What I Learned Today 9/26/2014

Today I continued to work on the rough draft of my 9/11 oral history essay. I got a lot of responses, and so that makes it REALLY long but good. Before I started, I organized my essay by clumping similar responses together. The steps of writing are pre-writing (brainstorming), drafting, editing, and revising. I’m at the drafting step.

I had to solve a glitch in my code for my Java computer programming class. That’s my elective. They helped me find my mistake, but I lost a bunch of code I have to redo.

I also worked on my Cub Scout achievements. I chose to work on my chess belt loop and then pin, so I had to play a game of chess. I played with my mom and got her queen right away! We ended up laying chess for over an hour and ended up with a stale mate. I had my king and one pawn left. She had her king and her knight left. It was a really close game!!! I learned to play chess when I was three. My Baba Joe taught me by just letting me move the pieces wherever I wanted, but he played right so I picked it up. He was an Eagle Scout, too.

I want to be an Eagle Scout so I can get scholarships to help me get into the best college. Right now I plan on going to CalTech because I’m good at math. It’s my favorite subject. I either want to be a video game designer or an architect. My mom’s friend Jamie is a really good architect and went to school a really long time to be one, and she told my mom about this cool website called Dornob (it’s supposed to be spelled wrong) that I signed up on, so I get an email every day with cool designs of things. I have to read it every day as part of my work. Today, I saw a really cool treehouse called The Peaceful Treehouse. It was made to look like a group of trees and is off the ground to keep people away from noise. It was made with “sustainable” materials. It’s not a treehouse to play in. You could really live in it. It has a kitchen and living room. It just needs some bedrooms. It has 8 really big windows so it’s really lit up when it’s sunny. I like that they are going to donate it to a children’s hospital in England. Here are some of the pictures so you can see how cool it is!

Tonight at Cub Scouts, we worked on our art pins and got our popcorn order forms so I can sell popcorn and pretzels in my neighborhood. I also have to work a table at the church to sell at least one day. Each scout has to earn $450 to cover our dues and pay for camping and patches and stuff, but I want to earn $775 because that level has the prizes I want. I think I can do it if everyone says yes. My Grandpa Ernie was the first person to order. He got buttered popcorn for Grama Hilma because she eats popcorn all the time but he diesbt ever eat it.

Oh I also learned how to tie my first real scout knot. It’s called a square knot!!!

For art, we made clay roses. I was the only one who made a stem and two leaves which I put lines in so I had the most detail. Everyone else just rolled theirs up into a bud that looked like a burrito. I made mine for my mom so I wanted it to look pretty. She is going to put it in the mantel after it dries. I like clay and Grama Tina is going to buy me some colored clay so I can make more things. The clay we used tonight was just white and they didn’t have paints or anything.

My birthday is October 8, so I asked for camping stuff. My Grama Tina is getting me my fishing rod and lures. Poppa is sending me REAL US Army camping gear! And Meme is sending me a gift card to get my rain gear and bed roll and whatever else I need. Grandma Hilma, Grandpa Ernie, Grama Tina, Debrin, and my mom are getting me a big surprise that has to do with camping, too. We are going to have a big birthday feast at Grama and Grandpas house. Grama Hilma is making my favorites. Roast beef. Yellow potatoes. Broccoli. And pumpkin pie! I like pie better than cak because I don’t like frosting. Yuck! It will be good to see them again.

So far I’ve earned my scholar and showman pins and belt loops for computer, chess, reading and writing, video games, science, and music. It’s harder to earn a pin than a loop. The reason I earned the two pins already is I was in a play this year and did a 40 minute monologue so I got showman and I got scholar for being a good student.

Tomorrow I’m going with Grama Tina to the Indian grocery store to get ingredients for the big Indian feast she is making Sunday when Uncle John, my cousin Tanis, and Uncle John ‘s girlfriend come to visit. She is also taking me to get new jeans because I’ve grown out of all my pants and it’s getting cold already! I’ll maybe get colored clay then. Then my mom’s friend Meredyth is taking me, my friend Hadleigh who is her daughter and her other daughter Emma to see the new movie The Boxtrolls!!!