THE ULTIMATE QUESTION

Most people believe that their destiny is pre-ordained, and that it is constant and unchangeable. Others find the idea, of stars moving in the heavens having an effect on anyone’s fate on earth, ridiculous. However long the age-old argument continues, it is an accepted fact that many people have proven both sides right at some point.
In the world of sports, where even the difference of a millisecond in your timing could make or break your entire career, this statement would find many examples. The sisters Venus and Serena Williams, arguably the best American tennis players on the women’s circuit, prove the fact that some people have success in their destiny. Not only did they start their professional careers in their early teens, but their father Richard Williams, himself a former tennis player, was their coach, and remains so till date. Due to some private disaster, his dream of being the greatest in his sport never really took off, but he made sure that his daughters would not make the same mistake. He believed in the saying that “its okay to do what you want to do, till its time for you to do what you were meant to do.” He trained them to the best of his ability, and saw to it that their natural sibling rivalry would not come in the way of their respective careers. Not only have they made history, but they have been pitted against each other numerous times as sisters and competitors. The most exciting tennis finals, are always the ones where an established and long talked of rivalry is to be decided. Venus has defeated Serena twice to lift the cup; Serena has won it back twice. It was in their destiny to be in the tennis world, the place they were meant to be in, with a father having all the expertise to take them to the top.
Some might still disagree. It is true, that no matter what life throws at you, it’s your decisions and choices that count, not what is decided for you without your consent. Michael Phelps, the American swimmer, who has won a place in Olympic history for being the only one to win eight gold medals in a single Olympics, did this Herculean task because of his burning desire to achieve something. Although his parents were divorced when he was just nine years old, and he had to be looked after by his mother and sisters, it did not deter him from following his dream. He was teased in school for his odd body shape, but he had the last laugh when all the experts in swimming attributed part of his success to the streamlined aerodynamics of his “weakest” point in school. He was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), but he put that aside and did what he could to reach his goal. His parents had no background in swimming whatsoever, so it was all Michael’s decisions, his effort and sense of direction that brought him this far. If he had been bogged down by his failures at school and accepted his disorder as his ‘destiny’, where would he be now?
All this only goes to show, how much can be achieved by hard work and perseverance, and how much by believing in fate. In life, luck and hard work go hand in hand; no one’s life can be a success without one or the other. That answers the questions that arise from the statement, “some succeed because they are destined to, most succeed because they are determined to”, for no matter how much evidence you put forward either way, life was, is, and always will be known as a heady mixture of luck and labour, in proportions that can never be decided.
Feriel Presswalla
Std. 9A

About Billie Joe Armstrong, lead vocalist and guitarist extraordinare:

FULL NAME : Billie Joe Armstrong

AGE/BIRTHDATE : 36; born February 17, 1972

HOMETOWN : Rodeo, California, USA

EYE COLOR : Green

NATURAL HAIR COLOR : Reddish Brown

HEIGHT : 5'7

MARITAL STATUS : Married Adrienne Nesser (July 2, 1994)

CHILDREN: Joseph Marciano; born in March of 1995, and Jakob Danger; born September of 1998.

FAMILY : Billie's father, Andy, died of cancer when he was 10 years old (September 1982). His mom, Ollie, raised him from then on. He has 5 older siblings (David, Allen, Marcy, Holly, and Anna).

WHEELS : A black BMW convertible.

INSTRUMENTS : Guitar, harmonica, mandolin, drums, piano, and most recently, the saxophone.

RECORD COMPANY : Billie and Adrienne have co-ownership of Adeline Records.

OTHER BANDS : Billie still plays with Pinhead Gunpowder. He has also played with The Influents, Corrupted Morals, Rancid, the Lookouts, Goodbye Harry, and Blatz.

Billie Joe Armstrong was brought into this world on February 17, 1972, the youngest of six children. His father, Andy, was a part time jazz musician and a truck driver for Safeway, while his mother was a waitress at a local resturant named Rod's Hickory Pit. Billie started singing when he was just 5 years old. He would go around to hospitals and sing to the patients to make them feel better. Then he got to record his first song, "Look for Love" at a local recording company named Fiat Records. Billie got his first electric guitar, the infamous "Blue" (a Fernandes Stratocaster), when he was 11. Billie still uses Blue to this day and has several replicas of it. At the age of 10, Billie's father died of cancer to the esophagus which spread throughout his body. His mother continued to work at Rod's Hickory Pit (a barbecue joint owned by Richard and Alice Cotton) in Vallejo, California, to support herself and her six kids. Billie Joe and Mike later worked there as busboys. Two years after the death of his father, his mother remarried to a man that Billie and his siblings detested.
Billie was 10 when he met Mike Dirnt in the school cafeteria in 1982. During sleepovers at each other's houses, they played songs by old heavy metal warhorses such as Ozzy Osbourne, Def Leppard, and Van Halen. Other influences would be the "thrash and drang" of the Bay Area's alternative music culture percolating throughout the eighties. Clubs such as Mabuhay Gardens and Berkeley's 924 Gilman Street regularly showcased local groups like the Dead Kennedys and Buck Naked. He wrote his first song, "Why Do You Want Him", a song about his mother and his step father, when he was 14. At the age of 15, Billie, Mike, and a drummer named John formed a punk band and named themselves Sweet Children. Their first gig was actually at Rod's Hickory Pit. One day before his 18th birthday, and halfway through his senior year of high school, Billie dropped out of high school (Pinole Valley High School) to devote all his time to Sweet Children. He knew what he wanted to do -- play music, and school was just getting in the way. At this point, Billie had the nickname "Two Dollar Bill", referring to the price of the joints he sold.
In 1990, John left the band to attend college. Billie and Mike were faced with the task of finding a new drummer. They knew the perfect fit, Tre Cool, a Gilman Street vetran, who was then playing in the Lookouts. Later, Sweet Children was renamed Green Day. Before they knew it, they were traveling all over the country in an old bookmobile with Tre's dad at the wheel. They did all this with little money and staying at fan's houses. It was in Minneapolis in 1990 when Billie first laid eyes on his future wife, a girl named Adrienne Nesser. They dated awhile and then were married on July 2, 1994, a 5 minute ceremony. The day after their wedding, Adrienne found out she was pregnant. Their son, Joseph Marcicano Armstrong, was born in March of 1995. Three years later on September 12, 1998, another boy, Jakob Danger was added to the Armstrong family. Today, Billie, Adrienne, Joseph, and Jakob reside in Berkeley, California.

Stuff about Mike Dirnt, the bassist and background vocalist :

FULL NAME: Micheal Ryan Pritchard(Dirnt)

AGE/BIRTHDATE : 35; born May 4, 1972

HOMETOWN : Berkeley, California, USA

EYE COLOR : Blue

NATURAL HAIR COLOR : Brown

HEIGHT : 5'10

MARITAL STATUS : Mike recently got married in 2004, but is now divorced after his wife left him because "he was spending too much time in the studio." Mike has a new girlfriend.

CHILDREN : Estelle Desiree (Stella); born April 1997, to ex-wife, Anastasia FAMILY : Mike was adopted. His adoptive parents divorced when he was 7, and both are now remarried. I know Mike has at least one step sister, named Myla, but I don't know of anymore.

RESTAURANT : Rudy's Can't Fail Café, in Emeryville, CA.

WHEELS : A BMW.

INSTRUMENTS : Bass, farfisa, guitar, drums, and a baseball bat.

OTHER BANDS : Mike still plays with The Frustrators. He has also played with Screeching Weasel, Crummy Musicians, and Squirtgun.

Michael Ryan Pritchard, now known as Mike Dirnt, was born on May 4, 1972. Mike's mother was a heroin addict. He was given up for adoption when he was a baby, to a Native american mother and a white father. When he was 7, his adoptive parents got a divorce. Mike lived with his father for awhile, but confrontations sent him back to his mother. He lived there on the borderline of proverty, while his sister left home at the age of 13. "There were all sorts of things happening," says Mike. "When I was in fourth or fifth grade, my mom stayed out all night, came home the next day with a guy, and he moved in. I'd never met the guy before, and all of a sudden he's my stepdad. We didn't get along for years. Later on, when I hit high school, my mom moved away from us, and me and my stepdad got real close. He instilled a lot in me. The one thing my family did give me is blue-collar morals. But then he died when I was 17."

By that point, Mike had already moved out, leaving home when he was 15 to live out of his truck. He then rented a room in Billie's house, and later he lived in a punk squatter building. Billie and Mike began living for their weekends at the Gilman Street Project. Mike still continued to go to school, play in Sweet Children (which later became Green Day of course), and live on his own. He supported himself by working as a cook. Mike almost didn't graduate from high school, because his mother refused to sign one of his mandatory-attendance forms. "I took my mom aside," Mike says. "I said, 'This is how it is. You have so much shit going on in your life, so if once every semester you ask me if I've done my homework and jump all over my case, that's not right. Have I failed yet? No. And I'm going to graduate if you stay off my back. The one time in your life you chose to have morals, and it's going to fuck me up. Don't play mom once a year. It doens't fucking cut it.'" In the end, Mike did graduate from high school, and he even took more than a year's worth of courses at a community college. Then Billie and Mike moved into a squat in Oakland, California (the inspiration for "Welcome to Paradise").

Mike married his long time girlfriend Anastasia in 1996 and their daughter, Estella-Desiree was born in April 1997. Mike loves his daughter very much, and his nickname for her is "Hero". Today, Mike and Anastasia are separated, but still remain very good friends. He recently was remarried in 2004, however his wife left him because he spending too much time in the studio recording American Idiot. Mike is currently dating, and he resides in Oakland, California. He also owns a café/resturant named Rudy's Can't Fail Café, after a song by the Clash. The café is located in Emeryville, CA.

And a little bit about Tre' Cool, the drummer :

FULL NAME : Frank Edwin Wright III

AGE/BIRTHDATE : 35; born December 9, 1972

HOMETOWN : Willits, California, USA

EYE COLOR : Blue

NATURAL HAIR COLOR : Brown

HEIGHT : 5'6 (?)

MARITAL STATUS : Married his long time girlfriend Lisea Lyons in March of 1995. They divorced sometime after. In May 2000, he married Claudia. In 2003, he and Claudia broke up.

CHILDREN : Ramona, born January 1995 to ex-wife, Lisea Lyons; Frankito ("Little Frank"), born 2001 to Claudia.

FAMILY : Tre grew up with his father and 2 siblings. He now lives in Oakland, California with his ex-wife, Claudia, and son, Frankito.

WHEELS : A SUV.

INSTRUMENTS : Drums, the accordion, and the guitar. OTHER BANDS : Tre has also played with The Lookouts and Samiam.

Frank Edwin Wright III was born December 9, 1972 in Frankfurt, Germany, making him the youngest member of Green Day. He lived in the Mendocino mountains, California with his dad and his 2 older siblings. His dad, a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, decided the move the family there to insulate them upon his return to the United States. Tre's closest neighbor was none other than Lookout! Records owner Lawrence Livermore, who also owned the punk band the Lookouts. At age 12, Livermore recruited Tre to join The Lookouts, and that's when Livermore gave him the name of Tre Cool (which means Very Cool in French). After Green Day's first tour around the country (following the release of 39/Smooth), John Kriftmeyer decided to leave Green Day. Looking no farther than Gilman Street, Billie Joe and Mike recruited Tre, who was already a 5 year veteran of the Gilman Street scene. Tre decided to drop out of high school his sophmore year. However, he did pass an equivalency test and earned his GED, and he even began taking classes at a nearby community college. He had to drop out of college however, when the demands of Green Day's touring intensified. Tre's father, who owns a small trucking company, overhauled a used bookmobile, and even served as the driver on three seperate tours. "I watched them go from a bunch of kids to a group of musicians with work eithic," says Tre's father, Frank Wright. "On their first tour or two, it was more of a party than anything else. I still scratch my head and say, 'How in the hell did they make it?' They used to practice in my living room here -- a lot of the songs they did on Dookie. You hear it coming together, and you don't expect people are going to go out and buy it. But when it does, you just say, 'Wow, that's so cool.'" (Rolling Stone, January 26, 1995) Tre had a daughter named Ramona in January of 1995, then he married his long time girlfriend Lisea Lyons in March. Him and Lisea are divorced now, but Tre remarried in May of 2000, to Claudia. Claudia and him have a son named Frankito, which means "Little Frank". Tre and Claudia divorced in 2003, but they still live together with Frankito in Oakland, California. Recently, Tre has been linked to Donna C., drummer of The Donnas, however they are no longer together.