Sundaes on Tuesday

Three days ago, I had an orchestra concert. We played (in order)
• Prelude and Gavotte
• Pink Panther
• Dancing Basses
• The One Bow Concerto
• The Moldau
• America the Beautiful*
The first piece was Prelude and Gavotte. The prelude was a slow part while the gavotte was a fast and lively part. Pink Panther is just like it sounds. Dancing Basses features the basses. The One Bow Concerto has 3 soloists at a time. But the soloists must share one bow. The Moldau is probably the hardest piece (and the best). It is slow, then fast, then slow, then fast. America the beautiful was beautiful. But after that got done, we got to eat sundaes (whoo!!) with lots of toppings.



*America the Beautiful was played with the High School.

How I Appreciate my Mother

   Dear Mom,
 I think that moms are one of the greatest things that God gave us. These are the things that I really appreciate about you, mom. I think that you look pretty when you go on a date with dad and you are dressed up fancy. I think that you are nice when you get us something somewhere. I think that you’re awesome when you cook my favorite foods. I think that you are unique when you play Lord of the Rings on the Wii. I think that you are helpful when you got me some shoes yesterday. I truly love you with all my heart.

Tragedies vs. Comedies

The question that I ask myself today is do I like tragedies or comedies?

 Allow me to backtrack. About two weeks ago, my mom started reading Shakespeare plays with me. So far we have read Taming of the Shrew, Antony and Cleopatra, Measure for Measure, Hamlet, Much Ado about Nothing, King Lear and The Merchant of Venice. If you haven’t read these plays, Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, and King Lear are tragedies and the rest are comedies.

Truthfully I like…both.  They both are funny and interesting. I like the cool duel that Hamlet and Laertes had. I like Merchant of Venice for Shylock’s weird bond of one pound of flesh (maybe he’s a flesh collector). Anyway, those two are just examples of what I like about the tragedies and the comedies.

What I Want To Do This Summer

     In twelve days, me and my siblings will be out of school. This summer I want to:
• Write a Book
• Go to the Pool
• Go to the Skate Park
• Win a true Starcraft 2 game
• Etc…
I want to write a 25,000 word book. You may say that it is easy, but it is somewhat hard. I’ve also have no idea what I’m going to write about, but this is going to be a whole summer project. I want to go to the pool at least 15 times. I also want to get Kirby and Elliot to at least go of the diving board once. I also want to go to the new skate park at least once or twice. I want to win a true Starcraft 2 game. If you want to know why, I will tell you. Over the past month, I have spent two weeks playing one Starcraft 2 game a night. I lost all 12 games. Anyway, here are just some of the things that I want to do this summer.

My Violin

Four years ago, I started to play the violin. I thought that it would be fun, but it turned out that I might not want to play it anymore. But like many other things that I like at first then despise it then like it again, I have grown to like my violin. Now I have stuck to violin for four years and I love it now. It is very fun to play and to rush through the notes as if they were wind gusts. It is also fun to play solos and parts that only you get to play. Playing violin is so much fun. If you can, try to play the violin. If you are unable to play the violin, then listen to violin music and see how exciting it is!

The Next 13 Years of My Life

I've been 13 for a week...and here's a "bare minimum" list of things I want to get done before I turn 26.

• Pass Driver's Education
• Pass High School
• Pass College
• Get a House
• Stay Single????
• Move Somewhere
• Get A Car
• Get A Job

If I plan to get a car, I have to pass Driver’s Education.  I want to get a Mustang if I can.  First though, I have to pass High School and College.  I want to go to Iowa State University.  After I get done with school, I want to get a job and a house.  I might get a wife or I might stay single. That is undecided yet. I want to move to Hawaii or California or maybe even out of the country. Anyway, these are just some of the things that I would like to do.

My Birthday

 On Monday the 23, I was finally a teenager.
 I love to play games, soccer and many more.  I also love to bike, eat, and watch movies, listen to music, golf and many many many more.
 I like to play Starcraft 2, Munchkin, Axis and Allies and more. I like watching the History channel and the Military History channel (Fine, I might be a geek, but it has some pretty cool stuff on there). I like to eat pizza, Mac and cheese, bread, Tator Tot Casserole. I like to listen to Flo-rida, Cobra Starship, Maroon 5 and Adele.

My Soccer Game

    Saturday was a big day- my first soccer game of the season.
    At 11:00 on Saturday morning, we left for Fairfield. We finally got there at 12:15. I started kicking the ball around with my friends until my coach got there. Once our coach got there, we started to get ready for our game.
    At one, we started our game against Fairfield. Either, we were not trying or our coach’s strategy wasn’t working because at halftime, we were down 5-0. After a bit of yelling and resting, we started the second half. The second half was better ending the game in a loss for us. Ever though we lost the game 6-4, we really kicked some butt in the second half. I didn’t care that we lost and I still don’t care because I was just glad to play soccer.

My Favorite Games

    Playing games is fun especially when you’re good at the games. Chess, Stratego, Clue, Munchkin, Castle Panic, Axis & Allies, Risk, and Starcraft 2 are my favorite games. I really like to play these games with my dad unless he is busy. My favorite games all include strategy.   
The definition of strategy is the art of deployed plans and maneuvers. This is why I love strategy. I like using my knowledge of plans and maneuvers to crush the opponents or opponents. If I use strategy correctly, I can beat almost anyone.
Let me talk to you about Clue, Stratego, and chess first. In Clue, you must find the murderer. In Stratego, you must find the enemy flag and capture it. In chess, you must kill the opponent’s queen. The strategy in these games would be to observe. When I play Clue, I watch the opponent and how they guess. If they repeated use something, then take note that that is probably a card that they have in their hands. In Stratego, you must watch to see where their strongest pieces are. In chess, you must watch how they move their pieces. They might move them in such a way that might let a bishop take you rook. (Bishop move diagonally and rooks move up and across.)
Munchkin & Castle Panic are next in line. In Munchkin, you must get to Level 10. In Castle Panic, you have a castle that you must protect from a horde of monsters. Now in these games, you must know the right time to backstab your friends. In Munchkin, let the player that is about to win get reduced to Level 1. In Castle Panic, let the troll destroy all the castles excluding yours.
The last set of games are Axis & Allies, Risk & Starcraft 2. Axis and Allies is set in World War II with the Allied troops fighting Germany and Japan. In Risk, you must fight for the face of Europe. In Starcraft 2, you are in the year 2500. In it, you must destroy the evil Zerg. In these games, I  build efficient troops and I harass their weaknesses. In Axis & Allies, you must get planes and soldiers.  In Risk you must use your abilities to the best you can. In Starcraft 2 you must harass their weaknesses.
All of the games that I like include strategic planning. I love strategy because it causes you to think and it is fun when you beat your opponent with strategy. If you haven’t played any strategy games, then I strongly recommended playing some.

Bowling At Cedar Rapids

             I had a good time this weekend in Cedar Rapids, because I saw my cousins and my dad was at a bowling tournament. We left at 9:15 A.M. on Saturday morning. Once we got up there, my dad realized that he had left his bowling ball and his shoes at home. So my dad had to get a new bowling ball. After all that chaos, my dad finally started to bowl and was finished at 1:30 P.M. Then my and my cousins went to eat a place called Granite City. After we got done eating, we went swimming at our hotel until the ISU game. After the game, everybody was tired, so we slept.

            The next day, we woke up and went to watch my dad bowl some more. We left the bowling alley at 10:30 A.M. Then at a nearby mall, we ate a place called Sbarro. After about a hour, we say goodbye and went home.

Castle Panic

            On Friday evening after school got out, my family and me went to Des Moines.  In Des Moines, I got a game. It is called Castle Panic. Then when we got home from Des Moines, our foreign exchange student and I played Castle Panic.

            You start off the game by picking monsters. There are goblins, (they are easy), orcs (they can be trouble if you get a lot of them. But if you don't have a lot of them, then it is very easy to kill them), and trolls (these guys are always hard). And what you must do is to protect the castle from the invading armies. Sometimes when we play, we win very easy. Other times, we are almost dead when we win.

            On Monday, I took this game over to my friends. They liked it very much. I enjoy it very much.

Abandon All Hope You Who Enter Here

In class, we are currently reading a book called The Inferno of Dante.  It is a part of a trilogy.

The book was written in 1300 A.D. The author, Dante Alighieri, is the main character.  Guided by the Roman poet named Virgil, Dante must travel through the layers of Hell.  There are nine circles of Hell.  The people who committed the same sin are grouped together on one layer.  For example, the first level of Hell is called Limbo, and is where people who did not believe in God are.  Residents of this layer include: Virgil, Socrates, Saladin, Homer, Hippocrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

The Inferno of Dante is the first book in the trilogy.  The second book is called the Purgatorio.  In this book, Dante goes to see the souls that have not yet been accepted into Heaven.  Then, in the third book, called Paradiso, Dante visits Heaven.    After visiting these three places, he now has seen all of the dead people that have ever walked this earth.  

Communications

            Yesterday was the first day of the third trimester. My schedule is now Communications first period and Orchestra seventh period. I’ve had Orchestra before, but I have not had Communications before.

            Communications is okay. So far, I had to watch a PowerPoint about the class. Then we got on the computers and looked at our teacher’s webpage. Then we took a survey and looked at PowerPoint. I cannot wait until we get farther into this class because we will get to do some fun things. So far, I have had a good time.

Math

So far this year, math has been a struggle for me. I haven’t been doing very good, but that all changed on Tuesday.

On Monday’s math, I didn’t do so well. See when I don’t get good scores, my dad gets frustrated at me because he wants me to do well in math. See him being the best person at math in his school; he always wants me to do go to. I also get frustrated because I want to do well and I try, but my math scores just turn out bad. So my dad gave me thirty problems for Wednesday. Since I had other work, I decided to that first and that took me up to the end of the school. So I did math after school. So I took my time and it took me three hours. I was very tired of doing math at that point, but I was very confidently that I got a good score.

And I did. My dad checked it right after I got done and I got a good score. I was overjoyed. I have finally gotten over my run of bad luck. And my dad said to do it more like that more often. So now, I am going to try and get good scores.

My Medieval Dinner

On Sunday, we had a medieval dinner for a homeschool project that I had to do. We played games and had a medieval dinner from three to six.

First, we played a game called Fox and Geese. It is played on a board that looks like a plus sign (see below). Anyway, the one fox is trying to capture the geese and the geese are trying to trap the fox. So we played that game until dinner.

Dinner consisted of pottage, a thick stew that could contain just about anything from veggies to meat to fruit, and rye bread. The pottage was okay, but since we were "peasants", we didn't have meat because we couldn't afford it.  In medieval times, the father or son every now and then would bring back a deer or a rabbit and they would eat that in the pottage.

Anyway, I really liked the rye bread. It was very delicious with the butter.

After dinner, we played Nine Man Morris. Nine Man Morris is a game that reminds me of Tic Tac Toe. In Nine Man Morris, you must get three pieces in a row. This game has a bigger board, nine chips and when you get a three in a row, your opponent must take off one of their pieces. So as players lose pieces, it is harder for players to get back in the game. So after eating, we played Nine Man Morris for a while, and then we were done.

This is a Fox and Geese Board.

This is the pottage (below) and a slice of the Rye Bread.

This is a Nine Man Morris Board.

Des Moines

            On Saturday, my family and my grandparents went to Des Moines. We had a great time

            First, we played Skywalk Golf. Skywalk Golf is an eighteen hole miniature golf course in the skywalks. My favorite hole was number 17. It had hundreds of screws that were nailed in to a tilted board. So then you hit the ball down onto the screws and where ever it landed, then you had to putt it in. It reminds me of “Plinko” on The Price Is Right. Even though I didn’t get any hole in ones, I still had a good time.

            After that, we went to Bang Bang, which is a Mongolian place. You can get the grill or stuff of the menus. The grill is basically a round grill that they put your food on.

            After eating at Bang Bang, we went shopping. I got some new shirts from Aerospotle and Elliot got an Orange Julius. Then we went home.

Do I Want To Go Back To School?

              There are going to be some changes next year. My dad might get a new job and my mom might go back to college. There are definitely going to be some changes next year. So I think that this is the big question. Do I want to go back to public school?

            I think that there will be some ups and downs about maybe going back to public school. I will definitely enjoy talking with my friends, although in my opinion that reason wouldn’t be one I would go back to school for. I will also enjoy doing P.E. See at homeschool, we hardly ever have physical education. And I wish that we did because I like to run, but my stamina isn’t going up any.

            Some of the cons about going back to school will be the ability to move around. Last year, I felt so tired of sitting on my butt for 7 hours. This is why I’m so glad about the sitting situation at home. If duty calls, then I can just get up and stretch for a few minutes. One more good thing about homeschool is that I learn a lot more than I would at public school. I have learned logic, vocabulary, geography, writing, history, reading, science and a few others.

            Anyway next year, if I could choose what I wanted to do, I would chose homeschool.

My Biggest Academic Challenge

            I think that my biggest academic challenge is not so much schoolwork, but my concentration. See, I don’t work well with concentration. I like to take extra time on things that don’t need extra time. Like when I’m doing any subject, I’ll just up and stop.

            I like to stop if something ditracts me . If my mom is watching something or my dad has not come upstairs in a while, then I will go see what they are doing. I think that I do this is because I have never had good concentration. Since kindergarden, I have been a bit lazy. Last year was proballly the biggest year for being lazy. It was because I had my first ever study hall. Study Hall is basically a period where you don’t have anything. This is a time for you to work on stuff. But see, I never had anything to do, so I was a bit lazy.

            I must and I will try harder to stop dilly-dallying. I like to be lazy if I’m tired of doing a subject. If I am tired of doing a subject, sometimes, I will play with our cat, Juno. Sometimes, I cannot believe that the day is done and I still have a bunch of homeschool things to do.  I know realize that I need to stop taking those breaks.

Doctor Who

           Out of the twenty-four hours on Thursday, we spent 2 of them watching Doctor Who. Doctor Who is a British television show that started in the 60’s. The main character is the doctor who is a mysterious time traveler. We were only introduced to Doctor Who about a month ago, so it’s still pretty new.

            Doctor Who is a great bit of fun. It had funny and serious parts in it. The first episode that we watched was “Rose”. In that episode, a girl named Rose Tyler becomes the doctor’s traveling companion. In this episode, there is another thing. Rose and the doctor are protecting London from invading mannequins. (It was a funny episode). Then after that, we watched another Doctor Who where there were weeping angels and if you didn’t look at them, then they would move closer and closer and closer until they could touch you in which then you are transport back an amount of years. In one case, it was 90 years and in another, it was 40 years. Anyway, Doctor Who is very very exciting and scary. It is intense and at every part, it makes me afraid of what will happen next. If you like intense, then Doctor Who is for you.

Boy Scouts

Boy Scouts

            If you read my blog titled,”How my weekend went,” you should have seen that on Saturday, I went to a Boy Scout camp out. This was my first camp out with the Boy Scouts. And this is how Boy Scouts started.

            At the end of October, one of my good friends, Grant, asked me if I wanted to join Boy Scouts. Then I said yes and that next Tuesday, I went to my first Boy Scout meeting. It was okay. They were talking about what food to bring for the next camp out (Not the one that I went to). I couldn’t go to this camp out because we had something to do that weekend. So I skipped that camp out.

The next meeting which was on a Thursday (our meeting could be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. We don’t always met on a certain day of the week.) we did requirements. Requirements are things that Boy Scouts have to do in order to gain badges. There are about 13 requirements until you get a badge. Some take longer than others and some are easier than others.

I didn’t get any that night because I didn’t even have a Boy Scout book. But at the next meeting, (which was on a Tuesday), we prepared for our next camp out (which was the one that I went to). Well at the campout, I got seven whole requirements done. The second highest number of requirements that a person got was one requirement. But the only reason that I got so many was that I had just started and there were some really easy ones in there. Well, I have had a very good time doing Boy Scouts because it is very fun.  

How my Weekend Went

This weekend went great for me. On Friday after school, I had a basketball game. We sadly lost. But then after my game, my family and I went over to my cousin’s house to celebrate New Year. So we couldn’t actually do it on the 31^st of December because my family was in New Orleans. So instead, we did it the 7^th. I had a blast. We got to play a fighting game with shields and we played Nerf Gun Wars and we stayed up until 12 o’clock. Then I came right home and went right to sleep. The next thing that I know, its 7 o’clock and we have to go to my Boy Scout camp out. Basically at the camp out, I get some requirements done. Requirements are where we have to show that we know this thing. I think that the only bad thing was being cold. On Saturday night and Sunday morning, I was super cold. Even though, my dad had brought me a sleeping bag, it was still cold. Then at 8:00 the next morning, our troop headed out. On Sunday, I really did nothing, but stay at home and read and play Wii.

            Overall, my weekend went great. I played a fun game of basketball and stayed up very late to have a party. And then I went to my Boy Scout camp out and had a great time. This weekend was a perfect weekend for me because I was doing something this weekend.  

2012, So Far

2011 was a good year. It had its ups and downs. But this year is going to be better.

            This year is supposed to be when the sun explodes and giant natural disasters destroy the earth, but I am not planning on it. My big plans for 2012 are to learn Spanish (at least part of it), try and be nicer, and to work harder on everything that I do.

            If this means that I must take extra time to do things, I will. Also I am going to be nicer at home. Some times at home, my siblings and I like to fight. We argue and then we fight. It will help out this family be better. I think that by not fighting that they will take after me and stop fighting. I also really wanted to learn Spanish. I have always wanted to learn a new language because it sounded interesting. Well for Christmas, my grandma gave me a Spanish learning system. I started it yesterday. It was awesome because of how it makes learning Spanish fun. You have flash cards that have the Spanish word and what it translates to. I have already learned 34 words in Spanish.