My mother has revealed her uncanny knack for making things. (Well, she was always better with her hands than I was, but never mind that) Why, just today, she was helping me out with a project about buoyancy we're doing in school.

The project is a partner project. I have a partner who I work with in science class. The point of the project was to build a boat which weighs less than 15 pennies and for the boat to float for 10 seconds in water with a load of 60 pennies, 2 quarters, 3 dimes, and a nickel. You can't get a premade boat or use a boat-building kit, and the boat needs to be small enough so it won't hit the sides of Lake Hembry. (Lake Hembry is not an actual landmark, it's a big tub filled with water. It got polluted by the coins)

My partner and I worked on it on Monday and Tuesday. Our first stage of the boat, which was simply a box made of aluminum foil with toothpicks in the corners and yellow masking tape to make the walls higher, worked fine, and was able to hold the load quite well when we performed a test run. However, some problems did occur later on. For one thing, my partner had some ideas, like added another structure made out of carton and putting it in the boat (which I denied him, because it would add to the mass without really adding to the volume, thus making the boat more likely to sink). We ended up putting paper on top of the foil, and putting another layer of foil on. Then we added another layer of tape. It still floated, but now it was leaking, which is very dangerous. And so I brought it home, planning to patch the leaks (I tried to do that with Scotch transparent tape, but the transparent tape soaked up too much water).

And so here came my mother to the rescue. She said we should simply build a new, better boat, so we did. We got some aluminum foil and recreated the boxlike shape. (I know a box isn't necessarily as good, because that means it has more mass and less volume than just an almost completely horizontal boat, but we have to make sure water doesn't flow over the sides and into the boat) We put plastic wrap on the inside of the box so that even if there were holes in the aluminum foil, the water would not leak into the part of the boat where we put the coins. And then my mom suggested we line the base of the inside of the boat with four straws so the walls would stay straight. And now we are just waiting for my dad to bring masking tape since he probably can find that at his office (he insists he is much more valuable to the company than masking tape, so no one minds if he takes supplies as long as he's not abusing them).

My mom is much more resourceful than my partner and I combined. I feel the need to bow down to her. I never really thought my parents had great knowledge of science despite the fact that they have Master's Degrees (my mother in Physics, my father in Electrical Engineering). So I guess it's like a wake-up call for me. You can never judge a book by its cover; you can't underestimate people, either.

Let me give you an example...There's a book called The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson. (I can't recall whether I've talked about it, so please tell me if I already have) I had been seeing this book in the library quite a few times. (This was some time ago, when the Calabazas branch of the San Jose library was not yet planning to close) I always debated whether to check it out. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not. Finally I did check it out, and it turned out to be one of my favorite books. This isn't a risk, but it reminds me of what my math teacher has been talking about...

He said that some students have parents who are successful in their fields. And if the parents would be asked by their fellow workers "What can I do to get ahead?" (regarding work) the people would say, "Do what everyone else is doing" or something like that. And they want their kids to do that too. "Get all A's. "Take as many AP classes as possible." And my teacher said that colleges are not going to be interested in you if you do the same as everyone else. True, having good grades is definitely helpful. But you need to make yourself look different. The colleges are interested in people who have dreams and plans for the future, who are going to do great things (to make the colleges famous! XD). So my teacher said, "Why do all of you not want to take a job at Starbucks? Go join the Peace Corps? You have to take risks sometimes in life." And I heard someone say (not to the teacher, "I only care about getting rich." So my previous post, about the selfish people, is proven... People really are selfish after all.

Labels: aluminum foil, boat, buoyancy, college, different, eva ibbotson, knowledge, lake hembry, leak, library, master's degree, physics, problem, risk, science, selfish, success, the star of kazan

Step aside, Blue Man Group, and the old four Teletubbies (Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa, and Po. I couldn't remember Laa-Laa's name so I had to look it up). Because all the tourists going to the Great Barrier Reef with Quicksilver (no, not the clothes brand) have replaced you. You can rent a blue suit for a cheap price which will help keep you warm when you're diving. It makes you look a little like a teletubby.

I traveled on a Quicksilver ship to get to the Great Barrier Reef. The ride was a traumatic one for me. I couldn't enjoy the free cookies (they are popular! There was a guy who only took a certain kind of cookie and he took a lot of them. They are supposed to be chocolate-flavored I think) or the complimentary coffee or anything since I was seasick. When I was on a cruise to Hawaii one time several years ago I also got seasick (threw up, fell asleep, and after that day and night, I was all well). My dad insists he has a "strong mind" because he didn't seasick. But my mom and Meggie (my dad's friend's wife) didn't get seasick. However, my dad's friend, David, and his son, Michael, did get sick. They had to go vomit a few times. I did not vomit since I am practicing my self control and ability to resist pain, but I was really dizzy and I was almost dead by the time we got to the floating dock.

It's weird that they have a floating dock in the Great Barrier Reef. It's kind of spoiling nature to have such a strange thing, if you ask me. I suppose they built it especially for tourism purposes. There was lunch included but I only ate some bread since I was not feeling too good yet. My mom ate with an appetite seeing as she is not seasick. She's so lucky not to be. Even my dad says he can get carsick unless he's the driver (I don't know why, but drivers don't get carsick, apparently)

Everyone once in a while a little submarine will be there and you can board it to see the Great Barrier Reef closer up. (If you simply just go snorkeling you can see some but not much in comparison) I didn't expect much because in Hawaii we rode a submarine, and paid for it (instead of it being an optional feature of something we already purchased, like in Australia) but that time, it had been disappointing. But the Great Barrier Reef is much better. Sure it's not really as colorful as the photos, but I think that's just because light has to penetrate the depths of the ocean. There were some cool fish down there. We saw schools of them and occasionally a really huge fish.

I have heard rumors that global warming is killing the reef. When the temperature rises, the organisms that live inside the coral (because coral is actually more animal than plant) die off, so the coral dies, fish lose their homes, and basically the whole habitat will suffer. Already I have heard the reefs along with the glaciers (though those are on the other side of the Earth) are vanishing. I hope people will try to protect the reef.

Oh! You can do your part if you come to the Great Barrier Reef someday. Here's some tips that I got from the brochure you can get on the boat.

- Don't throw anything overboard. There's trash cans to be found. Or, shall I say, RUBBISH BINS.
- Don't stand on the coral. It can break off easily. (There are two groups of coral, the more common hard coral, which is like rocks because it has limestone in it, and the soft coral, which actually sways because of the water current. And there are many more varieties within the groups, like staghorn coral, a hard type like antlers. That breaks off easily)
- Don't urinate in the water. I find this to be the most amusing. Anyhow, they have toilets on the ship, but not on the floating dock. They are kind of cramped and you have to use the air dryer to dry your hands, which is a little too warm but you can't help that unless you would rather use the toilet paper. o_O;; This rule is disturbing since somebody must have tried to urinate in the water or else they wouldn't need such a rule.

Labels: australia, bathroom, blue, boat, carsick, coral, danger, dizzy, driving, fish, great barrier reef, hawaii, quicksilver, reef, rubbish, seasick, submarine, teletubbies, tips, vomit

Earlier, on the weekend, I was kind of upset at seeing the state of my lawn. Apparently since my dad's friend was housesitting but didn't flush the 'shrooms out, a lot has happened to the grass during our absence. Mushrooms are over the place. Some are fat white ones, most of which my dad had removed. Others are newer. For instance, the little blackish-brownish ones. They're cute, but they're taking the nutrients that the grass needs. D: We're not trying to grow a mushroom garden. I bet Mr. Brown (crazed science teacher) would be better at dealing with it.

Which reminds me, Mr. Brown really is crazy. Like today in the class. We were supposed to be studying cell reproduction under a microscope. But then since people saw his desktop background, which is some dead scorpions on a rock, he ended up telling his scorpion story. He showed us pictures, and told us about a trip to...South America, I think it was. (Mr. Brown says teachers get more free time during the summer than other working folks so he can go on longer vacations.) First he said something about capital cities often being lame and ugly, then he showed us photos of volcanos, lakes, and the bungalows which you can rent out. Apparently they have solar-powered hot water, "outdoor bathrooms", and environmentally friendly houses. So that's cool. (The outdoor bathrooms, by the way, is really you can take a shower outside by pulling something and a veil will fall around you so you can shower outdoors. I thought that was weird.) And he also said he was reading in the evening when he saw a spider.

Mr. Brown is by no means scared of spiders, but it had fangs on it, and it was pretty big. Fangs are dangerous since they might have venom or something. So he went and smacked it with something to kill it.

Then he was about to go back to reading when he saw a scorpion. He took a picture first (which was a bit blurry/shaky because it was a close-up, and when the camera zooms in you go "Whoa!" sometimes), then killed it. He saw more scorpions, which he killed and tossed outside. Finally he killed what was supposedly all of them (his fiancée didn't like the scorpions). The next morning he gathered up some of the dead ones and took a photo of that. So that's what inspired his desktop background.

- - - - - - - - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

...That aside, I had a weird dream last night. Most of it I don't remember any longer. I do know my dad was there (a surprise, since my family usually isn't in my dreams). We were on this ship of sorts. There were several "waiting rooms" on each side of it. You were supposed to sit there while the ship sailed to wherever we were going. I think we were somewhere in California. Anyhow, the waiting room we were in was really crowded. Not much places to sit left. So I wanted to go to the one on the other side that had extra space. But the ship was shaking and it was too dangerous.

My dad went away for some reason or other. I got bored and went out of the waiting room since it was shaking less now. I went and explored the place. I know I went to the ship bathroom for some reason. (I don't remember much about that.) Then I went outside, carrying some of my stuffed animals. o_O I sat down at a place in front of these...platforms protruding from the ship. Apparently you could go onto this platforms. Maybe for a better view or if you wanted to dive off the boat.

I was sitting and relaxing in front of the platforms (there were benches along the sides of the boat) with some other passengers when the weather all of a sudden got stormy. (Despite this, the traffic lights on top of the platforms still showed a green light, which meant you were allowed to get onto the platforms) A huge whirlpool came out of nowhere and started forming, pretty close to the boat. Maybe it was a hurricane or typhoon or something. I got freaked out and made sure my stuffed animals didn't fall off the boat. The whirlpool seemed to stand up in a way, and roll to the left slowly like a wheel. Then the whirlpool broke apart and turned into regular water. The storm clouds disappeared and the California sunshine was back.

I woke up soon after and don't remember the rest of my dream except my dad, steaming mad, found me, and scolded me for wandering off. That was really the strangest dream so far. I don't understand what it means, but it could be discouraging me to go on a cruise ship in Europe...Despite how confusing dreams are, they actually have great meaning.

Labels: boat, critters, dream, family, fungus, leisure, mental, mushrooms, ocean, story, teacher, vermin, weather

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