#17 The first time I defied my parents.

Through my life experiences I have come to realize that there is not one person that has not or does not bend the truth for one reason or another. These are what I consider to be "white lies". The first time I every truly lied to my parents was when I was sixteen. My best friend Heather and I wanted to go to Burlington Iowa for a Backstreet Boys concert. I had just got my license and my parents bought me a brand new Ford Probe for my birthday. I wanted to drive there for the concert so bad but I knew my mom and dad would say no. I sat down with Heather and thought for days on what to do, what could I tell my parents that would make them let me go. After droping hints to my parents for a few days I realize that no matter what I told them they were not going to let me go. They wouldn't even have let me go if I wasn't driving. I had to go, there was no way I could miss this concert. I had to tell my perents that I was going to stay at a friends for the weekend, but who. It had to be sombody that lived far enough away that they wouldn't want to come check up on me but at the same time my mom and dad had to trust them enough to not want to call and verify it was ok with there parents. That made things hard. Heather lived right down the road from me and her parents talked to my parents all the time so I couldnt use her. I thought long and hard, finally I had It. I asked my friend Mandy to help me. She lived in the next town over and my parents loved her, they would believe anything she said. I talked her in to going to my house after school the weekend before the concert so we could ask my parents if I could go to a slumber party at Mandy's house the weekend of the concert. I knew if she went with me to ask permission my mom and dad would say yes, and they did. I also knew if she asked them they would believe her and not ask any questions or call her parents. So that was it, the lie was in place, I was going to Iowa. I was so excited, it worked, I couldn't believe it. Up till this point I had never really lied to my parents before so once the initial excitment went away I started to feel bad. I got real paranoid. I couldn't help but wonder what they would do if they found out, and how bad it would hurt them. I couldn't stop envisioning the look on my dad's face, and the disappointment in his eyes. I started to second guess going. I talked to Mandy about not going and she said she had my back, not to worry about my parents, and to go and have fun with Heather. I should not have went though thats for sure. Heather and I made it there and back ok and we had a blast at the concert. I came back home on Sunday and my parents didn't know anything. I felt like I had got away with it. About a month later my parents were talking to Heathers mom, her mom happend to mention somthing about Heather and I going to the concert. At that point my mom and dad found everything out. They confronted me when I came home from school that day and I have never felt worse than I did that day. They told me they knew and how disappointed they were, that was about it. Then dad woulden't even talk to me for over a week. I had done the one thing I never wanted to do, I hurt my dad, even worse I had brought my friend Mandy into it to.

# 30 longest time without sleep

The longest time I have ever gone without sleeping was a little over two days. My daughter was only a couple of months old and I worked 3rd shift. It was really hard going back to work after being around my beautiful baby all the time. I loves to sit for hours and rock her while she fell asleep in my arms, now however, it was time to get back to my nursing home. I normally loves sleeping in the day and being up all night, but when my daughter came it began to get harder to sleep in the middle of the day. I had to work 6 days in a row that week and I was very tired already from not getting very much sleep with my baby. The first night was a little hard, but I couldn't wait to get home to hold my Lexi. She cried all day and only let me sleep for an hour while she did. that night I was very tired with only one hour of sleep. Little did I know that the next couple of days I would get even less, and I would have been grateful for that hour then! After work I picked her up and took her to a doctor's appointment. The we tried to get some groceries and go home to take a nap. But my little angel decided that she had slept too much the night before so she was very awake until it was time for me to go to work. At work that night I could nearly keep my eyes open, all I could imagine was sleeping in my warm bed snuggled in my covers. As i drove home I was hoping to be able to sleep for a little bit that day before work again. It was Sunday and her father didn't have to work so I wanted to sleep all day! My hopes of resting were soon shattered when I walked through the door to my crying child. The doctor said she had colic and that it would get better in a few months time. I could not have wished for that time to come sooner. That night at work I called my mother and asked her if she could watch my daughter for the next day so I could sleep. After work I drooped her off and finally got to sleep for eight hours! I never felt so rested in my life as I did that afternoon.

Carry-concealed Laws in Illinois

I live in Illinois and the right to carry should be in place for us law abiding citizen. The government only shows what the criminals are doing with hand guns. They use shooting by criminals to detour our legislation on passing any right to carry laws so they don’t have to give us the to protect ourselves. I think its about time that we start posting all the good things about the right to carry. Truly if we have the right to carry criminals will think twice before trying to rob or burglarize some ones home or property. Criminals will still have firearms and will continue to commit crimes with firearms. We as law abiding citizens deserve the right to protect our family and our persons. We are asking the Illinois legislation to pass the right to carry in Illinois.

As of 2/21/09 there have been ten U.S. service members killed in ALL of Iraq, in February, in January there were 16 U.S. Service Members killed in Iraq and 20 homicides in Chicago, think about that for a minute, the City of Chicago is more dangerous than the entire Iraqi conflict zone and if it wasn't for the extreme winter weather, the number of homicides in Chicago would surely have been higher.
Superintendent Jody Weis would have you believe that the numbers of homicides in January were low because of enhanced policing in various hot spots around Chicago, well winter is coming to an end, there are 1600 less Chicago Police on the street than there really should be, the economy is circling the drain, and I for one am not looking forward to the crime and murder wave that will be kicking in when the weather gets better.
I know Mayor Daley will do everything in his power to prevent Illinois citizens from concealed carry and will counter that threat by adding those blue light cameras on every corner in Chicago, emulating London, the criminals don't care if they are spotted on the CCTV cameras, The 7/7 London bombers were captured on a number of cameras during their dry run and on the day of the bombings, A lot of good that did, Even the London police have said that after spending Billions on cameras, they are only able to solve less than 3% of crime with them.
If any of you think I'm pulling your leg, all this information is publicly available, I hope the anti-CCW crowd here can come up with some bright ideas, Maybe call Father Fleger in for another junk gun buy-back program, (Doubt that will get an AK-47 off the street) you would hope with the $342,000 a year Daley is paying Superintendent Weis, that he'd have some magic ideas to stem the gun violence and crime in Chicago, because keeping the law-abiding citizens of Illinois unarmed, the Chicago Police understaffed, and letting the scumbag homicide inclined animals have run of city is working so well. Contact your local and state representative and let them know there job depends on the passing of bill 245.

#75

The last time I saw my mother was fifteen years ago and I hope I never see her again. My mother was not the typical mom, she didn't care weather we lived or died so long as we kept her house clean. Not long after I was born my mother started having an affair with my now ex stepfather Woody. I remember hearing stories about what went on back then. I guess my mother was a pretty selfish person. The story kind of goes like this, my father came home from work one night to find myself and my sister in the house watching t.v. but my mom was no where to be found. My dad looked and looked until he found her having an affair in Woody's car parked in the ally behind our house. He went back inside and grabbed his shotgun, at that point he went and got my mom out of that car. My dad is a very forgiving person and was willing to look past this for the sake of his family. Dad went to work the next day, while he was gone mom took us and moved to Texas with Woody. When my dad got home he was devastated, he did not know what to do us kids were the only thing he had. He read the note mom left him assuring him we were ok. When we arrived in Texas mom called dad and told him if he wanted us come and get us. My dad got in the car right away and came to pick us up. When he arrived mom told him she was sorry and she wanted to come home, she said it was all a big mistake and my dad agreed to take her back. Half way back to Illinois she had a change in heart, she made my dad turn around and drive her back to Woody. Once mom got back to Texas she signed over all rights to us and gave my dad soul custody. From that point till I was sixteen I Talked to her on the phone maybe five times and never saw her face to face. Shortly after my sixteenth birthday mom contacted me to tell me she was in the area and asked would I like to see her, mom also contacted my sister but my sister wanted nothing to do with her. I agreed to meet her at a park on the following day, I just had some questions I needed answered. When I arrived at the park she acted like she was happy to see me, but I'm not so sure. I started talking to her about her life these past several years it was then I found out I had a brother and another sister in Texas and that she and Woody had split up. Of course she did the same thing with them and signed over all rights as there mother to Woody and left state never to see are talk to them again. I asked her how she could do that to all of her kids and her response was "I can't afford all that child support if I don't have rights I don't have to pay". I told her I didn't think that was a good reason to abandon four kids but I don't think she really cared. That's when she told me she was pregnant again with what was thought to be a girl but mom had no idea who the father was. I guess that's ok maybe she will be forced to take care of one of her children finally. I was pretty disgusted at that point so I politely told her I had somewhere to be and I left. I heard from her once more about four months after that, she said she had a baby girl and that she was living with my grandparents because even though she signed over her rights the courts still wanted her to pay child support so she wasn't going to work because she didn't think my dad are Woody deserved a dime from her. As far as I know my baby sister is all grown up, mom still lives with her parents and still won't work. What a woman five kids three men and two states. I really hope I never have to see are talk to her again and I have made a promise to myself that I will never follow in her footsteps.

#40 Description of my dream automobile

My dream car would be a older model, big bodied muscle car. To be exact a nineteen sixty nine Pontiac GTO. It would have to be modified to the extreme to be my dream car. It would have to be lowered so far that it would look like it was sitting on the ground. All of the exterior trim, doorhandles, and key holes would be removed and smoothed over. The front and rear end would modified so the bumpers will hug the car. You should be able to look down the front of the car and see the unity of all the parts flowing together as one, it should flow smooth too the eye and the touch. So smooth in fact one would think it was a plastic mold, just flawless. The exhaust pipes would be hidden under the car only too come out of two holes in both of the rear fenders. This nineteen sixty nine GTO would have to have the four hundred fifty five cubic inch motor that wasn't offered until nineteen seventy not the four hundred forty cubic inch motor it came out of the factory with. This car would have to have rally II racing tires, special hydraulic lifters, dual exhaust, a manual three speed transmission with a Hurst shifter, heavy duty clutch, a improved suspension, a 3.23:1 rear axle rotation, and dual hood scoops. I would defiantly want it to have the ram air IV package. This car would be high gloss black with gray stripes running down the length of the car going over the hood, hard top, and finally the trunk. I dream the interior is white leather with black piping and white shag carpet. There would be a touch screen computer in the dash that would operate everything like g.p.s., radio, movies and diagnostics on the engine. There would be a t.v. screen in each of the headrests for the kids. I would want the car to start, and the doors to open by remote, no keys and no handles. This is the exact car I have dreamed about for as long as I can remember and one day through lots of sweat and tears it will become a reality.

#76 leaving

Looking at my best friend slipping slowly away I felt a tear fall down the side of my face and hit the pavement. I waved my hand frantically as her face got to blurry to make out. Slowly putting my hand back down to my side I looked up to see if my mom was still standing beside me. It seemed like an eternity as they loaded up their car for their long trip ahead. Standing there in the sunshine I could not have felt more alone! Normally I would have loved to be playing out in the beautiful rweather. I would love to play on my trampoline, and swing on the swing set in my backyard. Nw it would never bee the same again. Playing without kristina just would not be as much fun. I wondered if I would ever find a friend as good as her ever again. Kristina was my best friend in the whole world. She was the one that I would play barbie dolls with for hours, and roast marshmallows with by the fireplace. She was not moving to far away. It was about an hour drive from her new place to mine. Not a long drive at all if you have a car and are old enough to drive. Us, however, were only in 4th grade. I begged my parents many time to take me to go visit her. They took me several times right at first, but then they were too busy to take the long trip. So our time together became very limited. We started to write notes back and forth to each other to keep up. We did not want to miss any details in each other's lifes. Several years of us writing several letter a week slowly faded off and after some time I lost track of her over the years. I will always have wonderful memories of my first best friend to remember forever.

#76 Hitchhiker

"Thank you for stopping to pick me up" he said as the man with dirty overalls leaned over to open the door for him to get into.
"You have no idea how many people have passed by me", he whinnied as he through his duffel bag over the backseat, and climbed on into the cab of the big rig truck. The truck was very long in length and had a dusty haze to the huge chrome tires that held it up.
"No problem, where ya headed?" the man said. His long gray hair pulled back with a rubber band hung down the side of his plaid old fashioned buttoned down shirt. The murky stain from years of washing it had faded the colors a bit, and his blue jeans seems to have more holes than material. With a sharp smile the nice man pointed to a small crate in the back of the cab, and offered the new stranger some of his food and water.
"Thank you again, I'm headed up North. I've got to get home to my sick mother. She's been sick for a couple months now, and the doctor's are expecting the worst." He explained as he held back a tear. "Funny how you can live your whole life not afraid of anything until you get that call that telling you your loved one's wont be with you much longer. Then no matter where you are" he said with a laugh. "You have got to get home, and be with them their last few moments of life. Noting is more special than the memories you carry for a lifetime"
The stopped and stared at the young man. "I'm very sorry to hear that son. I would be happy to get you where you need to go. I agree with you. My mother and father have passed away myself." He whispered. "I will always remember and cherish the good times with them. Best of luck to you, and god's speed in getting there in time Son!"

#76 place

On the long dirt road that took us to our favorite fishing hole there was many different birds flying around in the sky. The screeches of their sharp voices sliced through the air like a knife! There was a slight hum from the engine of our beat up midnight black pick-up truck. The truck, made in 1989, still ran in pretty good condition. My father loved to work on his truck, always finding new ways to make it look better or improve it in someway. The tires on the truck seemed to slice through the dirt on the road as if it were as soft as the clouds in the sky. There were many beautiful butterflies and bugs playing in the soft sunlight as it danced on road in front of us. The air was refreshing, you could smell the cool waterfall just on the other side of the lake. The fish downstream from the thunderous waterfall were very plentyfull, and grew very large. We would sit in the musty old canoe for hours just waiting for that one special bit! The fish that we all wanted so bad to catch, was of course, the one that our grandpa had told us story's about! It was rumored to be 3 feet and 60 pounds, a real whopper of a fish! We loved to sit around the musky campfire during those hot summer nights, rosting hot dogs and marshmallows, and hearing about that fish that every fisherman wanted so badly to catch for himself. The lake that we loved so much had some wonderful wildlife that called its rough waters and smooth sandy beach home. At any given point in your adventure fishing on the lake you could spot some very hungry fish nipping the surface of the water looking for food. Many slippery turtles wonder by on their way home through the warm waters. There may even be a few snakes to watch out for as they slither on by. The cool murky water is perfect for slipping your toes into after a long day of fishing in the hot sun. The silky water tickling my feet like velvet was a nice end to the day before the journey back down the dusty counrty road that led us to home.

#14 Brush with danger

It was a beautiful day, the wind slightly blowing the warm eighty something degree air past my face. I worked for a small car company doing repos and random other things. As I walked up the side walk to a customers house I remember thinking how wonderful it was outside and how I wished I could just get this guys money and go home for the day. I was really hoping things would go smoothly, my boss had called the guy and made arrangements for me to come and pick up the payment. My boss thought everything was routine that's why he sent me and only me. I wish that were the case, but in reality I was in for a surprise. As I walked to the door my hands started to get clammy, my legs started to slightly tremble, so many thoughts racing through my head all at once. All I could think about was all of the horror stories I hear from the guys at the shop about doing collections, the crazy people, and situations they have encountered. I calmed myself and knocked on the door, a woman's voice called back "come in". Suddenly I felt a sense of relief come over me, maybe because I heard a sweet woman's voice on the other side of the door. I thought to myself that nothing bad could happen. I have never been so wrong in my life. I should have never came in the hose, the boss always told me to never go in a house, make them come to the door or outside. They said that once in the door they could do anything they wanted to me and no one would no what was going on. I stepped into the house and a lady slammed the door behind me and started yelling at her husband. I tried to leave but she was in the way. I could not see the guy my boss had talked to anywhere, I don't know if he was even there. The woman kept yelling that he should have never got the car and they could not make the payments, but she was not willing to let the car get repoed either. They had hidden the car somewhere. She was in my face screaming about how she would never let me take food out of her kids mouth and she probably called me every bad name you could think of in a lifetime. After a few minutes of that I started to try real hard to leave. At that point things went south real fast. She began to get real violent with me, pushing and spitting. She never stopped screaming at me. I was scared, I had no idea what to do. I really did not want to make this woman any more upset. She started going through kitchen drawers looking for god knows what, at that time I realized that she had moved away from the door, but I had to get to it, unlock the dead bolt and the handle then get out before she got to me. I looked over at her and noticed she was looking through knives and still yelling how she would never pay that we would pay for putting her through this. It was then I knew that I had to get out of there so I turned and ran. As I started to unlock the door she through a knife. I darted out of the door faster than I have ever ran. I saw a man out mowing his lawn across the street so I just ran for him as fast as I could. When I reached him I looked back and she had turned and gone back in her house. I asked the man to call 911, he did and surprisingly she stayed at the house until the cops got there. When the cops did arrive they arrested her and told me that she had a history of mental illness and could not afford her meds. I dropped to my knees and thanked god for not letting me die in there.

#76 prom

Standing at the top of the stairs my heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest. I was so nervous waiting for my prom date to arrive. It was my first time to be asked to the prom. I had spend four whole days with my mom going from store to store with my mom looking for that perfect dress that I would only wear just one time. I finally decided on a strapless long pink dress. It hugged my curves just right. My long blonde hair had beautiful long curls that lay down my back. A single clip held a few pieces out of my face near the crown of my head. I had spent the better part of two hours curling and making my hair look just right. The doorbell rang, finally my date had arrived. My father opened the door and had his brief talk to him before calling me down. When my dad yelled for me I began to slowly walk down the stairs. He said I looked beautiful and put the flowers on my wrist. As we walked to the car he was a perfect gentlemen, even opening the door for me to get in and out of the car. The prom was so much fun. The committee must have spent forever with all of the decorations. There were balloons and ribbons everywhere! It looked like we were going to a fancy ball. The night had been just as perfect as I had imagined it, it could not have been any better. My date got me home just on time, which was a good thing because my dad was waiting up for me.

"Oops" was the only thing that came out of my mouth on the cool summer morning that I had the biggest "blonde" moment of my life. I had taken my daughter to school a few hours earlier and decided to pay a few bills online. So excited that I had the whole day off and nothing to do accept play on the internet and pay some bills until it was time to get my daughter again. Walking into the kitchen to get a cold drink of water I got a craving for some popcorn. I decided to pop a bag into the microwave, and jump right back to the internet to finish my bills and check my email. A few minutes later I smelled the popcorn, only it smelled like it was on fire! I ran to the microwave just in time to open it and have a huge cloud of smoke hit me in the face and fill the whole room. I quickly took the bag of steaming hot popcorn that looked as black and crispy as charcoal out onto the deck. I set that bag on top of my new plastic picnic table and left the patio door open to air out the house. I returned once again to the computer. It wasn't untill almost 20 minutes later that I thought about getting the bag of popcorn and throwing it away. The first thihng I saw as I stepped outside was almost half of the patio was in huge flames! I paniced and flew back into the house. I went right past the fire extinguisher several time to fill buckets of water and pour it on the flames. It took me about 20 minutes to out the flames out. My heart was beating so fast it felt as if it was going to beat out of my chest. I was very thankful, however, that I got the fire out in time

Driving all the way down to Sarasota Florida when you're 8 year old with your family can be the most exciting thing in the world! My brother and I loved to sit in the backseat playing fun car games like i spy and counting how many semi truck's we saw passing by. Driving in a car with 4 people crowded all in together with enough luggage for 2 weeks wasn't my idea for a fun couple of weeks. However, the trip ended up to become quite eventful! The weather for the most part was wonderful. The clouds were very heavy in the morning when we started out. The fog soon lifted on into the morning and we continued on our long journey 5 states away! It took us no time at all to reach our first destination, a small town that seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere. As we pulled up to the entrance and my father ran inside to check us in I looked out at the pool and could not wait to get out of the hot car and relax in the cool water. We had completed our first long day on the road. I could bearly sleep when we finally did lay down to rest for the next day. Thoughts of the beach and shopping in all the fun stores were racing through my head for what seemed like all night! Finally 5 a.m. came the next day and we were off once again! I could not have been happier for knowing that this day I would be able to sink my toes in to the soft sand and splash around in the water. The day seemed like it went on for a life time but we made it! As we pulled in to our resort, my father once again went in to get everything ready for us. I rolled down the wondow and smelled the cool ocean air. It was unlike anything I had ever smelled before. My brother and I were able to finally see what the ocean looked like. We kicked our shoes off and ran down to see what the water felt like! as I walked along the shore I watched the sunset and could not believe I had finally made it! I could not have been happier!

The first time I had a car accident I was a sophomore in High School. Driving back from picking up my last check of the summer was a day that I will always remember! Heather was concentrating on driving but never expected what would happen just 5 minutes away from our destination! Driving through the rain wasn’t an issue until we went around the curves right as you come to the edge of our town. Heather wasn’t driving fast. However, when we came around the second corner there was a car coming from the other side as well. She drifted off to the other side of the road a little. When she saw the oncoming car she jerked back a little too much on the steering wheel. As she began to go in the ditch she jerked the wheel back the other direction as to not go in the ditch. As she tried to keep the car from swerving out of control the car hit a culvert and began to flip from front to back! The car rolled over once, then began to roll from side to side 2 or 3 times until it finally landed on the hood leaving us both trapped unconscious inside. The airbags knocked us both unconscious and burned our faces. As they drug us out of the car, I brushed the dirt off of my jeans and realized how lucky we both were to have survived. The blue car with it’s smashed in hood and windows looked nothing like the beautiful blue car I was once so excited to drive. It had long scratch marks down the sides and lots of paint missing