And The Nightmare Continues

Well, Katrina maybe gone, but the destruction left behind is impossible to even begin to comprehend. So far, the death count is 68 so far, but that number is likely to rise. Katrina has caused widespread flooding, and floodwaters are still rising in New Orleans after a hole opened in the levee protecting the city. A 50-inch water main break has left the city without drinkable water, and the massive power outages caused by the storm will likely take 3 to 4 weeks to fix. Both the city's were under water, an oil tanker had run aground and was leaking, there were gas leaks around the city and Interstate 10's twin spans heading east over the lake were completely destroyed. People were still looting, sometimes in full view of police and national guardsman. In Mississippi, there is flooding as much as six miles inland, and emergency shelters are evacuated in New Orleans. Everyone is now being ordered to leave to city of New Orleans and at least 2.3 million are without power because of the storm That's the latest on Katrina right now, I'll post if anything else of interest comes up having to do with the storm. One more thing, below are some more pictures from areas where the storm hit

In The Wake

I've been inspired during the last few days as Hurricane Katrina has moved onto the Gulf Coast, so I decided to write a new Life thingy. This is dedicated to everyone who has been affected by Hurricane Katrina, and I wish them the best of luck with trying to rebuild their lives. This is for you.

Life can be awful sometimes. A disaster hits the world, but you have to keep going. You have to get through this and move on. You can't give up. You have to try, and you will succeed. If someone comes and kicks you while you're down, just ignore them and move on. If they get in to trouble, go and help them. Don't hold a grudge because you may become their hero. As Gandhi said, "If we all took an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, we'd all be blind and toothless." So keep going, and don't look back, but most importantly you have to try to move on. If you don't, you'll never get through. Good Luck.

The Nightmare is Over for The Big Easy

Katrina is nearly gone. As of 5 PM ET, Katrina was a Category 1 storm with max speeds of 75 mph and is 30 miles west of Laurel, Mississippi. Officials warned that people should stay out of New Orleans and the surrounding areas for at least a week to avoid "a wilderness" without power or drinking water that will be infested with poisonous snakes and fire ants. After topping the levees in New Orleans, Katrina brout a 20-foot storm surge in most places, and in some places having a storm surge of 28 feet. New Orleans was lucky though, right before the storm made landfall at 6:11 AM local time, it made a sharp turn to the right, and instead of making a direct hit on New Orleans, it made landfall in Biloxi, Mississippi where the waters are 12 feet high now and the roads have become rivers. In Mobile, Alabama, the storm pushed Mobile Bay into downtown, submerging large parts of the city. An oil drilling platform broke from it's moorings and became lodged in a bridge that carries Highway 98 over the Mobile River. People who took shelter in the Superdome were able to weather most of the storm. Then, people began to hear sounds described as hearing a New York City subway train, and then, the roof broke open, dumping water onto the astroturf below and letting the howling winds in. Early estimates put the damage as $25 billion, which could make Katrina the most costly storm in U.S. history. Below are some pictures of the damage Katrina has done, including damage to the Superdome.

This Is Not Good

Hurricane Katrina, now a Category 5 storm, is barreling straight for New Orleans. This is particularly bad for the 'Big Easy' because about 70% of New Orleans is below sea level, and the storm surge is expected to overwhelm the levees that surround New Orleans, which at their highest are 18 feet. The storm surge is expected to be 28 feet. In a statement from the National Weather Service in Slidell, near New Orleans, Louisiana and I quote "warned that much of the affected area "will be uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps longer."Low-rise, wood-frame buildings will be destroyed, and concrete apartment buildings 'will sustain major damage,' it said." "'High-rise office and apartment buildings will sway dangerously, a few to the point of total collapse,' the warning read." "All windows will blow out. Airborne debris will be widespread, and may include heavy items such as household appliances and even light vehicles." As of 8 PM ET Sunday, the storm was 130 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River, and the top sustained winds of 160 mph. I'm going to keep watching this on and off and I'll post if anything interesting comes up. One last thing, the storm is expected to make landfall in the next 12 hours. Below is an animated satellite image showing the movement of Hurricane Katrina courtesy of Accuweather.

Trouble in the Gulf

This morning, the mayor of New Orleans ordered a mandatory evacuation as Hurricane Katrina heads towards the Gulf Coast. Katrina is now a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds topping out at 175 mph. Category 5 hurricanes are the most severe around. The storm surge is expected to be about 28 feet. Katrina is expected to make landfall for the second time around 7 AM on Monday. So other headlines this morning, Iraq's constitutional committee approved a final draft of the Iraqi constitution and put it before the National Assembly on Sunday, despite the rejection of Sunni Arab leaders. A suicide bomber killed 21 people in Israel. Besides that, not much in the news. All I have to say is I hope those people get out of the Gulf Coast okay. One more thing, below is a picture of the predicted path of Katrina courtesy of the National Hurricane Center.

JOYOUSNESSNESS.... ness

Hooray!!! Jeff Gordon is finally in the top 10 in the NASCAR Race to the Chase after finishing 6th at Bristol Motor Speedway. Matt Kenseth won the race, and Tony Stewart, the points leader, finished 8th in the Sharpie 500. Now for some news the rest of the world will care about. People are packing the highways to get out of the way of Hurricane Katrina as it heads towards the Gulf Coast. It's projected to hit anywhere from New Orleans to the Florida panhandle. Besides that, not much else in the world of real news. But good job by Jeff Gordon by getting into the top ten. GO 24!!!! OH YEAH!!!

A Little News as School Begins

Alright, I haven't reported the news in a while, so I thought I might as well do it now while I still have a modest amount of homework. First off, Hurricane Katrina has hit the shore near Ft. Lauderdale, and forecasters say the slowing moving storm could drop 15 inches of rain on the area. Also in the news, due to sweltering heat and the loss of key transmissions lines on Thursday, Southern California officials had to impose rolling blackouts, leaving about half a million people without power for half an hour according to officials. Also, the Iraq constitution deadline has been extendended again, til Friday as the Shiites and Kurds fail to reach a consensus with Sunnis. Alright, a few more things: Gas prices have dropped a little and the FBI is probing for Chinese cyber spies. That's all the news for now. Got to go, talk to peoples later. Adios.

Quick Thing

Just in case you haven't noticed, I've added a link under the I power Blogger link near my counter. It takes you to the Firefox website where you are able to get the the Firefox browser. In my opinion, this browser is the best one out there right now, and is loads better than Internet Explorer and other things. I recommend you try it if you want, although you don't have to. That's all for now, and I'll talk to people later. You may return to your regularly scheduled lives.

I'm Back, Just in Time for School

I'm back, in one piece, from Cancun. Had a good time, enjoyed it a lot, and had a good time there. I'll tell you more about that later. Right now, I'm getting the last life thingamajigger out before school starts and I won't be able to write as much. So, without further ado, and with less than 12 hours left until school begins again, at least for me, I'll give you the last few words from this life philosopher for a little while. Last but not least, a name: A Star-Lit Night. On a final note, I hope you all enjoyed summer, I did.

The sun sets. A star-lit sky sits before you. A starry night, more stars than you can count, and as many possibilities. In the middle of it all, sits a single star, brighter than the rest. One that's special, one held above the rest. One day, you'll find others up there too, that shine just as brightly or brighter than the original. Some will fade, and other will be brighter. There will always be the original, the one. A star-lit sky sits before you. A million possibilites, only one choice. One of those lights will guide you home. You have a choice to make. Make it quickly, you only have a little time. Go quickly, otherwise life will pass you by. Sorry, too little too late this time, the only time you have. Your life has passed you by, and you are gone in an instant. Don't be like that. Make the choice, and don't look back. There won't be anything you'll be able to do about it. Look forward, and make the best of it. There isn't much else to do.

And so, summer ends.

The Final Write-Off (For Now)

Alright, I won't be online at all for the next few days because I'm going to be spending time in Cancun as some of you know. I'll probably be writing the final Life thingy for the summer. After school starts, they won't come out as rapidly, but I'll try to get one out at least every 2 months or so at most. It'll probably be sooner than that, it just depends on how much homework I get. I hope you've all had a good summer, and I'll see some of you on the first day of school. Others won't and I'll talk to them or they can look at my blog. Hope you've enjoyed your summer, cause it's over now. It's too short, just like life. Talk to all of you later. Have a good last few days.

Spontaneousness and Improvisation

Well, right now, I'm going to write what may be my last life thing for a while. I've been inspired by a few things tonight, besides the party, some music has sent me the right way, so I figure I'll get my thoughts down while I can. The title will be at the end, little weird, but you'll get over it. Anyway, here it comes as I write it now, the 4th in a series from a crazy 14 year old about life. Have fun with it.

Has anyone truly ever see you? The real you. Not the one you show everyone, but the one you share with a few special friends. When you go and take your mask off, and get rid of all the glamour and show everyone who you really are. Why not do it if you haven't. People will like you for you. People will probably even like you better if yourself. Be the crazy person, the shy person, or whatever you are and show everyone else what you're really like. There's no point not to. People should like you for you, not for you being someone else. You don't need to be someone else, just be yourself. Chances are that you're probably better than that person you're trying to be, and you're better at just being yourself rather than someone else. It's not that difficult. Don't be covered up in all these layers of deceit just so people can like you. Uncover your soul and let it shine through. Show them what it's like to be yourself and what you're like. Life is to short to go through it trying to live someone else's life. You need to live your life while you can. Let the light shine on you, and show everyone that you're great just being yourself. If they don't like the real you, I say, they're loss, because I'm willing to bet on the inside of every person, the ones we love, and the ones we hate, is a soul waiting to be found, waiting to break out of the layers of trickery and deceit keeping it in. Let the light shine on it, and show what you are truly like. You are not someone else, you are you, nothing less.

So, there it is. Written in the last 15 minutes right here. The fourth in the Life series. Hope you've enjoyed reading it. I may have one more that I'll write while on vacation before school. After that, I probably won't write for a while because I'll have all this school work to do. Oh, one more thing, I think I've got a good name for this one: Show Your Soul.

Racing News

Well, Tony Stewart wins again at the road course at Watkins Glen in New York. He has won 5 of the last 7 races in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. Robby Gordon finshes 2nd, and Boris Said finished 3rd. Jimmie Johnson finshes 5th. Jeff Gordon goes and finshes 14th after having a punctured tire and having to come in to the pits to replace, and going to the back of the pack. Tony Stewart stands atop the standings with a 105 point lead over Johnson, and Gordon is now 13th in the standings and only 67 points out of the chase. Alright, now for some regular news that the rest of you are probably actually interested in. A Cypriot jet carrying 121 passengers onboard hit a mountain north of Marathon, Greece today according to government officials who have also said that no one onboard survived. North Korea has hinted at a possible compromise on it's nuke program. One last piece of news, the historic Gaza and West Bank pullout nears. Actually, as it happens, the pullout is just beginning right... about... now, as it's schdueled for midnight (5 PM ET). And I will leave you with that little bit of news. Tell you more later.

Some Quick News

Alright, I'm going to try to give you the morning headlines quickly before I have to head to a dentist appointment. First off, Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency after Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was gunned down outside his home by sniper fire. Police there have sealed off the capital of Colombo and are searching house-to-house for the killers. Also in the morning news, Tropical Storm Irene is poised to become a hurricane, two people were killed in a Wyoming twister, and New Mexico has declared a border emergency. That's all there is in the morning headlines right now. I'll let you know if anything else comes up.

A Day Begins

Well, I know this might be a little quick considering I only wrote the life sequel a little more than a week ago, but I haven't had much else to do this week besides ponder about life, and write about it. I think I've got some good material here, and I'm going to go ahead and publish it. I've also decided that the little thingy I wrote in memory of Peter Jennings a few days ago will be part of my life series, I guess is the best way to put it. So, one more thing before I go ahead and let you read the thing is the title of course which is A Day Begins. That's all I have to say right now, so go enjoy the my new life thingy. Here it is:

A day begins. The sun rises and the moon sets and the sky turns blue. We live, and go through the world everyday, passing thousands of people, without a second glance. We go through life seeing millions, and probably billions of people, and we don’t even think about it. We talk with people, and meet with them. Some people we pay attention to and others we don’t give a second thought. We read the paper, and see what happens in the world far from us. We go, “Oh, that’s too bad,” and move on. Someone dies in the world, and we don’t care. We’ve been numbed by the amount of death and destruction that has become a normal part of our daily lives. Out of those thousands of people you see everyday, at least one of them will die, or have someone close to them die, more likely more than one. But even though we don’t give them a second glance, don’t even think what’s on their mind, we do need them. We can never accomplish anything by ourselves. We always are going to need someone by our side to help along the way. We are nothing by ourselves, but something great indeed united together. The day ends, and plunges into night. You see a sun and a moon, both seem so close, but are so far. There is so much that there is still to discover, and will never be discovered. So many things will eventually be solved, and we will discover so much more in the millions of years to come, if we get the chance. One thing that will most likely remain a mystery though, is why were here. Why were all these coincidences put together just so we can live to die? Is there any point to us being here? Is there someone or something behind all this, do we even really exist, or is all this just a chance, a huge coincidence, that there is no real reason behind. Whatever the reason, we may never find out. Whatever the case, I intend to take advantage of the chance I’ve been given, we’ve all been given. We may be alone, we may be part of a select few, or we may be part of a broader scheme. We probably will never know. Right now, I don’t care. I’ll take life as it comes, and enjoy it. I’ll enjoy life, and do what I can. That may mean going to a concert and screaming my head off, or continuing to write these little philosophies. Either way, I’ll find something I enjoy to do. There isn’t much else I can do. I suggest the same to all of you. And so, another night becomes day, and it begins again, as it has, and as it will be, for years to come.
I can deal with that.

A Little Morning News

Not much headlining the news this morning except for one interesting article. Bush signed a $286 million transportation bill here in Illinois yesterday, praising Mayor Daley, while fumbling over prononucing Governor Blagojevich's name, finally getting it right on the third try. Besides that, not much else out of the ordinary in the news. I'll let you know if anything comes up. See ya.

One Quick Note

One quick thing, and then you can return to your lives. I've added a new link to my blog. It goes digitalblasphemy.com. They are a really great wallpaper site, and some of the stuff they have is unbelievable. It's just awesome. That's all for now. You can return to regularly scheduled lives.

Back on Earth

This morning at around 8:11 ET, Space Shuttle Discovery Landed in the morning darkness at Edwards Air Force Base in California. It was a safe return home for the Discovery, who landed at Edwards instead of Cape Canneveral due to weather issues there. Also in the news this morning news, Nagasaki is remembering it's atomic fate marking the 60th anniversary of the 2nd, and so far last, use of an atomic weaponry. One more thing in the morning news, the Bears beat the Miami Dolphins in an exhibition game 27-24. That's it for the morning headlines, I'll post anything interesting that comes up.

In Memory

A day begins, and ends. A life begins and ends. You go out and live your life, while you can. Doing whatever feels right, and trying to enjoy the best of it. Death sneaks up on you. You live your life as it’s the last day of it. You enjoy it, and you take risks. You find the truth, and show it to the world. You discover the facts, and illuminate them in everyone’s eyes. The life you live is best described as the impact you’ve had on the earth, and the imprint you have left. You mess up, and you laugh, the laughter you share with the world. Even in the worst of times, you look on the bright side. A day begins, a life begins. A day ends, a life ends. Hope you lived your life well, cause it could be yours.

In memory of Peter Jennings

A Voice Lost

Peter Jennings, the sole anchor of World News Tonight, died Sunday, at the age of 67. Jennings had annouced April 5 that he had lung cancer. He has been the sole anchor of World News Tonight since 1983, over 20 years. I know I personally will miss him. He was probably my favorite news anchor to watch, and did a great job of his well, job. Also in the morning news, the divers in the submerged submarine are okay after a British robot craft cut them free of the fishing net they were trapped in. That's it for this morning's headlines. I'll be back later with some more news, if anything interesting comes up

A Dream

I have one thing to say and one thing only. Congratulations to Tony Stewart, who has shown that dreams can come true. His dream was to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and he did it. So, that's all I have to say. Congratulations to Tony Stewart

Racing, Rescuing, and Landing

Hooray, Jeff Gordon finally qualified decently with a 7th place qualification. Today is the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Speedway. Anyway, not much else, except I need ideas from people on what to do my life philosophies on. Also, the 7 sailors trapped on a Russian Mini-Sub have been rescued and are ok. One last note, Space Shuttle Discovery has undocked with the International Space Station (ISS) and everything looks good for there planned decent and landing on Monday. That's all there is for now. Enjoy Sunday, and give me some ideas for my life thing. I feel inspirational today.

Moment of Silence

Since I forgot to mention this earlier, I ask that everyone observe a moment of silence due to today being the 60 anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Also, a Southwest 737 was evacuated upon landing and scanned due to a bomb scare. An FBI official and TSA spokesperson said a passenger found a note on the plane suggesting a bomb threat. That's all for now.

Need Something To Do

I need to find something to do. I'm bored out of my wits right now, and have no idea what to do. I went to the park to go hopefully be inspired by something. I drew for a while, and nothing came. I've come back home, and I think I'm going to start work on the next my little philosphical series thing. Or I might just play games, but that's boring me too, so I don't know. Anyway, not much new in the news since this morning as far as I can see. So, that's about it. Give me some thoughts and some feedback on past writings on life, and I'll see what I can do to incoporate it somehow into my next one. I'm going to try to get the next one out before school starts in a few weeks just in case I get swamped with homework and don't have enough time to do it. For now, that's all I got. I'll post something later


"And I could write a book, the one they'll say that shook the world, then it took, it took it back from me" -Coldplay, Swallowed By The Sea

Some Morning News

Alright, then, I've got the newspaper in my hands right now, with some interesting headlines this morning that I'll pass on to you. A former Israeli soldier opened fire on a bus in Shfaram killing 4 people. His name was Eden Tsuberi, was 19-years old, and was beaten to death by an angry mob of Shfaram residents. He had abandoned his army unit 2 months ago over refusal to participate in Israel's planned Gaza and West Bank withdrawal. 6,000 cops blanket London after yesterday's tape showing planned attacks on the US and UK. 5 GIs were killed in Iraq, and a poll finds that only 38% approves of the president's handling of the war. Those are the big morning headlines. Give me your opinions and I will respond as soon as possible

Weird

Well, a little while ago, I started talking to this guy on AIM who I haven't talked to since I met him at Purdue for a camp a year or two ago. Good memories, good times. Wow, I was right, life does throw loops at you, and this is an example. Anyway, also the news today that I didn't mention, South Korean scientists have cloned the first dog. Let your me know your thoughts on that people, and I'll get back to you tomorrow, when I wake up. For now, that's it.

Not Much Exciting

Right now, there isn't much to talk about, just listening to some music, and doing other stuff. Nothing real exciting. Oh, wait, there is one thing, if anyone cares, Al-Qaeda has recently threatened more attacks on US and UK. Big Suprise. That's really all. Like I said, not much exciting.

The Sequel

Well, in my computer, right now, is the sequel to my life thingamajigger. This has not been edited at all except by me. There are probably a few issues with grammar and things that I will need to fix. For now, here is the sequel to my little philosphical thingy, life. Oh, and one more thing, the name is Beginnings of More.

Life is a roller coaster. You start from the station and it goes every which way. You have to try not to make mistakes so you don’t regret things. You don’t want to go through life saying you’ve regretted what you’ve done. So, what if you’re wrong about something, what if you did something you regret? You fix it up, and if you can’t fix it, you have to move on. Don’t hold your life back for a problem you can’t fix. Go after something you believe, not something that someone else wants to go after. It’s your life, not theirs. You make the decisions, and you can’t decide whether you want to blend in, or stand out and do something. You are part of everything, a system that you affect everyday with everything you do, creating the world of the future with every move you make, adjusting, changing, and leading to the life you and others will live in the future. So many variables have affected this Earth, and those can’t be changed now, but decisions you’re making will affect things in the future. You are the beginning of more in this world. Don’t think you don’t have an affect, you are shaping the world. What you are doing will cause something, and others will feel it. If not now, later. One thing will lead to another, and you may end up between a rock and a hard place, or where you wanted to go in life. You always need to try your best, even when you fail, you try to keep going. People will be there for you along the way. They will guide you, and help you. They are your best allies and your worst enemies. Some will help, others will hurt. You have to rely on those closest to you, to try to get through life. You can’t go through it alone. You will need help. And people will be glad to help you, and get you through rough patches, and have fun with you in good parts. Life is a book, you try to discover what you can from the cover to the last page. This is your story, you’re writing it now, you’ve been writing it all your life. So, what are you going to do with it? It’s your choice, you’re the author, and you’re the one who makes the decisions. Do you want to go through life regretting every choice you ever made, or do you want to go through it saying, “I wouldn’t do anything any different. I wouldn’t go back and do a rewrite.” You don’t have a chance to do rewrite. You have a first draft, and you publish. No seconds drafts, no editing, no rewrites. It’s your life, now. You got to live it while you can, which just happens to be right now. Life is a roller coaster. You’re onboard.

My Philosphical Life Thingamajigger

Well, what comes next is what I orginally wrote on life. It's had some grammar changes since I wrote it, but besides that everything else is exaclty the same. So, go ahead and read it and have fun with it, make your own conclusions, and post some comments, so I can make the next one better. So, here it is:

Life throws loops at you. Life’s out to get you. But sometimes, you’ve gotta enjoy it even when it sucks, cause you’ve only got one life to live, so you might as well live it while you have it. You can’t exactly live life when you’re dead. It’s strange, I’m being philosophical right now, and I’m 14 years old, yet this is what we should all try to do. Shoot, if you are just holed up all your life, and never experience anything, never find love, never go and do something because it’s totally stupid, what have you done in life? Nothing, that’s what. So, live life while you can. Live life at 200 mph, or at a slower pace, it doesn’t matter to me, but go live. Screw up a few times. Fall before you fly, and enjoy falling, and then go enjoy flying. So screw some stuff up and learn from it, but if you don’t learn from it, there’s no point in screwing up in the first place. So mess around, be a kid while you can, then grow up, find something you love to do, and go do it. Sometimes, you just have to throw common sense out the door, and just go do something because you want to do it. Don’t throw all your common sense out the door because you do need just a touch of common sense to get through life, just a little. Don’t follow the crowd because what kind of life are you living if you’re trying to live somebody else’s life? Come on, it makes no sense. Go after a cause, and fight for something because you believe in it. Don’t always go with what friends say, but most of the time, if you’ve got good ones like the friends I’ve got, you’ll get through it fine. Just find people who seem to be good people you get along with well, at least most of the time. I mean, you’re going to screw up. Deal with it, nobody’s perfect, and no one will ever be perfect. (If somebody thinks they’ve found someone perfect, they should contact me because that person is wrong.) As I say, such is life. Get over it. Go on and get on with your life. So, no one has to listen to my advice. I’m not saying they should. People should try to live life how they think they should. But it just might be a good idea, even though I don’t have the brightest ideas sometimes. I’ve done some pretty stupid stuff, just take my word for it. Life’s crazy, I’m crazy, and believe it or not, you’re crazy too. So come join the club, and live your life like, well, your life. There’s no other way to put it. So have fun, screw up, learn some stuff, and deal with it. Such is life. Sometimes it sucks, sometimes it rocks, and sometimes the sucky stuff can lead to the stuff that rocks. Those are my notes (well there’s a little more), they’re philosophical, they’re crazy, but then again, everyone’s crazy, and I’m just crazier then the rest (or is it saner?) Just live life, and go nuts (at Crazy Go Nuts University.) So, I leave you some roads to choose, and from those roads, you may find the life of your dreams, or not. It’s your choice, not mine. No one will tell you how you should live your life, but you. So, I leave you with life. Enjoy!

Let's Get Going

Well, for people who don't know me, and are just visiting, I'm A.J. I'll probably be writing about random stuff that I feel people should know just for the heck of it. So, some links over to the right there, answers.com is a really good site to get info, and if they can't get info for you, they'll give you a google search. Miniclip.com is a gaming website, and the last one speaks for itself. Not much more I have to say right now. I'll let you know anything actually somewhat interesting that happens. Thanks for visiting, talk to you later.