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

Just today, I was doing my vocabulary homework for language arts. We all have workbooks which we purchase at the beginning of the year. Each week, sometimes every other week or every third week, etc. (depending on what the teacher has in mind, sometimes we do vocabulary from stories we read instead) we'll complete some homework about the words and then take a simple test to prove we know them. I sort of did this in sixth grade. If I recall correctly, the cover was an interesting picture (artist's name I've forgotten, unfortunately) of birds and fish in black and white. Slowly the birds turn into fish. It's fascinating.

Yikes, I'm getting sidetracked (but that's just me, I suppose). Well, I was reading some paragraphs for the Reading Comprehension section of the workbook, and it said in the last paragraph this: "Of course, there are plenty of people who spend their lives focused on infantile, selfish concerns. Fortunately, for all of us, there are also remarkable people who find their pleasure in helping others." I am going to take this is a a personal insult. What if the author of the vocab book is referring to me? Eh?! I thought textbooks were supposed to be objective, not subjective, but I guess since vocabulary books aren't like history textbooks (history books really, really shouldn't be biased, as one side could have a totally different opinion from the other).

Well, I'm having second thoughts about the braces again, and stuff like that. My mom said I can decide not to if I want, but... For one thing, the orthodontists all seem eager for money or something. I sympathize with them - I'd like to be able to spend more time with my family and retire, too. But you know, being a doctor is more than fixing people's teeth (which, by the way, doesn't always work; I saw pictures of Before and After of a boy who had braces, and the thing that I found funny was that his previously normal-looking cheeks had become puffed out, like he had gained some weight, so maybe having braces can have some...unforseen side effects. No offense to that guy intended), I think it's also tending to people's minds, making them feel at ease and happy to be at the office, instead of being afraid (ever seen a children's story about a child who was scared of the dentist? But I did hear there are a few, rare people who actually enjoy having braces). Hehe, that was something deep. Write it down so you won't forget.

One of my friends has also become one of the Scissorhands bunch lately. I was eating lunch and she made scissor motions with her hands. First my math teacher, now her...Looks like something's catching on.

I have noticed that I behave a bit unusually at times. For instance, I eat the foods I don't like first and the foods I like last. (Some other people do that too nowadays) My parents find that annoying, just like they find it annoying that I can't use things I haven't learned yet in my proofs. (In my math class, once you learn a proof or something, then you can use it in problems, but my dad thinks you should be able to use anything as long as you know that it is CORRECT, regardless if you learned it from the teacher or somewhere else)

Also, I get really annoyed by water bottles that are steamed up. Sometimes, on hot days, my plastic water bottles get steamed up. (Sorry, plastic water bottles are really bad for the environment, I know, but they're more convenient...) Whenever I see it, I have to dump the water bottle upside down - cap on so the water won't get out - so that way the steam gets cleared up.

By the way, this is really random, but I think I might've lost one of my erasers. I've been carrying around this eraser for a while now, since sometime last school year, actually. I found it on the ground in the computer lab and there was a name written on it. It said "Ria". I met someone called Ria before so I've been looking for her so I can ask if it's hers, but I haven't seen her since maybe sixth grade, which is a loooooong time ago. I thought she would still be in the school, but seriously, I have not seen her. Maybe she's moved and it's too late now to return the eraser...

Labels: biase, braces, dentist, eraser, favorite, fear, homework, illusion, money, objective, opinion, order, ria, scissorhands, selfish, steam, subjective, vocabulary, water bottles, weight

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