This week, I presented on my project. On Friday, I prepared by finishing writing my script and finishing up my trifold. After finishing that, I practiced my song just a bit more so I had it clear in my head. I accomplished playing the entire song of “Nine Ball” and had almost no trouble when playing in front of the audience. I struggled a bit with with palm muting. I know how to do it and it usually sounds pretty good, but because my wrist was moving so fast when strumming, it got a bit sloppy. I don’t think it was too noticeable though. To fix this I will practice at home because the whole 20% project is over, and I can’t practice in class anymore. I will continue to play the guitar and learn many new songs in hope that I will get better and better. I only know one full song and bits of two others, but I believe that I can do it as time goes on. It was a fun six weeks of playing in class and I look forward to doing it at home.

Looking back on this school year, there were many fun memories and here are three of them. One of them is from my Core class. I had a lot of fun when we made our Knight at the Museum people and our trifolds. We got to decorate, draw and color for the two class periods. I enjoyed talking with other students and friends while working. Another fun memory was when my AVID class got to go to Cal State Fullerton for a field trip. My class and I walked around, went to the visitors center, and ate lunch in the cafeteria. I remember hanging out with friends and learning about the college life and their buildings. My third memory from 7th grade was the volleyball city finals. I thought it was very fun to ride on the bus with all my friends and play together as a team. We would cheer each other on and say hi to friends from other schools. My teammates and I also brought candy, and when we had a bye we made a candy salad. If you don’t know what that is, you mix candy into a bowl and eat it like a salad. This year in grade seven was great and full of fun memories.

This week was great and I didn’t have any struggles at all. I just practiced the song over and over. Also, two weeks ago, I dropped my  pick in the guitar and it’s still in there. Luckily I have extras! Anyway, this week I accomplished my goal and I can play the song pretty fluently. I am also getting better at doing the muted part of the song. Even though I am doing good with the song and I am ahead of my schedule, I am still practicing at home. This way, I can practice as much as I want. I also want to learn to play more songs on the guitar. I will start out with the easier ones, and then try to play songs with harder chords. Because I reached all of my goals for the 20% project,  I don’t exactly know what to do next week. I could practice the song a bit more or learn new ones, but I could also practice for the presentation at the end of this whole project. There are many possibilities.

Happy Mother’s Day! My mom has had a big impact on my life. She is kind, smart, and a fun person to be around. She is always up for hugs, and ready to make a joke. My mom is super supportive of whatever I do and proves this by cheering me on at sports games and school activities. I know that she cares for other people even through small things like taking the time to talk to someone or remembering special days. She takes care of our whole family and I appreciate that she drives me to school, sports, and friends’ houses, even if it’s last minute. I’m so grateful for everything she does, and I love her.

This month I read a book called Queen of Nothing by Holly Black. The book starts out with the main character, Jude Queen of Elfhame, living in exile out in the mortal world. She stays with her older sister and her brother until her twin sister, Taryn arrives from Faerieland and tells Jude that she must go back on an undercover mission and pretend to be Taryn. But, after Jude agrees and enters the palace as part of her mission, she is caught by guards and almost gets into serious trouble. Luckily, her husband, King Cardan steps in and helps her out. Later in the book, war starts and ends in a matter of minutes and Queen Jude lives and rules alongside her husband for the rest of her days.

I liked this book because it contains a perfect mix of betrayal and romance. It is packed with action, suspense, and twists as well as magic and danger. This made me excited to read each page whenever I picked up the book.

My favorite character from the book is King Cardan. I like him because even though he can have his bad moments, he is overall trustworthy. A quote to prove this is “I will not let anyone harm you, Jude.” This shows that he is not only trustworthy but protective. He becomes more and more trustworthy as Jude’s relationship with him continues and as the book series goes on.

My favorite quote from the book is “I am no ones pawn.” I like this quote because it shows power and strength. It also shows that people have the choice to not be controlled by anyone but themselves. The quote also shows courage and proof that people can be independent.

This week my goal was to play the entire song, “Nine Ball” on guitar. I was successful in this goal and I only make a few mistakes when playing. I accomplished the strumming, chord changing, and muted strumming.  When I play muted strumming it doesn’t always sound the best, but with practice I am getting better at it. I struggle a bit with the rhythm of the guitar playing and the singing in my head. To fix this , I listened to the song and played guitar along with it. I am also getting better at playing the song faster and faster. This is good to practice because when I learn more songs in the future, the strumming speed will vary.N ext week, my goal is to just practice the whole song again until I can play as best as I can. I might also prepare my speech and my trifold for my presentation at the end of the project.

This week my goal was to play half of the song “Nine Ball” by Zach Bryan. I didn’t complete this goal on Friday, but I did complete it on Saturday at home. I didn’t understand how to play the chorus because I only knew how to play the 1st couple verses.  I only struggled at first with the chorus, but after some practice I got a bit better. This adjustment was helpful because my dad was at home and he showed me how to do it. I also learned to play some of “Riptide” by Vance Joy. It isn’t a hard song to learn because it has most of the same chords as “Nine Ball.”  Next week I will try to play the entire song. I already know how to because I practiced during the weekend, but I want to play it fluently. Once I complete my goals of learning the song, I might try to learn a third one.

This week I focused on strumming on the guitar. I accomplished getting better and faster at doing this as well as changing chords faster. I also mastered the Em chord and I am good with the D chord. G and C chord are a little harder but I’m getting the hang of it. Even though I can change chords faster than last week, I can’t do it very accurately. To fix this I practice at home and I seem to be getting better. Next week I want to play half of the song “Nine Ball” while singing it in my head to stay on beat. For some reason it is difficult to sing in my head or out loud even though I don’t really know why. It’s kind of like playing with two hands on the piano. Sometimes when I need help in class, I can ask my friend, Sydney, for it because she knows how to play the guitar. Overall, this week was great and I am excited for next Friday.

My favorite room in my house is my bedroom. It’s my favorite because it provides privacy and comfort. When my brothers are too loud or bothering me I can just go in and relax or read a book. I don’t have to share it with anyone and I know that I have control over my own environment. It is great to have my own room to myself because I can decorate it however I want. It makes me happy to have my own personal room aesthetic which can show off my personality. Another reason why my bedroom is my favorite is because I get better sleep than when I share a room with my brothers. It is a quiet place that allows me to sleep in however long I want. I can also turn on alarms to wake myself up and I won’t feel bad for waking anyone else. My room gets very dark and I don’t have the share a room with anyone who is scared of the dark. Having my own room is good and I am glad I have it.

For my 20% project in am going to learn to play Nine Ball by Zach Bryan on the guitar. I chose this because it seems like a fun topic to learn. I have access to this instrument so I don’t have to buy a guitar for the project. This week my goal was to learn the four chords needed for the song. I need to learn Em, D, G, and C. Luckily the chords are repetitive and I don’t have to memorize complicated notes. I accomplished memorizing Em and D. Em was the easiest because it only calls for two fingers. I had some struggles with G and C because of the way my fingers need to move. To fix this I practiced over the weekend and I am glad to report that I can now play all the chords as well as strum a little bit. Next week I want to learn to switch my fingers from chord to chord faster and strum better.