An Unexpected Tragedy

An unexpected tragedy has struck the citizens of America with a heartbreaking story. Neil Armstrong, the man they called ‘Hero’, has died from complications after heart surgery. He was the age of 82, and accomplished great things in life.

Commander of Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon. Avoiding the limelight, a successful take off was attempted. His greatest achievement had not only brought success to him, but also to his country. “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” he quoted.

Cross Country

I was keen, but I wasn’t going to get ahead of myself just yet. Cross country was only five minutes away and my nerves were getting to me. The tracks I have competed in when I was much younger, seemed easier by far. This year they took it up a notch, we were now going to race 3k’s. I whispered to myself “This is a new year, you can do it.”

As much I wanted to give up on the race, I knew as a year 8, I needed to accomplish my goal for this year of completion. Just when I thought I was running the track quite smoothly, a feeling of exhaustion struck me unexpectedly. I felt sluggish, and soon I was starting to think.... “Is this race ever going to finish?”

Turns out, I wasn’t that far from the finish line after all. It didn’t take me long to notice that my shoes were completely saturated and my legs had been covered in mud. As I saw a few heads, a cheesy grin had appeared on my face, showing a feeling of relief. I was a few steps away of accomplishing what I had feared since day 1 of this year, finishing cross country. I hadn’t felt so good for a while.

Win or Lose? Neither of those mattered to me. I give myself credit for participating in the race and finishing it off properly. I've learnt how to persevere and not doubt myself.

Smoking Kills

Smoking kills, this is one of many ways of dying. Why smoke when you can turn to family for help? Instead of trusting a cigarette to sort out your problems, ask yourself “Is this the right thing to do?”

The illnesses associated with smoking are cancer, heart problems, which can also lead to amputations and other diseases that can harm the body. These are the many effects of smoking which are caused by the 4000 chemicals in the cigarette, including nicotine and tobacco.  The chemicals travel first into the immune system then into your blood.

Smoking not only affects the inside of your body, it also affects your appearance on the outside as well. Your face looks old, wrinkles start to appear faster, you teeth start to rot and your brain doesn’t function properly. The movie room 20 watched gave a good example. The lady looked as if she was in her late 70’s, but it shocked me she was only in her early 40’s.

You can save up to hundreds of dollars a month and thousands of dollars a year, by not purchasing cigarette packets. Saving money to provide for your family and yourself, could change your life and people around you. Also, you could set an example for children on how to save their own money and their earnings.

Why do people start smoking? They could be doing it to impress people, trying to be cool or even trying to get rid of the stress you have. These are just a couple of points why people start to smoke. Think this before you smoke, what are the benefits of smoking?

When people decide to smoke, it increases your chances of having cancer. It also causes addiction, one smoke after another. Your body starts playing up and sometimes when you look around for some help, no one’s there. I’ve learnt that, maybe when your upset and wanting help real bad, talk to some and be smokefree.

Thanks to Seini-Mino for accompanying me.

Apprentice Animators

The Extension group had an opportunity to study and learn about art by the Apprentice Animators. Ali, Maka and Nils introduced themselves and wasted no time. They convinced each and everyone of us, that animating really was the best.

A slideshow was made and produced by Ali and his crew. It was filled with pictures that happened to be the very first moving ones created by people in the nineteen hundreds. We were all fascinated by what people had created back in the day. When we got that completely sorted, the group was introduced to Zoetropes.

Practicing how to split lines seemed to be the most important step if you wanted your ace your Zoetrope. I struggled while we were splitting lines, but as we got more and more excises to do, the much easier I had thought it got. After we got that under way, we were taking it a step further. Ali & his crew showed us a demonstration of the Zoetrope, it was awesome! It was creative and successfully made by a unique mind. To end the lesson, we were going to make our very first project with Ali, Maka and Nils.

Disappointment for Valerie Adams

With visible disappointment, Valerie Adams was clearly upset about winning a silver medal over gold in the 2012 Olympic games. Even though she did not get to celebrate the victory of winning, she showed great gratitude to her coach, Jean-Pierre Eggar. As she took her last attempt valiantly, her final score was 20.7 metres which wasn’t quite enough to beat 21.36, which was held by Nadzeya Otsapchuk. It was an emotional evening, she worked tirelessly and she was proud of the achievements and progress she had made.