I'll never forget that faitful day when I was in school- only seven years old at the time- and everyone was freaking out. Panicking. Total chaos. I knew right away something wrong has happened. When I got home all that was on TV was one of the World Trade Center towers (twin towers), burning and crumbling to peices. And then all of a sudden a second airplane flew into the other building. The sight was horrible. People running. Screaming. Burning. Dying. And the worst sight of all was the people jumping out of the building windows. A horrible day for America. But there is a story some people forget. A third plane was hijacked but the passengers overtook the plane and landed in a field in my homestate if Pennsylvania. Those people are true American heroes. And I have to sometimes ask 'why?'. Why would someone train for tens of years to do something so horrible? Do they get some kind of entertainment out of this? But on this day we don't remember the horrible thing they did, we are remembering the thousands of people who's lives were lost and the people who sacrificed their lives to stop that third plane. They are the real heroes.

I found this letter I think you should all read; A message to Osama bin Laden on the one-year anniversary of his terror: You failed. If you are dead, you failed, because you are not in some blessed place, sitting under the Yum Yum tree. You are in a corner of hell reserved for murderers. And if you live on, you failed, too. Because you are hidden in some cave in a forsaken corner of the world, forced to recognize the truth: What you sought to weaken, you fortified. What you sought to terrorize, you emboldened. How does it feel, to have so woefully miscalculated? We are smarter, stronger, more aware and more involved. We treat our neighbors with more patience and our country with more love. If you sought to destroy our spirit, you failed. If you sought to destroy our will, you failed. And if you sought to destroy our institutions, you failed, big time, even on the very day you had the advantage. One of the four planes you stole last Sept. 11 did not even make its mark. It was retaken by passengers who proved there is no need to fear you or your cowardly henchmen. With two words, "Let's roll," that plane was driven into the ground, and instead of taking down a monument, it became one. Its Pennsylvania crash site is an inspirational place. For us, not for you. You gave us something to feel good about. How does it feel? You failed. If you planned on demoralizing us, you failed. If you planned on dividing us, you failed. If you planned on destabilizing us, we're still here. Our streets, our schools, our government, our freedom. You, on the other hand, lost your sand lot. You lost your real estate. You lost your roof and your umbrella, your shelter from the storm, you lost something all of us can claim, but you no longer can. You lost your home. You lost your friendly host, the Taliban. You lost caves and training camps and what little infrastructure you had. You scatter with a breeze, leaving maps and tapes and bags and boots as you race for a place to hide, a bug scampering behind the refrigerator. Do you think people are inspired by such flight? Do you think people admire it? If you sought to command respect, you failed. And if you sought to affect our patriotism -- well, you couldn't have done much worse. In a single day, thanks to your heinous act, this nation transformed, from a people who saw their country as a place worth enjoying, to a people who saw their country as a place worth saving. You made us fierce. You made us united. You made us mad, and that's a deadly thing to do. But if you sought to make us fear you, you failed. If you sought to make us respect you, you failed. If you sought to make us listen to you, you failed. Most people don't even bother with the translation of your cryptic messages anymore. We flip channels. We move on. We ignore your hate. If you sought to win converts, you lost. If you sought to make things better for your people, you lost. If you sought to rally Muslims to your warped and pathetic view, you lost more than you can calculate. Life has rarely been worse for those who follow your religion. They are scrutinized, harassed, singled out and picked on. They hate this. But they hate you more for bringing it upon them. You did not gain their allegiance, only their wrath. If you sought to unnerve us, you lost. If you sought to undermine us, you lost. If you sought to put a permanent dent in the American economy, well, look again. The airlines are still flying. Wall Street still functions. Your financial flow, on the other hand, has never been more scrutinized. And while we haven't shut off every faucet, we've shut a few. The world is not your ATM anymore. How does it feel? If you dreamed of victory, you failed. If you dreamed of domination, you failed. If you dreamed of Muslims on one side, Westerners on the other, you failed. And if you dreamed of glory and righteousness and, most of all, your god's blessing -- you do not have it. No matter how many times you invoke his name, you do not have it. No god loves you. No god forgives you. No god blesses you. No god condones you. Today we remember your day of destruction, but not you. Today we honor those who fell, but not you. We suffered that day, we suffered and we grieved, but then we did what we do best. We came back stronger. We came back united. We stood up straight and resolved more than ever that our way of life is precious and true and loving and right. We buried our dead. We mourned for them. Today, we remember. But tomorrow, the world goes on. You failed, bin Laden, in every important way. It is one year after your fire in the sky. We've cleaned up our ashes. The only ones left are yours.

It sucks. School started for me last wednesday. I'm sorry I haven't been on lately but I have been superbusy with highschool. I am a freshman this year so everything is new to me. In gym class every sport we play is freshmen versus everybody else (over half the gym class is freshmen). The first couple days of school I hated. I got lost almost every period (seniors tell you the wrong ways to go so i never listen to them). And then I couldn't get my locker open the first two days so I had to carry all of my books all day. And I have too walk to and from school for 25 mins each day (with all my books in my backpack just to remind you). And to top it all off, the first 3 days of school it rained when I was walking home.

But now that I got my locker down and I know where to go, its not so bad. But that doesn't mean I dont hate it.

Friday night I went to see Styx in concert. Styx isn't really one of my favorite bands but there were really no other bands coming to my town to perform and for $14.99, I can't complain. They sang "Lady", "Come Sail Away", "Renegade","Too much time on my hands, Grand illusion" ,"Fooling Yourself" and did a cover version of 'I am the Walrus".and other songs. It was pretty fun.

Then the next day (yesterday), we went to Kennywood one last time before summer vacation ends (i go back to school wednesday). Everything was fine until we rode the pirate ship. I always thought the pirate ship was one of the safest ries in an amusement park. I'm pretty sure almost everybody who ever went to an amusement park before rode this ride. Everything was fine until the ride was about to end. This ride is usually only two minutes long, and when it was about the third minute people started to think something was wrong. We seen the guy operating the ride open the fuse box then a couple minutes later he was on the phone. The ride wouldn't stop and we started speeding up and going higher and higher. Finally the ride stopped after about 15 minutes. We was on the ride so long that I threw up.