This Boy

Haha had to throw a Beatles reference in there. This boy is the most amazing person ever. I might have the worst day ever and out of the blue he sends me this:

Like this is the best greeting ever! Like what did i do to deserve this? We aren't even dating!!!!

Then he's like do you have a home number? I was like sure...ok...

This was how he responded to his b-day present. He literally ranted to me for about a week about a drawing i did...

I really don't know how to describe this. I was in france and send me this....given the 8 hour time difference. 

OMG he's gonna take me cruising!

Me wanting to kidnap him.

 He thought i was mad at him! how could I ever be mad at him. 

This is a long rant about why he is literally the best guy ever.

Greased Lightning!

So for the past dance concert, I had the honor/privilege to choreograph to Greased Lightning.  I was part of the school's Dance troupe. There are 14 people on troupe this year. There are 3 new little 8th graders. They are so cute. Cassandra is my all time favorite. She trusts me to do crazy tricks on her and not drop her. I am sure gonna miss her. The only thing about this concert was that the music was live. It was so cool. The musicians really sped up the music and it was a crowd pleaser. I also made a car. It was 12 feet long and just slightly (like a 1.5 feet) smaller than the real car.

The rehearsals before this concert was a pain. People not practicing tricks so as a result I had to take out the more complicated tricks. I was also part of my own piece and man that was hard...watching, learning my own choreography and actually dancing. But the end result was amazing. This certainly makes dance troupe memorable. 

Here is the Video:

More math in daily life

Every kid in high school: "Why are they making us learn this? I'm not gonna need it in the future. If it took my teacher 4 years to learn this math in college, why do they expect us to learn this in like 50 minutes? Why do we have pop quizzes? When I don't understand the material, then have  a quiz on it, the quiz rings my grade down!!!!!!!!" All this complaining. I do have to admit that I use these phrases more than once a day, especially when I am getting frustrated at not knowing or understanding a specific topic.

Most juniors have no idea of what they want to do in college and therefore will waste money and time. I mean it's ok not to know specifically, but one should have a decent idea. I want to go into automotive engineering and possibly later (if I have the time, money and energy) become a math teacher.

With automotive engineering, algebra, geometry, physics, chemistry and possibly trig and calc will be used everyday. Obviously if i wanted to design a faster, safer drag/race car, I will need to measure, plan, and do math all on repeat. Multiple times a day. I will not be needing the specificity of "x" equation or the exact order of the variables in "y" equation, but I will be needing math.

Right now in class, we are learning of parabolas, circles and ellipses. Tires and rims are perfect circles. If they aren't, the tires will wear weird and as a result put additional strain on the engine. The light bulbs for all the headlights, tail lights, brake lights and other lights are similar in shape to that of a "parabaliod." That is the shape that is the result of spinning a parabola in its vertex. It is almost a steep bowl like shape. How would that shape have been used if people didn't test to see which light would work the best in cost and shape?

Math is needed in everyday life. Maybe it's the ratio of 2 prices or even finding how much wear can be put on a pair of tires with "w" amount of miles on it. Yes most of the mat may seem pointless right now, as a high schooler, but it will help you once you get into the real world.

Palindromes

Palindromes are everywhere. Between race car and 5-10-2015, there are numerical and and written palindromes if you choose to look for them.  I think the best example of numerical palindromes are our telephone area codes. Not all states have area codes that read the same forward and backwards. Some are like 483. That is not a palindrome at all. But in New Mexico, as well as Hawaii, all the area codes are Palindromes. Both NM and HI are part of 16 states that have area code palindromes. In NM, the two area codes are 505 and 575. In Hawaii the area code is 808. NM isn't really known for much except for aliens, tacos and possibly needing a passport to visit this State (in the United states of America). But now we can be know for something other than that. We are one of 2 states that have only palindromes for area codes. How cool is that?

The other palindrome i like is the "race car" example. I love cars and especially race cars. These two words are used fairly frequently. But that fact that these two words together make a palindrome makes them even more special.

These hidden Easter eggs in life make life just a bit more interesting. If you know or find an Easter egg, you are an astute and very bright person.

How does China make math interesting

Here in America, if you like math or any other "schooly" subjects, you are considered a nerd, a geek, a bookworm and other derogatory names that all mean the same thing: you're not cool. And as a result the population is getting more and more math illiterate. For instance, we think that a third of a pound is less than a quarter pound. This all stems from society and pop culture. America's population is getting much more dumber than thought possible with the amount of technology we have. But in China, they have the same technology we have, and sometimes maybe more and better technology than we have. But in China math and being in school is cool. They make if fun. School is to advance you. They teach it as games and as subjects that relate to their daily lives. Here in America, school is just another word for prison. Parents drop you off, you sit all day listening to teachers drone on and on, and when you get home your parents don't push yo to be your best. All Americans care about is football and sex. They don't even worry if they are getting dumber. They just want to enjoy life. Look at the Chinese children, look how happy they are to learn. America should start teaching school in such a way that entices kids to WANT to learn, and not have school as a punishment.

Probability

What is the probability of this happening? What is the probability of that happening? Everyone uses the term "probability" loosely. But I tend to think of it a lot more seriously. I am currently in the market for a car. I will be satisfied with any car. The first thing that I want from a car is that it is manual. That significantly decreases the probability because so many cars of today are automatic. Another thing that lowers the probability of me getting a car is the price. For every dollar more that the car is, the lower the chance I have of getting it before I am a senior in high school. What increases the probability is that I am paying for the car myself. But i have a limited budget of $3000. Any more over that, the less likely it will be that i get the car. So I want a manual car that I can pay for. That is only the beginning. I want an American muscle car. That right there lowers the probability of me getting a car by a lot. My dad wants me to have a modern car with modern safety features, but I love old cars and have a major need for speed and for a car I can tinker with.  To make the probability of getting a car even less, I want two not rare, but not over abundantly produced cars : the 1966 Pontiac GTO and the 1958 Ford Edsel. (See pics below) According to Albuquerque Area Craigslist, there are no 1966 Pontiac GTO's in Albuquerque for $3000 or less. That reduces the probability of getting a car to 0. I found a 1958 Ford Edsel for $2000!!!! It even had a transmission and working engine! But this car was in California and my dad won't drive to California just so I can get an old car with no modern safety equipment. So that right there reduces the probability of me getting a car before I become a Senior in High school. So no probability of getting a GTO and no probability of getting an Edsel so that (in a sense) means that there is double the probability of not getting a car. (And my dad doesn't want to pay insurance for my car so that was a no off the bat. He also told me that I don't need a car, but I can still dream right?)

The 1958 Ford Edsel

The 1966 Pontiac GTO

Math innumeracy

A&W's burger joint serving the "Third pounder" was McDonald's competitor . The people who had the "third pounder" felt gypped that they were "overpriced for less meat." Really? Has Americans gotten that stupid? I think we really have. I say "we" because I have honestly done that once where i mistake something with a fraction of a value as less than it actually is. I think that it truly starts at the teachers. All teachers that teach in the american school system should have a math base so that the importance of  knowing how to do math in real life. Only math teachers should have a strong base in their subject material. Like they need to have passed the level of math that they are teaching with a college class for that level. But besides this level of intensity, it needs to be up to the teacher on how much they incorporate math into their classes. The math shouldn't be hard pre-calc stuff, but basic components such as the importance of fractions and their numerical values, should be taught in every classroom. Private schools that are nit-picky about the teachers they hire do not stress the importance of basic math. They assume that the students at this private school are there because they are smart enough to know that by heart and that the teachers are just to advance the students, not repeat basic math. Yes, there are some students that can multiply crazy large numbers in their heads and spit out the answer faster than their calculator, but those are only a select few. The rest of us are normal teens. We make mistakes and say things without thinking and let our math skills go to pot in public because we don't want to appear as "geek" or  "nerdy" or any of those nickname/insults that we learned in grade school. But I think that we should have a better base of mathematics because we will be ruling this world sooner than our parents would like. If we are stupid now, it's only gonna get worse as we get older. If kids have a good math base, as they get older, society won't be getting stupider. It'll just be continuing. But if the kids are stupid now and it gets worse as one gets older, we will be left with a stupid society. We pass the knowledge along to our kids. If there is not much to pass on, the future of this world will be in great trouble.