Zombie Story

"Who cares...it happened anyway, we'll get over it." That's what Jake said to the cashier, as he was heading out of town. To where? No one knew, only Jake. As he got in his car, and started making his way out of town, he noticed in the back of his vehicle -- something was missing, or not even necessarily missing, but gone.

His dad died when he was three. Didn't know much about him, and for a while he thought his mom was lying. He thought that his dad actually didn't die -- but left him. That was Jake's mission, after this horrible thing happened to his world. He was going to find his dad.

As he turned around to head home, he noticed on the side of the road across the street from the gas station was a pile of dead bodies. Not just any dead bodies either, but kid's dead bodies. They were in school that day, he stayed home. He was "sick" and his mom didn't think anything of it. She also didn't know he was leaving, he didn't say goodbye, he just left.

When he pulled in his driveway, an old man was sitting on his front steps. He had never seen this guy before, and didn't know if he should back right out like he needed to turn around, or just park the car and see what he wanted.

"Hello?" said Jake.

"Hi" said the old man.

"If you don't mind may I ask who you are?"

"Why should it matter to you? Can't I sit on my own front stoop?"

"What do you mean by your own front stoop, last time I checked this was my..." Jake said, but never finished as he noticed he was in the driveway of the grumpy old man who has lived across the street from him since the day he was born.

"Yeah, now get out of here, and park your rusty piece of crap car in the garage so I don't have to look at it!"

"I'm sorry you don't like what I drive, but if you want to buy me a new one I wouldn't turn you down." Jake said with a smile.

"Get out of here boy, and don't come back. You've been a pain in my side since the day you were born. Hitting and kicking balls into my yard. Yelling with your friends outside. If I never had to see you again, I wouldn't shed a tear." The old man said.

Jake apologized one more time, and left. He got in his car drove across the street and parked his car right in the middle of his front lawn.

Thinking to himself, "You will never see me again you old man, so I'll just piss you off one more time."

As Jake decided what he forgot to take with him on this -- let's just say adventure. He noticed something was wrong, all of the pictures that were once in his house with him in it have all disappeared. That made him a little concerned, as he ran up the stairs to his room, he got to the door and noticed everything was packed up into tiny neat boxes with the words "Mayville, Wisconsin" written on every single box. But, something is wrong...

Jake forgets it and starts looking through all the boxes as fast as he possibly can -- thinking to himself...

Mayville is unfamiliar...Mayville is not right...Mayville sounds suspicious. 

In the tiniest box in the way corner of the room, is the picture and manila folder he was looking for. Inside it could mean the difference of him finding his father, or never seeing daylight again.

He grabs the manila folder and the picture, and a few other miscellaneous things, and leaves as fast as he possible can. As he gets in his car, and pulls out of his driveway he sees the old man across the street, but he's not sitting anymore, he's not glaring. He looks like he's sleeping -- but he's not.

Whatever. Jake thinks as he starts driving down the road.

Jake lives in Illinois just outside the Wisconsin border, has been to Wisconsin many times, but has never heard of Mayville. This was the suspicious part to him, his family every year would go up to Superior for a fishing trip in July. But, he never even paid attention to the towns they drove through or the things around him. He just turned 16, just got his license, and just got his first car, everything was new territory.

As he thought of the address on the boxes that his things were being shipped to he built up hope that, that could be his dad's house. Not building up to much hope, he was just trying to find a map or a gas station where he could get directions, but never found one.

A couple of hours later he looked up and noticed that he was in a hospital.

Neck broken.
Legs broken.
Arms torn right off.

He went straight through the windshield of his car right into a tree when he took his eyes off the rode for a second to long and hit a man in his late 40's just trying to walk his dog.

As the nurse asked him what his name was he said Jake Watson, and she gave him a look of shock.

He wasn't sure what the look was for, and didn't even need to ask. She piped up and said, "what are the name of your parents, and where do you live?"

He said that his mom's name was Beth Watson, maiden name, he couldn't remember. He has asked a couple times before, but it was so insane he could never remember. His dad's name was, was, crap what was his name!

As he sat there and thought about it for a while he remembered it was a very unique name. It was, oh yeah, it was Gino, Gino Watson. The nurse gave him a look like he was crazy. She actually had to ask him if he was telling the truth.

"Is your dad seriously Gino Watson?"

"Yes, why?"

"You just hit your dad when you ran into that tree, he's in the room next door. He only broke his left arm, it's no big deal minor injuries, a concussion, nothing to severe. Would you like to talk to him?"

"...no."

"Why not? Don't you want him to know what happened to you."

He told her his story about why he "ran" away from home, and the boxes in his room, and why he was coming to find his dad. But, when he got to the part of actually meeting him...his wasn't so sure.

"I don't want to talk to him, he left me when I was three, never called, never did anything for me...just left. My mom told me he was dead, and I believed it. But, after this happened to our world. I wanted to know if he was actually still alive. Now that I know he is, no I don't want to meet him. I just want to go home, back to my life, without him in it. He obviously didn't want me anyway, so why should I want to talk to him." Jake said as he drifted back to sleep.

Melinda's Mom

Mom -- what does that word mean to you? To most daughters, and even some sons, it would be someone they tell everything to, someone they can trust, and someone who is their 'best friend'. To me, and Melinda the main character in Speak, it is just a person living in our house with us who may or may not say anything to us, but it's like we know they love us but just can't show it. Melinda's mom is a lot like any other kids parents, whether it is their mom or their dad. I think the author made this character to try and connect better with their audience. 

Melinda's mom always feels like Melinda is 'trying to pull something.' Well, let's be honest here -- how many kids have ever tried to pull something over on there parents, or hide something from them? I know for a fact we have all done it whether your the 'perfect' kid, or not. I know when I try and pull stuff it usually turns into a whole big argument about why I don't want to tell my mom things. Which to me seems like what Melinda is going through too. But, her mom doesn't only do that, she argues with her husband a lot which I never really understood, but to me it looks like family problems, just in not a really big way. 

Her mom also seems like she is trying to force happiness, all of the time. Like during Halloween, when she opened the door to hand out candy you could tell that she wasn't thrilled about what was going on. She also smokes, which so do both of my parents, and I feel like that is something people do when they are upset or stressed. Which to me is kind of like unhappy. I feel like Melinda's mom, may get some if not most of her stress from either Melinda, or her job. I feel like these are the reasons, because she is constantly thinking about work, and she had to go into work on Thanksgiving, which is what really sucks about working retail, even for your family. My dad used to work in retail, and he would have to work every holiday which really sucked because we had to enjoy it without him. I also feel like Melinda could be part of her stress, because she is trying so hard to connect with her, but it just isn't working and it is making her frustrated, which must be how most parents feel when they are trying to get through to their kids and it just isn't working. 

Most kids have at least one parent like this, if not both parents, and if you don't have a parent like this your lucky. My parents aren't always like this, but they both have their moments. But, you also have to take the ups with the downs, and if you expect your life to be perfect, you better keep dreaming. 

Butterfly

Author's Note: I usually don't write author's notes because I believe that what I write should be able to tell you it's story on it's own, and not need support from an author's note. But, this one needed a little bit of explaining. In Language Arts class, we went down to the library and looked at all of the art projects. Mrs. Reagles told us to find a piece that spoke to us. Surprisingly I found my best friends art piece the one that spoke to me the most. It was a butterfly in a hand, and it was just so simple that it got me thinking about how simply things can be, if you just let them be and stop worrying. I hope you enjoy this piece!

It's the simpleness of holding a butterfly in your hand that can make you think of so many things.

It makes me think of everything I was in life before now.

Where I used to be, to what I am now; how simple things were.

It's simple, because everything doesn't have to be elaborate.

It's simple, to the point where it tells a story all on its own.

It's simple, to the point where everything about it is simple.

The story is simple.

The piece is simple.

So, why can't everything just be as simple. 

Analysis on Speak Movie to Book

Throughout both the movie and the book, the author and the director, both did a great job trying to get the point across. But, some of the scenes that were in the book and not in the movie really bothered me. There were some key scenes in the book that helped you better understand the whole message. In the beginning of the movie they added a scene in that wasn't in the book. This really bothered me because I partly understood why they put it in there, but on the other hand I also was very confused at why they would have added that. I think I liked the beginning of the book Speak a lot better than the beginning of the movie. I think this is because the book was just more explanatory than the movie, and even though you got the point in the movie in the book you get it even more. 

Also, I wanted to see Melinda do the mirror thing at the beginning of the book, where she put the mirror in her closet. I feel like this was a very important part of the book that wasn't shown in the movie. But, in the movie she is actually looking herself in the mirror and then her mom comes in the room which is something that I didn't really like. Another thing I really wanted to see too, was that she never did the basketball free throws, I don't know why this bothered me so much but it did. It almost felt to me like something they just didn't think was that important but actually was. These were some things that really bothered me between the movie and the book that was almost aggravating at points, when they didn't show the things I wanted them to. 

How to Save Business Article

Author's Note: In investing we had to learn how to properly write a business article, so this is the one I wrote. Fair warning it's about how to save for your future, and it's kind of boring. 

May 31, 2013

Mr. Heesch

Beauty and Beach Salon

111 Shark Attack Avenue

Doodlebob, KS 13964

Dear Mr. Heesch

In this How to Save article, by Sam Walton is about how saving is not optional, the problems of starting out, starting small, and the bottom line. Saving is not optional, according to Sam Walton, because “no one knows what social security is going to look like in ten years.” But, saving is also many companies will kick in money if you save for retirement. Which, can help you in the long run, because then your retirement plan could end up being almost double what it would have been without them. One of peoples biggest problems with saving though is that they think they don’t have enough money as it is, let alone any left over to save, whether it is for retirement or just because. Plus, sometimes you may not have as much to put away one month as you have before, but that’s okay. As long as you are putting something into your account each month and expecting for the worst that is all that matters. Starting small isn’t a bad thing, in fact it sets up the habit of saving every month. It doesn’t matter how much you put in because, saving is saving. But, the bottom line according to Sam Walton, is that saving for either a retirement plan, or even college, is to just start saving.

The key details the author is telling you about in this story, is that all you have to do is just start saving. You can’t be sure you are going to have a great retirement if you don’t have any money to have a great retirement with. One of the other key details in this article, is that most people feel like they have to start big, like thousands of dollars, but that is totally not true. There is no need to start with thousands of dollars, as long as you save something every month that’s all that matters, it creates the habit of saving. If you don’t save anything at all, you can’t be sure you are going to be able to do what you want to do.

Sam Walton’s purpose for writing this article, was to inform people on how to save, and why saving is a good thing to start doing. His intended audience were people probably in there early to late 20’s or early 30’s. Who have either just started a job that they are going to have for a while, or are being offered some kind of retirement plan that they are not sure about.

Sincerely

Morgan Hanson

CEO of Suits Incorporated 

Fear

Fear. It lives inside us all, whether we want to feel it or not, is up to us.
Sadness. We all feel it deep in our throats as we choke back tears, but never seem to cry.
Uncertainty. It’s all in your brain, there is a chance you will succeed, but your too afraid to try.

Why do we feel these things? We are told everyone feels these things, but I can guarantee you everyone doesn’t. There are people out there in the world with depression, but you would never know it. One of those people is me. I was diagnosed in November, with GAD and depression. But, they caught it in time, and put me on antidepressants and anxiety medication. My parents were, let’s just say, terrified. Not only for me, but with me. The side effects can be very scary. According to Karen Swartz, a psychiatrist and director of Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Center, “[The side effects] vary from grogginess, weight gain and polycystic ovary syndrome, and many more (Lopez).” Which I am sure right now sound like some scary symptoms, but they are quite rare. There are some people who think our parents are over medicating our generation, and people who have had kids dealing with these problems , experience this and know that you pretty much have no choice if you want your kid to go back to being “normal.” I have to say that antidepressants changed my life – for the better.

"We really believe there is a place for medication for teenagers, but not for all teenagers," the founder of Kids & Co. Clinical Psychology says (Mayoh). This is reasonable, people think every parent who runs into one little thing wrong with their kids automatically takes their kid to the doctor, and the doctor gives them drugs. That is so far from the case, it’s almost unbelievable, I had to go through about four or five tests before they diagnosed me. It wasn’t something that they were handing out like candy. They actually sit down and talk to you before they make any rush decisions. That’s all that matters. If it’s helping the person, you should encourage it. Not because you want the behavior to continue, but because you want it to stop. Experts say, “The best medicine for kids is a strong support system of family, teachers and doctors (Lopez).” No one knows how much people with depression appreciate the support, no one understands how many people have told them to “just get over it” and having someone be there, just to be there, is the most amazing feeling ever.

“Young people have known themselves longer on medication than off it,” says Katherine Sharpe. As much as this is a scary thought even in my own mind, I can also understand where she is coming from. Some really, really young children have know themselves longer on medication than not, but for them it won’t last long. This is because every child goes through some stage of depression in their lives between the ages of three and nine. Usually only lasting a few months, or about a year and a half (Mayoh). Most people think teens, like me, have been on antidepressants practically since the day we were born, and as much as that would be bad, it is highly unpractical. Most people’s depression lasts a couple of months to a couple of years. But, nowhere near as long as anti-drug adults think.

 I can understand from both sides, of why to and not to have youth take antidepressants. But, being on the other side of the fence, and actually being someone on them, it makes you think about it a little differently. I know that there are some people on them that shouldn't be, and then there are people like me who if they weren't on them would not be able to get out of bed. But, as long as you show love and support to the kids and adults who are suffering from depression, you can only make their lives better – not worse. But, whatever you do never tell someone with depression to “just get over it” because at this point in their lives that is the last thing they need to hear. Plus, it’s not supportive. You are just making them dig themselves deeper into a hole, where they are going to be stuck on more antidepressants, because just as their confidence is building back up, you keep tearing them back down. The dosage will eventually go down, I promise, and for anyone out there, like me, who is dealing with this, things will get better, whether you believe it or not.

Kent Thune Report

Author's Note: I wrote this in investing following a article we worked on for a couple of months on Mutual Funds. 

Kent Thune’s main ideas in the article of Mutual Funds, where the definition of a mutual fund, baskets of investments, the advantages of mutual funds, and basic types of mutual funds. A mutual fund is and investment security type that enables investors to pool their money together. Baskets of Investments hold dozens or hundreds of stocks and bonds, but the investors do not own the holdings, but part of the mutual fund. The advantages of mutual funds are simple, investors simply do not have the knowledge or time to start making their own portfolio of stocks and bonds; buying a portfolio enables them to have a professionally managed diverse portfolio. Also, it costs as little as $1,000 to own a professionally managed diverse portfolio. There are two basic types of mutual funds, stock funds, and bond funds, plus mutual funds are cheaper and easier to start.

The key details in Kent Thune’s article where the advantages and types of mutual funds. The advantages of mutual funds are simple, diversified, and accessible. They are simple because most people don’t know how to start their own portfolio. All investors have to make sure not to but all their eggs in one basket. Plus, it doesn’t cost a lot to start investing in mutual funds. The basic types of mutual funds are stock funds and bond funds. Although most people like to invest in index funds.

I believe Kent Thune’s intended audience for his article on mutual funds, was for ‘new’ investors. People who have no idea what a mutual fund is, and have no idea how to even start making their own portfolio. His purpose for writing this article was to inform ‘new’ investors about what a mutual fund actually was, and what they advantages of having one were.

Some of the most important things to know about mutual funds for ‘new’ investors can be found in this article. Mutual fund baskets, can holds dozens to hundreds of stock/bond funds. Also, Kent Thune informs you on the advantages of mutual funds -- simplicity, diversity, and accessibility. The most common types of mutual funds are also mentioned in this article – stock funds, bond funds, and index funds seeming to be the mutual funds most gravitate toward.

My clients are my parents who are in there early 50’s and no just about nothing about mutual funds. So, this is what I have to say to inform them about mutual funds. Mutual funds have many advantages, one being how simple they actually are compared to what people think about them. Most who start investing don’t know anything or close to nothing about mutual funds. So, buying a professionally managed mutual fund, will help you in the long run for not knowing next to nothing about investing concepts and strategies. Mutual funds are also very diverse meaning that they are not going to put all your eggs in one basket, and are going to try and make you as much money as possible. They are also very accessible to anyone, because they don’t cost that much to start. Plus, with a little research anyone can get started investing in mutual funds within minutes or just a couple of hours.