12 Things to do with no Power
(Prompt No. 7)
Electricity has been a discovery that has greatly influenced the lives of humans. Almost everything that we do requires electricity to function, including cooking food, cleaning the house and dishes, or lighting or homes. Electricity has also become the biggest source of entertainment. We watch TV, play games or use the internet on the computer, or play game systems.
We have become so dependent on using electricity that we forget how much fun we can have without it. What would happen if your parents said that you weren’t allowed to use your TV or computer for a day? Would you complain and be miserable all day or would you take the opportunity to find new ways to have fun? I hope that you, or anybody that this may happen to, would find alternative ways to have fun. After all, what did people do in the 17th century, before electricity was discovered? They found ways to have fun too.
1. Go take a nap. This first option may not be considered as something fun to do, but it sometimes can be the best thing to do. Many times I don’t get to bed soon enough and I have to wake up way to early, so a nap feels good when I take one.
2. My next option is to read a book. I like to read and if I am feeling lazy, but not tired enough to take a nap, reading is very relaxing.
3. Another good way to have a good time is to play card games. I used to play with my family a lot and we always had fun.
4. Board games, like Monopoly and Life, are loads of fun too.
5. This option is only for people that can play a musical instrument. It takes a lot of practice to be
good at guitar or piano or any instrument, so when electricity is not available is a good time to practice.
6. The rest of my suggestions all happen outdoors. The first is to walk the dog. Then the dog will be happy and it is fun to play with dogs.
7. A dog is not needed to take a walk. Taking a walk or going for a run can be fun and it feels good.
8. When I don’t have enough energy to run, and it is pointless to walk, I love to go on a bike ride. A bike ride does not need to be exerting and a lot of ground can be covered.
9. This is my favorite option on my list of 12, but it works best if you have friends to play with you. Playing a sport has always been my favorite thing to do with friends. It doesn’t matter if we are playing basketball, baseball, football, or soccer, it is always fun.
10. When my friends and I weren’t playing sports, we were often times playing capture the flag. That is a fun game because all that you need is space to play and something that you can use for flags.
11. A scavenger hunt is fun too. This can be done alone or with friends. All that needs to be done is to make a list of things to find and then go do it.
12. The last thing that can be done without electricity is volunteering to help someone. It doesn’t matter who it is that you help or what you do, but it will make you feel good and keep you occupied. What activities that could be done may depend on the weather, such as mowing the lawn, raking leaves, or shoveling snow.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Blog No. 11: Top Ten Stories of 2008
Top Ten Stories of 2008
Today is November 10, 2008, so this year is just about over. Today I decided to look back at this year and list the best things that have happened to me. Hopefully the Thanksgiving and Christmas meals will be able to top anything else that is on this list, but here it is for now.
10. The spring of my 8th grade year was my last chance to play for OJSC (Olympia Junior Soccer Club). It was a lot of fun because it was the best OJSC team that I had ever been on. Before that season, there were three teams that we had never beaten before. Those teams were Washington, Pearce, and Germantown. During that season, we beat Washington and Pearce and I scored a goal in each game! Unfortunately we lost by 5 or 6 goals to Germantown (I lost track) and we didn’t score at all. It was still a really fun season and I think our final record was 4 wins and 3 losses.
9. After I graduated middle school, I played for the Olympia High school soccer team. This year was the first year that we were a varsity team and I think it was the most successful team that Olympia has ever had! It was a good team because we had a lot of seniors that had been through this before and they really helped me understand what was going on. It was exciting to be able to score a couple goals, but the best part was being able to play against older guys. I liked having the challenge.
8. Last May, I went to Washington D.C. as a part of the 8th grade trip. We were picked up by charter buses at Olympia, and then we drove to Midway airport in Chicago. Students from Morton went along with us. That trip to D.C. was the first time that I had ever ridden a plane. It was the scariest thing that I had ever done in my life, but it was a lot of fun. In D.C, I had a lot of fun times with my roommates Jacob, Matt Schmidt, and Matt Schroeder. A highlight of that trip was watching a play that required audience participation. It was a murder mystery that we had to solve. One of the suspects looked like Howie from Deal or no Deal and he was gay! Climbing on giant rocks and looking over the Gettysburg battlefield was fun too.
7. On November 1, my sister Rosie and I went to an Illinois football game. I had never been to a college or professional football game before, so it was really exciting. Illinois played Iowa and they won the close game 27-24. I had never seen as much orange as what was in that stadium! After the game, we went back to Bloomington and ate at Fiesta Ranchera, before going back to Rosie’s apartment. It was a great day.
6. July 8 was a scary day for many people, I got my drivers permit! I took drivers ed during the summer because if I waited for school, then I would have gotten my license after I already turned 16. I am comfortable driving anywhere now, but it will get interesting again when the roads get icy and snow covered.
5. For the last two winters, I have played indoor soccer at Lincoln Christian College. This year I decided that it would be fun to go to the soccer camp there. Sam Rosa is the coach and he is awesome because he is Brazilian! I went to camp with Hannah and Melissa, but there were other kids from Olympia there too. My roommate was Caleb Jennings. I think I played more soccer that week than the rest of my life combined! I was really sore by the end of the week, but it was all worth it. Cade was a college student there that helped us and he was really funny. I enjoyed talking to him especially when he would make fun of Sam. Sam always called us square heads for some reason.
4. Last years varsity team at Olympia had a great season. I don’t know if it was the best ever at Oly, but it was definitely the best that I remember. We made it to the Elite Eight, one game away from state! I went to just about every game that season, home and away. I usually went with the same group of friends: Hannah, Melissa, and Taylor (sometimes Dean). The best part of that season was when we scored 84 points on Central Catholic in the Sectional game!
3. I spent a lot of time with Hannah Bauersfeld and her family last summer. I really enjoyed that because they were a lot of fun to be with and we did fun things together. The best time was when we went to Champaign. We left on a Saturday and we ate at the Candy Kitchen. It was a nice old restaurant that served food, ice cream, and made lots of candy. Then we went to see their Uncle Bill who moved into a new retirement home. He was the only person living there at the time. Uncle Bill is 100 years old, but he is still healthy and can do just about anything! After playing a few games of pool and talking with Uncle Bill, we went to Hannah’s grandparents’ house to stay. They were not home but they had fixed the house up for us and even made us food for the night. We spent most of the rest of the night watching the Beijing Olympics. Sunday morning we went to church and then we went into Champaign to see a play. The play that we saw was “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream coat.” It was a really funny play and it was worth spending two days with Hannah’s family!
2. 8th grade track was a great experience. 1. I got out of doing long jump 2. I got out of doing the open 400 meters 3. I was put into doing the mile and the 4x100 meter relay. I wanted to be in the mile because I felt a lot better about running a longer distance than a sprint. In a sprint you have to be physically better, but in the mile it is more mental because you have to make yourself go as hard as you can and you have to decide when to make a move and when to hang back. I was nervous about the 4x100 because I was afraid that I would mess up the team. I was not as fast as the other three, so I was worried that I would get blamed for losing. In the end, I didn’t have to worry about it because we hardly ever lost! We made it to state in the 4x100 and we placed 15th in state. We were less than a second away from being the second fastest team! The state track meet was one of the best experiences of my life.
1. The best experience of 2008 was seeing David Beckham play soccer! For my birthday, Rosie bought tickets to see the Los Angeles Galaxy (Beckham’s team) play at D.C. United in Washington D.C. It was funny because before the 8th grade trip, I had never ridden a plane before and then I took two trips in less than a month! We stayed in Virginia for almost a week because we have cousins that live there. It was fun to hang out with them especially Braden. Braden is my little 2 year old cousin and I had never really met him before. He was fun to play with. Finally it was Sunday and it was time to go into D.C. for the game. We didn’t drive all the way into town because it is easier to take the metro. It was a weird feeling to ride backwards! We got to the Stadium and I was amazed when I saw how big it was! I have been to soccer games at Toyota Park in Chicago and it wasn’t nearly as big as the stadium in D.C. I wanted LA to win, but D.C. won 4-1. That was okay because I got to see David Beckham and a lot of goals!
Today is November 10, 2008, so this year is just about over. Today I decided to look back at this year and list the best things that have happened to me. Hopefully the Thanksgiving and Christmas meals will be able to top anything else that is on this list, but here it is for now.
10. The spring of my 8th grade year was my last chance to play for OJSC (Olympia Junior Soccer Club). It was a lot of fun because it was the best OJSC team that I had ever been on. Before that season, there were three teams that we had never beaten before. Those teams were Washington, Pearce, and Germantown. During that season, we beat Washington and Pearce and I scored a goal in each game! Unfortunately we lost by 5 or 6 goals to Germantown (I lost track) and we didn’t score at all. It was still a really fun season and I think our final record was 4 wins and 3 losses.
9. After I graduated middle school, I played for the Olympia High school soccer team. This year was the first year that we were a varsity team and I think it was the most successful team that Olympia has ever had! It was a good team because we had a lot of seniors that had been through this before and they really helped me understand what was going on. It was exciting to be able to score a couple goals, but the best part was being able to play against older guys. I liked having the challenge.
8. Last May, I went to Washington D.C. as a part of the 8th grade trip. We were picked up by charter buses at Olympia, and then we drove to Midway airport in Chicago. Students from Morton went along with us. That trip to D.C. was the first time that I had ever ridden a plane. It was the scariest thing that I had ever done in my life, but it was a lot of fun. In D.C, I had a lot of fun times with my roommates Jacob, Matt Schmidt, and Matt Schroeder. A highlight of that trip was watching a play that required audience participation. It was a murder mystery that we had to solve. One of the suspects looked like Howie from Deal or no Deal and he was gay! Climbing on giant rocks and looking over the Gettysburg battlefield was fun too.
7. On November 1, my sister Rosie and I went to an Illinois football game. I had never been to a college or professional football game before, so it was really exciting. Illinois played Iowa and they won the close game 27-24. I had never seen as much orange as what was in that stadium! After the game, we went back to Bloomington and ate at Fiesta Ranchera, before going back to Rosie’s apartment. It was a great day.
6. July 8 was a scary day for many people, I got my drivers permit! I took drivers ed during the summer because if I waited for school, then I would have gotten my license after I already turned 16. I am comfortable driving anywhere now, but it will get interesting again when the roads get icy and snow covered.
5. For the last two winters, I have played indoor soccer at Lincoln Christian College. This year I decided that it would be fun to go to the soccer camp there. Sam Rosa is the coach and he is awesome because he is Brazilian! I went to camp with Hannah and Melissa, but there were other kids from Olympia there too. My roommate was Caleb Jennings. I think I played more soccer that week than the rest of my life combined! I was really sore by the end of the week, but it was all worth it. Cade was a college student there that helped us and he was really funny. I enjoyed talking to him especially when he would make fun of Sam. Sam always called us square heads for some reason.
4. Last years varsity team at Olympia had a great season. I don’t know if it was the best ever at Oly, but it was definitely the best that I remember. We made it to the Elite Eight, one game away from state! I went to just about every game that season, home and away. I usually went with the same group of friends: Hannah, Melissa, and Taylor (sometimes Dean). The best part of that season was when we scored 84 points on Central Catholic in the Sectional game!
3. I spent a lot of time with Hannah Bauersfeld and her family last summer. I really enjoyed that because they were a lot of fun to be with and we did fun things together. The best time was when we went to Champaign. We left on a Saturday and we ate at the Candy Kitchen. It was a nice old restaurant that served food, ice cream, and made lots of candy. Then we went to see their Uncle Bill who moved into a new retirement home. He was the only person living there at the time. Uncle Bill is 100 years old, but he is still healthy and can do just about anything! After playing a few games of pool and talking with Uncle Bill, we went to Hannah’s grandparents’ house to stay. They were not home but they had fixed the house up for us and even made us food for the night. We spent most of the rest of the night watching the Beijing Olympics. Sunday morning we went to church and then we went into Champaign to see a play. The play that we saw was “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream coat.” It was a really funny play and it was worth spending two days with Hannah’s family!
2. 8th grade track was a great experience. 1. I got out of doing long jump 2. I got out of doing the open 400 meters 3. I was put into doing the mile and the 4x100 meter relay. I wanted to be in the mile because I felt a lot better about running a longer distance than a sprint. In a sprint you have to be physically better, but in the mile it is more mental because you have to make yourself go as hard as you can and you have to decide when to make a move and when to hang back. I was nervous about the 4x100 because I was afraid that I would mess up the team. I was not as fast as the other three, so I was worried that I would get blamed for losing. In the end, I didn’t have to worry about it because we hardly ever lost! We made it to state in the 4x100 and we placed 15th in state. We were less than a second away from being the second fastest team! The state track meet was one of the best experiences of my life.
1. The best experience of 2008 was seeing David Beckham play soccer! For my birthday, Rosie bought tickets to see the Los Angeles Galaxy (Beckham’s team) play at D.C. United in Washington D.C. It was funny because before the 8th grade trip, I had never ridden a plane before and then I took two trips in less than a month! We stayed in Virginia for almost a week because we have cousins that live there. It was fun to hang out with them especially Braden. Braden is my little 2 year old cousin and I had never really met him before. He was fun to play with. Finally it was Sunday and it was time to go into D.C. for the game. We didn’t drive all the way into town because it is easier to take the metro. It was a weird feeling to ride backwards! We got to the Stadium and I was amazed when I saw how big it was! I have been to soccer games at Toyota Park in Chicago and it wasn’t nearly as big as the stadium in D.C. I wanted LA to win, but D.C. won 4-1. That was okay because I got to see David Beckham and a lot of goals!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Blog No. 10: Dogs or Cats
Dogs or Cats
As long as the animal is friendly, I like most kinds of animals. We have a cat that lives inside our house, but it also roams around the outside of our farm. We have had his cat, named
I don’t know if I like dogs or cats better because each one is so different. A dog can be an extremely hyper puppy that never stops getting into trouble or it could be a lazy old dog that lies around. Cats can be very independent to the extent that they hide when they know that someone is around, or they can be friendly and enjoy attention. I think that if I could have the perfect dog and the perfect cat, I would probably enjoy having the dog more. The dog is the one that always wants to see you as soon as you get home, but a cat will come find you when it feels like it.
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