Today, I learned how to use exponents, and multiply them together, yesterday it didn't make any sense, but now it does. Because of this, I could do my classwork easily today. I am starting to like algebra, for a good grade all you have to do is the homework which is notes. And if you pay attention you can ace all of the tests, and even the quizzes.
          Also, the homework is to watch a video, and that gives me a visual aid to do work. So far I have gotten one-hundred five percent, one-hundred percent, one-hundred two point five percent, one-hundred percent, and one-hundred percent. I have done well because of this system, and I am liking algebra.
 
          This weekend I learned a few things. I learned that you shouldn't procrastinate, (which I did)  I procrastinated and waited until Sunday to do my Cornell notes. When I did them i only took an hour, but if I keep doing that I might end up procrastinating a project to the last day. I learned that the easy way though.
          I also learned a few karate moves over the weekend, after doing it in P.E. it was fun to learn. Finally I learned why I was slumping in baseball, I never swung with enough power, so with some practice, I learned how to use my hips to generate power in my swing.
 
          Today, after school, we finally have our basketball party. We got second in division 1 basketball, St. Anthony's won. But We still had a pretty good season, only losing 3 games. We lost to Wawona, and St. Anthony's twice. Another good thing is that I can play next year, because I was a seventh grader playing on the 8th grade team.
          Also baseball just started and I need lots of new stuff that I know my mom won't get. I need a bat, pants, and I need to sign up for Bullard Cal Ripken. I've played for a long time now, but my mom doesn't want me to do it because of her work. I will still try to persuade her anyway.
 
          If I could choose a region to live in Europe, I would like to live in Northern Europe. Southern Europe is very mountainous, and I wouldn't like to play in the mountains, or eat mostly olives, and grapes. Scandinavia is too cold for me, and is still too mountainous for me. So I would go to Northern     Europe.
          Also, Northern Europe would have very diverse crops because they have rich soil, and flat grounds. It is also very close to the sea, so I could depend on trade too. Plus, even sometimes it would snow, so I could occasionally play in the snow.
 
          Once, in the summer, I went outside to ride my bike. I knew I wasn't supposed to, but it was so boring that I pretty much had to do something before I died from boredom. When I went outside, I went pretty far away, I didn't know that time was flying until I noticed it was getting kind of dark. When that happened I knew my mom was on her way home.
          The sun was starting to set, and I was about 2 miles away from my house, and I had about ten minutes to get home. So I started to go home as fast as I could. I was blazing down the sidewalk, passing pedestrians usually every minute. I was finally getting close to my house, but I had a feeling that my mom was already home. I was on our street when I didn't see my mom's car I was relieved. Now I know to watch the time whenever I go out.
 
          This year I made New Year's resolutions to do my homework everyday as early as I can during school. This doesn't mean to rush it, but because of all the sports I do, I usually get home late. So now if I do my homework at school, When I get home late some days, I will be able to go to sleep at a reasonable time.
          My resolution was to do homework early, and if I do that I won't be so tired in the mornings. So far I have been doing that, and I have been well rested throughout the year. This year's resolution was probably the best resolution I've done yet. It also makes me work harder during class.
 
         Today so far we had a quiz in algebra, and I'm pretty sure I passed it. Annoyingly, if you miss one question you have to retake the quiz before school. I haven't failed a test yet, and there is only one quiz left I think. Now we just have a test for it next week. I also have a sub for Science. We would've had a test today but our teacher isn't here. I got lucky.
          For the rest of the day I don't have much to do but baseball. There are two more tryouts. I like practice, and also most of my friends are doing it too. Outside of school, baseball is about to start too. It's my last year so it will be pretty fun.
 
           Japan is made of underwater active volcanoes. It is so mountainous that it is hard to farm. Their main crops were rice, and soy. Other than that they didn't have much to farm. So they learned how to fish. Japan is an island surrounded by water so they made a living out of fishing. Since they lived on active volcanoes, there were a lot of earthquakes.
           Since Japan wasn't connected to other countries, they were isolated for a long time. until China sent people to Japan, and Japan adopted some of China's culture. Japan is also the country that makes lots of sushi, and if you're like me, it is good to be there.
 
        This quarter my goals are to not get any C's. I am mostly focused on getting A's and B's and maintain anything higher. I will be happy for anything over a 2.0 for sports, but I am still going to try to get A's. more 3rd quarter goals for me, are to make the baseball team.
         I am also trying to make sure that I do all of my homework this quarter no matter what. Even if I get home at 10:00 in the night. If I do all of my homework I know that my grades will be better than last quarter. So those are my third quarter goals.