Green Chrismas

Author’s note: After writing my free verse poem about a snowless Christmas, I found myself wanting to write more than just a short poem about Christmas 2011. I write this piece as I hear the rain on my window. Isn’t there supposed to be snow on December 30? Feel free to express your opinion about a “Green Christmas” as opposed to a “White Christmas”.

A slight smile appears on my face as I dream of the perfect Christmas: Seeing the tree, presents, snow, and not seeing the beer and cookies I left out for Santa the night before. But then, I woke up and realized that one thing was missing. What happened to “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas?” A pinch of anger spreads throughout my body as I can still see the grass. “Merry Christmas….” I mumbled to myself as I got out of bed and walked down the stairs.

If I block out the leafless trees, it very well could be a rainy summer day. With the incredibly green grass and my snowless driveway, I feel as if fall is never ending, and winter just got up and walked away. We live in Wisconsin! How has it not snowed yet?! It’s almost New Year’s Day, and besides the pointless snow that melts away in an hour, there’s nothing…nada…zip.

I don’t need a blizzard to please me. I just can’t leave 2011 behind with only the snow from 10 months ago. Maybe just a reassuring three inches would be nice. It’s not that hard to shovel either. Just barely enough to play in, it’s the perfect amount. That’d be a great way to end the year.

The green feeling loses its effect when the leaves have fallen and have been swept away. It’s too late for a White Christmas, but is it too much to ask for a white New Year’s?

Coral Reefs

Author’s note: I am writing this piece to go along with my Coral Reefs Project, which is posted on my wiki, but I am also trying to improve my writing scores. The main category that I’m trying to improve on is my introduction techniques. Also, my conclusions aren’t all that great so I’m trying to improve my score or level of proficiency as well.

You’re scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. Waves crash above you, but as you dive deeper the water becomes still. You see thousands of fish swimming above and below you and you wonder, why here? Why did they all decide to live here? They have the entire ocean to spread out, yet the reef is completely packed with all kinds of species. Each has a special feature or look to it. Rainbows of fins twirl around you. They’re all so unique, so different, yet they all share the same home.
Why do they all come here?

The reason each and every single one of them decided to live here is a simple answer. Coral. Most live in crammed living conditions so that they can have just a little bit of coral. The coral can provide many things for fish and other underwater species. Coral can be used for safety, food source, and shelter.

The shelter and safety that coral creates is truly amazing. Not only do its cracks and crevices provide homes and shelter for several animals on the reef, but its foundation allows other plants to grow on top of it which supply the fish with both homes and food. A good example is the anemone. The anemone is a plant that grows on coral that provides for the clown fish. The clown fish is the only fish that is immune from the stings of the anemone. Also, the clown fish’s main food source is the leftover food that the anemone doesn’t eat.

Unlike the clown fish, almost all other fish have to find food on their own. Luckily, because the coral is so packed with fish, the bigger fish have it easy hunting wise. The little fish, well….. Not so lucky. Little fish rely on the coral for safety. Whether it’s blending in with the coral or simply hiding in the cracks, the smaller fish would we dinner if it weren’t for the coral.

Coral reefs are marvelous natural wonders. I hope it is understood why they play such a huge role in the underwater ecosystem.

Hot Air Ballooning

Author’s note: I wrote this after my very first hot air ballooning trip on vacation in Arizona. I figured while I’m on a 4 hour drive to the Grand Canyon I might as well make good progress on my writing. As I’m writing this I’m staring out at the mountains that are so massive, the clouds touch their peeks. Also I’m watching a creature that looks like a crossbreed of a bunny and a squirrel run across the road in front of us. (We nicknamed it the bunsqui). I love traveling. You never know what you’ll see. (I plan on making an animoto of my vacation so keep checking my blog for that).

If you’ve ever been hot air ballooning, and you’re not afraid of heights, you probably found the adventure to be very enjoyable and calming. Unless you had a poor pilot, I think it would be a shame if you didn’t have a good time with it. I was fortunate enough to experience the wonderful views, perfect weather, safe landing and great people to share the fun with. My experience was probably slightly different than yours however, because I don't think you woke up as early as I did on that particularly warm Monday.

In order to get on our flight on time, we had to wake up at 4:30 am Arizona time! Luckily I hadn’t fully adapted to Mountain Time, so it still felt somewhat like 5:30 am. We took off so early that you couldn’t even use the reference; “Bright and early”, because it was still very dark when we were in the car. The car ride was a little on the long side, because Phoenix is a very large city, and it takes about an hour to pass through.

We arrived at the Skunk Creek Flats restaurant at 6:30 am, which is where our hot air ballooning group met before we took off. Once the tourist group of 9, including my parents and me, were all there, we took off in the Rainbow Ryders van to find a take-off location.

To find out where to take off when hot air ballooning, it usually helps to set a helium balloon off at different locations, and see where the wind takes it. In our case, we only had to try one spot before we found the perfect area for a set up spot. The second balloon we set up flew away in just the right spot. This was where we started setting up, and completing all tasks that were necessary in order to send us flying.

After the basket was ready, a giant stuff sack was pulled out of the chasing van and we unraveled the balloon that was inside. After pulling the balloon completely out of the van, they set up fans and turned them on full blast in order to inflate the massive balloon. Seeing the balloon inflate, and then slowly lift up, was truly a sight to see. Once we were aboard, our pilot Brooke sent a little heat up into the balloon and we set off. Not knowing what to expect, I was amazed at what I saw.

Science Expirement Gone Bad

Author’s note: I wrote this after a science experiment that went bad in so many ways. I’m really just trying to express how it felt going through that chaotic process. Also I just wanted to thank Sydney K., Quinn, Andrew and Mr. Johnson for stepping us and helping with this disaster.

If you like a story that involves bugs, chunky milk and mold, then read on. However, if you believe that these items may gross you out, that might not be the best idea.

It all started when Mr. Roehl gave us an assignment to do a science experiment. The goal was to get us to use the scientific process. This goal wasn’t very well achieved.

After the project was assigned, Tien came up to me and asked what I was going to do for the experiment. I had no clue what I was going to do and I’m glad she had an idea. She came up with the idea of planting seeds and recording the plant growth with different liquids. We decided to do our experiment with water, milk and Orange Juice.

The next week, we came in with all of our supplies, not knowing that the “fun” had just begun.

In the first couple of days we notice that something white was growing on the milk watered plant. It was mold growing in splotches over the soil. Unfortunately, the water one hadn’t grown at all in this process. In the next day or two we went to water the OJ plant, when we saw little orange and black bugs crawling over it. This is when we questioned ending our experiment.

Neither Tien nor I wanted to water the plants anymore because of the disgusting bugs crawling over the top. A couple days after the bugs appeared, a wasp flew into the OJ cup and Mr. Roehl had to set it free out the window.

The next week, (While Mr. Roehl was on vacation, of course) we went to get the milk and OJ so we could end the science experiment once and for all. Unfortunately this is when we found out that the fridge had been unplugged and that the milk spoiled and the OJ was looking a little funky.

I guess we weren’t thinking when we dumped the milk down the sink, because it clogged and made the room stink a little. This started the major chaos. First we tried running water as long as possible so we could mask the smell. Then, after the water reached the top of the sink, we sprayed perfume over it while we were taking care of the plants and the water bottles full of rotten liquids.

Once Tien and I got back from the bathroom, we realized the water had drained and that only chunky milk remained. This is where Mr. Johnson stepped in and took it out with paper towels and dumped it into a plastic bag. After throwing everything away in the outside garbage can, most everything that needed to be done had been done.

We finished up everything else including rinsing the water bottles, spraying the fridge with perfume to mask the moldy smell, and rinsing the sink. There are three major life lessons to be learned from this experience; One, NEVER unplug a fridge. It can result in major chaos. Two, if you do not listen to number one, DO NOT dump chunky milk down the sink. Lastly, three, when you are asked to do a science experiment, I would recommend doing something not involving foods and/or beverages. They can attract bugs, mold, expire and smell really bad.

Disney Movies

Author's note: I wrote this for the Disney project Sydney and I just finished. Be sure to also check out Sydney's piece on Disney characters on her blog.

The outcome of a Disney movie doesn’t really show how much effort is put into the movie making process. For example, try to think of Finding Nemo in millions of separate drawings all put together at 24 frames per second. That means that every single second, someone drew 24 pictures just slightly different from one another to create the effects that you see on the screen.

Behind the screen that you and I see, there’s an animation team that puts everything in a Disney movie together. The animation team is made up of directors, producers, songwriters, story artists, layout artists, background artists, supervising animators, actors, animators, inbetweeners, cleanup artists, special effects animators, computer people, computers themselves, artistic coordinator and the editor. As you can see, there are several people who have a part in Disney movies.

The first task is to take an idea and then dive into it. They have to think of who, what, when, where, why, and how. Then they might start thinking of the characters. Almost always, there will be a hero, villain, “fool”, (someone who is in the story mainly for the purpose of laughs) community, mentor, and a parent. (For some reason, there is usually only one parent, or one of the parents died early in the movie).

Then, after the main outline of the story is done, the artists will start to draw out the movie. They will start with only the major movements of the characters, and then give them do the people who write the script. They will then put words into the pictures to make the movie more interesting. The main thing they have to worry about is avoiding things that are shown in the pictures. For example, in Beauty and the Beast, when Belle first enters the beast’s castle, she wouldn’t say “I’m very afraid to enter this big dark castle, but I'm doing it to find my dad.”

The next step is drawing the characters moving according to the script. First they might draw the mouths moving along with all the movements the character makes while moving. Then they will fill in all the missing little details. This is the “inbetweeners” job. They have to take all the original movements that the animators drew, and fill in all the little, yet important movements that the character makes in between the major movements that the animators drew as a guideline. After the inbetweeners, the cleanup artists will then play out all the pictures to see if there are still missing movements in there.

The next step after art is sound. Sound plays a huge role in movies. Can you imagine the Lion King without any sound? That would completely ruin the great movie. In most Disney movies there are songs. If there are songs sung by the characters in the movie, there is typically an anthem, which might express the heroes hopes and dreams, a love song, the “I want something song,(where the hero is requesting something they want) the villain song, (where the villains might express his evil plans) and the entertainment song which follows the main theme of the movie but the main purpose is just to be fun.

There’s also the type of sound that is for the background of the movie. There is a thing called a sound library which is where you can download sounds like cars honking and horses neighing. The last sound steps are adding the words. This is where the actors and actresses come in. Once the people are selected for the job, they will start working. These people usually try to experience things that their characters are experiencing. For example, someone in Cinderella might learn how to ball room dance to experience the feeling that Cinderella is feeling while dancing with the prince. They will usually come into record about 5-6 times and almost always are either at a different time or place as the other actors.

The final process is called a CAPS process. (Computer animation production system) This process includes scanning, animation check, scene planning, sweatbox, animation check again, color model, markup, ink and paint, final checking, composting and film printing.

First, the computer will scan each drawing. One at a time. Then, they will make sure every little detail is there and start getting ready for color. Next, people will look at the movie to see what’s missing and come up with a “technical solution” to the problem. After that, everyone will get together in what’s called a sweatbox and critique the movie before it’s put into color. (The term sweatbox is named after a room they used to work in that had no air conditioning). Then you look at it again to see if anything’s missing. If not, we move on to the Color Model where all the colors are selected on a computer and then added to the characters and the backgrounds. Then, they will make a palette for everything. A palette is where they give a tray of colors that the character or scenes typically use so they do not have to constantly select the same color over and over again. After this, they use the palettes and apply color. Then everybody looks to see if they can find any flaws, and if not we finally move on to composting. Composting is where you combine every detail. Lastly they will play everything at once. (Including sound) Then, the reel is off to the editor.

The editors job is to make everything flow smoothly. The editor will work with the sound effects editors and the music editors to combine everything into a smoothly flowing movie. The editor will also have several assistants to help deal with the thousands of feet of film and sound.

As the finishing touches are in progress, people will be pulled from malls to come and preview a Disney movie. These people will then fill out reviews and if there needs to be changes the editor will then fix the problems.

At last the Disney movie is finally complete. All the effort into the movie is over. It’s then time for the workers to sit back and enjoy the show.

So next time you watch a Disney movie, think about everything that is put into making one. It gives you an entire new perspective on the classic movies you know and love.

Volleyball

Authors note: I wrote this after getting back from a fantastic volleyball match. The last game was so close we ended up winning 16-14 and I was the last one to serve! I just wanted to write about the intensity and fun I have playing my favorite sport.

No matter what some people make say or think, volleyball is a high intensity sport. It is true that you do not have to run the length of a soccer field to get a ball, but if you are a good volleyball player who is agressive, you will work just as hard.

Volleyball is a great sport. Not only is it a fun sport to play, it can be entertaining to watch. (If there are good volleys) No offense to soccer players, but in comparison, I think that although soccer can be very fun to play, it's not the most exciting sport to watch.

At my volleyball match that I just got back from, my team and I did pretty well. Considering we are the B team and we played the A team, I'm suprised we won the third game at all. The first two games in that match were closer than I even imagined they would be. I believe we only lost 25-18. I think that match showed that if you really want to win, and you are work hard, you can do wat you think might be close to impossible.

I love playing volleyball, and I hope you love playing a sport just as mucha as I do. It's a great way to stay in shape and have fun while doing it.

Music

Authors note: After having a discussion with Mr. Roehl, Mr. Johnson, and a couple of my peers, I decided I needed to show Mr. Roehl why music is so important. I am trying a somewhat new form of my writing; persuasive writing. Also, I am continuing to try and use thesis statements in my writing.

I believe that music is multi-talented. Not only can it entertain you when you're bored, it can also help you work. Another thing is that just playing music can sometime really affect your mood. Music is the greatest joy in life and I think everyone should have that joy within their hearts.

When you're doing chores, or somethings terribly boring, don't you think music helps lighten the dull and boring mood? Or at least keeps you somewhat entertained while you're doing the necessary, but dreary tasks in life? Well, I do at least, and I'm almost positive nearly everyone agrees with me. (Except for Mr. Roehl)

(If you play an instrument, you probably know exactly what I'm about to talk about.)

Do you ever just feel like you're going to explode? Or that your sadness from an event is overtaking you? Try sitting (or standing) down and playing an instrument. It doesn't have to be a happy song, or something you think might help. Sometimes it is best to just take out your emotion in your music, and let your feelings show in the piece you are playing.

I know Mr. Roehl says he'd rather just be with his thoughts, than have music in the background, but I would find that extremely boring. I asked a few of my friends what they thought and all of them said they'd rather listen to music. "(unless you're vacuuming)" one of them said.

I just want to say that music has played a very big role in my life. Even just little chores like cleaning the kitchen, I almost always have music in the background. If I try and imagine all of those chores, boring days, and long car rides without music, well, I can't. I think everyone should constantly have music in their lives. Almost everyday.

Go Pack Go!

Authors note: The Packers are my favorite team and I wanted to write about them as a football team and me as a fan. I also wanted to work on my thesis statement in this piece.

The Packers are the best team in the NFL. With a record of 5-0, (So far) they are tied for first with The Detroit Lions. (Which surprisingly, had a record of 0-16 just three years ago in 2008) They will be our biggest competition in our division this year because the Bears are 2-3 and the Vikings are only 1-4.

I hope to see the Packers get to the Super Bowl again like last year, especially because it's one day after my birthday. For a repeat of last year, I'm planning to have a fantastic birthday present once again. Speaking of my birthday, I feel the need to mention I was a Packer fan from the start. My first Packer outfit was when I was less than a year old.

Just like me, there are millions of other Packer fans as well. Packer fans are dedicated. They don't care if it's negative a couple degrees as long as they get to watch their beloved team, the Packers play. They will sit through the snow coming down on them in gusts, as long as they get to watch the Packers.

There's a reason they call Lambeau Field the frozen tundra. We are one of the farthest North teams there are and we have some of the harshest conditions. I believe that any other team that far north have roofs so they just close them when the weather gets rough.

There are many reasons I love the Packers. They won the Superbowl for my birthday, they have dedicated fans, the Lambeau leap,(If you're not familiar with the Lambeau leap it is where, after scoring a touchdown, the scoring player leaps into the crowd and sometimes even gives a fan the ball.) and that the Packers are a wonderful team. Other team fans don't know what they're missing.

Attitude

Do you find it strange how people with the worst of luck tend to have the best attitude?

A little girl out there is probably sitting on a hospital bed going through chemo, and she probably has a better attitude towards life than you and I. We might say, "Why do i have to do chores while my friends get to go outside and play. Uggh! My life sucks!" It's more than likely that you do not think about the people who have it worse than you. Do you stop to say "Well at least I have running water and a roof over my head"? I highly doubt it.

I really think that people should look at the positive before they decide that their life is "terrible" or that it "sucks". For example, if you get invited to a sleepover at a friend's house, but your parents say you have to babysit your little cousin, look at it this way; "At least I have a family and I can hang out with my friends tomorrow." NOT; "Come on! Why do I have to take care of my stupid little cousin? ALL my friends are going to be at the sleepover!"

So next time you're having a bad day, or something's not going quite right, make sure you have a positive attitude about it. No one wants to hear any complaining about something that's not HALF as bad as you think it is.

Look Ahead

In life, it's always good to have something to look forward to or something to compare to. Whether it's tough times, or a long period of time, such as the school year.

One thing you can do is set goals. For instance, you could say, "Just get through September. Just get through October." (etc....) Another thing you can do is look forward to certain holidays, vacations or birthdays. For bad times, you can compare yourself to someone who has it much worse. Or, if there's an end to the bad times in sight, set steps to that.

For this school year, I have a couple things to look forward to;
Step 1 - Pass through September.
Step 2 - Get to my family vacation in November during thanksgiving break.
Step 3 - Christmas.
Step 4 - My birthday in February.
Step 5 - My family vacation to Mexico around Easter.
Step 6 - Spring Break.
Step 7 - End of school year.

During the school year, you see i only have 7 steps, but as long as there's something exciting in sight, it doesn't matter.

The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride is my absolute favorite movie. Although, many people get thrown off by the title and think that's it's a girly movie about a bunch of princesses getting married. That is not AT ALL how it is.

In the movie there is this girl named buttercup, who after her fiance, Wesley was murdered by the dread pirate roberts, was forced to marry the awful Prince Humperdink. One day on her daily horse ride, she was kidnapped by an evil man named Vizzini and his 2 assistants, inigo and fezzik. After that, she is kidnapped from the dread pirate roberts, who is truly her "dead" fiance. He was never dead in the first place! On their way back to the village, they passed many obsticals such as the fire swamp which is filled with deadly things. Once Wesley and Buttercup got back to the village, the prince and some of his army surrounded them. To make sure Wesley wasn't harmed by the men, Buttercup made a deal to marry Prince Humperdink as long as Wesley was returned to his ship safely. Humperdink did not keep his word and Wesley was taken to the pit of despair, which is as terrible as its own name describes it. There, Wesley is killed for the second time. Inigo and Fezzik took him to the miracle Max and then found out that he was only "mostly dead". There, he was given a magic pill and after awhile he awoke. The three stormed into the wedding and saved Buttercup. This is the only "heroic or heart-warming" part of the story.

If you watch the Princess Bride, I can almost guarentee that you will love some of the classic quotes from this fantastic movie.

Pandas

Why are pandas becoming extinct? What is being done to help them? What do we need to know to save them? These are all question we need answered in order to save the panda.

Pandas are becoming extinct for a couple of reasons. First off, agriculture has invaded any low altitude part of their habitat. Next, logging has destroyed the trees that give bamboo the shade it needs in order to grow. Another reason is that illegal poaching, (before it was banned) took its toll on their population drop. Lastly, because of their slow breeding process, (Only being able to have a baby at best every other year) it has been hard to boost their population numbers.

There are a couple things that people are doing to save the panda population. An organization called the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) is doubling the amount of bamboo forests by planting more bamboo trees. This plan will cost around $63.5 million dollars. The organization of WWF is also trying to educate the local people on pandas so that they can help too. Another thing is that China has set up patrols in some of the panda ranges to prevent illegal poaching and exporting. Lastly, there are many panda reserves and zoos that are trying to help save the panda population, such as Wolong National Natural Reserve.

There are a lot of things to know about pandas, but what we need to know to save them is a different story. Some things we might need to know are that they are born very small, blind and helpless and a mother can only take care of 1 panda at a time. (This is why, unfortunately if there are 2 cubs, 1 will not survive.) We might need to know that pandas do not hibernate. If well taken care of, a panda can live up to 35 years old. Once a panda is 1 year old, it should be adept at climbing trees to protect itself from predators.

A pandas diet is 99% bamboo. They eat 20-45 pounds of it each day and spend about 10-16 hours it every day! The other 1% is made up of different grasses and (rarely) small rodents or musk deer fawns.

There are about 1,600 pandas left in the world today. They used to exist over a much wider range than the 6 they have left today. A range is basically a couple of mountains. They now are only found in the mountains of central China, in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu. The last thing we might need to know is that they do not hibernate so therefore, they do not have a specific home. They move up and down the mountains based on the temperature. So if you are looking for a panda during the summer, you might want to look at a higher altitude.

Pandas are on the endangered list, and we need to help them. What will you do to help these adorable amazing creatures?

My panda project