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         This year I got quite some great presents for Christmas.          From my parents, I got a laptop, an Asus x200CA and a backpack with laptop pouch. I charged the computer. I wanted to install Windows on the computer, and I did. The stuff took until the next day to install! After that, I installed a few other programs. I think it's a great computer. It's fast and easy to use. I know it took a long time for my parents to pick the perfect computer for me, and they chose well!          From other sources, like our old babysitter Steven and Santa, I got a Lego Robie House, Lego minifigure, Nerf Triad Ex-3, and Super Mario Party 8. Yesterday I started on the Robie House. I think the model will look great when I finish it, but for now I haven't even finished the black base! The Lego minifigure was a paintball gunner. I like the intricate design of the paintball on it. The Nerf gun we got was much like last year's. The only difference was that this one could hold thr

Yesterday I had a great dinner at the Ristorante Italianissimo. With Andy and Sachit, my dad's business partners, and their families, we got a room to ourselves! The waiter was really nice, too. For the appetizers, there was a great risotto del giorne. The rice was creamy, and it tasted great. I drank ginger ale (my favorite!). My mom had vongole, which is basically clams. The clams were tasty. I had patate fritti, steak fries tossed with parmesan. There were three dipping sauces - ketchup, a yellow sauce, and a spicy orange sauce. The yellow sauce tasted best with the thin fries - but I couldn't finish the fries, even sharing it with five people! I had to leave some space for the calamari, sausage  Friday (only available on Friday) and entrees. The sausage, which changes every week, was kind of spicy, with salsa, but it was great. For the entrees, I had a paesana pizza - sausage and mushroom. I didn't know it was going to be that big - I only ate two slices! But the piz

              Today I went skiing with my dad.               When I got to Steven's Pass, I noticed a lot of changes to Steven's Pass. For example, the lift terminals were repainted and  the support/light poles were cleaned of stickers and repainted. The chairs were also repainted, and Jupiter Chair was upgraded to an express chair. Brooks, however, was not upgraded as was promised last year.               There wasn't as much snow as last year, and because there was a Bike Park in the summer, some of the bridges and obstacles were still showing. Most of the tracks that were more covered with snow were icy - so it wasn't a great day for skiing.               All in all, even though I hit quite a lot of ice today, it was still very fun to go to Steven's Pass!

小汽车，小汽车， 飞来飞去到处跑 我坐在小汽车里 颠颠颠颠颠颠颠 啊啊啊啊啊啊啊 颠颠颠颠啊啊啊 我坐在小汽车里 吧嗒吧嗒吃东西啦！ 吃着热狗吃着汉堡 吧嗒吧嗒吃东西啦！ 我坐在小汽车里 嘟嘟嘟嘟嘟嘟嘟 嘟嘟嘟嘟拍喇叭啦！ 嘟嘟嘟嘟拍喇叭啦！ 我坐在小汽车里 哇哇哇哇哇哇哇 吃太多了吐了啦！ 吃太多了吐了啦！ 我坐在小汽车里 没意思没意思没意思啦！ 没意思没意思没意思啦！ 没意思没意思没意思啦！ 我坐在小汽车里 我坐在小汽车里 我坐在小汽车里 耶！

           All I wanted was a glass of water. I had walked towards the jug of water when I heard clicking sounds. They grew in rapidity until they turned into a buzzing cacophony. Soon, I was going crazy.            What was all this sound about? I found out as I turned the corner. There were big machines with blinking lights in this room. They hadn't been there before.            When I looked out the window, I knew something was really wrong. Big green aliens towered over our house, watching us. "MOM! DAD!" No answer. Mom and dad were gone, too. I saw them over on a different experiment table.            I suddenly had a great idea. In the night, when the aliens were gone, I got mom and dad back in the house. We worked together to splash water over those dastardly machines. The problem was that the aliens had cut our water supply. I realized the machines were to stop us from returning to Earth - we were bound to the Earth, and the machines weakened the bond enough to

Before I could do anything to stop it, the scream slipped from my mouth. "AHHHHHH!" I yelped as I stepped onto the roof. I started sliding around. The iReindeer opened its eyes to look at me. The one-use emergency cloaking machine on its back turned on and locked on me.   WHIRRRRR... Instinctively, I jumped up, grabbed the machine and tossed it into a toy sack. The sack suddenly disappeared with a loud SHWUNK! Down in the house, I heard sounds of "Who's there? What's that? Why won't anyone sleep on Christmas Eve?" I inched down the sooty chimney, sure that someone saw me. Sure enough, a small kid turned on the fireplace. I heard the rest of them spreading out. My feet were slipping through the soot, while the smoke was weakening and burning through my clothes. I tried to hold on, but my hands and feet were unable to find a grip on the sooty chimney walls. Suddenly, my boot soles slipped off and I dropped towards the fire. At the same time, my belt

           It was a bleary night. I trudged past barren trees and withering grass. I was trying to find my way through the desolate forest, as I had been trying to do the whole day. After what seemed like an eternity, I reached a mildewed hovel in a mossy grove.            Next to the hovel was a small stump. “Hello? Hello?” I asked. There was no answer. Afraid to enter the hovel in the dark, I rested on the stump until dawn came. I was growing restless, and wanted to explore the shack.            But when I tried to pull myself up, I couldn’t! “HELP!” I screamed. Pulling and pushing, I managed to scoot off the stump a bit. I kept pulling the whole day, but I just couldn’t pull my bottom off the stump. I was getting thirsty and hungry, too.            And then I had an idea… a brilliant idea! I started digging into the stump with the small pocketknife I kept with me all the time and I soon got to the inner bark. At least I could eat that for food and water. After years and years

           One of the biggest mistakes I have ever made is not thinking before I wrote.            My mistake happened on a school paper. I wanted to get over with the assignment, so I didn't think about how to write well. I finished very quickly, but my paper had many flagrant errors in it. I just told my parents that I finished my assignment, but in reality, I knew I didn't do a good job. I just pushed the thought out of my head for now and went to play.            My mistake was that I didn't put my best effort into my assignment. When I edited the paper, I would quickly run into trouble. The next day, I looked at the paper and wished I hadn't been so hasty yesterday. I now had to spend way more time editing the paper, time I could have used to do other things or finish my other homework. But I had to use it to rewrite the essay, using more time than the wasted time yesterday.            As you can see, my biggest mistake was hastening my work - "haste makes

          Everybody knows it isn't easy to control what you do when you first get your hands on money. And so my biggest mistake was when I didn't control myself and I spent money randomly on the iTunes Store.           I had connected my debit card to the App Store, so I could buy anything I wanted. But I abused this and started buying too many things. I bought a game one minute and bought another thing the next. I just kept buying things. In a few short days, I had spent more than $40. And I didn't even know about the overdrafts, which were $20 total. So I kept going until my mom and dad approached me and asked what I had been doing with my money. That was when I realized how much money I had spent.           This was a mistake because none of it would have happened if I had exercised self-control. I didn't even realize that I was spending so much money. When I looked at all the purchases on iTunes, I finally realized what had went wrong. I didn't calm down and

从前有一只叫啦啦牛的牛。她很喜欢唱歌。她有天在农场上举行了一个合唱会。但大家都觉得她唱得不好听。她老发出哞哞哞的声音，难听极了！大家都堵住了耳朵。但最后，啦啦还是唱得挺好听的。她练了很久，最后大家都喜欢听她唱歌了。

It was the biggest challenge she faced - winning the chess game. If she did, she would make it through the year with her winnings. If she didn't, she would starve. It was the same for me. The game was tense. She played as well as she could. She was a bit down at the start. The game went downwards from the opening, where she made a small positional blunder. It was going to be a great year. I had always wanted to earn some money so I could take chess lessons and eventually becoming the world champion. I frowned. There was nothing wrong with the opening I had played. And my opponent didn't do anything special, either. How could she have won? I ran through the game again in my head. At the fifty-second move, where I saw mate in five for her if I played a certain move. I didn't play that move, though. I had to go to the bathroom, so I excused myself. When I came back, my opponent was happily whistling. Something seemed to be wrong with the position. But I kept it to myself. Afte

He would have to try again another time. I sat in the control booth watching the security cameras. They projected an image of him sneaking through the store in the shadows. Suddenly, I pressed a button and one of the cameras grew a small red barrel. Seconds after it appeared, the barrel started smoking. He fell to the ground. Later, he was sent to jail with a twenty-five year sentence. I had caught the infamous criminal at last! Store owners all over the world gave me rewards, accompanied with hearty congratulations. Now they would not have to worry about the criminal. The next few days were uneventful. After a few weeks, though, I noticed that some products were disappearing fast. I investigated and found that 50%  of them were not paid for. How could this be? It was possible that there was another thief! He was probably hidden in the deluges of people who came every day. So today I paid particular attention to the shampoo, which had been disappearing rapidly. Many customers came t

           She opened the door and saw... AHHHH! A SPIDER WEB! EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! TIME TO RUN AROUND THE HOUSE SCREAMING! This big painted hunk of meat has just stepped right into a spider web, my  spider web, and is running around the house now. After wiping herself off with a paper towel, she will probably go take five showers just to make sure the I am gone. And then she will sprint into the car and speed away from the house and to work.            Poor me. I have to endure all this torture on the face of this creature. She has gotten to the kitchen! Oh no! Here comes the paper towel! I dodge it and I land in her hair. It's so warm and comfy in there. She will never think to look there either. The perfect spot to hide.            And now she's headed for the bathroom, just as I predicted! At least the hair will help shield me from the water a bit. After a hurricane has pelted the woman, she puts her clothes back on in a frantic dash for the car. Little does she know that

Both Sports Give you energy to do things Energy so you can move around Arts Gives you creativity Creativity is important Conclusion           I believe arts, sports, and music are of equal importance because they all provide essential skills of life.           First of all, sports are important because they give you energy to do things. They grow your muscles so you can move around. Without muscles, you would essentially be a rusty old iron block. You need muscles so you can perform everyday tasks like raking the lawn. Sports also help burn off carbohydrates and fats. If you didn't exercise and do sports, you would not be a rusty old iron block, you would be a immobile bouncy ball. In addition to all the physical benefits, sports also help with emotional and spiritual aspects. They make you more stable emotionally. They also help with teamwork (if it's a team sport), and cooperation. Leadership, dedication, and credibility also come from sports, along with many other t

I realized he needed help, but I couldn't worry about that now. I had to get away from those soldiers immediately! I ran around, trying to dodge the thickets, artillery, brainwashing machines, and teleportees everywhere. As I ran away from the scouts, I knew it was too late. I heard the piercing scream behind me, but kept going, stifling my sobs. Before long, though, I was running out of energy. I was becoming slower and slower - until I crashed into it - the big fat belly with arms. It had me in a second. There was no escape from its bear hug. Bringing me with it, it tumbled into the sugary castle, where I was to be executed the next day. I despaired until I found I could eat through the castle walls! Working as hard as I could, I chewed and chewed, finally making it through the KitKat walls. I came out onto the Sour Punch Strings lawn. It was dotted with gumdrop flowers. I made my way through the battlefield, and to the other side.  There, I found some friendly robots and ve

          How could I have turned into a bear? I had just walked into the room, and suddenly I had become a bear! I explored the forested room for a while, and ate some berries. Everything was perfect - until I saw the hunters. They were dressed in black, with guns as large as their bodies. They came running in, and started charging at me with guns ablaze. The worst part was that I couldn't even see the exit anymore!           I was chased and chased through the endless room, up hills, down hills, into rivers, and onto trees. The hunters were getting tired, but I was, too. So I kept going, and I noticed that the climate was becoming colder and colder. The hunters stopped to put on jackets, and I took the chance to dive into a cave and escape their wrath.           Then I remembered the exit, and how much I wanted to be human again. I roamed and rambled for days in the jungle, climbing trees and mountains to get a better view, but I couldn't find an exit. Time and time again I

          I think laughter is or is not the best medicine based on the situation. Laughter can help with depression or emotional problems, but laughter doesn't help with sickness.           First of all, laughter helps with depression. It cheers people up, while medicine doesn't help that much, not only being ineffective, but also having nasty side effects. For example, in the book Mockingbird , there is a girl who suffers from depression. Her brother recently died, and she found no way to get over it - until she discovered laughter. It helped to alleviate her pain, where all the medicines she tried had failed.           On the other hand, medicine helps more with sickness. Laughter can't prevent sickness or fight it. But medicine actually fights the germs by creating antibodies, while laughter doesn't. Once, I had a fever and so I had to take medicine. My family tried making me laugh, but it was useless. This proves that the medicine was actually better here.    

          I think imagination is equally important as knowledge, so I disagree.           One reason for this is storywriting. If you have only imagination and ideas, you won't know how to organize them and write them. You might have a great idea for a story, but without knowledge, you won't be able to organize and write it into a story. On the other hand, if you only have knowledge, you won't be able to come up with an idea for a story. You might know how to organize the writing, but that's useless without an idea. So you need both imagination and knowledge for a story, proving that they are equally important, and that imagination is not more important.           Another reason for this is a war. If you don't have knowledge and only have imagination, you will think of great tactics but not be able to use them. On the other hand, if you only have knowledge but don't have imagination, you will know how to use tactics, but will not think of any. So both are of e

Exposition: Don't live on Earth Rising Action: Starts seeing green aliens Mountains start to look red Trees start to look blue Only person who sees these things Climax: Finds out lives on Mars Falling Action: Opens portal Conclusion: Everyone back on Earth           He leaned forward and said... "Did you know that we don't live on Earth?" I whipped my head around to see my teacher, Mr. Emerson, teaching class as usual. How could that be possible? Maybe it had just been my imagination.           It was a normal ride home on the rocket car, and I did my homework. After that, I ate the normal Monday dinner that was delivered to our doorstep - hot dogs with ketchup and mustard, and went to sleep. The next day I had the standard Tuesday breakfast, and hopped into the rocket car again.           This time, something was wrong. I saw something weird in the blur around me. It seemed like one of those colors that we learned about in school! But this was different. There

Agree Personal Life - friends Meet somebody new They don't know about you The first thing they see or hear about you will provide them with their idea of you George Washington First thing people hear about him is the time when he was honest about cutting cherry tree The rest of his life is kind of obscure The first impression he made lasted, while the rest didn't Conclude          I think that you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. A first impression is what people feel about you when they first meet or hear about you. So no matter what you do on your second meeting or when somebody says something different about you, the first  impression will be the same.          First of all, I know from personal experience that making friends largely depends on what they feel of you when they first meet you. If you meet somebody new, and do something weird, the other person will probably think you are weird and stay away from you. But if you do something

Disagree Students' Rights Students should get to do what they want They should be able to focus on sports if they want to Can't force to get good grades If force, might quit Don't want to spend so much time study But has to or can't do sports Doesn't like school and quits Conclude           Many high school students like sports very much, spending more time on sports than their studies. So if there was a rule requiring students to get a certain grade point average to play sports, they would be unhappy. They would feel that their rights were violated, and might quit.           First of all, the students would feel that their basic rights were being disrespected. They all have a right to do whatever they want, and if they don't get to do what they want, their rights are being disrespected. This rule would prevent them from doing sports before their studies, and so they would feel like their rights were being ignored. They would think that they should b

            Some high school students just focus on competitive sports and don't do very well in academic studies. This is a big problem, and one way to fix it would be to require a higher grade point level to participate in competitive sports.            In school, you want to get good grades because it shows your understanding of the subject, and you want to show your understanding of the subject because you want to show you have learned something in school. A school is a place to study, a student's purpose is to learn. Therefore, you need good grades to prove that you are fulfilling your role in that statement.  A grade is probably the best available method to measure your knowledge.             Also, in high school, you will either be going to college or getting a job next. That will be very important, and a big chunk of it depends on your grades. This is because a grade shows your understanding, your ability to fulfill the requirements of a job or college. Most people ge

          Some high school students just focus on competitive sports and don't do very well in academic studies. This is a big problem, and one way to fix it would be to require a higher grade point level to participate in competitive sports.           In schools, especially high schools, it is important to get good grades. Normally, you want to get good grades because it shows your understanding of the subject, and you want to show your understanding of the subject because you want to show you have learned something in school. A grade is probably the best available method to measure your understanding.  The required grade point level should be a 3 because anything below that is below standard, and anything above that might be too hard for most students to achieve. For achieving average, which isn't easy for most students, students should be rewarded with the opportunity of participating in competitive sports.            Students' individual grade point level should be

Agree Students like competitive sports They offer a chance to meet others Get a chance to exercise Have fun Grade point level should be 3.5 3 is average, so students should do better to get a reward, get 3.5 Will encourage students to get higher grades People who originally didn't do that well in school but liked sports would now get better grades Conclude           Some high school students just focus on competitive sports and don't do very well in academic studies. This is a big problem, and one way to fix it would be to require a higher grade point level to participate in competitive sports.           Most students enjoy competitive sports. They offer a chance to meet others, as teams and individuals from abroad compete against each other. It provides a way to make new friends. At the same time, it offers a chance to get some exercise. Most high-school students are bogged down with studies and extracurriculars, leaving no time for exercise. But co

Agree Students like competitive sports They offer a chance to meet others Get a chance to exercise Have fun Grade point level should be 3.5 3 is average, so students should do better to get a reward, get 3.5 Will encourage students to get higher grades People who originally didn't do that well in school but liked sports would now get better grades Conclude           Some high school students just focus on competitive sports and don't do very well in academic studies. This is a big problem, and one way to fix it would be to require a higher grade point level to participate in competitive sports.           In schools, especially high schools, it is important to get good grades. Normally, you want to get good grades because it shows your understanding of the subject, and you want to show your understanding of the subject because you want to show you have learned something in school. If you don't learn anything in school, there wouldn't be many m

           I agree with the prompt: "know you don't know". My understanding of this prompt is that you should know what you don't know. That way, you know how to improve and learn more.            Most people who don't know much think they know everything. This is because they don't know what they don't know. People who know more realize that there are a lot of things that they haven't learned. This way, they strive to improve, and get better results than the people who stop learning when they think they know everything. Think of the Chinese story about an old man and a person who thought he knew everything. The old man was wearing a cap, and asked the person how much stuff he knew. The person said: "I know as much as there are hairs on your head." Then the old man took off his cap, and it turned out he had no hair! The person thought he knew so much that he made a reckless assumption. In actuality, he didn't know much. He didn't try

有一天我看到了一个很奇怪的一个东西！有一个只穿着内裤的麋鹿！然后他边上还有一打桶尿！这个麋鹿很傻，看到一个桶就要拉尿！我把他带回家，但是它在我的炒菜锅里拉了尿！我的马桶也都满了！我今年的水费会好高啊！我做菜都做不了了！我要怎么生活呀？！

          One of the best pieces of advice I have acquired is that you should treat others like you would expect them to treat you. You should put yourself in others' shoes, and think about your actions.           For example, if you want to hit someone based on something they said or something they did, you should think about it first. You need to think how you would feel if you were hit by them. You would probably feel shocked and angry, and so they would probably also feel dismayed if you hit them. Therefore, you should not hit them because you know that they would feel really offended. A possible solution to the above conflict is asking the other person to not bring up that topic or do that thing anymore. When there's a conflict, immediately hitting someone or saying rude things never solves the problem. What does solve the problem is convincing others, or getting them to see from your point of view, so the you and the other person can understand each other.           Ano

I agree with the statement “the early bird gets the worm” for various reasons. This is mainly because people who go first usually get more choices and take the best items and choices. One example of this is when settlers first came to the Pacific Northwest to settle. The early birds, or the first people to get there, claimed all the land they could ever want and it was theirs. People who came later, though, could only claim the remaining parts of land, which was usually the worst land, as the first people had already taken all of the best land. So even though the land was free and anybody could claim unclaimed land, the rule “the early bird gets the worm is still effective – the first people get the most and best land, while the last people get the least and worst land. Another example of this is buying airplane tickets. The first tickets are bought by early birds, who take the best seats. Later buyers have to face seats that aren’t nearly as good as the ones the early birds got.

          The accident rate for driving is very high - and reckless teenagers and their crazy assumptions are one of the main reason behind them. Through this fact, I think state legislature should pass a proposal to raise the minimum driving age from 16 to 18.           Teens that are 16 years old are sometimes very boisterous and unstable. This combination could make them do crazy things. For example, they could go right through a red light. Or they could go 40 mph on a 15 mph road. This would be extremely dangerous to pedestrians crossing the street or kids playing outside. Other times, some teens make crazy assumptions. They might assume that there were no other cars on the road at night, and ignore traffic lights. Then crashes would be everywhere.           People 18 and above are generally more mature and in need of a car than 16-year-olds. 18-year-olds usually aren't as crazy and reckless as some of them used to be two years ago. Also, that's the first time people migh

           The statement "What goes up must come down" is a very interesting statement, and I think it could be argued both ways.            One example of something that doesn't have to come down after going up is a tree. Trees grow up, increasing in height. Trees don't ever decrease in height. Trees will keep getting higher and higher until they are cut down (in which case they will decrease a lot in height) or die of natural causes (in which case they will either fall down or just stay there at the same height).            One example of something that will come down after going up is new products by major companies like Apple and Microsoft. When they come out, everybody wants them, and the popularity and price of the products increase. As time progresses, however, the popularity and price will go down, as everybody who is interested in the product has the product already, and the rush to buy the product will decrease, too.            Trees keep growing and neve

Agree Gives students experience in life they know how hard adults work know how hard they will have to work Helps community makes community cleaner gives community more helpers Conclude Every high school student definitely should be required to complete 60 hours of community service every school year. One reason I believe high school students should be required to complete 60 hours of community service every school year is that it gives the students some experience in life, and it makes them appreciate their parents more. They will recognize how hard their parents work to keep the family running. They would see that adults have to clean up workspaces and homes very often, and how tiring that would be, from cleaning up the community. They would also see that adults would have to also take care of their children, a very hard job, from babysitting children for other people. It would give them an impression of how hard they will have to work, it will give them some experience in

Uniforms Provides sameness No segregation based on clothes Everybody is the same No inappropriate clothes School pictures Looks better No clashing colors in group pictures No inappropriate clothes to influence other people to wear more inappropriate clothes Yes            I think uniforms should be worn in schools because it provides sameness and makes everyone look better.           One reason I think uniforms should be worn in schools is that it provides sameness. Therefore, there is no segregation based on what clothes you wear. In most schools nowadays, people judge each other by how good their clothes look, and that also reflects on how rich your family is. Poor families' children would be separated and treated badly, which isn't good. Uniforms, however, don't give people a chance to form an opinion on your clothing. Everybody wears the same clothes, and so there is no way to segregate poor or rich - uniforms are all the same. Also, there ar

The first thing I remembered about yesterday, when I found myself on Mars, was that I had  thought that it was unlike any place I had ever been. I was in Seattle, Washington, last time I checked, but when I woke up in the morning I was on Mars! There were a bunch of aliens surrounding me, and before I knew it, they had me tied up. After that they poked a needle into my skin, and I went unconscious. When I came to, they had me in a small, sparsely furnished cell, and there was a big alien standing in front of me, holding a humongous gun which looked more like a refrigerator than a gun. He pressed one of the many buttons on his belt, and escorted me out of the room. After hours and hours of walking, I was finally brought to the largest room I had ever seen. It looked like a palace. The aliens brought me to the center of the palace, and on the floor I saw the words "A Temple for the God Hazra". I suddenly realized that I was to be sacrificed to this god named Hazra. I wriggl

以前有个很笨的熊，但是它的肚子有问题，所以他没一个分钟准时会放几个屁。嘭嘭嘭嘭嘭嘭嘭嘭嘭嘭嘭！它的肚子有出毛病了！“阿！赶快跑呀！”他的朋友们都尖叫起来。大笨熊不知道他们在干什么，以为在玩追人游戏，所以跟着他们嘭嘭嘭的追去了。他突然看不见朋友们了，迷路了。它也想要拉屎。突然，他在远处的天上看到了一个马桶！他跑过去，爬上一个树，然浓厚调到马桶上面。他还在马桶上面看到了一个报纸，看了起来。但它不知道这个都是外星人的秘密武器！他到了别的星球，然后被外星人吃掉了，从此也再没有人见到他了。但现在那个外星人也有肚子毛病了。

           A week ago we started a mini-simulation. The mini-simulation was an Ideal City city council meeting about what to do with an imaginary lagoon called Clear Lagoon. Up until today, everybody had been preparing for the meeting. Today, the meeting started!            Everybody held a position in the meeting. Ron, Bradley, Neethi, Saketh, and Suhani wanted to develop the land, while Swathi, Andrea, Ayana, Ayush, and Viru wanted to keep the land in its natural state. Fiona and Phillip explained the pros and cons of the project. The rest of the class was city council (except for Amanda, the mayor of the city)            At the start of the meeting the Pledge of Allegiance was recited, and there were a few presentations on what would happen to the lagoon if the land was developed. I sat in a row of desks at the front of the room to listen, as I was a city council member! I took notes on what each side was saying, and asked questions about some things. I had a great time, and I got

          I have recently read WSJ's article "Why Tough Teachers Get Good Results". I have a few thoughts on this article.           First of all, I think that creativity cannot be "learned", as the article says it can. Creativity is the ability to think of something unique. For example, if you were asked to draw something, drawing something that was your own idea is an example of creativity. The article, however, stated that you could learn how to think of unique things and solutions to problems. This is not possible in my opinion. You cannot think of unique things if you have no creativity. You would just be using somebody else's ideas at that point. Creativity is not rewriting someone else's essay, it is coming up with your own unique idea and writing your own essay.           My other thought, though, is that I agree that a little pain is good for you. Without pain, you would think everything was perfect, and would be very surprised when you first

          Two days ago I went to Daniel's birthday party. The party was held at Tech City Bowl.           The first thing we did was play bowling. We played 3 games in 2 hours. I got 2nd in the first game with 117. In the second and third games, I got 3rd with scores of 108 and 100. Patrick Fan didn't come, so we took turns playing for him! That was really fun. Even though we didn't try to get a good score for him, he got 1st each time. This was because he got a lot of spares, and I actually made a strike. The final determining factor was that Greg got 3 strikes in a row for him on the 10th turn!           The final thing we did was play in the arcade and eat cake. The circular cake was chocolate with chocolate frosting and large chocolate flakes on the sides. On top was just small chocolate crumbs and white frosting that said "Happy Birthday Daniel" We each got a lot of tokens and a small origami model from Daniel. I filled the bag up with tickets I earned from

          Today was the Science Now! presentations that we have prepared so long for. Two of the presentations had cake for the required 3D Models!           For example, my group's project had a cake for a 3D model, and it was delicious! The cake was made to look like Denali National Park, with a few plastic grizzly bears and mooses around the cake. The cake also had a few chocolate mountains, with some grass (red, yellow, green frosting) nearby. The dirt was brown sugar, and the ground was a type of chocolate cake. Our cake was completely vegan and gluten free.           The other group's cake was a red velvet cake, which tasted great, and it also had frosting on it, but not a lot. The cake was huge and was really soft and spongy. Ms. Chen got a HUMONGOUS piece because it was the leftover after we all took our pieces. The piece was around 8 inches by 8 inches!           All in all, I really enjoyed the delicious cakes today!!!

今天我的班级会表演一些科学戏。我们很早，差不多九月五号就开始准备了。今天我们会把这个戏在全班前表演一次。我们会讲大灰熊和无患子。我们从准备这个表演学了一些东西，比如大灰熊的重量，身高，和类型。我们也学了无患子的用处。土著美国人以前用这个果子做出了药，食物，等等。这个果子对他们的用处很大，可以治痒，做成食物，还可以用来洗衣服呢！我们最后学到的一个事实就是无患子被熊吃了，它的果子还会在屎里面长出来，还会比以前长得更健康。我觉得今天的表演肯定很酷！

          Today my class went to Challenges Northwest, and we all had a great time.           One of the things we did was the "7-Buoy-7". There was a buoy suspended at waist level with a rope that was attached to the ceiling. We tried to cross the "laser shark ocean" and get to "Hawaii". We couldn't touch the oceans because the laser sharks would eat us. We started in Washington and had to use ropes and other materials to get the buoy from the middle of the ocean and then ride the "plane" to Hawaii. We had to squeeze ourselves onto the tiny mat that they called Hawaii, and stay there. We solved the challenge by using someone's jacket to hit the buoy and make it swing to us. After that, we took turns riding the buoy to Hawaii.           Another of the things we did was the "Flying Squirrel". We could choose from the Tower of Terror, the Toilet Bowl Flush, the Elevator, or the Flying Squirrel modes. This was more like an amusem

I WENT TO THE STORE By: Patrick Peng I went to the store I wanted to buy more I danced on the floor I still wanted more I itched my sore I now wanted even more The next day was an uneventful one The work was all done I couldn't even play with my son There was no fun No one made any puns There was no 5K run The frogs were still I went to the mill Later I took a pill And then I ate my fill I met someone named Bill I saw a fish's gills Maybe today wasn't that bad Even though I got mad And I also got sad Even though the day could have improved a tad And I saw my dad So the day wasn't that bad

           Another game that is commonly played at recess is "Foursquare".            Foursquare is a game for 4+ players, and the court is just four squares, usually with a diagonal line through one of them. So it looks something like this. The king, in square number 4, calls each activity. For example, Bus Stop, Brainfreeze, and Original are just a small sample of the all activities that the king can call. The king has 3 lives, while square 3's bishop has 2 lives. The pawn (square 2) and knight (square 1) both only get one life.            My favorite activity is Pickles. Pickles is where you have to do a dance move, and then toss the ball into someone else's square. If it bounces twice there, the person in that square loses a life. If someone has 0 lives, they are out, and another person goes into pawn to replace them. The people with a ranking below the person who got out move up a rank. The goal is to move up to king and stay there.            All in all, Four

              My thoughts about this article were that Microsoft had a great idea, it just didn't execute it. If the things in the video actually worked, then Microsoft would earn a lot of money. With the idea of total voice control, sharing projects with just a word, and watching the news without so much as a click, it seems that this technology would instantly deem all other things useless. At the time, there wasn't much other resistance from other companies, and Microsoft could have pushed ahead. Now, they can still create these things, but other companies have already started to create them. I don't get why Microsoft didn't build these advanced things in 2000, when there were no iPads or iPods, or even iPhones. But, strangely enough, Microsoft decides not to work on these projects. I find this strange, as they created a whole press conference devoted to this, and didn't even try any of it. They might call some things .NET, and whatever, but names aren't impo

I recently have started playing tetherball.     Tetherball is an interesting game where you use your hands to smack the hanging ball around. There is a circular court, which is split into halves. There is a player on each half, so there are two players total. In the middle of the court, there is a ball, tethered to a pole with a rope. The goal is to hit the ball in a direction, and make the ball spin around the pole in that direction until the ball wraps around the pole so tightly that the ball hits the pole and starts to go in the opposite direction. Then you win. So, one person hits the ball in one direction, while the other person hits the ball the other way. You can't go onto the opponent's side of the court, nor can you hold the ball or touch the rope. The ball can be tossed in one direction and then hit back in the other direction, and the same player can hit it more than once in a row. Today, some interesting things happened in a tetherball game. I "ropey"ed