School has been going better than great. I have been meeting new people and making new friends. I never realized how many friends I have until this year. Everyone always says "HI" in the hallway. It is fun. Homecoming went awesome. It has been the best homecoming yet (It was my second hehe). I feel terrible for sorta ditching my date. She was mad at me for a few weeks after the dance but we are friends again. I'm glad she is my friend again, she is a good friend. I have never grinded and fast danced as much as I did at this Homecoming. It was so much fun. I used to not fast dance because I was embarressed of what people might think of me, but at homecoming I didn't care! I danced a lot and sweat my @$$ off! We were all in a big group and it was fun seeing all my friends and all my friends who were at their first homecoming. We went to Baker's Square afterwards. That was nice to. My date along with her best friend and her date and my best friend (there was 5 of us) hung out. Our waitor was awesome. He memorized like 3 tables orders without writing anything down. It was funny because my friend ordered a bacon chicken sandwich sandwich and she said "without the bacon, lettuce and chicken" (or something like that) and the waitor is like "Huh? You only want the bread? LOL she meant to say no bacon, lettuce, or tomato. I got a sandwich and carrot cake (MY FAVORITE!!) Well that's about it. I wrote like 4 entries today so I'm going to stop typing, hehe. I can't wait until halloween! Talk to you guys later!

At the beginning of August, I went to Six Flags with my best friend. I met up with some of my other friends there too. I can't believe it! I faced my fear of roller coasters and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! I went on American Eagle! WOW! That is amazing hehe. I tried my best to compile a list of all the rides I went on, it is posted below. Most of the rides I went on multiple times.

*The American Eagle
*Ragin' Cajun
*King Chaos
*Revolution
*The Orbit
*Splashwater Falls
*East River Crawler
*Ricochet
*Chubasco
*Roaring Rapids
*Trailblazer
*Whirligig
*Fiddler's Fling
*Triple Play

I'm so glad my best friend was with me. If it wasn't for her, I couldn't face my fear like I did.

I can't until Fright Fest, it will surely be a BLAST !!

August 21, 2004: Today my mom and her boyfriend got married. The marriage was done at city hall. It was interesting to see a city hall wedding, I've never seen one before. The wait was 3 hours. It seemed that many people wanted to get married today. The actual ceremony was only about 3 minutes. Here are some pictures of the event:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-6/745113/Wedding008.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-6/745113/Wedding013.jpg

July 28, 2004- Today I turned 15 officially. It didn't feel much different because I have been telling everyone I am 15 since April. The other day my best friend came over with her sister and her sister's friend. She brought over some homemade puppy chow- it's a dessert, it was really good even though they ate most of it (LOL, I didn't mind). They made me cards and put candy inside for me. It was really nice of them to remember. Today I awoke with the sound of my door bell ringing repeatedly at 7:30am. It was my neighbors. They brought me presents, a balloon, and cake. We put candles on the cake (which they baked themselves) and lit them. It took forever to light the candles and we came close to burning ourselves. LOL. When I blew them out, wax was all over the cake, hehe it was all good though. The cake was yummy. I got to open presents after that. One of my neighbors gave me the Ashlee Simpson CD and the other gave me a brand new football and tee. It was so awesome. Later that morning, around 11:30am, my neighbors and I went to a special movie presentation they had at the theater. On certain mornings, the theater played movies for the little kids that weren't exactly new. We saw Cat in the Hat. It was my first time seeing it and I enjoyed the movie a lot. After that, I went to the theater and saw A Cinderella Story with my other friend. It was a lot of fun. When my parents got home, we went to the Olive Garden, one of my favorite restaurants. The wait wasn't too long and the food was great. When the waitress brought an extra mint my brother said to give it to me since it was my birthday. The waitress is like "It's your birthday?" even though I said no (as a joke) she said that they had to come and sing for me. 5 minutes later about 10 waiters/waitresses were by our table singing Happy Birthday really loudly. It was a little embarrassing, but it was fun and memorable all the same. When I was home and checked my e-mail, I got 6 e-mails saying Happy Birthday; it was very nice and thoughtful of everyone. Thank you to everyone that made my birthday so memorable and special.

Wow this is amazing. I have a feature where I can see how many people visit this journal and from where. This is kinda surprising. 90% of people that visit this site where referred here from doing a google search. Some popular search topics that got people here were "Ashlee Simpson", "Poland Trip 2004" and "Titanic puzzle", that is kinda funny. Anyway, my web site has been down for a very long time. I think for at least a month or two. This is sad. The site is probably returning sometime later this week. (Probably the weekend). I finished all Halloween customization to the site yesterday. You are probably wondering if the time of this entry is correct. It is, no worries. I didn't ditch school if that is what you are thinking. I felt really sick this morning (I'll spare the details) and decided to go to school anyway. I began to feel worse, so after my Biology test (the biggest reason why I wanted to go to school) I went home. I had to walk because my parents could not give me a ride. It was alright though. I'm feeling a little better now. I hope I get 99% better by later this afternoon. I have a volunteer event sponsored by the Gurnee Park District that I have been waiting for since summer vacation and I really don't want to miss it. It the Halloween Trick or Treat Path. It is really interesting, I went to the one last year. I get to wear a costume (I get to be Goofy again this year) and I get to hand candy to the little kids and get pictures with them as well. I can't wait until Halloween. My house is already all jazzed up and I'm invited to my friend's Halloween party. It's going to be great. I'm really upset with myself. I'm behind about 6 entries. There have been some cool things going on that I was supposed to write an entry about but I never took the time to write the entry. I'll talk about some of the most important ones now, they will be posted after this. Sorry for the lack of details, some of these events occured a while ago and I don't remember too much about them.

Work has been awesome! There are days where I don't like it as much but that's just because I am tired. I have been having a lot of fun. I'm so glad I got this job. I see most of my friends often, I get a nice tan (even though it's farmer's), everyone is very friendly, the little kids are so adorable, and I get to help people. I'm pretty much covered for the next few years (summer job wise). From now on, I will just get a letter in the mail asking whether or not I want to work, all I have to do is check "yes" or "no" and I will work for that summer, I don't have to go through the whole process of filling out an application and getting an interview. I can't wait until next summer, besides driver's ed, I will be able to work all day and stay after 9 on rental days. Child labor laws prevent me from working all day long and after 9PM. In two years, when I will be driving (hopefully), I will be able to drive to work instead of taking the bus and I'll be able to drive to the pool at 8 to teach swimming lessons. Today was a great day at work. I have been working almost everyday lately and I've been a slide attendant all this time. I'm not sure which I like better...slide attendant or deck attendant. They both have their pros and cons. Today was really stressful at the drop slides. There were all these little camp kids who just met the age requirement but didn't know how to swim all that well. They kept going down before I told them to and once a little boy almost landed on top of another one. Then a girl went down and got stuck under the water that was pouring from the slide, she couldn't swim that well away from it. The lifegaurd blew his whistle and jumped in to save her. It was embarressing because it seemed like it was my fault. I also got a verbal warning from one of my supervisors because I forgot to write my position on my time card. I didn't know we were supposed to in the first place but oh well. Ok hope everyone's summer is going really well, I know mine is. 4 more weeks until the start of Sophmore year! Talk to you all later, buh bye!

Click here for my summer work schedule

OMG! I just heard that one of the famous statues here was vantilized badly! OMG! It is the statue of the sea god Neptune! Soccer is the sport here. It is as popular as football or baseball in Amercia. Well anyway......Portugal won against England and some gang did not like this. So they went to the statue (like 200 of them) and one of them climbed atop the statue (it is really high and above a fountain I dunno how someone could climb on it) and they broke the sword he was holding and they put a green and white scarf around his neck (the symbol of that gang). Then when the guy was trying to get down from the statue, he fell and some flesh from his thigh got stuck on the statue. Sorry that was a bit disturbing. But that is what happened. I'm at my aunt and uncle's house right now (I refered to it as my cousin's house in the last entry). We are really close to where the statue is so we might visit it tomorrow to see what it looks like. OKAY. NE WAY....I haven't wrote an entry in a while. I'm sorry. I was beginning to write one a few time before but my cousin's wanted to use the computer or go outside. OK at the end of Day 4 I had to go to the dreaded grandmother's house. It truned out to be okay. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I thought my grandmother would be asking me questions about the divorce. She didn't really. She only asked how many people lived with us and when my mom and Jesse returned from work. My uncle (on my dad's side) is really cool. He was there to and he talked to me and my brother (he went along). My grandmother and him lost a lot of weight. My grandmother said she lost close to 20 kg (I dunno what that is in pounds). She had a lot of serjury so that explained things. Day 5 started with my grandfather and I building a Titanic puzzle. He is really into puzzles. I wanted to spend some time with him so I did. The Titanic puzzle was the easiest. I'm not good with puzzles but my grandfather is. He puts togther puzzles with 1000 + pieces. The Titanic one is only 200 and the pieces were big. Later my brother hung out with his friend named Carol. He sees him everytime we come down here. My cousin (from my dad's side) and her boyfriend were with us to. She is 19. She also lost a lot of weight. There is a new park and bike path here. We walked on the bike path around the beach. It was fun. Day 6 we went to this big famous garden with a lot of plants and stuff. LOL. I don't know exactly what it was but it was nice. I'll post pictures on my web site soon from that and everywhere esle I have gone. Also on Day 6 we went to one of the largest churches in Poland. It was cool. They had a huge organ in the wall and they played a concert. On our way back from the church I bought a new necklace with a cross on it. It cost 30 zlote (the Polish currancy). 3.75 zlote= about $1. During day 7 I was at my aunt and uncles. My cousin (the oldest) named Silvia introduced me to all her girlfriends (friends that are girls) LOL. We walked around a lot and played Volleyball. That is very popular here. It just rained and the ball fell down a hill. It was steep and tall. I went down the hill to get the ball and got all muddy and wet. One of my cousins later told me that the guy playing with us did that on purpose to mkae me look stupid. OH WELLS. Day 8 we went to a giant castle in the town of Malbork. My uncle had to drive us there. It was a 2 hour drive. The cars in Poland are very tiny and there wasn't much room. I had to sit in the back with my aunt and Jesse. I was in the middle. My butt hurt when we finally got there LOL. The castle was cool. There was a lot of walking. We had a tour guide. I could somewhat make out what she was saying (in Polish). She talked really fast. It was interesting. The only bad thing was that we had to pay ahead of time if we planned to take pictures. I took a lot of pictures while we were there. Day 9 I went to my aunt and uncles again and we went to downtown Gdansk. That's where the Neptune statue is. I got pictures of the statue by the way before it was destroyed. On day 10 my cousins came over and we hung outside. On day 11 I went to the beach with my cousin and her girlfriends. On Day 12 I went to the biggest pier in Poland. That was cool. I bought suvoniers there for a lot of people. Day 13 (Today)- I visited my grandmother's (mom's side) for the second time. I bought the nicest candles to put on it with my own money. I cleaned around it where there was dirt. My cousins came over again and we hung out. My cousins begged my uncle to let me sleep over on my last full night here so that's where I am now. Dang it is Midnight!!!! I have to go to bed LOL. Tomorrow is my last full day. I am going to visit my grandfather's (dad's side) grave. The trip there is 2 hours. I have to be with my grandmother for that long (well 4 and a hlaf hours if you count there and back plus being at the grave itself). Sunday morning we have to wake up at 2 AM, go to the Gdansk airport, catch a flight to Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Then we have to wait 6 hours and catch a flight to Chicago which will take minimum 9 hours. I'm not sure about times, I'll try to post them later on. Oh I forgot to talk about what happened to my oldest cousin. Well my oldest cousin, she is 16, was offered to get her nails painted by my mom so she was getting them painted and my grandfather saw. He was freaking out and saying she was too young (SHE IS 16). People are so strict here and everything. Oh and they drive fast too (80 km an hour) really fast. LOL. G2G. GOOD NIGHT!!!!!!!

Hey guys! I finally got internet access! I'm at my cousins house right now. His parents are at work and we are just "chillin" I guess. I just woke up to my forth day in Poland. It's 10:05 AM here and 3:05 AM in the USA! LOL! N E WAYS....let me tell you about my trip. The plane ride was very scary. There was a lot of turbulance and I was really scared. The plane ride was about 9 hours long. The plane took off an hour later than it was supposed to. It had to taxi for that long, we were in line on the runway and we were like the 40th plane in line so we had to wait long. We got the 3 seats in the middle between the isle and my brother got one seat on the side that was not a window seat (he had to sit next to an old lady...LOL). My mom did not like that. She specifically ordered window seats and we did not even get one seat with a window. Oh wells. Across form us was a little kid (about 10 years old) and his grandpa. When we were waiting on the runway he kept picking his nose and putting his gum in his nose then back in his mouth, it was nasty, I had to look since he was seating next to a window and I was looking through it to check if the plane was about to take off. During the in-flight movie (which was 50 First Dates) I was smiling and holding in my laugh (since it was time for people to sleep). My mom and Jesse were laughing and I wasn't. A lady in front of us (whom I felt sorry for earlier for being by herself) yelled at me. She is like "some people are trying to sleep, be quiet." I was so mad at her. See Poland is a lot different than America. People are different here. You can't smile at someone walking down a street and expect them to smile back. Everyone is really rude. I guess that living living in a country that is not free gets you that way. When we got here, we went to my grandfather's house where we will be staying for the whole trip. We had the usual welcome dinner as always. I got to see a lot of my family that is down here. My uncle, he is so awesome, he's so hilarious, no matter the situation he will make you laugh. His wife (my aunt) is really nice. She is very thoughtful and caring. Then there are my three cousins: Martinca, Silvia, and Mateuz (Matt). They can all speak a little English. My aunt and uncle can speak a lot of Polish, Silvia (the oldest of my cousins) can speak a lot too. After the dinner I went to sleep. I didn't get any sleep on the plane so I was really tired. The next morning I learned that one of our extention cords exploded and the power to my grandpa's apartment went out. I always have to miss all the good stuff. The power outlets are different in Europe than America. We tried plugging it in and putting the adaptor on but it overloaded the power outlet and yea...it exploded. Thank goodness that my brother's and Jesse's lab tops did not get messed up or fried. They were charging at the time. We had breakfast (leftovers from the welcome dinner) and then we unpacked our suitcases and put everything in 2 closets. Since it was Sunday in Poland, I went to church with my grandpa (which is all new since the last time I visited). After church, my grandpa went to vote for I forget what. I got to go with him. After he voted, we went on a walk around town (I was in dressy clothes from church). They used to have a farm-like place here where people could rent out little farms. They destroyed everything and built a huge park with a road for walking/bike riding/running. It looks really nice. On Day 2, my cousins and aunt and uncle went with my family on a long walk to the park and around other places. We stopped by the beach too. Martinca, Silvia, and I had a ball we were tossing around and that we were trying to keep away from my cousin Matt. It was fun. Until we lost the ball in a bush and could not find it. Oh wells. Silvia is really funny. She talks English and she always says "Of course" and when someone else says that then she says "that's my text" LOL. She can speak good English. We also went to the pier. That was a lot of fun. We got ice cream on the way back too. Day 3- we went grocery shopping and I played the Sims on Jesse's lab top all day. It was fun. My two cousins, Silvia and Martinca went on a trip for school so they will be away for a few days. Matt and I played the Sims for a little bit then we went to my uncles house where I am sleeping over with Matt right now. It is bunches of fun up in hurr, we are just walking around outside and playing with his dog, Pluto. His dog is very funny. HAHA. It is very smart too. I will post a picture here soon. It's the beginning of Day 4 now, we just woke up. I have to go now cuz we are going to get Strawberries. My cousin, Matt says "Hi." I'll try to post another entry before I go back to my grandfather's house later today. Wow it is so great to finally talk English. LOL. Buh Bye!

So far I've had a week and 2 days off of school. Summer has been great. It was hot all week so my neighbors and I went to Walgreens to buy water balloons then we had water balloon fights/tosses for like 3 days straight. It was off da heezie! I wanna make this summer a good one! I want to make it fun! Last summer was awful! It was so damn boring...ugh...don't want a repeat of that! N E WAYS! I have been up since 3:30 now making sure the whole site is updated so you peeps will have something to do while I'm gone on vacation. It's going to be great. I'm leaving for the airport at 1 PM (I'll say it's today since technically it is today) and then my plane will be taking off (without any delays) at 5:30PM. We have to get to the airport early for security check and "all that jazz." OH WELLS, that's fine with me I guess. I'm really scared though. About 1- the airplane 2- my relatives 3- my grandmother. First of all, last time I was on a plane was the last time I went to Poland (3 or 4 years ago). I was okay with it, until I saw the plane scene in The Day After Tommorrow. That REALLY scurred me. Then I'm afraid my relatives will think I'm wierd. I'm afraid I wont be able to communicate with them very well. I do not speak Polish that well anymore. I mean there is so much I want to tell my grandfather and cousins about, but can't cuz I dunno how to say it right. Sure I could ask my mom to translate some stuff but even she is losing her Polish. Why are Polish (the language) and polish (how you make things shiney) spelled the same? AHHHHH that bugs me. OH WELLS. N E WAY. Number Three was my grandmother. I'm supposed to just visit her and give her some medication that they don't have in Poland that my dad bought for her here. My dad made it sounds like I would be with her for a long time. I only want to visit her once. I mean that sounds mean. No offense to her, but I dunno. I'm afraid she is gonna talk to me about the divorce (I will be alone, my mom wont go cuz It's my dad's mom). Also, she makes me eat and eat and eat! Last time I was in Poland I specifically remember her saying after we got off the plane (in Polish of course) that she "was expecting me to be a little more chubby." AHHHH. Not a good thing to say to someone who thinks he is fat and is self conscious about his body. Oh wells. I'll have to manage. The flight [today] is 9 and 1/2 hours from O'Hare to Warsaw (The capital of Poland). We have to take another plane at that point to Gdansk (where my relatives live) so that will be another 15-20 minutes. It's fine though, I get to play the Sims on the plane (till the batteries on the lab top run out--about 2 hours of playing) and I'm also bringing my Harry Potter book. AHHHH. I should stop talking about this, it's making me even more nervous. I'll have fun though. Wish me luck....tootles noodles.

P.S: I'll try my best to post new entries while in Poland to give you the low down on everything that is happening.