[yunedgar]

Loss



My dad asked me in the car would you want to go to Europe sometime? Putting all fears beside, I said yes. A couple months later despite all threats of “mad cow” disease we started to plan our trip to Europe. We decided to start in London and make our way down to Italy, visiting Paris, Austria, Switzerland, and Venice. Colleen and Caitlin my 2 cousins were picked to go this time because last time we went to Europe there wasn’t enough room for them. Everyone was very excited going over to the airport, but we had to brace ourselves for the 7 hour trip across the Atlantic. Luckily there were TVs on the plane and we could choose from lots of movies and watch one. That kept me busy. I remember it was getting late and some people were starting to fall asleep, I tried to but before I could it was light out again, because of the different time zone I never got any sleep, just stayed up. Not even on purpose. We landed in London, and that was crazy to say the least. We were walking around the streets of London trying to find a hotel and couldn’t find one. All I remember was seeing people in business suits riding scooter to work. We got some sleep and the next night went to an arcade that had multiple floors. Then I also remember the drivers were crazy there. We walked around the Queens grounds and saw Big Ben. We took a high speed train through the Chunnel from London to Paris that was fun we where going over 120 in the train. Paris is great. We visited the Eiffel tower went up to the top. Went down the chonze elieis and on top of the Arc de Triumph. We were in Paris for a couple days and decided we should go to Switzerland. Now Switzerland is my favorite place, with huge mountains, fresh air, glaciers leading to glacier rivers and glacier lakes. Its amazing. We took a trip up to junfraujoch which is the highest point in Europe. Walking around would give people headaches because there wasn’t enough oxygen that high up. When we got back down from the mountain we just hung out and looked at the shops then went back to our hotel. In the hotel my dad confronted us. I could tell by the look on his face it wasn’t something good. But I would never think it would bave to do with my grandfather. See my grandfather had checked into a nursing home because his emphysema was getting worse. Pa had told us why he started smoking. During the time he spent training for the army he got into smoking. He said the training and exercise was very extensive, but the people that smoked got breaks. So he said “Of course I am going to smoke these guys don’t have to work out nearly as much.” Basically he blamed his old smoking habit and his current condition on the army.
My dad told me he was getting very sick and couldn’t even respond when asked questions - it was feared he might pass away soon so my dad’s only option, although reluctant, was to make an emergency trip back home. Colleen and Caitlin didn’t appear to be worried. They told me “Pa is fine, he’s been sick before, he will get better. Feeling more confident, I asked my dad. “Are you sure Pa isn’t fine, I mean doesn’t mom get a little more worked up about things?” He’s response was no, he’s surely sick mom wouldn’t call otherwise. I just remember feeling this can’t be happening while my dad was frantically talking with is travel agent to find the quickest possible way to get home. I just remember not being able to eat I was so upset. The travel agent came up with the fastest plane ride home, and that was all the way in Nice, France. So we had to take a super-highway from Switzerland to France, and that was a trip I will never forget. I think it came out to 9 hours in total and we were all crammed in a small car, everyone once in a while stopping to get a refreshment or something - I loved to stop and see the gas stations and all the food products that are everywhere in Europe but nowhere in America, like Nutella. The highway had no speed limit, so we went around 90-100, while other sports cars like Lamborghini’s and Ferraris were passing us at 130-140. When we finally arrived we were pleased to see that Nice was very beautiful. Although you would think there would be great beaches, the beaches were actually huge boulders and water - it was different. We stayed overnight and the next morning got up early to head back to the US. The plane trip was another 7 hours and it was way long, even with a TV. At one point when we were traveling home my dad got a call from my mom but was afraid to answer it to hear of the bad news, so just waited until he got home to hear it. We got in late at night maybe midnight, but we still had to drive home. Driving home my dad had illusions because he was so tired and he was on a road that was known for being dangerous, so we were all on edge. I just remember we were in such a hurry we ate donuts for supper. I also remember my dad said he was going to get a hotel, I fell asleep in the car then woke up at home so I realized he must have skipped the hotel idea in order to get home faster. We hit the sack right away when we got home. Didn’t wake up until afternoon.
When I woke in the morning my mom didn’t even know we were at home, she was sitting down eating and when I came downstairs she told me Pa had died a couple days ago. I couldn’t believe it, how was I supposed to feel or act? I had never had to deal with death before. It was like I was waiting so long to get home but once I got there didn’t want to be there anymore. My mom and dad talked for awhile and my mom was getting pretty upset and it was uncomfortable. We planned the funeral and it was going to be in a week. The day before the funeral my dad suggested I write a letter to Pa and put it in his casket. I knew exactly what I was going to write about, but to this day am not sure what was in that letter exactly. I know I put in the fact that I thought he had been mean to me sometimes and specifically how when I put in the food for the pigeons I knocked down the dish and wasted lots of food and he yelled at me. I think he was just in a bad mood that day because Grandma didn’t get the right medication for him when she went out to the pharmacy. I just remember not believing he was so mad at me he had never been mad at me before and it was an honest mistake and I was doing him a favor. I also wrote about how I never got to know him too well. Basically it was an honest letter, and I am glad I wrote it. I remember my mom asked to read it, she didn’t know about any of the stuff in the letter so I made sure she didn’t get to read it, with the assurance from my dad. We all had to go out and buy dress shoes and nice pants and what not for the funeral. I really didn’t know how to deal with the grief of the wedding I never really cried I don’t think. But that was about to change. Before the funeral we were all ready to go in (we were the first ones) but the guy who works there seemed a bit hesitant to let us in. I couldn’t think of what was going through his mind until after the funeral. He was sad to see us all dressed up and fine and he knew that as soon as he opened the wooden doors all the grief was going to come back. He reluctantly opened the doors. Ryan (my oldest brother) was the first one in, he was walking casually, then when he say the casket with pa in it he turned around and looked at me and his eyes were tearing up. I couldn’t believe my big tough brother was the first one to cry. I also got upset and started to cry. We were all just sitting around crying, while more and more people came in to look in the casket. I do remember about 20 minutes in Kevin, one of my cousins who I used to hang out with constantly, At the funeral I wasn’t really sure what to do with myself. I think it lasted from Noon until 7pm in the afternoon. And after I had already cried enough and everyone else at the funeral was sick of crying the only thing to do was just to sit around. Everyone was just either talking or being very quiet, and to themselves. I noticed a lot of my cousins were quiet and they usually aren’t. They must have been pretty effected by it especially my older cousins who would work for Pa and his pigeons. I ended up going down to where my little cousin Harrison was playing in the downstairs. They had various toys and board games. I was just trying to figure out what to do with myself so I sat down there for awhile, listened to my dad talk to his friend. It was time to go for the day, the next day we were going to go the burial site. We all met up at my Grandma’s house for a get together. The next day we were first going to the church then second going to the burial site. Seamus one of my older cousins wanted to write a speech but was nervous, but since my aunts praised him for trying and wanted him to do it, they helped him write it. We came into the big church in the morning, and it was a long service and all I remember was Seamus’s speech and Aunt Moll was going to sing for one of the church songs. She was affected the most by the funeral and it was hard for her she almost didn’t do it there was a lot or drama but eventually she did it. I remember Seamus’s speech just because he had a real hard time saying it, and was stuttering and saying words in a slurred fashion that made no sense. I felt bad for him he was trying hard and I know I probably couldn’t do it but it was pretty funny to me. I just remember trying my hardest not to laugh, and feeling bad when I looked around and no one else was laughing.

[yunedgar]

46 Pages
9
In the book 46 Pages by Scott Liell Thomas Paine is trying to sway America into becoming independent from Britain. He was born in England and was not born into the best family meaning he didn’t have the best opportunity. He did end up getting over to America more specifically Philadelphia. This was a prime opportunity for Paine to work on his new project – writing a book that would later be known as ‘Common Sense’. Common Sense was what Paine used to get America to believe all the things that are a strain on America because of its relationship with England, and all the good things that would come out of separation. For example Military benefits, better commerce, European benefits. Also he stated that when with England we get pulled into wars, commerce gets ruined, and European help dwindles. Paine also stated it was a kind of Treason the way the English wrote against their government.
The dictionary definition of Treason n. Violation of allegiance toward one's country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one's country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies. Paine’s definition was most likely: Not being loyal to your governing country in order to improve the lives of others for years to come. Paine isn’t for overthrowing the government, but is against the attachment to Britain. He wants independence.
Paine wanted to break from Great Britain for the positive reasons of how it would help America and the negative reasons that are happening because Britain ruling America.

[yunedgar]

Chem Lab
Brandon Anderson
9/13/05
Direct evidence is evidence that directly relates to the situation, and is considered a lot of proof. Indirect evidence is just matter of fact evidence that wouldn’t be enough proof to solve a case. Direct and Indirect evidence is important in chemistry because the molecules and atoms that chemists are dealing with are too small to see with the naked eye, so they need lots of evidence to prove something is happening.
What we did was split up into groups. Each group would examine a container with an object in it. We would split up our time so we had enough time to examine each of the 16 containers. We had to try and figure out what was in the container with indirect evidence like how it sounds, smells, rolls, and how magnetic it is. Lots of times me and Carlo were right on the ball. We guessed the 2 glass marbles, golf pencil, iron fillings, 7 plastic beads, balloon w/bubble wrap, and paper clip on a string. The ones we were way off on was the piece of paper, metal bar magnet (we thought it was a shoe), 1 Q-tip Popsicle stick 5 cotton balls, and the coffee. The ones we were in the middle on was the quarter nickel penny, iron wedge wooden ball metal ball, u-shaped magnet, nut bolt, bouncy ball, and the 2 foam hexagons with hole in middle. Our score was 43, which was about class-average. Highest in the class was 48 (but I bet they were cheating).
My suggestion for next year would be a calculator. And the container could be a small backpack. It wouldn’t be too difficult because you could feel the buttons but would still be hard.