a nearby bench, opened the chocolates, whispered the Happy Birthday song under her breath, and popped the chocolate into her mouth. She chewed it thoughtfully, wondering when she should go home. Abigail wouldn’t notice she was gone until tomorrow morning, and Josie didn’t want to bother her. So instead she grabbed her chocolates and went to Central Park again to eat her birthday dinner there.

She sat against a tree, slowly eating the chocolates, watching the rabbits run around. They’d gotten used to her over the past ten years, and even came up to sniff her chocolates. She didn’t give them any, though, and she whispered an apology every time one ran up to her. Her fingers were getting sticky, but she really didn’t care. When she finished the chocolates, she picked up the bag of gummy bears. Looking them over, she decided she would save them. It was going to be a long night, and she wanted something good in it. She absentmindedly petted a small rabbit that had decided to lay down next to her, thinking. College was starting next year. She didn’t have enough money and no chance at a scholarship because she didn’t have good grades and she didn’t play sports. But it would be okay. It always was. She wasn’t planning on going to college until next year anyway, to make sure Abigail would be okay without her. But she knew everything would be okay. It had to be.

If you care, someone died today.
If you care, someone is in pain.
If you care, everything you stand for
Is being torn apart
Somewhere else.

If you even stand for anything.

If you care, a baby was just born.
And if you care, there’s a sick baby
close by.

If you care, there’s a frightened child
Crying for their mother.

Somewhere the hospital is full
And somewhere else the hospital is nonexistant.
Somewhere people live in paradise
And somewhere people don’t eve know what paradise is.

I mean, if you care.