killing jimmy

Graffiti

Last night my dad and I were looking through a book Riley let me borrow called, Banksy Wall and Piece. We were admiring the artwork and planning on how to improve my stencils. My dad has some cardboard in his shop I can make my stencils out of, and he said I can put the pictures on a projector to make them bigger. Soon I am going to get some spray paint because my dad has the 9x4 sheet of wood in his truck, and it will take me a while to do it all.

8th Grade Project

For my 8th grade project, I want to do graffiti. I think that they wont let me do the project because they might think there is not enough information about graffiti to be worth doing a project on it. I think differently. I have already done some research on it and it originated as a way for gangs to communicate. Each style was for a different gang. I have also thought about my visual and I have made some stencils to paint on the sheet of plywood my dad is getting me. There are many graffiti artists that paint all over and some of their work is actually considered public art. One example, and probably the most famous is Banksy. Robert Banksy is my favorite graffiti artist because his art is so original. My favorite piece is one of a little girl whose balloon is floating away, and she has a hand outstretched to try and get it. The balloon is in the shape of a heart, and it’s red. The rest of the painting is black and white.

The Hidden Valley

My adventure takes place in a hidden land full of mystical creatures and beings. When you start you are in a wonderful flower patch filled with colorful flowers. Giggling and dancing around under you feet you see the tiny flower patch kids frolicking in the flowers. If you go northwest you will come upon a crystal, clear pond full of life, on a rock near the middle of the pond there is a beautiful mermaid playing a golden harp. To the north there is a giant, thundering waterfall pouring down into the pond. From the flower patch if you wander north you will find a huge tree with a tire swing. The swing is very high up and sitting on the branch next to where the swing is tied on, there is a friendly, looking man smiling at you. East of this there is a tall yew tree with a knife sticking into it, there is also a springy branch at the base of the tree. If you go farther east there is a clearing with a forest to the north and an old campsite to the south. In the clearing you see a heard of elk, and in the campsite there is a small fire, small but warm. The conflict in my game is that the mermaid has lost her 8 treasures and you have to find them and return them to her casket behind the waterfall. But that’s not all. You have to get the casket to a place where the mermaid can get to it and take it to her lair. The mermaid will take you there after that, as long as you can prove your worthy. There is one ting that was stolen from the king mermaid at one time and no one could get it back, so if you can retrieve that item and show it to the mermaid you are worthy of following the mermaid into the Mermaid’s Lair.

The first character in my game is the mermaid. You will find her sitting on a rock near the middle of the pond playing a golden harp. If you talk to her she will tell you that she has lost her 8 items, and she would like you to help her get them back. Later if you come back to the mermaid with the 8 items in her casket she will take them to her lair and then she will tell you about a sacred item that was stolen from their king at one time and you must prove to her you are worthy by getting the item and showing it to her. The next character is a man sitting on the branch of a tree. He looks friendly, but he is also very lonely all the way up there. It looks like he could use a friend to talk to. If you talk to the man he will ask you if you would like a bowstring he found in some old campsite. My final character is Ammon Christensen. You will find him after you make it through a maze. That’s not the challenge; the real challenge is acquiring the item in which you will get rid of him with. After defeating the mighty Ammon Christensen look around for a sacred item (you will need it.)

At first you may think this is an easy game to beat once you figure out how to return the casket of treasures to the mermaid. But that’s not even close to being done. The goal of my game is to return all the treasures to the casket and getting the casket to the mermaid. Even though it is not very hard it is the first step to beating my game. After that you must test you skills and see if you have what it takes to create a weapon deadly enough to get rid of the great Ammon Christenson. You will find pieces of it lying all around The Hidden Valley. You just need to be clever enough to identify those as the pieces you need. When the great one falls you must recover the sacred item that was stolen from the mermaid king centuries ago and show it to the mermaid. Only then is it that she will know you have what it takes to enter the Mermaid’s Lair.

California

Over a week ago I got back from one of the best experiences of my life, a trip to California. We rode a 36 hour train ride, rode on a catamaran, got to go to a college, stayed three days on Santa Cruz Island, and got to see a whale give birth. On the train we played poker, wrestled, watched part of the Seahawk’s game, and listened to the rest. During the night Sam D., Jessica, and I couldn’t fall asleep so we looked at people to see what they looked like when they were asleep. We tickled peoples’ faces with the tip of a pencil to see what they would do. And of course we would look at Mustachio, who hadn’t moved the entire train ride, to see if he was sleeping, or sleeping.

The part of the trip I thought was the most fun was being on Santa Cruz Island for three days. On the first day some of us climbed over this hill and found a patch of trees and green grass. That was the only spot that had green grass for as far as you could see, up there. Later that night we played Mission Impossible, a game where there are two spotters that can’t move, and a flashlight you have to get to, to win. The spotters had headlamps and they had to point to the person and call out their name for them to be out. Being out just means you had to go the beginning and start again. That night all but three of us slept on top of a hill near our campsite. This was a terrible idea for it was way too cold for me to sleep. I kept waking up and going to the bottom of my sleeping bag, then rolling up in a ball to try and stay warm. The next day we went on a hike to a place called Smuggler’s Cove. On the way there Sam D. Riley, and I were imagining a place we wanted it to look like, we called it, “The Hidden Valley.” Once we got to Smuggler’s it looked nothing like what we had envisioned, but it was still a cool beach. There was a house down the trail with two orange trees next to it that we got some oranges from. There was also a lemon tree. We saw Paul, a guy who was camped at the same spot we were, and we started talking to him. Once we got back to camp Mr. “B” and I tried to perfect our skills at slack lining. Once again that night we played Mission Impossible, but this time Paul decided to play with us. Next day we went on a grueling hike up to the highest point on the island and stayed up there for about 30 minutes before we left to camp again. That day I was up till dark slack lining trying to perfect my technique, and it paid off. On the last day at the island I could walk all the way across the line. My record was twelve steps.

The most difficult part of the trip I thought was conserving food and money. On the last day I was out of food and almost out of money, but luckily Sam Lee had eleven Mountain House meals left and shared some with me. The reason I found this the most difficult was because I’m not used to eating that little so I wanted to eat too many at one time and that left me short a few meals in the end. A reason I found money difficult to keep was because we had to take a bunch of transits that ranged from $1.25 to $2. When we went to Von’s (Safeway) I wanted to buy a lot of food because it all looked so good. On the train I wanted food like pizza and drinks like soda. Let me tell you something, train food is not cheap.

The most important thing I learned on the trip was, if you’re going on a trip like this, be prepared. Be prepared for rain, be prepared for snow, and be prepared with food. BE PREPARED. Because if you’re not prepared for everything, you could be miserable for the whole trip. Bring enough items to last you the whole trip and bring things to keep you warm and dry. Too much is always better than too little. I learned that this trip. And I will never forget it.

Overall this was a great trip and a great experience for me to have. If I could do it again I know I would. The train ride home had its ups and downs though. When we got on I found out we would have to get on a bus for about six hours then get on another train to get home. The good thing was, at about 7:00 in the morning we got a complementary breakfast. Then when we got on the bus we got a sub sandwich, chips and water. We also got to watch the movies, National Security, Mr. Deeds, and The Simpson’s Movie. When we got to the train station in Seattle Jimmy’s mom, Barb got us KFC for on the bus. And that’s when we boarded the bus to go back home.

Patriots and Ravens

Last night, when i was finished typing up my sub topics i watched the 4th of the Patriots and Ravens game. The Patriots were down 20 to 24 on 4th down with about one minute to go. They went for it on 4th down and got stopped, but since the Ravens coach called a tiemout right before the play started the Patrios had one more chance. Again on 4th and one they snapped the ball and the play was whistled dead. The Patriots had a false start. So with 4th and six they pass and get the first down. On they’re next 4th down they threw it to the end zone and there was a defensive pass interference. First and goal the Patriots pass to the end zone and get a touchdown. There was two unsportsmanlike conduct plays on the play so the patriots kicked from the ravens 30 yard line. The Ravens were out of timeouts so all they could do was pass. They got to 3rd down with 14 seconds left and threw a Hail Merry. They caught the ball at the two yard line but they were out of time. In the end, the Patriots won to protect their perfect season 12-0. End score, Patriots 27, Ravens 24.