The Seven Samurai

This movie is 3 hours long! We started watching it 2 days ago and watched an hour everyday or a little more because we only have 45 minutes left. Its supposed to be one of the greatest movies ever made. It is really weird though. There is this one guy who is really happy and excited when the bandits come and he is always joking and its weird. He is always mocking other peasants too and he can be very annoying. The other samurai are usually strict and calm. The samurai agreed to help the peasants for no reward or rank except they get fed by the peasants. The movie is black and white and in Japanese but there are subtitles for English. So far it is pretty interesting. The movie was re-made a lot. There are 2 famous Hollywood re-makes. The re-makes are in a modern time though. I don't know of any in Japanese. What I mean by modern is that the people are western like the horse-back riding kind of people, and they have guns and all that but the story line is pretty much the same. I haven't seen any of them but the one I know of is called the Magnificent Seven. So if you feel up to watching a 3 hour movie, the Seven Samurai should be your choice.

Influences

Every once and a while, my dad or mom tell me that the people I hang out with influence and/or dictate what I will do and who I am. Now as I kid, I wouldn't believe that, thinking I could just hang out with whoever I want and that maybe I can influence them. So I wanted to test that. At school, my friends were knuckle heads and I might have slightly slipped toward that, but not fully, noting my grades were all A's and B's. Mostly B's though and I am kind of disappointed in myself, but I have been hanging around a lot this summer with my friend that likes to read a lot. So I was thinking that he might influence me to read and I appeared to be right. I usually read 10 pages a day which is definitely not an acceptable amount to me, just because I am lazy, but this kid wants to read all the time usually. So we went to meet friends near our town library and they weren't there yet so since I had to return two books, I thought and he thought why don't we read until they get hear. And instead that day, I read 20-30 pages. It was great. We both had been carrying around our books. So I influenced him to read and another instance in which I might have influenced him was to workout since I do that a lot. I influenced him to work out with me in the wight room and do laps in the pool instead of just messing around in the pool. It worked more in the weight room instead though. We both did a lot of ab exercises and some biceps and we also went on the bike for a half an hour. I think he liked the bike because when we were done, he said "already?". We had already done a half an hour. So I don't know if you can see the influencing instances in action shown in the examples of this post, but I just thought that the influential effect people have on each other is pretty interesting and a pretty big deal.

Summer Work

My summer work that I have to do for AP History, English Honors, and Spanish 2, is working out much better than I expected. I planned out the days that I would do the work each week and stuck to it and realized I didn't exactly have to do that, as long as I did the the work planned out for each day, in a day. Also, I realized that getting ahead is great. I have been getting ahead which definitely frees up my schedule for extra time in the days and extra days to do what I want. I like finishing my Spanish and AP hist. on Mondays. The AP Hist. takes the longest and the Spanish takes up the least amount of time. English doesn't really take that long at all but I actually think the Spanish stuff is getting longer with each chapter, not that much longer, but they add a little more material to read in each page with each chapter as I have begun to see. Last Saturday, a book called "The World That Trade Created" finally came. I'm supposed to read it for History. Its super boring and the chapters are kind of long. I don't think it takes me so much time to read, but it seems like forever when I'm reading it. I also surprisingly don't feel as relieved to be done with it for the week as anything else. On my summer assignment sheet, the directions for the book says you have to consider it and then it has a list of things to consider, and I still don't know what he means, but as I read the book, I make mental notes on what might be important. I'm pretty sure we aren't going to take a test on it, but I still make notes that I might think would be on a test. Sometimes like dates and countries but all that is hard to note and remember because the book talks about so many regions and trading items and revolutions and dates all at the same time. The book is divided into chapters and in those chapters are little sections so that helps a little with reading it. Overall though, I think the summer work is going pretty well.

YMCA

My friend's father signed me up for a YMCA membership so I could go swimming with the and workout with my friend there to even though I already have a 24 hr gym membership, I guess it would just be better for my friend to not have to spend so much money on a gym membership while we could just swim at the YMCA. Well, I went with my friend to swim 3 times and tried to work out with him today but he didn't bring shoes so I had to work out there alone but I guess I didn't mind so much because when I got to the pool, we just did laps. We also ran to the YMCA and back to his house. Swimming laps is really tiring but works out every muscle in your body. At least I'm pretty sure I heard that somewhere. We actually got kicked out of the pool the first time we went because my friends dad was yelling at us. He was only telling us how much time we had left to stay at the pool. It seemed like he was telling us to get out of his lane because my friend kept accidentally shooting the little body board into his lane. But it was time to go anyway. Today was fun though.

Borderlands

My friend spent the night at my house yesterday and he brought over Borderlands because I told him I wanted to see what it was like. So I played it with my brother on co-op mode and I found it really fun even though it is like a cartoon game, its really really fun. You start out picking which player you want, the hunter, berserker, soldier, or the girl, but I forgot what she is called. I started out with the Berserker but I didn't really like him so when I started over with my friend, I played as a soldier and I really like him. My friend picked the hunter. When you get to level five, you get to have a special power. You have to complete missions throughout the game and the first boss is a bandit named 9 toes. It says he has three balls as well. Whenever they introduce new people, they make it seem really cool. The planet you play on is called Pandora and the story line says you are looking for a vault with new alien technology and whoever finds it will have unlimited power but the planet is very savage and there are monsters that try to kill you called Scags and there are also bandits all over the place. You can buy guns and ammo and health kits and shields and when you kill something, they usually drop ammo and sometimes health vials to get some health back. If your lucky, they even drop guns. In the machines you can sell them if they aren't as strong as your other guns and you can set the guns you want to use and every level you gain after level five, you get a skill point. Its a really fun FPS and my friend let me borrow it so I cant wait to play again.

Skype

I got a Skype yesterday and more of my friends have one than I expected. Ever since I got it though, I've constantly been video chatting. My friend has the same web cam as me. I did take this one from my dad though because he never uses it and I wanted one. Its a good web cam too. The microphone on it is great and the picture is fine too and you can mess around with the picture of it. You can make yourself have huge eyes or small head or clip art glasses and there is even a face detector so it had a lot of properties. They are funny looking too. Whenever I'm not using it though, I turn it away from myself so other people can't see it on their hacked websites. Sometimes people can put an invisible screen on a button or something that can activate your web cam so they know what you are doing. Its just ridiculous, but technology has definitely gotten that advanced. I don't know how to group video chat but I don't think you can. You can group chat though. You can also play games, which I haven't tested yet but I will sometime probably. Anyway, Skype is fun and can keep you in touch with your friends over the summer.

Spanish course

My dad finally signed me up for the Spanish course! I thought it was going to be easy and just pass by like nothing. But it was much much much easier than I thought! So easy. Most of it was stuff I had already learned. It was way too easy of course I only did the first chapter in the course. In the speed back assignment, which is worth 10% of the final grade for the course, I got 100%! Nothing wrong and everything right. It was so awesome and I'm glad because that's definitely an easy way to lighten my load for sophomore year and if it is this easy continuously, then it shouldn't make much of a dent in my workload for the summer. The history work is the one making a major dent. But the Spanish course should just whoosh by. I thinking about finishing it all next week. In the speed back assignments, they even let you refer back to the course to look for answers. I only did that to check a couple of my answers though. I can't wait to not have to worry about the course when its all done!

The Falling Death

I just came across this story I wrote for English Class and I thought I might share it. Its a really long story so be prepared. Hopefully it will suck you into reading it. Enjoy.

The Falling Death

Have you ever had a dream where you fall off something really high and then when you're about to hit the ground, you wake up? Well I used to have dreams like that continuously over periods of days and it was crazy but then it all stopped. But now things have changed. Now there have been reports of death for no known reason and there is no one to explain it. Only tests have been run on all parts of the victims' bodies.

Many ordinary citizens have been found dead in their beds bleeding from different places. Some have been found with crooked feet, when before they went to bed, they didn't have crooked feet. Some have been found bleeding from the head, feet, chest, and even holes through their body. Some scientists suggest it might be from a serial killer, but when they look at the victims' brain cells, they find completely different things. They find it to come from their dreams. Some of the victims' therapists say that the victim has complained of continuous nightmares for unknown reasons.

Now scientists have been asking for volunteers of people who have been having nightmares to give them permission to put a night vision video camera in their room as they sleep. At first you would think, "Well why would anyone want to do that?" Well there have actually been a surprising amount of volunteers. The scientists have asked the patients to report to them every day about their dreams. Most say that they see a man dressed in all black with a hood on a hill. Others say they are at a distance but want to find out about the man.

The people who had the dream where the hooded man is the closest to them die. The scientists all look at their screen because an alarm goes off when someone dies. They play the video back and in the video they see a man dressed in a black jacket with a hood on with his hands out waving over the person who has now died. The scientists call the police and send them straight to that person's house and as fast as they can go. When the police get there, the man is gone. Nowhere to be seen.

FBI agents are sent out to find the man. Government spies keep a lookout for the person. The next day their alarm goes off again, but this time the man in black looks at the video camera and puts his hand in front of it. You couldn't see his eyes. The police retrieve the dead man and it looks as if he has drowned. So now a person is dying every day.

Until one day, a man wakes up in the middle of the dream shaking and he sees the man in black trying to kill him in his dream. The survivor chases the man but he is too fast. The police surround the house now because the scientists have been looking on their cameras the whole time and right when they saw the man, they called the police. The man in black looks at all of his surroundings. He runs straight for the police and they try to grab him but when they touch him they scream with pain and agony and the man gets away.

The police explain that the man was so cold that it burned. The survivor explains what happened in his dream. He says the man tried to push him off the hill and succeeded, but right before he hit the ground he woke up. He said it was extremely scary. The scientists now know how the other people died and they are having the same dream of the man on the same exact hill. They were pushed off the hill and when they hit the ground, BAM!, they are dead and bleeding. No one can explain how this can be, but only that it is very scary.

The survivor now is set on killing the man who tried to kill him in his dream, and in real life at the same time. That night he pretends to go to sleep. He lays on a gun while police are hiding on his roof and all around his house waiting for the man to come. The man in black is smart. He goes on the roof and silently kills the police by covering the police officer's mouth and then sticking his hand in their back so hard that it goes through them because of how cold his deathly touch is. He goes around doing this to all the policemen but then he finds himself at gunpoint by the survivor.

This is the moment where everything has stopped for the surviving man and the killer. The survivor is sweating and shaking. The man in black is just standing there, staring. The survivor speaks, "Take off your hood so I can see your face."

The man in black says, "No, I don't have a face."

"TAKE YOUR HOOD OFF!" the survivor yells.

"No," the man in black replies plainly.

The survivor, with his rifle pointed at the man, aims for his stomach and then shoots. The man in black puts his hand out and the bullet stops at his hand and freezes, and then crumbles as he grinds the bullet softly in his hand. The man in black is now laughing and then unexpectedly strides for the survivor and hits him and he is now down on his back with his rifle at his chest. The man in black says "What a nice way to die, you're like one of those army men who are buried in their coffin with his rifle at his chest." The man in black now grabs the survivors shoulders and he is screaming in pain from the cold burning.

The man in black says, "Yes, yes, you like that?" almost at a yell. The survivor is now just yelling and yelling and then, BANG!, he hears a startling shot.

The man in black now falls on top of the surviving man and he squirms and shakes free of the black hooded man on the ground. The survivor turns around and sees a scientist shaking with a police gun.

The survivor says, "I don't know how I can thank you for saving me, I mean I owe you my life and my family's life if I had one."

The scientist replies, "Well you don't have to thank me, I think I just saved my own life too and millions of others. I guess that means they all owe me their life."

"Where did you shoot him?"

"In the back of the head."

"Well the bullet came through his face and plopped nicely onto my stomach, but it was all cold and crumbled when it landed."

"I think the only vulnerable place on his body is his face."

"Well it worked and that's all that matters and thank God."

"You should take off his hood and see what his face looks like."

"Good idea." The survivor takes off his hood and then stumbles back and yells in fright "OH MY GOD!", "He wasn't lying, he really doesn't have a face, just red glowing eyes to see, but then how was he talking?" He then sees that his mouth is low on his chin but there is no nose.

The scientist says "Lets get him over to my car and take him to the lab to study him."

So they do and at the lab they cut him open and find out that he has no organs except for a heart with glowing veins going out through his body and into his hands and fingertips. Then there is a very high pitched screech from the cut open man and everyone in the room with the man falls and dies. No one could ever understand why what happened happened except that it was a tragedy hopefully never to come again.

Sophomore Schedule

My crazy schedule for sophomore year is AP World History, Honors 10 English, Algebra 2/trigonometry, CP Biology, and PE for all year classes. For 1 semester I have Computer Programming 3/Karel J Robot(just programming a virtual robot to move and pickup up stuff on the screen) and for the 2nd semester Web Design. To lighten my load for that year, I am taking Spanish 2 over the summer. AP world and Honors Eng. have summer assignments. For AP world I have to read 9 chapters in the text book, write about the people, places, and inquiry and study questions in the workbook. I also have to read a book about world trade and then read a book for extra credit and take a test on it when I go back to school! For Honors Eng. I have to read the Iliad and identify the characters, Gods, Places, and I think the time periods as well. I also have to make Cornell notes which are just 2 columned notes. I start all that Monday. I also have to do the online Spanish class. So much to do. I really hope I have so spare time on the weekend! Hopefully. I just need to be organized and not procrastinate. Its going to be a tough year!

My sister's Birthday

Today was my sister's birthday and also the last day of school. All I pretty much did was stay in computer programming class and play Counter Strike the whole time though. So that's covered. My mom picked me up and we went to Target, Costco, and Vons for my sister's birthday. I got her a little car with candy in it. She liked it. Of course. She was actually asking me for it too. So I'm glad I found out what to get her instead of having to make a decision because I am just terrible at that. My sister got a ton of presents. She got some from my Grandma, me, mom , and dad. Apparently my brother didn't get anything for her. Too bad he didn't. I don't think he had any money. I'm sure my sister stole it anyway(laughs). We made carrot cake and it was super good. Definitely better then the red velvet cake we had last time which i didn't eat. My dad got her a new freaking violin with the case! It was pretty nice even though I play the piano, it looked pretty nice. I think it is bigger than her old one. At least I'm pretty sure that that's what my dad said to my mom. Great day.

Final Exams

We just call them finals and I had no thought of a different name for finals except: finals. Until my English teacher called them final exams and I was thinking, oh, OK, that's what they're really called. I never really cared though. Anyway, I just finished all my finals today. Monday, there weren't any finals. I had Geometry(51 question test) and Spanish 1(120 question test) finals Tuesday. Science(150 question test) and P.E.(record blood pressure, BMI(Body Mass Index), resting heart rate, height, and weight) Wednesday. And finally English(100 question test) and Programming 1(just a final project that I finished a week before) Thursday. Each class was 2 hours long. During the test, I wished I had more time, but when i finished the test, I'm thinking, UH lets get outta here! My Geometry final took me into the 30 minute passing period and that was the first final I took, so that's what probably made a little paranoid about the rest of the finals. I was OK for the rest of them though. In between periods, there was a lotta yearbook signing. I have a crap load signatures. Some people wrote some weird stuff. I still have more people to sign it. I might have to attach a paper to it because there is not too much space left. Anyway I really hope I did well on the the finals.

For The Win

I don't remember if i blogged about this yet, but i applied to get a new book that hadn't come out yet by Cory Doctorow who wrote Little Brother which i really loved. The application that i emailed him said that i had to promise to blog about the book which i would do anyway and give him the info he needed to send the book and i was kind of worried because i never got an email back. Last week, my dad picked me up from school and he had a orange-colored package, the regular kinds, and it had bubble wrap in it as usual and i was thinking, what in the world could this be. I had been pretty sure that i wasn't getting the book by then and then i open it, and i am surprised to see that he did send me the book! For free! It hadn't even been published then or out for sale or anything! I was so happy about getting the book because i knew it was going to be good. It even said on the bottom of the front cover of the book, UNCORRECTED ADVANCE READING COPY-NOT FOR SALE. That is just awesome! I have it in paperback too which i always thought was better than hardcover because its more transportable then hardcover but hardcover lasts longer. I am expected a few mistakes in grammar or punctuation, but its the tale the book tells that matters. My dad took it and flipped through the pages and saw that the formatting of the words on the pages all together were a little crooked going down and it does that more with every page and i say AWESOME! I started reading it today and i already like it. I like how he explains the details of everything vividly. It helps to picture the story. I can't wait to finish and read the whole book and then like i promised, blog about it! Its out for sale on hardcover on amazon at this address:

http://www.amazon.com/Win-Cory-Doctorow/dp/0765322161

Check it out!

Cajun Festival

I volunteered to work at the Cajun Festival yesterday and i handed out the program/map brochures. I thought the people were never going to stop going in and i don't think they did stop! I left at 7:00 and it ended at 8:00 and I'm pretty sure people were still coming in. It was crazy. I saw some friends come in and hung out with them after 2:30 which is when i got off work. I started at 10:00 am. I was definitely working for a very long time and i started to get bored and tired of doing it. So i was pretty relieved to get off duty. My dad worked at the beer booth too. And we both volunteered which means we didn't get paid but I'm OK with that. I ate way too many sweets there and i wish i hadn't. I don't feel very good right now. Its like a candy hang over. I didn't like the music there except for one of the places which was the rock bands, not the Cajun or country or blues music that was going on. The only problem was that the good music didn't have any shady places to sit. I knew almost everyone in each band in the good music place so that was cool. My friends band won the battle of the bands too. The festival had so many people in it and it was just so crazy how people could fit in there. It went on for the whole weekend too but i only went Sunday. Well, maybe next time my friends will be there to keep me company again.

AP World History

AP stands for advanced placement and then world history. So as a sophomore i am taking AP WH. I went to the lunch meeting for it today and apparently its going to be very hard. I have to do a whole crap load of work over the summer! Its ridiculously crazy how much i have to do. I think i have to read about half the book and do the questions and make flash cards and watch specific movies and write summaries on them. Its crazy and very rigorous but i am up for it. Plus i can get a 5.0 if i get an A. Its crazy. And once your in the class you cant get out. The teacher was talking about some kids who were hopelessly failing and wanted to switch out. The reason is because there are other people that would kill to take your place and you took it away from them. I will definitely have to be completely focused. Apparently you have to make outlines on the sections too. There is also a test every Friday. Hard enough!?

My Brother

OK, now its really annoying having the best computer in the house. My brother and sister always want to use it and it is very annoying. I hate it when they use my stuff in general. Especially my brother because he uses like everything that i have and i never use any of his. I hate his stuff, and i don't know why he likes mine. I always lose my stuff because he uses it. I can't find my hat anymore, so now i have to do my hair everyday before i go to school, while when my brother didn't steal it, i could go casually and not have to miss the bus. I was looking for it today. I have found my hat multiple times in my brother's backpack too. He always uses my computer and i always need to use it. So i am constantly kicking him off and then getting in trouble for it even though i need to do homework and he is just messing around with games. So today i made an account called games account, just for him, and then when i get back form the gym, he is complaining about having his own account and i told him i made one for him. By the way, when i got back from the gym, he was playing Spore on that account too! Then he starts to complain. My dad then makes me make an account with his name and i wanted to games account to be for mostly him and for others to use, but now i have to make him one. The worst thing is, he has his own computer! Its so ridiculous. I know he uses my stuff because he looks up to me.

End of school

Everything is winding down, even though it feels like its not school/work wise, but you can still feel it winding down because everyday at least one of my teachers tells the class we have 3 or 4 weeks left of school and not very many work days. We still have to do finals and thats when we will really feel it winding down every way. The days are half days so thats definitely a way we can notice it winding down. We will start to miss our friends even as we see them everyday of the lasts days with them for that year. Some are transferring though. I don't like that. I wish everyone would just stay and let the people from other schools transfer to our school. It is a great school. I'm definitely not transferring. I don't know whether to look forward to it or not because i will miss friends but i cant remember if i feel that way during the summer. I always miss my summer friends going back into school. Its always like that all the time. But oh well. You just have to plan with all your friends. I am definitely looking forward to summer though.

Last Friday

I saw Iron Man 2 and i thought it was fantastically awesome. I actually got invited to see it with friends but at the last second. I missed a little of the beginning of the movie but it was still awesome. When i went in the movie theater to find my friends, i couldn't find them. I walked slowly up the stairs and didn't see them. So i just sat at the top of the movie theater and looked down every once in awhile and then i got tired of looking o i just enjoyed the movie. Then after the movie was done, i called them and they thought i never even came. They said they already left the theater and were going to their car. They said they would give me a ride and they did. So we went to get Jamba Juice after. I got a Sour Patch Kids one. It was good. So then after that we ate at Rubios. They invited me to spend the night so i asked my mom and she said yes. Then when we got home, apparently the main focus was chores. Now, for some reason, i actually enjoy doing chores that aren't mine. I just like it. And what made it better, is that we got paid $5 an hour fro doing what i was enjoying. Its weird how i do enjoy it. So we did an hour that day and then watched some TV and then we went to bed. That was the end of that day.

White hat hackers

In English class, we started on our persuasive essays. I didn't know what to pick as a topic and i wanted to pick something interesting, but none of the suggestions that were on the paper our teacher gave us appealed to me. So i went home and asked my dad to give me suggestions. He said a lot and then he came across white hats. I didn't know what they were so i asked. A white hat hacker is a person who hacks a system and then tells the owner of the system what their security flaws are. I thought that was pretty interesting. He told me that people were debating whether they would be prosecuted or not. I totally thought no! Why should they be prosecuted. They are helping. Some people even hire them to do what they do. I already have some information on them, but i probably shouldn't put it down here because its probably boring and i would have a lot. I would probably type up my whole paper because i am an extremest. Which means i do everything to the extreme. So its either the most, or the least for me. Except Sunday, i overcame that during my haircut. I had to close my eyes though to keep myself from telling the woman to cut more off. I only wanted a trim. I got a trim, but times before, i would keep asking for more to be cut off. I closed my eyes during the whole thing. People like my trim too. So i had to explain what white hat hackers were to everyone that asked me what i was doing my paper on. Which was a lot of people. I even had to explain what it was to my teacher. But i like that because i like to be unique sort of. I bet that no one has ever done a paper in that class on white hat hackers before. So i am glad that i get to explain new things to people. That might have been an interesting topic for you too.

Dave Janson's Concert

There is a place called Dave Janson's School of Music. They have lessons there for the drums, violin, guitar, bass, vocals, and other stuff. They also have a band program. They did their band concert today too. Well just the first half i think. But my brother was the first band to play today. Actually the teachers played and their band is called Music Skool. The k is there on purpose. My brother's band is called Hyperactive Overdose. My dad thought is was Hyperactive overdrive though. So my brother's band was going to play Kryptonite, Girlfriend, and Karma Police. But my brother practiced Girlfriend wrong and they didn't get to play it. He also didn't like the song Girlfriend and his drummer didn't either. I hate the song too, its really annoying. I'm kind of glad that they didn't play it. i would have had to video tape it and listen to it even more and the song is just annoying. So they just played Kryptonite and Karma police in that order. My dad told me to video tape with his camera. He set up his video camera on his tripod and then he was video taping with his phone. So he got footage with three different cameras. He must of really been crazy about getting the perfect video. He only reserved seats for himself and my mom. He knew the whole family was going too. It was ridiculous having to move around to let people sit in their reserved seats. Its horrible that he would only get 2 seats. It seems kind of selfish to me, but there might have only been 2 seats left. I just didn't like having to move around a lot and people were walking in front of the camera and it was annoying. I didn't really mind people asking fort heir seats because they payed for them, but my dad should have got 3 or 4 seats. Oh well. Nothing i can do about ti now. The band played the songs awesomely. A different band played Tik Tok by Ke$ha. When i saw the song on the catalog thing, i was thinking, how in the world are they going to do that with regular band instruments, but they did it. Amazingly enough. Anyway, Dave Janson's School of Music is the greatest place to go for lessons for learners. They are just great. My brother has definitely grew musically there and other people have too. Go check them out.

Happy Tree Firends

This is a very violent cartoon. Naming it the Happy Tree Friends is just not correct. I think its hilarious though. I found the first video that i ever watched today when my brother called to tell me to look up on YouTube about GPS devices telling people to get out of their car. I have no idea how i came across these episodes at all. The one that i posted isn't the first episode i watched though. Its about these cute cuddly animals and all Hel* breaks loose in the videos. Its just ridiculously crazy. There are a lot of the mini videos too. I don't know how people come up with them. They are hilarious though. I warn you before watching this though. These videos are extremely gruesome even though they are cartoons. VERY GRUESOME. Have fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZjTQ87MoEo