My Experience of the Year 2014

From the start, 2014 did not go the way I expected. A lot of big things that happened to me made me very happy or very sad. For example, I became friends with people I never expected to be friends with. I also didn't expect that someone would be really mean to me. Of course, more things happened as well.

In the second semester of sixth grade, a boy in my sixth grade homeroom class became really mean with me. Whenever he sat next to me in classes, he would refuse to give me personal space. But to my surprise, he voted me for seventh grade student council president. The good thing is that we don't have any classes together for seventh grade.

I never expected to make friends with people I didn't have a lot of relationship with. Towards the last week of sixth grade, I received some yearbook notes that were about me as a good friend. At around the first few weeks of seventh grade, a new girl (who wasn't here for sixth grade) often said "hi" to me. We used to have P.E. together, but she switched one of her electives. That didn't stop our relationship though. I invited her to lunch with my friends a few times. On one of the lunches, one of her friends came as well. Later on, two of her friends say "hi" to me as well. About a month ago, I invited her and my best friend to come to my house.

Ever since the middle of April, I started to bike to school. It would usually take me about twelve minutes to get to school. It depends when I leave home when biking to school. I could leave early at 7:30, or later at 7:45.

In school, my grades have been better than when they were last school year. My grades are in the A range. Some are A+, some are A, and some are A-. Also, I'm one of the WIP reps in student council. We had a few meetings for the first semester already, and they've been pretty good. I liked my electives; they're band and art. In art, I learned more about some of the arts units: shape, line, value, and color. In band, I learned about special repeats like coda. Currently, I'm on the seventh grade B team for basketball, and we played 6 games, but only won 2.

My dad made an app called Shared Buy List - a novel visual grocery shopping list. The app was free at first, but he later on we price it at $4.99. The app is making profits, and my dad will use it to be my money for my college tuition since I contributed to its making and testing.

My cousin Marc visited me this year. He was nice to me in the beginning, but in a few weeks, he became mean to me. He must've heard about the idiom familiarity breeds contempt. For more information about him, see a blog I wrote earlier called My Cousin Marc.

Even though there were some good things that happened, this year could've been better. I'm hope that I enjoy the year 2015.

Bye bye 2014

Shared Buy List

Before making HomeOjO, my dad made this app called Shared Buy List. Family members can even share this app on smart phones, tablets, and PCs. It's even in the App Store. At first, my dad made the app free, but because he felt that a lot of people bought the app, he increased the price to $4.99. For people who pay it for the app, he told me that the money was for my college tuition.

The reason why he made it was because he wanted a visual shopping list because it's possible to forget a handwritten shopping list when going out to buy food. Some people don't even know or are unable to read or write English. For example, people from a country who can't speak English can still know what the picture is. Also, there are people in physical therapy, so they are unable to read or write. You don't need to write or type words, you just swipe the item you want to buy on the digital shopping list. If an item you want to buy is not there, you can just take a picture of it.

Another customer is that a teacher in an African village teaching students who can't read or write English, but they still can swipe items on to Shared Buy List.

I even made a video about it on Youtube:

The video is what Shared Buy List is about and how to use it.

Also, the Shared Buy List website is http://sharedbuylist.com/

Enjoy!

Anthony's New Passion

Guess what? My baby brother Anthony's got a new passion, and he got too addicted to it. It's called Pocoyo, and it's worse than Teletubbies.  Literally, the only reason why he watches it is because there is a boy wearing blue clothes called Pocoyo, and like Anthony, he causes lots of trouble every day. He watches it every day, mostly on iPad, but sometimes watches it on TV too. He watches it for over an hour each day. This makes my mom mad; she tells him not to watch any more junk videos, or he will become blind. Anthony then cries.

Anthony usually stops watching Pocoyo when he thinks he has enough. He even says, "No more junk videos." I always know he will watch some more soon, hence explaining the reason why he is a hypocrite. Even my dad thinks that Pocoyo is a bad influence on Anthony. He wants Anthony to play outside more.

Well, we all hope that Anthony watches some of his old passion TV shows soon!

What Anthony now likes

My Cousin Marc

Marc is my cousin who lives in China. He is smart, but he is very mean to others, especially me. Even though he is mean, he still has friends and is pretty popular. I think it's kind of ironic. This year, he and his mom came to visit me, and the visit was not what I expected.

Marc arrived at my house earlier than his mom, who arrived almost 3 weeks later. At first, Marc was okay with me, but he did catch me chew with my mouth open. He made me a deal: if he catches me chew with my mouth open 10 times or "strikes", he won't give me an angry bird toy. If he doesn't, then he will give me an angry bird toy my choice. Later on, a few days after his mom arrived, he said that attitude, shouting, and making faces were counted in the strikes. Unfortunately, I did not get the angry bird toy. Even his mom was being mean too, such as saying "Anthony (my brother) will be better than you some day." She even said that I had limited talents. She told me that she has a hidden security camera that can see me in school, and said that she and Marc watch what the security camera records.

Marc and his mother were being nice to Anthony, even though he is a destroyer. Marc even let Anthony high five and fist bump him, but won't let me! What is the problem with Marc? He almost let Anthony play on his iPhone on Anthony's birthday, but of course, won't let me because he thinks I suck, which I know is not true at all. He even thinks I'm horrible at foosball, but I am just new to foosball.

Marc is a person who needs to care more for others, and needs to show a sense of mercy. He even needs to be more health concerned (he drank an unhealthy drink after when he recovered from his sickness). However, we cannot change people, but we can change ourselves, and think what a person is good at, instead of saying that he or she is bad.

HomeOjO

A few months ago, my dad was creating this home-monitoring website called HomeOjO. The "OjO" means eyes in Spanish. The two Os represent the eyes, while the j represents the nose. Above "home," there is a roof on top of it. On the middle of the "H" in HomeOjO, there is a door.

HomeOjO is a website about protecting your house. It is free for everyone to use. There is zero installation, no equipments, and you just need a browser. You can use it on any electronic device. It detects sounds and takes snapshots when intruders come in to the house. Even if the computer or any other electronic device is taken by the intruder, an alarm will be sent to the user, trusted neighbors, close friends, and even the police. This means that the robber has literally no way to escape.

It is highly encouraged that you use HomeOjO for these following reasons. It is very beneficial and it is worth using it. It will protect your house.

For more information, visit the website http://homeojo.com/

My Trip to Taiwan and China

In the beginning of summer, I went to two places: Taiwan and China. (Well, technically Taiwan is meant to be part of China.) I traveled with my family. In my opinion, China was more fun than Taiwan.

The trip to Taiwan was 12 hours and 44 minutes. It was really boring sitting on a plane for nearly thirteen hours. That's over half a day! This is why I don't like to travel to faraway places.

In Taiwan, one of my dad's friends drove my family to this hotel close to the airport. The next day,  we went to another hotel that was close to my grandmother's nursing home on my dad's side. Two days later, we went to another hotel that was close to one of my grandma's cousin's house. Oh, so much hotel switching!  Two days later, guess what? We went to ANOTHER hotel that was close to the airport. The next day, we did not go to any more boring hotel. We went to the airport because there will be a plane taking us to China. However, my dad did not go to China because he did not have enough work days to take off.

Well, at least there was some fun stuff to do in Taiwan, but just a few. There was this amazing building called Taipei 101. It was so cool because it is one of the tallest buildings in Asia. Also, those Taipei 101 mascots were very cute. The two "ones" represents the eyes, and the "0" represents the mouth. Also, in the last hotel, there was this amazing place that you can soak your body into; the water's pretty warm there. My family even wore Japanese (because this was a Japanese hotel) clothing, and we took a picture.

The flight from Taiwan to China lasted only about 3 hours. Like normal plane flights, it was boring. However, since the plane flight was shorter than the previous flight, it was not as boring. In China, we got to stay in my uncle and aunt's apartment. Sadly, it is very messed up because there are so many stamps on the walls, and they even had numbers!

In China, I got to see the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, an Animal Zoo, one of the floors of a building called EE City, and a few others. On the second to last day, my family (excluding my dad) went to this restaurant called Dazhaimen, where you see these different Chinese people do some stuff such as singing and magic tricks. My favorite one was when there was a magician doing many magic tricks. He even did a magic trick on me!

On the flight back home, the trip was 11 hours and 40 mins. This time, my grandma did not come with me and the rest of my family (mom and my brother). I'm glad that trip was less than half a day long. However, I sat separate from them. I watched Frozen, read and 2 books, and threw up (see, I don't like sitting separate from my family). Anyways, I was glad to come back home. I missed home so much.

The Character Games Chapter 12

Dorami now had to make a move on the chessboard. She was worried that her move will make her whole team lose.

"C'mon Dorami!" cried Doraemon. "You can do it."

Dorami hesitated. Doraemon's words made her feel more nervous. She grabbed the queen on her side and checkmated the king on Group 61's side.

"Well done," said Doraemon.

"Good," added Alvin.

Doraemon watched the people in front of them move one by one. Even after that checkmate Dorami made, it seems that Group 61 moved the king to somewhere else, he sighed.

"Group 61 must have learned how to play chess even before this game," muttered Peppermint Patty.

"But how?" asked Marcie. "When I played with a Group 61 member in chess, I bet him."

"Just because you bet one Group 61 member in chess, it doesn't mean that you bet everyone in Group 61 in chess," Charlie Brown pointed out.

"I know that Garfield and Jon have exotic moves at chess," exclaimed Doraemon. "When I played chess with them, they seem to win the game in less than 10 minutes."

This is how much money Group 51 made!!!!

After an hour or so, Group 51 was finally able to win, thanks to Garfield and Jon.

"Well done Group 51," replied Harry Potter. "Your group has won $10000000000000.

"Yes!" cried the group. 

The other groups moaned, "That group doesn't deserve it!" they cried.

"Stop!" cried Group 82. "Because of their hard work and effort, they deserve it!"

"Calm down," yelled Harry Potter. "You groups have an opportunity to win in the next Character Games!"

"We'll see about that," said Group 51 smugly.

 

My Mile Run: Big Improvement

In my elementary school, I was one of the slowest runners in my P.E. class. However, in my middle school, my mile run improved because my dad and I run a mile every Saturday and sometimes Sunday using my Nike+ watch to track if I ran 1 mile or not by GPS. I can also upload my time to the Nike+ website on a computer, so I can precisely track my jogging history. I also exercise every day using the Gold Stride thing that I can "run" with. At first, I ran really slow when running the mile, but I then improved.

When I did mile runs in schools, I can at a run fast, slow, or medium pace. My pace can depend on different circumstances. One time, when I ran a mile in my middle school, I got an 11:15 (11 min., 15 secs) because I was talking to another student in my P.E. class. However, on the following mile run, I got an 8:36 (8 min., 36 secs), which was my new mile time record. The mile run is also graded, and my best mile run time got a 100%. My mile run time can vary.

Overall, I think running the mile every week outside of school can be a great help because you can have the ability to run faster when you are running the actual mile in school and better grades in P.E.

Dance Party Feb. 28, 2014

Today, I had a dance party at my middle school. I saw a lot of people there (including some of my friends). There was a DJ who would turn up the music. My friends and I were doing some dance moves and singing to the songs.

Some songs that the DJ put were:

• "What Does the Fox Say?" by Ylvis
• "Baby" by Justin Bieber
• "Roar" by Katy Perry
• "Titanium" by Sia
• "Treasure" by Bruno Mars
• "Best Song Ever" by One Direction

Once in a while, the DJ will put a slow song that annoyed my friends and I because they were boring. At other times (when there is slow music), we'd take a break and drink some water. Overall, I had a really good time at the dance.

The Warriors Movie Clip

I made this Warriors movie clip on YouTube. For this Warriors video, it is about a new leader in ThunderClan. He is excited for his first Gathering, and hopes that cats from other Clans show sympathy towards his former leader's death.

I made the video by using CrazyTalk. In CrazyTalk, you can make objects move. You can even make things not move (like background cloud). Also, you have to know where the eye, nose, mouth, and other body parts. You also can make the object turn its head.

My Girl Scout Cookie Experience

You may or may not know that I do Girl Scouts. Because I live in Palo Alto, there are a lot of girls that do Girl Scouts and sell cookies. In Palo Alto, some people buy cookies. However, the customer may not buy the cookies for following reasons:

1. their relatives are a girl scout
2. they already bought cookies from another girl
3. they personally don't want cookies
4. they think it's too expensive
5. they don't have any money with them

Some kinds of people will buy cookies:

1. Because they tasted the cookie(s) before and liked it they want to try a new type of cookie 
2. They support Girl Scouts
3. They were a Girl Scout themselves
4. They like to chat with girls in the neighborhood

If the customer already bought cookies, I suggest them - How about get just one more box of a different flavor. I also let them donate to the food bank or the military.

If they want to buy something I don't have, I persuade people to buy the flavor of the boxes I have left, and explain what is so special about the cookie. I also find boxes that are similar to the one the customer wants. For example, Thin Mints and Tagalongs are similar because they both have chocolate.

• Savanna Smiles: they have a lemon flavor, and are one of the newest cookies introduced
• Trefoils: the oldest and most authentic Girl Scout cookie, and it tastes crispy, crumbly with butter, flour and sugar
• Do-Si-Dos: this cookie has a peanut butter flavor, sort of looks like a mini sandwich
• Samoas: the second most wanted cookie with a coconut and chocolate flavor
• Dulce de Leche: a caramel flavor and looks like a chocolate chip
• Thank You Berry Munch: a berry cookie that's nutritious and the healthiest cookie
• Tagalongs: have a peanut butter and chocolate flavor, kind of like a Thin Mint cookie
• Thin Mints: the most wanted cookie with a chocolate and mint flavor.

I got 60 boxes, and I have 10 left after 3 days of selling. On average, it takes me 5 minutes to sell one box of cookie.

The Character Games Chapter 11

"Are you ready for the big day?" asked Alvin.
"Yeah!" Group 51 cheered.
"What game are we playing?" wondered Dorami.
"I hope it's something that Group 61 is weak at," muttered Doraemon.
"I think it's something challenging and difficult," remarked Snoopy.
"Why do you think that?" asked his friends, Woodstock and Rerun.
"Well, the activities can get challenging every time you win," Garfield pointed out.
"Yeah, and we've never been this good before," added his girlfriend, Arlene.
"I wonder when Group 51 won last time," murmured Odie.
"Maybe millions and millions and millions of years ago," commented Nermal.
"The Character Games was made in 1924," said Alvin. "We, Group 51 last won in 1989."
"We weren't born at that time!" complained Dorami.
"Do you have a video of it? If so, can we see it?" asked Doraemon.
"Yes, but it's very unclear," said Alvin. "It's on a DVD." He searched for it and found it on a shelf that was unstable. Alvin put the DVD in the DVD player.

When the movie was finished, Alvin put the DVD out of the player and said, "Did you like it?"
"Not bad," commented Garfield. "We'll be history if we beat 'em this time!"
"YES! This is what I've been waiting for!" cried his friend, Jon.

"As you know, today we will be watching Groups 51 and 61 play a game. That game is.......CHESS!" called Harry Potter.
"Chess outside?" wondered a Group 48 member.
"May the best win!" yelled the president, ignoring the inquisitive member. "Members from each group, line up! Each one of you takes turns for moving a chess board player."
"Uh-oh, butterflies are in my stomach,"groaned Doraemon.
"Same here," mumbled Dorami. Alvin glared at them.
"Do not reveal your weaknesses, understand?" growled Alvin.
"But-" complained Dorami.
"Groups, you may begin!" called Harry Potter.
Doraemon was 27th in line. He worried, What if we don't win? We'll never be history!
"Lousy showoff," snarled a Group 61 member to Doraemon.
"Checkmate," replied Doraemon smugly.
Dorami watched those people in front of her move one by one. She thought, "Will we ever win?"

The Character Games Chapter 10

"Ladies and gentleman, we have two groups left," said Harry Potter on the loudspeaker. "All groups will see these two groups play tomorrow at the field. The groups are............ 51 and 61!"

Group 51 cheered. All of the other people from the other 98 groups were shocked!

"But 45 won last time," protested a Group 78 member.
"Yeah and I thought they were the weakies," sneered a Group 33 member.
"That's enough!" yelled Harry Potter. He then softened his voice. "Group 51 may have been a weak group, but they probably wanted their revenge this time."
"But how?" wondered a Group 97 member.
"Why didn't they just tell you?" asked a Group 57 member.
"They wanted to keep it a secret," answered Harry Potter.
"A spoiled secret," sneered the entire Group 61. Doraemon scowled at them.
"Your face is a spoiled secret," smirked Alvin. Group 61 backed up shocked.
"So," replied Harry Potter. "Groups, go home. May the best win."

Harry Potter surprises his people.

My Movie Survey

Hi! It's been quite a while. I've decided to make a survey on Google Form. It's about which future movie title(s) you like best. I'd like to make the movie with the most votes. The titles I thought of came from my head, from books I've read, and even from blogs I have made.

Here is the movie titles survey form:

 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1mNFFSkFctBpY6Bul71gD7qGXDlisOXSpGPc9ZnL2t84/viewform .

I hope you enjoy it!

Honor Band

Congradulations! I got into Honor Band. Honor Band started at 3:35 p.m. yesterday. Honor Band is something my school does and is for sixth graders from all of the middle schools in the city I live in (Palo Alto, CA). To get into Honor Band, there is an audition. In the audition, you have to play a few music sentences, and clap one music sentence. In Honor Band, the people there play more complicated music pieces than they do in their regular music classes. It is good because you probably can learn new notes in a complicated song. According to a music puzzle I solved, it can also improve my skills in math and science.

Music puzzle example

Overall, I think Honor Band is good.

Anthony's New Song

My brother Anthony has became even weirder. Why? Because he made a song. The song is a parody of Jingle Bells. It goes like this: "Jingle Nails, Jingle Nails, Jingle (d)all de/the Nay." I was laughing at the song because it was so weird. He can sing "Jingle Bells" the right way, but it mostly ends up being "Jingle Nails."

The Laundry Robot

Before washing machines, people had to walk miles and miles with their dirty clothes until they can find a river because there was no tap water. Washing clothing was labor consuming; people spent half of their time washing clothes. They couldn't really do other things. People were annoyed.

Later on, someone invented the washing machine and the dryer for clothing. The washing machine was easy to use: you just need to put all of the dirty clothes into the washing machine. The dryer? Not all clothes can go into the dryer because of their material. It's so annoying that you need to sort out the ones that can and can't go into the dryer. With annoyance putting clothes that can and can't go into the laundry, it is time consuming. What do you think?

Because of this, I've decided to make a robot called, "The Laundry Robot." The Laundry Robot sorts all of the clothes that can and can't go into the dryer. If the clothing can go into the laundry, then the laundry robot puts it into the dryer. If the clothing can't go in the dryer, you stop the robot, and put the clothing where you want it to be. The robot has "eyes," so the robot will put the clothing on the clothes hanger with its hook.

The Laundry Robot

To make things even better, the robot can dump all of the clothes in the laundry. That, however, is only if you stick the laundry basket to the robot's back, and the robot knows that you put it on its back because the robot can hear. When the dryer is finished, put the basket on the robot's back, get your clothes, and put the clothes on the robot's back, where the laundry basket is. 

The only problem is: how does the robot put your dried clothes to the right space? I am not exactly sure how to solve that problem. The robot might know because it has "eyes," and when you open your drawer, the robot knows where the clothes go. It can only work if you put your clothes in a organized way because it might misplace your clothes. The laundry robot also has an indoor GPS; it will turn on when you turn the robot on. It will know where you put your clothes. When it sees the clothing, the robot will do the rest. Do you have any other ideas?

The Character Games Chapter 9

"It's a brand new day," replied Alvin. "New activities, new people."
"Which room do we have to go first?" asked Doraemon.
"Well, we first have to go to room 851," answered Alvin.
"Cool," said Dorami.

In room 851, Group 51 had to now play with groups 1 and 4. The three groups played a game called, "All it."
"Yes!" cried Alvin. "We're all fast runners."
"What if those other groups also had fast runners?" wondered Doraemon.
"Yeah, and what if they're faster than us?" added Dorami.
"GO!" interrupted the judge of the game. "When you get tagged, you're out!"
All members from the groups ran as wildly as hogs. Doraemon was one of the first that got tagged, and his tagger pushed Doraemon to another person.
"Hey! That's not nice!" hollered the person.
"Sorry Hello Kitty, but the person who tagged me pushed me," yelled Doraemon.
"Sorry blue cat," smirked Doraemon's tagger.
"Keep an eye on people next time," warned Hello Kitty glaring at Doraemon coldly.
These people are so mean. Hello Kitty is the one that should keep an eye on people and move away, thought Doraemon angrily. Even my little sister isn't out.

"You are so mean!" sniffed Dorami to her tagger. "You shouldn't push people just because you tagged them."
"The judge didn't say you can't push. Once you're tagged, you're OUT!" snickered Dorami's tagger.
Gosh, I wish this is chaos tag. Don't worry, most of my group members aren't out yet. I wonder how the others are doing. I see Alvin, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Garfield doing well- wait Snoopy just got out! thought Dorami.

"Yes!" cried Alvin. "I tagged a group 1 member and a group 4 member at the same time."
"Wow," said his brothers, Theodore and Simon. "I hope you tag more people."
"Don't worry, I will," replied Alvin confidently.

Alvin furiously tagged more and more people, and he ended up winning.
"Well done Alvin," remarked the judge. "You're a fast runner."
"Yeah. You should do running races in the 2016 olympic games at Rio," added Lucy.
"I don't think I'm that good at running, but thanks for the advice," laughed Alvin.
"Any time," grinned Lucy.

Group 51 played "All it," a game in which everyone is it.

My Opinion About Math

Math is my favorite subject. However, even though it is my favorite subject, it can be very hard sometimes. Math is hard when you have to deal with hard algebra because all of these variables make it confusing. Binomials are also hard when you simplify and know which equation you should use. Yesterday, I couldn't understand this binomial problem on a math sheet. It took a long time to pass that problem and get to the next one. Easy math is math that is a piece of cake, and when you learn it, you don't need to learn it anymore. Medium math is math that isn't as easy as easy math, but it is easier than hard math. Math is hardness followed by easiness.

The Character Games Chapter 8

 Group 51 went to room 62 and played "The Noise" with groups 41 and 92. The judge told the three groups that each group had to yell, "Happy New Year!" as loud as they can. The judge will then measure how many decibels the noise was. Unsurprisingly, Group 51 was the loudest and they won.
We're loud, thought both Dorami and Doraemon.

"We now have to go to room 728," said Alvin. "In that activity, we, Group 51 will be playing with group 29 in a game called, "Speedy Runner."
When the group arrived at the assigned room, the judge was there, and he told the groups the rules.
"10 people from each group will run. While these people run, one person from each group will spill confetti. When the confetti touches the runner more than 20 times, the runner is disqualified," explained the judge. "Whoever gets to the finish line first, you win. When you win, you move on." After the game, Group 51 won once more, even though Group 29 had more players that were not disqualified.
"Wow. That game was hard," remarked Doraemon.

"The Character Games have come to an end today earlier. I mentioned this yesterday, but I was worried that some of you may have forgotten. However, the games will resume tomorrow. The remaining groups are: 1, 4, 15, 19, 27, 42, 49, 51, 33, 84, 99, 100, 58, 61, and 95," said Harry Potter. "I will see you tomorrow. We will be following a normal schedule."

The Character Games Chapter 7

"Happy New Year!" cried Dorami.
"Hey," said Doraemon. "Let's go and find our group."
"Sure. I'm positive that we're meeting at the humongous rhombus," she replied.

Dorami was right. Group 51 was at the edge of humongous rhombus with Alvin in his "A jacket" waving a flag with the number 51.
"Very unexpected,"remarked Doraemon.
"Hey Doraemon and Dorami," called Alvin.

Alvin holds his group's flag

"Hi," they answered.

When the rest of the group arrived at the edge of the rhombus, Alvin told his group that they will first going to room 341. His group arrived at the room minutes later. Group 51 played, "Confetti Ball" with groups 81, 60, and 99. The groups were then told the rules: to make a ball out of confetti in 15 minutes. The game was easy for Group 51, and they won. The judge then told the winning group to go to room 62, which they did without complaints.