Category: Writing

Passion Project #6: Final Project

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For my final project, I am making a game with Unity. It is really cool so far, and I am very proud of how much I’ve learned. I will also be making a slideshow about Unity itself, as in its founders and how it was made. I chose to make a game as my final project because I’m studying a game engine, so it wouldn’t really make sense not to make a game for the final project to show what I’ve learned from studying it. Also, I’ve always wanted to make a real game, and I had to take advantage of this opportunity to make one. I chose to make a slideshow too because the game just shows THAT I’ve learned, but I also want to show WHAT I’ve learned.  Overall, I am really excited to show off my game and am very thankful I’ve been given the opportunity to study my passion for school. Thank you!

This is a video of me playing my game:

Passion Project #5: Challenges

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My Passion Project is going very well. I am almost done with my final project, my game, but I will also make a slideshow about Unity itself and its founders. But I have also experienced many challenges. One of these challenges was that the Unity version in the video I watched was from 3 years ago, but I was using the latest version, so some of the things they did I had to do a different way. Unity still had all the same features, though, so I found what I had to do, it just took a little longer. Another challenge I faced was that sometimes Unity froze so I had to restart my computer, but I realized later by watching some tutorials on how to fix it that it was because I didn’t have the latest version, so I downloaded that and sure enough, it stopped freezing. Overall, though, I am proud of my problem-solving skills and how they’ve developed through this project.

This is how far I’ve come with my game so far:

There is more to it, but I enabled fog so you can’t see very far.

Passion Project #2: Identifying Resources

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As you know, my Passion Project topic is Unity, a video game programming language. The way I went about identifying my book resource is I went on Amazon and I found the book with the best and most ratings, then I did the preview and saw that I could understand it, so I bought it. The way I went about identifying video resources was I went onto YouTube and found the most popular one. Then I went to their channel and saw that they made a lot of tutorials on Unity. So I just used those. The resource I think will be the most helpful is the YouTube channel because it has literally anything you could think of about Unity. The nonfiction reading skills I want to practice are, number one, reading a paragraph or page of the book, and then just writing down what is most important, and number two, note-taking in my own words. These skills apply to interviews because the interviewer must take in the most important information related to their topic. The second one relates to interviewing because the interviewers have to write it down their own way to understand it later. Thanks for reading, and I will see you later!

This is a pic of the main part of the YouTube channel I’ve been studying:

Refugee #3

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Alan Gratz’s “Refugee” is a book where power is switched between characters a lot and is sometimes misused. In this blog post, I will be talking about how power is switched between characters, and about how some people in the story use it the wrong way.

In Isabel’s story, Fidel Castro, the Cuban dictator, starts out with the power, but later on, gives the Cuban residents the chance to leave. When Isabel and her family heard this, they took the opportunity and tagged along with the Castillos. In the brief few peaceful minutes they had after escaping Fidel Castro and his abuse of power, they felt very powerful because they had done what, just a couple hours earlier, had seemed impossible. But soon after that, the storm took the power from them. After surpassing that challenge, they felt powerful, but then the tanker started to steal the power from them, and finally, the Coast Guard took then power from them because it was about to capture them. They then lost and gained power at the same time because they were going to make it to Miami, but at the same time, Lito wouldn’t be with them.

In Josef’s story, Hitler and the Nazi’s held the power, but when Josef and his family heard the news that their father was coming back, they felt powerful. This ended soon though because when they saw him, they realized he had turned into a crazy lunatic who believed that Hitler was always coming to hurt him. When they got on the ship, felt pretty depressed and powerless because of Josef’s father’s distraught situation. But once they set sail to Cuba, they started to regain some power because they thought they would never have to face Hitler’s wraith again. They felt like this until Josef’s mother took the sleeping med and Josef’s father attempted suicide. They lost most of their power then, but when Captain Schroeder announced they wouldn’t be docking in Cuba, they lost all power whatsoever. But when Josef and the other men broke into the ship’s bridge, they got some power back. But when the group retreated, they lost some of the power they had gained. But when France accepted Josef and his family, they felt massively powerful. Fast forward a couple months, they lose a lot of their power because Hitler invaded France.

In Mahmoud’s story, The Syrian government starts out with the power, and when Mahmoud’s building gets destroyed, he loses a huge portion of his power. But when they escape with the car, they gain a little bit of power. And when they meet the soldiers and realize they’re good guys, they gain a lot more power. But when they started to get shot at in the car, they lost a lot of power because they had just lost everything. But when Mahmoud’s Dad gets the iPhone back, they get a little bit of their power back. And when they get to Turkey and start waiting for the boat, they gain even more power. But when the boat doesn’t come, they lose some of their power. And finally, when they do get on the boat and it crashes, they lose all their power. But when the Coast Guard appears and they see Waleed and Mahmoud’s dad on it, they regain some power, but not a lot because they had to give away Hana during the time when they were treading water. Then when they get to Greece and the Taxi Driver threatens to shoot them, they lose a lot of power. And when they finally get to the border, but get caught and get sent to prison, they lose a lot of power. But when they see Waleed and Mahmoud’s mom, they regain some power.

Passion Project #5

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I have started my Passion Project creation! I am making a video using WeVideo. I am not done yet because I still have to put in the video where me and Michael play Poker together. I am having  lot of fun with this project. I have done a lot of research and I also had my interview with Cy’s Dad. My interview was very interesting and I learned a lot. One thing I learned is that a good Poker Face is not only an emotionless face no matter what happens but also a crazy face no matter what happens. Another thing I learned is that Poker has a lot of strategy involved. I will probably include my final product of my video in my last blog post. I am really excited to continue working on this project. That concludes my fifth blog post. Thanks for reading!

Passion Project #4

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This is my fourth Passion Project blog post. This time, I am writing about some frustrations and setbacks I’ve had. For starters, while playing Poker on my phone is a great resource, I hate it when I lose a lot of money for no reason whatsoever. Its really annoying when a message broadcasts across my screen saying “You haven’t played for 24 hours. Minus 10,000 chips.” If I only have 10,000 chips, then I have to restart my progress so I can actually play and take notes. For example, a little while back, I had just lost a lot of chips and I was only at 9,750. I hadn’t played for a while after that, out of rage because I had a great hand and still lost, and when I got in again, it said “You haven’t played for 24 hours. Minus 10,000 chips.” I had to restart all my progress, and that was kind of maddening, because I was at a pretty high level. So that is one major thing I dislike about mobile poker games. Also, when I tried to research some questions about the origins of Poker, it didn’t really answer my questions. I asked questions like “Who invented Poker?” and “Where was Poker first played?” That was annoying because those questions are kind of important and really interesting. That concludes my fourth Passion Project blog post.

Passion Project #3

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I’m so excited because my interview with Cy’s Dad is tonight! I have not changed my questions since I put them in my last blog post. Some new facts I’ve learned about Poker are: “The place where you play Poker is called The Table” and “Even if someone has never played Poker before, they still have a chance at beating a pro (I learned this not from doing research but from the time when my Mom beat me).” I have become a fairly good player because I learned that playing with my Dad or Mom is as good a resource as some website. I also realized that playing Poker games on my phone is good for me getting better at Poker (Even though they rig the cards). I also started watching some Poker tournaments on ESPN, because, believe it or not, Poker is apparently considered a sport. Also, the reward for the World Series of Poker in 2018 was 8.8 million. That concludes my third Passion Project blog post.

Passion Project #2

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This is my second Passion project blog post. I have done a lot of research since my last blog post. I also am going to interview Cy’s Dad tomorrow! I have ten questions to ask him. They are:

  • How did you discover Poker?
  • How did you decide to play in Major Poker Tournaments?
  • What’s the best hand you’ve ever had?
  • Do you plan on playing in any Major Poker Tournaments in the future?
  • How old were you when you started playing Poker?
  • What was your first Major Poker Tournament?
  • Who taught you how to play Poker?
  • How do you prepare before playing in Major Poker Tournaments?
  • How do you know when to leave the table?
  • Were there any times when you thought you should have left the table a couple hands ago?

I have memorized every Poker hand and its ranking, and I also have a pretty good Poker Face. I am excited about my interview with Cy’s Dad, and I will put what he says on my next blog post. I know the highest pair of cards to get dealt is Double Ace and the lowest is a Seven and a Two.

That concludes my second Passion project blog post.

Passion Project #1

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For my Passion Project, I have decided to study Poker. A Passion Project is a project in which you do a lot of research and in the end, make something to show what you learned. I’m pretty sure that the way I will show what I know is that I will take a film of Michael, Cy, Alejandro and I having a Poker tournament. I will interview Cy’s Dad. The way I became interested in Poker is one day, my friends and I decided to play Poker, but I had no idea how to play. When I got home, I watched a couple of videos that taught me how to play. At snack the next day, we played Poker. I was really bad, but since then, we have played Poker every snack. I’ve become a little good, but I want to become even better through this project. Some facts I’ve learned so far are: “The cards that everybody sees are called ‘community cards'”, and “Poker is both a game of skill and a game of luck”. The videos I have watched so far are: How To Make & Keep A Poker Face, and Poker Hand Rankings. That concludes my first Passion Project blog post.

Three Sentence Summary: George’s Secret Key To The Universe

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George’s Secret Key To The Universe:

This book is about a kid named George who lives simply, without any electronics, and even has a pig. One day, his pig gets lost in the neighboring yard, and while looking for the pig, George meets this guy Eric who owns a supercomputer which can make windows and doors into outer space. One day, George comes back from school, and Eric’s daughter, Annie, says she’s been to outer space, and when George doesn’t believe her, she takes him on a trip through the supercomputers door to space, and they start riding a comet, and see a lot of planets.

This book is realistic fiction, and I recommend it. This is the cover: