#response 1

and if you dont get this well if someone else is on this blog can you let me know if courtney is okay? thank you

a very concerned you know who, who would like to get his skateboard back

[Archived from May 17th, 2010.]

This is Carmen, Courtney's friend from school. I'm currently keeping this blog for her because she gave me the password a while back, and well... she clearly isn't here to run it herself... Actually, sorry random (I think I know who you are), but I may just turn your question into a general message for everyone to read. I think there are some things I want to say.

Sorry if I haven't been consistent on updating you guys.. I've been essentially keeping tabs on any sort of news in our local area, contacting her other friends, family, anything under the sun really. I'm really worried. More worried than anyone else seems to be.

I've stopped by her house at least three different times this past week, and there's absolutely nothing. Her mom and her mom's boyfriend haven't been there, and everything's locked. I can't get in, and the spare key Courtney trusted me with ages ago doesn't work anymore. I couldn't find it for a while but it was stashed in my dresser. But yeah turns out its completely useless. Her mom got the locks changed late last year. Her mom's always been a little on the paranoid side, but with how everything is right now, I've began thinking back on a few things. I'm really worried.

The school semester is almost over and she hasn't been there at all. I've asked some of her teachers and they just... brush it off and tell me that she's probably sick. None of them are taking this seriously and the counselor refuses to see me. I'm getting increasingly frustrated and some of her friends have stopped taking my calls.

I'm running out of options, and all of Courtney's previous posts on here are... concerning, to say the least. I've tried filing reports with the police and I've even tried sending a few emails to our local news. None of them have gotten back to me. I'm so confused. This is clearly a missing persons case, but everyone is treating it like as if she's flown out for some luxury retreat. No. She's missing and I have reason to believe she's not in great shape. Mentally or physically. The last few days she showed up at school she looked sick, and she acted as if she was.. dreaming? I don't know but it felt like she wasn't there at all and it really freaked me out.

Sorry for the long response but i feel like i havent done the best job at keeping everyone posted. im sorry ive just been really distracted with making sure my best friend isnt dead off somewhere.

if anyone else knows anything feel free to tell me please tell me. i would really appreiacte the help. just.

i know this is a stupid idea but ill do it anyway ill put my phonenumber here so any of you can tell me anything. im usually asleep after 11 but ill gladly wake up if theres anything you know and you want to tell me. ill take anything i can get at this point

my phone number: ***-***-**** [Redacted for privacy reasons. My attempts to call this number in present time only resulted in an automated 'This number is no longer available' message.]

if you dont feel comfortable calling me you can text whatever you know. really at this point anything will work. but please if you know anything and i mean anything about where courtney is or what you think shes doing please reach out. it'll help more than you even know.

if nothing comes up soon i might try and break into her house if i can. there's a door in her room that leads out to a patio, so i'll see if i can slip in through there, as sometimes she left it unlocked for some of us to sneak into when her mom was sleeping.

I guess that's all. Sorry if I seem a little worrying right now I'm just. really freaked out.

*hugs you too* missed u amigo

the 26th? like of august? huh. i start after labour day (i have no sense of time or space anymore so idk what day that is). i guess things are different in the states which is interesting i wonder how it’s done in other places.

yayyyy i’m happy for u. how’s your theatre stuff going? do you think you’ll do another play this year as well? oooh that backpack sounds so you

ik it’s a bit weird but covid stuff has been going crazy in the us from what i’ve heard? i hope you’re ok amigo

ily too :)

Ooooo road trip where are u going?? And it’s lovely to hear from u again soon!! Friend!!

Yeah our school starts pretty early, we get out in May tho the last week so that time has to come from somewhere... I’m feeling ready for it tho just to have a change.

I’m definitely excited for theater this year,,, I’m gonna stage manage Puffs (the Harry Potter parody) and then Troilus and Cressida in the spring which I will act in :))), theres a couple of shows I’ll get to write and direct with a group which will rock, and in the winter there’ll be a musical but it wasn’t announced yet. Thrilling all around :DD

Update: it’s been seven centuries, and I’ve started the play!! It slaps so hard there’s some kids with killer impressions it’s awesome. Also the musical will be Into the Woods which I’m SCREAMING over it’s gonna be AWESOME!!!

Covid isn’t like. I mean it’s a nightmare but I’m ok :))

By: Czarina Ramos Social networking is a great way for people to stay connected and meet new people. Social media sites such as: Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter allow users to share their stories and interests with all their friends and followers. I find that social media and networking can actually increase a person’s anxiety because they always have the feeling of wanting to be involved.

Nowadays, it’s very easy for people to stay connected because communication is now accessible through mobile devices such as: laptops, cell phones, and tablets.  I can admit personally, that I am guilty of checking my phone at least 3-5 times every hour! I tend to check it more often when I’m by myself or in an awkward situation. For some reason, I always feel the urgency to refresh the “newsfeed” every few minutes so that I’m always updated on the latest information. I am also guilty of posting useless statuses onto my Twitter because for some reason, I feel like it’s necessary to tell my followers when I’m “off to work” or “going to bed”.

The sad part is, I am so open to admitting these things because I know I’m definitely not the only one who does this.  It’s ironic how the purpose of these sites are to stay connected; but when I go to a social gathering I’d say about 9/10 people will be sitting and staring at their phone instead of actively engaging a human being in conversation!

Social networking/media could be responsible for creating anxiety in the real world situations, because people are so used to just clicking “like” and “repost” buttons that they don’t actually remember how to respond to a social situation. This video for example, shows how people are more interested with the number of connections they have online, that they end up sacrificing the quality of a conversation. Could face-to-face contact be a thing of the past? Well, our generation certainly makes it seem that way.

By: Rachel Simon

It's frightening to see such drastic pros and cons to the increase development and use of technology in today's world. While Social Media and other higher technologies are created and used for entertainment and online interacting, it can be abused almost indefinitely. We give all of our personal information to use these social media sites so we can be included, connect to our friends or for emotional reasons such as loneliness. While reading over this blog post, I started thinking: how do you even know if someone is stalking you? Someone could be out there right now on my profile or on Google trying to find out everything about me and when I put personal information on these websites, I'm basically handing it to him or giving him permission to stalk me. What's worse, is there isn't really anything you can do to prevent this from happening either besides not using the internet at all. Perhaps when social media websites were being created, people had privacy options but today, privacy is a privilege. I know that just recently, I've been getting messages from strange men on Facebook and was confused because I had my privacy settings on the highest level. Apparently, every new update Facebook does to their website slowly strips people of their privacy rights. This has been frustrating many people who want to use social media but don't want to encounter situations like mine. Now anyone can see my profile picture and a few of my previous photos. It's getting harder and harder to sleep at night. This article describes ways that you can protect yourself with various social media websites such as changing your privacy settings or filtering friend requests.