JJ the Dog

My uncle, on my dad's side of my family had 3 dogs. ONe dalmation, and two schuanzers. ONe of the schnuazers is old and decrepite. He couldn't walk and walk just lie on his bed all day and bark. The other was just plain fiesty. It would go after anone who came near him. This dog's name was JJ. One time when we went to my uncles house and my uncle yelled Attack JJ. The dog charged my black lab. My dog, Licorice was feaked out and hasen't gone near JJ in the last 4 years.

Portland

Over the past weakened my family and I drove down to Portland on Friday. We arrived in the city around 1:30 in the afternoon . The first day in Portland we walled around for a long time. Then, it got really cold and started raining so we checked in at our hotel and stayed there for the night. The next morning my family and I went to the mall in central Portland We didn’t stay for long but I bought an iPod Touch. After lunch we went back to the hotel to get ready for the climax of the weekend. My cousin was getting married. We drove to a church just outside of Portland. After a short ceremony we drove back into Portland for the reception. The reception was at a huge hotel in the middle of Portland. After hugging the bride and groom everyone ate dinner. After the delicious cake every one started dancing. All of the songs sucked so we stayed a talked to lots of family and friends. We left about one hour later. The next morning we packed and drove home. The weekend was fun and I will always remember it.

Christmas

Over the course of my life I have had a lot of great Christmases. My family usually either has the holiday at my house or at my grandparents house in Eastern Washington. No matter where we have it, it is always a great joy. My earliest memories of Christmas are of running around my grama’s house looking for presents. I can also remember opening presents almost every year. At my house my whole family makes seafood and sushi and Christmas eve. At my grandparents house we always eat turkey and ham. My whole life I have always dreamed of a white Christmas. I’m still only dreaming. It is always fun to spend Christmas with family and friends. Even though it may sound bad, my favorite part of Christmas is opening presents. No matter what you get it is always fun to rip open the colorful rapping paper and find what’s inside.

Tipis

Tipis

Before the Europeans colonized the continental United States there was a native group of people call Native Americans or Indians (as Columbus called them.) These people lived life in a much different way than people today. One difference was their housing. The shelters for Native Americans were called tipis. They were perfect for the lifestyle of Native Americans because these people were very “in tune with nature.” Tipis consisted of three main parts. There was the main support, which were several long, wooden posts that made the main shape of the tipis. These poles were made from certain trees that grew near rivers. They were fashioned into long, straight supports to hold up the shell of the tipi. The shell, or lining, of the tipi was made of animal hides, or skins. Generally the covering was made of buffalo hide. The Native Americans went through a long process to make the skins into a perfect outer lining for their tipis. Smoking them weatherproofed the hides. Sharp, wooden pins connected the seams of the hides. Both these and many more materials made a tipi, a tipi.

The construction of a tipi was an interesting process. The family and neighboring families planned, oversaw, and completed the building process. The first part of the long process involved putting up three or four main support columns. These first columns would be larger and stronger than the other poles. The other poles were smaller but there were many more of them. When both sets of poles were put up the base would form a circle and narrow out at the top. Just like and upside down ice cream cone. After the second set of poles was laid on the first poles the women of the family and neighboring women would make an outer covering. The outer, weatherproof lining was created out of fourteen or more buffalo hides depending on how large the tipi was. The men painted the covering and then it was put on the pilings. On some tipis there was an inner lining made out softer animal skins. The inside layer would be made even softer by soaking the hides in water. This inner layer worked as modern insulation does in houses today. It also gave the Native Americans something soft to lean and sit on. These steps affected the way the Native Americans lived. It also was how they liked to live.

The outer covering of the Native American tipis or homes was painted. They covered the outside of their shelters in shapes, animals and things they saw in nature. The designs and pictures were first outlined in charcoal to give the paintings their shape. They were then filled in with bright colors. All of the paints that Native Americans used were all made from earthly thing like algae, ground rocks, plants, and dung. When Europeans brought factory made paints over they became highly prized among the Native American communities. The animals painted include buffalo, antelope, deer, and other animals found in the area around where the tipi was built. The pictures would usually not be that detailed and were meant to symbolize things not recreate them. The paintings usually symbolized something that related to the family that lived inside the tipi. The men of the family would paint the tipi and then leave it to the women to place the covering in the wooden pilings. The Native Americans would also put patterns at the top of the tipi. In some communities only some of the tipis would be painted. The chief’s tipi was usually decorated and painted the most because he holds the highest power. The tipi painting was a very important part of the Native American homes and meant a lot to the people themselves.

Living in tipis was much different than living in houses today. Instead of electric and gas heated houses, the Native Americans used fire to heat the tipis. Where we use light bulbs for light the Natives used a fire in the middle of the tipi to light their shelter. The whole family would sleep in one tipi. Chairs and sitting spots were made of willow. The Native Americans also leaned on the soft inner covering of their tipis. The women in the family cooked just outside of the tipi in fireplaces. Some families, in colder regions lived in tipis only in the winter because of the lack of insulation. Others lived in them year round. Living in a tipi required a place to get clean water because there were no pipes connected to the living space. It also required a lot of perseverance, because it was hard to be away from the things we take for granted. Things including television, internet, refrigerators, telephones, and pretty much any thing involving electricity and cords were all virtually impossible to have in a tipi. The Native Americans chose to live in tipis because they liked always being close to nature and their fellow tribe members. The living style of living in a tipi was perfect for the Native Americans. The only reason Native Americans moved out of tipis is because it became hard for them to live their old life style.

Tipis are rarely used as primary housing for Native Americans today. The Natives began leaving their shelters after Americans forced them onto reservations. Reservations are a set piece of land put aside for the Native Americans to live on. It goes by its own laws, and is not connected to the U.S. government. The land given to the Native Americans is usually not the best. In many spots around the United States they are swampy and bad for farming. Native American reservations are famous for fire works and casinos. Both are illegal in the U.S. Tipis are often used in
pow-wows. Pow-wows are Native American parties. Natives dance and feasts occur at these celebrations. Tipis at these parties are used to set a happy and festive mood. They are also used to take Native Americans back to the days when they roamed the plains hunting buffalo. Many parks across the Mid-West have tipis in them as monuments, to remind people of how Native Americans used to live and what they lived in. Tipis were truly remarkable structures and it is a shame that the Native Americans have stopped using them as their primary housing.

My Birthday

On November 11, 2007 four friends and I went to a sonics game. The four people were Will, Riley, Sam, and Ben. We picked up Ben from a soccer game. After we picked him up we headed to Seattle for the game. We ate a Dick's and then went to the Kea Areana. We were early so we went to sit by the court before the game started. After we took our seats the game started after we took our seats and the Pistons, the visiting team got off to a 15-2 run. The Sonics lost in the end after coming back to tie the game. When we got home a 11:00 at night we started playing my PS2. We were up to 6:30 in the morning when the power finally went out. Once every one had left I slept for almost the rest of the day.

My Old Memory

My whole life I have had a short memory of going to a mariners baseball game inside the kingdom. All that I can remember is hiding in my dad's lap because because I was afraid of getting hit with a foul ball. When the mariners would hit a homerun there would be fireworks set off inside. Even though no pictures were taken I can remember the brightmess and the color of the fireworks just like I was there today. I can't remember anything else except for a few seconds when I was walking up the ramp to our seats. My parents can't believe I can remember back that far but i can see the fireworks going off after the many homeruns hit that night twelve years ago when I was three years old.

The Journey of Hernando Cortes Claymation

In the first quarter of eighth grade my American Studies class did a partner project on an American explorer. The project was a claymation that would eventually be placed on YouTube. My partner, Austin Baker, and I chose Hernando Cortes. The project was my favorite one I have ever done not only because of the claymation, but also because of the different stages of the project. Overall the stop frame animation project on Hernando Cortes was very fun, challenging, and I learned a lot from it.

There were numerous things that were fun, exciting and enjoyable. The best, for me, was seeing the final project finally get finished and placed on YouTube. I enjoyed seeing all of my hours of work come together. Seeing all of the scenes, narration, dialog and sound effects combined was exhilarating. Showing people in and out of school and seeing their reaction was very exciting. It has been great to be able to show anyone who has the internet my claymation. Overall the claymation was a very fun project and it was very hard to pick a favorite part because the whole thing was awesome.

The most difficult part of the claymation project on Hernando Cortes was the filming of each frame. It was very hard to keep the camera in the same place, while, at the same time, move each person just a little bit before each new photo. Claymations are very difficult because you must do each scene in one time session. Otherwise the camera will move and it is be hard to remember where each person was the day before. Since each picture was only 0:00:05 seconds long, to make the final movie look smooth each photo must be almost identical. This part of the claymation was more challenging than hard. Even though it was challenging, I think the final project turned out great.

Of the many things that I learned doing the claymation on Hernando Cortes, the most important was learning about the explorer. It was very interesting to find out facts about Hernando Cortes. Over the many stages of the project I learned at least one new thing each time. I learned the most during the first stage of the project. While doing the outline, Austin and I had to find out many topics and five points about each one. While reading internet sites and looking through books, I found out almost all there is to know about the explorer Hernando Cortes. There were many other important things I learned as well like how to use iMovie and other computer software and how to make a claymation. This was a great project and I learned a lot of important things from it.

Over all, when I look back on the whole project, I learned so much and had a lot of fun doing it. All of the parts of the project, from the outline to uploading the final claymation on to YouTube, were very enjoyable and made me work very hard. The claymation was the favorite project I have ever done because I learned lots of new things and I got to do things that I had never done before. There were difficult parts and easy parts. The difficult things were really more challenging than hard which always kept me busy. This was a great and educational project that was very enjoyable. I love being able to watch my movie on YouTube and to show it to anyone, anytime, and
almost anywhere.