Term Three, Week One . . .

This was actually a pretty good week. My grades are all back to "No Score" instead of the awful A-'s that were haunting the webpage before. And really, a three day school week can't be that bad. On Monday and Tuesday, I read more of my current reading, Artemis Fowl, and studied the SAT book which I received for Christmas in preparation for my practice SAT this last Saturday. It was a nice break because I had nearly no homework (because of the new term.) On Wednesday, I had Junkyard Challenge (one of my Science Olympiad events) at 7:00 in the morning. I haven't got into this event much, so here I go. Junkyard Challenge is an impromptu building event. Each team of two is able to bring a box of materials that can contain a certain number of cups, plates, straws, tape, paper, tennis and golf balls, rubber bands, string, and a few other things. When they arrive at the competition, the team has 20 minutes to build one of the following: A bridge, a tower, a catapult, a cantilever, a bounce pad, or an elevated slope. The object has to be built with the items that the team brought. Well, when we practice (like on Wednesday,) we have our materials and we are assigned one of those things to build, like in the actual competition. Also, a lot of people are competing for the spots on this event, so it is really important to do well every time, so that you can secure a space on the team. Last Wednesday, the object to be constructed was a bridge. There were about six teams of two competing to win. The objective, longest bridge span while holding a tennis ball at the center of the bridge. This was pretty unexpected, so I was pretty much trying to think of an idea on the spot. I still didn't know plan plan completely at the start, but after a few minutes, me and my partner started building my idea. It used strings across the span which were held tight by hanging weights (a.k.a. cups filled with tennis balls.) The looks we received at the end were priceless. The second place team got a score of eighty, and didn't even pass because it could not hold the ball. We got around 250, and probably could have gone longer. We received many comments including "is than even legal?" But now everyone plans to copy my idea next time. Not really a bad idea . . . The rest of the week went by pretty quick. I took the SAT this weekend, and I think I did pretty badly, but I think that about most tests I take. I'm not particularly excited to start out the endless five day weeks that seem to fill the entire third term, but what choice do I have if I want a good grade? I hope the weather stays like this and just keeps getting better, the winter hasn't really been that bad so far. But I could really use some summer . . . Well, everyone reading this, good luck this term. Oh, and answer the discussion poll. It looks surprisingly unanswered.