All Good Things Must Come to an End

Dear Friend,
During the past few months I have been reading "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky for my English class. When my teacher told us what the book was about I was a bit skeptical. It didn't seem like the type of book I would enjoy. However, once I started I was completely hooked. After a few days of reading I had to force myself to stop because I didn't want to get too far ahead. I guess the reason that I love this book so much is the connection I am able to make with Charlie, the main character. I have never been able to relate to a character in a book in this way before. As you know I am a listener rather than a talker. I barely said anything in my English class, for example, but you could point out one of my classmates and I would be able to tell you a lot about them. I can see so much of myself in Charlie's personality. My only regret is that I can't give this book to my younger brothers so that they can read it. There is so much that they could learn from it, but there are some things in the book that aren't appropriate for them. I know you don't read a lot of books but I definitely think you should give this one a try.

In one of my favorite scenes Patrick shows Charlie a poem that was rumored to be a suicide note. This scene didn't make me feel happy but I did feel something and the funny thing is that I can't tell you what it was. Of course I felt sad but it was more than that. It made me want to help the person who wrote the poem. I wanted to change the ending to his or her life but I couldn't. I'm not sure if there was a scene that I didn't like. In one scene Charlie is told to kiss the prettiest girl in the room. Instead of kissing his girlfriend he kisses the girl who he is really in love with. This scene made me feel uncomfortable but I didn't dislike it.

There were two quotes that I thought were really special. The first quote was one that a lot of people also thought was good. "And in that moment, I swear we were infinite." Charlie thinks this when he is in a car with his friends, Sam and Patrick, and they are listening to music. I like this quote because it struck me as an odd sentence when I first read it. It made me think about what it means to be infinite. I would tell you what it means to me if it was possible to put it into words. This second quote is my favorite. "I walked over to the hill where we used to go and sled. There were a lot of little kids there. I watched them flying. Doing jumps and having races. And I thought that all those little kids are going to grow up someday. And all of those little kids are going to do the things that we do. And they will all kiss someone someday. But for now, sledding is enough. I think it would be great if sledding were always enough, but it isn't." Wouldn't it be great if sledding was enough? I think it would be wonderful if life were as simple as a trip down a snowy hillside on a sled, or an afternoon at the park, or watching the sun set. If only it were enough to simply live and enjoy life.

I won't spoil the ending for you because I want you to find out for yourself. All you need to know is that their is a surprising twist. I will say the twist isn't positive. I was actually relieved after I finished reading it because I thought something worse was going to happen to Charlie. I also liked how things turned out between Charlie and Sam. You'll know what I mean after you read the book. I don't want to say much more about it other that the ending was one of the best parts of the book.

Hope to see you soon,
Sean

I use this strategy whenever I'm feeling anxious about an upcoming test. When I'm feeling nervous I remember all the past tests I've taken and realize that I usually do well. This gives me confidence in my abilities and helps me relax. Having something to look forward to helps me get through a bad day more than recalling past events. Realizing that there will always be good times ahead is a big help.

One Friday afternoon my brother and I decided to go see a movie with some friends. I was thirteen and my brother was eleven at the time. We had planned on getting a ride with our friends to the movie theater but we were both held up at school and couldn't get home in time. I called and said that we would get a ride from our parents. When we arrived at the theater the movie had already started. We couldn't find the group so we sat in the only open seats available. When the movie was over we went back to the foyer in search of our friends. They were nowhere to be found. This put us in quite a predicament. We had told our parents that we would get a ride home with the other kids so they were not expecting to pick us up. I took out my cell phone only to find that the battery was dead. Neither of us were feeling brave enough to ask a stranger for the use of their cell phone so we decided to walk home. It took us about a hour to get home but along the way we learned a lot about each other. I realized we had never had the time to really talk until then. There had always been distractions between us. There aren't any distractions when your walking through an empty field so we were forced to give our full attention to one another. I learned a lot about him during that time.

I tend to be an extremely anxious person when it comes to school work. During the school year I wouldn't think about anything else if I didn't fight it off. My constant state of mind would be: "What if I get an F on this test and fail the class. Then I might not graduate and work at 7 eleven for the rest of my life." This is, of course, totally absurd. One test doesn't decided the path you will take in life. Irrational or not, this was the way I thought. To get my mind of my school work I started to workout at the school gym in the mornings. This probably wasn't a good idea because it tired me out before football practice in the afternoons but it helped me keep my mind off of school.

A Life Well Lived

Dreams- Van Halen
Hard Knock Life- Jay Z
We Will Rock You- Queen
When You Were Young- The Killers
Starlight- Muse
Beautiful Day- U2
Citizen Soldier- 3 Doors Down
It Was a Very Good Year- Frank Sinatra
Somewhere Over the Rainbow- Judy Garland
The Final Countdown- Europe
Dreams- Van Halen

"Dreams" by Van Halen is the most important song because it sums up the way my Dad has lived. He is always reaching for the stars; pushing the limit of what a human being can achieve. My Dad carries me up with him and helps me make my dreams a reality. When I listen to this song I think of my Dad and everything he has done for me.

This list of songs represents the stages of my Dad's life. I don't want to go into detail about what each song means because I might never stop typing. When he listens to these songs I hope my Dad can look back on his life and feel like it was worthwhile. I want him to see the positive impact he has had on me and others around him.


My mom can give a very intimidating stare.
My dad's sneeze sounds like a gunshot.
My brothers can argue about meaningless topics better than anyone.
My dog has the most intriguing left ear.
My neighbor sounds like a bear when he laughs.

Have I ever told you how beautiful a sunset on the beach in Florida is. It would be impossible to describe but I'll try. In the evening when the sun is moments away from touching the horizon the inhabitants of Anne Maria Island flock to the beach carrying multicolored lawn chairs to watch the sunset. The suns glows with a bright orange light as it sinks towards the brilliant, fiery waters below. The clouds around the sun glow with the same orange light while those further away are streaked with blue and pink. The sun touches the horizon the people around me cheer as the suns glow seems to spread across the water. The sky darkens as the sun slowly disappears until all that remains is a faint red glow. The clouds above shine with an eerie blue light as the people walk back to their homes.

I guess my glory days where my high school years when I played football. Those where great times. I liked my school and I had a lot of good friends. I really had fun playing football and I made lasting relationships with my fellow players and coaches. Everything always seemed to be going great in high school. I was not yet troubled by the responsibilities of the real world. I hope my college experience will be just as good. I hope to have many more glorious days ahead.

I'm really surprised by how much my family changes during Thanksgiving and Christmas. My extended family that is. During the rest of the year we barely see or hear from them. Then when Thanksgiving rolls around they all want to come over to our house. ALL of them. The experience is similar to not eating all year and then eating a years worth of food in one sitting. Everyone is nice to each other despite any greavances. I quess this is a good thing but it feelis fake to me. As long as everyone is happy I will just have to play along.

Hmmm. What should my title be?

Dear Friend,
I thought you might like to know a little bit about my family. My parents are still happily married. Dad runs a chain of USA Olympics retail stores but my Mom teaches kindergarten. I have three younger brothers and for the sake of anonymity I will not use their real names. Since they were very young I have been convinced that Alek will be a soccer star, Michael will win an Academy Award for best director, and Andrew will find a cure for cancer and build the first teleporter. However, I am also convinced that none of them will ever beat me a chess or a 40 yard sprint. Alek and Michael both go to my old high school and last week was their homecoming week. They both had dates for the homecoming dance and were really excited. I was very happy for them. The bombarded me with questions all week because they know how good their big bro is with the ladies. A few days before the dance I noticed that Michael was not his cheerfully annoying self. He looked very upset and their was evidence that he had been crying. This worried me because Michael never cries about anything. He answered my questions of concern by slamming his bedroom door in my face. Instead of kicking the door down I decided to give him some alone time. It turned out that Michael's date had sent him a text message saying that she didn't want to be his "date". She just wanted to go as friends. Apparently the text had been very rude and hurtful. I was surprised by this because it seemed like one of those things that Michael would just brush of. When questioned about his date in previous weeks he had acted like it was no big deal. Apparently it was a big deal. Two days before the dance Michael received another text message. Now his "friend" didn't want to go to the dance with him at all. By now Michael had been able to lock down his emotions so this latest development didn't seem to bother him. But I, being the intuitive older brother, knew otherwise. I convinced Michael that if this girl was going to treat him like this them she didn't deserve him. I tried to steer clear of cheesy phrases like " there are other fish in the sea" and "one day you'll find the right person". He went to the dance with some friends and eventually hooked up with another girl. This experience changed the way I think of Michael. He has real feelings for people and things that I never knew. There is a whole side of him that I had never seen. Him and I are similar in that we never show how we feel on the outside. I feel like our relationship has been strengthened because he gave me a peak behind his emotion wall.

A few days ago I confirmed something about my fried Bob that I have suspected for a while. Bob's mom doesn't think that Bob does enough "stuff". She thinks he should be out socializing with his friends more. I have to admit she has a point. Whenever I ask Bob if he wants to go to a party or see a movie with some other people he politely refuses. His Mom is always giving him movie times or telling him what bands are coming to Denver. It's almost like she is embarrassed of her son. Bob's mom should love him no matter what and I just don't get the feeling that she does. Bob likes to do other stuff. He writes poetry, does acylic paintings and plays the drums. He also spends a lot of time reading. He has many other gifts that his parents obviously don't find to be viable. From this experience I learned that not everyones has great parents like I do. For the longest time I thought that my parents were average. I guess this isn't the case. Some parents think that their children need to be perfect but their dedication to perfection may have an opposite affect.

What does it mean to feel infinite? Can it even be defined? Could feeling infinite be a moment in time when you feel truly connected to the world. Everything falls into place and for an instant you believe that anything is possible. Hearing the words "I feel infinite" imediately sends shivers up my spine. The feeling cannot be fully put into words because it is indescribable. Feeling infinate is a feeling of being connected to every place and every time in history.

Love always,
Sean

Twinkies

Dear Friend,
I am writing to you because I have been going to school for about a month and a half now and things are going great. I just need to know that everything is okay between us now. Anyway, everyone is surprised that I have transitioned to college so well. I think you of all people would understand why that is because you know me better than anyone. So this is my life. And I want you to know how things have been going. I’ve been riding the light rail to school every day. I wonder why they call it a “light” rail. There’s nothing “light” about it. One morning as I was looking out the window staring at cars, a guy with one of those rolling backpack things sat down across from me. He took out a twinkie and started munching on it. I don’t think I’ve ever had a twinkie. They don’t look very tasty and I think I read somewhere that if you eat too many you start glowing. I didn’t mind that he was eating I just wished that he would stop spraying crumbs all over me. I didn’t want to be rude so I didn’t say anything. I just waited for him to finish. But then he pulled out another twinkie and continued the bombardment. When I got off the train I brushed myself off and walked to class. What a start to the day. The reason I wrote this letter is because I don’t like twinkies very much and people with rolling backpacks aren’t very polite.
Love always,
Sean