12th Grade Roller Coaster Expositions

Today during Computer Class, we went to watch the 12th grade exposition about their Physics Project. They had to do a roller coaster that transported a marble from one side of the board to the other side. I found all the projects really cool but the one I most liked was the one with the one from Erika Zinser and the one with the Candy Mountain theme. I really liked Erika's because it was really cool how the marble, going through a plain route, went up the spiral TWO times! In my opinion that looked pretty amazing. The other roller coaster that I liked, the Candy Mountain one, was also pretty cool because it had REAL candy and, in my opinion, they were the team that worked the hardest because their track were the marble had to go through was the most delicate one, being made out of two plastic, flexible sticks. Most teams used real tubes were the marble would have no option of falling down, which I think that is cheating. The Candy Mountain's track wasn't completely closed so I think that was way more laborious.

Pancho's Presentation

Last Friday in English class an old graduated man from the American School of Puerto Vallarta, Francisco Sean, visited our class. At first he started with his presentation he made about life phylosophy and how we should never give up with anything we need and want. After that he gave a speech about how and why the Iraqi War started. I actually don´t agree much with him because he said that the Iraqi war was something that would made both Iraq and the Untied States a better place. We, as citizens of the wolrd, know that that is not true. Wars don´t bring any good to the world, they jsut bring violence and innocent deaths. Something that shocked me the most in his presentaton was that he had to shoot CHILDREN. Once, he told us, a boy grabbed a stick and played with it as if it were a shotgun. the boy aimed at a United States soldier and, Francisco, shot the boy without even realizing that it wasn´t a real weapon but just a wood stick. That was kind of a sad story which he, Francisco, also thought was something he would never forget about. I found cound of lame that the war was to make Iraq a better place, which os obviously not the real reason why the war started. The reason why Fransisco came to talk to our class was to show us how to give a speech. In my opinion I didn´t like how he gave the speech because he was always putting his hands in his pockets and he was kind of fidgeting a lot. Maybe we could have a more proffesional person come to our class and show us how a good speech should be given so we, as students, learn how to speak in public.

Me, Myself, and I

My name is Taku and I was born in Mexico City. I've been living in Puerto Vallarta since I was nine years old and have switched houses over 4 times. Puerto Vallarta is located in Jalisco, if you don't know. It is on the west side of Mexico besides the Pacific Ocean. You may think that my name isn't mexican and you are guessing right. Both of my parents are from Japan and it is quite exotic having descendants from there. Since I was little, I have been thought Japanese cultures and traditions, which is very nice and in some simple words cool. Two years ago I used to play tennis but i stopped for a while because of school stuff that have been taking a lot of my time. This year im starting with athletics with a P.E. teacher here that studied in Italy. He is very strict and I think that in physical education being strict is the number one best quality someone could have.

Normally my summers are boring. I just stay here in Vallarta and hang out with friends, which I find more entertaining that going out with my family else where. Here in Vallarta there isn't much pollution but the beaches aren't the most nice beaches in the world. Puerto Vallarta's beaches are very dirty and full of trash. Green Peace has even come here to try and clean beaches. I think that beach cleaning is also very important because in winter whales come from the Pacific Ocean and we are supposed to take good care of them. There are laws that say that we are not supposed to get any nearer than about 100 meters but people don't mind and just enjoy themselves. When I go having fun to the beaches with my friends I mostly go to Nayarit, which is like half an hours from here. The beaches there are WAY more beautiful and less dirty. My favorite one is called Bucerias, which is also the name of the town. If you ever come here to Vallarta I bet most tours would be going over to Nayarit's beaches and not Vallartas.

In my school there are various different activities going on. For example, last week ther was this anual thing called the "Talent Show' whch involves everyone who wants to participate. The student council is the main organizer and every year they make parody of nything they want. Any student who wishes to participate is welcome to and you may sing, dance, act, or anything you want. Some teachers also enjoy the Talent Show by making funny dances or random things. This year the science teacher, the two P.E. teachers, and a english teacher, danced the song "Single Ladies" by Beyoncé. I was payed to make a skit of the video in Youtube of "William Hung - She Bangs". I found it pretty funny but when I got on stage I kind of forgot the lyrics. It didn't last for much but is was fun. I enjoyed more last years Talent Show than this years because the student council this year isn't really well organized. Another activity that is going on in the American School of Puerto Vallarta is the Vallarta Verde. That involves separating the trash by organic, unorganic, and aluminum cans. This event hasn't been going on very well because people are really lazy and don't empty their Cokes before throwing the can away. I think I may be included in that category of lazy people. xD

Well, this will be my final paragraph. it will be kind of lame because I don't have much time left. This paragraph will be about all my favorite stuff. My favorite food is Italian food. Since little I've loved pasta and spaghetti. My favorite music type is soft rock and alternative. Some of my favorite bands are Good Charlotte, My Chemical Romance, and Green Day. I really don't like much heavy metal or Pop but I can handle some reggaeton. I actually don't have any favorite subject in school but my best subject is math. I am one year advanced and I think that is my only class that I like. :3

Listening

Today in class we listened to everybody's Music Projects for about two minutes each. What i think that made the projects better were sounds that we, recording, put in our project. I think that Rodrigo´s project was really creative because it is mostly, i think all, beat boxing. In my case my project was both sounds that i made and sounds that i got from the internet. I think that, to make my project better, i would need to organize more my sounds. Paola told me that my project was really cool but that the sounds repeated a lot. The biggest problem that i faced was that my headphones did{t work well as a microphone so, when I tride to record with them, the product would have a really low volume limti and when i raised it through Audacity it would sounds really bad. Maybe I could just change the earphones because something I also noticed in my song was that you could hear the air being recorded, so to erase that error I could change the earphone angle when being recorded. I really liked this project and would really like to do one again but with real songs and with more organization. :)

My Audacity Project

Mr. Picketts asked us to make a song with our own imagination using sounds that he gave us via internet or sounds WE could invent. I really liked this project because I beat boxed and because we got to use plenty of class time with Mr. Picketts’ help. I started with the sounds that I got from www.partnersinrhyme.com and like I didn’t like them much, I started doing my own sounds. They are kind of just mashed up together but then I put them in sort of an order. What I found most frustrating is that when you were trying to record something, people would start screaming and making sounds with the result of YOUR recording being ruined. I think we should do a remix of songs that already exist being mixed together instead of making our own sounds. I think the resulting song would be way more cool. I think people could make a better effort, counting me. I would really like to do this project being able to use songs that already exist.

Mash ups

I enjoyed hearing others Audacity Projects because I saw that you could not only mix sounds, but also music. I liked how you can mix singers voices with cool songs rhythms and vocals. I think that I will make another Audacity project but with more effort and not with a Halloween Theme but more of a Techno Remix song. Today I heard Fernanda Corzo's, Jorge's, Paola's, and Pedro's mash ups. I liked Fernanda's the most because it has both the original and the remix version of the song "Hot n Cold" by Katy Perry with a background of a techno beat. I also liked Jorge's a lot because it has a mix of video games, showing you different sounds like a gun and people fighting. I liked it because it remembered me when I was smaller and I used to play those games.

I enjoyed working in audacity because you can mash different sounds that you like, making the perfect song for you. My mash up had a Halloween Theme because it was the day before Halloween and the computer is full of different scary sounds so I used some of them, with a background of the movie Halloween Theme Song. I really liked mine because it Is kind of scary, with the Theme Song. I would really like to use Audacity once more but instead of Halloween music more of a rap - alternative kind of mash up.

Typing Reflection

Since the beginning of the year my typing score have grown a lot. At the beginning I was scoring around 30 - 35 words per minute and accuracy. Now i am scoring around 40 to 45. My highest score has been 40 words per minute and accuracy with a 93% accuracy and a 44 words per minute. My goal that i would like to reach is 50 words per minute and accuracy. I really need to improve the accuracy because it always stays near the 90s. I think I could reach this score with more practice, maybe every once in a while. Next week I don't know what I will get in the blind test. I think my score will lower because of the nerves and not knowing where my fingers are going. When i watch the keyboard I write way better, but with my own words and not copying other documents. I am nervous but I think I will do better than other people. ;)