Halloween

Tonight I am dressing like a scarecrow and I'm sitting on my deck and will move just slightly when kids come to the door. I want to see if they notice and if I scare them. My mom is putting out all of her Day of the Dead skeletons that she got from Mexico to add to the atmosphere. It's going to be funnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

I'm very happy that no one I know from school lost their home to the fire. I am also happy that the teachers didn't lost their homes either. At first I wasn't too worried about the fire but I still starting packing. But then the winds changed and I didn't worry so much. The fire didn't affect my school work a lot. We just redid our schedules. I'm glad to be back at school. In Jeff's class, I'm working on a project called a strain. I have also been working on my DP. I plan to put my Jaws summary on my DP.

Field Trip to Balboa Park

Today I found one of the most brilliant pieces of art in history. It's an active piece and a visual piece at the same time. It's a house that you can go inside of, but it's a TV screen on the inside and the outside. The house acts like a screen for a video that keeps repeating. It's a video of these 4 people painting. They keep painting over each other's stuff and they keep making new paintings. The coolest thing about it, is you can go inside it and you can see the shadows of the people outside. You can make shadow puppets with the house. My partner would stay inside the house and I would walk around and do shadow puppet shows. It was a really fun piece of artwork. I made a shadow puppet show of me having a face off with another person like in one of the cowboy movies. I think people should go and see it.

Student Led Conference

I was very nervous about how my student led conference was going to go, but as I thought about it more, I thought I should just do it and get it over with. I talked about my strengths, my challenges, things I've been proud of this year and how I could fix things by achieving some goals. I'm going to make sure that I keep striving toward one goal in particular--to make sure that I keep doing well in school no matter what the consequences are. This goal is important to me because I want to be intelligent and have a good education so I can get a job and make a living and enjoy my life more. Life isn't fun without money and without joy. The only way you can get some of those things is if you have an education so it's my goal to get an education.

Border Angels

I learned that the Border Angels were founded by Enrique Morones and that the organization helps humanity. Mostly they try to help people who suffer from lack of water and food as they go through the desert to try to get to freedom. The organization tries to keep these people alive. I think Spencer might ask us to compare what the Border Angels do and what the Border Patrol does. The Border Patrol is a government funded agency. It is part of the law and so tries to keep people out. The Border Angels are non-profit, but what they are doing is still legal. They get donations to help people out. They also get volunteers, just like when I was volunteer for the Diabetes walk. They are sort of like a community service group. Another difference between them is that the Border Patrol is trying to keep people out even though safety is their top concern. The Border Angels try to specifically keep people from dying. The Border Patrol uses force, but the Border Angels don't.

Grateful for Spencer

I've been having a lot of fun in Spencer's class this year. I've made a lot of friends and I've learned a lot of new things. I would like to thank Spencer for that. I hope he keeps teaching us and that he stays at High Tech High. The most important thing Spencer has taught me so far is to remember my responsibilities. I'm so happy and thankful.

I've learned how to write in a more interesting way. I've written some short stories in our writing warm-ups. I've also learned about socializing with others, even though I still need to work on that a bit. I'm know I'm going to get it. I also want to say that the homework is actually fun to do. I quite enjoy doing it because it gets me doing something other than being bored or playing video games. Actually I'm not sure that last sentence is true.

Thank you Spencer for teaching me what you've taught me so far.

Tyler Bruch

Tyler Bruch is a young American farmer determined to succeed, and he works long days week after week, year after year to make his point.


Tyler Bruch is a very successful bean and corn farmer who is doing very well. His work has attracted other farmers to plant and harvest their crops in Brazil.

Austin Harbert's blog

Today I checked out Austin Harbert's blog. I noticed he was trying to name his blog something. I think he should name it something out of the ordinary. I don't have any creative ideas right now, but I'll try thinking of something.

Mom told me the story of life

I read a short story today called "Mom told me the story of life" and this was for a writing warm-up. This is what I wrote: mom told me the story of life but I didn't believe her because what if that's not it. What if she is wrong? What if no one is right?

My writing didn't really have a story line because I started getting into where my pet rock. Once I realized where it was, our time was up.

I think these writing exercises are good and sometimes I don't really like them. Each one is different and so when there are ones I understand, it's easier for me to do them. I just write down my thoughts and see what comes out.

My Presentation on Panama

Our presentation went very well. People seemed to like it and think I was funny. Spencer also said we did a really good job.

One funny thing about Panama is that they didn't get their independence through war. The US bought them their independence, kind of like how the US is interfering with modern day Iraq. Panama was given 65 million dollars and they gained their independence. Not a lot changed in Panama once they had their independence except that the US then built the Panama Canal which helped them with trade.

Our team was called Austin Squared because both Austins were working on it. Austin Harvard and I did a good job on this project. I hope we get to work more together in the future. We were picked randomly for when we would present and so we presented on Tuesday. It turned out fine for us. The only thing that was missing was our Works Cited pages, but we showed this to Spencer and he gave us credit.

Independence Movement Presentations

There were a lot of presentations. One positive thing about the presentations were that people seemed to have lots of fun. Laura was really funny during her presentation. Today people talked about Argentina, Peru and Brazil. I learned that other countries besides Panama were also under the control of Columbia. I also learned that Brazil became a republic and that Argentia was under Spanish rule for most of its history. Today all the presentations were done with PowerPoint which is what Austin and I are doing also.

Museum of Man

We visited the Museum of Man today and I saw a Mayan compass that was very interestisng. Emline's mom was able to read it. I discovered this extinct species of ape that I would consdier to be the Yeti. I saw a few sarcophaguses and I saw a shrunken head. I also saw how a mother and a baby go through pregnancy. It showed how the baby grows in the mother's stomach. It showed how the brain works. I also saw a 3CPO replica. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun.

Jaws

I have just finished reading Peter Benchley's novel Jaws. Yes, this is the one they made a movie about including the giant shark that killed everyone. It was a good book. It was a lot better than the movie because a lot of things happened in the book that didn't happen in the movie. I don't want to give too much away, but more people get killed in the book. Read books before you see the movies because it's a much better experience.

Also, Austin and I are doing very well on the Panama project. We pretty much got the project completed today. We just need to fix a few things here and there and we're done. I'm hoping we can be partners in the future because we work well together. And remember, the best country in the world is Panama.

Panama

Austin and I are reporting on Panama. Today, October 2, we have this group work. When I got home I immediately got on my computer and started looking for images and research. I did this all by myself. I feel very proud of myself for the work I did today. I found 35 images and copied them to my CD. I feel confident that Austin and I will do well on this project.

Some of the things I learned in my research is that Panama is a great place for fly fishing. Also, Panama didn't have to become a country. They just became a country because the United States told them to. They were independent in the first place and once they became a country they became more independent. The reason America did this is because they wanted to use the Panama Canal for trading. It is still used to day for this reason. Panama used to be part of Columbia.

If Austin reads this blog entry, I just want to say that I am really excited about being your team partner. I hope we get to do more in the future. I think we're going to have a very fun time.

Border Patrol

The border agent showed us a video about how the border used to be before the wall was up and the gate was open. People just came in by groups. He said things have improved since the video because not as many people are getting in. I was very interested in that he had never used a gun on the job and if he ever really needed to, he told us the spots where they try to aim at on the body because they don't want to kill people. I also learned that any citizen of the US can make a citizen arrest. I never knew I had that right.