good ole' small town USA

I have grown up in a rural town all my life, so I will never understand why people do not like it here. Things like cookouts on the weekends and bonfires every night possible are nothing out of the norm. Some of my favorite things to do in this town are get together with my friends and go on jeep rides. We go all over the mountains, and it's one of the most fun things we do. After we find a good spot, we stop and make a bonfire while we jam our country music and cook things over the fire. Some days when the weather is actually nice, we will take the jeeps out Havice Valley and go fishing. There's a certain spot on a little bridge where all the fish are, where only my friends and I know about. Summer brings out the best activities in this town, and it becomes alive again after the long cold winter months. One of my all-time favorite summertime activities is going to Hawstone rope swing with my friends. Hawstone has one of the biggest rope swings around here, and it's nothing less then a thrill rush. Tubing down the Juniata river for hours on end is also something we do. Breaking out the quads and dirt bikes is always a special day for the Motown Crew. They're more than my crew; they are just like my family. We have been called Motown Crew because we all hang around in McVeytown. There are about 15 of us. I always hear people saying how much they hate this town and how boring it is, yet they are wrong. I can tell you right now that this town is full of things to do, if you're with the right people. There's nothing better than camping up in the mountains on a ridge with your friends and watching the sunrise over the river. I have been to the Gulf of Mexico and many other places like that, but nothing beats good ol' Miff Co. I am positive this is the place I want to live forever. This is an exact example of a "small town USA", and this will forever be my home. And I love it that way.

bullying for fun? honestly?

One thing that I've noticed lately in school is bullying. You never think it would happen in your school, and some people just don't care enough to watch for it. People always see it on TB, and many kid's shows are based around stopping it. Many people even come to schools across the nation every year and talk to them about the harms of it. I've never been bullied in all my years of school. I was raised to be pretty outspoken. I remember back in elementary school watching kids get teased but nothing that I thought they couldn't handle. Middle school was by far the worst: girls got cattier, and boys craved attention even more than before. Walking down the hall, you could see someone classified as "weird" and someone "popular" making fun of him. When I was in eighth grade, I remember there was a girl that was considered the most "popular". I was not friends with her, nor was I an enemy; we were always just "mutual". As i walked into the locker room, I saw her staring at me and the new Guess bag my mom had recently bought me. She walked over to me and said, "Your purse looks extremely fake." That hit me hard, and I never realized before how much it hurt to have someone put you down like that. I was never mean to anyone, and I got along with just about everyone. It just hurt.

About three years later, here I am, faced with bullying again, but this time it's not me. I have recently made a new friend. He and I have become very close over the past couple weeks. We do everything together: we fish, hunt, go on jeep rides, shoot things, and we are just so alike in many ways. He and I sat for hours in the mountains just having heart to hearts about everything we could think of that we wanted to get off our chests for so long. I've never met a boy nicer than he is. There are a couple boys in his grade that find it fun to pick on him simply because they are bored. He never told me about them, because he didn't want a girl taking care of his problems. The moment i found out about this, I found them all together and confronted them about it. I told them how immature they look, and how upper classmen are looking down on them because many of my friends have found out about it also. Their faces turned red as an apple and they apologized many times. I pretty much told them what was up, and they stopped. This is one of the biggest things I've learned: if you have a loud voice, give it to others that do not and help them because good karma always comes back to you. And most important, always be a good friend.

rain rain go away..

Ok, honestly, what the heck is up with this rain and tornadoes?! I don't remember it raining this much in one season. Over the past week, we have gotten over five inches of rain.

Last night I was sitting at my sister's softball game when we heard over the radio there was a tornado watch for Mifflin, Juniata and many other Central PA counties. I've never seen a tornado in person before, only the things i see off the Weather Channel on Storm Chasers.

When the thought of a tornado came into my mind, fear struck me. As the clouds got darker and darker behind us, no one seemed to take notice. Coaches and the umps didn't even move an inch when they saw the circling cloud. My mom ran over to them and tried to tell them it would be safe to leave, but they ignored her the best they could and simply said, "This is Pennsylvania, we don't get them here". Well I had a few choice words for this man after my mom walked away, and I let him know EXACTLY how I felt about his irrational decision. There were over 25 kids there between the ages of 10-13 playing on a ball field, where a tornado was about to hit.

I got a call about five minutes later from my best friend in McVeytown saying her mom saw the funnel cloud forming above their house. We were in Strodes Mills, which is about six minutes away from her house. As we watched the heavy rain and clouds roll in, we got out of there as fast as possible. My mom, little sister Rachelle and neighbors rode down to Wal-mart to wait out the storm.

I just can't get it through my head why these men would let little kids lives in danger for a Little League softball game. That's one risk I'm not willing to take, especially for my family. And let me tell you, I KNOW I can't win a fight with a tornado, can you? Sometimes I wonder if people ever use their heads to think, or use common sense.

When I was around four years old, my mom and i rode through a tornado. Of course it wasn't very big, and we didn't realize what it was until we saw the roof of the car wash beside CVS come off.

human magnet?

Now I've seen some strange things in my life, but this has got to be one of the strangest-- a magnetic boy? Yeah, I'm not even kidding, he attracts metal. Ivan Stoilijkovic was born with a magnetic upper body that attracts metal to his body such as pans, forks and tools. Ivan lives and grew up in Kroatia and his parents always realized he was different.

He was walking by eight months, rollerblading by 18 months, and he could actually drive a motorcycle by the time he was just two years old! Many people in Ivan's town don't really fully understand what his "gift" is. They found out he was magnetic one day when his gram was messing around and poked him with a fork, and the fork stuck to him.

Ivan's grandparents believe that this is a gift, and they urge him to practice this every morning when his gift seems most powerful. Other people in Ivan's town believe he has the power to heal people with just a touch. I think this is so awesome, and a a little strange.

I mean who ever would of thought of someone being magnectic? Hey, you wouldn't have to worry about being the same as everyone else, and I guess if you have a gift might as well flaunt it! This is something that makes him different and everyone strives to be different so I believe this is just about as cool as it gets.

the sweetest job ever :)

One thing we all love to do is blow bubbles and chew bubble gum. No one can seem to get enough of the stuff, and we are always in search of it. Pull gum out at school, and suddenly everyone is your best friend. Many flavors are available to us like Mint, Cherry, Original, Watermelon, Blueberry, Strawberry, Apple, Mint Choc Chip, Strawberry Shortcake and just about any other flavor you could think of. But did you ever stop and wonder how scientists know when gum has just the right flavor? Well, this is where the sweetest job in the world starts.

Meet the gum tasters, who have the awesome job of taste testing every kind of gum made. You don't need any kind of schooling for this job. Actually you don't really need anything except awesome taste buds. In a poll, only 10% of Americans could get this job, because to qualify you need to be able to distinguish among over 70 ingredients. You also have to be very aware of the taste, texture and smell of the gum. Wrigleys is the largest gum company in the world. and they could interview over 2,000 people before they find even the right person!

Gum testers' work day goes a little something like this.. they can't eat or drink at least an hour before they start their job to make sure their taste buds are fresh. The factory then cleans out all the people's taste buds and get the smell and taste senses going. They go through hundreds of kinds of gum a day, writing down texture. taste and what needs to be improved.

Today the gum business is worth over $19 billion, and this is one business where you won't have to worry about losing your job!

never too late for love :)

You know, I'm not one for believing much in love because i myself haven't had much luck in that category. I'm sure there are hundreds of other teens thinking the same thing I am: it's probably just too late for love. This may be the case for some, but not for Forrest Lunsway. Forrest and Rose Pollard have been dating for over 30 years now, and it never really crossed their mind to get married. They said it seems like they already were, just without the title. Finally, on Forrest's 100th birthday, the couple got married. Forrest and Rose met in high school on a blind date. They dated for a while, and he tried to propose in high school but Rose just simply said, "I'll marry you on your 100th birthday". This event has captured the eyes of many people worldwide; even President Obama sent them a wedding card and gift. Guinness also hopped on this bandwagon, and the couple are now in the next edition of the book for the oldest couple in the world to marry. I think this is absolutely awesome and inspiring. I've pretty much given up on love myself because I've gotten to the point where I don't think it even exists. The cutest thing in the whole world is old couples still in love, and it gives other people hope that maybe, just maybe, its not too late for love. :)

This prom dress couldn't get any sweeter, literally!

Entering high school is a big change for most people and a scary one at that. You leave the little middle school from being a top dog to now being the under dog like you were years before. High school has is advantages, such as more freedoms, getting your license and, of course, going to the prom.

All the buzz right now is prom, prom, prom! Everywhere you go, you can hear the girls talking about what color prom dress they have, where they got it, who's their date and so on. Now being an underclasssmen last year, I remember going to promenade and seeing some sweet dresses, but nothing gets sweeter than this dress, literally!

Tara Frey of Wisconsin won't have to worry about getting the same dress as someone else, or even looking like someone else. She handcrafted her dress out of Starburst candy wrappers. Yes, candy wrappers! If that's not cool and imaginative, I really don't know what is.

Tara and her mom had the idea in their heads for years since they saw another girl in a gum-wrapper dress (Perhaps it was Liz, the girl from our school who made her dress out of Starburst several years ago!) Ever since that day, they have been Starburst crazy, trying to buy as many as they possibly could. They tried to construct this dress six times before they actually got it right, and the results are breathtaking and fairy-tale like. Every couple of weeks the two would buy 20 pounds of Starburst and eat and eat until they couldn't eat any more.

She even made Starburst shoes and a vest for her date.


I give major props to this girl, this was a sweet idea, and a yummy one at that!