Community Service

I am glad to announce I have completed my twenty hours of community service. And more.

First I must say that starting it early on was amazing advice given to me by the previous Yr 8's. It's a great feeling to have nearly everything you need to do done by Term three. I get Term four off! If anyone was to ask me advice about Community service starting early would most definitely be my answer.

I got most of it done at the library in Rangiora, by shelving books and blacking out the tags on books they were giving away. It was great to give back to them especially since I get books out frequently. I also used the chance given to me by the school to do Rotary Club. Time flew by really quickly when I was in charge of the stove. Although my face almost got burnt a few times! I plan on adding a few more hours to achieve my goal of 46 hours at the end of the year. I think I might cook for the local church, where they'll give it away to those who can't cook for themselves.

I hope others found this as rewarding as I did. I feel grateful that I was given the opportunity to give back.

Hockey

Sadly, the one true exercise that I will do willingly is coming to a halt. Yes that is right, the glorious Hockey season is coming to an end. So in response to my last game in a few days I decided to reflect on how I've improved since starting.

Firstly, when I began I was utterly terrible at moving while clutching on to my Hockey stick. I would drop it or swing it too high. Maybe even drop it while i was swinging it too high... However now I am glad to be able to tell you, I can successfully sprint down the field with my hockey stick in hand.

Next on my list of pre-season problems is durability. At the start one look at Nunweek's park and I would already be tired. I was also a Fall back back then as well (the person who stays at the back, not really running).  Although I still dislike, hates too strong of a word, running I am doing a lot more of it now. Especially after being moved to a half, the people who are there to run.

The last item I have on the short reflection I'm writing is my aim. I am not saying I can hit the goal more than sixty percent of the time, I'm saying I'm less likely to miss it by more than four meters. I almost great on the passing to people though which I find a considerable improvement.

Now, I know that my Winter hockey is finishing. This is were the great thing about hockey comes in, it's made for both the hot and the cold. So I'll be back to hitting that hockey ball down the field soon!

Drawing Time Lapse

I decided to do a time lapse of a drawing I recently did. I apologize for the poor quality.

Ropes Day

Ropes Day

I’m not sure about how I felt before we started climbing, or before our team building games for that matter. Most of my attention was focused on the high ropes course, half of which was suspended and swing in the breeze. I vaguely remember feeling anxious and a slightly excited but I'm blaming both of those emotions on adrenaline.

Thankfully the didn't just shove a harness in our direction and send us up the climbing wall. They only sent us up the climbing nightmares later. First we had to split into groups and play some games based around teamwork and trust. I enjoyed most of them, the rope swing one wasn't too bad in the end except for the fact your personal bubble was not considered.

Now, after we had eaten, they gave us a detailed explanation on how to out our harness on correctly, placing a big emphasis on the ‘do it right or you'll severely injure yourself part’. Or maybe that was just me. Then we put on our helmets (mine wasn't as secure as I would have hoped but it finally tightened) and watched a quick belaying tutorial by the instructors.

Now, I only have time to share one climbing wall in detail so picked by random I'll be doing The Vertical Terror Playground.

It started with a pole, the holds a decent space apart and it looked easy enough and when Ellen said an adult could stabilize it I shrugged it off as it being a slightly wobbly. Until I put my foot on it and it started swaying and twisting as I climbed up higher. My favourite part of the whole climb was the next one I came across on my journey upwards. A totally stable, unmoving, held in place by strong wood, simple climbing wall. Although one of the vital hand holds was slippery and near impossible to grip I made it up surprisingly quickly.

Then it was on to a wooden X with hand holds scattered on it, I used more of the structure than the intended holds though. Next on the treacherous towering object was a net, I personally believe it was designed to torment me. I hung there clinging to the rope and struggling to grasp the red seat above me. Eventually though I managed to swing my leg over and grab the elusive rope that I used to haul myself up. Then I was travelling back down, bumping along the obstacles that I had previously struggled to pass.

After completing many courses both similar and different to the first one I conquered, we began to head back to school. I went home with many bruises, a set of sore arms and a bang to my head. And some good memories.

Clubs

On Friday I was apart of the animation club, I chose this club because I like the technique they use. Photo by photo. It's a slow process but that's how they make Disney Movies (and Disney owns Marvel, which helped me make my decision). So I decided I would try it out.

I hadn't expected my first try to be amazing, but I had hoped it would be great. Sadly, I ran out of time and the end product wasn't what I had envisioned. I however, had expected that there would be an almost agonising amount of photos for just a few seconds worth of video. I just wasn't prepared to take those many photos.

I enjoyed making the props for the video, especially the fox that came in through the corner. The broom was definitely the easiest to make, and came in handy when we tidied up the crumbs. Watching the finished product was probably the best part of the club. We could finally see what we had accomplished with the the many photos.

When I got home I decided to try making one by myself, so after I got a similar app I set to work. I managed to make two small videos. One was of a fish coming out from beneath a seashell and the other was of some origami (I had limited resources). My goal is to make videos of similar quality at the next clubs.

The Unwind Popplet

Here is what me and Holly were working on in the last session. We used Popplet to link together all the events we have read so far. It is still a work in progress.

Unwind Popplet by Derrin & Holly P

NZ At War 'Google Map'

We have been studying New Zealanders at War. Piper and I worked together to create an interactive Google Maps Presentation.

Google Map Presentation