Clash of Clans

 

    One of my favorite games on the iPad is Clash of Clans. This game was produced by Supercell, in August of 2012. Although this strategy game requires Internet connection, there are so many different types of building to construct in my village, I never will get bored of this game.

    In this game, we use currencies of gold, elixir, and dark elixir to buy items from the in-game shop. Also, with enough resources, I can also upgrade my buildings to unlock different warriors and unlock other buildings to protect my village. The warriors in my Barracks (the place where I train troops) can also be upgraded to give more damage and health. With my troops, I can also attack other people’s villages to receive additional loot (resources) to fund more upgrades. Once we have rebuild the Clan Castle, they can join a clan and donate troops. The troops I get can defend or attack a village.

    I love that Clash of Clans is a free game, but I have to resist the temptation to buy resources with real money. In most games, I can only defend  a territory or attack one, but in Clash of Clans, I get to attack other people and defend my village, too. Also, unlike some other games that say they are free, Clash of Clans allows me to play for as long as I want. Some other games make me pay just when the game becomes interesting.

    With all of Clash of Clans’ fun and amazing content waiting for me to be played, I strongly recommend you to download this app. I think this is a game worth playing. So, no more talking, get out your iPad, download Clash of Clans, and start playing!

   

A New Experience

 

    Usually, my instinct is more than sufficient to tell me whether an activity, class, or food is enjoyable to me. When my mom suggests a new experience my gut tells me whether I will like it or not. This peculiar sixth sense has never failed me before. But it broke its “A+” score of one hundred percent during my last summer vacation to China.

    This past summer vacation in China was a perfect example of the summer break I want. Almost every day, my grandpa and I would just lounge around the living room chatting about random stuff and devouring any good food we could lay our hands on (this is why I gain weight so easily in China). After spending the drowsy times of early morning this way, we would go down to the community park and ride our bikes to somewhat control my weight gain. Then I spent lots of time on my iPad until my mom caught me and made me do summer homework. After the gruesome homework was finished and the fantastic dinner cooked by my grandparents was demolished, I would play a card game with Grandma, sometimes joined by my uncle and aunt. After doing my “ritual” of attacking someone on Clash of Clans (an addictive iPad game), I would watch cartoons until close to midnight, sleep, and start the cycle again. And there were the ever present invitations to lunch or dinner at excellent restaurants.

    My instinct failed me during one of these lunches with Cherry and her parents that took place in a really fancy and realistic Japanese restaurant where everyone removed their shoes (very stinky) and sat crosslegged on thick woven mats that slid around ever so slightly on the oiled wood floor. Although the mats felt comfortable for the first ten minutes or so, they steadily became stiffer after that.

    At first, the adults sipped on hot green tea and filled each other in on the latest celebrity gossip, while Cherry and I chugged mango juice. Then the adults started ordering the dishes. First came six steaming, aromatic bowls of miso soup. I sipped slowly straight from the bowl since the Japanese don’t use spoons. Then came the food that I absolutely despised in Japanese cuisine, sashimi. There were salmon, tuna, shrimp, yellowtail, eel, and some type of fish called Ayu, all raw and shining with oil. My guts told me immediately that I would not enjoy sashimi. Luckily for me, a dish of dragon and caterpillar sushi came and I gratefully helped myself to the more inviting food.

    I was able to avoid the slimy sashimi for a few more minutes, before my mom noticed I had not tried it yet. She told me to eat some sashimi and that Cherry loved it as well. I stubbornly refused and continued munching my sushi. A couple of minutes later, when I was off guard, my mom unceremoniously stuffed a particularly large piece of salmon  sashimi into my mouth. Cherry was stunned for a second, then burst into uncontrollable giggles. Mom tried to look mad, but couldn’t stop her lips from twitching upward. As I was forced to chew, I suddenly noticed the pleasant soft texture of the salmon flesh, as well as the exotic wasabi and savory soy sauce. For a moment, I was stunned that sashimi tasted so good and that my instinct had been mistaken. Then I started wolfing down every piece of sashimi as fast good eating manners would allow.

    From that moment on, sashimi has jumped from my least favorite to my second favorite food, close after eggs. I learned that trying a new experience with the urging of your parents is not harmful at all, even if your instinct is telling you to back away from the experience. To this day, I am still very grateful to my mom for stuffing that delicious piece of salmon into my doubtful mouth!

Technology For The 21st Century

 

    The first elective class I had ever taken in my life was Technology For the 21st Century, a computer class.  Before that, I had never known that elective classes even existed. Tech Ed turned out to be a good starting experience for these optional classes.
    Overall, the experience in Tech Ed was pretty enjoyable. We always had something to work on, but were still not overloaded. There was always a little free time where we could play games on our assigned computers. All the lessons Ms. Mejia, our teacher, taught us contained something new. All of the information Ms. Mejia taught us is knowledge that has been carved into my brain. Ms. Mejia was also pretty organized, and the grades were accurate. If I were to grade this class like a teacher with a letter grade, I would probably give it an “A” or “A-.”

    One of my favorite parts of the class was the free time, where I got to play lots of interesting games. The one I played the most was called Strike Force Heroes. I used to play that game a bit at home, but soon stopped playing after my mom’s “reasoning.” I played so much at school and saved all of the content that by the end of the first week, I had beaten the whole game on Normal level. I also played a few other action games that were not blocked by the school district. Playing games was sometimes so addicting that I barely had time to finish all of the assignments.

    Although these Tech Ed classes were nicely taught overall, there were still some places where there could have been improvement. This suggestion is based on my opinion, but I think that the class should contain less work. Although it is not an overload of work, it still pressed down on me, especially because we could not work on our assignments at home. And, as always, there is the constant suggestion of more free time!

    If I were given the chance to recommend this elective to a younger student, I would do so without hesitation. I recommend this class not only for the opportunity to play on the computer, but also for the awesome knowledge of  keyboard shortcuts and unknown functions of the computer.

    If I were given the chance to retake this class, I would do so willingly. Taking the class again might allow me to learn some of the vital information about computers that I missed while I was trying to successfully capture the flag with only a minute handgun on Strike Force Heroes. I might even have the chance to beat the game on Hard level during the free time.

     For all of these reasons and more, I have totally loved this class. If anyone has no idea which elective to take, please consider taking Technology For the 21st Century.  

A Surprisingly Satisfactory Swim Meet

 

    I have failed and excelled in many sports events, but, believe it or not, the events that stick to my memory are the ones in which I do both well and poorly. One of the most recent events in which I had this experience was a swim meet at TMEC, or the Temecula Swim Club.

On January 11th, my mom and I set out for Temecula, one and a half hours before the warm up time at one o’clock . After an uneventful one hour drive, we arrived at the swimming pool with ten minutes to spare. But when I saw my couch, Tyler, he informed me that the swim meet was 15 minutes behind schedule. So my mom and I found a comfortable, shady seat and settled down for the wait. While I just stared at my book without taking anything in because of my nervousness, my mom started to let out a stream of continuous advice on all of my weaknesses, like the start and the different types of turns.

    At around 1:20, we started our warm-ups. These were pretty uneventful, apart from being kicked one the head a couple of times and having people brush my toes for the whole warm up. At 1:40, the actual meet finally started, but I still had to wait a while before my first event, the 100-yard IM’s.

    I had a bad start. Even though my time for the IM’s improved, I got DQ because I turned my shoulders past vertical in the Back to Breast turn. But quickly I forgot about that as my next event came up, the 100-yard freestyle. I made a satisfactory dive in, keeping up with the others. My muscles steadily became sore as I pushed on. The three flip turns I did were all neat and quick. When I took my first breath after my third flip turn, I caught a fleeting glimpse of Coach Tyler bent down, yelling at me to put in greater efforts. As I reached the last 25 meters, I gave a final effort, and with my muscles screaming, I finished the race, coming in third of the heat. I was even more happy about the fact that I got in the Red Division, one division above the entry level.

    Before I knew it, the next event, 50 Breaststroke, was up. My mom encouraged me and patted me on the back. It somehow gave me strength, and I was grateful for that simple yet effective gesture. As the starting machine beeped, my dive this time was not so great, for I belly-flopped slightly, and a small amount of water found its way into my goggles. But the dive was still okay, and I recovered quickly. After the first 12 meters of the race, I gave it my all as I had before, and hit the finish with the muscles seriously on fire. When I talked to Coach Tyler, he was impressed that I dropped about 5 seconds on a 50-yard race. I also made the Red Division for this event.

    My last event, the 50 Free, was separated from the 50 Breaststroke by more than 10 events, so my mom and I settled in for another long wait. Sometimes we would chat quietly about random things, and the rest of the time was spent in companionable silence. Finally, after almost thirty minutes of waiting, my last event was up. As soon as I left the diving block, I knew the dive was a good one. After 4 quick dolphin kicks I broke the surface and swam furiously to the other end. The flip turn was excellent, and I finished first of the heat.

    This 50 Free event made the swim meet stick to my memory because I also found out that I had squeezed my way into the Blue division, only one level below the Junior Olympics. Also, the DQ of the 100 IM’s gave me a learning experience. My mom told me that a great way of learning is through your mistakes and failures. Surprisingly , I agree.

    This swim meet contained both the positives and negatives I needed to learn. I hope this experience will stay with me for a long time.

The Historic Party

 

    Hello, everyone! The celebration that you will attend will probably be the one and only of its kind. Let me just give a little information for the people attending this once in a lifetime party.

    First of all, each and every one of you should know the purpose of this party. This occasion is designed to celebrate my mom’s birthday in October. It is a Chinese tradition to have a big birthday every five years. This is one such period and that is why this party will be so grand.

    No one would want to attend the party if they didn’t know what it was about. First of all, this celebration will take place on one of the fifteen Princess cruise ships. The cruise ship will be Caribbean Princess, because the entire trip will be in the Caribbean Sea. Since my budget is virtually unlimited, I plan to book the whole ship just for my mom and our guests.

    Since this trip celebrating my mom’s birthday will be a weeklong one, it has to happen over Thanksgiving vacation, which is the closest weeklong break to my mom’s birthday. I have to wait until everyone invited is free, so more people can show up to fill the seats of the vast cruise ship. There are so many people on the invitation list that I cannot name them all in this essay. Some of the main parties include everyone from the families of my parents, Darren and Wesley’s family and anyone else they wish to bring, and friends from China and school.

    While I was planning the party, I thought some required dress code should be set. So I made the required type of clothing casual wear. I also thought of an exciting punishment for any formal wear of ties or suits. I will have the captain of the ship bring the cruise to a full stop. Then I plan to tie a rope to the rule breaker's ankle and have a trustworthy crewman hold tightly onto the other end. We will make the person, wearing only his swimsuit, jump feet first off the side of the cruise’s 100 ft high deck with more than enough slack to not result in a broken ankle during the jump. After the jump, he can climb up one of the ladders and enter the ship through any one of the lower balconies. (This jump is not required for anyone under 18 or with acrophobia.)

    One of the things I am the most proud about during this weeklong celebration of my mom’s birthday is the awesome food prepared by the Princess’s chefs. I have experienced this cruise line’s food when I was just a regular guest, and even then, it was awesome. For this special celebration, I went to the liberty of hiring a couple of professional cooks representing all sorts of cuisines, from European and American to Asian. The one I can’t wait to eat is the Japanese cuisine, because of the buffet style sashimi of all kinds of fish and shellfish. This variety of food style will satisfy all of our guests. The beverages will be provided  by my parents. My mom and dad will offer every possible drink; if anyone asks for anything, we will be able to produce it.

    Because of my unlimited budget, I will pay the cruise line to let all the rooms play any game on the Xbox and watch any movie. Everyone can also watch new release movies at night while eating popcorn and Italian ice cream. There are also four swimming pools, multiple hot tubs, and an arcade room. There is also a workout room, basketball courts, and ping pong tables. One of the best parts of the cruise is a visit to the various islands of the Caribbean. I also plan to hire some of the best ice craftsmen to carve ice sculptures in the hot weather, with fresh sashimi frozen in the middle. Sets of the best radio-controlled helicopters and airplanes will be lined up in neat rows, just waiting to be flown above the cruise ship. Crewmen standing next to some cool looking rescue rafts will wait patiently to take guest out on the sea in those airtight boats.

    As usual, for a birthday, gifts are required. But there is no need for expensive gifts, and any gift over $75 will be rejected. I hope you all can come to join us in celebrating my mom’s birthday!

Lies for Games

 

    There have been many times where I felt it necessary to lie, but lying has been needed in one specific situation more than all the others combined. I have used this method of lying more times than I can count to avoid getting caught playing games while I was supposed to be doing educational work on the computer or iPad. Although I have been suspected many times, my mom has never produced actual proof of me playing a game -- until recently.

    My “arrest” happened less than two weeks ago. Mom attempted to catch me two times, only succeeding on the second try. All this happened when I was supposedly drawing pictures for a history project. This is basically how I got apprehended.

    After I found the pictures I wanted to draw, I quickly sketched a rough outline, which I planned to perfect at school the next day. Since I figured Mom would expect me to take longer than just twenty minutes to draw the cartoons, I went on Armor Games and became absorbed with Strike Force Heroes. Almost all my senses were centered at the game. Luckily, my peculiar sixth sense was still on guard and warned me just in time to save and exit the game when my mom clomped downstairs to check on me. I must have been clicking the mouse too loudly because I thought the P99 handgun was malfunctioning in the game. The page flicked out of sight just as my mom came rushing over to check my computer screen, which had just been replaced with a picture of a Despicable Me minion. I put up my innocent face and asked, “Is there anything I can help you with, madam?”

    My mom took a few seconds to recover from her rush downstairs. “I just thought you were playing games,” she answered.

    “I wasn’t playing games,” I said, trying to sound offended. I felt this lie was totally necessary and I didn’t feel that guilty.

    “Then what was that series of loud clicks for?” asked my mom accusingly.  

    I hesitated a second too long, “It was just a stubborn website that wouldn’t open, so I got mad at it.” My heart was beating a bit too quick, but it immediately started slowing down as my mom seemed satisfied with the answer and went upstairs. I sighed again and continued playing with more care.

    As time passed, my guard started dropping. My luck this time was pretty bad. My clicking became louder again and my sixth sense was only lazily on guard. This time the sense warned me a nanosecond too late. I was pretty sure mom saw a grey Special Forces dude carrying a Glock 22 and UMP submachine gun before it flicked out of sight. When she asked me what that thing she saw on the screen was, I shakily lied that it was the home screen. This time she didn’t seem too convinced, and continued to stare piercingly at me. I tried gallantly to return the look and actually succeeded. After all, she can’t prove I did it, I thought almost happily.

    But these hopes were crushed immediately as she suddenly grabbed the mouse and went to the history button, revealing the icon of Armor Games. My mom screamed her triumph and turned dramatically to face me. “You are banned from iPad for a week,” she said with a fake sweet voice that reminded me of Professor Umbridge. Then she left, leaving me stunned.

    Well, this latest attempt of lying to cover up an “illegal” act didn’t go so well. I learned from being caught playing games that it is never wise to do “illegal” things until you know how to wipe every trace of the evidence away.