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The Net Before Christmas
by Jim Trudeau & Jay Trudeau (1991)

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the nets
Not a mousie was stirring, not even the pets.
The floppies were stacked by the modem with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
The files were nestled all snug in a folder
The screen saver turned on, the weather was colder.

And leaving the keyboard along with my mouse
I turned from the screen to the rest of the house.
When up from the drive there arose such a clatter
I turned to the screen to see what was the matter.
Away to the mouse I flew like a flash,
Zoomed open a window in fear of a crash...

The glow from the screen on the keyboard below
Gave an electronic luster to all my macros.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But a little sleigh icon with eight tiny reindeer
And a tiny disk driver so SCSI and quick
I knew in a nano it must be Saint Nick.

More rapid than trackballs his cursors they came,
He whistled and shouted and faxed them by name.
"Now Flasher! Now Dasher! Now Raster and Bixel!
On Phosphor! On Photon! On Baudrate and Pixel!
To the top of the stack. To the top of the heap."
Then each little reindeer made a soft beep.

As data that before the wild electrons fly,
When they meet with a node, mount to the drive,
So up to the screentop the cursors they flew
With a sleigh full of disks and databits, too.
And then in a twinkling I heard the high whine
Of a modem connecting at a baud rate so fine.

As I gazed at the screen with a puzzling frown
St. Nicholas logged on though I thought I was down.
He was dressed all in bytes from header to footer
And the words on the screen said "Don't you reboot 'er."
A bundle of bits he had flung on his back
And he looked like a programmer starting his hack.

His eyes how they glazed, his hair was so scary,
His cola was jolt, not flavored with cherry.
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a GIF
And the pixels of his beard sure gave me a lift.
The stump of a routine he held tight in his code
And I knew he had made it past the last node.

He spoke not a word but looked right at me
And I saw in a flash his file was .SEA.
He self-decompressed and I watched him unfold,
Into a jolly old elf, a sight to behold.
And the whispering sound of my hard drive's head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He went straight to his work without saying a word
And filled all the folders of this happy nerd.
And 'tis the whole truth, as the story is told,
That giving a nod up the window he scrolled,
He sprang to the serial port as if truly on fire
And away they all flew down the thin copper wire.

But I heard him exclaim as he scrolled out of sight
"Happy Christmas to All, and to all a good night."

'Twas The Night Before Christmas

'Twas the nocturnal segment of the diurnal period preceding the annual
Yuletide celebration, and throughout our place of residence, kinetic
activity was not in evidence among the possessors of this potential,
including that species of domestic rodent known as Mus musculus. Hosiery
was meticulously suspended from the forward edge of the wood burning
caloric apparatus, pursuant to our anticipatory pleasure regarding an
imminent visitation from an eccentric philanthropist among whose folkloric
appellations is the honorific title of St. Nicholas.

The prepubescent siblings, comfortably ensconced in their respective
accommodations of repose, were experiencing subconscious visual hallucinations
of variegated fruit confections moving rhythmically through their cerebrums.
My conjugal partner and I, attired in our nocturnal head coverings, were
about to take slumberous advantage of the hibernal darkness when upon the
avenaceous exterior portion of the grounds there ascended such a cacophony of
dissonance that I felt compelled to arise with alacrity from my place of
repose for the purpose of ascertaining the precise source thereof.

Hastening to the casement, I forthwith opened the barriers sealing
this fenestration, noting thereupon that the lunar brilliance
without, reflected as it was on the surface of a recent crystalline
precipitation, might be said to rival that of the solar meridian
itself - thus permitting my incredulous optical sensory organs to
behold a miniature airborne runnered conveyance drawn by eight
diminutive specimens of the genus Rangifer, piloted by a minuscule,
aged chauffeur so ebullient and nimble that it became instantly
apparent to me that he was indeed our anticipated caller. With his
ungulate motive power travelling at what may possibly have been more
vertiginous velocity than patriotic alar predators, he vociferated
loudly, expelled breath musically through contracted labia, and
addressed each of the octet by his or her respective cognomen - "Now
Dasher, now Dancer..." et al. - guiding them to the uppermost exterior
level of our abode, through which structure I could readily distinguish the
concatenations of each of the 32 cloven pedal extremities.

As I retracted my cranium from its erstwhile location, and was performing a
180-degree pivot, our distinguished visitant achieved - with utmost celerity
and via a downward leap - entry by way of the smoke passage. He was clad
entirely in animal pelts soiled by the ebony residue from oxidations of
carboniferous fuels which had accumulated on the walls thereof. His
resemblance to a street vendor I attributed largely to the plethora of
assorted playthings which he bore dorsally in a commodious cloth receptacle.

His orbs were scintillant with reflected luminosity, while his submaxillary
dermal indentations gave every evidence of engaging amiability. The
capillaries of his malar regions and nasal appurtenance were engorged with
blood which suffused the subcutaneous layers, the former approximating the
coloration of Albion's floral emblem, the latter that of the Prunus avium,
or sweet cherry. His amusing sub- and supralabials resembled nothing so
much as a common loop knot, and their ambient hirsute facial adornment
appeared like small, tabular and columnar crystals of frozen water.

Clenched firmly between his incisors was a smoking piece whose grey
fumes, forming a tenuous ellipse about his occiput, were suggestive
of a decorative seasonal circlet of holly. His visage was wider than it was
high, and when he waxed audibly mirthful, his corpulent abdominal region
undulated in the manner of impectinated fruit syrup in a hemispherical
container. He was, in short, neither more nor less than an obese, jocund,
multigenarian gnome, the optical perception of whom rendered me visibly
frolicsome despite every effort to refrain from so being. By rapidly
lowering and then elevating one eyelid and rotating his head slightly to
one side, he indicated that trepidation on my part was groundless.

Without utterance and with dispatch, he commenced filling the
aforementioned appended hosiery with various of the aforementioned
articles of merchandise extracted from his aforementioned previously
dorsally transported cloth receptacle. Upon completion of this task,
he executed an abrupt about-face, placed a single manual digit in
lateral juxtaposition to his olfactory organ, inclined his cranium
forward in a gesture of leave-taking, and forthwith effected his
egress by renegotiating (in reverse) the smoke passage. He then
propelled himself in a short vector onto his conveyance, directed a
musical expulsion of air through his contracted oral sphincter to the
antlered quadrupeds of burden, and proceeded to soar aloft in a
movement hitherto observable chiefly among the seed-bearing portions
of a common weed. But I overheard his parting exclamation, audible
immediately prior to his vehiculation beyond the limits of
visibility: "Ecstatic Yuletide to the planetary constituency, and to
that self same assemblage, my sincerest wishes for a salubriously
beneficial and gratifyingly pleasurable period between sunset and
dawn."

i thought this was funny...hehehe...sorry though...this might offend some peepz...

10 Reasons Women Date Jerks Instead of Nice Guys

8) When you do date nice guys, they turn into jerks anyway, so why not save time and go for the jerk in the first place?

7) You won't get as emotionally attached to a jerk, so you'll be more in control.

5) Affection means more when it comes from a guy who doesn't normally give it.

4) Guaranteed to cheat on you so someone else can endure his lack of lovemaking skills most of the time.

2) Jerks will actually tell you when they don't like what you're doing instead of getting mad about it six months later.

1) Looking for someone you can't trust, and won't care about too much, who will abuse you mentally and financially, but you don't know any lawyers.

IF MEN GOT PREGNANT

I can't help but wonder If it is for you, like it is for me. You see, no matter who I'm with, I think of you, and that's where I want to be. No matter how I try, No one can take your place. No matter who I'm looking at, I always see your face. You see, not a day goes by When I don't think of you... And I can't help but wonder, If it's like that for you too. -Janella Buan	Losing Him... When I saw you, I met you. When I met you, I liked you. When I liked you, I loved you. When I loved you, I let you. When I let you, I lost you...
Love Our love for each other was very strong, but yet our love wasn't wrong. We had differences, but didn't care, much more important our love we share. Our love for each other was deep and strong. Now that we're together, nothing can go wrong. Our relationship was weak sometime, but no doubt about it, it was sure to shine. Our love for each other was meant to be, from the bottom of my heart that I can see. Our love was meant to be til the end, but as far as I know it, there is no end. But if you put two hearts together, you will see, it will last til eternity... -Melissa B. Morales	You Shall See Love Love, hiding in a bush, Love, hiding in a tree, Love, cast by a shadow, that's why you cannot see. Love, buried in the ground, Love, thrown into the sea, Love, so deep you can't reach it, that's why you cannot see. Love, that is under you, Love, that is under me, Love, no love at all, that's why you cannot see. -Anne Enriquez
Love is... Love is not the way he holds your hand. It's not the way he holds you tight, Or the way he says goodnight. But the way he cares for you And the way he says, "I love you..."	Falling in Love You can fall from a mountain... You can fall from above... But the best way to fall Is to fall in love.
Love is a Rose Love is a rose, so tender and true. But nobody knows of my love for you. I hold it all inside, so one day you will see All the love I hide deep inside of me...	Love Hurts Love hurts, the price you pay is high. If i had to choose between love and death, I think i'd rather die. The most painful part of love is...is love left unknown. Love that cannot be expressed, affection left unshown. This love hides, afraid of what they might say. The most painful part about hidden love is that it never fades away. So don't ever fall too much in love, or you'll be hurt before it's through. Because my friend, I ought to know, I fell in love with you...
When you walk on the sand, let me be the one to hold your hand. When at nights you feel cold, let me be the one that you would hold. When there is someone you would miss, let me be the one you would kiss. When you want dreams to keep, let me be the one in your sleep. When you think that love is behind, let me be the one your eyes would find. When in love you should fall, let me be the one you would call. When you want a love that is true, let me be the one to be with you...	What is Love? Love is magic, pure, and sweet, For it alone, makes life complete. Given freely - never bought - The gift mankind has always sought. Love's eternal through the years, Ever strong through joys and tears. Changing not itself at all, But working wonders, large and small. Love's a mystery, ages old, Impossible to see or hold, But when there's something hearts would say, Love, like music, shows the way.
Image of Love Another time... Another place... Another heart... Another face... Another tear... Another sigh... Another laugh... Another cry... Someday a dream, Someday a love, I spend my time, thinking of... Wishing star, Oh please bring true The days and nights of loving you...	Why After all the times you hurt me, the times you made me cry... Why do I forgive you with every little sigh? The times that you betrayed me, and the times of painful goodbyes... Why do I still need you after all those lies? The times that you ignored me, and the times my pain has shown... Why do I still care for you though you left me alone? With all ths scars you left upon me, and the tears that fall each day... Why am I still in love with you, though you've treated me this way?
Aching to Yearn Rough waves that take no mercy, Grief, too sad to express, Wild waves repeating constantly, With each memory of his caress. Sad storm whose tears are sorrow, Revealing such sadness and pain, Not knowing if tomorrow May still shed drops of rain. A rose that pricks your hand with thorns, Is like a love that scars you. A rose that symbolizes mourns, Proves your love is true. Death, just like a broken heart, You ache for it to mend, Death, who takes you all apart, Seems like it's the end. The winds, so quiet and lonely, Whisper "nowhere to turn," The winds, cry out in misery, While your soul lies aching to yearn. -Claude An Nadal	Your TeddyBear If I could be your teddybear for just one single night, Before you drifted off to sleep, you'd hold me oh so tight. You'd tell me all about your dreams of finding someone dear; A love to hold you in his arms, and drive away your fear. A love that you could count on when you really feel the need, With whom your secrets you would share, a special love indeed. And as these words escaped your lips, you'de gently fall asleep. And knowing what you'll never know, your teddybear would weep. I'd cry because you would not know you'd found your love so true. And then I'd whisper in your ear: "Your teddybear loves you..." -Mike 3/10/97

When an emotional injury takes place,
the body begins a process
as natural as the healing
of a physical wound.
Let the process happen.
Trust that nature
will do the healing.
Know that the pain will pass,
and when it passes,
you will be stronger,
happier, more sensitive and aware...

A woman repeated a bit of gossip about a neighbor. Within a few days the whole community knew the story. The person it concerned was deeply hurt and offended. Later, the woman responsible for spreading the rumor learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise old sage to find out what she could do to repair the damage.

"Go to the marketplace." he said, "and purchase a chicken, and have it killed. Then on your way home, pluck its feathers and drop them one by one along the road." Although surprised by this advice, the woman did what she was told.

The next day the wise man said, "Now, go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me."

The woman followed the same road, but to her dismay the wind had blown all the feathers away. After searching for hours, she returned with only three in her hand. "You see," said the old sage, "it's easy to drop them, but it's impossible to get them back. So it is with gossip. It doesn't take much to spread a rumor, but once you do, you can never completely undo the wrong."

" What you keep to yourself you lose, what you give away, you keep forever."

He walked with eyes lowered, head to the ground.
When he saw me, he spoke, and I took in his sight.
He was scruffy and raggedy
in his eyes was no light.
He said, "Ma'am, I'm hungry."
He was very polite.

I said to him softly, "No money have I, but I'll buy you some food with these food stamps of mine."
We walked on in silence, this homeless old man, and he said "Give me your number - I'll pay you back when I can."

I looked in his eyes, where hopelessness lay,
and I said, "Never mind. I don't want you to pay."
As we walked down the aisles of the grocery store,
like a child, he picked something, then asked for some more.
I gladly told him to fill all his needs,
because in my lifetime, I've done some bad deeds.

I'll never forget him, as he went on his way,
because he gave me something I can never repay.
He gave me a chance to give what I could,
a chance to show love to the misunderstood -
a chance to feed someone when no one else would -
a chance to be special, a chance to be good.

I'll ever be grateful to the stranger in rags,
for showing me Love in a few grocery bags,
for letting me be the one who had more,
for letting me answer his knock at my door.

You see, I'm no angel, though I've wanted to be.
I've hurt many people by just being me,
and this man, this stranger, who did not pass me by,
set free for an instant an angel to fly.

A man found an eagle's egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eagle hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them. All his life, the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet in the air.

Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among powerful wind currents, with scarcelya beat of its strong golden wings. The old eagle looked up in awe. "Who's that?" he asked. "That's the eagle, the king of birds," said his neighbor. "He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth - we're chickens." So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that's what he thought he was.

"Six o'clock AM!!" ...i woke up 6:00 AM hearing my talking clock yappin the same old line i hear every morning...i reached for the OFF button and went back to sleep...

"oh shit, i'm goin to miss the bus!"... i got up in a hurry...brushed my teeth, woke up my driver (that would be my mom...hehehe), grabbed whatever decent lookin clothes that was within my reach and changed...*sigh* all done!....but...."OH NO!!" it was already 6:50! ..."we're not gonna get there on time..."

..."whoa," i said to myself while on the freeway..."this is sooooo cool!! mom's actually driving 90 mph!!" woOhoOoOoO mom i'm so proud of you!! hahahaha...

we got to USC at exactly 7:05... i thought the bus had left, but then i noticed some Med-Cor students standing around near the tracks...so okay...the bus wasn't even there yet...great....just great....made me rush for nothin.

the bus was 15 minutes late. alice, our facilitator collected our lil trip slips as we all hopped in the bus and left the campus on our way to santa barbara...of the 50 people that signed up for the trip, only 16, including me, actually went...but anyways damn it was cold in the bus...bus driver turned on the heater...i (don't know bout the others) fell asleep and didn't wake up til we were off the freeway...i looked at the time...it was 9:25...

"are we there yet?" i asked alice...no response...she probably didn't hear me...oh well...i heard the bus driver say somethin about gas...so i thought maybe we needed gas...we stopped at chevron...but uhhh...i guess we didn't stop for gas...the bus driver went down and went inside the lil market...5 mins after, we were back on the road...hahahah...so i guess we got lost??? whatta nutt...

well, we got to the campus at around 10 o'clock...so yeah, we missed the orientation and the lil discussion that we were suppose to attend to at 9:30...we walked to the visitor center...reza, the uhhh well whatever she was--one of the administrators, greeted us and introduced us to kim, our tour guide for the day...she was pretty cool...first thing we headed for was the restroom...and i don't need to tell you what we did in the restroom. duh, you're human...you should know. lol. but anyways, while we waited for the rest to come out, kim told us about herself...and since i want this to be all long and boring, i'm going to tell you what she said. hehehe... she's a 2nd year sophomore at UCSB...and she's in the process of changing her math major to somethin else...i forgot what she said...but yeah...she said college math is a lot more difficult than high school math... and that you really don't have time to slack off in college because if you get behind on your work, everything will just pile up and you will end up having no sleep at all when it comes to finals... and since UCSB was on a quarter system, you would probably expect to get 5 or more chapters of reading material from each classes each week. whoa...that's too much. hehehe ...hmmm what else did she say...fraternities and sororities...ummm she was in sigma kappa...and blahblahblah...i wasn't really listening to that part....she told us about housing and everything else...took us to their way way coool 8-story library... took us to the 8th floor...andddddd "whoa..." i said to myself...."i didn't know UCSB was close to a beach!!...." so anyways, yeah blah. oh this ain't the fun part yet, so uhh sorry if i'm boring you...hehehe... she took us to one of the dorms and showed us one of the rooms...damn...i couldn't believe my eyes! the room was sooooooooo damn small!! probably half the size of my bedroom! hahaha...and uhh she said last year, some even had to share their room with 2 other peepz! hahaha... how sad... but anyways, UCSB was obviously a bike univeristy...damn you see bikes everywhere you turn....and BIKES over there HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY. hahaha...yup...so if you were walking and you got into some kind of bike accident...blame yourself, cuz you didn't move out the way. hahaha...well kim showed us the rest of the campus and left us at the cafeteria...yay food!!...when we got to the what seemed to me was sorta like the food court, only panda and chillitos were opened....we had to wait like 30 mins for wendy's to open, but s'all good u know...at least we got to eat real food. hahaha... yeah right... bacon burger n fries. =/ hmmmmm...well after we got done eating, alice took pictures of us, we were only 16 of i think about a couple hundred USC Med-Cor's senior class...but anyways yay! we gonna be in the yearbook!! hehehe... so anyways, we ended up breakin up in 3 groups...alice went with her kids and some other students, and there was this other group -- only person i knew there was louella...oh, these were students from different high schools...just wanna let u know... but yeah i ended up in a group of 9, including me...all of em were strangers...never seen em in my uhh med-cor life. hehehe...they were cool though...yay...8 new friends! hahaha... but anyways, like i said, we went our separate ways...us 9 went to isla vista -- off-campus housing...so yeah...so far so good...i was starting to like the campus...butttttt.......one thing that made this campus look awful was the graffiti we saw all over the tunnel that we had walked through to get to isla vista...oh and at first i really didn't mind it...i thought it was cool...hehehe... until i saw the "F" word. lol. i was like..."what a FuKKiN disgrace to the FuKKiN campus!!" lol. anyways, so there we were...wow...it felt so refreshing to see a friendly lookin neighborhood...and get this...they had video stores, liquor stores, and even burger king!! my favorite fast food place!! oh and there were drunks everywhere!! hahaha...and even punk rockers! stoners! loners! you name em, they got em! lol... we headed to the beach...hehehe...everyone took off their shoes and walked barefooted...some of us collected rocks...oh yeah, and one of us had the camera...so yeah we took pictures...lol...once i get the reprints i'mma put em up in my stupid homepage. =] but anyways, damn, if i had known that UCSB was close to the beach, i would've worn slippers and some frickin old shorts or somethin instead...hehehe. we all got wet of course....we spent most of the last 3 hours we had left at the beach...it was fun you know...made me forget about my problems for awhile. hehehehe....we chased after the birds...and of course we had water fights....so yeah we were all wet...hmmm...we walked all the way to the other end...everyone had their shoes back on except for meeh...hellz nah i wasn't about to let sand get in my cheap payless shoes! hahahah...but anyways uhhh yeah, there was no way we could get back to the campus unless we headed back the other way, but that was too long of a walk...so stupid us, we climbed the cliff. lol. and stupid me, i climbed the cliff barefooted. hahaha... damn my feet hurt so bad u know...the rocks were sharp!! but anyways, that was kinda scary though...i mean just think about it...if i, or any of the other people there fell, then uhh we would've gotten into serious trouble. lol.

so blah. we got up there and followed the track...it led us to this 2-way uhh whatever u call it...we took the path on the right cuz it seemed shorter...so there we were walkin and talkin bout how fun it would be for us to live in isla vista if we did get accepted to the campus...oh, i wore my shoes anyway cuz i seen some broken glass and i didn't wanna get cut....but yeah....we noticed somethin... i said "wait a minute...didn't we pass through here already?" hahaha...we were goin in circles! oh no...and it was 3:00 already...we were supposed to meet at the front at 3. hahaha... so ummm we had to walk back and take the left path...it led us to campus....yay!! so yeah, we kept on walkin...damn we were all thirsty... should've seen us...we ran to the nearest water fountain... looked at the time...it was already 3:20...and we couldn't find our way back to the front...lol.as we turned, this black dog started chasing after us! but you know, we were smart. hehehe... so yeah we stopped and kept still until the owner of the STUPID dog came and tied him up... that was scary...

"woohoo!! i see the visitor center!!" exclaimed one of my stranger friends. lol. mission accomplished! we found our way home! hahaha... and it was already 3:35!!...some of em stopped and went to the little women's and little men's room while 3 of us sat down on the bench. what a relief! after walking for like 3 hours we got to sit our asses down and relax! *sigh*...anyway, we finally saw the bus...hehehe...we thought they actually left us behind or somethin. lol. so yeah...another LONG walk to the bus...obviously they knew we got lost and laughed their asses out when we told them what happened...hehehe... but on our way home, everyone fell asleep...i looked around...i saw no heads up. lol. everyone was lying down on the seats. we got back to USC at around 6:15...kicked it there for awhile, and got picked up by our parents...soooooooo that was my UCSB preview day adventure...hehehe...i got home at 7:30...and guess what i did right when i got home?! I SIGNED ON TO AOL!! hahahha....anyways whoa...look at the time...it's almost 4:00AM!! i gotta get some sleep! goodnight!! and uhhh hope you enjoyed reading my uhh essay! lol...

well ummm i had to write a speech about 6 factors in life: friends, education, family, money, religion, and health...and i had to rank the factors in order of importance n stuff ...

...i went home thinkin this would be an easy speech to write...i was like "oh hellz yeah, this'll probably take me no more than 20 minutes to write..." ...but i guess i was wrong... when i got home, i took out a piece of paper, got a pen to write with, and just when i was about to write on, i realized that this was not such an easy speech. i probably sat there for like 3 hours just tryin to rank the factors in order of importance... damn, it was hard... i ended up not doing the speech... yeah... i know... kinda stupid of me... but i decided to write about it anyway a week after, though i know it was just a waste of my time, since my teacher still didn't let me read it n stuff...

...well this ain't really a speech though... no good introduction, no conclusion... and of course there's like hella grammatical errors ...just the ranking and my reasons... dang, it gave me a headache just tryin to figure out which one was most important... so anyways, read on...

Money ain't really that important to me...obviously, it doesn't make the world go round...it just causes more problems...but indeed one needs the scrillz to survive in life--for clothes to wear, food to eat, and so on... But money, once gone, will leave you with nothing... you might as well kiss your so-called friends goodbye cuz you ain't gonna be seeing their asses around no more... soon you'll see your happiness fade away... you will end up like one of them bumms you see walkin in the streets beggin for money... and eventually you will grow weak and die... i, myself is afraid of dying...

and with the fear of dying in mind, health, of course would be more important to me than money. just thinkin about illnesses give me goosebumps. i'm afraid sickness may lead to a disease...one in particular would be that flesh-eating disease they keep talkin about in the news... i often dream about em at night... in one of my dreams i have seen them little critters eat up my brain cells... weird, huh? maybe that's why i'm so afraid of dying. but this fear of dying ain't always what's on my mind...

Friends, i remember, used to be #1 on my list... i used to spend most of time with my friends ... i used to run to them when i had problems... but now i realize that they didn't really care about anyone else but themselves... dang, i remember this poem me and my friend wrote way back when we were still in junior high...

...this poem's full of shit. friends ain't gonna be there for you through "thick and thin" and they won't always be there by your side... remembering those "shitty" moments we, as friends, shared together make me wanna throw up! our friendship that had grown to be didn't "last a lifetime" ... it was torn apart... they talked their shit behind my back... i felt used. damn. they were a bunch of freeloaders...i guess my parents were right...friends do come and go...

i know i know...kinda stupid of me for not ranking family as my most important factor in life...but this is only because i know that they will always be around. they will stick beside me when i need them... they will bring me joy and happiness when i'm feeling down...and it is them--my mom, my dad, my brother, and my sister, who force me to do good in school...because they know that education indeed, is a must...

...education leads you to your future. if you do not graduate, you will not get a high paying job... think of it this way. two people...both drop-outs --a person who did not graduate from high school, but had a GED, and a person who dropped out of high school but after a while enrolled to a college and now is taking classes to earn the high school credits needed to graduate... who, if you were an employer, would you rather hire to work for your company? ...well if you ask me, i'd pick the individual who is currently taking them college classes. the individual with a GED has given up, whereas the person in college, although lagging, has chosen to continue on his education. he is on his way to success. a person with the better education indeed will live a successful life.

but how, you ask, am i able to keep my hopes up? ...i believe in God. and at night, before i sleep, i pray ...pray... pray... for a better future. and i know that He listens to my prayers. religion, because of God, i feel, is the most important factor in life. because of Him, i am still here, trying my absolute best to raise my grades up and graduate from high school. God, The Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, is my only true friend...