Josh

Charlie Byrd was born on September 16, 1925 in Suffolk, Virginia. His father had taught him how to play the guitar at the age of 10, but later was taught by the famous Sophocles Papas. In 1957, Charlie met a double bassist Keter Betts in Washington D.C. club called the Vineyard. This is where his guitar career took off from. The two musicians began playing duets together and by October they were frequently playing at the “Showboat”. Both musicians had incredible talent, but Byrd decided to have more than just 2 players in his duet. Later in life, Charlie met a drummer named Jimmy Campbell, who which later joined their group. In Spring of 1961, Charlie Byrd, Keter Betts, and Jimmy Campbell all decided to record their first hopefully wishing, big hit. They sent samples of their musical talent to Stan Getz, a good friend but also a man with a great part in the musical business. Getz liked what he heard and decided to make albums of their songs. However, times back then made it exceptionally difficult to produce clear, authentic sound with the available technology with them at the time. Getz convinced Creed Taylor at Verve Records to produce the album of their songs. Finally, on February 13, 1962 they recorded their first song in a building next to a church because of the outstanding acoustics found there. Their recordings were released on April 1962 as the album titled “Jazz Samba” and by September the recording had entered the billboard’s top album chart. In 1973, Byrd moved to Annapolis, Maryland the same year he had recorded a fascinating album with Cal Tjader the only recordings the two would do together with. Much later in his life, Byrd had preformed more than over 50 concerts all across the United States. Charlie Byrd died of lung cancer on November 30, 1999 at his home Annapolis, Maryland. Charlie Byrd has been one of the greatest guitarists in all of musical history, contributing his life for young guitarist to be inspired by his phenomenal skills for generations to come.

Once a upon a time, in the early 1700’s, there was a mischievous turkey named Jimmy, who stole food all the time from a group of indians. He stole things like corn, pork, squash, carrots, onions, and even other turkeys because he couldn’t find any other food as good-tasting as the indians made.  After he stole the food, he would then dart to the safest location to gobble them all up. One day, Jimmy decided to go steal some delicious, nutritious, non-fattening squash, because he had recently joined the track team and did not want to let the team down by being overweight. So he got up, quickly and quietly crept to the hideout waiting for the right moment to strike the guarded squash. Just then, he raced to the squash at light-speed grabbing it swiftly and then running away. However, this was not as easy as it seemed. The indians were prepared to fire arrows at pinpoint accuracy, because this menace has made them work twice as hard for vegetation and food, which made it harder and tougher for Jimmy to steal food. Then when they fired the arrows at Jimmy was capable of dodging almost every arrow coming out of the clear aqua sky. Of course, a few scratches were left on him, but most of the time he was safe. Soon, this matter got out of hand and he started to eat meat and turkeys galore. He turned extremely obese and weighted over 1228lbs. The next time he tried to steal food, he was to fat to move! The indians aimed their razor, sharp, bone-tipped arrows at Jimmy getting ready to release the drawstring. The moment they were going to fire, Jimmy started to cry and said that he just didn’t want to starve to death. So then, they made a deal that Jimmy wouldn’t steal food from them and would give food to him whenever possible. Then, Jimmy started to work out and lost almost 1113lbs. When the day of the track finale began, he ran tremendously. When he received the 1^st place gold trophy he went to the hideout and thanked the indians for a well taught lesson.

Yes. Skins lost. Sorry if your a fan. But keep cheering all you redskins fans…            for hopelessness.

Interception and fumble nearly after half-time. Screaming for joy was deafening the world.

Game. Over.

NFL 09~

Charlie Byrd was born on September 16, 1925 in Suffolk, Virginia. His father had taught him how to play the guitar at the age of 10, but later was taught by the famous Sophocles Papas. In 1957, Charlie met a double bassist Keter Betts in Washington D.C. club called the Vineyard. This is where his guitar career took off from. The two musicians began playing duets together and by October they were frequently playing at the “Showboat”. Both musicians had incredible talent, but Byrd decided to have more than just 2 players in his duet. Later in life, Charlie met a drummer named Jimmy Campbell, who which later joined their group. In Spring of 1961, Charlie Byrd, Keter Betts, and Jimmy Campbell all decided to record their first hopefully wishing, big hit. They sent samples of their musical talent to Stan Getz, a good friend but also a man with a great part in the musical business. Getz liked what he heard and decided to make albums of their songs. However, times back then made it exceptionally difficult to produce clear, authentic sound with the available technology with them at the time. Getz convinced Creed Taylor at Verve Records to produce the album of their songs. Finally, on February 13, 1962 they recorded their first song in a building next to a church because of the outstanding acoustics found there. Their recordings were released on April 1962 as the album titled “Jazz Samba” and by September the recording had entered the billboard’s top album chart. In 1973, Byrd moved to Annapolis, Maryland the same year he had recorded a fascinating album with Cal Tjader the only recordings the two would do together with. Much later in his life, Byrd had preformed more than over 50 concerts all across the United States. Charlie Byrd died of lung cancer on November 30, 1999 at his home Annapolis, Maryland. Charlie Byrd has been one of the greatest guitarists in all of musical history, contributing his life for young guitarist to be inspired by his phenomenal skills for generations to come.

School had just ended and the summer of a lifetime was about to begin. During my summer, me and my family were going to go to Williamsburg to start our summer vacation. Of course, before going, we had to pack up our things. We brought two suitcases, filled with clothes, toothbrushes/toothpaste, coolers, and food. Once all that hustling and bustling was done, we were ready to go, and departed. It was about a three hour drive making it unbearably boring. Luckily, I brought my iPod and phone to entertain myself for the time being.

When we got there, my family went to the front desk to register our room and cards. We got room 232 which was on the last building, second floor. So we got in, settled down and finally we were going to go to the two amusement parks, and Williamsburg itself. The first day, which was the day we arrived, we decided to go to Busch Gardens. It was a lot of fun, especially for my brother and grandpa. My dad and I didn’t go on many rides, unless you include kitty rides. My brother and grandpa rode the fastest rollercoaster’s there such as the Lochness Monster and The Big Bad Wolf. As for family rides, we went on Escape from Pompeii, and Roman Rapids. However, at the end of the day, our family got really confused looking for our car, for over two whole hours. Finally, my dad realized that this was not the parking lot we had parked our car in. So we got manger assistance and finally found our parking lot. The first day of our summer vacation had started off with a blast!

The second day of summer vacation, our family headed towards Colonial Williamsburg, a historical site of history’s past lives. We headed towards the bus, getting on, and being dropped off near an orientation building. We went to many sites, such as a slave’s house, a well, and even where they ate back then. There were many guided tours of Williamsburg, in fact, most of the time; my family only went on tours to gather information. During the afternoon, we decided to eat. By that time I was starving so we went into this diner called the lounge. The food there to my surprise, was actually very tasty! Warm soup, a grilled sandwich, and a nice glass of ice cold water. Hmm, it was a feast to remember. After lunch, we headed towards the gun smith. Me and my brother found it interesting to learn how the made gunpowder and guns. After that, we headed back to the hotel to call it a day.

The last and final day, we went to a park called Water Country USA. This last day was not much fun for me. I was sick for half the time, and then the other half, I just didn’t feel like swimming at all. My whole family though, went on many water rides. The lazy river, Slip n’ Slide and the Vortex were all fast and fun filled rides. I didn’t go on any of these though. As our day, started to end, the last three hours were horrible for everyone. It just so happen that a thunderstorm had come out of nowhere, therefore shutting down the park temporarily. But before we could even have that much patience in us, we left, knowing the water park wouldn’t have open for the next couple hours. We went home, tired and woozy, getting ready for the day to leave.

The day of departure, which was a day of not just all pure work, we packed up our things early in the morning. But that wasn’t it, we went to Busch Gardens again for the final day of fun. Not much happened, we rode on some more rides, me and my dad didn’t do anything, and my mom was taking pictures of us. The day ended, and now we were on our way home. This summer has been of the best summers yet, and an ocean of laughter and fun was a site and feeling I soon won’t forget.

The ice nearly gone

Green on the edge of freedom

Watch out, here it comes.

The taste of grapes
sweet to my lips
strong to my toungue
drinking and drinking
my taste gone bland
dizzy over the counter
wonderful.
simply wonderful.

In 2005, my friends and I went to the Ashburn Ice House. As we arrived, we thought of the fun we were going to have throughout this whole time. We soon got our skates on and were shortly gliding on the ice in a counter-clockwise formation. I felt as free as could be, the wind rushing past my face, and the chilling frost in the air, all in one breath-taking experience. However, as I was skating, my leg slipped, throwing me onto the ground and spraining my ankle. Bad.

            Later, I found myself in the hospital, the doctor requiring me to use crutches and a leg cast. Using them for some time made my life a little more complicated. From just walking from place to place made me tired, as I had to pick up the crutches every second of my life. Finally, after a month’s worth of time, I was able to rid myself of the crutches and release the leg cast that was restraining me. After that incident, I am still skating, but am a little more cautious about the dangers aroudn me.