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Hello!!!!!! I'm editing this using Adobe Contribue CS3!!! It's so coooolll!!!

200

Today we finished up our Silas Marner play. It was a great success, topped by the impromptu cancellation of the socials test tomorrow. I think that our grand finale was a true grand finale, and all the parents loved it. It was our best performance so far. Now, my tasks shrink down to mentorship and french oral.

Today, I heard lots of MY ppl complaining about the fact that the math 11 SL course was banned from grade 9's. I'm glad that I got this problem out of hand earlier in the year. I am currently in math 11 enriched, and have a good chance of heading into 11 HL next year. I can't but feel schadenfreude right now, but i still wish my classmates get their math class of choice next year.

185

Today I experimented with a GarageBand-type software called Sony ACID. It is a music composition software that allows one to compose either original music with all sorts of different instruments (band, orchestra, percussive...) or mix different loops. It's almost like Garageband--except better. It doesn't have the forbiddingly complex controls, and the UI is extremely simple and crisp.

I got a certificate for being in the top 25% of the Michael Smith Challenge. That was a huge accomplishment for me because I had been setting a lower goal. Well, I guess that can prove to be advantageous to me next year, when i'm obviously going to improve my score.

Science....etc

Today, we had a science test which was quite easy if you looked at the questions carefully. I went through and actually found a few errors in the questions (those questions were later omitted).
Also, after school, we had a rehearsal for the Silas Marner play. it is starting to come together now, and we met in our backstage groups to discuss scenery, costumes, lighting, sound etc. I even got to be in the sound recording for some of the scenes.

Today, I watched an episode of Reach for the Top on Knowledge Network. It was really cool to see, because I could answer the majority of questions. It was all trivia, and I'm confident about my hopes of joining the Churchill team next year and the year after next.

can't wait for tomorrow's dress rehearsal. i'd say that the dress rehearsal will be quite beneficial. I will also be judging the aesthetic appeal of our powerpoint under large projection (some parts were illegible on the small screen)

183

Today's "highlight" was having to write a math test right after running langara. Well, it wasn't so bad as I had thought it would be (the effects of Langara don't show right away. they usually show up in the evening, which is right now; I am typing this blog right now with agony in all my joints.) My langara time was the best of the year so far, 10:55. However, I was still unable to break my record in grade 8, which was 10:26.
After school, we had a English Play session in the drama studio. We got to meet in our backstage crew groups, and it was actually really productive (mainly because the grade 11 mentors were there)

182

today, I reviewed for the final math test of the term. I basically went through the entire textbook, covering almost every single topic. I have to maintain my 100% average in Mr. Nakamoto's class, which is obviously a huge accomplishment.

so, today was quiet and uneventful. I decided to take the day off despite the numerous tasks waiting in hand because I just wanted to defy common sense: doing nothing for one day. Apparently I could defy common sense because the urge to prepare for next school day's math test on basically everything on the book overcame me. After all, it would be a good chance to prepare for the final.

179

Today we rehearsed our parts for the Silas Marner play. Most of us have our lines basically memorized. I lack just a few sentences. The play still isn't coming together as we'd hoped yet, but that's just part of the process.

181

So we had our YPI run-through test today. It was a valuable experience because we knew exactly what to fix in our presentations. I think tha tthe groups who didn't have their presentation prepared on time missed out on a great opportunity.
Tomorrow we have the big storytelling presentation in the morning and in the afternoon. We are going to be retelling Churchill's past to the alumni that are going to visit the school tomorrow.

right now, i'm really glad that I've presented socials the week before. Apparently, the majority of my classmates are juggling one more item than I am right now. YPI: I am actually not as stressed out now. We've got our thing mostly done, and nigel just needs to send in his slides. According to him, we should "chilll" but that's extremely hard right now.

Today I watched an extremely boring baseball game between two teams that I don't even recall now. I think one of them was Oakland. Anyways, the scoring was low, the players were obviously bored too, and there was no productivity (pitching was horrible, e.g.).

180

The following week is going to be hectic. There's the YPI, storytelling, and Silas marner Play: all of which we are presenting to a large audience, coming up. Good thing our socials research group got rid of the crytozoology presentation by presenting second. So the long weekend for me is not just relaxation, it is about finalizing the YPI powerpoint and scripts, my part for the storytelling group, and learning all my lines in the play by heart.

We had our socials cryptozoology project today. Our group focused on research and creating an outline for our powerpoint presentation. It was quite productive. We've also got so much on hand right now. SS, YPI, Science test, storytelling....

mentorship debrief

Today, during our mentorship project, we simply relaxed for half the class because we've got everything all done except for a few minor tweaks here and there. I allowed my mentees to politely join other groups and observe other projects. So much easier for me.

179

Today we had a run-through "off-book" for our English play. In fact many people haven't yet memorized their lines, including myself. Now that we realize the deadline is near, I'm sure we'll work with more sense of urgency.

...

Today, I got my part in the Silas Marner play: Mr. Macey. I really liked his lines, as he was the keen and observant person who had speeches that reflected moral values and deep thought. We also had to make a project on an invention for French. Not sure how that's gonna turn out yet.

178

Today I made our French project presentation, on videotape. Our group got together, and we filmed this awesome advertisement for this levitating solar shoe. We worked from 2-8, and finished it up using Windows Movie Maker. Now, I'm extremely tired.

177

Today, I found that 7 more people have joined my group, and that's good.
I went on to find other google features today, and investigated their open source API codes plus a google Lab product called Google Suggest. Google Suggest offers real-time suggestions while I am searching. For example, if I wanted to type hockey, Google suggest would "suggest" hockey fights, hockey canada, hockey night in canada, hockey pool, etc... It is great if you have a vague idea of what you're trying to find but aren't really sure.

176

Today we had a chaotic storytellings session. It consisted of people not cooperating, shouting out random and irrelevant information and now I seriously doubt that we're going to pull it off.
I also found out that out of the 130 people I invited to the Pre-IB google group, 24 members have already accepted. I hope that this will grow into something big, which will just be awesome.

175

Today, while we were working on our socials projects in the computer lab, I came across YET ANOTHER GREAT GOOGLE PRODUCT (man, google just keeps getting better, eh?) that allows for easy, in-sync collaboration on text-based projects such as reports, summaries, outlines etc. The Google Docs and Spreadsheets program is basically Microsoft Word and Excel online, plus they have a great collaboration feauture that allows multiple users to edit the document simultaneously. By using Google Documents, our group was able to quickly finish our powerpoint outline with each person contributing his part. (Our members were seated in different parts of the lab, you see)
I also made a Google Group for the upcoming 07-08 Pre-IB community. I obtained the email list from Mrs. Willard, and the group will be up and functional in no time.

175

Today I explored more features of the new Google Earth beta. I found that Google Earth could be combined with Google Sketchup. I could create models of buildings and then submit it to Google Earth so that buildings can be viewed in 3D.
I also looked for summer volunteer opportunities. I applied to become a volunteer at Science World and at VanDusen botanical gardens.

174

Here's a summary of my first two mentorship sessions.

Instead of having four sessions to work with my mentees, I had only two due to extraneous reasons. That meant I had a lot of catching up to do, and I think I managed that pretty well.

During the first session, I got to know my mentees and introduced them to my topic, which is Biotechnology. Overall, they were quite intentive, but they were often distracted. Then , by chance, I got their attention again when I talked about making websites. They had almost no idea how to make a website, so I suggested that we present our project in webpage form. I kept their attention by teaching them my meagre knowledge of HTML formatting. I made a plan to learn more about HTML myself by next session. I also gave them assignments so that they could familiarize themselves with my topic.

By the second session, I decided that making a webpage from scratch using HTML codes is simply going to take too long and detract from the original purpose of the project, so I did some hunting on the web and found an awesome Google product called Google Pages. It basically formats the website for you, while you can upload up to 100MB of stuff on to your personal site. I suggested this to my mentees, one of whom (Andrew) had a google account. He quickly signed up for the Google Pages and service and finished the website outline in no time. The website manager is simple and easy to use, and that's a great way to present our information. Anyways, during the session, I taught my mentees some more about my project, this time going into more detail. My mentees also established a outline of the project (what we're going to cover). The other mentee, Anderson, started working on the first few sections in our outline for homework.

Whistler Band Trip

For the past few days, I was at the Whistler Band Festival. I had a lot of fun, and on the last day about 2000 students played two pieces at the same time. The sound was amazing.

171

Today I finished packing for the Whistler trip. Surprisingly, my luggage is extremely light: even lighter than my backpack.
I also have do some of the homework that are due the days I wont' be here, and hand them in tomorrow.

170

Today wasn't interesting at all. I'm starting to pack for the Whistler band trip.

169

Currentlly watching game 7 between vancouver and dallas right now. The game's just started.
Today's mentorship session was ok. I got to meet my mentees, and also started sketching out the project with them. I managed to interest them with my superficial knowledge of HTML programming, and now i've got pressure because they're trying to get me to teach them more about making webpages. Then I made an awesome connection, and told them that we could make a webpage to present our project. That really got them interested in the otherwise quite rigorous subject of DNA and Biotechnology.
I also found out about the new Google Earth version 4 beta. This version of google earth is SO AWESOME. It's got different layers that can be created and shared by the community, simulated tours, and directions. I used this software to track a whale's position, get a general cloud view of the earth (updated every minute), and read about currently events happening in various geographical locations. I even looked up the route we'll be taking to go to the Whistler Band festival. Google Earth gave me a highlighted and outlined route plus a video tour so that I seemed as though I was driving to Whistler myself. There are tons of other great features that I can't possibly elaborate on right now.

168

Today wasn't all that interesting. I watched the baseball game between the Red Sox and Yankees. It was really exciting, and the Sox pulled out a victory over the Yankees, which I thought was awesome, because I see the Yankees as the evil team in baseball. Yanks are "cheap" because they overspend too much, and have an unfair advantage to all the other teams.
The big hockey game today was between the NJ Devils and Tampa Bay Lightning. I was disappointed to see the Lightning get eliminated from the first round of the playoffs because I personally thought that the Lightning had more talent than the Devils did.
I look forward to game 7 between Vancouver and Dallas tomorrow.

167

On Friday, we dissected the uterus of a pig. The uterus had an elongated, zigzag shape, and we actually extracted about 15 undeveloped piglets. Then we dissected the piglets to see their undeveloped organs and anatomical structure. It was a really interesting dissection session.
Yep, now i'm done with my two piano festivals. I got second place in both of them, and exactly the same mark for both of them. Nevertheless, I am extremely pleased with my mark because I never really practiced that much in preparation for it.

166

Today I went to the Kiwanis music festival, and was delighted to have won second place in the Grade 9 Baroque repertoire. I think I did extremely well, a lot better than my usual practicing. I always tend to overperform during concerts. I look forward to my next performance which is going to be this saturday.

165

Today I wrote the Euclid Contest in the morning, and missed out on all the fun of the mentorship party. I had Jason "babysit" my mentees, and Jason told me that my mentee seemingly has some knowledge about my topic as well. That's a relief.
In the afternoon, after P.E. class, I thought school was over, before realizing that the block rotation made Math my new last block.

THE CANUCKS WON THE GAME AT DALLAS TONIGHT!! WE NOW LEAD THE SERIES 3-1!!

164

Today we had a French test first thing in the morning. It tested very basic stuff, but nevertheless was not the ideal start of the week. Then we had band, in which we changed our seating plan and played alongside different instruments. This made things more interesting as we had to concentrate more on our part and to block out the interference created by other instruments.
In the afternoon, we finished reading the play in English (that, of course, took the entire class) and did some assigned questions in Science (that, of course, also took the entire class).

161

Today I ran the SUN RUN in the morning. It was a good thing that I brought a jacket, because we had to wait in the shadows of the skycrapers for about an hour before the start of the run. I have never run 10km before, but today's run was surprisingly unfatiguing for me. Of course, my muscles are going to feel very sore tonight and tomorrow, but the exercise was still a good experience. I look forward to checking my time in tomorrow's SUN.

161

Today I ran the SUN RUN in the morning. It was a good thing that I brought a jacket, because we had to wait in the shadows of the skycrapers for about an hour before the start of the run. I have never run 10km before, but today's run was surprisingly unfatiguing for me. Of course, my muscles are going to feel very sore tonight and tomorrow, but the exercise was still a good experience. I look forward to checking my time in tomorrow's SUN.

161

Today I ran the SUN RUN in the morning. It was a good thing that I brought a jacket, because we had to wait in the shadows of the skycrapers for about an hour before the start of the run. I have never run 10km before, but today's run was surprisingly unfatiguing for me. Of course, my muscles are going to feel very sore tonight and tomorrow, but the exercise was still a good experience. I look forward to checking my time in tomorrow's SUN.

160

Today I went to the Greater Vancouver Regional Science Fair awards ceremony. I got a gold medal and a UBC statistics special award. I am extremely pleased with my achievement because I had improved from my silver medal last year, and almost made it into the Canada-Wide Science Fair. The thing is, the Fair committee had to give the seniors priority when choosing who qualifies for the National fair. Nevertheless, I am still extremely happy, and look forward to next year's fair.

The SUN RUN is tomorrow, and I got to get some sleep.

159

Today we went ice skating at Sunset again, and I thought the one-hour ice time wasn't enough. Maybe there should a skating field trip for the entire day. That would be awesome.

Then we learned about conics in Math class. We had finally moved on from circular geometry to a more challenging concept: graphing circle and ellipses algebraically.

A highlight in the afternoon was the finishing of the Field of Dreams movie. I thought it had a really poignant ending and that the director's master stroke was at the end.

158

Today's highlight was the woodwind quintet concert in the auditorium at lunch. This quintet has been performing annually at Churchill for 6 years now. The five players were extremely talented, and I learned a lot from their playing technique. This concert will hopefully inspire all band students, and teach everyone somethign about playing.

157

Today I finished the demanding English homework. It calls for us to analyse different types of characters in Silas Marner for 10 characters. Even though the task sounds quite simple, there are only a handful major characters in the novel. I had to stretch the qualities of some minor characters a bit too far to accomodate the criteria.
I also played street hockey outside with Jason, and that basically it for today. Can't wait for school to start tomorrow...

156

Today I tried out Joost. It was a really good piece of software, and the user interface was just so smooth and seamless. The only fault I can find in Joost is its current lack of channels. The only channels I find interesting are the National Geographic Channels. I'm sure Joost will grow exponentially like YouTube did and revolutionize the way we watch TV.

155

We started badminton in PE today. I haven't played for a long time, and my right arm was really sore after class.
Then, in math, we simply re-proved several theorems, and prepared for a "test" next class. The proofs were really boring and easy.
Then, we got to our film study in AS, in which Mr. Lattimer gave us a thought-provoking session on the "Field of dreams" movie. I personally thought it to be amazing that the director had so many meaningful nuances in his technique.
In SS, we had a debate, which was AWESOME because I had wanted a debate ever since grade 8 and it never happened. We debated on issues regarding how technology is changing us for the good or for the bad. We were divided into two large opposing groups and were given a few minutes to organize ourselves. Seeing that our group was really stagnant, I took the initiative and organized everybody into groups and gave them assignments. Apparently, my arrangements were really effective because we won the debate 12-8, mainly because the other group was poorly organized.

154

Today we had a free block in English, and we took advantage of the time to prepare for our science presentations next block. My group didn't present because time ran out, but it was interesting to see some other presentation on the planets of the solar system.

155

Today I simply stayed home and finished my reasonable load of homework. I also printed out the entire version of the YPI booklet because I find it easier looking a paper instead of a computer screen.

152

Today the Storytelling session in English was somewhat productive, for we had come up with a list of themes. I chose the theme of how our secondary school got its name from Churchill.
In science, we continued our "research" on our group projects on one of the planets in our solar system. The mac computer was a nuisance in two ways: first, it wasn't really good with word processing, because the controls and formatting layouts are very hard to implement. Secondly, there are many other "features" of the mac that can be quite distracting. Our group got a reasonable bit done on the planet "Jupiter" (a nice 2001: A space odyssey theme in there).

151

Today we took an initial look at YPI. It turned out to be a much more complex project than I had expected, and I look forward to this experience.
We also had the socials test, which was a lot easier than I had expected. It merely tested our "knowledge" of the important concepts, not our "comprehension, extension, or evaluation" of these historical events. For example, we could all easily "memorize" in which year Napoleon was crowned emperor. But if we took a closer look at the basis Napoleon's conquests and diplomatic relations, it really turns out to be very interesting. We can therefore apply reason to figuring out what led to his downfall, etc. It would be nice if there were questions targeted toward that area, to encourage us to think just a bit over the textbook boundaries.

150

Today we finished the Cars movie in AS. We explored some themes presented in the movie such as the loss of the individual and the tendency of people to try to merge into collective groups. Similar phenomena as the one presented in the movie are occurring everywhere. This new trend of mankind can be explained by many factors. First of all, we are in the information age. This means we are inclined to organize things more, and coming together as a single global community. In the past, the world was a whole bunch of detached communities with no sense of globalization. Of course, the replacement of many community-based restaurants and other facilities by huge chains sporting the same kind of brand name and same kind of service means a lot of history about that community will be lost. As human beings, we are inclined to progress and advance. This means our social habits, opinions, moral values, and a lot of other important things will most likely change drastically. This is simply a trade-off, a decision that we all make collectively. We give up our rich past, which is embodied within those "old no-name gas stations" or "the seafood place down the street". In return, we are able to more efficiently pursue the goal of human beings: to progress.

149

Today I spent time working on my math homework and started working on my film studies project as well. I also made a to-do list for the rest of the spring break. It's not going to be much of a break, but I'll cope with it anyways.
I also made it a habit to watch some video podcasts from National Geographic every week. The podcasts are all on science and nature, which interest me a lot.

148

Today we got to watch another bit of the Lord of the Rings movie. It's really old, but still very enjoyable.
Then, I had a great time in Band, in which a substitute teacher gave me some tips on drumming techniques, etc.
Finally, it was report card time. This time, I finally got AAAAAAAAA, making my last term's B in socials my first and only B in high school so far. I feel quite capable of keeping this standard up now that I have more time to dedicate to school because my hockey season's over.

147

Today we were introduced to our new novel: Silas Marner. Ms. Densford talked passionately about the intricacies of the cottage industry: the period of time right before the industrial revolution. she talked about how a village and the barter system worked in that time. We acquired much new information regarding that time period, and look forward to reading the novel.
Then, in science, we basically took notes on space and light again. I wish we can have some activities to augment our learning experiences. Simply copying things from a 20 year-old textbook isn't helping much.

146

We watched Cars in Applied Skills today. I think that the movie was extremely well-made physically (PIXAR never fails to disappoint in the aspect of smooth graphics and animation). The plot was also somewhat original, tying in the themes of the advantages of the status quo (interstate) into the picture. Overall, I look forward to finishing the movie and see what might happen to McQueen.

145

We went to see a play at the Waterfront theatre on Granville island in the afternoon called the "Number 14". It was a hilarious play that attempted to tell some of the lost stories of the old bus line in exaggerated format. One of the actors even referenced Mrs. Densford in one of the plays, knowing that she is attending the play. I think that the play was great, and given that it has traveled around the world and had been given widespread acclaim. It is bringing the Vancouver community to the world.

144

Today, my dad caught my cold and became sick as well, so the home was quiet for the entire day. I finished my essay for science, and took medicines to relieve my sore throat. I also explored this awesome software called Joost which is coming out in the Summer. Joost is made by the makers of Kazaa and Skype, and boasts free live TV access for over 5000 channels. It promises crisp and smooth video quality, and simple controls. Right now, I am enjoying the products of the "Internet Revolution", led by Google, Youtube, and now Friis and Zennstrom (makers of Skype).

143

Today we had a great time in P.E. running all over the neighboring block for orienteering. Then we played ping-pong for rest of the class.
After that, in math, we took a look at many properties of circles.
We finished the movie in Applied Skills today. I thought that the movie was quite emotional in a sense, but all of the results were quite expected. The director obviously wanted things to end in the right way. But I thought many of the themes presented in the movie were cliches, like how best friends should stick together and help each other through tough times etc...

142

Today, we talked about our term 3 schedule in English, and then spent the rest of the time watching the first of the trilogy of the Lord of the Rings movies. It was still quite interesting to watch, simply because the film is so well made.
We watched the Inconvenient truth by Al Gore again in Science. We were supposed to write a detailed paper on it (well, five paragraphs is a lot). Re-watching this film has a lot of advantages. I was able to better grasp the concepts presented in the film, and saw much more intricate connections in the film: e.g. how Gore connects major events of his life with the possible effects of global warming.

141

Today I was coughing all day, and felt very tired. I am better than yesterday in condition, though. In AS we watched part of a movie called the sisterhood of the traveling pants. It presents many moral ideas through very commonplace examples. It doesn't have that much depth to it, but its simplicity in the portrayal of events is its hallmark in the entire film.

140

Today my cold was exacerbated by the shot I had today. Now I have a fever, and I'm often disoriented. To make it worse, I had to play drums with my weak arm today, and my left arm feels quite sore.

139

Well, today I spent half the day working on our socials movie project. Nigel, Jason and I are shooting a short movie that depicts the life of the person we're researching: Jacques Louis David. We made the entire movie from scratch, and spent 7 hours making it. We used an awesome software called Windows Movie Maker to put the audio, video, and still-image components together into one large product. The video effects were awesome, and I hope everyone can see it once it's fully uploaded onto YouTube. Yesterday and Today were extremely busy, and I got a mild cold from all that work.

138

Today I had a lot fun at the District Science Fair at VanTech. The judging process took almost three hours, and I had seven judge come by and discuss my project with me during this time. The name of the project is "A Comparison of the Genotoxicities of Various Household Products." Our judges were all PhD students at UBC and SFU, and most of them did not understand the background knowledge on my topic at all. I had to spend a couple of minutes just to get the basic concepts of genetic mutation and micronuclei across. I am really glad that my project has a lot of depth of research. I look forward to the Regional Fair in April.

137

Tomorrow I'm heading to VanTech for the District Science Fair. I've got it all planned out, and the oral presentation is going to be half impromptu. I chose to do it half-impromptu because, absurd as it may seem, I perform best orally when I'm unprepared.
After the science fair, I'm heading to Burnaby for my last hockey game of the season against a very tough team.

136

Today, we had a study block in science in which we reviewed the concepts in preparation for the test on Friday. I know and understand everything by heart, and don't really need to memorize anything.
In the afternoon, we looked at extremely funny retro french commericials. Not only were the outfits of the people in the ads funny, but their speech is extremely strange as well. We are supposed to analyze them and use superlatives in the process.
Finally, in band, we got our theory test back, which I aced. We also played through a couple pieces, and were introduced to a new piece.

135

Today we ran Langara in P.E. I ran 1 minute faster than last time to improve my time to 11:20, but it is still far from my grade 8 record, which is 10:26.
In math, we had a quiz on induction proof. It was really easy, and I prove every single question (2 questions) and the bonus. I have a really good chance of getting perfect in this quiz, because you can know when your proof is right.
We continued watching the "Shining" in AS. Now I'm really getting spooked. There isn't much physical horror, but the ideas presented and the freaky background music are really getting on my nerves. I look forward to finishing the movie.
Finally, we had a period for research in SS on the famous figures in the French Revolution, on whom we are doing a project.

134

Today we continued looking at old yearbooks in English. We are trying to think of a way to re-present this information to the visitors who are going to be coming to Churchill on the Fiftieth Anniversary.
Then we reviewed for our test coming up on Friday in Science. After lunch, we learned that there would also be a French test on friday as well. Now we have three tests in two days: Socials, French, and Science. I think that teachers should really better manage their time and try not to give a cram test at the end of the term just because they don't have time to submit more marks before end of term. I think that it is horrible planning on the teacher's part, and the worse thing is that it's the student who suffers for the mistake.
In band we got a new upbeat piece, and I enjoyed it.

133

Today I made a megapak of all my excellent SS notes in preparation for the test on thursday. As usual, I will post them onto the socials forum for the entire class to benefit from it. In fact, I think my notes so far have raised the class average by at least 10%.
Then I reviewed for a possible math quiz next week: yes, even though it's right after the midterms, it makes no difference to Mr. Nakamoto.

132

today we finished off galaxy quest. the ending was not as interesting as I thought it would be, but it was still a good movie overall. We started a bit on the movie "the shining". The beginning was a bit ambiguous, and the movie is supposed to be horror. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

131

Today I have good news. My science fair project made it past the school round and I am now eligible for the district fair. I guess all my hard work and many hours in the lab really did pay off.
We finished off "Ray" in AS, and started on a hilarious parody movie called Galaxy Quest. It is extremely funny, and I can already start to see some examples of suspension of disbelief in the movie. I look forward to friday when we will continue watching the film.
In SS we got a pop quiz, which I aced, on Napoleon. Then Mr. Sale told us that there's still a test and a project waiting for us before the end of term 2. BRUTAL!!! Now we are seriously switching into damage control mode with all our assignments and tests this week and next week.

130

In the morning, we had a very interesting library session for English. We browsed through a collection of past churchill yearbooks from the 1960s to 2000. We saw some really interesting pictures of teachers who either went to churchill or still teach at churchill today. We also were very interested in the variety of clubs that existed back then. There was a "lunch club", a "baseball club", and many more that no longer exist today. The yearbooks were extremely informative, and from the pictures we could see how time flies.

129

I'll keep this one short; I have a math contest tomorrow at 8:15 sharp.
Today, we finished watching the movie "Ray" in AS. I used to listen to a lot of the Ray Charles songs, and almost all the songs I have were played in the film. Personally, I thought the film portrayed the life of Ray Charles accurately, with added drama (of course).
Finally, in socials, we learned about the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. It will be interesting to see how his rise to glory contrasts with his doom.

128

We finally won our first game of the playoffs yesterday against a strong team. We finished it off 4-1, and all of us played simple, textbook hockey. Now that we're picking up some momentum from our huge consecutive losses, we hope for the best for the next few games.
Then, I watched a special production of the Chinese New Year Celebration re-aired from China Central TeleVision until midnight.

127

Today, I studied hard for my math midterm. I covered almost everything. I think that after my final review session tomorrow, I will be quite well prepared.
Also, I just realized that there is one English assignment due on tuesday. I have got to start working on that.
Plus, I have a hockey game tonight at 9:30.

126

Today I studied for our math midterm exam. When I come to think about it, all the stuff we learned in the math 11 enriched class (linear programming, mathematical logic) are really not the same as the regular grade 11 curriculum. Mr. Nakamoto really did assume we all knew the regular curriculum. Now I have to dedicate many hours to studying for the midterm.

125

I am really tired right now. Today our hockey team lost badly to a Burnaby team, 0-8. Our coach wasn't there, and we were missing our best player for the rest of the playoffs because of a broken finger. In our 3 playoff games, we were outshot 27-4, and that's not something to be proud of.
In other news, we had a pop quiz today in socials, and I got a whopping 12 out of 11. My extensive notes really helped me. I had posted them onto the Social Studies forum the previous night, so many of my classmates got the benefit of them too. I am really happy that I could contribute to enhancing their learning experience.

124

Today, we had the Sword in the Stone test in English. Overall, I thought it was quite reasonable, for I did not have any difficulty with the questions.
Then, in science, we did a lab on the energy transformations involved in dropping a ball. It was really interesting, but it was simply a reiteration of what we did in Grade 8. I thought something else would have been more interesting.
In the afternoon, we learned, in French, how only 10% of what we read is actually etched in our long-term memory, and how we can retain 95% of what we learn by teaching it to others. We applied this strategy to our vocab learning, and it worked excellently.
Finally, in band, Mr. Zanker, our student teacher, recorded some of the pieces we've played. After hearing the recordings, I realized that, as a drummer, I could do a lot better keeping the beat up. I hope we record ourselves more often, because this is really helpful to me.

123

Today I finally finished my science fair. I added some effective statistical analyses on my data. Overall, my project is a lot better than my last science fair. Right now, I am extremely exhausted.

122

Today, we had English first in which we continued doing research online. However, this session, what I found most valuable was the fact that I now appreciate the difference between a Mac and a PC. A Mac is great for multimedia projects such as creating web pages, movies, music mixes, and video mixes. However, I'd still stick to the PC for word processing and the other "realistic'' stuff that I usually do on a computer.
Then, we finished building our looms in English. I actually learned how to weave using a frame loom. It was extremely interesting.

121

Today we got tested on our routines in gymnastics today. I did my routine on the rings, and easily got a 10/10. Our substitute teacher marks very leniently, and it is impossible for you to fail.
Then, we learned about mathematical logic. Now, I actually have some use for the AND, XOR, OR, NOT buttons on my calculator, and I found the concept of mathematical logic very interesting because it actually is the basis for the binary system that runs our computers and other appliances.
In the afternoon, we knitted in the cafeteria. I still fail to see the reason to do that, since there was barely anyone in the caf, and most of them weren't paying attention to us. I think we should all spread the message of child labour, poverty, etc by knitting at recess and collecting donations.
Finally, in SS, we learned to distinguish the time period in which many of the french revolutionary reforms were proposed and later adopted.

120

Today I learned about how to repair a stitch in knitting class. It as really cool, and I actually get a sense of how the loops make the pattern now. Now I have to practice to knit faster, but I don't think i'll get very far because of the HUGENESS of my needles.
Then, we learned about the French Revolution in Socials. We simply took notes and shared them at the end of class.

119

Today I almost completely finished my backboard for my science fair. I just need to fill in the data from the logbook. Then, I did some math contest questions to prepare myself for the AMC 10 contest that I'm going to write next tuesday. I also finished a portion of the english group project, assuming that all my other group members have done the same. I also finished ten centimeters of knitting, which wasn't as time-consuming as I expected. I actually managed to do one row in less than 60 seconds! Which is incredible by my standards.
I also checked out my grade 8 piano practical exam mark. I got 91%, First Class Honours with Distinction!! Wow, I am actually one of the 2% of all exam-takers in canada who scored this high! All my practicing really paid off! I only practice about 40 minutes a day, but those minutes are well-spent and really productive.

118

Today we dissected a snake in dissection club in the morning. We observed the digestive tract and the internal organs of the snake. The gut is much more complex than I had thought it would be. I also got to keep part of the snake skin for myself. I boiled the snake skin at lunch to "sterilize" it. That was before I found out that it was not the recommended procedure from an extremely sorry club executive who had given me the wrong instructions. The skin shrunk a bit, but it still looks fine except for some loose scales.

117

Today we had a great substitute teacher in PE. She marked us on our gymnastics skills, and she was very lenient when marking us. I can't believe that I am now getting 100% in gymnastics, which is an area that i'm not particularly good at.
Then, in math, Mr. Nakamoto gave us some really old geometry books for our next chapter which is about deductive reasoning. Those were the "newest" books he could find, and they were published in 1974, so you kinda get the idea of how old his other books must be.
In the afternoon, we continued knitting. I actually got how to knit, although it takes almost a painfully long time for me to complete one row.
Finally, in SS, we learned about the storming of the Bastille and how it symbolizes the beginning of the french revolution.

116

Today we got started on our English project. Our group worked to assign roles for each member.
At lunch, our whistler band had a practice. I found the pieces quite challenging, but it was good practice for me.
In the afternoon, we had a great time in band. Mr. Hurst allowed me to smash the drums as hard as I could in the jazz piece, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

115

Today I had a great experience knitting in AS. I have never seriously knitted before, and I thought that knitting was really interesting. I am considering taking knitting as a hobby when I have absolutely nothing to do (and those moments are extremely rare). I thought that the class could have been a lot more supportive of the new student teachers. I could see that the student teachers were quite nervous and that they really hoped for their first session with us to go well. I tried my best to participate in the class discussions and make the student teachers feel more at ease.

114

In English we got into groups of 4 for a brand new English project. Our group is going to investigate a character called Master Twyti in the book "The Sword in the Stone." Master Twyti is a minor character, but there is quite a bit of information about him.
In science, we measure the "power" it took for one of us to run up a flight of stairs using basic physics concepts. We measured the distance, the weight of the person, and the angle of the stairs in order to come up with the power it took which is expressed in Watts.
In the afternoon we had French. We have finally started Unit 2, and now it is well into the second term. We are going to make some french commercials, which is going to be very fun.
Finally, in band, we had a student teacher Mr. Zanker to teach us for part of the class. At the end, we played a jazzy-swing piece that had an upbeat drums part, which I enjoyed.

113

Today I finished the science, english, and french homework that are due tomorrow. Our hockey game today was our worst of the season. We got humiliated 7-1, but it was probably due to our coach not being there.
Then I checked out a book from VPL called "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court". I haven't finished the entire book yet, but I have started to appreciate its humorous satire of the chivalric values of the Middle Ages.

112

Today, I had a great piano exam. Most of my pieces were perfect, and I am very confident that I will get above 95% overall. I could tell that my examiner was quite pleased, although she really tried hard to suppress it. Then I simply returned home and worked on my science fair. Now I've completed most of my backboard, and I still have experiments to run next week. Tomorrow I have a hockey game at noon. It's one of the oddballs, because our games usually start at 8 or 9 PM. The good thing is, the team we are playing has never been able to beat us ever in this season.

111

Today I spent a lot of time practicing piano. I've got my piano exam tomorrow at 11pm, and to tell the truth, I'm not all nervous because I have complete confidence in my skills. I have practiced a lot, and my efforts are going to pay off.
Then I watched a portion of Steve Jobs's Macworld Keynote speech. It was really interesting to hear about the success of many Apple products, and about the newest Apple product ever: the iPhone. It is just like any cellphone, and has great web-surfing and other capabilities such as a touch-screen. The only button on the phone is the ON/OFF button. The rest of the hardware is replaced by software.

110

Today's highlight was my after-school lab session. I found the holy grail of my science project this afternoon. I had found the elusive micronucleus in the root tip cells of my beans. This suggests that the common household chemical i'm testing, RAID Insect Garden Killer, is capable of causing mutations in the bean plants. I still have to run more trials, but this is definitely a great sign.

109

We watched a great film called "Ray" in Applied Skills today. I am now interested in getting some Ray Charles tracks. I read some more info on the film on IMDb, and found out many interesting facts about the film: Jamie Foxx actually wore eye prosthetics that actually made him blind (temporarily). I thought that Jamie Foxx portrayed Ray Charles very accurately, partly due to the fact that he actually visited Ray Charles during the shoot (Ray Charles died in 2004 while the filming was in progress). It also gave an accurate picture of what it was like back in the 1940s and 50s, because from the goofs section of the IMDb, I could only find petty anachronisms and mistakes that weren't very import (e.g. "Q" was eating the fried chicken that Ray made almost instantly after it was taken off the pan, but it wasn't possible because it would have been really hot.) I will attempt to evaluate the film once I have seen it in its entirety.

108

today I stayed home and prepared for the busy week next week. I have numerous lengthy experiments to run after school, a hockey team meeting that will probably take up one night, and hockey games at least twice. Then, on saturday, I will have my piano practical exam. I finished some homework, and finished writing my biography for the pre-IB application.

#107

I scored my first goal of the season in ice hockey yesterday. I was right in front of the crease, and the pass to me was perfect. I shot it into the half-empty net. I later got the puck as a souvenir.
I also did a portion of my science fair experiment in the superlab afterschool yesterday. I used lots of beakers and graduated cylinder plus dozens of chemicals. I had to observed dyed bean root cells under the microscope. It was really interesting. I never thought the experiment would go smoothly and yield such good results.
This morning our dissection club dissected a lizard. We investigated its scale structure, internal structure including the major systems, and glands. It was really interesting.

106

Today we presented our skits in social studies. I thought the groups' performance were not bad, although I wasn't sure about those groups who decided to make the whole skit french actually communicated anything to us.
Then, we watched a documentary called "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore. The facts he presented were astounding. His rebuttals of those people saying that global warming is cyclic and of his political opponents' criticism were not only extremely valid, but also very convincing and concise. Gore's rhetoric in the presentation was similar to David Suzuki's passionate speeches about the environment as well. I am still astounded why people are not taking action after Al Gore's amazing world tours to spread his message.

#105

Today we sang some "recent" french pop songs in French class. It was by an artists called Corneille. The song turned out to be not bad. It was an R&B/Hip-Hop style song that had a catchy beat.
We then learned about how to calculate force vectors in science. It was really amazing to see that the majority in the class had no idea what trigonometry is. It was interesting to see that force applied at an angle is usually more than force applied directly upwards or downwards.
Finally, in English, we learned about the Legend of King Arthur in a documentary video. It was really interesting, because I never knew that STAR WARS creator George Lucas was inspired by the Arthurian Legend.

#104

Yesterday our hockey team lost our first match in 12 games. We lost by a narrow score of 2-3.
I also checked out my music theory test score for rudiments two today: I got 98%.
I started practising two really hard pieces for piano today. The only thing that motivated me as I practiced the extremely hard piece was how good it sounded. That's basically all i have to say today. I haven't done anything else because a sore tooth was bothering me.

#103

Today we started on a group project in socials. We're to present our topics regarding the French Revolution Our group got the topic of the Estates General. We decided that there wasn't enough action to be presented in this topic. Instead we planned to do a talk show. I have finished the script, and it looks like it's going to be a successfull performance.
We completed a survey aimed at physically improving the school. I thought that the questions were very well constructed, but they could get more specific, thus eliciting a stronger response from the school.
We then watched a basketball game between Moscrop and Collingwood in the afternoon.

#102

Today we had the geography challenge in the morning. I finished second in the class, scoring 70 out of 100. It was really fun, and I got to know a lot of facts about canadian and world geography.
Then we finished the 2010 movie in AS. Overall, this movie was more fast-paced than the 2001. (I read in the IMDB that Kubrick had to cut about 30 minutes from 2001 just to make sure his audience wasn't falling asleep.) But it lacks the strong hidden allegories presented in 2001. It did a good job of carrying the story from 2001 and continuing with it, but that's about it. I've researched a bunch of interpretations on the 2001 movie, some of which were synonymous with the opinion we were exposed to during class, other critics even said the movie was entire nonsense! I also read that Tom Hanks had expressed an interest in making a 2061 or 3001 movie as well, but that never came through.
In the afternoon, we had the simplex algorithm test in math, and then gymnastic in PE, which was really fun. We did parallel bars and rings and many other gymnastic equipment.

#101

Today we play a whole bunch of new pieces for band, which included a swing-style piece, a baroque piece by Handel, and a Ballet by a composer whose name I cannot recall. It was really fun sightreading all those music.
Then, we had a substitute teacher for French. She had a really strong Quebec accent, which was very interesting because I have never been exposed to Quebec accent for a long period of time, and it helped me distinguish between hers and Mme Chang's France accent.
In Science we talked about Gravity and Newton's Three Laws. Then we did a lab to measure the exact gravitational constant, which is supposed to be 9.8 N.
Finally, we read a short story by Alice Munro called When We Were Young. It was about the difficulties of a teenage girl in the 1940s. It was very interesting to see what a 1940s high school was like.

#100

I had a tiring hockey practice in the morning. When I walked to school I felt slightly dazed. When we settled down in SS class, we started a Canadian Geography challenge. I was totally unprepared, but I still managed to get third in the class. The challenge is going to continue next class. Then we watched the sequel (presumably) of the 2001: A space odyssey called 2010: A space odyssey. I thought it was very interesting and more fast-paced, but it doesn't have the same depth as the 2001 film.

#99

Today I braced myself for the beginning of school. I prepared for an expected math pop quiz, reviewed French etc. Then, I suddenly got an email from my hockey coach saying we're going to have a practice tomorrow at 6 AM. What great way to restart school....

#98

Today I stayed home and worked on writing the research report for my Science Fair. I also got more and more used to the fact that school is starting soon. I am getting off to a good start with my observations of one of my experiments.
It is strange how all the homework and ongoing assignments ended before the winter break. I wonder what kinds of new projects will come up after the break.

#97

Wow, it was really windy today. Even the BC Place dome collapsed under that immense pressure. Of course, I never really felt it because I stayed in the whole day working on my science fair. yes, it is getting much much tougher now. I have to write a research report (which I'm good at, but is nevertheless a lot of work) and prepare a Photojournal plus data tables and Logs. I am now a little behind on my photojournal, and I will have another 2-hour picture taking session tomorrow. The toughest part is organizing the photos. Not labeling them on time can prove to be a catastrophe. It is fortunate the I have the latest photo-managing software from Google called Picasa, which is great because it allows to change filenames, write captions, crop and touch up photos very easily.

Blog #96

Today I worked on some dangling math concepts (who knows, Mr. Nakamoto might throw in a quiz right after winter break). I also took pictures of my beans for the science fair, and the whole process too two hours (wow, science fair was never this time consuming in grade 8, maybe my topic is harder this time).
Now that I come to think of it, there's only three days left in winter break. I'd better better plan the next three so that they are as productive as possible.

Blog #95

Today I had a great first day of the year. I dedicated most of the day to carry on with my experiments for the science fair. Turns out the work isn't as easy as it looked, and I still have many hard tasks (including growing and maintaining beans, searching for anomalies in thousands of cells under the microscope, etc) ahead to come. However, I was able to use some old templates from last year's science fair, and that saved a lot of time.