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7th Grade Reflection

High School Lockers
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Len Radin via Compfight

My seventh grade was not what I expected it to be. I expected bullies, lots of work, and boring days. I soon found the complete opposite, I found everyone to be very nice and definitely no bullies. Also, we had less homework(than I expected) and the activities were way less boring than just dumb old worksheets.

Then I found out that 7th grade is no place for sleeping, and that homework was suffocating under the “need” to play video games. The problem of being focused on video games and friends becomes larger in 7th grade. That is balanced by the programs we can participate in. In 7th grade we are allowed to do sports, more music programs, special classes, and brand new classes.

Having more choice for my classes and activities is fun and much more satisfying than having them chosen by a machine. 7th grade has been an interesting year, but as it comes to a close, I am ready for change and can’t wait to see what 8th grade brings for me next year.

Photography

20140509-233452.jpg
Photo credit: Me
Taking photos, from selfies, to nature shots, is just plain fun. Cameras, from DSLRs, to iPhones, are amazing at capturing just the feel you want, however low quality the camera is, it is still capable of moving and changing people, and the world. Photos with, and without editing can be amazing, but that’s not the point. The point is that photos are art.

Photography has inspired people around the world to think differently, act differently, and become who they want to be. Many people even do photography as a job. That’s where most of those cool pictures you find online are from, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a professional to take pictures. If photos can inspire you, then I recommend trying it yourself! All you need is a camera, and a bit of imagination.

Winter Warmth

 

Piles of snow beneath my boots
chilly winds blowing everywhere
snow keeps  mounting on the posts
on the windows and on the roads
shovels outside,
soups inside
hot and rich,
chicken and corn
coming back from all  the work
this is what I look for
the warm chestnuts,
the cracking  fire
this is my winter warmth

I enjoyed this poem because of the details that reminded me of the winters I played in in Colorado, the specific “crackling” fire, the “snow mounting on the posts”.


Source: http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/winter-warmth#ixzz2zkJkwORq
Family Friend Poems

Week Five: Xbox Memory

-342 : guinea pig pwn
 
 When I was little, Xbox was the coolest and newest thing. Everyone wanted one, which included me of course. So my brother and I got one for christmas.  We would play for hours on it. We couldn’t do without this box of cords and chips that made a virtual world come to life  on our very own television. It was the most hi-tech console on the market. It had So many games, from Halo, to Call of Duty, and more!

While I used it, I had so much fun playing video games every night. I could do things on Xbox that I couldn’t ever do in real life. I could fly in spaceships, or even make my own world, but the best part is getting to play with up to four friends in co-op and versus adventures in our favorite games. That is why I loved Xbox so much. If it weren’t for Xbox, I wouldn’t be playing video games.

 

Photo Credit: Katherine McAdoo via Compfight

Applications

These are a few of my favorite applications that are on both the iPad and computer.

1. Doc As (ipad, free)
Doc As is a very useful document reader for the iPad. It includes drawing on the document, reading it, renaming, typing on it, and more. It’s many features make it versatile and powerful. This editor/reading tool has a layout that is very navigable and quick. I highly recommend this awesome app.

2. Steam (computer, free)
Steam is the perfect application for any gamer. You can play any game, from Arma 3, to TF2 and more. It is one place where you can buy, delete, give, play, and sell games of all kinds. Steam is very fun, useful, and has millions of eager users worldwide. You can friend people, join there games, and see their progress.

3. Final Cut Pro (computer, $299.99)
Final Cut Pro is a video editor for Mac. It Is convenient and useful, making multitasking and navigation throughout the product easy. You can use this for any thing: from a quick video project, to a full on special-effects-filled movie. It is easy to use and even more easy if you have used iMovie. Final Cut has all the bells and whistles, from keying out a green screen, to making animations and intros. It is also very compatible with Motion and other Apple products.

4. RC Plane 2 (iPad, free)

RC Plane 2 is a free iPad game that is very fun, laid back, and simple. You fly a little RC plane through challenges, dog fights, and leisure free flights. You can pick from a super large variety of planes. Like the training plane, or even a fast jet.

5. Superimpose (iPad, $0.99)

superimpose is like Photoshop for iPad. you can cut pictures to use on other ones, change exposure, brightness, and more. I love making little posters and funny photos of things that don’t make sense. Even if your just playing around, I highly recommend this app.

Maudie’s

The air, warmed by the hot stoves and food. People mill around in the waiting area. The tables glow in a faint orange light. The smells of delicious tex-mex fill the air. Maudie’s.

Maudie’s is a great tex-mex restaurant in Austin, Texas. It has many types of delicious foods and drinks, but something you can’t beat is the comfort and atmosphere of Maudie’s. It gives you a sense of a warm, soft, happy environment with people laughing and talking all around.

The menu is packed with delicious foods, from enchiladas to queso, and more. Everything on the menu is amazing! The taste of the food fills not only your mouth, but the air, and the smell is to-die-for. If you go at night, you’ll see the bright string lights hung in the outside area. The entire restaurant is clean, comfortable, and air conditioned.

Overall, if you’re in Austin, and you have nowhere to go, Maudie’s is the perfect place for a great meal. Enjoy!

The Dungeon of Despair (phantoms lair)

Forgotten

The dark, dank, and dull walls stare back at you with disgust. From the start, you realize that you are not supposed to be here… that no one is supposed to be here. A stench of dried out food and wood fills your nose and mouth. Old books and scripts lie on the ground. The cold floors bring no welcome from down below. The phantom’s lair, the phantom’s “dungeon of despair”.

Foot steps hurry down the dusty, creaky stairs! But no one is there, just the sound of whatever tormented thoughts hide here. For no one has been here for… years. The emptiness can be felt in your bones, in your thoughts, in your steps…

In the center of this cavernous room, stands an old, cobweb-covered organ, the plugs and pipes holding rat villages. A chair, once brown, is white from wear. Dust covers the floor, turning it pale-brown. But no foot-prints. A mirror covered in dirt sits on a table. At the edge of the room, a throne sits . Only an owner-less mask lies in it. Dark shadows loom here, this is not a happy place, you know that much. Someone, and not just anyone, has been here.

The Phantom, or whatever is left of his presence, is in that chair. This is  no place for the living, its a “dungeon of despair”.

Photo Credit: aussiegall via Compfight

Punch Quest

Punch Quest is an awesome game, it combines humor, creativity, and the need for skill.

In the game you start out by punching a door down—the door to a random dungeon of course— and you have only two buttons: a punch button, and an uppercut button. You go through a course which contains many foes, such as skeletons, wrathes, bats, random flying things that are impossible to explain, and so on.

You can costomize your characters looks: hair, armor, and more but also you can costomize your punches, power ups, and uppercuts.

The need for skill comes in when you are low in health, this makes it so that you have to really focus on staying alive. The wraiths are very difficult! But not just them, all of the mobs.

The game has a funny look, for example, your start-out person is a buff, bare chested, bafoon that thinks a goblin punched him. The backgrounds are simple, and the mobs are wierd. Over all, this is a difficult, humorous, and great game. Enjoy!

Tests

Your heart races, you see the papers getting handed out.  Oh, no! you forgot to study! By now, you’re probably  remembering a past time when this happened to you. Tests are not a good acessment of students ability and are unnecessary!

When you get a bad grade on a test, does that mean you’re stupid? No! it means that either you didn’t study enough, you don’t understand the material, or you didn’t try hard. Even Einstein had trouble with his teachers and schools. All of your grades and focus shouldn’t be spent on tests. Tests are taken at a curtain point in time, and if you get a bad grade, you could know the information the next day. But yet, your grades will reflect as pour and you will look dumb.

Furthermore, tests are time-consuming and pointless. Standardized tests are very long and don’t fully test you. For example, if you forget something you learned back in august(like most of us would) and take the test in may, then how is that a fair test of your progression in school? How can you call that accurate?

Tests are not a fair assessment of students abilities, and they are unnecessary!

Don’t Look Back

No, this isn’t a drama, there’s not going to be any DUN! DUN! DAAAA!s or dramatic pauses, just another game review. The game Don’t Look Back is a small, yet very difficult game. It is entirley pixelated and simple, but don’t let that fool you, this game requires skill, thinking, and the will not to throw your iPad/computer at the wall.

In the game, you are a pink pixelated person, you start by looking at a grave, there is no explanation as to why you are there, who’s grave it is, or why you should care, then you have the task of going the opposite direction and seeing whats in store for you in the open world.

This game has only four buttons: left, right, jump, and shoot. At some points in the game, you must use slight of hand and a touch of thinking to pass the obstacles/enemies. Thats all I will tell you about this game: I don’t want to spoil it for you. Hoped you liked this review and found it helpful, Enjoy!