For Malaysia Week, I decided to go on Survival Island. I wasn't expecting it to be difficult, though I was proven wrong. Each and every one of us survived, and we even had some fun. The work was back-breaking, as the Malaysia Week site description said it would be, but we still managed to have heaps of fun... well, at least on the last two nights. The first night was absolutely UNBEARABLE. We got to the island, and everyone was so excited that we were all over the place. It didn't take long for Ms. Palko to order everyone to gather and give us a lecture on how that can't happen again. Then, our work of off-loading the boat began. It went well until the boat was pretending to sail away with all of our belongings and food. So we all formed an angry mob to go get our stuff from the boat. Ms. Palko got angry yet again, and gave us a lecture on how we had to form straight and organized lines to have a more efficient way of transporting things. So we did. 

Once we got all of our stuff off the boat, we started the real work. We began building our camps, preparing the meals, gathering fire wood, doing our assigned jobs, and such. Then, the first hardship arose. We were losing daylight, and striving to get enough firewood to even last us the rest of the evening, let alone the whole NIGHT. We hadn't even started cooking for dinner yet! This was very stressful and frustrating. We ended up cooking the chicken at God-knows-when, and it was burnt. Well, that pretty much sums up the first day of our Survival Island adventure. The second night was the same as the first, though just a bit less work, and the last two nights were mostly fun. There was also a gigantic bonfire on the last night which was loads of fun and entertainment. 

Thinking Creatively was definitely involved during this adventure. We thought creatively whilst building our shelters, cooking our food, fooling around the bonfire, and many other times as well. Without the ability to Think Creatively, we wouldn't have been able to survive Survival Island! One very important time that we used Thinking Creatively was when we were eating breakfast cereal, and someone had the genius idea to save the containers and use them for other things. That was an immensely helpful idea, because from then on, we used those containers for practically every meal, and sometimes we even used the containers for things apart from eating. 

Collaborating Constructively was also another subject of much use during my first Malaysia Week. Collaborating Constructively was honestly even more important than Thinking Creatively, which makes it very important. Sometimes, we had to Collaborate Constructively to survive. Some of the situations were during all of the meals, the making of the shelter, and the organization of it all. We had to Collaborate Constructively throughout all of the meals because Sierra, my group's cook, needed lots of extra help, so we all needed to be available to be that extra help. At first, the whole group was just lounging in the sand, eyeing Sierra with awe. I admit that I, too, was one of the people lounging in the sand, but it didn't last for long. Sierra began informing us of all the help that she needed and that if she didn't get any help, we wouldn't have anything to eat. That got us off our butts, and we all sprung into action. We were working well as a group because we all coordinated who was helping with what and such, so that created a very well organized and efficient group. During the making of the shelter, we had to Collaborate Constructively. Quite a lot, at that. We coordinated who was doing what to help get our shelters up, though it was all somewhat pointless in the end because we never even used our shelters. Either way, we collected mounds of wood, and positioned them all together to create a contraption of a shelter. Through the organization of it all, we had to Collaborate Constructively. We Collaborated Constructively because we had group discussions on who would do what and how it was going to all work out. In the end, our group worked absolutely astoundingly awesome. 

Communicating Effectively was surely used during the Survival Island adventure. We used Communicating Effectively to help my group communicate in a more efficient manner than we already were, and to help with the organization of my group to get things done faster and more easily. Communication was key. Through all of the work and complications, there needed to be communication to help tie it all together. One time that my group Communicated Effectively was on the second day whilst cooking meals. My group was more organized and efficient on the second day, opposed to the first, because on the first day, we were just beginners, just on level one of a complicated survival experience. Well, at least we learned from our mistakes. Day two of cooking meals went so well because on the first night, we were cooking chicken, and... let's just say it didn't come out right. The chicken was completely burnt, though my group was too tired and hungry to care. On the second day, we knew to acquire more caution whilst cooking meals, as it's not too pleasant when something goes wrong and the whole group is starved. 

Living Ethically was surely subjected to tons of use during my Malaysia Week experience. We Lived Ethically by composting, cleaning up the trash on the beach, and recycling. I think I would know about the composting part because I was part of the 'waste management' job. A time in which we Lived Ethically was when the people from my job (waste management) and I informed the rest of the people on Survivor Island about the compost bin, the trash bin, and the recycling. This time was absolutely vital, because otherwise, the island would have trash, recyclables, and compost items scattered all over the place, and we wouldn't really be doing our part to help the environment. My job was very important to the environment and to the SLR "Live Ethically". 

Over all, I believe that my decision of going to Survival Island for Malaysia Week was completely worth it. Now, I have a new way of looking at the people I went with, I've made endless amounts of new friends, I have a new way of looking at the environment, and I have a new way of looking at myself. 

Letter to Mother and Father

Dear Mother and Father,

I have gained knowledge of many new things during training to become the new Receiver of the community. One thing in particular drove me to my decision to leave. It stood out far beyond the others. I am running away to Elsewhere in search of freedom. During training, I learned of something called "freedom". You have definitely not heard of it before. It means to be set free, to make your own choices, and to create your life the way you would like it to play out. It's not only that. Freedom also involves having the right to act, speak, or think, which our society lacks. I was starving for freedom, which is why I left the society. You wouldn't understand how amazing and great it is to be free, and to decide things for yourself.

Anyway, getting into more detail about the reason why I left, the Giver and I made a plan. Our plan consists of changing the society. Don’t be alarmed, the changes are not harmful in any way. It’s completely for the better. Everyone will experience life as the Giver and I do, which is pretty spectacular you will soon discover. You will be amazed at how much more enjoyable life is with colors, music, feelings, emotions, though some feelings or emotions can result in sorrow... I don’t expect you to understand what I’m talking about. You will soon, though. I have also brought along Gabriel with me. I couldn’t risk him being Released. Once you gain feelings and emotions, you will experience something called pain or sadness, which is what moved me to bring Gabriel along with me. I am helping him to survive. It’s difficult to keep myself alive, let alone Gabriel, so I must care for him more than I do myself. I am raising Gabriel with the knowledge and memories that the Giver and I hold. To sum it all up, the society is in for a big change.

Love, Jonas

Why do you think the apple and the audience changes for Jonas?

Would you want your future to be decided by others? Why or why not?

Would you want your future to be decided by others? Why or why not? 


First of all, I definitely would not want my life to be decided by someone else. I feel as though you should be able to spend your life in whatever way you choose, because you only have one. Your life is your only chance to do whatever you want, and I would like to take advantage of that. 


For instance, if my lifelong dream job would be to be a professional skydiver, there's a one in a billion chance that the person deciding my life would choose that job for me. Most people aren't very good at jobs they don't enjoy, mostly because they don't want to invest extra time practicing or doing well in their job. On the other hand, if someone enjoys their job,they  would want to spend as much extra time on it as possible. Choosing a job is a very important part of life, as most people will probably be spending the majority of their existence doing that job. In my opinion, it would be a total waste of someone's life to be doing a job they don't even like.


Also, if a person wants to become a doctor, a lawyer, or another profession that requires many years of extra schooling, there would be a very narrow chance of that happening with someone else deciding for you. If one didn't want to be a doctor or lawyer, and the person deciding that person's  life chose that for him or her, they  would be miserable during the many years of extra school. 


Family is another part of life that would definitely be affected by someone else choosing one's future. A person should be able to choose their own partner and decide whether they want a family or not. If someone else decides who a person is  going to marry, the person choosing a partner for someone else would have about a one in 6,996,753,153 (according to The U.S. Census Bureau, this is the current population of the world) chance of picking the right person. And, sadly, if they pick the wrong person they stuck with them for the rest of their life. 

Those are just a few of the things that would be at risk if  someone else chooses your life for you, and why you should never let someone else decide your fate for you. We should all be in control over our own destinies. 

My Egypt iMovie

Here is the link to my Egypt iMovie about King Tut. Hope you like it!

Ancient Egyptian iMovie Reflection

During the Ancient Egypt iMovie project, I worked alone. Working alone is a quite unusual thing for me, as I always work with a partner or in a group, but for this project I wanted to see how well I could work alone. It turned out quite well for me. Some of the benefits included: not getting distracted (this was a gigantic benefit!), not having to worry about the quality of my partner's work, and not having to consult anyone before making changes. Working solo allowed me to be 100% sure that everything was the way I wanted it to be. 

Even though working alone was a big benefit for me, there were still some downsides to not having a partner. Some of those cons were having to do twice the amount of work, not having other people's opinions (two minds are better than one), and I'm Gestalt, so having a logic partner would work to my benefit. 

Despite these cons, I thought my project went well. I was worried about having to spend a lot more time on it than the rest of the class partnerships, but in the end I did it even faster than some of them. One of the obstacles I overcame (with the help of Mrs. Narsiman) was getting the sound to work on my computer for the voiceover on my iMovie. This frustrating problem haunted me for days, but eventually, on the last day of work, I decided to ask Mrs. Narsiman for help. She exported it, and saved my iMovie on a thumb drive. We then opened up my iMovie on another computer, and I tried recording a voiceover on that computer. It worked. The problem turned out to be that the sound chip in the computer was falling apart, as it had in some of the other computers. 

Over the course of this project, I learned a few things about myself. Generally, I work well alone, despite some of the cons I mentioned. I believe my project was creative and informative, which I was proud of. I got frustrated over the project because of the iMovie sound glitch which prevented me from working on my actual project during a few classes. I was so worried about the sound issue and getting a late grade that I thought I would have to spend a few lunchtimes working on it, yet still not be finished. But in the end, that problem was solved soon enough. 

Self Evaluation of Washington D.C. Presentation

In my city connections project, I believe I did well at having quick and to-the-point sentences that are informative and organized. I delivered a well thought-out and organized presentation with a fair amount of information, and no spelling or grammar mistakes. A great example of some to-the-point and informative sentences in my city connections presentation are on the Environmental Factors slide, where I explain at the end of each paragraph about how each of the environmental factors helps the city's population grow. These sentences explain my point concisely, and yet are loaded with information. At my table group, while I was presenting, everyone seemed quite interested in what I was saying. I think having organized note cards helped keep my thoughts on track and made me more comfortable. A great example of the quantity and quality of the information I included is in either the etymology or antiquity paragraph on the Historical Factors slide. I believe each of these paragraphs contains superb information. I proofread my work very thoroughly, so hopefully there are no spelling or grammar mistakes in my presentation. 
At the beginning of this project, I was struggling to find information on my city and fully understand the task, which got me off to a rough start. I also was struggling to reduce my information down to an amount that would help me complete my project before it was due. These problems kept me from completing my project quickly and easily, which was hard to deal with while making my presentation. It would have really helped to read over the rubric a couple times and take a few more looks at the previous year's examples.

I learned that practicing pre-presentation really pays off, and that your word choices really affects the audience's attention span (ex. using exquisite opposed to good, etc.). I practiced quite a minor amount, but as I was making my notecards, they helped me to remember my information by reading over them many times before I was sure I was familiar with each one. My presentation would have probably been more interesting if I were to add more pictures. Notecards were a great material for my pre-presentation study of my project. The notecards I made allowed me to practice my presentation on the bus in the morning, at lunch, pretty much anywhere! Notecards will definitely be used more often by me from now on.

I believe that I did a great, informative, and fair-length project. In my opinion, my project was A- to A+ work.

A . N.d. Photograph. n.p.

My City Connections Project