Oh no! Evil Aliens are coming to attack Earth…and only you can stop them! You must learn how to play Astronomy Star so you can kill them off and save our planet!  You will have to complete the three levels entitled, “Planets and Pluto,” “Galaxy Clash,” “Reach for the Stars,” and “The Sun.” Do you think you can take on this challenge? If so, lace up your space suit, put on your boots, and prepare for an out of this world adventure!

     First, you will start out on Level 1, Planets and Pluto. Now, for a little background information, these aliens inhabit almost everywhere in the solar system; that’s why it’s so hard to find them. But, the most common places they are found are on the planets, right where we’re headed. The goal of this first level sounds simple, “Kill all the aliens, collect all the space coins, and get to the star block to find the map of the planets.” Well, if anything, it’s not easy. There will be TONS of aliens, and they hide the space coins in very inconvenient places, and don’t forget- you’re timed. Subsequently, the purpose of this game is similar. The main purpose of this level would be to get to the planet map you can pretty much save the whole entire world! The planet map is in the star block, along with other valuable information about the planets, and even Pluto.  Finally, many sprites and tools will be included in this level. The League Hero, who can jump and shoot, will be the one saving the world. Then, there will also be League Pacers who are the evil aliens. The League Pacers can’t shoot, but I think that is completely appropriate for their forces to send out the least valuable aliens on the least valuable level. Also, to match up with the goals, there will be a Timer, so you’re always on time, a Frag Counter, to keep track of the aliens you’ve killed, and a Point Keeper to keep track of your Space Coins. So there you have it, Level One,”Planets and Pluto.”  

     Next, we move onto Level 2, Galaxy Clash.  Now that you have beaten the aliens in finding out about the planets, they have set up more enemies hiding in certain galaxies. The only problem, you don’t know the types of galaxies. The goals in Level are to once again kill all the enemies and collect all the space coins. Also, the purpose of this game is to get to the star block which contains very important information. The information found inside the star block is which type of galaxy the aliens prefer-that way you know where to go next. Lastly, the sprites used in Level two have increased…for the worst!  The League Hero is the only Sprite you will control. There will also be the League Pacer (like before) and …The League Sniper! The league Sniper not only walks, but shoots at you! Now, like before, there will be the Timer, Frag Counter and The Point Keeper. That concludes Level Two, “Galaxy Clash”

At this time, we will move on to Level 3, “Reach for the Stars.” Congrats on beating the first two levels, but now comes the real challenge: the unlucky-for-you- Level Three. The goals in this level will be for you to ( I know it’s again) kill the aliens, collect the space coins, and  reach up very high to the goal block up there in the stars. The reason that you had to learn about the galaxies is because you’re in one in this level! The purpose of this level is to reach up high so you can get to the portal in the stars to come back home. But, of course you need to kill all of the aliens on the way, which leads us into the next topic- the sprites in this level.  The sprites in this level increase once again! You will be the same League Hero, and will definitely be battling the same aliens the League Pacer and League Sniper. Added once again is another alien… the Kakuri Chaser! The Kakuri chaser runs in random patterns…so BE CAREFUL! I Once again there will be a Timer, a Frag Counter, and a Point Keeper. Therefore, good luck on Level Three, “Reach for the Stars.”

    Thank Goodness we’ve reached our final level…”The Sun” You have successfully saved our planet by killing off all of the aliens…and have become rich off of all the valuable space coins. But, instead of keeping them and becoming greedy you’ve opened your own school so you can teach kids all about our Solar System! The only problem is you haven’t really learned about the Sun. The purpose of this game is to get to the Space Center so you can learn about the sun to teach your students. You have to collect the tuition fees along the way (the points). The goals are to collect the fees, kill off the other competing school masters who want to destroy your school, and do it all in good time.  The sprites will be very basic like back to level one. You will still be the League Hero, and this time the only enemies will be the League Pacer.  The Timer, Point Keeper, and Frag Counter will return again on this level. That is the end my friend, the last level.

     So, there you have it, the four levels…”Planets and Pluto”  “Galaxy Clash”  “Reach for the Stars” and “The Sun.” Now that you have learned about each of the levels you are ready to play! Grab that jetpack and enjoy Astronomy Star!

 

I’m Dirty Socks, you may not have heard of me before but you are now. Do you remember the sorry little girl who would do all the laundry in her house? Yea, that was me. Everything clean-except socks. Yes folks, that’s why I’m Dirty Socks.

It was a cold night, and my family was camping at some stupid old campground that they went to as kids, boring! The world thought I was sugar and spice, but trust me I wasn’t. The time my parents found the camera shattered across the floor- Oh yes it was me, but nobody would ever know it. Anyway, back to my story here. I was bored out of my mind so I decided to go on a little walk I didn’t intend to go in the woods by myself until I walked past this campsite and I heard something about ” magic squirrel, powers, only if you need them…” it didn’t take me long to figure out that the magic squirrel only helped you if you were lost. I ran into the woods not really intending to get completely lost, but oops I really was! “Oh no, why did I have to do this couldn’t I have waited for the magical fairy like Sinister Savvy.” That was all I could think about as I curled up in a little ball in a dark cave. A small light shown in, “Hey, are you that magical squirrel I heard about?” I yelled, “Yes, now keep quiet!” The little orb of light screamed at me. I quickly resumed my sweet attitude so the squirrel would grant my wishes, my fingers were crossed.

 

The squirrel by the name of Abby came over to me and said “I was once a little girl just like you, until I made the wrong decision with my powers. I used them for evil and one morning the same person who granted me my wishes came and turned me into a squirrel, so if you use your powers for evil, you’ll wake up as a slug.” This really put me at a disadvantage, but I cold just keep running away, then I might be able to have my powers long enough to cause real havoc and trouble! Abby looked at me, “Are we clear?” I must of been thinking real hard.  “Yes, I want my 3 powers now, flying, a GPS locater in my head so I can find any location and anybody, and finally, I want the power of dirty socks. “What the heck are dirty socks?” Abby looked at me confused.” Well, I want to be able to infuse all the dirty socks with a special chemical that will knock them out if they get hit with one…you know if someone needs rescued and when I swoop down to save them I can… umm knock them out, yea knock them out if they are scared of heights.” I lied. I thought she wasn’t going to buy it, to tell you the truth, I wouldn’t buy it! “Well ok, but only because I have faith in you, all the other fairies and magical animals say that you are the nicest little girl they have seen in a while…so here you go.”  The feeling of getting your powers is like no other, and with that I was off for evil.

 

I must say, costumes are hard to come up with. I wanted to make it “nice” looking so Abby would leave me alone for a while. So that is why I have pink, purple, and light blue on my costume. Leaving my parents out of this would be inconvenient because I needed money  to get my costume made, I would have to rob a bank. I was a little nervous I asked my friend Sinister Savvy if I could borrow her costume to rob the bank. We were the same age but she must have acted a little nicer than me because the fairy visited her first. As I walked in the front door everybody screamed. Wow, Sinister Savvy is more feared than I thought! I ran up to the counter and the words that came out were “Can I please have the money?” I quickly realized my mistake and then screamed “GIVE ME THE MONEY…NOW” Whoa did that get them scared! They handed over the money, and then I foolishly said thanks and ran away. It had to be the easiest robbing of a bank in history!

I flew home as fast as possible; I gave Sinister Savvy $3oo out of the $900 I stole, costume time. I went to a tailor and said that I wanted it to be my Halloween costume, he believed it and now here I am, costume and all. Watch out world Dirty Socks is on the move!

 

  

Book Title: A Dog’s Purpose

Book Author: W. Bruce Cameron

Number of Pages: 319

 

Setting:

The setting in “A Dog’s Purpose” is all over the place, but the main setting is in Ethan’s house, where Bailey lives. Ethan’s house is ” a big white house” as it says on page 67, when Bailey is brought home for the first time. There are lots of rooms in Bailey’s new house, including Ethan’s room, the parent’s room, the bathroom, kitchen, and garage. Although there is more to the house than that, Bailey spends the most time in those rooms. The neighborhood he lives in is described as “It was all so deliciously moist– even the hottest days were usually broken by cooler air at night” this was on page 80 when Bailey is wandering about the neighborhood. This story takes part in the state ofMichigan. On page 124, it says ” We’ve been searching the whole state ofMichiganfor you, son.” This is when the police find Bailey and Ethan after they’ve been lost for 3 days.  “A Dog’s Purpose takes place in present times, I know this because all throughout the book they mention things that we have now, and that weren’t around in the past, like refrigerators, cars, and many other things.

 

Protagonist;

Bailey and Ethan.

I think Bailey is the protagonist because he is all throughout the book. Bailey is a Golden Retriever dog, and is a male as it says “do you think he’ll be ok?” on page 65. The four ways I would describe him is staunch, canny, anxious, and penitent. Also, it is written in First Person, so it mentions I a lot. “” I was a front-seat dog” on page 123.  Ethan is also a main character, and he is Bailey’s owner. Since Bailey is telling the story, it says we and our a lot as well (referring to Ethan) “gave us a car ride” on page 123 as well.

 

Conflict:

The conflict in this story is that Bailey can’t find his purpose in life. ” how could I possibly have had a more important purpose than to comfort the boy?” on page 182. This is when Bailey is a puppy once again, and is wondering why that wasn’t his purpose. Bailey just wants to know his purpose in life, and is very confused why that wasn’t it.

Climax:

The conflict is that Bailey wants to find his purpose, so the climax is when Bailey is dying, and he thinks his purpose was to be there for the boy, so he dies thinking that he had fulfilled his purpose, only to be wrong.

Resolution:

At the end of the book, Bailey is reunited with Ethan when he’s old, in yet another life. Ethan was very lonely in life, and Bailey finally knows is purpose is to reunite Hannah with Ethan again so he isn’t lonely. After Ethan settles in with his new happy life, he suffers from a heart attack and realizes that this new dog is his Bailey and is instantly comforted. The last sentence in the book is ” I had fulfilled my purpose.” on page 319. This means he can go to heaven now.

 

  

Book  Title:  A Dog’s Purpose

Protagonist:  Bailey

Number of Pages: 319

Bailey is a Golden Retriever. When he is a puppy it says how his legs were proportioned to his body unlike in his former life where his legs are too short. On page 73, it compares the color of Bailey’s hair to the color ofChelsea’s hair “her hair was long and lighter than mine”. Later on that page it says “her long blond hair.”  He is a domesticated dog that has already been housebroken “he’s already housebroken!” as it says on page 69. The dog, Bailey is vey hyper, on page 89 it says “I ran around and around barking extravagantly.”  Bailey is a boy, on page 65 it says “Do you think he’ll be ok?” This shows that Bailey is a boy dog.

 

Staunch:

pg. 83

“What could I do? I was compelled to do what a person toldme.” this shows how he is a very staunch dog, and how he would even follow someone he doesn’t trust.

pg. 94

“I didn’t hesitate; I dove right in after him” this is when Ethan is swimming, and Bailey thinks he is drowning, this shows how he is a staunch dog, and how he cares about him, and goes in to save him.

Canny:

pg. 99

“I put my paws on the door, took the knob in my mouth and twisted it.” This is when Bailey wants to go in the house, so he remembers about people opening doors, and how he should try it, the canny dog figures it out and gets it open!

pg.148

“Any reluctance I might have felt to attack a human being was overridden by the sense that whatever Todd was doing, it was causing harm to the boy.” Bailey is smart enough to know that Todd is doing harm, and the canny dog wants to help.

 

Anxious:

pg.118

“I had never been so afraid” When Bailey and go on a normal walk, they see a rattlesnake! The horse they were riding rears, and runs away, leaving them by themselves. Bailey is very afraid, and is very anxious.

pg.123

“I felt pretty anxious to be separated from him.” Ethan is being wheeled into the hospital-where dogs aren’t allowed. He is feeling very apprehensive and anxious to let him go in there without him.

Penitent

pg.69

“Bad dog, Bailey.”  While Ethan went to school Bailey tore up the garage, and is ashamed that Ethan is calling him a bad dog.

pg.83

“I lowered my head and followed.” Bailey is a penitent dog, because he is following someone he is not supposed to be with, so he is very ashamed.

 

What?! Where am I? Oh no, this can’t be true-am I really in jail? What’s this in my pocket, a remote control, a new Blackberry, a bobby pin, a broken shot glass and some…batteries? Uh oh… I remember.

It was around 1:00 in the morning, and I had been at a party with some people I wasn’t the friendliest with, and then a close friend, we were having a whole bunch of fun and then CRASH! The people there had been and drinking when the drunken ones started having a shot glass fight! The next thing I remember was waking up on the sidewalk in front of the biggest electric store in the state- with all the big name brands and best qualities. I had been knocked out when I tried to break up the shot glass fight, and that’s how the broken shot glass ended up in my pocket.

They people there told me that if I didn’t take part in the robbing of the store they had already filmed me outside the bank and would show the police. I knew I as going to get caught anyway so I may as well just go steal and cross my fingers that I don’t get caught. We snuck in the back door after I opened it with the bobby pin that I found in my pocket, guess that explains why that’s there.

I took a deep breath as I walked in the store I never ever expected to be doing this, ever. The first thing that caught my eye was a brand new Blackberry-I figured may as well take it while I’m here. The blackberry was amazing, as soon as I got it activated. What next? At any minute I was expecting the police to show up, so I told them that they better hurry.

A car passed by but thankfully we ducked and turned off the lights as soon as we heard it, so I’m sure the driver didn’t suspect anything. The other people grabbed a huge new T.V and threw the mini remote at me and told me that it was hard enough to carry the T.V, so I was supposed to carry the remote. With all of this new technology, the remote was so small it could easily fit in my pocket, so that’s why I have a remote in my pocket, can’t believe I didn’t remember until now!

At my house, we’re always low in batteries, and I needed some more to put in my Wii remote, and we were all out. I quickly grabbed the batteries and shoved them into my pocket-just then the sirens pulled up, I quickly took the batteries out of my pocket (all except the few that were stuck in the bottom that I have now) and ran outside and put my hands up. They handcuffed me and then tomorrow I have my trial. Can’t wait to see what my parents think!

When I went on Google and I was really surprised at what came up, the paper from 2004 came up with class listings!

The paper was the Gettysburg Times and it had a list of all the classes in the area, I found my name along with tons of other people that I know- I even found people who are in college now in  the class listings because it is from a few years ago. It was really cool to see all of the people I know and remember back to the “the carefree years!”

I also found 3 people living in Maryland with the same name as me- I never thought there would be so many bacause my last name is so uncommon. It didn’t say any info about the other people but it sure was weird to find so many of me! There was also many links that came up that said ” Find This Person On” and then listed many sites.

I never even dreamed of finding that many things on Google- especially with my uncommon last name!

 

 

My Top 5 favorite foods may not be the healthiest, but they’re definitely the tastiest. The reason I picked foods is because I love food,  and I thought it would be fun to narrow it down to only 5- so here goes! 

1. My favorite food is Mac ‘n’ cheese! I love all of the perfect shaped noodles slathered in a rich and creamy cheese sauce. The reason Mac ‘n’ cheese made the #1 spot is because I love the way it tastes, and it is by far (in my opinion) the best tasting food. When I was little my babysitter and I would have Mac ‘n’ cheese every night she watched me, I wonder if that’s why I like it so much…

2. My second favorite food is my mom’s potato soup. Whenever you go out to restaurants when you order potato soup it’s all loose and watery. When my mom makes potato soup, it is super thick and creamy. Potato soup earned it’s #2 spot because it is delicious, it was a close call between this and Mac ‘n’ cheese, but I get to have Mac ‘n’ cheese a lot more often. My mom will only make potato soup in the colder weather because it’s “a three burner operation” ( it involves 3 burners on the stove) so the house gets really hot. Maybe if my mom starts to make it more it will earn #1, but for now it lies in #2.

3. My third favorite food is pie, I couldn’t just narrow it down to one flavor, so in the #3 spot is just pie. I really like peanut butter pie, and apple, and chocolate, and cherry. I think pie will always be on the top 5 because it is just so good! It doesn’t fit in #1, and it is too good for #5, so I think #3 is perfect because it is right in the middle.

4. My 4th favorite is grilled cheese. I know that one of my other favorite foods is basically cheese, but this way you know my love of cheese! But I didn’t just pick grilled cheese to be my #4 so you understood my love for cheese; I picked it because it tastes really good! Grilled cheese has been on my top 5 for ages. When I was younger, my parents would take me out to a unique restaurant , or an expensive one, and I wouldn’t even have to look at the menu- I already knew what I wanted- grilled cheese. So why has grilled cheese dropped from #1 down to #4? I really couldn’t tell you if I knew, maybe because I got tired of it, I guess my tastebuds just moved on!

5. Another one of my favorite foods is casserole. I couldn’t pick between this one casserole that my mom makes, and tuna casserole. The one that my mom makes has chicken, rice, cheese and cream of chicken soup. It was an experiment that my mom and I tried one day, and it ended up making #5, pretty well for an experiment! The tuna casserole is a whole another story, I was at my daycare/family friends house and they were having tuna casserole for dinner, I really despise tuna so I wasn’t looking forward to dinner. When I tried it I loved it! It was really good, and now it is one of my favorite foods, so much for not liking tuna!

Those are just my top 5 favorite foods, there sre still many more that I love, like I said they might not be the heathies, but they taste the best!

Although our school is nice, and has lots of good qualities, it also needs improvements. Here are some of my suggestions about ways to improve our school.

Lunches. Most students  in every school district will say,  ” Oh my gosh, school lunches are gross!” I don’t believe our school lunch is gross, but I do believe it should be healthier with better selections and enough for everyone. Last year I had the first lunch since I was in sixth grade, now that I’m in seventh, I have the last. Whenever I decide to buy, I end up with no fruit, no milk, and some burnt shriveled up piece of pizza. The reason; they don’t have enough food. Three times this year I had to buy a drink separately because they ran out of milk. A milk is supposed to come with lunch, I shouldn’t have to buy another drink separately! When my friend and I were getting our lunch we both looked at each other and said ” Wow, the only fruit they have is a warm applesauce, and there was only 1 left, there were about 6 people behind me  and 1 applesauce. I let my friend have the applesauce but the people behind me and I had no fruit. Another thing is, school lunches need to be healthier! If you look on the menu you think, ” Whoa, garden salad, and chilled peaches, this school has some pretty healthy lunches!” No, that’s exactly the opposite, even the salad bar is unhealthy! Garden salad means a few frumpy pieces of iceberg lettuce with some little carrots, yuck! Chilled peaches means, some warm peaches in a sticky syrup, not healthy. The salad bar only lets you have 1 topping, every other topping is 50 cents more. These should all be improved because students need to eat healthier, which means we need better selections, and,  there needs to be enough for everyone. All of these things link together to make 1 big improvement so that is why I think that the school should work on the lunches that they are providing.

Our school has all the “main classes” like math, reading, world studies, science etc… but it would also be nice if we could choose other classes to take like a language, cooking class or wood -working. I know that they have all of these classes in high school, but I think middle school students should be able to take these classes too so when they get to high school they could take more advanced versions and be more familiar. This could teach kids more responsibility and help them make decisions, like music vs. French. This could also help students with making other certain tough decisions. Classes like these can also be just as valuable in the real world as math and reading, especially language. Our country is a wonderful melting pot of language and culture, so learning a new language could be very helpful to any profession that any student wants to become. I know I would enjoy taking these types of classes and I know that I would get something out of them, and I’m sure my fellow students would do the same. Please consider adopting these classes and letting us choose which classes we should take, I think that these would be really helpful so please consider.

Out in the real world, when there is a due date for an assignment, if you don’t turn it in there is a penalty. In our school if there is a due date we have until the end of the next day to finish it. This does not teach kids what the real world is like and it is just going to make it much harder when they go off to college and into the world to accept the fact that if you have something due on the sixth, it’s due on the sixth not by 2:31 on the seventh. By teaching kids that, if you don’t get something done on the day it’s due, there are consequences, they will go into the world prepared, and it will save them a lot of trouble and help them be more successful. I’m not a perfect student, I’ve turned things in late before, but I still believe that we should be taught to turn something in when it’s due. I would much rather get a small bit of points taken away in middle school, then lose my job in the real world. Many students might say  the opposite, but I know later in life this lesson will come in handy.

Please consider all of these improvments, they can help improve the school and student quality.

 

1. It seems weird, but I’ve always wanted to jump into a pool with all my clothes on! It’s fun to swim in a pool with your bathing suit…but I think it wold be even more fun in all of your clothes!

2. I want to be on Broadway before I die. Being on stage is just an amazing feeling, and when I grow up I want to be a professional actress, so watch out Broadway, here I come.

3.I’ve always wanted to fly, so naturally I want to go skydiving! It would be amazing flying without wings.

4. I want to travel all around Europe. When I went to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, the park was based on Europe. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to go to  Europe.

5. I love roller coasters! My dream is to ride on the biggest scariest, most daring roller coaster in the world!

6. I love kids. I love babysitting them, and just playing and being with them! So I really want to have kids when I grow up, and have a family before I die.

7. I love animals, so before I die I want to own my favorite kind of dog, a Pomeranian.

8. I want to win some kind of big award, something huge that people will remember me for.

9. I want to own my own vault of silly juice! Why? Because I love to laugh!

10. I love going to NASCAR races, and I love to sing! So another thing I want to do before I die is sing the National Anthem at a NASCAR race.

11. Another thing that I want to do before I die that involves acting is be in a movie! When I was little I remember looking at the screen and thinking,” Man, wouldn’t it be cool if my name was up there someday!”