Let It Snow

Snow is one of the worst things to walk in, to drive in, and to even think of. But one of the plus sides about the snow is (not only the cancelation of school) seeing people playing outside in the snow. I know before I started working at fourteen, I was one of those people. I always loved playing out in the cold, but I hated the process of stripping out of my frozen clothes and trying to warm up. My skin being so cold that any touch to my body I would squeal like a pig and most likely swing at you. That is a warning!

The first snow fall this year wasn’t nearly excited to me than when I was younger, and I think it is because I now know the consequences of ice and its trickery. Driving at night is my weakness, but when it's dark and snow is quickly falling and building up on the road, do NOT put me behind the wheel. I have been making my mom take the wheel while I sit in the passenger seat and read. I don’t think my driving skills are yet advanced enough for me to even dream about driving in the snow.

Tonight while I had the advantage to watch my surroundings on the way home, I realized that there were a lot more people outside and I made a comment to my mother. I said, “How come people think it is fun to walk in dark clothes while it’s snowing?” and then I realized it was a small family, a mother, and a father, and what seemed to be their twins (who looked about two years old). They were out on their road throwing snowballs and making snow angels. This was a moment that I had to absorb because I miss the days that we all went out in the snow. We slowly drove by because the road was icy and we didn’t want to chance slipping and squishing the family, and possibly wrecking the car. I waved and thought to myself “They looks so happy,” and they waved back. It was a simple exchange of happiness and it just warmed my night.

I got home and made a cup of hot chocolate and added some marshmallows, lit a candle, and put on some Amy Winehouse. I am just enjoying how you can witness something and make it into something big. I one day want to be that family, playing with our children, tossing snowballs back and forth. This is a moment that I will always remember when I am alone. Sitting at the kitchen table drinking hot chocolate while our cat(s) lie at our feet. I have a slight jealousy problem when I see people are happier than I am, but I always say, things can only get better. Right?

Ayer At Its Finest

Having lived in Ayer, Ma for what will be 6 years this September, I have grown to love walking downtown when there is snow on the ground and all the restaurants still have their festivity lights hanging upon their stoops. There is just something so magical that just drags me in that direction every time I go out for a walk.

Ayer dates all the way back to 1667, where at time was known as south Groton. Later, in 1871, Ayer was incorporated and named after Dr. James Cook Ayer, a prominent resident of Lowell who provided the funding for the construction of the Town Hall. The growth of this very small town (fun fact: 5% of Ayer is water!) was influenced by a period of rapid development of railroad transportation.

When I first learned that I was going to be moving from Shirley to Ayer (a ten-minute drive between towns), and you can call me a brat for this, I really wasn’t happy with my mom. It was the first move that I experience going to a different school and making new friends. Sadly for me, this was not an easy task. This is when I realized that most of the people in Ayer’s Page Hilltop knew people in Shirley and they were talking about me behind my back. Being bullied did me in, big time. Now when someone has something to say about me I just say to myself “You are better than them, and they obviously have problems about their self-image if they have the need to critique me.”

Ayer has really made me who I am today. Daily coffee shop visits, knowing almost every owner to the family owned restaurants, I even enjoy talking to the people who work at the gas station down the street. I am glad overall that my mom moved us here. I still have friends from Shirley, I have a couple of people that I still talk to from Page Hilltop, and I even have friends who moved from farther towns who had the same tough time that I did. I am happy to say, I am a resident of Ayer!

Here are some photos of Ayer:

(This is East Main St of Ayer)

(This is Park Street Diner)

"AMY": Movie Review

 For the last week and a half, I have been playing Amy Winehouse’s greatest hits on replay. My idea of her greatest hits includes: “Back To Black”, “Rehab”, “Stronger Than Me”, “Love Is A Losing Game”, “Me & Mr Jones” and “Valerie”. Although all of her songs are great, these are my picks.

AMY is a documentary about the six-time Grammy-winner Amy Winehouse. It’s a complete two hours of Winehouse telling her own story along with some of her friends, family, and spouse’. This biography goes from her life before fame and gradually shows us her life unraveling, resulting in her tragic death in July of 2011 at the age of 27.

For those of you who don’t know, Amy Winehouse was an English jazz singer who was well known for her killer vocals. She suffered severe depression and an eating disorder. She drank and did many different drugs and when people suggested rehab the first time, her father stepped in and said she didn’t have a problem and she would be fine. Well, look where that got you now, Daddy Winehouse. Her song “Rehab” quotes that her daddy said “No, no, no”.

During this film, I liked how they added an abundant amount of clips to show all the events that happened in her life. Showing her on the red carpet being interviewed, showing that one of the shows she was too trashed to even perform so she sat on the stage, even a clip of the EMTs carrying the body bag from her house in London.

"Manhattan Romance": Movie Review

Recently I was scrolling through apple movies and stumbled upon the “Romantic Comedy” section. While I was looking at all the titles, one movie in particularly drew my attention. “Manhattan Romance” is a 2015 rom-com film, written and directed by Tom O’Brien.

Danny (Tom O’Brien) goes from woman to woman trying to complete an independent film, a study on relationships while trying to figure out his own love life. This movie takes place in modern-day Manhattan, where Danny experiences many different types of relationships. Even some that scare him away!

Tom O’Brien did a really good job writing and directing this. He also did an amazing job acting in his own film. I don’t think he could have cast anyone else for some of the other main roles. One of the women Danny was in an “open” relationship with was, Theresa (Caitlin Fitzgerald) who did an outstanding job in the role of a very spiritual person who believes she can love more than one person at a time and doesn’t believe in the completely normal emotion of jealousy. When Danny, who has been trying to get into Theresa’s pants during the duration of their relationship and Theresa says that she isn’t into “that kind of love”, walks in on her with her dance instructor while they are having a very intimate meditation session, he gets jealous and she explains that he needs to empty his mind of that ferocious emotion, and proceeds to give him a hug to change his vibe. Some of the things people can come out and say, can kind of throw me for a loop. You mean to tell me, even after you get married, you aren’t interested in having more than just an intimate meditation session?

November Night Live

“November Night Live” is another fantastic production that featured a variety of skits from piano players, singers, actors/actresses, and even some mime work all presented by ASRHS Drama. I am glad to say that I witnessed their opening show last Friday night. The whole show was written and performed by students and a couple of teachers helped with acting in some of the skits.

I actually wrote two of the skits with a great friend of mine Nadia. We wrote a song parody to "The Cell Block Tango" and another to the song “Don’t Rain on My Parade”. The parody of the song “The Cell Block Tango” was written for a couple of teacher to sing about sending a couple of “rebel” teenagers who they had to send to detention for popping their gum, sitting on their phone while they are supposed to be working and a student who supposedly had excused absences from a class so that he could get some extra help in math. Sadly, only one teacher accepted to star in it and she did amazing! So didn’t the students who took the place of the teachers. The parody of “Don’t Rain on My Parade” was sung by a student named Erin, who has some killer vocals! The script that we wrote for that skit had everything that could go wrong while performing written into it. Lights flashing on and off, a rock band randomly coming out and trying to take over the show, and stage crew running back and forth, all while she is trying to impress the audience. She nailed it!

My partner in crime, Nadia, also put together a little skit for herself. She went up on that stage and acted like a mime. She was amazing! She did a juggling act, and even got glued to a chair! While she was up there, all you could here was the crowd laughing and clapping, especially the younger children.

I am so happy that I got to go, except I was literally the only person who went solo. Everyone was there with either their significant other or a group of friends who were hanging out on a Friday night. All my friends were either in the play/stage crew or they were at a candle vigil for a guy who was hit by a car and killed. But hey, I got to see the whole show without any distractions.

I had a nice walk home alone until my mom pulled up next to me and offered me a ride. It was cold and she had jumped out of bed and drove all the way to the school so I would have felt guilty if I would have said no. When I got home, I immediately went to bed.

Congratulations to all of the actors and actresses who starred in “NNL,” you guys did an amazing job. I am so happy for all of my friends, despite some of them being a little over tired and nervous and still making it out of bed in the morning. I can wait to see their production of “Cinderella: The Musical”

New York For a Day

As I have mentioned in many posts before, New York City is definitely one of my favorite places to visit. And although I haven't been there much, it always feels like home. This past Sunday, I went to NYC with my friend Nadia and her mother. We walked to the point our legs felt like noodles and our pedometers read almost 30,000 steps. We walked through Central Park before meeting up with one of the most inspiring people in my life, Lisa Rosman at a coffee shop name Fika, where we had Swedish coffee, tea, and hot chocolate, I being the child that will never grow up was the one who got the hot chocolate. Lisa showed us some more of Central Park while Nadia got to know Lisa a little bit more than me bragging about her impact on my life.

After we strolled through Central Park for half an hour, we decided it was time to head to the theater that was at 256 W 47th St, where we would see the musical "Spring Awakening" a German play about teenagers (including the deaf) who are insanely curious about sex. But before we went to the theater, we had to stop and get a little snack for intermission, so what is better that getting a couple of cupcakes from the famous Magnolia Bakery that was in the movie Sex In the City. The cupcake was delicious. I tried the red velvet cupcake with purple frosting.

Sadly we had to depart from Lisa before we went into the show because she had lots of work to do back in Williamsburg. Before we said goodbye, we took some pictures and said our farewells.

We had a fantastic time at the show with a bit of surprise nudity and during intermission we got to enjoy our miniature cakes and Nadia was sweet enough to buy me a shirt that says "Spring Awakening" on the front.

We went to the restaurant TGI Fridays after the show because we were starving and we decided it would be nice to sit down and have a meal together. So we got a waiter who was either very busy with all other customers or he just couldn't admit he was wrong when I specifically ordered strawberry iced tea, and he brought me a glass of water.  Other than the waiter with such negativity, we had some good laughs and a good time trying to make it up three flights of stairs to use the bathrooms before we started walking the streets of New York for another couple of hours.

After we ate, we ended up walking around more of the city that I didn’t get to see when I visited Lisa back in August. We went into many little shops including a Christmas shop where the greeted us with a joyful “merry Christmas!” I am not really in the Christmas mood yet, but this was fun to see in the middle of November. I also got leave an uneaten cupcake on the sidewalk for someone who needed the calories more than I did.

Bewitched

This past Monday I experienced my first trip to Salem, MA since I was a wee 4-year-old. All though it wasn’t the best day of the year to go, as it was Halloween, we still had a blast! I got to see many fantastic costumes,

 as I felt underdressed because I didn’t feel the need to walk around as a friendly scarecrow who had no brain. Everyone was there to show off their spooky, well worked on and probably overpriced Halloween costume. Being in Salem also meant trying to keep myself calm with all of the historical energy, so I simply sipped on my hot chocolate from Dunkin’ Donuts and ignored most of what was happening around me.

The whole time I was there, I was focused on seeing who had the best eye-catching costume, and I think I have decided who this award goes too, the Sanderson sisters! They weren’t as friendly as I would have liked them to be, considering I had the generosity to walk up to them and compliment them on how well they dressed and how I was also a big fan of the movie. I don’t know if it was Winnie trying to have the same personality of the movies character but, she was so stuck up and acted annoyed when I asked for a picture. But you know, “it’s all just a bunch of hocus pocus.” There were other costumes that just made me laugh my ass off. Like a guy dressed as a school girl or someone dressed as a banana. Probably one of the funniest costumes I saw was the dog that was dressed as Donald Trump.

I looked at the dog’s owner and said “you got that right!” and then walked away. Do you think he caught on to what I meant?

Listen to The Doctors' Words

I was sent home from school this past Monday because the school nurse thought that I had a corneal abrasion. Which basically means that my eye was scratched and that I have to see a doctor immediately. So once my mom got home from work, we made our way to the new urgent care over in Leominster. The people there were so nice and I even dropped my keys in the waiting room and the lady at the front desk returned them at the end of the visit.

They had me do an eye test to make sure I wasn’t basically blind out of one eye. There was a lady who I thought was just being rude and walking in front of me while in the middle of the test, then realized. So to make me laugh, she started dancing every time she walked by and all that I could think of was Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” which is a very upbeat, groovy song. The lady who was helping me said that the doctor would be attending in about 5 minutes. Literally a minute later, the lady who was dancing walked in and introduced herself. They were very speedy at the new location!

Welcome to My Future Home

If I could live anywhere in the world, it would probably be a big city like New York, New York. When I visited Lisa Rosman, I ironically called the city peaceful. The three days that I spent in the city, I immediately fell in love with it. There is something about New York that is magical and just draws you in, like a well-written book. Maybe it is the inspiration of all the celebs that grew in NY, or maybe it’s just because you feel safer than in Boston because no one cares to stare at you while you strut on the wide sidewalks filled with successful people and tourists’ with their cameras glued to the empire state building.

A Story of a Brave Heart

The most recent movie that I rented was the brand new documentary “A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story.” This movie has a very strong meaning to it, and an amazing woman to tell her story, growing up with a mystery disease, and putting up with bullies.

Elizabeth Velasquez, an American motivational speaker and author, decided to make this documentary to tell others her story and show how she is “fighting back in a different way.” She lives with a disease which, among other symptoms, stops her from gaining body fat. Throughout the whole film, it shows her on her journey, giving many speeches to schools, girl scouts, even just people she passes on the street.

Lizzie is a very sweet person who talks about her experiences with going to school and having even her “friends” laugh and make fun of her. This movie is very inspirational for all the teens who have complications with bullies. And Lizzie clearly shows you can do anything your heart desires.

During the film, it showed many of Lizzie’s memories. For example: videos of her trying out for the cheerleading team (and making it onto the team), photos of her and her father on the first day of school. I loved that the film included her trip to Washington DC and how it shows not only she made it clear that she was there to pass a law, but the health complications that she fought through during the trip. She is such a hard worker and all of this is really paying off. Many people are listening to her and want to join her in the journey.

I learned that whatever anyone ever says about you, just move on. Lizzie is a great role model for this act. She has proved time and time again, she is a better person than all the people who picked on her. I think this will impact many teenagers’ lives as of mine because, bullying has always been a problem and will remain that way. Over many years, it has only gotten worse, especially with social media being a big part of it.

I would recommend this movie to anyone, including teenagers who have very low self-esteem about their body image, their sexuality, etc. People my age need to know that there is a way to overcome fear and self-hatred. And that there are people out in the world fighting for you. If you are being bullied, please reach out to someone you trust. If anyone is feeling suicidal, here is a number you can call to get the help you need: 1-800-273-8255, They are available 24/7.

Old Men and Their Emotions

When I walked into Spanish class Wednesday morning, I realized there was a substitute teacher. The same substitute that knows absolutely no Spanish. He read the assignments very quickly and when we asked him to repeat it, he took an expo marker and slammed it into the whiteboard, causing a bit of black Ink to bleed out. I don't recall anyone treating him badly for him to act this way towards us. Then he went and sat at the desk and calmly picked up his book. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

The Real Magic of Good Karma

As I am lounging around, all huddled up in my cozy blankets, with a fall scented candle burning on my elephant themed alter, I have come to realize of how well Miss. Universe has been treating me. Ever since I have learned to accept how my life is right now, good has been coming my way. You put good vibes into the air and they come back at you 10 times better.

"Black or White": Movie Review

I recently watched a movie on Netflix called “Black or White”. It is a 2014 American drama film that depicts only the worst that a family can go through after losing a loved one. It was written and directed by Mike Binder.

In the film “Black or White”, there are many sad parts and many happy parts. The whole story is focused on an older man named Elliott (Kevin Costner) who has just lost his wife, and gets the joy of taking care of his young granddaughter Eloise (Jillian Estell), who he took custody of when her mother died during birth. When I say “the joy of taking care of…” I mean it in a not so bad way. He loves her but the only problem is, he really never had the responsibility of taking care of her thanks to his wives presence. Elliott quickly develops a drinking problem, and is later used against him in court when Eloise’s paternal grandmother, Rowena (Octavia Spencer) tries to fight for custody. She is doing this because she feels that being the age that Elliott is, he is not capable of taking care of Eloise.

"Mostly Martha": Review *Edited*

When most people want to be happy, they try everything to make it happen, right? The German film “Mostly Martha”, Is a mournful comedy. When a completely thrown together family become happy in the end, you ought to know what they had to go through.

I think this movie was great because it shows a lot of changes and challenges that a very emotional person has to go through, and in the end she starts to see the light in the end of the tunnel. The movie had a lot of inspiration tied into its melancholy mood until the end, where the mood was uplifted.

Martina Gedeck plays Martha Klein, a woman who is all about her work life. She is the master chef and ruler of the kitchen at a restaurant named Lido, located in Hungary, Germany. Martha’s obsession with her cooking sometimes gets in the way and causes outrageous confrontations with customers. The owner of the restaurant, Frida (Sibylle Canonica), recommends that she starts talking to a therapist (August Zirner), who did a very good job listening. I thought it was funny because, her therapy sessions often turn into food monologues instead of a stress manager. Martha get stuck raising her niece Lina, played by Maxime Foerste. She did an amazing job with this role. There were some parts that must have been unbelievably hard to act out, like losing your mother.

After Lina meets Mario, played by Sergio Castellitto, a fun-loving person, she starts to emerge from her depression. Martha realizes she is going to have to accept the fact that she has to share her kitchen with another chef. She accepts his loving personality into her life and opens up to him tremendously. I was very surprised with this because Martha is very uptight about who she talks too and never seems to find love in any human.

Martha reaches out to Mario for help in contacting Lina’s Italian father, Giuseppe Lorenzo, who has been out of the picture since before Lina was born. I’m actually glad that Martha and Mario are starting to hit it off because I thought they would have been a cute couple.

Now, Martha and Lina’s relationship isn’t all that perfect either. With many outrageous fight scenes they had, it almost surprised me that Martha let the girl back in her house. After smacking her, trying to run away to Italy because Martha had simply stated she couldn’t bring her to work anymore because she was missing school.

In the end of the movie, they all end up being a big happy family, but they obviously needed to go through many battles to make this happen. I think this film was truly amazing! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves rom-com dramas. I enjoy that this film was about love and food, my two favorite things.

My Goals During My 16th Year

My cousin Lisa and I have decided that this year is the turning point in my school and work life. We think this because, everything has only been good since I turned 16. For example: I got my driver’s permit, bought my first computer, opened up a new bank account, got involved with the school literary magazine and now I will be writing scripts for the drama club. But, I have many more goals that I would love to accomplish.

(Obviously) Making it through the school year alive/without failing- It hasn’t been up until recently that I started getting good grades in school. Although, as the work gets built up and harder, I get stressed and start to struggle. I have been blessed in the past with support from teachers and other individuals, and hope this year goes the same way. The teachers have always helped me because they get to know my personality and they know where in the work I struggle.

Better writing- I have always had a passion for writing but, I sometimes tell myself “maybe I’m not cut out for the writing lifestyle”. I think I tell myself this because I sometimes feel I am not interesting/creative enough to succeed. My cousin has proven that wrong. With all the love and support that she has brought to my blog, it has helped me realize, all writers suffer. She has also been helping me with my grammar and punctuation by making suggestions to what she thinks I can fix. It feels so good to have a little bit of family support from her and a couple other family members.

Work life- I plan on finding a job that is local and not 20 minutes away. As much as I love my job and the people that I work with, I don’t see myself working there much longer. I have applied to the taco bell right down the street that I can walk to. It’s not the type of work I want to be stuck with but, it will give me more work and more money. I recently applied for a restaurant in the next town over that I am really hoping to get a call back from them.

Becoming a better person towards myself- People may see me as a regular teenage boy going through many changes in life, good and bad. But, I do believe that I have many problems. I don’t think everyone believes in somebody being a self-made person. And I want to prove them wrong and show them that I can do it. Not having the support that I need does make it a difficult task. But I want to be able to follow my dreams and look at them the way I want. I want to believe that it is reality and not a crazy dream.

Becoming a better person towards others- I try to be as kind as I can be to other people, but sometimes (believe it or not), I have bad days too! Especially with the high levels of stress that I choose to put myself through. People have their ups and downs. All I can say is, only god can judge us! Many people have told me that I don’t have to be perfect to be successful.

Getting a therapist- I believe that getting a therapist would be a great idea. I need someone other than family. I have noticed that I have many people with listening ears in my life but, only a handful of them use them. A therapist would listen and tell me their thoughts and opinions on my feelings. Being able to talk to someone will be great. (I’m currently working on this)

I think I am going to do a great job in school and on the side have a career with writing (even if it’s just my blog and writing scripts). I don’t want to have the reputation that many teenagers have now, rebellious trouble makers. I want to be looked at like any other teenager that has high expectations for my future self.

Thank you so much for all the love and support! I have plenty more goals that I would love to share but I would be writing for so long. You also would probably get lost in the maze.

                                                             

                                                                   Jean-Paul

Getting My Driver's Permit

When I heard my alarm go off at 6:00 am, I was not a happy camper. Then I remembered what I had to do so early in the morning: I was going to get my driving permit.
 I just wanted to be able to hold the permit in my hands and be able to drive legally. I was so scared that I would fail the test. Not to mention, in order to take the test, I had to pay $30, Which wouldn’t be refunded if I failed. Luckily, I had support from My sister Missi and her boyfriend Matt.

Before we went to the registry, my older sister had a doctor's  appointment that ran a little late. She wasn’t that happy about the delay since it meant the line at the registry would be very long. Luckily, we weren’t at the doctor's office for that long. They took blood work and we were in and out in about an hour."

When we got to the registry, the line really was long.  While waiting, I met a sweet older woman. She had reddish/brown curly hair, big black sunglasses, and just happened to be a driving teacher. When I told her that I was going for my permit, she said, “If you have any driving questions, just ask me, honey." So I did ask a bunch of questions, and she told me that I would be all right. She calmed my nerves a little bit.

When we got In, the man at the desk was older. He was hard of hearing and I thought I was going to lose my voice while trying to be heard.  He gave me number C107. I thought to myself, “great, I just saw C102, it won’t be long". But an hour later..... I was still sitting there. A little girl was sitting next to me on the bench. I saw her in the line outside; she and her family must have been there forever. I felt so bad because she looked miserable. She gave me a face like, “Get me out of here... NOW!" It was getting later and later and I just wanted to plop myself in front of my computer. Then out of nowhere, the numbers all switched under the category letter “C." I think it was because my guides were getting impatient with my negative thoughts about failing so they bumped me up a notch.

My number got called and I headed to desk 3. The lady was big and blonde.  I gave her a smile and in return she gave me attitude. Listen, I thought, I was trying to be a polite teenager. You aren’t the only one who doesn’t want to be up this early! I think it was because my mom wasn’t there with me.  The woman was upset because my mom forgot to check off a box that verifies that she is my mother. Really lady!? It’s a box! So, I checked it off myself and handed it back to her. After she read all my info on the paper she still spelled my name wrong! This lady needed to wake up and smell the coffee. She gave me instructions on what to do if I passed but I kind of tuned her out because at that point I wanted her to be sent home.

I headed to the testing room and sat down. There were four computers aligned against one wall. I took the one closest to the left. Luckily I was the only one in there. That made it easier for me to concentrate. I felt like an idiot because the lady told me that, when I typed in my entry code, there would be an S but I could not find the S on the screen. Stupid me, it was right beneath the zero on the key pad. The computers were touch screen, which I found kind of neat.
I took the test which was easier than I thought it would be. When I completed it, I had to return to the malevolent ladies desk. Luckily the lady next to her saved the day. She called me over and asked if I passed. I said “ I think so.” I was in shock.

It makes me feel good to be able to drive around my mom now. She likes it.  And, the hardest part is, she has a standard. I picked up driving it in less than a week. Sure, I still stall here and there but I am definitely good for a beginner. And that is not me telling myself that I am good. Matt, Missi and my mom all compliment me every time I drive. That makes me feel really great about myself.

 I want to thank Missi and Matt for bringing me to the registry. I feel bad that we spent the whole day waiting to take the test but you guys have made it very clear that you didn’t mind bringing me and that you’re  excited to be chauffeured around.

Thank you for reading and I have to more come!
                                                  Jean-Paul

My First Mountain

       This trip was definitely not planned. This lady Katie from my moms old work contacted me asking me if I would like to go hiking. I met Katie because I went to work with mom one day and I was strolling through the halls singing. What I didn’t know was that the halls led in a square shaped form. So I kept walking and singing. Then the next thing I knew, Im standing in front of Katie’s desk and she started laughing.

I hadn’t done anything big and exciting since New York.  So I said yes to going out. She gave me two trails to pick from, one was very steep and one was longer. I chose the steep one because I thought it would be very adventurous. My mom tagged along because she hadn’t seen Katie since March of this year.

We drove to Katie’s house and I got to meet her 6 year old daughter. Katie’s daughter was so cute, she also has her mothers personality. I also got to meet their dog Puddles.

He was a white dog with grey spots. When we were driving, Puddles was trying to sit on the middle console. Every time Katie turned a corner, the dog slipped onto the floor of the car. It was so funny but, I felt bad that he couldn’t keep his balance. We all climbed into Katie’s car and made our way to the “trail”.

Little did I know, it was an actual mountain! We put our bug spray on and headed to the path through the trees. The first 15 minutes of traveling up the mountain I said “This really isn’t that bad, Its not that steep..."

 WRONG! Right after I said that, the elevation went from a 5 degree angle to a 50 degree angle. I made a big mistake choosing this trail. It just got steeper and steeper!

When we got to the top, the hike was definitely worth it. The view was so relaxing. You could see all the different color trees and many bodies of water. 

Seeing cars drive on the road made them look like ants traveling very fast. Katie’s daughter was making me really nervous by running around near the edges of the mountain. 

I was worried because it was a very steep drop.

Now the only thing that was making me kind of scared, was going back down.
I was worried I would fall and not make it to the bottom alive. Nothing like what I expected. Luckily I found a small dirt trail that was still steep but it was better than getting down on my butt and sliding with the chance of killing myself. I made it to the bottom and we headed back to Katie’s house.

We had such a great time while we where out. But, do you want to know what felt even better? When I got home, and dive bombed onto my bed and fell asleep. It was comfortable. When I woke up the next morning, I was so sore. Thank you Katie for such a great time! I would definitely do it again!

  Thank you  for reading and I have more to come!
Jean-Paul

My Experience With GoBus

                                                                My ride to NY

        Before I even bought my ticket for NY, I called the Go Bus company and asked how the drivers where. They told me “They are 5 star drivers”. Well from my experience, it didn’t really feel like five stars.
When I got to the bus station in Newton the lady at the desk didn’t even smile. I thought it was just me she wasn’t smiling at but,  it was every time anyone looked at her. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
The driver on the bus was a very blunt person and he didn’t show any emotion. We where on the road and  People would go up to him and try to talk to him and he just shook his head. “Sir how much longer until we get to New York?” “*Shakes head*”  He wasn’t really that smart either. 4 hours from New York and the AC system blew out. So after sitting on the bus with no AC he decided he would get off the highway and wait for another bus. The lady who was sitting diagonal from me got up and went to talk to him. When she got back I asked what he said. She said “He wanted to get off the road and wait for another bus, But the catch was it would be another hour and a half.” She told me that she told him that was ridiculous. Why would he wait for the last hour of the trip to switch busses that would only hold us up even longer. Im sorry, is that not thinking about how the customers want to do?  Maybe he thought that we wanted the AC but, all we wanted was to get to New York.


                          The ride back home

When I got on the bus the man seemed like he had more common sense than the first driver. We had a good trip, He even stopped at a rest area in Connecticut so that we could strtch and get some dinner. The bus driver had told us we have 15 minutes to get back to the bus which was fine with me. I got out and went straight for McDonald’s. I ordered a large iced hazelnut coffee and then I went and bought myself a couple of trail mix bars so I wasn’t starving. I think this was the wrong time to stop and eat. By the time we got back onto the bus, it was bumper to bumper traffic. He was already telling us we wouldn’t be home until 8:44. I was supposed to be arriving in newton around 6:30 and then having dinner with my uncle. I texted my uncle and informed him we would be in a little late. I picked up my book: The Accidental Traveler by Anne Tyler and read until I started recognizing the road signs to where we were. By then it was already 9:00 and I asked how much longer it would be. The man didn’t reply. So I went back to reading and then I start hearing bickering between the passengers on the bus and the bus driver. “We’re lost?” I said to the bus driver. Then I asked if he wanted the address they sent me on my phone when I bought the ticket. Next thing I knew he was turned around giving me attitude. “This is all planned, I know where we are!”  Then he had to call his supervisor to get directions! When I told my cousin Lisa that we were lost and he snapped at me, she was not happy with him or the company.
Finally we got to the bus station and I met up with my uncle immediately after I grabbed my bags from the drivers hands. I was upset because I had been on the bus longer than I expected. I felt bad for asking my uncle to drive me another 40 minutes home, but after the day I had I just wanted my own bed to sleep in.
I received a text message from Lisa, she wrote a letter to the bus company. It looked like a book! She had explained everything that went wrong in the message and she posed as me. I know if I were to write a letter it would have been nothing as powerful and demanding like that.
Literally a couple days later on my birthday, I got an email from the bus company. The email stated that they are sorry about my experience on the bus. The letter also said that the problem has been taken care of and that occasions like I experienced usually don’t occur. They have added $15.00 onto my account and so I will only have to pay half of a round trip! I guess it was my birthday wind that granted me this gift, Or just having an amazing cousin. I almost forgot to mention that the letter had a spelling error. For such a “nice” company they really don’t have a taste in who to hire. Other than that the drivers where good at their main job, driving. I am looking forward to using the company again.

Thank you for reading and I have more to come
Jean-Paul

My Last Day In NYC

Cont.

                    Wednesday- My last day in NYC

Waking up- When Lisa and I woke up, we acted more relaxed because we knew it was going to be hard to say goodbye. We sat around talking with Grace and then we decided to go get some coffee.

Oslos- We went to get coffee and I got to meet some of Lisa's neighborhood  friends. I met another writer that was sitting outside of the coffee shop. He was so funny. I also met a cute little dog. She was so loving. She came up to me and licked my hand a couple times, then took a seat under my legs and finally just fell asleep there. I wonder if she sensed I wasn’t myself that day. There was a lady sitting on a bench across from us. I knew she was listening into our conversation because every time we laughed she laughed. I couldn’t complain.  I like listening into peoples thoughts at  the coffee shop down the street from my house.

Campbells Cheese- We then made out way to the cheese shop and got two egg,bacon and cheese sandwiches. I had fig jam on mine and Lisa added hot sauce to hers. She couldn’t stop coughing when she ate it. I met three women at the shop. The first women behind the cash register was so funny. She is another cat lover! Lisa and the women exchanged cat photos. I wish I would have pulled up a photo of my cat. Then there was “Mermaid girl”.  Lisa gave her this name because of her aqua-blue hair. All I did was learn about her. I learned that she is designing a tarot deck of her own, which is awesome! The third lady I didn’t formally meet. She was so busy stocking shelves. But, we exchanged smiles with each other which I think was enough to say I met her.

Back at the apartment- After packing up all my stuff , including the amazing books that Lisa’s boss had sent to me: Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan,
Finches of Mars by Brian W. Aldiss, The Scorch Trials by James Dashner, Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit, Every Thing Every Thing by Nicola Yoon, Another Day by David Levithan, The Surpent Kind by Jeff Zenter, Illuminae by Amie Kaupman and Jay Kristoff. After we left, we dropped my bags off at gym again. Talk about Déjà vu

The Metropolitan art museum- After we “hit the gym,”  we made our way to the Met. Lisa and I got into the museum for 50 cents each. We headed straight to the ancient Egyptian exhibits. Here we saw carved stones,

 jewelry, 

and vases made out of clay. We actually channeled into the different energy here. It was like we where meeting Hatshepsut in person! After the ancient Egyptians we strolled through the Medieval Art and the Tiffany Glass.

 There was a separate room set up like a medieval bedroom. I said to Lisa “I want to live here!”

Then we ogled through the impressionist and post impressionist paintings. This is where I saw my favorite painter George Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon On the Island of La Grande Jatte” 

and Lisa saw her favorite paintings by Van Gogh.

Central Park- The first thing that caught my eye was there was a lady sleeping in the field with a full trash bag as a pillow. It made me kind of sad for that person. Then I saw people racing little toy sail boats in the little man made pond.

To the bus stop we went- After we got my bags from the gym, we headed to the subway platform. When we got to the bus stop, the bus was 20 minutes late. That was fine with me. An extra 20 minutes with my cousin was great. The the busses pulled up and I was first in line. 

I handed the man my bags to put under the bus. The time had come, I had to say bye to Lisa. I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then made my way onto the bus. When we started to pull away it was hard for me to look at her without her realizing that I was crying. I wanted to look strong.

Im not going to lie, it was a really emotional day for both of us. when we started to move forward I slowly slid down my new shades over my eyes and picked up my salad that Lisa had just bought me, 

and started sobbing. The man next to me asked if I was alright and I accidentally replied yes with a mouth full of spinach. Lisa and I were writing each other the whole ride home. The only thing that made it easy for me to stop crying and calm down was when Lisa told me I would be back.

Thank you Lisa Rosman for one of the best experiences anyone can ask for. You have really changed the way I look at life (for example here:  The Coffee Shop Down The Street).
This trip was definitely needed by both of us. I plan on making my way back with the money I made off of the bus company. Ill explain that in my next post!

                                       Thank you for reading and I have more to come.
                                                                   Jean-Paul

My Second Day in New York

Continued.

                                                            Tuesday

NY1- Tuesday morning when Lisa and I woke up, we had our morning coffee before we had to go into the city. After we were finished our coffee, we had to get ready for Lisa to go into work. We jumped on the subway and headed to NY1 above Chelsea market. Lisa is on a TV show called Talking Pictures. I always watch the show online, but Tuesday I got to see the show in a whole new perspective. I was able to watch them record the show. It was a fantastic experience. Seeing my cousin on TV always makes me smile. After the show, I even got to sit in on the meeting they had with the director.

Chelsea Market- I think this was the biggest tourist attraction I saw the whole time I was is NY, except for time square. Luckily when we showed up before the show taping, mainly everything was closed so it was easy to walk through and get to the elevator. Then after the show was taped it was packed. Here I bought a nice small amethyst stone, which sends positive vibes to everyone and it is also for protection. After we looked around a little bit more, we bought a chicken salad while we where waiting for another one of Lisa’s friends Jude. After Jude showed up, and we made our way to the highline.

Highline- When we got to the highline, we just walked around and enjoyed the view. We finally found a seat on the ground near a little benched area. Jude and I got to know each other a little more. I learned that she is a songwriter/singer/rapper. She also told us that she just finished filming the video for her song Zip Car. While we where up there, I got to give Jude a tarot card reading (My first official reading).

Jude was so patient with me. Jude, if you read this I want you to let you know, the next time I see you I will be a lot better. After the reading, Jude showed Lisa and I the video she told us about. And then out of nowhere, we started hearing clapping.

Somebody was having their wedding on the highline. What more can I see during my visit?

China Town- When we departed from Jude, we headed into china town. China town felt like a whole another place other than NYC. I kept forgetting where I was.

 It helped that the signs where in both English and Chinese. There where many different shops that had amazing decorations.

Pearl River- Pearl River is a store in China towns. Lisa and I went in and the atmosphere instantly changed from the crazy city to a nice calm little store with many fountains running and incense burning.  It was such a nice environment. Lisa ended up buying a white coffee mug decorated with pink flowers and a snake for my my mom. The snake stands for the Chinese year of the snake. 

She also bought a fan to cool herself off. It was a very shiny fan. 

Before we left, My cousins eyes caught a very interesting looking woman. She had vibrant red lipstick on, a scarf that was orange and white (I personally kept looking at it like it was an ice cold creamsicle), then she had a really cool tattoo that was either a snake or a dragon and then she had a cute little puppy with her. He looked exhausted due to the heat. This women was really cool and she even let me take a photo of her. As we walked away she let us know that her name is Joanna and her dogs name is spelled A-b-i.

Tarot for Hillery-  Hillery is another one of Lisa’s good friends. When she showed up to Lisa’s apartment, she immediately started talking to me as if we had known each other for a while. Lisa informed me that I would read cards for Hillery. I pulled out my deck and did a little bit of a better job than with my first reading with Jude. Before she left, she gave me a big hug and told me she can’t wait until next time.

Hedwig- After waiting all day, the time had finally come. 

Lisa and I quickly downed some of the left over dinner from Monday night.  Then we jumped on the subway and went on our way. When we entered the theater, a nice man greeted us and showed us to our seat. He also informed us that there was no photography allowed.

Lisa and I being the rebels we are, captured some photos of the set.

 But, we weren’t sneaky enough. The same guy who greeted us was standing in the walkway and was looking at us. He then reminded us, THERE IS NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED!

The show was fantastic! And what made it even better was that Taye Diggs was playing Hedwig. I am so glad that my first trip to New York, I got to go to a Broadway show with Lisa! Thank you.

Time Square- It was amazing seeing Times Square at night all lit up. 

I had someone in a Spiderman costume that was trying to take a picture with. No thank you. Lisa took a photo of me standing in Time Square. 

I have my arms wide open “Like Hedwig”.

Williamsburg waterfront- After Times Square, Lisa said she wanted to take me to the waterfront and show me the city lit up. Before we got there we stopped at a random bar to use the bathroom. I almost got stuck in the bathroom because the lock would not budge. When we got to the waterfront there where so many different types of people there. There two people meditating looking out on the beautiful reflection on the water, there was a man practicing his break dancing. The city is beautiful at night.

After all the walking we did Tuesday, we looked at the pedometer when we got home. We had walked 7.7 miles. And that is with some relaxing time added to the schedule. Busy day, wasn't it?

                                        Thanks for reading and I have more to come!

                                                                     Jean-Paul