eyevansworld

[eyevansworld]

post write

500 words seems like alot, but when you look at it, it's not really that bad. When going into this project, I was not very happy, and I thought it would take away time from daily life. But I have actually really enjoyed this project, and it is very nice to have somewhere to write down your ideas and feelings, plus being able to write about things you enjoy. I think I was mostly upset at the start of the year because I thought the workload would be extremely hard; however, if you balance it, it's really not that bad. You just have to be prepared to drop everything to get the work done and so far that has worked pretty well. I only hope the work doesn't get too much harder even though I know the expectations will be higher later. I think I can keep up. Another instance of me not wanting to do something but then enjoying it is Romeo and Juliet. I personally have enjoyed the creativity of some of the assignments, especially the act 3 assignment where you get to rewrite it. And while the book itself goes pretty fast, it takes a while to process what is actually going on. I like this aspect of the book because of the strange imagery that you get to analyze and dissect. On the topic of English class in general, I have been enjoying the class a lot. Although the work is challenging, it is very enjoyable and it is fun to analyze writing. I also feel like I put more work into this class than others partly because my mother is a writing teacher and expects me to do well, but also because work in other classes isn't very challenging. My opinions on this book and the class are definitely very different from the beginning of the year, where I wasn't very happy about having to do this assignment. At one point, in the pre-write, I complained about how many points the assignment was worth. But even if it’s not worth many points, it was still a great experience and I enjoyed it alot. One thing that sets this assignment apart from other assignments is that I got to work on it over time and build on certain ideas. Another thing i just realized was how fast this book went by; it took about 7 weeks, but it felt like maybe 3 and the quarter was already over. That's how I felt about this quarter in general and I'm sure the second quarter will feel like it went even faster so will freshman year and high school in general, even if the schedule isn't repetitive and kind of all over the place. One thing that sets L&N STEM apart from other schools is school starting at 9:30 and ending at 4:30. This makes the morning so much less miserable since you have time to sleep in, eat breakfast, and get ready for school. Overall, this school, this class, and to be more specific this assignment, have greatly grown on me and I enjoy this school more than any other school i've been to.

[eyevansworld]

home entry#5 (Pokémon Trading Card Game)

The last entry besides the post-write is going to be something I have been delaying for awhile, which is my interest in the Pokemon trading card game (TCG). This is possibly the biggest part of my life. When most people think of the Pokemon TCG,  they think of something that little kids enjoy opening to look at the card’s artwork and characters. However, Pokemon is not something people see as a competitive game compared to other card games like Magic the Gathering. However, I would argue that Pokemon is one of the hardest games to master.While it's easy to learn the basics, it takes a lot of time and commitment to get great at the game. Even if you master a specific deck, cards will regularly rotate and new cards will come out, changing the game completely. Recently professional Pokemon player Ian Robb joined a Magic the Gathering  tournament. Even though he did not have much experience with playing Magic, he made it to the top 8 before losing in the finals. I think Robb’s success shows the logical mind it takes to play Pokemon. 

Another commonly talked about aspect of Pokemon cards is the price some cards can cost, making collecting the cards a nightmare. While it is very expensive to collect these cards, it is actually one of the cheapest card games to play. Decks that win major championships usually cost a little over $100 dollars. For example, 2023 world champion Vance Kelley’s deck only costs around $85. The only problem is that after a year, these cards in the winning deck are already rotated and can no longer be played in a standard legal deck. However many decks will be viable for a long time after release with only slight modifications. Personally I enjoy playing and I am even on a team. Recently, I attended a Pokemon regional tournament and while I didn't do as well as I would have hoped, I still think it was a great experience and I still have many more regional tournaments to come. Overall I think Pokemon is a great way to make friends and compete in a friendly environment. Additionally, it helps with problem solving, sequencing, and critical thinking. 

[eyevansworld]

school entry #5 (history of L&N station)

For my final school entry, I wasn't sure what to write about so I'm going to write about L&N Station itself. I did some research and it seems that the L&N railroad itself was very important throughout the Civil War, being one of the main Confederate railroads. Then, even after the Civil War, it was heavily used as a freight and passenger rail system. There is even a part in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird where it’s mentioned. So now that we know some of the history of the railroad, let’s learn about the station. The station itself wasn't built until 1905 by chief engineer Richard Montfard. The station was the biggest of all the stations in Knoxville and was considered one of the nicest along the track from Cincinnati to Atlanta. The station was used as a passenger station until 1968, used as L&N offices until 1975, then it was left behind by the L&N company until 1980, when Alex Harkness bought and renovated the building to use as office space and special events. It was then used for the 1982 World’s Fair. From 2002 to 2004, the restaurant Ye Old Steakhouse operated out of the station while recovering from a fire at their main location on Chapman Highway. Finally on August 15, 2011 the station opened as L&N STEM Academy. In conclusion, the building has a lot of very rich and interesting history with many things I didn't know until I researched it. I’m very glad I did; it makes me feel very happy to be a part of the building's history and hopefully I will build upon it in the future as well.   

[eyevansworld]

home entry #4 (music)

For my second to last home entry I'm going to talk about music. My taste in music has definitely developed over the years but I'm not going to talk about that. I'm going to talk about why I think music is such an important piece of so many people's lives. Even though it hasn't been around forever, it's been dated back to 40,000 BCE. I think the reason music is so widespread and a part of so many cultures is because of the comfort it brings people. Sometimes music is used to tell stories, but it can also be used as a form of communication. I also believe music started from people trying to recreate sounds they heard in the wild. But regardless of how it started, music is something that has always brought people together for many different reasons. 

[eyevansworld]

school entry #4 (opinions on classes)

I have been delaying it for a while but now that it's fall break and the end of the first quarter. I'm going to write about my thoughts on this school and the teachers. Starting with Geography, my opinion is that this class is pretty chill, although sometimes there is an assignment that I can't finish in class but I think this is due to the fact that I put in more work than everyone else. The next class is Earth and Space Science. This class is my least favorite because the work is very repetitive and easy; also, for some reason, I got paired up with two of the most annoying people twice in a row. Stem 1 is my next class and this is my second favorite because it involves a lot of design and attention to detail, which I really enjoy. My last class on Tuesdays and Thursdays is visual art and this is probably my favorite class because I love art. We recently finished our artist trading cards, which I had a lot of fun making. Ms. Farkas is a great teacher; even though she's a hippie, she doesn't smell bad like hippies usually do, so it's great. Starting Wednesday is Lifetime Wellness. I've already done an entry on this class but it's great and Coach Deangelo is a lot of fun. Next is Computer Science. This class is very easy, which I like. However, I feel like we aren't learning any coding and are just memorizing terms or doing presentations. This is fine with me because I hate coding. My next class is this class, English, which I'm not going to write about because that will be in the 500 word post-write. The last class is Math. This class is very strange for me. I'm doing pretty well so far with a high B but it was better until I flunked the first test even though I did well on the quizzes. But I think I'm understanding the coursework pretty well; I'm just worried I'm slowly going to get left behind. Ms. Armsworth is funny (sometimes) and explains the problems very efficiently. In conclusion, I think all my schoolwork has been relatively easy so far and maybe this is because my previous school prepared me for it, the punishment for not keeping up is greater than my last school, or both. I hope I can get better at the work, keep up in the future, and maybe even graduate with all A’s, that would be cool.

[eyevansworld]

home entry #3 (history of banana flavoring)

After thinking about what to write about for a while, I'm going to write about the downfall of banana flavoring. Banana flavoring has a very rich and interesting history and it starts obviously with the banana. Banana flavoring does taste like banana, just not the banana of today. Banana flavoring is based on the formerly widely popular gros michel banana. Sadly, in the 1950s, the gros michel fell victim to an invading soil fungus causing panama disease. This disease made it almost impossible to grow the gros michel banana so we started growing the modern cavendish banana. The only problem with this is that the production of gros michel banana flavoring had already started. Rather than coming up with a new formula, the companies stuck with it, giving us the modern taste of Banana Runts and Laffy Taffy, which nobody likes unless you're weird or really old. In my opinion, this history is very fascinating and proves that even very strange subjects can be interesting to research. 

[eyevansworld]

school entry #3 (lifetime wellness fear of)

I'm going to write about wellness class because I think it's very interesting. It's pretty easy and I don't have to worry about it much, which might be because Coach Deangelo doesn’t try very hard to give us challenging work. So far, we have learned about exercise, sleep, and healthy eating habits. However, the work usually only involves watching a video and answering some questions, then we usually go outside. I personally think the class is necessary for me so I don't become a complete glutton and I stay healthy, especially growing up in Tennessee and partaking in one of my biggest hobbies. I see a lot of unhealthy people and it seems very uncomfortable to me, which makes me want to try and stay healthy. 

[eyevansworld]

home entry #2 (terminator)

Today I didn't know what to write about, so I'm going to write about The Terminator Franchise, a very relevant topic in the current time as AI is getting better and better. The basics of the Terminator story are that Skynet, an artificial intelligence system that when activated, immediately detects the human race as a threat to its existence and fires thousands of nuclear strikes instantly killing billions of people. Then, before the survivors scrap together a resistance, Skynet builds an army of cyborgs to hunt and kill the human race. Somewhere along the lines of the conflict, Skynet develops time travel and tries to insure the genocide of the human race by killing people with a fate linked to the future resistances. This is the plot of the first two movies; however, some of the movies are very different. For instance, the worst Terminator movie ever made is Terminator Genesis because the viewer wouldn't know what is going on if they watched it 100 times. Recently, there has been a Terminator anime series set in Japan where a character known as Malcolm Lee is trying to build an artificial intelligence entity named Kokoro to stop Skynet. But now that we know the story, the relevant question is: could an artificial intelligence theoretically take over the world? This is a timely question as billionaire Elon Musk recently introduced an AI powered robot. My answer is no. Here’s the thing—if someone created an AI with no protocols on what to do, it wouldn’t work. An AI needs at least some sort of guideline on how to work or it can’t function. The other problem with the Terminator franchise is if a machine were to become self-conscious, the company producing it would likely  have some sort of kill switch or EMP that could shut it down before it’s too late. The last problem for the Terminator story is what does an AI entity do after it kills all the humans. If the AI has no moral problems for humans dying, why should it have moral issues for itself dying. Additionally, if it successfully kills the human race, then is it going to develop its own world or just keep the world in an apocalyptic state. In conclusion, I don’t think a robot apocalypse could happen because there are just too many variables that would need to occur.

[eyevansworld]

school entry #2 (poem about grades)

I have good grades so far

My parents tell me in the car and that is something I hate 

But if I had to bet

My grades will go down under the stars 

By ivan lukens 

This poem shows how I am nervous about my grades. I feel like I have kept up in the beginning, but I’m worried I will have trouble later in the future. if I can’t keep up with the work or the quality of my work doesn’t improve as the standards increase. However maybe i'm just smart and the work isn't hard for me or my previous school prepared me for the work. I hope this is the case. In conclusion this poem represents my stress about the schoolwork in the future and my own improvement in comparison to the rising standards.

[eyevansworld]

home entry #1 (cooking/baking)

My interest in cooking and baking is a big part of my life. I've alway enjoyed cooking, but never really got into it until after the pandemic. I mostly bake cakes and at first I was just using the cake mix but later I started baking from scratch and stopped using mixes. Baking from scratch is a lot more enjoyable than using the mix. However, I don't bake as often as I did in the summer because I have been busy with other things.  Although, I have been cooking dinner often as my mom hates cooking and hates food so she pays me to make dinner every night. This is enjoyable sometimes but annoying other times. The thing I have had fun with more recently is making ice cream. I have made over 20 flavors and it's very fun experimenting. My favorite flavor I’ve made so far has been salted caramel. 

[eyevansworld]

school entry #1 (social life)

My social life at STEM is very strange so far. Usually I hang out with my friend Ethan and his friends. I say his friends because they aren't really my friends. They know of me but don't really know me. I think I might want to hang out with different people but I don't know. There's one person I know from Pokemon who goes to STEM. He mainly just collects, but I'm hoping to see him in the Pokemon genius hour I signed up for. I've only seen him once at school, however. Sometimes I see some older kids playing trading card games, but I don't think  they would want to hang out with a freshman. Maybe they would. Hopefully I will meet people with common interests in genius hour; that's what they are for. However, I feel like I should've chosen more specific genius hours than activities in the park. But who knows, maybe it's a better opportunity to make friends.  

[eyevansworld]

prewrite

I need to write 300 words about this stupid book I am supposed to be writing. I call it stupid because it doesn't seem important and doesn't seem like I will remember it throughout my life, but maybe I will change my mind. I'm sitting on the couch writing this and thinking about how I'm even going to fill the pages. I’m also thinking about how much time and effort this thing will take. I hope I get a lot of points for it. If it's worth 100 points I will be unhappy; I hope it is worth more than that. There are  many things I've done with so much less effort that granted 100 points. Currently, I’m thinking about how the assignments from this class and other classes will interfere with my everyday life and my hobbies but maybe it's worth it so I can get into a good college. 

I don't even know if I’m going to go to college or what I’m going to do in the future, but in computer science we have to talk about career choices. I say I’m going to be a chef but in reality I don’t have any idea what I am going to do. 

This class has been relatively easy so far, but maybe I’m  not taking it seriously compared to some of my other classes. While I am doing well, this class is sometimes hard but sometimes it seems easy. My mom is also a writing teacher who often complains about her students; maybe I’m good at writing because of her genetics or maybe I’m bad at writing. I just don’t know it yet. 

I don’t know what I’m going to write about for my other entries. I will probably write about my hobbies. I like talking about my hobbies but I am also worried I might not have time for hobbies anymore since I’m so busy with being in ninth grade and high school. Hopefully, I will still have time for hobbies. I will probably just have to work hard to keep up with everything.