See You Next Year! (Today's The LAST DAY!)

Guess what? That's right - the last school day of 2010 is over! Which means...

IT'S CHRISTMAS BREAK!
I've been wanting to say that for awhile... :)

In addition to that, today was only a half day! Each period was only around half an hour. My day went like this:

1. Math - Can you say party? Because of the shortened day, our math teacher felt no need to do any work. Thus everyone brought food and we had a free period! We also got our math tests back - I got perfect! Nice end to the 2010 school year, don't you think?

2. Music - To tell you the truth, I don't know exactly what I did in music class. Again we had a free period, and I just hung around with my friends. It was quite the chaotic scene in our music room, but nonetheless fun. As you can tell, didn't get any school work done!

3. Gym - Can you say party redux? That's right... another party! With lots of food and fabulous music, our gym class celebrated the start of the holidays. There was lots of eating and talking. And did I mention dancing? I think we all got high on sugar and chips, and lots of people started dancing. Gym class + junk food, you ask? Oh, the irony.

4. Computers - Believe it or not, it was a "normal" day in the world of ICS2O7. If you call going to class hyper off of chips, cookies, and candy canes normal. Haha. However, we continued working on our graphics/animation programs. Since I was already finished, I worked on an experimental game: HangPerson (aka Hangman)! The period felt very short though; and before we knew it, it was time to go.

And then there was a holiday assembly/concert, which I decided to go to for the fun of it. There were lots of great performers performing various Christmas songs and dances, and overall just an enjoyable assembly! Some highlights were teachers performing "The 12 Days of VP" (after The 12 Days of Christmas), the VP Improv team doing an improvised skit, and my friends in the Gr. 9 band class performing! It was a great time.

So that was my day. Now I'm REALLY looking forward to getting some much-needed sleep! I guess I will talk to you guys again next year. But of course...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Window Trace x 2 (OMG TOMORROW'S THE LAST DAY!)

Ha - Hahaha. He - yes, him. Hi - hi! How are you? Ho - Hohoho, Merry Christmas! Hu - wait what? What's a Hu?

Yeah... that was random. I don't know what happened there. One of my random bouts of "inspiration", I guess? I'm actually here to talk about Window Trace! Times two. Allow me to explain.

Window Trace #1:
That program I told you about yesterday? Yes, well I managed to figure it out quite quickly. However, it took some more time to make my code more efficient and shorter. In class today, we got to continue working on our "graphics/animation" assignments, and we went to review some of them with Mr. Arkin. We spent the entire period perfecting both the Window Trace and Bouncing Ball programs.

Window Trace #2:
So here I was, at the bus stop, waiting for the bus. The bus comes by, but it wasn't the one I needed to get on. As it passed by though, I saw a huge heart, traced on the frosty window. A window trace! Get it? Haha, very funny.

Very cute indeed, won't you agree?

Well there you go! That was my day. Now tonight I'm looking forward again to meeting up with my friends, to practise for a Christmas performance. So although it's only 5:15pm right now... good night!

Bounce x 1000 (Two Days Left! :D)

Yes, that's right. The bouncing ball mystery has been solved! Today was a work period, to continue solving the mystery. In addition to figuring it out, I have also edited the program to prevent having an infinite loop. All in all, it was a fun class. Now our next mission is to create the "moving symbol" program. We need to move a symbol around the run window continuously. I'm sure it's going to be another hardworking evening!

In other news, today we had our last playing test of the semester. Guess what? I did really well. I would have to say I was most satisfied with this one, because I actually managed to calm my nerves down a little! Only a bit, but hey, that's still improvement there. Not to mention the 10/10! :)

We also had a math test today; our final one before the holidays. I found it all to be really simple, except for a single question! I'm still not sure whether I got that question right or not, but there's nothing I can do now.

So that was my day. How did yours go? I think I'm going to go work on the "moving character" program now. But be sure to check Giftees United tonight, as I'll be posting Chapter 7 of our Christmas fanfic! It shall be epic. >:D

I think I've taken a liking to very small font. So, to all who bother enlarging/copy-and-pasting, today Grace got a ducky (stuffed animal). I named it "Turtle" for her. Grace loves Turtle very much, and he loves her too! <3

Whew, Just Dodged a Bullet There (3 Days Left!)

As predicted, Mr. Arkin handed back our tests today, reviewing the answers along the way. I was very relieved. Now you can go guess my mark - it wasn't perfect by the way. Congrats to Randi and Felix though, who did get perfect! And who are probably not gonna read this. But ah well.

Other than reviewing our tests, we also went over some other concepts, like how to generate executables. Executables are basically just the run window - the user doesn't see the code behind the program. Generating an executable of a program involves this uber-epic-really-long-and-hard-mind-boggling-brain-wasting procedure...

1. Go to the "Run" menu in Turing
2. Click "Generate stand-alone program

Wasn't that like, the toughest thing in the world? I hope you can tell my sarcasm. Why do I keep using very small text?

After learning those two steps, Mr. Arkin also showed us a few programs that involved animation. Do you know those DVD screensavers, where an image bounces off the walls of the TV screen? Well, he created a program like that, except the path of the character is shown. Then he asked us to create the same program! Argh, still haven't figured that one out yet.

On another note, Winter Break's only 3 days away! I am very excited. But meanwhile I still have work to do. I think now'd be a good time to go and work on the program mentioned above. Wish me luck!
Now if you're bothering to pay attention to this... I got 23.5 on my test. Awesome, eh? So Canadian, eh?

Wow. What. Was. That. (4 Days Left)

What?! ARGHHHHH. Noooooooo! OMGOMGOMG. Whowhatwhenwherehow? Oh. My. Goodness. Gracious.

Yeah. That was pretty much a re-enactment of me at lunch today. When Mr. Arkin had posted on the Daily Log on Friday, he'd written:

Be prepared for Programming Unit Test 2
the week of 13 December.

Me, being me, suspected that it was going to be on Monday - today. However me, also being me, spent a total of five minutes studying before I got distracted by Dramione/Facebook/Youtube/whatever else is on the Internet these days! Needless to say, as happens to all bad students who don't study for tests 3 days early... It was sprung on us. I found out at lunch - see reaction above. Then, me being me again, proceeded to study another about five minutes before getting distracted again. Déja vu much?

And my (non-existent) studying time paid off! Actually, not really. I knew that I knew all the concepts pretty well already, and the test actually turned out to be easier than expected. I was very relieved at the end but, like with all tests, I'm really nervous about my mark. Knowing Mr. Arkin and his super-fast marking skills though, chances are we'll get our tests back tomorrow.

Other than the unit-test shocker though, today was a nice day. Though it was very cold outside. Snow + wind = -20 something temps and a not-so-happy moi. But on the bright side, just 4 days until Christmas break! That totally makes up for the snow and wind. :)

Alright, time for me to go. But don't forget to check out Giftees United once again, as I posted chapter 5 on Saturday, and Grace just posted Chapter 6 of our Christmas fanfic today! Aren't we so awesome? ;)

Deck the Halls

It's Friday! Which means two whole days of getting to relax! And one more week until winter break! See how excited I am?! I'm using all these exclamations marks! They're called bangs in programming language!

Ok, I think I'll stop now.

How's life in the normal/not-so-normal-anymore world? In the IB world, life is good... for now. Everyone is looking forward to Christmas break, myself included - as you can probably tell from above. The true Christmas season has fallen upon us; snow, cold, and the holiday music, all in one big package! I can almost feel Christmas nearby. Ok fine, maybe not.

Right and now, back to the world of ICS. Today was basically a free period, for us to continue to work on reaching that level 4! For me, I re-modified some substrings assignments, and then started to work on a project: Hangman! I am trying to create the game using Turing. Wish me luck that it'll all work out!

So that's pretty much it for today. I have a busy weekend ahead: Christmas shopping and two church services will pretty much take up all of my weekend! But nonetheless, I am TGIF-ing. Good night!

'Tis the season to be jolly... FALALALALA LALALALA. I always did like screaming out that last part there. >:)

Aiming for Four

Today was a work period in class, once again in our study groups, so we could work together to "aim for fours!" (meaning the ratings we gave ourselves yesterday.) My group and I went over some of the notes we'd taken in class, to make sure we all had the right notes. Afterwards, we experimented a little in Turing, to see some of the parameters withing Turing keywords and statements. It was a fun period.

Then in gym class, we got to watch the grade 8 boy's volleyball finals. It was a real treat, because I got to see my old school's team play, and they won! I saw a lot of people that I knew and a few of the teachers from my old school.

So now here I am, writing very early on because my friends are coming over later tonight! I am practising with them on a Christmas performance we are going to do. Because of that, I have to finish all my homework early!

Have an awesome rest of the day guys, and be sure to check out Giftees United, as Grace will be posting chapter 4 of our Christmas fanfic tonight. Don't forget to click the follow button! :)

Are You a 1, 2 or 3?

Hi y'all. How's it going? I'm doing pretty well myself. Today was another one of those calm, uneventful days. During gym we did volleyball drills which were actually fun (!), surprisingly. I breezed through the math work in math class. And in music, we listened to Beethoven's Op. 18 #1, his first string quartet. Then we set off to work individually on one of Handel's Concerto Grossos. All in all, it was a peaceful day.

Didn't I forget something, you ask? No, I did not. I deliberately left ICS class to the very end, so I can talk about it separately. First off, we learned how to write custom procedures. They are similar to custom functions - and are actually easier to write, I think. The one new keyword we learned today was procedure. Like function, it is used at the start of the procedure. The procedure body is closed with end procedure.

Afterwards, Mr. Arkin surprised all of us by handing out slips of paper. On the paper, he instructed us to rate our programming skills on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being the worst and 4 being the best. Then, he ordered us to get into groups of four, with at least two level 3's in each group. In our groups, he wanted us to work together so that we can all become level 4's! My group spent the period looking at the programming skills inventory, and going over each point to make sure we all understood everything. We are making good progress!

So all in all, it was not a bad day. Here's to hoping the rest of the week can remain like this!

Customized Functions!

Would you like to shorten your programming code by a lot? Well... I introduce to you programmer-defined function!

Yes, that's right! With these custom functions, we are able to write our own subprograms, and use them in many different places. Today they were introduced to us by Mr. Arkin. Functions use the keywords function and result, and are declared in the declaration section of a program. When declaring functions, you must declare the parameters and what datatype the result will be. In the function body, there must be 1 or more statements. And of course, the function must be given an identifier, similar to variables.

After teaching us the basics of functions, we got to work on writing a few; I must say, they can get pretty complicated! For homework we are to re-do substrings assignments 10-24, using functions where possible. This should be a fun evening!

In other news, not much else happened today. On Thursday some of my friends are coming over to my house to practice for a Christmas performance; I look forward to seeing them again! But for now, it's time to tackle those substrings assignments again and functions!

Early Dismissal = Harry Potter 7!

Lalalalala! I'm in such a happy mood today, because I got to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! Because we were dismissed at 12:00pm, Grace and I got the chance to bus to Fairview Mall, get something to eat, browse around, and finally, watch the movie! Needless to say, I was really excited to see the movie. I'll tell you how it all went down in a second, but first...

The Daily Computerized Update

___________________________________________________________

Teacher Found!
By: Hannah Z

Today our teacher Mr. Arkin decided to grace us with his appearance again. It seems the Case of the Missing Teacher has been solved! After (not-so-) mysteriously disappearing last week, there wasn't a trace of the VP teacher to be found. However today, there is relief for he has been found safe and sound.

Acting as if nothing had happened, Mr. Arkin took up the Substrings assignments which his students had been working on all last week. Then, he continued on to teach the class about counted loops, otherwise known as for loops. The new keywords for and decreasing were also learnt. By the end of the class, most had forgotten about the disappearance, and everything seemed to go back to normal. Now, students will begin to treacherously prepare for both a possible substrings quiz and a second programing unit test. All paranormal activity seem to have ceased... for now.

Yes, so now you know what happened during class today. On to some Harry Potter! To tell you the truth, I don't really know what to say about the movie. There were some great parts, and also some not-so-nice ones. There were lots of parts from the book that were missing in the movie, and considering there are two movie parts to this last book, I expected a lot more details. However on the other hand, the acting was done pretty well, and there were some really funny moments. And some really nice moments, like the scene in Malfoy Manor. With Draco! ;)

So overall, I found the movie to be a little disappointing. It kind of killed the book, the way so many scenes were cut out and details excluded. However, the moments that were included were done pretty well. Still, my favourite HP movie remains the very first one. I rate this movie 3.4/5, but - needless to say - I will be there when part 2 comes out. Just to see whether or not they kill the ending. And for Draco, of course. :)

Tom Felton (left). Also known as the sarcastic, dark Slytherin in the Harry Potter series... Draco Malfoy (right). The centre of all fanfictions, dreams, and who knows what else.

Missing Teacher Redux

12:37pm
An epic hello to all you people reading this out there. It is period C, right after lunch, and another in-class post. If you're smart, you'd be wondering why I was posting right now, instead of doing my Substrings quiz! No, I am not a special exception. No, I am not so cool that I was exempt from testing. So why am I here?

Now if you are really smart, you'd figure out from the title of this post that, once again, Mr. Arkin has gone missing. :( Which means no quiz. :) Mr. Arkin has been sick this whole time, meaning an entire week with no teacher — and no teaching for that matter!

So since I am done all my substrings assignments, I decided to get this post finished with, so I wouldn't have to write tonight, where I'm going to be really busy.

And now... I have nothing left to say. Except, check out Giftees United tonight, as I will be posting Chapter 1 of the Dramione Christmas series Grace and I are working on! You will be entertained; I guarantee it. :)

First In Class Post!

11:28am
Hi. If you didn't realize already, it's 11:28am! Which means that if you're reading this right now, you're probably not where you're supposed to be... But I am, despite what you think! Yup, it's another Computer Studies class, another Substrings class, and another No-Mr. Arkin class. I have already finished and printed all my Substrings assignments, so I decided to post now.

I have three tests tomorrow, so I should probably go study after this. Oh wait, it's almost lunch, so never mind. And there I go off, rambling on about random things. But today has been a pretty good day so far — except a certain health video. If any Giftees are reading this, remember the health video Mrs. Phillips made us watch in grade 7? Yeah, well we actually didn't get to the worse part in the video — they show a live birth at the very end! ... and by live birth, it means every aspect of live birth. I think I've been scarred for life. :(

***

8:03pm
Hi again. If you didn't know, our period ended at 11:35am, meaning I did not get enough time to finish my post. So here I am again.

As for the rest of the day, it went pretty well. Nothing out of the ordinary happened in any of my classes, except that tomorrow I have a math quiz, CS substrings quiz, and a health test (yes, see previous referral to health video). So it's gonna be a fun night, with all that studying to do!

After school was Orchestra, which is really starting to suck now, because so many people are ditching. Plus, the Christmas concert is weeks away. Plus, we are not ready. Plus, the song we are (attempting) to perfect is not that nice of a song. Plus, we are only doing one song, meaning lots of repetitive practising. See what I did there?

Anyhoo, tomorrow is Friday! Monday is early dismissal! Yay! Really looking forward to this weekend, and all my tests being over. But for now, it's back to studying. Good night!

The Case of the Missing Teacher

That's right... Mr. Arkin was not in class yet again today, and also posted on the Daily Log that he will, in fact, not be here tomorrow either! So today was another work period on the Substring assignments. I have gotten up to assignment 20 already! I plan on - hopefully - finishing all the assignments by tonight.

Today during period 1 there was a "Spirit Rally", meaning we got to meet all our sports teams of the year, and "cheer them on". Not much cheering happened from the audience though... it was kind of sad really, the level of lack of enthusiasm. However, maybe that was just because today was a cloudy, thus gloomy day. Who knows?

Then during Music class, I finally got to do my playing test. I was shaking so hard, you could probably see it! Plus, I couldn't stop shaking even after my playing test... ayeayeaye. The only good part was that I got a 10/10. I'll take that with the shaking any day. >:)

So, it was a generally happy day today, despite it being cloudy. Did I mention that I hate cloudy days? They're so depressing. However, it is the first day of DECEMBER! Christmas is only 24 days away, and our winter break only 16! ... But who's counting? ;)

I think now is a good time to mention this: A couple of my friends and I started a blog last year, which we are still continuing. It contains all sorts of posts, from poetry to short stories to rants, to just about anything! The blog is entitled Giftees United. You should check it out! Grace and I are just starting a new series of DRAMIONE fanfics for the month of December - they will be updated around every two days. Be sure to read read read!

Shoutout to all my fellow Dramione lovers! <3