Category Archives: Writer’s Notebook

My 7th Grade Year

When I first arrived to seventh grade in August, I expected a lot of homework. I soon realized that I was not to be disappointed. By October, I was drowned in homework and tests. Eventually, I figures out that my life would end shortly with me lost in the endless sea of assignments.

However, I managed to learn several things. There were those plain, old, boring educational lessons. And then there were the slightly more interesting social and life lessons. I have a good summary of them:

Turn in your homework on time! (If you don’t, your teachers will chase you around the halls until you do.)
Learn useful magic tricks. (Hopefully you’ll learn the tricks that help you make your gum disappear, only to reappear when the teacher isn’t looking.)
Know how to make sure the teacher doesn’t focus on you. (If you do that, secretive iPad gaming will be much easier during class.)
Make sure you can run like the wind. (This is just in case you annoy your classmates too much.)
Be able to dodge dodge balls in PE without running into obstacles. (If you can’t do this, you may collide with a classmate that just stands and talks.)

Seventh grade teaches you theses lessons and more, but I am glad I only have to go through seventh grade once. I really don’t want to have to learn these lessons the hard way again. I am overjoyed that I will be moving into a supposedly easier grade next year. Although, I am not quite sure that eighth grade will be easier…

A Favorite Memory of Mine

(The orange background at the end was inserted by a YouTube user.)

When I was little, there was one TV show I loved. I would do almost anything to watch it. I even woke up early. I just couldn’t do without watching Curious George.

Curious George was my favorite TV show. I loved the little monkey and his adventures. He was a cute, little, brown fur ball. I always giggled hysterically when he made a mess in the kitchen. I always cheered for Curious George when he overcame a problem. My favorite episode was when he had to launch a rocket. Humans couldn’t launch it because there was a need to push four buttons at once, but George could. He had four limbs and a tail. He used the tail for balance and jumped. In the air he pushed all four buttons and the rocket could launch. I thought that George was a monkey genius!

I still remember my enthusiasm to watch Curious George. Now that I am older, I realize that the TV show, Curious George, taught me that I should solve problems calmly like George. Curious George was my favorite TV show as a toddler, and I will always cherish the memory of watching it.

My Favorite Apps

In the modern world, apps (applications) are very important. Apps are self-contained software that can complete certain tasks. Safari on iPad allows you to search the internet. Flappy Bird on iPhone allows you to play an addicting flapping game. The AP Mobile app allows you to stay in touch with the latest AP news. All these apps can modify your phone or tablet to make it what you want. I have apps on my iPad to help me complete tasks. These are my favorite apps (not necessarily the most useful ones):

1. Super Stickman Golf 2 (SSG2)- This is a really popular game at my school. Now, I usually don’t like participating in sports (other than soccer and skiing), but this is different because it’s virtual. Even then, I don’t like virtual golf, but this is such a stretch from the real game of golf, I love to play it. You have to accurately hit the ball with a certain amount of power and shoot it at a specific angle to get it the hole in the least number of hits.

As shown in the picture above, there is a lot more than sand traps, out of bounds, and and water hazards. There are lasers, acid, and blades to penalize your score too. Your character can look different based on the level you are. There are seven power-ups to your ball that can be unlocked. Each power-up gives your ball a special ability. In addition to all this, your characters can wear hats that give special perks on each course. If you look carefully at my character, you will see that I am wearing goggles. The goggles protect me from acid, and I cannot get penalized for touching it. There are so many more aspects to this game, like multiplayer, that I probably would take up an entire screen explaining it. I love this game, and it is my favorite app.

2. Flappy Golf- This game was released a few days ago, and this is a really fun variant on Super Stickman Golf 2. Most of the courses are the same, but instead of shooting the ball with a golf club, you have to flap it into the hole in the least number of of flaps. There are no power-ups, hats, or different characters, but it’s really addicting. This game is like a combination of Flappy Bird and Super Stickman Golf 2 .

3. Google Search- This app allows me to search google with the tap of a finger. I open the app and tap the microphone button. I speak in to the device and I can get search results instantly (provided I have Wi-Fi)! Searching the internet just got so much easier. If I don’t know the definition of a word, I can type the word preceded by “define.” I can even entertain myself by searching “atari breakout” and tapping on “Images.” I then get to play Google’s version of Atari Breakout: Image Breakout. I have to destroy the images with a small ball. With Google search, I have the entire internet waiting for the tap of my fingers.

4. Calendar- This app allows me to see all my homework in case I forget. I just have to sync it to my Google Calendar and all my assignments appear on this app. It is very handy. I don’t even need to write down my assignments in class because I know that I can open this app and find them. This app is very useful, but it is not very fun unless you find checking your assignments fun.

5. Gmail- This app is a really useful app. You can check your mail on the go. When I am visiting relatives and I have a question for my teacher, I can just email him or her through this app. The moment I get internet connectivity, Bam! The message will be sent.

In conclusion, apps are important in the modern world, and life just wouldn’t be the same without them. Apps allow you to complete many tasks. From playing games to ending emails, apps can be very fun and convenient. Apps are awesome!

Image source: screenshot from my iPad

Panera Bread

I live in the capital city if Texas, Austin. My favorite place there is a small café chain called Panera Bread. I love their food. Panera Bread is my favorite place to go to in Austin.

When I go to Panera Bread, the aroma of fresh soup fills my nose. I always order broccoli cheddar soup in a bread bowl with potato chips on the side. Background music quietly plays while people are eating. Quiet conversations can be heard across the café. This is my favorite place.

I love Panera Bread because it is fairly quiet inside. They have freshly baked pastries that are mouthwatering. Their foods taste delicious. The broccoli cheddar is a creamy and cheesy soup with hints of broccoli. The chips are salty and crispy. Their food makes up for anything bad in my day.

Panera Bread is full of delectable meals and pastries. It is my favorite place in Austin.

The Sleep-destroying Problem of School in the Morning.

“Come on.” Wake up!” Get up!!!” These are common phrases said by parents to wake kids up for school. Kids hate waking up for school. Most of them have one thought as they groggily get out of bed: school should start later.

Most people HATE getting up for school. Both kids and teachers hate getting up for school. Nobody wants to get out of their warm and cozy beds in the winter. Would you? Most kids will get out of their beds unwillingly at such an early time. This unwillingness to get up lowers performance levels at school. Once there was a weather delay and my school started two hours late. The general mood of people in school that day was much more lively and happy than on regular days. Schools should notice this and take actions by starting later.

In addition, a recent study has shown that a teenager’s natural sleeping time, set by an internal body clock, gets shifted to a later time. Just because your parents put you to bed at nine doesn’t mean that you won’t really fall asleep two hours later. Unfortunately, school still starts at the same early-morning-I-still-don’t-want to-get-out-of-bed time. This lowers the amount of sleep that teens get. Lower sleep drastically reduces work performance, especially for growing bodies. Middle schools have taken action for this reason by slightly delaying school starting times, but it is still not enough.

Waking up early is bothersome, and it can lower the number of hours you sleep. This will lower your performance. If school started later, people could have more sleep and be much more productive.

Soldiers and Space Wars

When I think of soldiers, I think of brave fighters.Some soldiers fight for a cause, and some soldiers fight against one.

Soldiers in the modern world fight with chemical weapons, guns, and bombs. They fight for freedom. They fight for land. They fight to save lives. They fight for a better government.

Soldiers fight on Earth. We think this is normal, but in the future will soldiers fight in space? Will they shoot laser beams to take over another “New World”? Will that “New World” be Mars? Christopher Columbus once found the Americas with native people living there. Then the natives were attacked by Europeans for land. Will history repeat is itself? Might we find another planet and its species
and take it over by war, or will they find us first and take us over?

So many questions! I suppose then, that the real question is:

Will we be the hunters or the hunted?

Remembrance Day

Photo Credit: Stuart Williams via Compfight

M31, Andromeda Galaxy [explored]

Photo Credit: Adam Evans via Compfight

Halloween Night: The Cat on the Porch

The porch was empty. There was nothing except for the spiders that called it home. Nothing else, other than the cat as black as this Halloween night.

It crept along the shadows without so much as a noise. Like a ghost it roamed the porch and the house behind it. No one ever went on the porch or inside the house. Those who did, never came out. No one ever saw what happened to these people, but we know that they that went inside the house bored and were looking for adventure.

Some people have claimed to see the cat. The claim the cat to look well-fed and translucent, almost as if it were a ghost. But it wasn’t a ghost because there is no such thing as a ghost, right??? Nobody has been able to prove their claims because after they describe the cat to someone, they lose all the sanity.

Photo Credit: nebojsa mladjenovic via Compfight

These Shoes are Made for Walking

These Shoes Are Made for Walking

By: Soham Roy
(inspired from a Writer’s Notebook entry)

My shoes are muddy, wet, and dirty
They are a size six
They do not last long
They are the only pair I wear
They are sneakers
They are wide
These shoes have taken me to places
Into the Taj Mahal
On the Great Wall of China
Inside the pyramids of Egypt
These shoes have taken me to victories
These shoes have sat on a shelf
These shoes are mine

Photo Credit: MorgueFile.com

Preposition Poem

Inside the iPad

By: Soham Roy

Inside the game room
Under the charger on the wall
Below my hands lies a case
Inside the case there is an iPad
Under the iPad’s screen lies a city of copper and silicon
Around the city there is a protective barrier
Without the protective barrier the city would be vulnerable to short circuiting
Without this city of metal and silicon the iPad would only be glass

Photo Credit: morguefile.com

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