Update: Now I’m a videographer new media guy at Etsy!

Update Update: Now I have a business with my friends making machines that make things: MakerBot!

I made a bunch of videos for this blog to keep parents up to date on what I was teaching and I’m proud of them. I’m also really proud of all the students that put time and energy and work into this blog. This is an archive of a lot of the projects that they did in my class during the 2005-2006 schoolyear.

Here are some of my favorite video posts:

In The Future
Too much sugar
Finger Puppets
Room 132 Finishes Things Up
Snow, Rewrites, and the Pixel Project
The Running Man
Animation Flip Books
Blogging for Teachers

If you have any favorite posts that I missed, drop me a note and I’ll add to the list.

Wanted Poster Link

Student Example

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lives in a small apartment with her parents. The little girl’s name was Pauline Chau, and she can never spell her name right. She went to a private kindergarten and was a trouble to everyone. Yet, she had a lot of friends and was famous in her school. Every week, all the students and teachers would go out to the field and bowel to the flag of Taiwan. At that time, students are allowed to tell stories in front of the whole school and she was always the one who came up. Most of the time, she would say the story of Three Little Pigs or the Seven Sheep, but usually with a small twist made by herself. She always has a great time at school, but for some reason, she hated school.

Once at school, like everyday Pauline’s father would drive her to school. He would bring a small towel with him so he can clean her face before she goes to school. She and her father had a great relationship.

This day, when she got to school, she had an arrangement with a teacher, complaining about how bad the teachers are. She wanted to be a teacher so she can show that been a teacher that all kids like was as easy as taking a nap. On that day, she became the teacher and the teacher became a student. Around ten o’clock, she read stories to students and things were fine. Soon, after the stories she let all the kids to go out to the field and to do what ever they want. But as soon as people start playing, she disappeared.

Like I’ve mentioned, she was a trouble to every one, so when the teachers found her and tried to claim her down, she held a fist in her hand and use all her strength to give the teacher a hard pouch. She realized how bad of a job to be a teacher is and felt scared and embarrass. Everyone was surprised and she ran away. Been disrespectful to a teacher was the last thing people would do in Taiwan, hitting a teacher equal prepare to die the next day She realized she had done what was called never to do so she quickly ran away to the unexpected place for anyone. It was under the stairs where some people park their bikes. There was a door behind all the bikes. Good thing she wasn’t too big of a girl, so she could go through all the small spaces between bikes.

To be a trouble, hitting teacher was only the first lagan. Next thing she did wasn’t something amazing, but no one ever have the gust to do in Taiwan. After she can no longer hear the foot steps, she figured it was about nap time. Nap time was the quietest moment of kindergarten. Not only are the kids sleeping, but also the teachers. She sneaked out of the little room and walked step by step outside and stood before the fens. She looked at it and after a long pause, she raised her hands and reached as far as she could on the fens and tied to get her feet in the holes. It was tall fens, and she had trouble climbing over it. It wasn’t easy for her, but she did it. Unfortunately, she wasn’t aware of the cameras, but what she did, was the lagan of this school, of the maddest girl in kindergartens.

Five years after her graduation, she was still a natty girl, yet in a different way. She became natty because of her language for it was funny and inoffensive. She grew taller, smarter with better manners. All the people were surprised. They must had thought that she had not changed, but now everyone were asking who is she. Teachers were using the natty lagan of her. Laughing at her and talk about how she had changed.

It was a great day when she went visit her school. Everyone was there again. Just like the good old days for everything was the same. Except this time, she was showing her good heart.

My alarm went off. It startled me. ‘Where was I?’ I thought to myself. I felt Mookys’ paw. This reassured me that I was in my room. ‘Phew,’ I thought to myself. ‘I wasn’t in that town. I didn’t want to be there. That town brought back memories of devastation and wreckage,’ I reminded myself. I looked around. On the wall were pictures of Mooky, my dog, and Allie, my best friend. My trophies and ribbons were on my bureau. A comforting sight, yes and no.

“Dream or no dream?” I pondered to myself. I got out of bed. The house was silent. It normally was at this hour. I looked at my clock. It was two a.m. I went to my window thinking maybe I’d see that wasteland. No. Mooky lifted his head and thumped his tail. I walked away from my window.

“It’s funny, Mooky, how your mind can play tricks on you.” I muttered as I walked around my room looking for clothes to wear to swim team practice. I grabbed my swimsuit, goggles, swim cap, ear medicine, and towel. I saw some sweats, a green T-shirt, a blue sweatshirt, and some jogging shoes. I put those on. Then, I went over to my closet. I opened the big oak doors. They brought back great memories. I remember making these doors when I was 5 years old with my dad. We had just moved here, Kansas, from New York. It was a hard move for me. I haven’t exactly been happy since we moved in. I snapped out of the memory. I looked at my choices of clothes. I grabbed a pair of jeans that had a hole in the knee and a T-shirt that said something in French. I got that T-shirt in Paris, France. I threw those into my swim bag so I could change into those after swim team. I grabbed my backpack and headed out of my room. Mooky followed me. I walked down the hall on my tiptoes so I would not wake up anybody. I saw some Captain Crunch cereal and my lunch on the kitchen counter. I started to munch on my Captain Crunch cereal and headed outside. It was still dark. I hopped on my bike, whistled for Mooky and off we went to swim practice. ‘Brr,’ I thought to myself.

Mooky is probably my best friend. Allie was my best friend until we moved here to Kansas. We talk as much as possible on AIM. I miss Allie.

“Mooky, I wish that I could go into the future some time. I mean, wouldn’t it be cool. I wonder what the future would be like. Do you think the future would be like what people say? Cars that float in the air, phones that you can just implant into your ear or cloned humans?” I said. Mooky cocked his head up at me. We kept on going down the dirt road to swim practice. I saw the pool in the distance. I looked at my watch. It was four a.m. I was late. I pedaled as fast as I could to the pool. Mooky kept up. I arrived at the pool. I jumped off my bike and hid it in a bush. I pet Mooky on the top of his head and ran in. I saw everybody in the pool already swimming.

” Mimi, you’re late. What happened?” my swim coach asked.

” Sorry, sir. I overslept. It won’t happen again,” I replied.

“Okay, Mimi, go get dressed and start swimming,” said Coach Michael.

In the locker room, I put on my bathing suit. Even though the shower water felt really cold, I stalled as long as I could because I knew I would have to swim extra laps because I was late to practice. The water turned off. That was my cue to go out and start swimming. I walked out. The tiles felt cold on my feet. The pool was full of teens swimming. There was water splashing up everywhere. I walked over to my swim coach.

” What lane should I swim in?” I asked the coach.

” Let’s see,” he thought for a while, ” Lane 6,” Coach Michael replied.

” No way. That lane is really wavey,” I protested. Lane 6 is the worst lane in the world to get stuck in. It is the lane against the wall. That lane gets all the waves that everybody makes from their kicks.

” Well, if you don’t want that lane, go home, ” Coach Michael commanded.

” Fine,” I said. ‘It was not worth the fight,’ I said to myself. I walked over to the lane.

I sat down at the edge of the pool. Then, I slipped my feet into the water. The water was cold. ‘ Man why is the water so cold here?’ I thought to myself.

” Hey, Nick, what are we swimming,” I asked.

” Umm. We’re done with the first set, so just wait for the coach to say what to do,” suggested Nick.

“Thanks,” I answered. I really wish that sometimes I could just have my own lane. I was the best fifteen year old swimmer in the whole U.S.A and that didn’t get me my own lane at swim team practice.

“All right, for one hour, you are going to swim straight. Do you all know what that means. No stopping. If somebody stops, you all swim for fifteen more minutes. Then, the rest of practice you can have practice races. Okay start now,” announced the coach. Sometimes our swim coach could be a big grouch. Anyhow, the swim was easy for me.

We actually swam straight for the rest of practice. I got out of the pool early because I had to get to school early to talk to the principal about a problem I was having. I went straight to the shower. My legs felt like jello. I showered, washed all the chlorine out of my hair, got dressed and ran outside. I didn’t see Mooky.

” Mooky, come on. Let’s go,” I called. Then, Mooky jumped out of the bushes that were along the pools’ wall.

” You silly dog. I have to get to school now,” my dialogue continued.

The ride to school was hard. My legs felt like they were going to explode or just fall off. The dirt rooster tailed behind me. The sun was now rising. The sun was peaking up over the corn fields and wheat fields. The colors in the sky were a luscious mix of orange, pink, blue and purple. There were silhouettes from the clouds and the crescent moon setting in the west. A breeze started to pick up. The golden wheat blew in rhythm with the wind. The sky was on fire.

” Mooky, I wish I could paint what I see right now or take a picture with my camera,” I said. I continued to pedal and Mooky trotted alongside for another hour. I saw the school on the horizon. I started to feel sad. At school, I was being picked on a lot. I really didn’t like school. I was a loner. Nobody liked me because they said I was too good to hang around with them. The kids at school would make fun of me because I was the best fifteen year old swimmer in the U.S, was in AP everything and had a 4.0. School was not a thing I looked forward to.

” Well, Mooky, here I go. It’s just another day. Right?” I asked. Mooky looked at me like he wanted to give me a big slobbering lick, but he sensed I was in a hurry. I rode up to the bike cage. I locked up my bike.

” Okay, Mooky. You stay here. I’ll be back after school. Don’t go anywhere. Okay?” I said.

Mooky just barked a goodbye and headed toward his favorite bush. He dug a nice cool hole under the bush to sleep in it while I was at school. I started walking toward the school. I was shaking. ‘ It’s just school. Why should I be worried?’ I thought to myself. I reached for the door. I opened it. Kids were running up and down the hall. Kids just stared at me and snickered or didn’t even look at me. I walked straight to my locker without anybody running into me or slamming me up against the lockers or making fun of me. What a first! Then, I arrived at my locker. A popular girl walked right towards me. I knew that meant trouble. I kept walking, hoping nothing would happen. The next thing I knew I was laying on the ground. Everything went black for a while. I felt like I was in heaven or something. I woke up. Color started coming back to me. I was dizzy. I reached my hand up to my head. I felt blood dripping down my face. I could tell everybody was staring at me. I felt a hand on my hand.

” Hey, Mimi, are you okay?” I looked up to try and make out whose voice I had heard. Everything went black again. I woke up in the nurses’ office. I felt my head. I didn’t feel blood. I didn’t feel dizzy, and I could see fine now.

” Mimi, are you okay. You took a nasty hit up against the locker,” the nurse said.

“I’m fine. Can I go now?” I asked.

” Are you sure?” the nurse asked.

” Yeah,” I replied.

” Okay you can go, ” the nurse replied.

I walked out of the nurses’ office. Everybody was staring at me. I could hear kids saying ‘ there’s that girl who got slammed up against the locker. Maybe now she’ll learn she is not the best.’ Tears started to swell up in my eyes. I felt dizzy again. I started to walk faster and faster. Then, I started running. I ran outside. I ran to my bike. The cage was locked. I wanted to leave. I didn’t know where, but I just wanted to leave.

” Mooky, come on let’s go,” I pleaded.

Mooky came out from under the bush and followed me. I started to run. I ran, and ran, and ran. I didn’t know where, but I knew it was some place better than at school. I was tired. I felt out of air. I slowed down. I saw a nice tree in the distance. The tree was in the middle of a field. The field was full of long, dry grass. I ran to it. I collapsed. I just laid there. I wasn’t crying. I just laid there. Mooky was next to me. His paw was over my arm, just in case I felt the urge to pet him. Instead, I reached out and buried my face in his fur. I felt safe. ‘Maybe, I was dreaming?’ I thought to myself.

” Oh Mooky, why do kids have to be so mean to me. I wish I could go into the future and never come back. The future would be so much better than now. I would rule the world. Mooky, what do you think?” I asked. I started to think about what the future would really be like. I hoped there would be flying cars, implanted phones, and anything else cool. I kept thinking. Then I heard a bark. That threw off my concentration. I looked up. Mooky was gone.

” Mooky come here, come here Mooky,” I called. Nothing. I called out again. Then, I saw Mookys’ fur bouncing and swaying in the wind. He came at me full force. He grabbed my pant leg.

” Mooky, NO! You’ll rip my jeans,” I said. Mooky didn’t let go. He just kept tugging and pulling me forward. He did this for what felt like forever. He stopped tugging. He started to dig. I bent down to see what he was digging at. A handle appeared. I helped Mooky dig. The rest of a door appeared.

” Mooky, what is it? Where does it lead? Do you want to see?” I asked. I started to grab the door handle. ‘What was behind this door?’ I wondered. I hoped it would go to the future and I could go there and never have to come back.

” You promise to follow me in there, no matter what, old pal,” I said. Mooky started to wag his tail very fast.

” Okay, here I go,” I said. The handle was cold and rusty feeling. I pulled up and nothing happened.

” Weird. Why won’t it open?” I wondered out loud. I looked around. Below the door handle was a keyhole.

” Mooky, do you see a key any where?” I asked. I looked around. Something glimmering caught my eye. I picked it up. It was a key. I walked over to the door. I put the key in the hole. It clicked. I tried to open the door again. It opened. A surge of cold air blew into my face. I was startled and I lost my balance. Mooky grabbed my hand.

” Thanks, old pal! Okay, are you ready to go in?” I asked. I turned and pulled the key out of the door.

” We might need this again, so I’ll put it away safely in my pocket” I said. We walked down some steps. We kept walking. We came to another door. I pushed on the handle. This door opened! I walked in. All of a sudden, Mooky and I were in a dark, smelly room. The smell had an ‘old person’, attic smell to it. You know, like mothballs. The room was cold. Another surge of cold air blew through the room. I pulled my hood over my head. The room was small in area and the ceiling was low. My first guess was that the room was built for people not much taller than myself and its’ capacity was for maybe twenty people max. There were buttons, gadgets and gizmos.

” Wow! Mooky, where are we? Don’t touch any buttons!” I warned. I looked around. Mooky jumped up on his hind legs. He leaned up against the panel with buttons. I turned around.

” Mooky! No! Get down from there! What did I tell you about the buttons?” I asked. Then, everything went black. I grabbed onto Mooky. The room started to shake and spin. Then it stopped.

” Mooky, what just happened? I’m going to try and see where we are. Come on let’s go,” I said.

I walked over to the door that we entered. I opened it. I looked out. My jaw dropped. ‘Was I dreaming again?’ I thought to myself. I had that weird feeling again. Now, I saw a place that was burned and a heap of rocks. The place was as desolate as Mars. It reminded me of pictures I’ve seen of Hiroshima in World War Two. I also saw kids. Every building around was either burnt down or seemed to be knocked down. It looked like a war took place here and everything was destroyed. All you could see was smoke or rocks. The air was choking. Dirty snow covered the ground. A sense of bleakness and doom prevailed. It was frigid. I wished I had a fur coat. The place reminded me of a scene from the Lord of the Rings.

” Mooky, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore,” I said. Mooky and I proceeded to advance. Kids were dressed in fur coats and tattered clothing and were marching to I don’t know where. I looked at myself. I was in the same clothes. Mooky was no longer next to me. A boy was. A handsome boy!

” What’s your name? Have you seen my dog?” I asked panicking.

” No. Mimi, you haven’t lost your dog because I am your dog,” said the transformed Mooky.

” Mooky, stay close,” I whispered. ‘Was I dreaming?’ I thought. ‘Did I just see a handsome boy?’ I wondered. We just looked at each other.

” You two! Get in line!” commanded a burly man dressed in furs. In fact, everyone looked just like him! All filthy and clad with furs. We marched in silence. We marched over mounds of rocks that seemed to be like mountains. We marched up. Not down. The snow thickened. It got colder and colder. We arrived at a camp. Everybody went to different tents. Mooky and I entered a tent. In the tent, was a young woman sitting on a bed. She seemed like she was the only clean one. Her hair was long and brown. Her face was pale with freckles. For some odd reason, she reminded me of Allie, which I knew couldn’t be.

” May I help you?” she asked. Her voice was sweet. It surprised me. She really sounded like Allie.

” Yes, you can. Can you tell me the year?” I queried.

” You are in the year 7006,” the sweet voice replied.

Mooky and I looked at each other.

“No way,” I said.

“Yes way. Why? Is that a problem?” the young woman asked.

” Well, if I tell you this, you won’t believe me, but I am from the year 2006. My dog and I must have traveled through time,” I stated.

” You have traveled through time? That’s so cool, ” she replied.

” Why does everybody look so skinny and dirty. It makes me feel sick. What happened to the world? I was in beautiful Kansas and then I went through this door and I came here, ” I said.

“Well, an evil dictator took over the world. In just the year 2012, there was an explosion. Everybody remained the age they were when the explosion occurred for the rest of their lives. Food was scarce. This was all because of a girl named Mimi. She is the evil dictator. She took over the world with her dog, Mooky. Don’t run into them,” she warned me.

My heart pained. I would become an evil dictator. And the world would become a wasteland. ‘Why? Why me?’ I asked myself.

” Why does Mimi become an evil dictator. Did something happen. Did you know her?” I asked. ‘Was I that mean?’ I thought to myself.

” Well, I guess she became an evil dictator because some kids at her high school kept bothering her and then, at a swim meet she placed last and she was no longer number one! Also, her parents divorced and one of her parents remarried. Then, her older brother was in a car crash and died. She became really mad and ran away with her dog and became an evil scientist, then, an evil dictator. She snapped. Who knows? And she was my best friend. She was so nice. I don’t understand. By the way, you look just like her,” she commented.

” Okay, I know this sounds crazy, but I am Mimi. I am Mimi when she was fifteen.” I said. I was wondering to myself if I should have said this.

” You do look like her. I knew it. She was a sweet girl, and she did look like you. Oh my gosh Mimi! It is you! I’m Allie! Your best friend!” exclaimed Allie.

” Allie! Oh my gosh! No way! It is you!” I yelled and ran over and hugged her. I didn’t want to let go. I missed her so much.

” What happened to me?” I asked crying.

” I have no idea. I know this though. You didn’t want Mooky to die, so that’s why you did all that,” Allie replied. We heard shouts coming from outside.

” Allie, what’s that?” I asked. Allie went over to the tent and peeked outside. She ran back in.

” Mimi, we have to hide. The army is coming this way. Follow me,” said Allie. She walked over to the cot.

” We’ll hide under the bed so we don’t get caught. Something bad is going to happen. I think they’re coming for me,” said Allie.

” Why? Allie. What did you do?” I asked.

” I stole some bread. I was really hungry. We are only allowed one piece a day. I took another piece, ” Allie confided. I gave her a hug.

” Don’t worry .I won’t let those people take you away,” I commanded.

” Okay, you promise? They will lock me up if they catch me,” Allie replied.

” I promise, ” I said.

We hid under the bed. We laid there in silence. My heart was beating as fast as a cheetah runs. I was really nervous. My hands were clammy. I heard footsteps. The man entered the tent and found Allie.

” Number 175804. Come this way. The general wants to see you,” he said.

I couldn’t let them take Allie away and lock her up. I had to act fast. There was a rock near my hand. Actually there was a pile of them. I pointed to them and looked at Mooky. I knew he understood because his tail thumped. I held up my fingers 1…..2….3…. We jumped out and threw the rocks at the soldiers. They fell over and let go of Allie. I grabbed two moon guns. One for me and one for Mooky. Moon guns cover you in gooey stuff and paralyze you for three hours.

” Come with me,” Allie said, grabbing one of the moon guns and running out of the tent. Whistles blew.

” We need to get out of here! Now! Just follow me. Don’t fall behind, ” Allie pleaded.

” Okay,” I said, trying not to sound too scared.

We ran and ran. We came to an alley. We turned down it. A guard appeared. I loaded my moon gun and fired. It hit him. We kept running. The alley had a really creepy feeling. The alley was dark and smelt horrid. It smelt like mold. Things were hanging down from the walls. I could not tell what they were.

” Where did you and Mooky start from?” Allie asked me.

” We came out near a building that looked like a school, but was burnt down, ” I answered.

” Man…. Okay. Listen to me. You see that pile of rocks over there. We have to get there, but that means crossing the open field. On the count of three we run. 1…2…3… RUNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” yelled Allie.

We ran across the barren field. We were safe.

” Weird. Where are all the guards? Do you have the key to the door?” Allie asked.

” Yeah. I do. Let me get it, ” I answered. I reached into my pocket. I felt the key. Then I heard a gun shot. Allie and I screamed. Mooky looked nervous. Loud noises freaked Mooky. I looked over to see Allie on the ground. Allie had been shot in the right arm. She was covered in that gooey stuff. The gooey stuff looked like green snot.

” Allie, no no no no. Please don’t die. Talk to me. Please talk to me,” I cried. More gunshots went off. I just sat there. I didn’t want to leave Allie laying there. Mooky was pacing.

” Go Mimi, go,” Allie ordered. The only way you can change the future is to change it yourself. Nobody else can do it but you. And don’t let anybody at school bother you. You are human and can be as good as you want. Stand up to the bullies and hold your head high. Thank them when they name call. Be smart. You have to go now. When I say now, put the key in the door. The door only opens on command, so get ready… NOOOOWWWW,” said Allie as she faded away. Allie disappeared.

I put the key in the door. The door opened. Mooky and I entered and pushed the button 2006 Kansas. The machine started to shake, and spin. Then it stopped. I mustered up the courage to open the door. A bright light blinded me. I stepped out. There was Mooky sitting and waiting for me. His tail wagged when he saw me. I was thoroughly puzzled. I had no idea what had just happened. The sun was setting. I proceeded to walk home.

” Mimi, Mimi, it’s time to get up,” said mom. My mom was sitting on my bed. Allie was sitting next to her. I opened my eyes. Mooky was curled up at the bottom of my bed.

” Honey, it’s late. You should have been up a long time ago. Allie is staying with us for awhile. You’ll need to pick up your room and make a space for her,” said mom. I sat up in my bed and boy, did my head ache.

” Allie, it is so good to see you,” I said, giving her a hug.

” You too,” Allie replied.

” Oh man, you have no idea!” I exclaimed.

” Do you believe in science fiction?” I asked Allie. Silence.

” Where did you get this fur coat, Mimi? It is simply gorgeous. I love fur coats! Can I try it on?” asked Allie.

” Sure,” I answered. Just then, I spied green gooey stuff on Allies’ right arm. She put the fur coat on.

” Perfect fit,” Allie winked at me. ” Don’t you agree?” asked Allie.

Mooky barked, ” I agree.”

And I just smiled and added ” YES!!!!!!”

Today we watched this great video! Tomorrow we’ll watch this one!

mp3

http://media.odeo.com//files/6/1/1/351611.mp3

by Margaret

Her mouth dropped open, practically to the ground. Ally couldn’t believe her eyes! Tears streamed down her cheeks. Her parents couldn’t know! They would not at all stand for it. She wouldn’t let them know. She dashed inside her house, and sluggishly climbed up the stairwell, until she reached her final destination, her bedroom. Ally decided to hide her report card. She stuffed it in her laundry hamper. “Knock knock knock”. Somebody was at the door. She peaked out the window to discover that it was only her mother. She let her mom inside and helped her put away the groceries. Later that evening, her mother Lisa was doing laundry when she found Ally’s report card. Furious at her daughters’ grades, and at the fact that she tried to hide them from her, Lisa shouted to her daughter, “Young lady you are NOT, I repeat NOT going to Hawaii with your father and I for spring vacation. I am SO disappointed that you got these terrible grades and that you attempted to keep them secret from me!”

That night seemed like forever for Ally. She sulked alone in her room. She cried for hours. This trip was supposed to be amazing! Sandy beaches, tropical weather, suntans, surfing, hotel rooms, swimming, fruity drinks, the smell of suntan lotion, pools, and the ocean! She couldn’t have asked for a better vacation! But now it was all gone. No beaches, no tan, no surfing, nothing! She was so mad at her parents for not allowing her to come on the family trip.

Hours of loneliness and sadness went by and before she knew it, it was Saturday morning. The young teenager woke up to the great smell of sausage and eggs. She ate breakfast as quick as possible, trying as hard as she could to avoid an annoying conversation with her parents about how they “expect more from her” and that she’s “such a smart girl”.

“We are leaving now for the airport. Well see you in a week”, said her dad. Both her mother and father offered her a parting hug but all she did was shake them off.
Later that day, Ally was walking around her house, she was not really sure of what she should do…just trying to kill some time. Or find something to take her from her extreme boredom.
She wandered right into her parent’s room. While poking around through things, she stumbled across a remote control. At first, she thought it must have been for their TV, but then realized that it only had one button. It didn’t actually look like a normal clicker. The gadget was small and bright blue. Not sure of what it would do, Ally pressed the shiny silver button down. Flashing lights were all around her. The girl couldn’t see anything but different colored lights and weird noises. After a little while, she woke up to find herself in a dark tunnel. It looked as if it could be a sewer. There was shallow water covering the bottom. The smell was not all that pleasant either. This tunnel wasn’t your average ordinary tunnel. It seemed as if it went on forever. Ally saw a bright white light shining from the end of it. But the end was so far away. Slithering like a snake, she made her way to the opening of the tunnel. There was a small cage-like door, but she managed to push the cage open, and crawled out onto solid ground. There were small groups of 5-6 people scattered everywhere.

All around she heard whispers and people were staring at her. “WHAT!?!?!” she shouted. Nobody said a word. “I AM SERIOUS, WHAT ARE YOU WHISPERING ABOUT??” she shouted once again. “Look lady. . . . It’s just that your hair is really weird and so are your clothes, where are you from, Mars???” said a young boy who was about seven or eight years old. “Jeez, sorry, I didn’t know complete strangers felt so strongly about what kind of clothes I wear and my hairstyles!” Ally said in a nasty tone of voice, as she glared at the little boy. “No, don’t be upset with me! Just, everybody in Seattle dresses like you do. We all wear the same clothes and have our hair cut the same way” said the little boy. “Ha-ha that’s funny, I could have sworn you said we were in Seattle” she said. “I did” he replied. “No no little boy, you’re wrong, this is not Seattle. I don’t know where we are or what year we are in” she said in a shaky voice. “Lady, it’s the year 3,000 and we are in Seattle” the child said, but now in a more angry voice. “Oh. I understand. Thank you” she said to him. She looked around there was no trace of any coffee shops, beaches, grocery stores, malls, houses, colorful flags, or restaurants anywhere to be seen. What kind of world was this?

The only thing that she saw was thousands of gray skyscrapers lined up, going on for miles on end. The streets were spotless; women all had the same haircut, clothes, weight, and basically the same features. Men had the same haircut and color, and clothes. So many things rushed through her head at that exact moment. Why is everything so gray and perfect? Why the people are all dressed the same and act the same? What kind of technology do they have? What kind of food do they eat? Are medical treatments better? Who is the president or the leader? Or for that matter, is there any authority at all? Who rules this terrible twisted place? When did things in the world start to go downhill? And what caused it?

Endless thoughts filled her mind. She spotted a young girl that looked like she was about her own age, sixteen. “Hello! Excuse me?” Ally called out to the girl. “Hi, my name is Ally Pangello and I know this may sound odd, but I’m from the past. Year 2006 to be exact” she told the girl. “Oh hey . . . we get “wanderers” like you all the time! My name is Lauren” said the girl. “It’s nice to meet you Lauren. I am not trying to be a bother, or rude, but could you direct me to the time portal so I can go back home?” She said. “Yea sure I can! Just follow me” Lauren told Ally. Lauren ran down the street. Faster then Ally had seen anybody run in her life! Ally turned to Lauren, “wow you’re good at running!” suddenly Ally ran right into a huge street pole and hit her head. She saw tons of colorful flashing lights again and then blacked out.

When she woke up this time, she found herself in her own room in her bed. She wondered . . . was this all just a dream? No. it couldn’t have been a dream because she clearly remembered pressing the remote control button and blacking out. She still had so many questions about the future. She was not sure what happened, and frankly, didn’t give a darn. She was still so very disappointed about her parents being on vacation and her not! For the rest of break, she thought a lot about the future. Break was boring, but she survived. A few weeks went by, and still she couldn’t get the future out of her head! Why was this? She had to go back to her parents’ room and get the remote, if it was even still there. Surprisingly, it was! Again, she pressed the button, and BAM! In a flash, Ally was somewhere unfamiliar. But this time it didn’t look like the future. “WHERE AM I???”

The End

~alex

L.A. Period 2

3/29/06

Jon was suddenly remembered about the earthquake that happened just a week before, changing his life forever. It was on April 5, 2006 when an unexpected earthquake hit all of Seattle. Jon was inside his room lying on the bed, right when everything started to shake, the clatter and destruction of precious pottery, the wooden cracking of shelves of books, and the sound of his house collapsing, when he finally found out it was an earthquake. He ran as fast as he could down the stairs and out the front door, as the ceiling collapsed and as a result, half of his entire house got destroyed. In shock he searched for his family and thought they were dead, as he got closer to the house he saw 2 bodies that were his…

“Ahhhhhhh!” Jon suddenly woke up. He was having the same nightmare he had been having for a week, ever since his house got struck by the earthquake. Anger like a boiling pot of water, swelled inside him as he woke up and saw his room, barely floating on the stairs. (Sigh) He got his soccer uniform on with his precious soccer ball and head down the stairs and ate breakfast. His mother had prepared him some scrambled eggs and bacon, and sullenly ate it. “Oh yea,” he said, remembering that it was time for school; he departed with his ball and for school. School is a giant building 2 blocks wide, since practically everyone in primary school goes there.

His nightmare was clouding him as he was having his 4 main classes of math, science, language arts, and social studies. (In his school he only has to attend 4 classes then it’s the end of the day. It’s optional to attend 6 classes.) All an ordinary day of school is attending 4 boring periods through 4 and a half hours, starting from 9:00 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. Jon practically slept through school, not paying attention to anything in any of his boring classes. It was 1:15, and the day finished quickly, and left for home. As he was going home, all of his anger suddenly exploded, and kicked his soccer ball too far, into the dark trees of the abandoned forest. “!”. Besides from being afraid of earthquakes there was one thing he feared most. It was going into a forest with unknown creatures and miles of uncharted trees, not knowing where they would lead. He was about to leave, but what was more important to him was his precious red soccer ball, so grudgingly he headed off to the uncharted forest.

The forest was a mysterious place; too mysterious in fact that it’s a forest without a name. He sprang off to depths of the forest, and didn’t realize how far he had kicked the ball. Half an hour later, all seemed hopeless as Jon desperately searched for his ball. Panting, he got to a golden shrine, seemed unlikely for it to be there and there was also his soccer ball. In joy he sprang up for the ball but suddenly disappeared.

“Uhhh”. In conscience he got up and saw the impossible. “Huh?” His environment was a city completely made out of glass and metal, with flying cars using tornado fast speed and electricity, people with ring cell phones and virtual T.V. s and robots floating around in all areas, and realized where he was. Jon was in the future, not sure of the year but he knew what it was. (thinking) “ Impossible. There’s no way I got this far in time. Urddd where was I before I got here? Hmmmm,” he thought. He wasn’t able to remember where he was before this incident.

He had no choice but to explore this new world, and look for a way back to his time. Everyone seemed robot like, even the humans as he looked forth for anyone that can tell him a way to get back to his time.

Soon it was dawn, and had no luck of anyone that could help him, until he saw an old man lying down on the side of the road. Jon decided to help him up, and the old man thanked him for his kindness. Jon simply decided to ask this man of any way he could get back to his time. He answered, “ Yes, there is one and only way to go back in time. Do you see there? Well beyond the forest and above the mountains there is a genius scientist that has been working on a time machine. Maybe you can ask him.”

“Thank you”, Jon replied. Wait a second, how in the world was he going to be able to travel that distance? And he was answered,
“Well, I have got some supplies that will help you on your journey.”

“Thanks again”.

They went into the old man’s house and he searched for any supplies that will help him on his journey. The old mans house was a home with high technology, also with a destructive security system and had all the features such as robot servants, automatic clothes and dish washing machines, robot cooks and laptops as small as size of his head. Jon was lead to a room where he could stay, a nice room with a gelatin bed for extreme comfort ness and then they simply started packing items.

Food, unlimited electricity 1000-watt flashlight, able to shine as brightly as the sun, 100 mph running shoes, running as fast as “The Flash”, portable glass shield, that was pure and clear as crystal, (can be used as a shield and umbrella) flying shoes, hover board, microchip tent, with the size of a finger, and watchmap. (Watchmap is a watch but also shows in a 1000-mile radius of where the person is standing, with elevation, weather, and every existing moving being in the 1000-mile radius.

After a night’s logging, Jon was ready to head off to the mountains. He thanked the man good bye and starting riding towards the mountains. He saw that the hover board was very useful, except his was completely solar-powered, so he was only able to use it for an hour for so, but the forest had thousands of miles of trees which shielded all of the light. It seemed forever as he rode the hover board for miles and miles, but it was nothing compared to the wrath of the forest. Eventually he had no choice but to walk. The sun was setting and the world was getting dark. Luckily he still had the flashlight, and walked on even though everything around him was pitch-black. In the end, he ate some food and set up the tent and took a night’s rest.

The next day he approached the mountains, which were towering as if they were taller than Mt. Everest, and realized it’s the time to use the flying shoes. Sure little Jon could fly, but the mountain had thousands of feet, and would take days to even get to the top, but still traveled on. The weather was nice and sunny, with the sun gleaming on his face, but all of a sudden, thick clouds of snow fell on the mountains and started a blizzard. Jon had to stop somewhere, snow was piling on top of him, and seemed all was lost for little Jon. “NO”. Immediately he flew faster and used his glass shield against the force of the snow. The blizzard passed quickly, and he saw what seemed like an abandoned house not so far ahead. “THE SCIENTIST”, he thought. He approached the house and it said, “ I’ve departed to the land past the bottom of the mountains, called Danndyville.” What was Jon to do? Jon was going to eventually die if he didn’t do anything, because his food supply was running low. Was he to explore and look for Danndyville? Or was he to go back to the old man? He was at a desperate point of decision. With the thanks of all the supplies to the old man, he realized that if he finds this professor, then he would never be able to give back the items borrowed from the old man. Thinking like this, he was sad but knew he had to go off and explore beyond the mountains. So he got the 100-m/p/h running shoes and ran across the thick white snow. With this running speed, he got to the bottom of the mountain in just an hour, but with a break or 2 in the middle.

It was nighttime and Jon set up the mini tent again and fell sleep. The morning light was shining and it was time to departure. Jon had run out of food and water at this time, and he was on the brink of death or life, and traveled on as far as he could to the north. “Oh yea.” Jon remembered that he had watchmap and saw that Danndyville was exactly 20.5 miles away from his current position. It would take hours to walk that distance. The 100mph shoes ran out of electricity and so he had to walk. Hours passed by and felt as he was going to choke, but instead made it to the city of Danndyville. There the professor was, in a nice 3 story-house that labeled, “Professor’s House”. Jon barely survived even getting to the door, and an answer came quickly.

“Who are you and how can I help you?”, said a robot-like voice.

“ I’m…. J…O…N…a…n…d…I…n…e…e…d…to…use…your…time… ma…chi…ne…” Jon collapsed. Instantly the robot picked him off and carried him to the time machine, where the professor was.

Jon woke up, and saw that he was in a laboratory and saw the professor smiling at him. “ You’ve done well to get this far”. Without any questions, he set the time machine to year 2006 and without any questions he was back at his destroyed house.

And that was the end of the adventures of little Jon…

*                   *                                   *                
Nine days went fast. Ted was so busy learning about the new technology and matt was so busy studying for school back at 2006.  According to Matt, 3891 was like hell.  According to Ted, 3891 was his new opportunity.  It was his chance to learn new thing. He usually dislike learning something new, however this time was different.  Ted was so interested in new technology that he read instruction many time, and start to learn every technology himself.  Ted knew more stuff about 3891 technology than the next Einstein, Matt. Ted loved the new technology.  These machines include Instant Teleporter, which is a belt which was used to teleport to one place another instantly. How ever you can not teleport to people’s house or other buildings. . You could only teleport to out side.  Another machine he loves more than anything also was instant cook-a-bot, or instant cook powder. They made dinner in less than 2 minute and it tasted like food from 5 star hotel’s food.  The food that was made from it is very healthy and it is very good for your body.  The last thing he loved was his computer imprint which worked as your 3^rd brain.  You had access to much online information this imprint.  It was also able to use as communicator.  It also boosted your physical condition and made you tougher, smarter, and stronger.  He learned more in 3891 in nine days than what he learned in school for 9 years. 
“Oh I almost forgot, I had the meeting with Carl today,” said Matt.
“What for?” asked Ted. He raised his head from his book, 3891 History, Now and Future development of human race that he was reading.  Matt did not answer. “Oh it for our departure of 3891 right?” Matt nodded. Matt stood up to leave the room. “Did you know that there was no floating city until 3675? At then, they said that earth was still divided into many countries.  Then they said that there was big war against countries in earth and another species from another planet.  Then there was so much waste material in the earth and it got polluted so they made floating city where air was cleaner. Then earth became one big country and made New New York and New Washington DC its co-capital.” Said Ted.
“I don’t really care.” Said Matt and got out of the room.  Ted closed his book and went to top of the building where his apartment is.  There he was out side and he was viewing the beautiful city of New Washington DC.  He heard some one walked in from behind him.  Ted turned around.  He saw Ellen walk toward him. She stood next to him.  They stared at city for while. 
“I can’t believe you are leaving 3891 in 5 days.” Said Ellen. “And I just can’t believe that you understood and study our technology and start using it.  I bet you were smart person in 2006.”  Ted opened his mouse but paused for second before speaking.
“Well I guess I learn these technologies because I’m interested.” Ted paused. “But the truth is that in 2006, I was the dumbest person in the class.” Ellen Gasped. “I was always dumb.  I am always dumb.” Said Ted.
“No,” said Ellen. “You are not dumb. All you need to do is trust yourself. You have to trust you’re self that you can do it. There is nothing that is impossible.” Ted turned other way.  Ted felt his face turn red. “I love you Ted. I hope that you could stay in 3891 with me.” Said Ellen.  There were tear in her eyes. She hugged Ted.  Ted turned around to look at her.
“Me too. I love you too.” Ted hugged Ellen back. And whispered something to her. Big smile came to Ellen’s face.  The red sun was going down.  The city was covered in red.
 

*                   *                                   *                
 

Ted and Matt were standing in the train station again.  It was the day when they were going back to 2006.  Ellen came to say good bye to them. Especially to Ted. The minute later, the golden train came in to floating train station. It was sparkling in golden sparkle again. 
“Thank you for visiting 3891.” Said Ellen to both of them.  Ellen walked toward Ted and kissed him.  She told him to come back soon like he promised. Ted said okay. They entered the golden train.  The door shut behind them.  Ellen was waving at them.  They waved back.  All the light turned off again. They felt the same way they felt when they were going to 3891. Except this time, they were not scared.  They felt the train slowing down.  The light turned up. They were in abandoned train station again.  The train door opened.  They got off the train. They start going up the tunnel where they came from.  When they got out of the trap door. Out side it was very bright.  There was no cloud in the sky.  It was about 5:00 PM.  They both went home.
 

*                   *                                   *                
 

Next day, they had the end of the year test. Ted believed in himself and he took the test like Ellen suggested.  And next day he found out that he got A+ on his test.  That test bring Ted’s grade up and Ted did not fail 8^th grade.  That afternoon, Ted and matt meet at the garbage dump.  Matt was already waiting for him. Ted was carrying his backpack filled with his stuff. 
“Are you going to 3891,” asked Matt. Ted Nodded. “I knew you are going back there.  I heard you talking to Ellen.”
“I promised her that I will come back to her.” Ted answered. “I can’t break my promises. And also I like 3891 better than 2006.” Matt nodded.  They walked through the tunnel and came to train station. There, the golden train was still stopped at train station.  Ted walked in.  Matt waved at him. Ted waved back.  The train door close and train started to move.  And train disappeared. The last time traveling golden train was gone. “That will be the last time I will ever see him again.” Matt thought. A tear dropped to the ground. Matt was crying for first time in his life. 
 

“Daddy I want that! I absolutely have to have it! Everybody else has it!” There was the brand new skirt in the window of the trendiest shop in New York City. My dad will do anything for me. All I have to do it tell him that I don’t love him anymore and out come the credit cards.
My name is Crystal. I am 16 years old and probably the most popular person in school. I own about 400 different shoes, 3 houses along the coast of California, 8 walk-in closets (4 were featured in “That Girls Got Style”, my very own hair and make-up stylist, about a million accessories, and any other thing I want. Everyone is so jealous of me.
After school today I went to the glamour shop for my perfect dress.
“Hello my name is Kathy how can I help you?”
“Excuse me but my birthday party is coming up and I need the most perfect dress that will make me look like a princess, not like im not one already but you know something th-“
“Yes here,” said the sales women holding up a plain straight black dress dress with a pink bow on the side.
“Oh my god are you kidding me! That is probably the ugliest dress in the world! You are absolutely the worst fashion worker ever.” That lady was insane. She didn’t expect me to wear that to my birthday party.
“Fine then why don’t you try this one? We just got it in 5 minutes ago.” Kathy said sarcastically. The dress was gold with gold sparkles. The top of the dress was a halter with a built in necklace.
“Okay sure I will try it on. But it better look good or I’m moving to a better store.” I was walking over to my usual dressing room but then I saw the sales lady walk by and put up a sign on the dressing room all the way to the other side saying ‘newly remolded’ then she gave me a little point urging me to go in there. So I did. I had to have the best one.
As soon as I walked in I wanted to jump out. The place was so tacky! There were weird colorful buttons all over the place. There was no way that this was newly remolded. I had to get out. I couldn’t stand the ugliness. I started to turn the doorknob but nothing happened. Then I heard a voice say, “now that you’re in their have…” I think the lady hit the door after that. I don’t really remember. All I do remember was a blast of fast lights pressing against my face. My hair was turning every which way. My hairdresser needed to hear about this. I reached down to find my cell phone. My arm now fully extended franticly looking for my purse. I felt the smooth hardwood ground of Glamour turn rocky and then smooth and cold. I could see my reflection. It was weird because my hair was perfect. It almost looked better than before.
I looked up to see that I was outside. That tramp had led me out the back door. I took a look out to see what store to go to next but…they were gone. I knew I was still in New York but the cars were no longer on the ground. It was just like there was an invisible road above the ground. They where flying around. It was so weird to see my New York without all of the people crowded in the streets. They all must have just been in the sky. I had to figure out what was going on so I decided to ask a man on the street.
“Excuse me but is there some sort of party going on.”
“No” he replied.
“Well then what about a makeover?”
“No”
“TV show”
“No! Hey listen lady, this city has always been like this…ever since I can remember.”
“Okay fine. Can you at least tell me what day it is so I can see if I need to watch fashion 101. It’s new every Wednesday but this morning my hair and my makeup people where fighting about what the day was…it was weird.”
“Sure its Wednesday April 2, 2121” and that’s when it hit me. That ugly thing was not a dressing room. I felt so confused lost and alone. So I do what I do everyday that makes me feel better. Shopping!!!
I walked into my first store, which was the only one I could see on the entire block. Infract it was the only one I saw at all. I walked inside to see that no one was in there. There wasn’t even a sales lady. But the weirdest thing of all was that there weren’t any clothes. There were clothes on the models in the window so I knew that there were clothes somewhere. In the back of the store there was this huge TV that covered the entire wall. I knew that I was missing fashion 101 so I had to go turn it on. I found the switch and turned it on but instead of watching my favorite show, a very cute hat fell down from the ceiling and landed on my head. Then the TV showed the cutest clothes and said, “This is what you want to wear. Do you want to buy it?” It was awesome!!! This hat thing just read my mind. It was nothing like the gold halter dress. Instead it was a hot pink mini dress. This was in need to come back into fashion.
“Yes, Yes I totally want to buy it!” Then this thing popped out with a little sing saying ‘put thumb here’. As soon as I did it, it said,
“Crystal. 17. First time to the future.” Wow that thing was amazing I had to get one. Suddenly I looked down and saw that I was wearing the outfit just like on the screen.
“Hey wait miss, your not supposes to be here right now” a man came running up to me.
“What do you want? I am here shopping for my dress; I do not need any help. This thing here has already found it for me” I started reaching up towards the ticket coming out. This ticket would have been the key to my life. This was the new newest fashion. My friends would be so jealous.
“Well I personally think that that is way to tacky! No one has worn that since the twenty-first century. Ewwwww! If you ask me you need this new shall.”
“Threes no way that I was gona wear that thing. It was hideous it was old. It was purple and had this ugly floral design. “People haven’t worn that since like the nineteenth century!” There was no was that he was going to make me wear that.
“Oh come on! Just try it.” He urged.
“No way!”
“Just do it!”
“Therese no way I’m trying that on!!!”
“OK fine then, you give me no choice.” The man came running up to me holding the shawl wide open. He wrapped it over my head. I felt as if I couldn’t breath but that was probably just the fact that the shawl wasn’t washed with Snugles. After a while I lost my balance and fell into a tiny room still wrapped in the shawl trying to find my way out.
I finally got up to see that I was on wood. It was a hardwood floor with clothes hanging up on the wall. I was just lying there staring at the floor. The shawl was completely off. Thank god!
“You done yet?” Kathy’s snarled her whiney voice at me.
“Just a second.” I guess I had no choice but to take the gold dress. I had no more time to look anymore. I had to plan the party. Right after that I went up to the cash register to pay for my dress. I was digging through my purse but I couldn’t find my credit cards. Then I felt something oddly familiar and pulled it out.
It was an ugly purple floral shawl.

Previously on 25:

“The sintox has been released!” Jack screams on the microphone.
“There might be another way Jack!” Cloey replies, “first run over to the natural gas section of the plant, and then place c-4 on the gas tube with the red arrow.”
“I’m on my way”
Jack runs over the grail over the natural gas. He jumps down a story, and lands with a somersault. He quickly finds a red arrow on one of thousands of gas tubes. He quickly runs over to place the c-4. He connects red wire to blue wire, blue wire to red. He clicks the detonator.
00:30
The red light on the c-4 reads. Jack turns and runs for his life.

“Jack, can you read us?” Cloey inquires.
He ignores the call and runs and jumps over a fence. He takes a look at his detonator.
00:05
“Jack you have to get out of there!”
00:01
An explosion emerges from the gas. One by one the gas tubes start to explode. Jack runs without taking a look. A final explosion takes him off of his feet. He goes flying into a car, and hears cracking of bones. He looks up in pain, he sees Bierko on the ground 100 yards away from him. He ignores the pain in his arm, and sprints towards him. Bierko picks himself up slowly, reaches in his pocket and takes out a gun.

“Jack Baur, have I longed to see you at this moment,” Bierko gives a smirk where you know he has something planed, “You may have foiled my plans now, in 2006…”
“What is your point?” Jack snaps back.
“My point is if you’re in the future, how will you stop the past?”
Jack is puzzled at this remark and charges towards Bierko. Bierko pulls the trigger.

11:59-12:00

The Following takes place between:
8:00-9:00

Jack wakes up to the sun on his face as it warms up the day. He groans, as if he has a hangover. He looks at his arm, no pain in it. He makes a attempt to speak only to groan out “What even happened?” He notices he is in his own house, only it looks slightly different as if remodeled. The walls were perfectly painted. The blotches and scratches were all gone. He likes the new look and decide to leave it at that. He gets up and puts some clothes on; they were freshly cleaned and ironed.
“I wonder if any food was prepared for me too,” he chuckles to himself at the thought. Suddenly a robotic arm comes out of a unnoticeable hole in the wall and holds out a tray. Out of reaction he gives a kung fu chop with his hand. The tray falls and another arm coming from a different hole catches it quickly. It puts the delicious food up to face as if coercing him to smell the aromas of the bacon and eggs. He takes it in confusion and decides he might as well eat it. He runs over to his car and starts it up,
“What is your destination Mr. Baur?” a voice from the dashboard makes. He slams his head on the ceiling in surprise.
“Ow, go to CTU,” he replies in pain. The car slowly levitates off the ground then a flash of colors appear before him as if going in hyperspace. He doesn’t even know how to react to all these new gadgets. He thinks of what life would be like with all these devices.
“It must have been Bierko, he was talking about some nonsense of taking me to the future,” he concludes in his headache. He arrives in CTU after a minute “drive”. The sky was completely grey even though there were no clouds. The building was all chrome with two doors that were light silver. He was even standing on a metal sidewalk. He walks in to be stopped by two robotic arms. A scanned comes and gives him a retina scan.
“Welcome John Baur,” another automated voice comes out.
“John Baur?” he thinks oddly.
He walks in to a tiny room with a elevator, with a couple dozen buttons. The room like almost everything else was chrome except the doors which were light silver.
“This whole place looks the same,” he mutters as he looks on a wall with a list of names. One caught his attention.
“John Baur…” he then presses the button next to his name, and walks in the elevator. Some elevator music was playing but he never even heard this type of music. The elevator doors open to a ring straight into a office with a man almost identical to him sitting in a chair. The room look like a ordinary office, a window with on one wall, and some trophies on another.
“Hello?” he knocks on the wall.
“Um, yes, oh my god,” he gives a look of despair and runs over to Jack.
“What are you doing here, your not suppose to be here,” John says with fear, “Do you know what you could cause?”
“What are you talking about?” Jack replies getting scared himself.
“What year were you made?” John says with inquiry.
“You mean born, 1956, why?”
“Oh jeez how…when…we have to get you out of here,” John pushes Jack in the elevator and presses the away button.
“Ok this is what has happen, the human race was destroyed,” John tells out flatly.
“What?”
“A man whose name shall not be spoken took over this world and made a vaccine to stop aging, his word goes, what he has done is destroyed everyone and made clones of them to make them obey his every word.”
“Then how come you don’t obey him?”
“Because my great,great grandfather named Jack Baur, never was destroyed and had a baby,” Jack thinks back to his daughter kim.
“I am Jack Baur,” he replies to John.
“You are Jack…Baur?”
“No this can’t be unless, this is pefect, we can go back in time because you obviously brought yourself here to stop this apocalypse,” John says with enthusiasm.
“I’m sorry, I was transported against my will, Bierko…”
“Do not say the almighty name! You want us to get killed right here and now?”
The elevator doors open…twenty soldiers wearing all black stood carrying huge guns.
“John Baur, surrender Jack or be forced to,” they spoke in a eerie chorus.
“Oh Daaa…” Jack pushes John out of the way just as all soldiers took fire. Bullets could be heard in the air as they destroyed the elevator. They jump into a man hole.
“We’ll sneak into the car and escape ok?” Jack says as they recuperate from the fall.
“No, they probably already turned to car off.”
“Then I’ll turn it back on, it’s that easy,”
“No you don’t understand, he controls everything, I can’t even explain it now.”
They heard splashing in the distance.
“C’mon, we need to get out of here.” A shot rings through the air. John falls in the water. Jack quickly crouches down besides him and checks his pulse. He feels nothing.

8:59-9:00

The Following takes place between:
9:00-10:00

Jack is paralyzed by fear of losing his one escape point from the future. The splashing gets louder and he realizes he has to run or die. He reaches into John’s jacket and pulls out his gun. Then he takes of in a full out sprint. He can hear the splashing getting softer but he can’t keep this sprint up long. He sees two grails on each of his sides. Quickly, he takes off his jacket and sets it on a hook in one of the grails. Then he hides in the other grail. He can hear the splashing again, then silence. Quiet footsteps close in on the grail. The robots shoot; Jack pulls out of the other grail and takes out the three. The robots disappeared in the water. He took his jacket, now fully covered in bullet holes and took off. A light could be seen in the distance and he runs towards it. He got out of the sewers and got fresh air in his nostrils. But he saw the same chrome building with two silver doors, chrome sidewalk. Then he sees his car and seventeen soldiers standing around it. Then he hears a voice,
“Ah, is it Jack Baur” Bierko walks around to Jack’s front.
“Now I have the opportunity to put a end to this time chase,” he replies with a smile on his face.
“Good bye Jack,” and Bierko pulled out the same gun he shot Jack with to put him in the future. Jack pulls out his gun and shoots Bierko in the head. Suddenly all the robots fell to the ground. The sky turned red with anger. Jack picks up Bierko’s gun and sets it to the past. He then points, and shoots himself.
9:59-10:00

Language Arts

Period 2

April 1, 2006

I See Baseball in the Future

Hey my name’s Mitch, Mitch Hipp. My real name’s Mitch but my friends call me “short stuff”. I’m not that tall, I’m around five one or five two. I am fourteen years old and love baseball. Baseball is not only one of my favorite things, it is my life. I am on a type of select baseball team where we play for ten straight months and then we take two months off to rest. My family is also very into baseball. My dad is one of our assistant coaches and my mom cheers me on. My mom isn’t at every game like my dad, because my sister Lilly is into ice skating. She is also on a select team but for ice skating not baseball. Lilly is a very girly girl when it comes to certain things.

A bunch of my friends are on my baseball team. Josh “speedy” Smith is my good friend and neighbor. Josh is our lead off hitter on the Rough Riders baseball team. Joseph “Calculator” Thompson is also my good friend who lives just down the street. Joseph doesn’t play much but doesn’t really mind. He likes to take the stats for the team we consider him a team player. Joseph usually gets to play when we need a runner on base. Joseph will step into the batters box and lean over the plate with his eyes closed and get nailed by the pitch. Joseph has gotten used to taking one for the team, meaning getting drilled by a pitch. Drake “big boy” Nielson is our fourth spot man on the Rough Riders. Drake is also in the neighborhood just a few blocks a way near Joseph’s house. Drake is a power hitter and a real good one too. Drake isn’t a very fast runner like Josh but it doesn’t matter for him since he can hit it so far. Although Drake is big, he’s kind of a baby sometimes. For instance if Drake were to have to intentionally be hit by the ball then he would probably cry. There are many other kids on the team, but none that live that close to me.
We had a big game tonight against the Hoosiers. This game decides who’s in first place and who gets the bye in the playoffs. The Hoosiers are our rivals every year. Our team and theirs are the only good teams in our district 8 bracket. Every year it’s always both of our teams in the district championship. Out of the six years that I have been on the Rough Riders we have won four out of those six championships, all against the Hoosiers. Our game tonight will be the biggest and best game of the season against the Hoosiers.
“Hey is” I said to the batter to try and distract him.
“Shut up,” the batter replied rudely. It was the top of the fourth inning and we were leading the Hoosiers to a score of 3-2. They were in the middle of their batting order. The four, five and six batters were scheduled to be at bat this inning. I was playing catcher calling pitches for Ernie “sharp shot” Peterson on the mound. Ernie looked down from the mound at me and gave me the nod. I wiggled two fingers slapped the inside of my right thigh and signed and upward motion towards my chin. In English all that meant was curve ball outside and high. Ernie has a pretty good slider and a wicked curveball that could drop from above your head and sink to your feet. Ernie went into his wind up, took a quick look over to first. The runner had a good sized lead off so both Ernie and I had our Eye on him. Ernie then looked in at my again, I shook my head and changed the call to a pitch out because I had a feeling the runner was going. Ernie wound up and threw the pitch up high so that I could have a quick release to second to catch the guy on first stealing. The runner went just as I expected. I stood up to catch the ball and at the same instance the batter swung to make it harder for me to throw it. The batter didn’t notice that I stood up right behind him so he swung his hardest. I reached out for the ball and everything went black.
“Are you awake Sir?” said some strange sort of human robot.
“Umm I think so,” I said still feeling light headed. “What was the score to the game?”
“What game do you speak of Sir?” the robot said curiously.
“My baseball game, the one I got hurt at, at least I think that’s how I got hurt?”
“You most indefinitely be delirious Sir, take it easy on yourself,” the robot implied. I fell back to sleep still feeling quite sore and dizzy. I had a pretty deep cut on my eyebrow and forehead.
“Excuse me do you know where the bathroom is?” I asked a woman at the front desk.
“Why yes I do Sir just down the hall,” she replied. I couldn’t understand why everyone was calling me Sir but I didn’t mind that much. I walked into the bathroom and did my business then went down to the cafeteria and got some French fries. French fries were one of my favorite foods in the whole world!
“YUCK!” I said as I spat out what I though was French fries. “What is this crap?”
I threw away the remainder of my “French fries” and wandered back to my room. The robot came in and told me to leave and that I was fine now.
“Where am I? What day is it? Ouch my head hurts! What the…” I yelped as some sort of car flew past me going extremely fast. There were cars everywhere, on the side of buildings and on the ground even some hovering up high. I was so confused because the last thing I remembered was that I was getting ready to gun the runner out on second. Now there are people calling me sir where at home I’m called short stuff and there are cars flying and driving on the side of buildings where last I remember the drove only on the ground. I looked around at my surroundings and noticed that I didn’t recognize anything. Nothing looked the same to me. I franticly looked for a stranger to ask where I was and what time and day it is. I saw a man dressed in all black walking towards me. I looked down at his feet and saw nothing, he had no feet, and he was hovering like those guys from Star Wars. “Excuse me sir, umm what time is it?”
“Why do you ask?” he replied keeping his face turned from me.
“Well see I don’t really know where I am, last thing I remember is the runner stealing second. I just would like to know what time and day it is.”
“It is twenty three hundred hours and its Jebuarch twenty third two thousand sixty eight,” he said.
“What did you say?”
“You heard what I said boy now scram,” he implied. I was completely confused, nothing made sense to me. I kept on walking around when I heard the ping of a baseball bat making perfect contact with the ball. I walked towards the sound, as I got closer I heard kids cheering and chanting things at each others just like the Rough Riders do. I walked over to the fence and saw a pitching machine and a kid batting. Ping, Ping, the sound of baseball made me feel more comfortable.
“Hey can I play?” I asked the kid who was batting. “My names Mitch, I play for the Rough Riders.” The boy ignored me. I kept on trying to get his attention. He finally gave me a look and told me I could shag balls in the outfield. I got in the outfield and waited for him to hit one for me. Hi popped one up into center field. It was hard so see the ball with the lights being so bright. I shielded the light with my glove and waited for it to come down; I caught it and threw it in, just like at practice. “What team do you play for?” I asked him. He still didn’t answer me. He hit a liner into left field. I jogged over to the ball in left. I bent down to pick it up…
“HEADS UP MITCH!” he shouted. I looked up from picking up the ball to see one of the bright lights in my eyes. I couldn’t see the ball. I franticly tried to shield the light from my eyes and catch the ball but I couldn’t find the ball in the sky. I looked down at the batter who was watching me try to find the ball. I looked back up in the sky to see the ball coming at me as if I were in a movie. The ball came at me in slow motion. I could count the seams on the ball it was going so slow. Everything went black once again.
I shot up out of the bed and felt an arm grab my arm. “Mitch are you ok sweetie?” The sound of my mom’s voice was so comforting.
“Mom is that you?” I asked excitedly.
“Yes its me, how are you feeling?” she asked happy to see that I was awake.
“I’m fine now that I know I’m home and safe,” I said with a smile.
“What do u mean happy to know your home you’ve been home this whole time,” she said.

Just like an ordinary day: I went to the woods, killed some trees, went home, took a shower and went to sleep then I go to work and so on. This seemed to be my life. I would just do what I did everyday and waste my life until I died. That was just the life without my mom. If she was still alive, I would do chores, then go to sleep. Sometimes, I just wish to go out and cry my boredom away. Good thing that the schedule was only use on weekdays.

On weekends, I usually climbed out the window to the roof and lay there all day. Of course I didn’t just lay there and think about nothing, but I thought about everything. I looked at the blue sky that was as clear as if it had been washed by the rain yesterday. I heard the birds sing and I thought about my first chick that died. I would always think about something from the pass, but never the future. I mean why should I thought about the future when I could only be in the present and remember the past? At least that’s what I thought when I was still in 2008.

For six years, I lived alone in the woods with my eighty-nine year old grandmother and the two photos of my dead father and missing mother. My dad got shot at Denny’s restaurant one day for absolutely no reason as far as I know, and my mother was missing from an airplane crash six years ago. Her body was not found. Sometimes, I would look at the news with my grandma to check the news channel and possibly hear that my mother’s body had been found. There was not mush hope, but there was still a chance.

It was on a Saturday night when I was trying to enjoy the beauty of the stars, suddenly a white light flashed into my eyes. I couldn’t see anything for awhile, but I soon found myself grabbing the frame of the window. I closed the window, but when I lay back down again, the window opened magically. My heart beat fast, and my stomach hurt like the time I swallowed a live cockroach. I didn’t know what to react. I slowly walked closer to the window to see if it was an alien outside but there was nothing but the stars and the moon. I put my head outside the window and I couldn’t see anything. Wind blew into my face so hard that I couldn’t open I eyes. When I stepped back, the wind was gone and I could only see the beautiful view that I saw everyday. I scratched my head and felt confused. I put my head half way through the window and I barely saw things flying right above my head, I thought I saw some sort of transportation flying at the speed of sound and people disappear in a flash. I couldn’t believe my eyes and slapped myself. It hurt and I didn’t know what to do. Suddenly, I felt a push from a huge hand as big as the ape from the zoo, when I realized what happened, I was already falling from an invisible window on the air from ten stories high.

White was the only thing I could see after I fell. When I seat up and looked around, I was in a white space that was as white as the snowy day one the mountain except without the trees and anything with color. I couldn’t see the end of it so I looked for the end. I walked around, jumped three times as if I was some crazy person from a prison, but nothing happened. “Hello? Is anybody there?” I called. I heard my voice echoing around in the place. I figured that the endless white was just my imagination.

I walked in one direction and I touched an invisible wall. I knocked on the wall like main character in the action movies did when he or she tries was trying to find the hidden space where an important clue or item was hidden. I couldn’t find anything but at least I found the wall. The room temperature was dropping and all I had was my pajamas. I stepped a bit forward to avoid the coldness of the wall, looking up at nothing thinking about the amazing things that happened to me. I thought about that woman I saw and the flying transports in the air. ‘Is it possible that I’m really in the future? Was I wrong the whole time about not being able to go through in time?’ I asked to myself all the questions. After awhile, I didn’t remember what happened, perhaps it was the low temperature, but I fell asleep.

“There’s no chip injected in his brain?” I heard a stranger A said.

“Indeed, perhaps, his family is just too poor to afford one, you saw that super old fashion clothes from 3000 years ago.” The other stranger B said.

“Hey, maybe he’s like one of those refuges from the unknown world!” stranger A said.

“Umm…But that still haven’t explain why he’s here from a unknown space on the main street.” Stranger B said.

“True, but I think we should think about what we should do with him first.” Stranger A said.

As my brain started to work, I thought about the words the strangers were saying, however, I noticed that I’m not really of this world. Suddenly, beeps of noise coming from my right which draws attention to the strangers. ”He’s awake!!” exclaimed one of the stranger.

I opened my eyes and I looked up at the strangers, I figured that they are no humans. I put them away and stick my back against the closest wall behind me. My legs are shaking and heart was popping out of my chaste. I felt the wall had some sort of changing, like the solid rock turning into liquid and I was pulled into some kind of portal.

Unlike the previous place full of white, the portal had brought me to a place of darkness and a smelly room. Shuck, I heard, the light was on. I realized I was in a lab, but for what purpose am I here for? I heard some foot steps and a woman walked out. I felt a sudden pain on my back and the next thing I know, I was in a middle of a test. I tried to lift my head, but there were always people pushing my head back down. All can really felt right now was anger, confusion and the end of my patient. I pretended I was sleeping and trying to figure out what was going on.

“You can stop pretending right now, the Tests are done Leo.” A very familiar voice said.

I opened my eyes and I looked at the owner of that voice. It was mother! I couldn’t stop my tears dropping but hugging her as hard as I could. “I’m not your mother, Leo,” said the woman as she softly pushed my arms away. I looked closer and I noticed that she look a lot younger than my really mother. “Who are you?” I asked. “Why am I here? Please tell me what’s going on! Please.” I cried. She bent her knees and said,”I would love to tell you the truth, but it’s a long story and we don’t have much time. This is the year of five thousand and all you can do right now is try not to look at anything, touch anything or listen to anything.” She said seriously. I try not to look at her angry face but she seemed to read my mine. “I’m not mad at you, Leo. It’s just that this is a very complex situation I’ll explain things to you when we have time before you have to go back.”

Boom! The door was knock down and the white aliens that I met came in. “Give Leo back!!” said the little white alien. I felt so confused, for the first time, someone think I’m important and fight over me. Thought that feeling was good, but looking at the situation, it was better run than stay here been caught. Before I even made the move, that woman grabbed my arm and ran away to the darker area. Her strength was like an elephant, it almost felt like she might break my arm, but now I should only think about where to run. We climbed on the stairs and came to the surface of the city. She quickly threw me across the road and turned on a device which transported us to a different place. Boom! The door was knocked down again, but this time it was not the aliens, it was my mom. “Give Leo back!!” she shouted.

“Um… I see you come from a long way sister.” The lady said.

“Sister? I never know my mom has a sister!?” I said.

“I never have one either, but this is the first clone of mine.” Mom said.

“If she’s your clone, then shouldn’t she listen to you?” I questioned.

“She did, a thousand years ago, but–” the clone interrupted, “We don’t have time for the crap!! And you’ll never get Leo back, ha-ha!” then she grabbed my arm and jumped into the transportor.

“Let go of my arms you ugly stranger!” I struggled.

“If you think you can hurt anyone from the future without a weapon, then you’re wrong.” She laughed. She twisted my elbow and almost broke my bone”Ah!!” I screamed, but she didn’t seem to care about me. I thought the best way to get back to mom try to figure out what was going first so I stopped struggling. “So you gave up escaping, Leo?” She laughed.

“Not yet, but I know there’s no point of struggling,” I told her. Suddenly, in a flash of light, a portal was opened in front of me. Before I even realize what was going on, I was grabbed by a hand and went into the portal.

This place which we were transported in was also a lab. It was more modern look of lab. “This is the first time machine that was made,” said mom as she pointed to the black hole. “Each time travel needs 50 years to fully turn on, and now we are giving you a second chance to go back to your time.”

I looked at the time machine, saw through it and I could see the memory of the day I came. “Is this really the end of us? Will we ever see each other again? What about your clone? What should I–” She pushed me and I fell into the past. When I fell down I thought I hit something but there was nothing there. I ignored the fact that I hit something but continued what I did in the ordinary day, but this time, I thought about the future.

Aerosol Cloud

In the moonlight the aerosol vapors rose up through the air, to seemingly be ghosts of the spray can. Abstract silver clouds floated around the great cement wall as if they were meant to be there and they were. The sound of the jet stream of paint onto surface, created a natural drum pattern, true music of the slums. Through all the fumes, you could barely make out the series of shadowy figures at work, but out of all, one still stood out, Tag. His rather small demeanor was the most noticeable factor in his appearance. If you looked closer, it also became clear that the can in his hand moved with such grace, he made it seem like he was born with the can attached to his hand, his facial were indistinguishable, because of the respirator strapped across is face and the hood pulled over his head.

You could tell something was wrong merely from the way he was walking, the crowd then stepped away, the air cleared, and a true master piece was revealed. Night after night this would occur around the city, as if deviance was mass producing his greatest pieces unto giant walls and subway cars. Only these were different, these were not oil painting on canvas, blending left and right, this was not just art. This was liberation of the masses. Liberation of those who had been oppressed under a pessimistic, and fascist society. One filled to the brim with crime, racism, sexism, and all types of hate. This was rebellion against those who would rather observe a gray concrete wall, than a true masterpiece, against those who would rather have stockpiles of other people’s taxes go to covering the product of blood, sweat, and tears with lifeless gray paint. Who would prefer to use that money on covering art than improving the cities education, and those people were coming. A thunder of heavy footsteps running down stairs was the only thing hear able. Tag ran to the nearest fence. No time to grab his paint or black book. He hopped the fence with incredible ease, but was it fast enough?
He ran down a dark alley way. Out of the corner of his eye he saw and inside light shining, he dived through the open doorway…No such luck. there they were right on the other side. One put his massive hand over Tag’s entire face, he tried to scream but he realized no one could here him. Besides even if they did, what were they going to do? fight the police? He nearby dumpster made a clanging noise and he hit it, hard. After that they all took turns beating him till he had a broken leg, wrist, and chipped teeth. Not to mention other smaller wounds and bruises covering his entire body. He returned home bruised, and battered. There was that molding brick he called home. He took out his key and walked in. The long walk up the stairs was a brutal one. His Open wounds wee grinding into his sough denim pants. Two sixty seven. Here was his room. Click. The door popped open as he slowly rotated the shiny piece of metal in his hand. Inside there were shelves and shelves stacked with paint. Krylon, Rustoleum, Montana, and every brand you could ever imagine. Walls filled with markers, sketches, paint rollers, all of his utensils put into making his rebellion of art. Scattered torn up papers, dirty clothes, and all sorts of miscellaneous objects were thrown on the bare stone floor. He dropped his bag as he collapsed on to his couch and that was the end of his night.
He woke up to a phone ringing, “Hello?” he answered.
“Bombing, tonight!” the voice on the other end of the phone replied.
“Aight, whenever you want, I’m kinda sore from the beating last night though”
“Haha they finally caught your crazy @$$ huh?”
“Haha, yeah see ya tonight”
“Aight, Peace”
Click, he hung up. Drowsily, he pulled himself out of bed and got some orange juice. Oh $h!t he thought, what was he going to do to pay the rent this month? Oh well any day alive here is a good one.
He spent that whole day sketching, coming up with idea’s for what he might paint that night. The black book in his hands was filled his hundreds of masterpieces, it looked like something that could be in a museum. Cans and cans of paint, were loaded into his backpack, he was gnu need it all. After the paint came the caps to choose. By the time he had everything picked out, it was time to roll.
Tag scrambled down the fire escape, in his black outfit, he resembled a ninja flying the great wall of China. His feet hit the ground, and a small cloud of dust arose from the impact, he snuck around the city till he reached the train, with his crew awaiting his arrival, “You ready?” one asked.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” he replied
That night, they arrived at the train. In their eyes it was one of the most beautiful things they’d ever seen, of course this wasn’t saying much considering they lived in the dying ghetto of Neigh York. They stepped closer, unloaded their wares, and started right away. Just like the night night a few days before, the entire area was filled with the intoxicating smell of aerosol, and the thin wispy ghosts made from the light reflecting off the paint that had bounced off the white surface. Even from afar you could see Tag’s limp as he walked to pick up color paint, or another. The subway shook, A train was coming. As quickly as they could, they dived around the nearest corner, picking up everything they could on the way. Tag’s limp leg brushed against a can, and the ball inside rattled as it fell to the tracks, and he tripped. Just then the train came by. BOOM! it hit the can all the vapors sprayed into his face. Everything went black.
Where was he? he was in a black room in which even the walls were not visible. Suddenly, there was a type of clanky sound, followed by buzzing lights turning on. He was trapped in a room. then the floor fell open. He was falling from hundreds of feet in the air, he air was slamming into his face so hard, he couldn’t close his mouth. His clothes were flapping all over, but he wasn’t wearing the same clothes. What he was now wearing was more of a loose rubber jumpsuit. It made him look like a giant flying squirrel. An outline of a city underneath was now visible, but there were still clouds in between. Smack! He hit a cloud. It was a weird sensation. Slight pain from impact, but comfort in the clouds softness. Then it hit him. He was laying on a cloud. Not only that but even weirder, it started moving towards the city. On his way down he saw a several signs that read “Mile High City.” There were huge walls filled with paint, graffiti seemed to be everywhere. This was the city of his dreams. After literally a mile of traveling down, and seeing his wild dreams with his own two eyes. He hit the ground. Even just from the sight of things, he could already tell that the city worked in classes, and that the higher up you were, the better off you were. At the top,
he had seen flying cars, covered with art, glass building tops, he had even seen a diamond fountain, spraying lave every which way. However, now that he was at the bottom it looked just like his old home, only more graffiti. After a week in the city he quickly discovered that he was in New New York, also know as the mile high city, and that instead of destroying The. old buildings they simply added foundation and built up. So of course the poorest people were left with the lower floors. Another random fact he found was the the Empire State Building was now the smallest building in the city, but even more important, graffiti was now legal. Gigantic white walls had ben placed all over the city just to paint on. Tag loved it. Within a week he had racks of paint, a job painting peoples cars, and was on the way to the top. One day he was just on a usual stroll to the local paint store (The Krylon Paint company had bought out Nike) to get shoes and some paint. He was tugged into an alleyway and shacked violently. All his money was lost and he lay there in the street dying. He saw a burst of light. He was in the emergency room, his whole body aching. Something was different. There were no flying cars, Nothing. What a disappointment, it must have been that exploding can. He was never really in the future it was merely an illusion. Well before he died, he had one last thing to say.

Look up to the future, because there’s always something in store…

Every day I wake up, and put a smile on my face. I sit outside for about 15 minutes and have a couple cigarettes. It doesn’t matter whether or not I’m wearing clothing or makeup yet. This is my time. My time to sit and not think. My past thinks for me. Farther than physical. And farther past what I can remember.
MY life is a trip.  A journey that most are taking subconsciously.  Making subtle twists and turns that decide the future and what is now called the present.  Right now my journey seems a lot like a constant straight highway; very boring and uneventful.
After that I lye around for hours at the bottom of an empty swimming pool. There are all sorts of things like pillows and sarongs and other interesting beautiful things down there. I love the walls being yellow. It feels very sobering down there, unlike it was a couple of years ago.  This house used to be home.  A home away from the madness.  Away from Manhattan and its horrors, and its parties.  I love it here.
Even after that, there’s still more to do. Makeup. Clothing. Hair. I am slow at these chores, like a sloth. It’s an art. And, naturally, art should be slow, and enjoyed.
I dress like I did years ago, just like I did while I was still modeling, with my nice, loose tops wide brimmed straw hats and my saucer-sized sunglasses.  My skin is older now, but it still gleams like snow. I am very partial of my skin, now that people are dying of cancer and such things. 
After I pull on my pumps I take a drive into town in my boat-sized sedan with slate-blue trailer. I don’t enjoy driving it much. The vibrations are bad and make me feel sick to my stomach. I do it anyway. On the way I have to take the travel the long, twisty route. I pass by the ocean and have to be careful not to go too fast or I’ll fly off the cliff.  I also have to be careful not to hit anything.  Driving while wearing what I wear is more of a challenge than you might think.
In town there’s an old, beat-up, 50’s style café. It sits alone on the corner, like it’s time frozen. But that’s what it is, frozen. Everyday I walk in, the bells on the door jingle. The same old Elvis record is playing quietly. It’s a warm, happy, inviting sound. You aint nothing but a hound-dog. The man behind the desk hasn’t aged a day since the first time I walked in there. He always says, “Hello there, ma’am. Can I check your coat?” And I always reply, “Oh, no thank you. It’s rather chilly.”
And I always take the seat closest to the window and sip the twenty-year-old tea that is always the greatest I have ever tasted. Nobody else is ever there, which is a shame because the place is rather charming.
It’s a small building; the walls are a great cream color, with ultra-marine colored molding and a deep, blood red tiled floor. I’m fond of the floor. Whenever I stand up or walk my heels go click click click like a horse.
The dear man behind the desk always cooks my scone the way I like it. He knows just how by now, with raspberry jelly-jam and a little slice of butter all placed just so on the white doily on the fist-sized china tea bicuit plate. It’s perfect every time.
Lovely. Everything is simply, lovely.

Wow. I’ve known her for years but everyday when I pass her and see her in the window I feel less and less connected. I remember the lights, the parties, the men, the women. I remember how cool we all were.  I remember Manhattan. The greatest years of our lives. Everyday we’d wake up past 3 PM, get high, and take pictures. She was beautiful. She was modern.  I sigh.  The good life is nothing to be proud or ashamed of, it lives as a memory, and frankly, it’s the only good memory worth keeping for me.

I stay there until the world turns orange with the light of the sun. Then I go grocery shopping. I see him every day, behind that gas station counter. Today he asked to take my picture. I said yes, just for old time’s sake.  I couldn’t stop staring at him. He still wears wigs.
We went out to the alley way and sat for a while. Chatted about how things were. He has a boyfriend now. I’ll call him Mr. America because I can’t remember his real name, and I probably never will. And says he’s got blue eyes, blonde hair, and a nice body. Sound’s just like the American dream to me.
Voila. A perfect shot. I look a lot different from how I used to. A lot older, and, undoubtedly, tanner.
After about twenty shots he stops and has a cigarette. Andy is like a drug.  Once you have one, you think it’s the greatest thing in the world, until you’re addicted.  But you can never go back to where you were.  He’ll never let you.

I asked her. It wasn’t any sort of promotion or implication. She recognized me and walked towards my counter, just as she does every day. She held in her arms a carton of eggs and a couple of fake, deep-blue daisies with shots of white painting their petals. I rang her up, and she never looked away. I could tell she clearly misses the past.
We didn’t get coffee or anything. We just sat in the alleyway, smoked, took pictures, and talked about quiet things. It was safe. It was fun.
“I see you every day,”
“Yeah,” She says, and continues,
“But today it seems real.”

I can’t control it. This time I take two steps forward and this time I’m in the street, the light slowly wearing off, unlike last time, and that same television that screams, “More! More! More!” echoes down the empty streets with the whistling leaves, this time quieter. It seems just like where I left off, only in a different place, and I don’t feel as afraid. There’s no trees on the street corners, no sales in the windows, and no vendors selling crepes. I feel perplexed by the sudden radical change from dream to future tense.
After some time getting comfortable, I feel like I can lie still in the street forever, twice over. I can stare into the blue sky for as long as I please, not being bothered by any cabs, cars, trucks, or people. Peace at last. This must be what it’s like to be dead. Just here. I suppose the future must be pretty dull.
This feels just like Manhattan, just like heaven.
The haze in my mind lifts. I am enlightened.

I hear a shower going and I walk back to reality. I wake up, and do exactly the same thing I do every day, and not a bad feeling or thought bleeds through to the surface. I am like a doll. I know my time has now come.

Why am I here? Am I stuck in some sort of thought bubble time warp? Everyday I think the same thing, do relatively the same things, wear the same things I’ve worn for years, and make the same decisions.  It’s all because of her.  She keeps me here and holds me under her skinny little finger.  I’m drawn to her, my muse.
Move. Eat. Breathe. Work. Sleep. Every. Single. Day. All because of her, or rather, for her.
IT’s about 3 in the morning.  I work both shifts today.  I sit behind the counter at the silent gas station and the clock ticks and the lights flicker. Déjà vu. My arms squeeze my knees and I look a lot like a little boy who’s got nothing to do but think.
Like a mesenger from the gods, my manager pokes his head through the “employees only” door, the bathroom, like he always does, and says,
“You’re free now, Andy.”
How ironic.

I’m so happy that I will never have to wake up and work another day in my life.
Thank you mother, thank you father, thank you Andy.
You’ve made my life beautiful and now I’m leaving you now, just like a baby bird leaves a nest.
Don’t wait up.  I love you

-Edie

My alarm went off. I jumped. I looked around. ‘Where was I?’ I thought to myself. I felt Mookys’paw. Not that town! I didn’t want to be there. Devastation, debris and wreckage. ‘Phew, there was none of that!’ I thought. I was in my room. On the wall were pictures of Mooky, my dog, and Allie, my best friend. My trophies and ribbons were on my bureau. A comforting sight, yes and no.

“Good, that was just a dream,” I said shaking with chills. I got out of bed. The house was silent. It normally was at this hour. I looked at my clock. It was two a.m. I went to my window thinking maybe I’d see that wasteland. No. Mooky lifted his head and thumped his tail. I walked away from my window.

“It’s funny, Mooky, how dreams can get to you,” I muttered as I walked around my room looking for clothes to wear to swim team practice. I grabbed my swimsuit, goggles, swim cap, ear medicine, and towel. I saw some sweats, a green T-shirt, a blue sweatshirt, and some jogging shoes. I put those on. Then, I went over to my closet. I opened the big oak doors. They brought back great memories. I remember making these doors when I was 5 years old with my dad. We had just moved here, Kansas, from New York. It was a hard move for me. I haven’t exactly been happy since we moved in. I snapped out of the memory. I looked at my choices of clothes. I grabbed a pair of jeans that had a hole in the knee and a T-shirt that said something in French. I got that T-shirt in Paris, France. I threw those into my swim bag so I could change into those after swim team. I grabbed my backpack and headed out of my room. Mooky followed me. I walked down the hall on my tiptoes so I would not wake up anybody. I saw some Captain Crunch cereal and my lunch on the kitchen counter. I started to munch on my Captain Crunch cereal and headed outside. It was still dark. I hopped on my bike and started riding to swim practice. ‘Brr,’ I thought to myself.

Mooky is probably my best friend. Allie was my best friend until we moved here to Kansas. We talk as much as possible on AIM. I miss Allie.

“Mooky, I wish that I could go into the future some time. I mean, wouldn’t it be cool. I wonder what the future would be like. Do you think the future would be like what people say? Cars that float in the air, phones that you can just implant into your ear or cloned humans?” I said. Mooky cocked his head up at me. We kept on going down the dirt road to swim practice. I saw the pool in the distance. I looked at my watch. It was four a.m. I was late. I pedaled as fast as I could to the pool. Mooky kept up. I arrived at the pool. I jumped off my bike and hid it in a bush. I pet Mooky on the top of his head and ran in. I saw everybody in the pool already swimming.

” Mimi, you’re late. What happened?” my swim coach asked.

” Sorry, sir. I overslept. It won’t happen again,” I replied.

“Okay, Mimi, go get dressed and start swimming,” said Coach Michael.

In the locker room, I put on my bathing suit. Even though the shower water felt really cold, I stalled as long as I could because I knew I would have to swim extra laps because I was late to practice. The water turned off. That was my cue to go out and start swimming. I walked out. The tiles felt cold on my feet. The pool was full of teens swimming. There was water splashing up everywhere. I walked over to my swim coach.

” What lane should I swim in?” I asked the coach.

” Let’s see,” he thought for a while, ” Lane 6,” Coach Michael replied.

” No way. That lane is really wavey,” I protested. Lane 6 is the worst lane in the world to get stuck in. It is the lane against the wall. That lane gets all the waves that everybody makes from their kicks.

” Well, if you don’t want that lane, go home, ” Coach Michael commanded.

” Fine,” I said. ‘It was not worth the fight,’ I said to myself. I walked over to the lane.

I sat down at the edge of the pool. Then, I slipped my feet into the water. The water was cold. ‘ Man why is the water so cold here?’ I thought to myself.

” Hey, Nick, what are we swimming,” I asked.

” Umm. We’re done with the first set, so just wait for the coach to say what to do,” suggested Nick.

“Thanks,” I answered. I really wish that sometimes I could just have my own lane. I was the best fifteen year old swimmer in the whole U.S.A and that didn’t get me my own lane at swim team practice.

“All right, for one hour, you are going to swim straight. Do you all know what that means. No stopping. If somebody stops, you all swim for fifteen more minutes. Then, the rest of practice you can have practice races. Okay start now,” announced the coach. Sometimes our swim coach could be a big grouch. Anyhow, the swim was easy for me.

We actually swam straight for the rest of practice. I got out of the pool early because I had to get to school early to talk to the principal about a problem I was having. I went straight to the shower. My legs felt like jello. I showered, washed all the chlorine out of my hair, got dressed and ran outside. I didn’t see Mooky.

” Mooky, come on. Let’s go,” I called. Then, Mooky jumped out of the bushes that were along the pools’ wall.

” You silly dog. I have to get to school now,” my dialogue continued.

The ride to school was hard. My legs felt like they were going to explode or just fall off. The dirt rooster tailed behind me. The sun was now rising. The sun was peaking up over the corn fields and wheat fields. The colors in the sky were a luscious mix of orange, pink, blue and purple. There were silhouettes from the clouds and the crescent moon setting in the west. A breeze started to pick up. The golden wheat blew in rhythm with the wind. The sky was on fire.

” Mooky, I wish I could paint what I see right now or take a picture with my camera,” I said. I continued to pedal and Mooky trotted alongside for another hour. I saw the school on the horizon. I started to feel sad. At school, I was being picked on a lot. I really didn’t like school. I was a loner. Nobody liked me because they said I was too good to hang around with them. The kids at school would make fun of me because I was the best fifteen year old swimmer in the U.S, was in AP everything and had a 4.0. School was not a thing I looked forward to.

” Well, Mooky, here I go. It’s just another day. Right?” I asked. Mooky looked at me like he wanted to give me a big slobbering lick, but he sensed I was in a hurry. I rode up to the bike cage. I locked up my bike.

” Okay, Mooky. You stay here. I’ll be back after school. Don’t go anywhere. Okay?” I said.

Mooky just barked a goodbye and headed toward his favorite bush. He dug a nice cool hole under the bush to sleep in while I was at school. I started walking toward the school. I was shaking. ‘ It’s just school. Why should I be worried?’ I thought to myself. I reached for the door. I opened it. Kids were running up and down the hall. Kids just stared at me and snickered or didn’t even look at me. I walked straight to my locker without anybody running into me or slamming me up against the lockers or making fun of me. What a first! Then, I arrived at my locker. A popular girl walked right towards me. I knew that meant trouble. I kept walking, hoping nothing would happen. The next thing I knew I was laying on the ground. Everything went black for a while. I felt like I was in heaven or something. I woke up. Color started coming back to me. I was dizzy. I reached my hand up to my head. I felt blood dripping down my face. I could tell everybody was staring at me. I felt a hand on my hand.

” Hey, Mimi, are you okay?” I looked up to try and make out whose voice I had heard. Everything went black again. I woke up in the nurses’ office. I felt my head. I didn’t feel blood. I didn’t feel dizzy, and I could see fine now.

” Mimi, are you okay. You took a nasty hit up against the locker,” the nurse said.

“I’m fine. Can I go now?” I asked.

” Are you sure?” the nurse asked.

” Yeah,” I replied.

” Okay you can go, ” the nurse replied.

I walked out of the nurses’ office. Everybody was staring at me. I could hear kids saying ‘ there’s that girl who got slammed up against the locker. Maybe now she’ll learn she is not the best.’ Tears started to swell up in my eyes. I felt dizzy again. I started to walk faster and faster. Then, I started running. I ran outside. I ran to my bike. The cage was locked. I wanted to leave. I didn’t know where, but I just wanted to leave.

” Mooky, come on let’s go,” I pleaded.

Mooky came out from under the bush and followed me. I started to run. I ran, and ran, and ran. I didn’t know where, but I knew it was some place better than at school. I was tired. I felt out of air. I slowed down. I saw a nice tree in the distance. The tree was in the middle of a field. The field was full of long, dry grass. I ran to it. I collapsed. I just laid there. I wasn’t crying. I just laid there. Mooky was next to me. His paw was over my arm, just in case I felt the urge to pet him. Instead, I reached out and buried my face in his fur. I felt safe. ‘Maybe, I was dreaming?’ I thought to myself.

” Oh Mooky, why do kids have to be so mean to me. I wish I could go into the future and never come back. The future would be so much better than now. I would rule the world. Mooky, what do you think?” I asked. I started to think about what the future would really be like. I hoped there would be flying cars, implanted phones, and anything else cool. I kept thinking. Then I heard a bark. That threw off my concentration. I looked up. Mooky was gone.

” Mooky come here, come here Mooky,” I called. Nothing. I called out again. Then, I saw Mookys’ fur bouncing and swaying in the wind. He came at me full force. He grabbed my pant leg.

” Mooky, NO! You’ll rip my jeans,” I said. Mooky didn’t let go. He just kept tugging and pulling me forward. He did this for what felt like forever. He stopped tugging. He started to dig. I bent down to see what he was digging at. A handle appeared. I helped Mooky dig. The rest of a door appeared.

” Mooky, what is it? Where does it lead? Do you want to see?” I asked. I started to grab the door handle. ‘What was behind this door?’ I wondered. I hoped it would go to the future and I could go there and never have to come back.

” You promise to follow me in there, no matter what, old pal,” I said. Mooky started to wag his tail very fast.

” Okay, here I go,” I said. The handle was cold and rusty feeling. I pulled up and nothing happened.

” Weird. Why won’t it open?” I wondered out loud. I looked around. Below the door handle was a keyhole.

” Mooky, do you see a key any where?” I asked. I looked around. Something glimmering caught my eye. I picked it up. It was a key. I walked over to the door. I put the key in the hole. It clicked. I tried to open the door again. It opened. A surge of cold air blew into my face. I was startled and I lost my balance. Mooky grabbed my hand.

” Thanks, old pal! Okay, are you ready to go in?” I asked. I turned and pulled the key out of the door.

” We might need this again, so I’ll put it away safely in my pocket” I said. We walked down some steps. We kept walking. We came to another door. I pushed on the handle. This door opened! I walked in. All of a sudden, Mooky and I were in a dark, smelly room. The smell had an ‘old person’, attic smell to it. You know, like mothballs. The room was cold. Another surge of cold air blew through the room. I pulled my hood over my head. The room was small in area and the ceiling was low. My first guess was that the room was built for people not much taller than myself and its’ capacity was for maybe twenty people max. There were buttons, gadgets and gizmos.

” Wow! Mooky, where are we? Don’t touch any buttons!” I warned. I looked around. Mooky jumped up on his hind legs. He leaned up against the panel with buttons. I turned around.

” Mooky! No! Get down from there! What did I tell you about the buttons?” I asked. Then, everything went black. I grabbed onto Mooky. The room started to shake and spin. Then it stopped.

” Mooky, what just happened? I’m going to try and see where we are. Come on let’s go,” I said.

I walked over to the door that we entered. I opened it. I looked out. My jaw dropped. ‘Was I dreaming again?’ I thought to myself. I had that weird feeling again. Now, I saw a place that was burned and a heap of rocks. The place was as desolate as Mars. It reminded me of pictures I’ve seen of Hiroshima in World War Two. I also saw kids. Every building around was either burnt down or seemed to be knocked down. It looked like a war took place here and everything was destroyed. All you could see was smoke or rocks. The air was choking. Dirty snow covered the ground. A sense of bleakness and doom prevailed. It was frigid. I wished I had a fur coat. The place reminded me of a scene from the Lord of the Rings.

” Mooky, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore,” I said. Mooky and I proceeded to advance. Kids were dressed in fur coats and tattered clothing and were marching to I don’t know where. I looked at myself. I was in the same clothes. Mooky was no longer next to me. A boy was. A handsome boy!

” What’s your name? Have you seen my dog?” I asked panicking.

” No. Mimi, you haven’t lost your dog because I am your dog.” Mooky barked.

” Mooky, stay close,” I whispered. ‘Was I dreaming?’ I thought. ‘Did I just see a handsome boy?’ I wondered. We just looked at each other.

” You two! Get in line!” commanded a burly man dressed in furs. In fact, everyone looked just like him! All filthy and clad with furs. We marched in silence. We marched over mounds of rocks that seemed to be like mountains. We marched up. Not down. The snow thickened. It got colder and colder. We arrived at a camp. Everybody went to different tents. Mooky and I entered a tent. In the tent, was a young woman sitting on a bed. She seemed like she was the only clean one. Her hair was long and brown. Her face was pale with freckles. For some odd reason, she reminded me of Allie, which I knew couldn’t be.

” May I help you?” she asked. Her voice was sweet. It surprised me. She really sounded like Allie.

” Yes, you can. Can you tell me the year?” I queried.

” You are in the year 7006,” the sweet voice replied.

Mooky and I looked at each other.

“No way,” I said.

“Yes way. Why? Is that a problem?” the young woman asked.

” Well, if I tell you this, you won’t believe me, but I am from the year 2006. My dog and I must have traveled through time,” I stated.

” You have traveled through time? That’s so cool, ” she replied.

” Why does everybody look so skinny and dirty. It makes me feel sick. What happened to the world? I was in beautiful Kansas and then I went through this door and I came here, ” I said.

“Well, an evil dictator took over the world. In just the year 2012, there will be an explosion. Everybody will remain the age they were when the explosion occurred for the rest of their lives. Food will be scarce. This was all because of a girl named Mimi. She is the evil dictator. She took over the world with her dog, Mooky. Don’t run into them,” she warned me.

My heart pained. I would become an evil dictator. And the world would become a wasteland. ‘Why? Why me?’ I asked myself.

” Why does Mimi become an evil dictator. Did something happen. Did you know her?” I asked. ‘Was I that mean?’ I thought to myself.

” Well, I guess she became an evil dictator because some kids at her high school kept bothering her and then, at a swim meet she placed last and she was no longer number one! Also, her parents divorced and one of her parents remarried. Then, her older brother was in a car crash and died. She became really mad and ran away with her dog and became an evil scientist, then, an evil dictator. She snapped. Who knows? And she was my best friend. She was so nice. I don’t understand. By the way, you look just like her,” she commented.

” Okay, I know this sounds crazy, but I am Mimi. I am Mimi when she was fifteen.” I said. I was wondering to myself if I should have said this.

” You do look like her. I knew it. She was a sweet girl, and she did look like you. Oh my gosh Mimi! It is you! I’m Allie! Your best friend!” exclaimed Allie.

” Allie! Oh my gosh! No way! It is you!” I yelled and ran over and hugged her. I didn’t want to let go. I missed her so much.

” What happened to me?” I asked crying.

” I have no idea. I know this though. You didn’t want Mooky to die, so that’s why you did all that,” Allie replied. We heard shouts coming from outside.

” Allie, what’s that?” I asked. Allie went over to the tent and peeked outside. She ran back in.

” Mimi, we have to hide. The army is coming this way. Follow me,” said Allie. She walked over to the cot.

” We’ll hide under the bed so we don’t get caught. Something bad is going to happen. I think they’re coming for me,” said Allie.

” Why? Allie. What did you do?” I asked.

” I stole some bread. I was really hungry. We are only allowed one piece a day. I took another piece, ” Allie confided. I gave her a hug.

” Don’t worry .I won’t let those people take you away,” I commanded.

” Okay, you promise? They will lock me up if they catch me,” Allie replied.

” I promise, ” I said.

We hid under the bed. We laid there in silence. My heart was beating as fast as a cheetah runs. I was really nervous. My hands were clammy. I heard footsteps. The man entered the tent and found Allie.

” Number 175804. Come this way. The general wants to see you,” he said.

I couldn’t let them take Allie away and lock her up. I had to act fast. There was a rock near my hand. Actually there was a pile of them. I pointed to them and looked at Mooky. I knew he understood because his tail thumped. I held up my fingers 1…..2….3…. We jumped out and threw the rocks at the soldiers. They fell over and let go of Allie. I grabbed two moon guns. One for me and one for Mooky. Moon guns cover you in gooey stuff and paralyze you for three hours.

” Come with me,” Allie said, grabbing one of the moon guns and running out of the tent. Whistles blew.

” We need to get out of here! Now! Just follow me. Don’t fall behind, ” Allie pleaded.

” Okay,” I said, trying not to sound too scared.

We ran and ran. We came to an alley. We turned down it. A guard appeared. I loaded my moon gun and fired. It hit him. We kept running. The alley had a really creepy feeling. The alley was dark and smelt horrid. It smelt like mold. Things were hanging down from the walls. I could not tell what they were.

” Where did you and Mooky start from?” Allie asked me.

” We came out near a building that looked like a school, but was burnt down, ” I answered.

” Man…. Okay. Listen to me. You see that pile of rocks over there. We have to get there, but that means crossing the open field. On the count of three we run. 1…2…3… RUNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” yelled Allie.

We ran across the barren field. We were safe.

” Weird. Where are all the guards? Do you have the key to the door?” Allie asked.

” Yeah. I do. Let me get it, ” I answered. I reached into my pocket. I felt the key. Then I heard a gun shot. Allie and I screamed. Mooky looked nervous. Loud noises freaked Mooky. I looked over to see Allie on the ground. Allie had been shot. She was covered in that gooey stuff. The gooey stuff looked like green snot.

” Allie, no no no no. Please don’t die. Talk to me. Please talk to me,” I cried. More gunshots went off. I just sat there. I didn’t want to leave Allie laying there. Mooky was pacing.

” Go Mimi, go,” Allie ordered. The only way you can change the future is to change it yourself. Nobody else can do it but you. And don’t let anybody at school bother you. You are human and can be as good as you want. Stand up to the bullies and hold your head high. Thank them when they name call. Be smart. You have to go now. When I say now, put the key in the door. The door only opens on command, so get ready… NOOOOWWWW,” said Allie as she faded away. Allie disappeared.

I put the key in the door. The door opened. Mooky and I entered and pushed the button 2006 Kansas. The machine started to shake, and spin. Then it stopped. I mustered up the courage to open the door. A bright light blinded me. I stepped out. There was Mooky sitting and waiting for me. His tail wagged when he saw me. I was thoroughly puzzled. I had no idea what had just happened. The sun was setting. I proceeded to walk home.

” Mimi, Mimi, it’s time to get up,” said mom. My mom was sitting on my bed. Allie was sitting next to her. I opened my eyes. Mooky was curled up at the bottom of my bed.

” Honey, it’s late. You should have been up a long time ago. Allie is staying with us for awhile. You’ll need to pick up your room and make a space for her,” said mom. I sat up in my bed and boy, did my head ache. ” Allie, I just had a dream and you were in it,” I said, giving her a hug.

” I hope it was good,” Allie replied with a wink.

“Oh man, you have no idea!” I exclaimed.

“By the way, do you believe in science fiction?” I asked Allie.

“Where did you get this fur coat, Mimi? It is simply gorgeous. I love fur coats!” said Allie. Mooky barked.

The End

Then he looked at the clock and cried, “Oh no, it’s 10:30, I’m late!” He stormed out the door and into his patrol car and raced to the police station. Skidding down the streets with the his siren on as fast as he could he came to a skidding halt outside the police station. He then got out and ran as fast as he could up the stairs. Suddenly he noticed that the door of the police station was open and bullet holes littered the door.

“The stations under attack!” he whispered. Then a voice called out through the doors.

“Come out little piggy!” the voice yelled. “I have a magic bullet for you!”

“Wait I know you!” yelled Chief Piggum. “Your Homer Simpsons.”

“You found me out Pig but you won’t live to tell anyone.” Homer loaded his gun and shot bullets at the door. Chief Piggum just ducked out of the way of a stray one. He got to his feet and hobbled through the door, gun raised high. Just then Homer leapt up from a desk and tried to shot at Piggum. Homer was an overweight, bald, and extremely rude man with a nak for trouble. Chief Piggum was to fast for him and he grazed him on the arm.

“Owwww!” screamed Homer. Homer roller around to the backside of the desk. “Time to shot the pig with the magic bullet!” he yelled at Chief Piggum. Homer got to his feet and shot Piggum right in the face.

Suddenly everything became still and the police office seemed to be frozen.

Then Chief Piggum heard a hissing sound and the Police office seemed to be going at fast forward. Everything became a blur and then it all stopped almost at once. He was in the police station, but it wasn’t the same. No one was here too. He just stood there dumbstruck.

“I …I …. I was …. shot!” he said, startled. He looked around again. There was a big glowing board, purple guns, a bunch of cubes, and what looked like to be a giant toilet. Chief Piggum ran out to the street. Everything was different. The street lamps were bright red and had an unusual glow to them. The cars were flying and huge skyscrapers as high as clouds. Piggum walked into a shop that said gadgets.

There were millions of gadgets noisily tinkering away. Chief Piggum stopped at one called the plunger in a tube. There was a massive metal tube with a plunger on the other end. “What’s so important about that?” Chief Wiggum thought. “It’s just the same thing with more weight on it. Some of the gadgets were big, small, and just unusual.

There was also an unusually large stadium right next to the police office. Chief Piggum went in the huge stadium as big as a mountain.

There were thousands of people in the crowd and a huge sign that said, “Dog Ball.” In the stadium there was a field below. There were banners with names on them that Chief Wiggum couldn’t understand. “Wow this place is huge!” he yelled. Suddenly the ground started to shake and the crowd gave a huge applause. Chief Piggum looked down and dogs were racing on a giant green field with 2 goals. The dogs were chasing after a ball that seemed to have it’s own mind. “I’m getting out of here.” he said.

Just then a booming voice said, ” oh look at rocky fly with that ball! Here comes Fatty along Rocky’s side. Ah, that’s gotta hurt. By the way, from Rob and Bot corp come Rocket boots. The safest, most efficient way to fly!”

Chief Piggum walked over to the police station and into his office. There were still no police officers in the station. As he opened the door to his office he gasped. It was totally different. There was a big golden plague that said his name, a blue leather armchair, and a fire place that burned brilliant gold fire. The weirdest thing in his old room was a glittering bullet on his desk that was as light as a walnut and looked as if it was letting off a magical glow.

Suddenly Homer Simpson walked in on Piggum. “Hey it’s you!” yelled Chief Piggum. “You shot me!”

“Let’s see, well I shot that guy last week…” He said. “Were you at the Robot shop last Monday?” Just then the bullet on the table gave a sudden pirce of sound that sounded like bomb went off. The room became full of colors swirling in a great tornado around Chief Piggum and Homer. The was a howling pitch and everything became very still. Chief Piggum looked around. The office was back to what it was the day before he was shot.

“Wow I’m back!” he said cheerfully.

“What happened?” asked Homer.

“Well Simpson, were back to the past nothing to do now but sit in my comfy chair.” Chief Piggum looked around the room. There was his plaque of honor, his small fireplace burnt out but layered in bricks. His many files and documents in a steel shelf. Everything was back to normal. He didn’t bother looking at the corner, there was simply nothing there.

“I don’t think your adventures over quite yet.. Piggum!”

Tuesday: Turn in revision with improved setting. Workshop: Artifacts and a commercial from the future.

Wednesday: Turn in revision with reflection in the ending. Workshop: Character development

Thursday: Turn in revision with added character development. Workshop: Details, details, details.

Friday: Turn in Final Draft! Last day of Semester! Last day to turn in work for your quarter grade! Last day before you have 9 days off!

1. Communication: How will the people of the future communicate? Imagine a device or implant that could exist in the future. Write two paragraphs. One to describe the device in detail and a second to explain how it works.

2. Entertainment: How will the people of the future be entertained? Write two paragraphs. One to describe the device, implant, or whatever you can think of that would entertain people in detail and a second paragraph to explain how it works.

3. Transportation: How will the people of the future get around? Write two paragraphs. One to describe the transportation device or vehicle and a second paragraph to describe how it works.

The goal here is to help students brainstorm the future for their future story.

Assignment 1 Homework: Make a list of 10 or more steps to go through to complete a story. Post your list to the blog in the comment section below. Due Thursday, March 23rd.

Assignment 2 Classwork: Write your steps out in your planner to complete your final final draft on Thursday, April 6th.

Workshops: Over the next week, we’ll be doing workshops to write, develop, and improve different components of your story.

Grading: You will be graded on the quality of your story and get participation grades for the workshops.

640×480 version
The title says it all.

640×480 version What does the generation of tomorrow predict the future will be like? Watch this video to find out. I’m really proud of this video and the music and my visionary students! More comments over on Mr. Pettis’ personal blog, I Make Things.

Update: The thing that I didn’t mention in my video is the main goal I have behind teaching students how to make fingerpuppets. The main goal is to show that you can plan something out and then make it. By planning something out, you are teaching yourself how to make something which I think is pretty darn cool.

“Your going to want to die but guess what I’m not going to let you!” said a U.S. troop. They were telling them this because they were about to torture these prisoners to the point where they would be begging to die.

“They are treating us like women: they tell us they want us to suffer like the women do,” said a prisoner of the jail Abu Ghraib. This is just the start if all the awful crimes committed not so long ago by our own U.S. troops. The troops would beat the prisoners to the ground, cover their heads and make the prisoners take all their clothes off. Then the troops took pictures and posted them on the web to humiliate them and publish it to the world.

Everything they did was awful but in a way I can’t blame them. Being in a war has to be the hardest thing ever and having the chance of revenge is all they could crave for what those people had done to our country. The only problem was they were getting revenge on the wrong people. Those people they tortured were not the ones who planed and flew those two planes in to the twin towers; they were in jail for other crimes.

Those people had all the human rights just like anyone else who may have not one thing on there criminal record. The soldiers had no right to commit the crime they did and then publicize it to the world, but it was their choice. What they did put a bad look on the U.S. for a while but people in the world also need to realize that is not haw all Americans are.

Although these crimes of torture were wrong in so many ways, if you were a woman and knew other women were being treated badly, what would you do to the men who were torturing them? There are a lot of sides to this issue and so many things to think about but overall what they did was wrong even with all the other factors.

Individual answers to the question “What is your favorite tv show of all time?”
Dave Chappelle,
OC
South Park
Wild and Out
Don’t watch tv
Simpsons
Family Guy
Don’t have favorite
Swollen TV (internet)
Family Guy
Family Guy
South Park
Don’t have a favorite
Family Guy
Office
Simpsons
Simpsons
Family Guy
The L word
FAmily Guy
South Park
Sponge Bob
CSI
Desperate Housewives
Any Anime
Don’t like watching TV
Smallville
Flava Flav

9/23 students have tvs

8/23 students have rules at home about TV.

Most students agreed that the rating system is just a hassle, not a guide. The exeption was that a student explained that when she baby-sits, she pays attention because little kids can pick up (bad) words easily and she doesn’t want the kids to start saying bad words when the parents get home.

“When does a rating system become censorship?” asked a student.

Parents should be responsible for monitoring the tv habits of children and they should not be allowed to” stay up until 4 AM.” said a student.

“The tv rating system and video game rating system are different. TV ratings go into more depth. So many students can buy mature games and watch adult TV. Why have a rule anyway?”

Homework: Bring in magazines and do the tv advertisement worksheet.

“Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,” said Ben Franklin. You might ask, “What does this have to do with me, let alone teens?” Well just think. Imagine your schedule (that will represent elementary school start times) in which you can sleep in till 8 o’clock in the morning. Now, picture that suddenly changing to waking up at 6 in the morning, then having more work to do. In addition it has been proven than teens chemistry works so that they stay up late then, sleep in. So it’s not just your son or daughter being lazy, but it’s in their blood. Even further, at this particular age schedules are getting more and more rigorous. It’s pretty overt to me that we should change the start times.
“Over time, sleep deprivation leads to serious consequences for academic achievement, social behavior, and the health and safety of our nation’s youth, we must encourage schools to push back their start times to at least 8:30 a.m. — a schedule more in tune with adolescents’ biological sleep and wake patterns and more closely resembling the adult work day.” – Zoe Lofgren
Research in the 1990s found that later sleep and wake patterns among adolescents are biologically determined; the natural tendency for teenagers is to stay up late at night and wake up later in the morning. This research indicates that school bells that ring as early as 7:00 a.m. in many parts of the country stand in stark contrast with adolescents’ sleep patterns and needs. Throughout time it has been found that all people function better with large amounts of sleep. So why, especially at thia critical point in a teens life are we forced to arrise from our slumber so early every morning? Not only does it affect students, but it affects the teachers to have to get up early every morning. So we are not learning as well as we could be, and we are not being taught as well as we could be, Not exactly the best combonation ever.

Kids aren’t being taught as welll as could be, they aren’t learning as well as they could be. Aren’t we supposed to be the future? Well in that case the future could be looking a lot better and this could so easily be fixed by having school boards change the start times, for middle and highschoolers to at least 8:45am.

Bibliography:

http://www.sleepfoundation.org/hottopics/index.php?secid=18&id=206- This is the only webpage i used. It was a very reliable source.

“Stronger Internet security? Why do we need it?” you might ask a question like that.  But think about what could happen to your computer without it.  For instance, you came home from school, you start typing a 20-page essay that is due tomorrow, and you finish 15 pages out of 20 pages.  Then you notice that you have got mail in your in-box.  You don’t know what’s in it so you open the mail.  However it was a virus so your computer crashes and the 15-page essay that you spend 3 hour on is gone.  Then you realize that you don’t have good Internet security and it was you own fault.  This could be pretty bad scenario depending on your situation. 
A computer virus is some kind of program that is programmed to wipe out your computer’s files, folders, programs, and other stuff in your computer. Computer virus will do no good on your computer.  The effect of a computer virus is different for each type of virus. However there is one thing they have in common which is that they are all programmed to destroy your computer or get your personal information. 

              About 60% of the world’s computer virus comes in e-mail.  If you have good virus blocking software, you could block most of the virus e-mails.  However, some gets through.  If you get e-mail from an unknown person you don’t know, trash it immediately.  The virus e-mail will do you no good.  These viruses are easy to get and easy to avoid.  Any one could send you e-mail so don’t trust every e-mail.

              Another 30% of the virus comes from down loading a program from online that has a virus in it.  Any one could post a virus online and make you trust them, so do not download programs online.  Only download from the site that could be really trusted. However online is never safe, so always think twice before doing it.  If you have already started downloading it, it is too late. 
              Finally 10% of the computer virus comes from those annoying, little pop-ups.  Some pop-ups give you virus when you click where they tell you to so do never touch them. Some of the pop up tries to trick you into giving them your personal information.  It doesn’t matter if they say you won 1million dollar. They are lying. Do not give them your name, address, and your telephone number.  What also sucks about the pop-ups is that it wastes so much of your time. 
              Ms. Sandlin, an administrative assistant at Halifax community college in Weldon, NC said, “do not touch blue ’E’, I spent more time clicking pop-ups more than I surfed the web.”  She also said that every one should get Firefox, the Internet browser. It has nice pop up blocker and Virus detection.  She also said that Firefox is faster than the usual Internet explorer. After she changed to Firefox, she also stated that it was much faster than the usual so there was no time for her to go to printer and check the printer connection. 
              If you do not want your computer to get ruined because of computer virus, rush to the nearest computer software store and buy software like Firewall to secure your Internet.  Also make sure to buy a program like virus buster and run it on your computer every week to spot a virus and kill it.  There is always a new virus and the Internet always has them so don’t let them come on to your computer.  Protect your computer. 

What do you get when you have two temporarily hyperactive eighth grade girls who are over at one girl�s house, with the addition of two cats? Utter DOOM! No, not really, but it does make a really big mess. Okay, here we are in a mostly pre-World War I house. The carpets are so old that they are down to bare stubble with cat hair all over and embedded in them. The tan walls that surround the carpets need to be cleaned. (They have since been cleaned, and we are getting rid of the carpet) Also, My Chemical Romance is blasting from the stereo. There are four living creatures in this house excluding the bacteria that we all have. There are two cats: Ashley, a girl, grey, tan, and white tabby, and Sylvester, a boy, a black and white tuxedo. I have another cat but she was outside and missed out on all the excitement. Then, there are two girls: I am one of them and the other is one of my best friends, named Marissa. You see, Marissa is taller than I am and a bit thinner, plus she is much more hyperactive, normally. (That is why I call her hyper-bunny. She gets really jumpy when she is having fun.)

As you can guess, we are at my house after a very long and boring day at school without the �benefit� of adult supervision. Also, the internet is not available for our use.

Walking into the kitchen, I see �it.� It has many names: cat bliss, hyper-dust, green leafy substance, and catnip. Having an idea, I ask Marissa, �Hey, do you think we should give this to the cats?� Replying with the obvious answer, Marissa responded, �Of course!� She thinks, and then Marissa remembers something, �Hey, don�t you have a digital camera that records short videos?� �I do. Let�s film them!� I exclaimed.

Grabbing the gourmet-organic bag of catnip, and then grabbing the camera, we walked over to my cat Ashley. At the time, she was looking at the refrigerator. When she does, that she is really saying, �Feed me now you pathetic mortals! I could smite you with one well-cleaned paw tied behind my back!� As you can tell by now, my cats are insane, pushy, and cute, but mostly they are insane.

Talk about multi-tasking; I pressed the power button on my family�s black-plated and silver digital camera. I think it�s a Power Shot A400 by Canon, but I am not sure.

Spilling some catnip gracefully on the badly carpeted living room floor, we waited for Ashley to follow us and to react. We didn�t have to wait all that long. My feminine feline quickly started to role around in it about five seconds after the catnip fell from its royal, plastic cup. Ashley was tossing around in the catnip like a cute little piggy in a heaven full of brown, oozing mud. Looking around the living room, I saw a long, ribbon-like cat toy with feathers on the end. Thrusting the camera into Marissa�s hands, I grabbed the cat toy and started to dangle it in front of Ashley�s furry little face.

From the side lines, our boy-cat Sylvester watched and eagerly waited for his chance for some of the cat-related amusement. Of course, he was originally clueless as to what was making Ashley act so excitable and hyperactive. Giving Marissa the cat toy, I then used the camera to film what was happening. I even made it look like an earthquake was happening by shakings the digital camera for my own personal amusement.

Next thing I knew, Marissa was arguing with Ashley and shouting, �Grrrrr, give it to me!� �Its mine!� and of course going into maniacal laughter whenever she stole the feathery cat toy from the cat.

By now Sylvester had figured out what all the excitement as about. It did not help his situation that he fell by tripping over his own paws face first into the catnip cup. Cracking up at this, Marissa nearly fell over. Helping Sylvester to his little paws, I dusted him off.

So, Sylvester sneaks up very obviously, and pounce! He goes at the cat toy and misses completely. Of course being the dumb cute boy cat he is he runs into a wall, so he tries again. Finally after something like 9 tries he grabs the toy. It dangles in his mouth proudly. Ashley chases after Sly to see if she can steal the toy back and boy does she have a right to be mad, he�s faster than her. Laughing, Marissa and I leave the cats to their devices.

Looking back I remember how funny this was at the time. The time crunch we had, I thought this was pretty fun. I look back and I see how random I was being. So, to me, this is humorous, because I usually don�t go around my house doing this kind of stuff. I have known Marissa for over a year now. We go over to each others houses a lot and mess around on the inter net. Due to the internet not working we needed something else to do and that�s how this came about.

It all started on a nice sunny day. It looked like that one episode of Spongebob Squarepants where Spongebob, Patrick, and Squidward all make their way up on to land. That episode looked like this day in a sense that it was so sunny, with clear blue skies and crystal clear water. Anyways my family and I were walking along the beach and were watching the Jet skiers go by. This one dude on a jet ski was going crazy. All of a sudden he and his jet ski went flying about fifteen feet in the air. The man went soaring into the air and then quickly under water. After five minutes of him being under water and not coming back up the lifeguards sent out to rescue him in their motor boat. The motor boat came in quickly onto the shore. The jet skier was quickly surrounded by paramedics. While all of this was going down my whole family and I were about twenty feet away from the unconscious man who is gushing blood all over. Blood was coming out of his mouth like crazy, he was like a sink that was turned on, the blood just kept flowing everywhere out of his body. I couldn�t even start to imagine if this man was still alive what he was thinking and what excruciating pain he must be in. We heard the paramedics say that he needed to get to a hospital quickly. The jet skier was still laying there lifeless. The bleeding had slowed down. People had started to clear off the beach, but many were still there watching this terrible scene take place.

The ambulance showed up on the beach a long four hours later. The new paramedics hopped out of the ambulance and quickly rushed over to the lifeless jet skier. They were too late to save him. I was in a state of shock of what I had just seen in front of my very own eyes. I wanted it all to be a dream and wake up from it right then.

Later I found out that the man had fallen off of his jet ski and slammed his head into a coral reef. He had cracked open his head and broken a lot of bones. He messed up his body really badly. This accident is now a memory inside of my head, it�s like a tattoo engraved into my brain. That tattoo will never come off, it�s stuck in my head forever, and I will never forget it.

After we had left the beach then we went to our hotel and my parents talked to my sister and I about what had just happened. They told both of us that the man was dead and that he was then going off to a better place. They also explained to us what really had just happened and that we weren�t ever going to talk about that incident anymore. My sister and I asked them a few questions on what happened to them because being a little kid at my age which I was around seven years old or so, I didn�t really know what�s going on is all that I saw was this man who was bleeding all over and I was told that I wasn�t aloud to go in the water anymore which at my age is a big deal not to be able to play in the water. Both my sister and I were pretty shook up from the incident. The rest of our trip was happy no more bloody bodies just nice villages and nice safe places. We stayed in Puerto Rico for another five to six days. We had many more fun adventures and exciting trips to different places. This trip has changed the way that I think about life and death. It has helped me realize that life is a very short thing and that every day we all wake up and can open our eyes and brush our teeth and walk to the bus, and when we are all playing sports or doing anything that involves moving we take it for granted every time. We never think about how fortunate we are for being able to talk, play and even eat on our own.