Quick Write: AP Chemistry

So... By far the hardest class I have is AP Chemistry. AP Chemistry, taught by Mr. Carney, is the second AP class I have taken. Last year, I took AP Lang/Comp which was fairly easy. AP Chemistry is NOT easy. Punctuated by extremely hard tests and quizzes, and labs that can last as long as 4 hours, it is not a class to be taken lighthearted. While I am surviving, barely, it's one of the biggest commitments I have this year and will he a HUGE load off my shoulders when I can finally be done with it.

Quick Write: Hockey

Don't know how I haven't done a quick write about hockey yet. It's one of the main things I do. I started playing when I was in first grade-right when the rink opened. Out of all my relatives, only my godfather plays hockey. He is one of the main reasons I started playing. I was probably seven or eight at the time. I remember my first hockey practice. The youth hockey program was brand new, and not many of the kids, including me, had hockey gear. In fact, all I had on my first practice was a stick and a borrowed helmet. It's kind of funny to think back to that, and now look at me.
I've seen the hockey program and community grow as the years went by. When I was a squirt, we began to have travel teams that traveled to anchorage to compete with other people. Then, the high school program started. Its games instantly became the biggest events the rink had. Now, JDIA (Juneau Douglas Ice Association) is a thriving program, with more kids signing up every year. Kids can start playing when they're three years old. Considering that most of the kids on the high school team didn't start skating until they were eight, it's going to be exciting to see how good the team is in a few years with kids with even more hockey under their belt.
This is the third year that I'm on the JDHS hockey team, my first as a varsity player.

Remember

One of the most famous dead musicians today is Kurt Cobain. Sure, many artists have died, but Kurt Cobain was one of the only musicians to have died well before his time. Besides this, it is rare that a person that rose to the level of fame he did would kill himself. He always seemed suicidal, but always kept on denying it. Because of the circumstances surrounding his death, he will always be remembered and revered.
It's not hard to remember a person like Kurt Cobain. There are millions (a bit of an exaggeration) of biographies about him and Nirvana. Of course the best way to remember a musician is by his music. Nirvana made 3 albums before Kurt died. Those albums have sold millions of copies and songs are still occasionally played today. In this way, his legacy will live on for many years to come. Beyond the studio albums, a few live albums have been released, and i imagine a few more will continue to come out in years to come. Since Nirvana are a band that are completely done after Kurt's death, EVERY single song recording has been released that Kurt ever played on. Demo tapes, different song takes, different mixes, it's all been released. I doubt there's more than a couple songs that still haven't been released. What I find funny is that half of the songs have atrocious quality, released for those die-hard fans.
Other musicians also aid in the remembrance of a person like Kurt Cobain. Artists heavily influenced by Kurt released tribute songs that have to do with his death.

Quick Write: Me and Poetry

Me and poetry... they don't mix. At all. Looking back at every year of schooling, my least favorite thing is poetry. It's just not much fun. I don't think that way, and I don't get anything out of poetry. People who like poetry say it helps them and all that stuff, but I just don't get it.
Music is a great example. I get a LOT out of the actual music i.e. the instruments, melodies, composure, all that great stuff. I DON'T pay attention to lyrics. That's probably why I don't get the geniuses of John Lennon or Bob Dylan. They were geniuses with words and it was a big part of their music.
I Like reading, but reading between the lines is something that I don't like to do. If i'm reading a book, I enjoy the ride and read a book like I would watch a movie. But I don't try to decipher every little subtle meaning.
Sometimes I think that English teachers try to look too much into books. Like a character will say "You're Welcome." The teacher might say that the character is welcoming bits of his conscious and fears, etc. When it's really not what's going on. It is ofter infuriating.
Luckily I'll probably have only 1 1/2 more years where I have to do poetry then I can be done forever.

Evaluate Blog: NilBLOG

There are benefits and disadvantages to making a blog through Blogger.com. Some blogs are very customizable, but difficult to make. Blogger.com, however, sacrifices personalization for simplicity and ease of use. Anyone with a very minimal knowledge of a computer could make a decent blog, and because of this, I like Blogger.com However, there are some drawbacks. Mainly, you can't really customize your blog. Besides choosing colors and basic templates, blogs are generally going to be fairly identical. With that in mind, let's take a look at Alan's blog, which it titled nilBLOG.
When first viewing his blog, the first thing that stands out to me is the background picture. The picture is of a few picture frames and a old phone, on an old, cracked plaster wall. An old television and chair is visible barely in the bottom of the picture. My assumption is that this was one of the many possible pictures available right from Blogger.com. It does, more or less, however, let the blog "pop" a little bit. And the color scheme works with the transparent black that separates the picture from the words of the blog entries. On the topic of blog entries; there is only one. It is titled This is not Friday, and says a little bit about what this blog will be about. Besides that, the blog is pretty much devoid of life. This is only expected though, because most students shouldn't have made any entries. I believe that the blog has potential to be very rich in content when Mr. Good begins to have blogging assignments.
Overall, the background picture looks good, and the color scheme is good. The writing is readable over the picture and it has good potential.

Quick Write: Sweet rides

There are many sweet rides, but it is indisputable that the undeniably sweetest ride out there only costs three grand. I am, of course, talking about the 1994 6 cylinder 5 speed 4x4 black Toyota Pickup. Cracked and fading gray stripes go across the side of this masterpiece of art and invention. The front and rear bumpers are slowly starting to loose their sheen as the shiny coating begins to peel away. Not to worry, however, the bumpers look like they're going to fall off anyway. On the back of this truck is a matching black canopy. The canopy will fog up and making backing up very difficult, not to mention the t-handle is broken, but it comes with a little light on the roof of it that is almost visible in pitch black, which easily cancels any shortfalls of the canopy. Next, we visit the old stock tires. More importantly, however are the rims. Solid rusty metal along with missing and rusted nuts and bolts make the wheels one of the high points of this vehicle. No car is complete without a fancy interior, however. Cracked fabric seats and a used up air fresher are the high points of this car's interior. A heater and broken air conditioner come standard in every model as well. Stock speakers? I think not! Try two old diskman speakers velcroed to the dashboard that are connected to an old iPod mini that doesn't have a working battery any more. Well I've pretty much summed up the sweetest ride out there. Although it may seem too good to be true, I assure you that it is very cool, because yours truly owns one of these very rare pieces of fine art and machinery blended into one.

Quick Write: Music I Like Most

Wow could I write forever on a topic like this. The music that I listen to is predominantly rock, but sometimes falls out of that category. There really isn't a genre of rock that I don't like more or less, however.
The first band that I became aware that I liked was U2, back when I was probably in fourth grade, as they are a favorite of my parents. Now, over the last 5 years, I've been finding more and more music that I like, constantly changing my preferences and favorites.
My FAVORITE band, probably for life, is Rush. I first heard their song Tom Sawyer on Rock Band. I thought "meh" and didn't think much of Rush for the next two years. Then, on a trip I took, I swapped iPods with someone who happened to have The Spirit of Radio-greatest hits of Rush on their iPod. Songs like The Spirit of Radio, New World Man, and 2112 got me HOOKED on Rush. I really like everything about them, from Geddy's awesome bass, singing, keyboard playing to Neil Peart's badass drumming. For a few years after that, I listened to classic rock and prog rock. Some of my favorite prog rock bands are Yes and ELP. ELP especially is a really impressive band. I have never heard keyboard playing that even remotely rivals Keith Emerson's work on such epic songs as Karn Evil 9 and Tarkus.
More recently, however, I've been getting more into 90's and 00's rock. The band that got me hooked (my 5th favorite band), was Nirvana. I can't think of a more perfect album than Nevermind. I love every song, especially On a Plain and In Bloom. What spawned from listening to that album was my (still continuing) obsession with Alternative Rock. One of the things I like most about Nirvana is that Kurt Cobain can create a perfect-sounding record, then play the same songs out of tune in an old guitar, then sound absolutely amazing on an acoustic guitar in an acoustic setting, and they all sound awesome. No one did that better than Nirvana.
Nirvana was always criticized because it was thought that Kurt Cobain was really the only great talent in the band. Dave Grohl, the Nirvana drummer, proved everyone wrong when he formed Foo Fighters after Kurt Cobain's death. The Foo Fighters are currently my 2nd favorite band. Dave Grohl can, in my opinion, write songs that rival Kurt Cobain's. Oh, did I mention that Dave Grohl now plays guitar and sings in Foo Fighters. That's why he's my favorite artist overall. He can play drums in Nirvana, then play guitar and front Foo Fighters, then play drums in Tenacious D, Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, and Them Crooked Vultures.
Then there's an entirely different side of rock that I'm really getting into, characterized by Radiohead. Radiohead, my 3rd favorite band, creates some of the most beautiful music ever to come out of a rock genre. In the 90's, they were the second greatest Alternative Rock act, after Nirvana. Then, in 2000, the completley reinvented themselves and now do pretty much whatever they want. Some songs still go back to their roots. But many others feature almost completely piano or electronics and It's all good.

So even though I prefer rock, I envision myself embracing other genres as well because In a way, all music should be good. The reason I like rock so much is due to it's energy in some cases, or it's pristine craftsmanship in other places. Overall just completey fascinating.

I used to slam pop and rap artists when I was with friends. Eventually, someone said to me "you're being a complete douche." That pretty much stopped that behavior. Now, i try not to dismiss music just because of it's genre. I still prefer songs that feature guitar, or at least a real instrument, but I'm more open to other songs. What gives me the right to say that "this song is BAD?" I mean someone likes it, if it was made. Some music doesn't really speak to me, but with the right mentality I still should be able to enjoy, or at least tolerate it. I think it's a shame when people disregard music just because it's "old" or "now what I like." They are probably missing out on some fantastic stuff. That's why I'm excited to see what music I discover next. I mean I never thought I'd like Radiohead, but now i absolutely love them. There's probably way more music that I would like that I haven't discovered yet. Whether it be metal, or pop, or... rap. We'll see.

Quick Write: Profile

He started his career in hockey about the same time everyone else did--in either 2002 or 2001, right around when the rink opened. He pretty much progressed through hockey the same time as everyone else--through mites, squirts, pee wees, and bantams. As he freshman, he made the JV JDHS high school hockey team and played a few games as a varsity member. He did the same thing as a sophomore, once again making the JV team, due to the small amount of players who made the varsity team. Finally, as a Junior, he made the Varsity team and now plays defense instead of forward.

Quick Write: Differences between hand-writing and typing.

As computers begin to have bigger effects on a student's school experience, especially in high school, there is a big question about whether you should hand-write or type assignments. A lot of it depends on the teacher and the student, but the type of work being done also has an effect on whether you hand-write or type something. Which really is better, and will there be a time when you don't even need to bring paper to class anymore?
Hand-writing has been consistently used ever since writing was invented. You can't go more than an hour in school without needing to write something. That being said, however, hand-writing can be tedious, slow, and even quite sloppy sometimes. Writing long essays or reports is quite frustrating when you're writing. Your hand cramps up and you spend almost three times as much time hand-writing instead of typing. If you have bad penmanship, you might also not flourish in a class. There are occasions, however, when teachers prefer hand-writing. For example, if a teacher is nervous about plagiarism or copying, they may request that a student hand-write something. Short assignments are much quicker to write by hand. It takes time to get a computer out an open a document up, the print it out. If you have to write less than a page, it is much easier to write by hand. Some things are also much more difficult to type up. Writing scientific papers with chemical or math equations that include weird symbols and sub/superscripts. While it is much neater on a computer, it takes much longer and is much more inefficient. That being said, I prefer to type whenever possible because I am a quick typer and can usually do assignments much faster.
I'm not trying to say that there aren't any benefits to typing, however. On the surface, typing is WAY faster. It it much easier to write/erase words, requiring simply hitting a key. Long, lengthy essays take a fraction of the time. Words are also much smaller and neater. Your penmanship has no effect on what something typed looks like, to nobody can complain about bad writing. Computer letters are also much smaller, so you can fit much more writing into one page, saving paper and eventually saving the planet!
Obviously since I'm writing this on the computer, you can see which side I am on. Computers are the future and integrating them into schools more and more makes learning, cheaper, more efficient, and much easier. Fun Fact: Many universities are making their books available on programs for iPad, iTouch so students can save money and not have to pack books around. Since freshman already are getting laptops, I think there will be a time in the near future where either iPads or computers completely replace textbooks. Overall, it's easier, faster, cleaner, and much more organized to type than to hand-write.