BTech Kicks KansASS.

WBC VS Brooklyn Tech - Photo (c): Robert T. & Andreea M.

I just have to say that NOTHING brings our school together faster then some haters lookin’ to take some of us down. You mess with one, you mess with all and it SHOWED.

Today, at the corner of Fort Greene Place and Fulton Street, the self-proclaimed Westboro Baptist “Church” ATTEMPTED to protest against what they believed was wrong. The WBC is a hate group centered in Kansas, who travel around the country spreading their evil messages of hatred in a KKK-like fashion. Their anti-gay, anti-semitic, and anti-obama views were displayed on their vulgar signs, but the pro-love movement from Brooklyn Tech was WAY clearer (and may I say, so much better).

Most of us knew about this scheduled WBC protest before-hand, and our planned reaction was at first, to simply ignore them and wear blue and white (the school colors) to display unity amongst our diverse students. However, we ended up doing much more then that. The lunchroom today was filled with students walking around giving out stickers saying “Love Don’t Hate” and other positive slogans.

When I got to the protest which started around 3:20pm, the opposing sides were already forming. On one side of the street was the few members from the WBC that showed up (only about 5 showed) and on the other were the hundreds of Technites, yelling “Go Back Home!” and “We Love Jews!”. One group of kids was holding up signs spelling out “SMASH RACISM” and others were just yelling and cheering for our side. Compared to our group, the WBC’s protest looked extremely puny. We completely over-powered them and forced them to leave 15 minutes before scheduled. TECH POWERRR.

Technites want to "Smash Racism" - Photo (c): Robert T.

The beliefs and morals of this hate group are completely messed up and I’m glad we ran them out. The should’ve thought twice before coming to our school. Go back to Kansas and get a life. By the way, we kicked your ass.

<3 for the Jews, Gays, Blacks, friends of all the above and anyone else in the world!

Team Tech - Photo (c): Robert T.

Lindsay’s Phone Panic

Among recent celeb news is Lindsay Lohan’s latest episode, over her missing cellphone. The other day, Thursday – August 20th, Miss Lohan had left her Blackberry in a deli in SoHo. When she realized it was missing, she of course went back and tried to retrieve her phone . The deli worker didn’t want to give it back without proof, saying he had no way of knowing that it was hers and that he would have to check security tapes but until then, she wouldn’t be given the phone. Well, Linsday didn’t take that too well and kind of threw a bitch fit. She even pulled the “Don’t you know who I am?!” card. The funny thing was…he didn’t!

Lindsay was so outraged that she even called 911! However they sorted out the situation before cops got there, so when they arrived, there was no need for their services.

Haha, ok so, my opinion on this ordeal? It’s good that the guy happened to NOT know Lindsay, because that gave her a taste of what NORMAL people have to deal with. Just because you’re a celebrity doesn’t mean you can ALWAYS get privileges, sometimes you need a little something to bring you back to earth. And being that Lindsay has been on a rocky road lately, I think that something like this is what she needs. Perhaps a celebrity detox?

Now, it IS understandable that she had such an urgency for her cellphone because after-all, she has other celebs numbers in her phone book. That, in the wrong hands, could be extremely problematic. So I understand her desperate need for her phone. However I don’t think she should’ve called 911 because that’s a bit over the top. Not only is that taking our police force away from where they are actually needed, but it’s also unnecessary. You don’t call the cops for a phone when the deli worker was doing the right thing by not giving it back right away. Anyone could’ve walked in their and claimed it belonged to them so how was he to be sure that it was Lindsay’s? He was doing the responsible thing.

Apparently, Lohan and a friend were attempting to call the cell to make it ring, therefore proving her ownership, but for some reason it wasn’t working. I’m assuming that it must’ve worked at one point, or they might’ve been able to show proof in other ways, because Lohan did get her phone back eventually.

But I stand by what I said before, these kinds of everyday, real world issues is what Lindsay needs to bring her back to earth.

Miley’s Stripper Career

There’s been A LOT of controversy about Miley Cyrus’ performance at the Teen Choice Awards. During her song, Party In The USA, her dancers rolled out an ice cream cart with a conveniently placed ….er…stripper pole..on top. Now, upon mounting said ice cream cart, Miley did a very suggestive dip with the pole’s assistance. For the rest of the time, she mostly stood and danced, merely holding on to the pole (seemingly for support). And yet, that one move is raising a lot of questions.

Die hard Miley fans of course come to her defense with the fact that 1. She really only did one suggestive move, 2. So what if it was suggestive, girls her age have done worse in the real world 3. The pole must’ve only been there for support.
However, all those things can be countered because 1. Whether it’s one or one hundred, she still did a suggestive pole-dancing move, 2. Miley Cyrus is a role model to young children, 3. Chyeah right! They could’ve used something else!

Honestly, the pole was a really bad choice of props, whether or not it was meant for pole-dancing or simply support. The pole being there in the first place is suggestive in itself. Anything more is just plain inappropriate. Besides, SO WHAT if other girls her age have done worse? SHE’S A PERFORMER! It doesn’t matter if girls are out there at parties and such grinding or whatever, at least it’s in the privacy of that particular ROOM/PLACE. Miley is on a STAGE on a televised program where thousands of people – and young children – are watching her! You can’t risk it with that sort of thing! The pole was a very, very, very bad choice on their part.

Aside from the pole BEING there, was this move really necessary?!

It’s bad enough that she did that, but doing it with what she was WEARING makes it even worse. Black super short shorts and black leather boots? C’mon! Okay so it’s only a slightly risqué outfit – by itself. And its only a pole – by itself. And it’s only a dance move – by itself. But when they’re all together…that’s when it gets crosses the line.

So yes, I think there IS reason to be shocked by this, even if it doesn’t completely qualify as pole-dancing.

It’s enough to be deemed inappropriate for a Teen Choice Awards PERFORMANCE. This is a teen (AND pre-teen) awards show people, not a dance club – there’s a big difference. Some things are meant for certain places, and this wasn’t the place for a stripper pole.

It’s not like I’m saying it was unsuitable for HER specifically. It IS true that girls her age have done worse. However, it’s not suitable for her AUDIENCE.

Tech Talk – Antec MX-1 Review

Good Morning New York! I think it’s safe to say that it’s been a long while since I’ve blogged for you guys, and I just have to say, It’s not my fault! First off, my laptop crashed, and when it crashes, it’s not convenient for me to blog – it annoys me to boot up the desktop and start blogging.

I did manage to fix my laptop – sort of. As you may already know, I have an Inspiron 1525, and it’s a great laptop except for three things: it overheats a lot, the charger breaks too easily, and I’ve had crashing problems with it.

Well, this time, after it crashed, I could seemingly do nothing to fix it. I tried everything, System Restore, Startup Repair, Last Known Good Configuration, etc. etc. I tried running system tests, and all that I could possibly do from the menus available before Windows actually loads. Eventually I realized that whatever had happened to my laptop is seemingly irreversable, so I had to find a new angle. I ended up buying an external hard drive enclosure, so that I could transfer my files to my desktop.

I’m no expert on these things so I only made this decision after consulting my tech savvy friend Joey and asking around on Yahoo Answers.

I had found one on the Radioshack website for about $30, but it was only available online. So I ended up buying one from Best Buy for $50. I KNOW, it’s a big difference HOWEVER, I will get money back in Rewards points (I buy all my electronic stuff from Best Buy so becoming a Rewards member was the best thing I could ever do). The Best Buy Rewards program is actually one of the few rewards programs that I actually make good use out of. Anyway, as it turns out, I bought one of the best HDD Enclosures out there, without even doing comparisons!

I bought an Antec MX-1 and after looking up their website when I got home (for more detailed instructions), I found what made this worth it’s money. This HDD enclosure includes a built in fan that actively cools your hard drive during use so it stays safe and doesn’t overheat. This is a huge plus for me, considering how annoying it gets dealing with overheating all the time. And since it has a fan, they have silicone padding on the inside and a specially designed case that helps muffle and reduce sound. I will testify to the fact that I heard almost nothing when it was on. It’s as close to a silent machine as it can get. Also, I could not feel any heat coming from the enclosure when I touched it, so the fan was definitely doing it’s job.

The package includes the HDD Enclosure, a stand, a power adapter, a USB Cable (this is what I used), and an eSATA Cable and PCI-slot cover.

At first I actually was afraid that my HDD wouldn’t be compatible with this machine because from the videos I saw online, and the actually width of the product, I judged that my laptop hard drive would be too small a.k.a. not the right type. This is because in the box, they also include 4 screws so that you may firmly hold your HDD in place within the enclosure. My laptop’s HDD was too small to require this, which is why I got scared. However, I realized that it was still compatible and that I just had to meet the connectors, which I did by placing this small HDD on one side, as long as it matched up and plugged in.

As soon as I plugged it in, I searched through folders and found all my files. You have NO idea how relieved I was. I was little dancing, lmfao. It worked like a charm.
I must say that although I was nervous since I’ve never done anything like this before, it was actually very simple. Removing the hard drive from my laptop was pie, just two screws to slide it out and two more to remove the cover.

The enclosure was easy as well: one long screw from the bottom opened up the top of the enclosure, which was then slid off to be removed. Then just one screw on either side of the actual part that would hold the HDD, the removal of the LED plug (so you can lift that part away from the base), then you slide in your HDD and plug it into the receptors [screw in the 4 screws if needed], put the whole thing back into the base component, re-attach the LED wire, screw it back in, close the lid, and tighten the screw.

Believe me, it’s simpler than it sounds, when you’re actually doing it.

So anyway, it worked just as it should, and after I had transfered my files to my desktop, I took the HDD back out and replaced it in my laptop. Since my files were safe on my other computer, I just used the option to return the computer to it’s Dell Factory State (wipe out everything, including whatever was wrong with my computer in the first place) and now my computer is just like new – literally, hahaha.

‘New Moon’ Clips at Comic-Con

Yesterday was the first day of Comic-Con 2009, hosted in San Diego. The turnout was amazing, tons and tons of fans having little nerdgasms. The hype was well worth it however, because those who attended were treated to special appearances by Tim Burton, an unexpected surprise guest: Johnny Depp, and of course the stars of Twilight.

Anyone want to tell me wtf is up with her hair? Credit: Poroy/AP

You know, it really makes you wonder about how much security is REALLY needed for the three of them. I’d imagine they need two teams for Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson, one for each, to prevent girls from throwing themselves upon them. And then I think they’d need two more for Kristen Stewart alone, considering how many girls have put Stewart at the very top of their hit lists…

So anyway, at the Twilight Panel, they revealed two clips from New Moon, so here they are.

The first is the bike scene with Bella and Jacob, where Bella is learning to ride the motorcycle, and is seeing glimpses of Edward. She’s distracted, tries to stop, and falls off and hits her head on a boulder. Jacob then comes to save her, takes his shirt off to use it to stop the bleeding, and all the girls at Comic-Con scream like the insane bitches they are. Roflmao but it’s true, watch the video for evidence. Anyway, I’m not sure if it’s just me but from the clip shown, it doesn’t look like she rode very far. Which also makes me wonder why Jacob had to get on his bike to catch up to her. But whatever. Roll the clip:

The next clip is the scene where Alice and Bella are attempting to stop Edward from revealing himself as a vampire. This scene is exactly how I imagined it, and all the building placement and architecture is just how I saw it in my head. However I imagine the people to be more…festive instead of drone-like I guess? They’re all moving a bit oddly but whatever. Anyway, of course Edward has to take off his jacket so that he can show how his skin sparkles, proving him a vampire. So once again, cue the screaming girls for the shirtless Edward Cullen/Robert Pattinson.

Comic-Con continues until Sunday night (the 26th) so I’m sure there will be lots more to see over the next few days. For more coverage of the Comic-Con, please subscribe to the Number One Nerd herself, Nat from CommunityChannel:

To A Certain Degree

My belief is that, well…nobody is normal. There is no such THING as normal. Can you define it? Sure, there is something such as a social norm, but that doesn’t mean the social norm is NORMAL. The social norm is simply what most go by and is routine and commonly accepted amongst others. However the normality of the norm, is unknown considering that there is no such thing as normality. Do you follow? I’ll give you a minute to reread that so you get it.

What is “normal” may differ from person to person. They may have their own sense of what is “normal” for them. Therefore what one person see’s as normal may not be normal to another. So if it’s not meant exactly the same way universally, then you can’t use the umbrella term: “normal”. Everyone has different views on what is normal. To a seemingly “normal” person, an eccentric looking person who does things in a different way, may be viewed as abnormal. HOWEVER, who’s to say that the eccentric person isn’t normal. THEY could be the normal one and the seemingly “normal” person could be the abnormal one, depending on who’s deciding. If another eccentric person see’s the first one, they will find similarities, and identify as one of them. They will see the person as an equal, and believe they are normal. The typical “normal” person would view the eccentrics as abnormal, but see other “normal”s as equal. (Please note that NORMAL is different from AVERAGE). So depending on who’s making the observations..a different type of person could be viewed as normal.

This comes into play with mental issues as well. NO ONE is 100% mentally “sane”. Because who has the right to determine what is sane?! The same things I pointed out with being normal come into play with sanity as well.

My conclusion from this? Everyone is a little crazy. To a certain degree.

My English teacher merely brushed off my concept when I mentioned this in a discussion of Catcher In The Rye during the school year a few months ago. Fine, be thick-headed and ignore it, that’s why I have a blog. Haha.

I also think that everyone is a little OCD to a certain degree, we all have our little quirks or habits that we tend to do a lot. Key word is “habit”. Habits, as defined by Wikipedia, are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly, that tend to occur subconsciously. OCD [Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder] is, by it’s very definition, ‘an anxiety disorder in which a person feels trapped in repetitive, persistent thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive, ritualized behaviours (compulsions).’ Notice how both OCD and habitual behaviors have to do with repetitive and routine actions. So apparently it’s only OCD when it starts to become a problem? But then, almost everyone would have OCD, because a lot of people have “nervous habits”. Those nervous habits can become a problem…even if on a small scale. Biting nails, obviously effects the nails..which is a problem. So should you call it OCD? If everyone has a little bit of OCD, then it shouldn’t be called a disorder. It might as well be a lifestyle. Or simply call it…a habit.

Another thing I believe is that everyone is bisexual to a certain degree. I’ve heard this before from people, and the more I analyze it, the more it makes sense. For example, even if you identify as a straight male, if you had no affection whatsoever for the same sex, it would be impossible for you to love your father, a male pet, a guy best friend, a brother, a male cousin, etc. There needs to be SOME affection to have any attachment to another male. No, it’s obviously not sexual, but it’s still an affection-sort of emotion. If you were completely only attracted to girls (I mean attracted as in drawn to/like to be around, not sexual) then you’d only love your mother, you’d only be able to have a girl best friend, you’d only love your sister not a brother, etc. So it makes sense that you have to be somewhat bisexual. Then, depending on who you’re drawn to more, you’d feel the sexual attraction towards whichever gender you are more-so attracted to. But you’re not completely one way because you’d have to be bi to have any attraction (even if it’s non-sexual) to the people mentioned before-hand (family members, friends, pets).

Personality, Mentality, Sexuality. They’re all debatable things when it comes  to deciding what is “normal”. No one’s perfect and no one could ever possibly fit into a perfect categorical box so easily and simply. People are complicated and UNIQUE and we can’t all fit into the same niche so why do we try to make it fit? You can’t have a label for everyone because the person doing the labeling is biased. Everyone is different, and everyone has issues to a certain degree. Get over it. We’re human.

Beautiful Gone Bad

WTF?!

I LOVE the song Beautiful by Akon, but when I first heard it, it was with Dulce Maria, from RBD, my favorite hispanic pop group.

I loved that version of the song. But now the only video on YouTube I’m finding is one with Colby O’Donis and this other guy singing in it. I keep searching for this music video with Dulce and I’m finding all this CRAP. They ruined the song with the million different versions.

UGH. This is retarded. In one of the videos, they have a bunch of random dudes (INCLUDING A.R. RAHMAN WTF?!) posing with the girls. Where the hell did A.R. RAHMAN COME FROM!? And seriously, Colby has a really nice voice, but his part is intended to be sung by a girl, which is what Dulce does. But I can’t find the official high quality music video from UMG.

The song doesn’t sound the same without Dulce and I love how she integrated Spanish into the song, it sounds so nice. Yet they add an idiotic rapper, who even further ruins the song.

**Apparently, all the music videos for Beautiful are not allowed to be embedded, so just click on the video player so you can watch it directly on YouTube. I apologize for the inconvenience. Not my fault that they don’t allow embedding on these vids**

See above video for idiocracy with an A.R. Rahman cameo, and some rapper.

Adding a bunch of cameos of guys surrounded by tons of girls makes the video seem amateurish, unprofessional, and goofy. It’s the kind of thing you would expect from a low class rap music video, not for a song like this. The version with Dulce should at least have the privelage to also be on their channel, if not replace the other version!

I find it such a disgrace that UMG doesn’t have the official video (featuring Dulce) on their page [neither does Island Records]. I just found it on another page, but it should be on UMG’s official YouTube channel! I found a crappy quality version on UMG Mexico’s channel. It’s horrible that they don’t even have a top notch quality video. I am literally disgusted right now, that such a “beautiful” version of the song, is subject to such abuse, non-publicity, and sideline-ry. As you can tell, I’m making up compound words, because I can’t find the right adjectives to describe how WRONG this is.

As you can see below, the UMG Mexico version is LOW quality. Totally non-respectable.

And finally, here is the high quality version of Beautiful, sung by Akon feat. Dulce Maria, that I found on Dulce’s personal channel.

It sounds SO much better to me when Dulce sings with Akon. Honestly, doesn’t it sound nicer? So I don’t understand how they could’ve ruined such a good song.
By the way, you may have noticed, as did I, that the background music in Beautiful sounds similar to another song. The little melody that plays in the background is most noticeable in the beginning of the song, from 0:00 to 0:15 (when there is no singing). That melody is from the techno song, Better Off Alone.

Skip to 0:35 to hear the melody. From 0:35 to 0:50, that is what’s played from 0:00 to 0:15 in Beautiful, except in a lower key.

I noticed that immediately when I heard Beautiful. It’s clever to take a good hook from a popular techno song (that not everyone knows the name to, but surely has heard it once before), and use it in a mainstream pop song. It makes the song more catchy to the listener, because they’ve heard the tune before, but don’t remember the original song, so the listener is drawn to the new song.

As most people know, Kanye West did something similar with his song Stronger, using Daft Punk’s background tracks.

Anyway, back to Beautiful. Which version of the song do you like better? With Dulce (PICK THIS ONE! LOL) or with Colby?

Dear God, What is Love?

“How can you love someone that you know can’t love you back?”

This is really new to me. And it scares me. I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this before and, I don’t like this sense of unfamiliarity. I really think I’m in love with someone. Like, actually in love with them. Not a crush. Not a fling. There are two problems however. 1. I’m pretty sure it’s a one-sided interest here. I’m the one who’s in love…with them. But they’re not in love with me. 2. There’s another complicated “issue”….that comes in to play if anything between us would work out.

They’re always giving mixed signals, and for the life of me, I can never understand.

How do you find that ONE? If it’s destined, that you will eventually find the one person you were looking for, and was looking for you…then why is it possible for people to love those who they know can’t love them back? I seriously mean love here.

You may think I’m too young to actually know what true love is. I hate that though. I don’t think age has anything to do with it. I think it’s possible to find a soulmate, at any age. Those who find it so early are just lucky. But really, I think I can tell what it is.

But who decides who you love? If it’s so “destined”, then does God pick them out? If so, then WHY GOD, do you allow our hearts to betray us and go after someone who wouldn’t work? If you already hand-picked someone, then we should only feel love (or even crushes) when we meet that ONE person.

So tell me God, is this person my true love? Because at the moment, it sure as hell isn’t looking like they would be cooperative in this. Am I supposed to wait? Wait until the time when (if) they realize something about themselves, and open themselves to the possibilities? Am I really supposed to wait? I think it might be a lost cause, considering my hopes were shot down, by the very person. But perhaps they, themselves, are confused? Perhaps they are wrong?

Love stinks.

What’s New? – Broken Heel Bone

Friday, July 17, 2009

Sorry for the delay in updates! I’m glad to have finished Episode 4 of True Stories, and I have the footage needed for Episode 5. However, I’ve been a bit….incapacitated? Hahaha. I fractured/broke my heel bone! In Episode 4, you can see the big cargo crates that we climbed up. They’re about 10 ft high (possibly. Maybe shorter), but the one in the video is on grass. Later that day we ended up climbing on another crate, that was on concrete, and positioned differently. I hurt my heel getting off but didn’t think much of it.

I ended up at the doctor this week, deciding not to ignore it anymore. The doctor, after examining my foot, figured that I had fractured my growth plate. He took an X-ray of my feet and I went back in the room and waited. He was shocked because apparently, my growth plates are closed! At least, it seems that way. He said I have the foot of an 18 year old.

So he put my foot in a soft cast, assuming it was a fracture, and sent me home. However, my foot was swelling and the cast felt tight, so two days later, I went back, and had him take it off. He saw bruising and swelling, so NOWWWW he thinks it may be broken (my heel bone). He gave me crutches, and told me to be easy on it, until we can get an MRI and see what’s actually wrong. Fun, eh?

ex why oh,
RobertXY

Real Life Horror Film

So, today we had a little get-together with a bunch of my elementary school friends. Eventually the crowd thinned out until there were only 6 of us. Lisa. Lukasz. Stephanie. Joey. Me. Justin.

We had an AMAZING day at the park, and walking around our neighborhood and going to the mall and everything. And we were ending the day, (by this time, it was only the 6 ppl that i mentioned before) in the park, on the bleachers. It was dark, but it was ok because there were people jogging on the track and we were having so much fun. It was the perfect day, ending with a perfect night. We started walking to leave the park. We ended up on a street across from the park. As we were leaving we heard a bang (but there were fireworks before..although this was a bit louder) so we were joking around, saying we should go check it out.

Recently, I had wrote a script to make a slasher/horror film. But then I was joking saying that this should be our horror film and we should start filming. It was dark, and we heard a strange noise. But we eventually disregarded it – and rightfully so. The bang was most likely another firework, and that was NOT the actual troubles that awaited us. Believe me. THAT wasn’t the problem.

So anyway, we end up on the corner, saying our goodbyes. I’ll take this time to point out that Lisa is leaving for Poland tomorrow, so we wouldn’t see her for a while. Also, Justin (who had moved to Virginia) was visiting once again (he comes back about twice a year, and we all hang out). Now, I think that being in Virginia affected his head – lmfao. I’m serious. He forgot what New York people are like.. and you’ll see what I’m saying this.

Lisa was waiting for her dad, who was going to take her and Lukasz home. Then the rest of us (Steph, Joey, Justin, Me) would disperse and walk home (would we walk together first and then eventually branch off). So then this group of kids on bikes (and riding on the pegs. So there were at least two to a bike?) started riding by. So, these are the kinda idiots in our neighborhood..the ones who would beat you up if they had a chance. The guys with the baseball caps and white t-shirts acting all tough and the girls with the huge hoop earrings. You wouldn’t bother with them. But one of them calls out asking “Is anyone of you Scarlet?” (asking for someone apparently). Now JUSTIN, from Virginia Happy World where no one gets beat up, calls out “YEA I’m Scarlet!!” and laughs (joking), they keep riding, but curse him out.

By the way I’d just like to say that Justin is tall — so they would know EXACTLY who said it. He sticks out lol. And he was wearing red gym shorts – so that wasn’t exactly helping with the blending in. Neither was I, wearing an open PURPLE button-down shirt, over my white shirt…haha. Anyway. Justin also decides to call back to them “I LOVE YOU”. Now, they start cursing and skid to a stop at the end of the street. Lisa’s dad conveintly pulls up. However, i KNOW they are coming back so I bolt, and I’m almost across the street. Lisa and Lukasz get in the car, and Joey and Steph hop in! I Would’ve gotten in the car had I known that Lisa’s dad would let us AND had I known that Joey and Steph were going. I thought they were bolting the other way. HOWEVER. Justin, is still standing on the block, WALKING, as the other kids are on their way back. Justin turns around, seeing everyone one of our friends gone, and is like “WHERE’D THEY GO?” still looking back. It’s amusing NOW, but at the time, it was heart pounding because JUSTIN WASN’T MOVING FAST ENOUGH. So I’m like JUSTIN. WALK FASTER. So he gets the message and starts making his way across the street with me. I’m not running yet, because if I do, they’d chase right away.

I wanted to walk quickly first, to make it look like I was just leaving. But Justin held up a little so by the time we were on the other street, they were on the corner, cursing us out, shouting at us for “Running away”. So now we get around the corner and Justin is on his phone but I’m like, just RUN! So now we’re running a bit into the dark streets of our neighborhood. We think we’ve lost them. But it’s dark, and we have no idea if we have, and they’re on bikes so they could easily round the corner and catch us on the other side.

So we’re walking quickly, Justin on the phone trying to figure out where Steph and Joey are. We eventually discover that Steph and Joey are at Steph’s house. The closest to where we were. But Justin and I had to walk in the other direction to avoid getting BEAT UP. It’s scary. No joke. So, freaking scary. And so dark. So anyway, we know the GENERAL direction of Stephanie’s house, and we eventually get to a corner where we can see down the street to the brightly lit avenue. We make our way closer, and it seems clear.

NOW WAIT. At this point, I COULD HAVE made a right, and went home. I can get home that way. I’m second closest. But my mind was in “GET TO STEPH’S HOUSE BEFORE ME AND JUSTIN DIE” mode. So I see the avenue, and I’m grateful because I know that we just have to cross the avenue and then walk STRAIGHT down a few blocks. The avenue seems clear.

Oh and by the way. We’re on one side of a fork. It’s a fork that opens up into the avenue intersection. So we make our way down the side we’re on, the fork comes to an end and who do we see on the other side? THE KIDS ON BIKES ROUNDING THE CORNER. I’m like OH FUCK. ON THE EMPTY AVENUE BRIGHTLY LIT THAT THEY CAN SEE US CLEARLY. I’ve had it. I’ve just had it. So I said “JUSTIN JUST RUN.” So now we RUN, even though we’re in their full view. We need to RUN to stephanie’s house. My error: I miscalculated how many blocks it is to Steph’s house. So we’re running, and i *THOUGHT* it was the next block. I *thought* we were gonna be safe. Then I realized. Fuck. It’s not this block. So we CAN’T keep running STRAIGHT DOWN. THEY ARE ON BIKES. No matter HOW FAST we run, they’re on BIKES. So we run down the first street we come to (making a left basically down the street). Now we’re running, we cross the street to the darker side, and so now Justin and are basically doing a zig zag to get to Steph’s house, to avoid being chased by the kids.

Oh and to add to the stress. Justin drops his phone, it’s not broken but the sim card apparently slipped out (with the cover on) and the battery dies. And MY phone is not much better. My battery is red line, meaning, it’s not just at red level (low), it’s about to die. And we’re trying to stay in contact with Steph and Joey to find Steph’s house.

However, we thought we were at Steph’s block, so we start walking up it. We come to the end and realize…this isn’t her block. Now comes the risky part. To continue the zig zag… we have to come up back to the street that goes straight down. The one where we would be easy targets. We don’t know WHERE they are now. We don’t know if they followed us down the first street or if the continued going straight. So I pause, and make Justin stop before he goes out into that street.

I stop to listen and here a noise, thinking it’s the kids. But then we wait another moment. We don’t think it’s them, so we run to the corner, and start running straight down that street, not looking back, running straight down. We FINALLY make it to Stephanie’s corner, meeting Joey and Steph there.

THANK GOD. So we end up across the street and go to Steph’s house.
Phew.

But wait. Joey, Justin and I still have to walk home..

So. Now, Joey makes a joke asking Steph if she has some kind of weapon (joking). But then I’m serious, and ask her for a pocket Swiss army knife or something. I have one at home, so does Joey, and Justin (ex-Boy Scouts, lol). But I’m hoping that Steph has one, or her dad, because I am NOT going back out there without some form of protection. Steph goes inside and upstairs to look.

Steph comes back down and say’s “I’ll do you one better.” Me: “What?” Steph: “My mom is gonna drive you guys home”.

NOW, I feel safe. So we get in the car, and I’m the first to be dropped off. When we get to my block, as a joke, Stephanie opens the window and looks back at forth and is like “The coast is clear” (joking around). But you know what? It’s no joke because my block is right around the corner from a pizzeria on the avenue. So kids would come and hang out there, so you know what? I’m not taking chances. I thank Steph’s mom, so glad that she drove us. And run up to my door (I had readied my keys in the car), unlocked the door, waved bye, and got inside and firmly shut the door and lock it. There’s another door, a glass one, right after this one, so I open it, go inside, and lock that one. I’m on my way up the stairs but then— I get paranoid, come back down, and make sure I locked all the doors. Ha. Paranoid or not, bitches I’m alive. ROFL.

So THIS was our real life horror film. Screw my script. THIS is the real stuff. Scary shit. But just as real.