Sometimes, To Take Guitar Lessons, You Must Consult Your Elementary Years...

I'm in computer apps class again. I have the whole hour of free time because I got the long assignment from yesterday finished yesterday. I didn't post yesterday because all I did was go to school, nothing important there, go to piano lessons after school, kill time for two hours by hanging in Carson with my mom getting lunch and picking up my brother from practice, then went to the school at six o clock for pep band for the girl's volley ball game. I was wiped when I got home. My friend Jessica left a message but I was too tired to call her back. I heard today she may have cancer because a month ago she had two ovarian cysts and when she went to get them checked yesterday, I was told they had popped and her breasts were lumpy, but they do not know if she has cancer or not. I really hope not. Today feels like a breeze compared to yesterday. All I did was go to band (enjoy that class), watch a movie on China in history, do math work (time flew by), eat lunch, watch a movie on Ebola in biology class, play on the computer all hour in computer apps, then read in english all hour (its a good book)and ride the bus home while listening to my CD player with no pressure at all...Ahh, peaceful in my opinion. I also found out that my old elementary music teacher who taught for my first and second grade years, and works at the Carson City lanes does guitar lessons! I knew she played the guitar but I didn't think she did lessons. My little brother is on the bowling league so he goes every Saturday morning, and I used to tag along with him to visit Paul. (after he broke up wiht me I hardly ever come along anymore). I'll just go tomorrow morning and ask Amy if I would be able to take lessons from her. That is all the exciting and close to exciting things that happened today so far. Peace Out!

Song Of The Day: "Feel The Noise" - Quiet Riot

Eyeliner, Mysteries, And....Stuff. OH, MY!

Chris got eyeliner put on him when he fell asleep in math! It was hillarious because he had to go to lunch that way too. Right after lunch he ran to wash the eyeliner off, but if you're a girl, you know there is no easy way to get that shit off your face. I had pure confidence in it lasting to see english class (last class of the day). I was right. The sad part about this was, he really DID look like a girl with the eyeliner. For World History class, I decided to do my report for this last semester (theme being a Mystery In History) on the murder of John Lennon because even though the murderer claimed to be insane, to this day there are only thoeries as to why he did it. Last semester was a biography report so I did that on Aerosmith. (and I got a perfect 100% on it! So did Liz, who did J.R.R Tolkien.) I tried writing a song in biology class, but my train of thought was derailed when class ended and I had to go to computer apps class after that and I couldn't focus. I wrote half of this entry in computer apps class with the leftover time I had after finishing the assignment, but still ran out of time so I finished it at home afterward.

Song Of The Day:"Night Songs" - Cinderella

The Hammer Falls...

I have survived exams and I did pass Algebra II (amazingly) I got an "F" on the exam itself and an overall grade of "D+" for the first semester. At least I passed. The other classes were a breeze though. We finally had the chair tests in band class and I ended up getting ninth chair (which I was surprised with, I thought I would get worse) out of twelve flutes total. I have three people behind me which is new to me because I was used to being in second chair(also last)and being the only flute player that actually wanted to be in band and played. I am not used to sitting in the middle and actually being in a good chair. I'm happy with how I did. Not bad for a freshman! I have a senior, and two sophmores (or one sophmore and junior) behind me. I gotta get off I'm in comp apps class. bye!

Song Of The Day: "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - The Beatles

It Takes Time To Hit You...

As you may recall I mentioned Billie's death in my December 27th post of 2006...I have literally known her all my life and I am going to put a few things into this post related to the investigation of her "suspicious" death. The news story can be found at: http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5927029&nav=menu44_2 . In world history class we do a thing called a journal report. We write about a news report we seen and write a response to it. Here is my journal report that I handed in today:
Adeline Richards, 2nd Hour, World History Class, Journal Assignment, 1/11/07

Date: 1/11/07

Location: Hubbardston, MI

Found At: (watched it on television and also found it on the internet) http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5927029&nav=menu44_2

Event: Billie Cunningham (80 years old) died on December 1st 2006. At first it appeared as though she had fell off a step ladder hanging Christmas decorations and shattered a huge mirror, got cut, and bled to death. After the scene had been inspected it was revealed that it couldn’t have possibly been an accident. "Although we're not calling it a homicide, we are certainly treating it as such today," Said Dwain Dennis, Ionia County Sheriff. Her family didn’t believe it was an accident and neither did some of the people who were there to take care of the scene. By the pattern of the blood and the location of the Santa Claus statue after it had been thrown or pushed, the investigators don’t believe it was an accident either. They are currently investigating the case and have a person of interest, but have not reported any suspects thus far.

Response: The lack of information and detail of the televised report is almost sickening. I can’t believe it took this long to even be put in the news. I have known Billie since I was born and she knew my mother way before that. I can’t believe this happened to her…She was always kind to everyone and she always had a special treat bag for me and my brother on Halloween…I still remember the last time I talked to her at the old Hubbardston elementary school that is now the Hubbardston Community Center…When I saw the report on the news. I felt numb, partly because I still don’t believe it, and because it felt weird to see something that affects my life more directly than other reports on television because I am not used to seeing things like that happen. The most sad thing about this is that Billie would have forgiven whoever did this to her. I hold no hate for the person that has done this, but they don’t realize the ripples they start when they throw a stone into a pond. If you affect one person in some way, you will indirectly affect the others around them until the disturbance comes back to you full circle. Others call this karma. I believe in it. This quote is only proof that law enforcement either don‘t like doing their job in Hubbardston, or they just don‘t care: “The sheriff tells 24 Hour News 8 that he hopes in the end detectives prove this was an accident.”. Knowing how law enforcement is slow in Hubbardston for anything that happens (probably just because we are Hubbardston and they think they can be slow because of that), it may take a very long time for them to solve this case, but I know one day it will be solved, it just means the pond the ripples are in may be an ocean and it will take longer for them to reach their creator.
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This was the news report:
Suspicious death in Ionia County
Updated: Jan 11, 2007 06:28 PM EST

Billie Cunningham

Billie Cunningham's House
HUBBARDSTON -- Tragic accident or homicide? That is what detectives in Ionia County are trying to figure out after new evidence surfaced in the early December death of a lifelong resident in the small town of Hubbardston.
She was a pillar of the community. Billie Cunningham was born and raised in Hubbardston.
"She knew everybody. Everybody knew her," Julie Cunningham, Billie's daughter, told 24 Hour News 8.
But when authorities ruled Billie's December 1 death an accident, the family had questions.
"Thought it was strange...just couldn't believe what we we're being told about it being an accident," says Julie.
And now, investigators are questioning those findings, too.
"Although we're not calling it a homicide, we are certainly treating it as such today," Ionia County Sheriff Dwain Dennis said.
Billie Cunningham was found dead in the home she grew up in and raised her family in on Washington Street. Was it an accident?
That seemed to make the most sense to investigators in the beginning. They theorized she was on a step ladder hanging Christmas decorations when she fell into a large mirror. The mirror broke, cutting Cunningham. She then bled to death.
But the family's persistence for detectives to not close the case led them to new evidence.
"Some things have come to light since then that have caused us to take a fresh look at this case," says the sheriff.
One example is a broken ceramic Santa Claus.
"The position of that Santa Claus has raised some questions as to whether or not the owner of the home could have left that ceramic Santa Claus in the position that it was in," adds Sheriff Dennis.
The location of blood from the victim has also led to some new questions.
So were investigators too quick to jump to conclusions early on in the case? The sheriff admits his department got off to a slow start.
As for the victim's family, "It would have been nice if they had moved faster, but it's being taken care of now, and that's what's important," says Julie.
The sheriff tells 24 Hour News 8 that he hopes in the end detectives prove this was an accident.
Investigators are still questioning people, and Sheriff Dennis is calling one of those a person of interest. No arrests have been made.
If you have any information about this case, you are asked to call the Ionia County Sheriff's Department or Silent Observer.
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Exams are next week, so I'll be busy, but I'll try to post if I get the chance.

Song Of The Day: "Lights" - Journey

Moment Of Truth...

I haven't been posting lately because I have been studying for exams that are coming up. The exams will be over after next week so we'll see how things go then. Tomorrow is the chair tests in band class (finally)! We have to play at least five scales (easy, our class learned ten to pass band last year), sight read, and play areas of our Christmas music that Mr. Parmenter will select. I'll be sure to tell you what chair I get once I find out. The exam for world history class is easy. We were notified about it on the very first day of school and ever since then I have been working on it. It is a biography report on anyone you like as long as you can find at least one book for a source and show how they were proactive. I did my report on Aerosmith! Well, nothing else has happened that was worth writing about. Sayonara! Unitil next time!
Song Of The Day: "Get Back" - The Beatles

My Phone Can Take A Permanent Vacation...

Oh, sweet illegitimate child of Pluto....Today the phone rang well over nine times and each time it was the same person: Jessica. She originally had some plan for her, me, Chris, and Tyler to go over to Paul's house for a little get-together that we have every once in a while. She kept relaying information to me everytime she found out something new and she found out Paul had school and his winter break was over so it turned into a get-together at her house instead of Paul's. My mom was at a meeting and to make a long story short she said "No". But it wouldn't have bothered me at much if Jessica didn't have to call everytime I was doing something important to me. She interrupted me playing guitar twice out of three times, two times while I was coloring, twice while I was playing Cultures 2: The Gates Of Asgard, and twice while I was spinning in the computer chair with my headphones on (When you call me while I have headphones on, I'm in another world, so when I am interrupted, you had better be dying otherwise I'll fix that for you). Overall I was annoyed. And right now as I type this, I am talking to her through Yahoo IM and thinking there is no way to escape her.... After this I am gonna practice for my piano lessons tomorrow. You should probably hear from me sometime around then. Until Tomorrow!

Song Of The Day: "She Goes Down" - Motley Crue

One More Day...

Last night Elizabeth came over and she also spent the night. It was pretty much a normal stay and nothing super happened. Sometime around one in the afternoon my mom had me get the kittens (Maxine had three kittens about a month and a half ago) and put them in a box so we could drive them to the animal shelter. We didn't really want to do it, but we couldn't keep them all and feed them, so we had to. As I set them in the box mom asked me in a whisper: "Do you want to keep the one you asked about?" I said "Yes" and pulled her out of the box and placed her back on the floor, glad that at least one of them didn't have to go through the trauma of being driven in the car and dropped off to a cage and never see us again. Halfway there, in the car, I started to smell an awful smell and figured one of the kittens had went to the bathroom in the box. That was before I heard a bubbling gurgling noise. Then I knew that one had puked and the other was following suite. It smelled horrible and we had to open two windows to get rid of the stench. After they puked I opened the box a bit wider so the kittens could get some fresh air and due to pure human curiousity...I looked at the cat puke. I noticed there was what looked like a long thread of mozarella cheese, then it moved and I realized it was a worm. I watched it coil into a circle and slowly wiggle amongst itself. It was disturbing(because I hate maggots and it is similar), cool(because it was gross), and a little saddening (because I acknowledged that it came from the kitten) all at once. So the kittens wouldn't step in the puke, I pulled them both out and I held onto one while Liz held onto the other. We finally made it to the animal shelter and after we got out and my mom spoke to Gordy (the dog warden) and he told her that the shelter wasn't open today. She had checked a paper or site or something that said it was, but she must have read it wrong because they would be open tomorrow. So by then Alex had already thrown away the box the cats puked in and we had no way of keeping them in one place in the car so they wouldn't be scared, so Gordy let us borrow a pet carrier after he poured the water out of the bottom of it. It was still wet and the air was so cold outside that my heart told me not to put them in it, but I had to. Then when we got to the back of the car, I told mom there was water in it and she made us hold the cats while she threw a thick, plaid blanket in there over the wet bottom so the cats would be warm and comfortable. I felt better after that. We drove home, put the cats back in the house, and I spent the rest of the day up until now by listening to my CD player while spinning in the computer chair.

Song Of The Day: "Living On A Prayer" - Bon Jovi

2007: Another Year Worth Living

Happy New Year To Everyone! It's 2007 now and the Chinese New Year of the Boar/Pig is upon us. It was a blast at Katie's! Jessica, Hillary, Sean, Andy, Katie (obviously, because she lives there), and I spent most of the time talking and laughing our asses off at each other's comments and stories. We watched "V For Vendetta", talked some more, watched the ball drop, then watched "Pirates Of The Carribean: Curse Of The Black Pearl". During all of this there are various flashes from digital and disposable cameras trying to catch every stupid thing we do. Hillary is constantly shouting "Moovie!!!" and pointing to the screen when we start talking too much. After Pirates we played DDR (Dance Dance Revolution). Sean played on his feet twice, then decided to cheat for the rest of the game by using his hands (and he still got D's and E's...Mostly E's). Then we all went to bed. This morning we all took photos and then before we all left we took two group photos. Then we all went home. I don't think much else is gonna be happening today that I know of. Happy New Year!

Song Of The Day: "Photograph" - Nickelback