Reflection 16

I continued running and weight training my last week. I worked on my Midterm project and presented it as well. I'm going to continue working out and maintaining a healthy diet. It's become a routine that I enjoy and that I can really excel at. I aim to lift heavier weights and work out more intensely in the future.

Final Reflection

Throughout this project, I have learned many things besides how to dunk a basketball. While being able to dunk is great, I took away many other great things from this journey. One of them is perseverance. I ran into many problems and setbacks throughout the 15 weeks, and I had to come up with ways around them. Also, I showed myself that I can set my mind to something for a long period of time, and succeed that way. This gave me confidence that I can put my mind to something and complete it. I cannot wait to see what this project will do for me in the long term.

Final Reflection

With the project coming to a close, it is nice to look back and think about all the things that I have accomplished.  As a whole, I would say that it has been a huge success.  I succeeded in gaining strength through my training as I had set out to do, but it has been much more than that.  I have improved my diet and learned many great things as well.  I now understand the importance of persistence, which played a key role in my success.  Without it, I would not have had the motivation to be consistent in my training and push onward in the latter parts of the project.  I also better understand patience.  Without patience, I may have abandoned this project.  It can be frustrating to go through plateaus, but you have to be patient and trust that you will get through them.  With that said, this week was a different story.  I did not get to the gym at all because of the storm.  However, I will return to my normal schedule this week.  Even though the project is complete, I will continue to go the gym, eat right and utilize the lessons I learned.

Final Reflection

When I first started this project, I had huge ambitions. I thought back to last summer and the disaster of my “Jimmy Jam” game with my friends. It was a game project that my friends and I came up with, but I ending up doing all the work even though I didn't know much about coding or game development. I decided to learn to code because it can get me a nice job in the future.  We had ample time to learn a skill and yet I still feel I never accomplished my goal. Though I came out with a finished product, through development and learning, many things have to be removed because they never worked properly. I had to learn how to make trade-offs with all of the things that didn't make the final cut. Also, coding requires a lot of patience, I was frustrated many times trying to get things to work. I'm going to continue to further my skill in coding later in the school year. I could've had more planning in this project but it was a fun project and I learned a lot with it. I hope I can do it again sometime.

Reflection 16

Fifteen weeks later, we are finally done. In my honest opinion, this project was much harder than expected. When beginning this project, I had the false belief that this project would be very easy. This thought developed under many factors. A few key reasons were because of the sheer amount of time we had to complete this project and the fact that there were so many resources online for code. As I began my journey, my predictions were correct as the baby steps were incredibly easy. However, as I started to delve deeper into the course, I started to run into more complicated exercises. Not having any real challenge up to this point, I panicked and became intimidated by code instead of embracing it. With the sudden realization that I may have chewed more than I could swallow, the possibility of even having anything substantial to present became grim. Constant fear of code now apparent, I shied away from accomplishing anything. As the deadline started to loom closer, procrastination kicked in, and I was able to labor halfway through the course. Relieved that I had finished, I am now happy that I have gone through all of those challenges and bumps in the road. I could finally take a step back and absorb what I had just accomplished. Throughout the course, I coded 30+ exercises! With no familiarity or background with code, I deem that to be a huge accomplishment. I am extremely happy with the result of this project and cannot wait for my next twenty time.

Final Reflection

Only 16 short weeks ago, the language I spoke and the language my grandparents spoke seemed vastly different and foreign. Fast foward 16 weeks and they don't seem that different at all. In fact, I understand most of it. A couple of months ago, I looked at learning Italian as a daunting, impossible challenge. I wasn't sure just how much of a language I could learn in just 15 weeks. But after my 20 time is over, I am please to say that I learned quite a bit over my time. My learning experience was not without its hiccups, but that's what made me more successful. You are supposed to fail when you are learning. If you aren't failing, that means that you already know it, which means that you aren't learning. In my case, there were a couple of variables that gave me a challenge. One is the fact that I had to use English all day, every day, while learning Spanish in school, and trying to learn Italian on my own time. This preventing me from properly learning Italian because I was not able to use Italian as much as I would have liked. Also, Italian is very similar to Spanish, for example, the same letters make different sounds, etc. This really confused me since I had to learn both at the same time.

This was a great project in which I got to use my time efficiently to do something that I wanted to do. I learned a lot of Italian and I hope to continue my progress, but for now:

Arrivederci e mi auguro buona fortuna.

Final Reflection

When I began my journey, I had no idea I would accomplish as much as I have during these 16 weeks. In the beginning, I wanted to use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build a fully functioning website. I decided to start with HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and CSS because through some research I did, it seemed to be the easiest to learn, and the one that had the most resources out there to learn from. That led to me only learning HTML and CSS (which are used to make the layout/design of a website) in the beginning. As the weeks progressed , each week basically consisted of the same routine. I would go through each week reading a little of my HTML/CSS at home and would come in on Thursday/Friday and worked through the course i was taking at codecademy.com. Then, a great thing happened towards winter break. I started to feel as though I wouldn’t be able to code my own website because all I could do at the moment was change some colors, make some tables and other rather boring stuff. Then, during break I decided to look into javascript. I wasn’t completely sure what it was at the time so i decided to look into it more and by doing so, I learned that JavaScript is what adds the functionality to websites and allows the user to go beyond and have an interactive experience.

Ever since then I started learning Javascript and stopped with the HTML+CSS, I realized I didn’t really want to make a website anymore because I just wasn't enjoying it, and I had to learn javascript anyway to make a decent website, so I decided to learn Javascript in a more fun way, by building a game. It was when I started to learn Javascript when I really started to enjoy coding.

Overall, while I didn’t enjoy the first portion of what I was doing, I did indeed learn a lot. While I may not necessarily have met my original goal, I feel as though I accomplished more. Throughout this project, there weren't many setbacks. Going into it I already knew coding is tedious and takes a long time. Coding, just like anything else, requires practice. I learned to be patient and even worked on my problem solving skills throughout this project. I am thankful that I got the opportunity to learn something I wanted to learn, and I will continue to try and better my skills in Javascript.

Final Reflection

Wow, what a semester. I want to thank Ms. Roy for allowing us this opportunity to just really be inspired by the things that we love. I have come a long way and, personally, this adventure has been one that I've learned a lot from. I've learned about myself, music, and life in general. Some things that I have learned - things come with practice. You can't just expect to wake up in the morning and know how to strum. I'm no Led Zeppelin, I'm not a guitar prodigy at all. Me and my guitar have been through some serious ups and downs throughout these months. I've come out of this journey stronger and I'm sure "he" has too. I've gathered such a love for music, and I'm so happy that I now have the ability to share my life with others through such a cool acoustic medium. Although I am still struggling, and really only know how to play one song and a variety of broken ones, I know that I have the tools to really delve into the musical world which is something that I wouldn't think was possible a few months ago. So, this has been such a learning experience for me, and I'm so happy to reap the rewards. It's been a great 20% time, can't wait to do it all over again with something new.

Reflection 15 (real)

The week coming back form winter break was extremely cold. I wasn't expecting the major change in temperature but I mean it is winter. Usually my Saturday run has an option to rest or run but my training program now just says to run. It is only a 2 mile run which is very light so I am happy. I was supposed to run on Wednesday for 45 minutes but the temperatures did not allow me to because I wasn't feeling to well. Not following through with my training is disappointing but sometimes I will need a break and that is okay. I can be too hard on myself. I have to trust my body. So for my Friday run I was scheduled to run for 40 minutes (4 miles). I will do that and take a break and run another mile at a fast pace to push myself and makeup for missing the previous run. Having a schedule to follow is great and it puts a lot of pressure on me to follow through with the program. I am okay with giving myself breaks as long as I put in greater effort or make up for it. During my 20% time I researched ways to deal with the cold weather when running. It is safe to run even when the temperature is below 0 degrees. The key is to dress warm, have a good warm up and mentally prepare yourself. I was looking to challenge myself and my discipline and this is my opportunity to prove I have what it takes.

Final Reflection

So, a whole semester has passed us all. Awesome. This semester long project has been great. For my last week, I have been extremely lazy. Other than the weather being extremely cold I have been hesitant to going on my runs. I still have to work on my discipline but that is a longterm effort I have to put in to work on my discipline so I can't be too hard on myself. I have been on once run this week which is the most important. It is running the 5 laps at my high school's gravel. I will show the times of this run when I present because it will the perfect time to show my results. My times did decrease and I am super happy about that. I also have found a great resource for yoga videos. Online I can look up videos and connect it to my TV. There I have a larger screen to look off than a computer. I make room in my living room and lay my mat out and do some freshening yoga. I know that this project has given me resources that I can use for the rest of my life. All of these resources come from myself because I can do anything as long as I am committed and willing to use my brain power.

Reflection #16: Final Reflection

If I'm being honest with myself, I didn't enjoy this project as much as I thought I would. When I first got into learning to play the piano it seemed easy and exciting, but as time progressed it got more complicated and thus, more stressful. The main reason for why I chose to do this project is because my dad is an amazing musician. In fact, I'm convinced that he could learn to play any instrument in the world. Because of this I thought that there was a chance that I inherited some sort of musical talent from my him, but by the end of this project I can truthfully say that I certainly did not. With more time maybe I could be half as great as my father. Obviously, if you practice something enough times you'll get good at it, but it's hard to practice something if your heart just isn't with it. Anytime I was learning to play a song I'd just get really stressed out and emotional and just start banging on my keyboard. This is because I only ever like to do things that I'm good at, like math or swimming. I am certainly not good at playing piano, so I certainly did not enjoy it as much as I hoped I would. Learning to play piano turned from a fun way to spend my free time to just another school assignment. The only positive thing  I can say is that I did reach my goal for this project, which was to learn three songs, but in the end that doesn't really matter if my heart wasn't into it.

Reflection (16th)

For my project as a whole, my success was higher than I would have predicted. Though my way of learning and my products were different than originally intended, I acquired the skills necessary to help me with meeting my objective. I believed I would use mostly tutorials as my guide, but instead found websites focused on explanations of concepts, and applied these to the sketches. For instance, an Internet resource supplied information about perspectives and vanishing points that I incorporated into my sketches. The goal was to notice the different features of an image and translate them onto paper using the newly-gained knowledge; I tried to identify my various points of struggling to continue. I observed my lack of accurate proportions  in sketching, and turned my attention toward finding different ways to make them accurate. I stumbled upon the grid method and tried it. My approach to learning the art of sketching was by means of noticing and there was not much of a set structure which helped me in keeping an interest.

Reflection (15th)

In bringing learning to sketch to a close, I researched tips that I could use for when I put sketching in practice. My reference, http://www.creativebloq.com/illustration/sketching-tips-beginners-81516497 , taught me foundational tricks to make sketches neater and more artistically inventive. For instance, an interesting way of making the paper smudge-free is keeping a separate of paper underneath whichever hand is sketching; in that sense, the hand would not cover the pencil lines, and smudge it. Right-handed people can use this shading from the left to the right, and left-handed are opposite. In the guide, there was a tip for controlling the pencil; gripping the pencil closer to the point darkens the marks, and gripping further up makes lighter marks from having lower controls. It also stated making lines having different degrees of darkness helps make a visually appealing sketch due to variation. These tips should be useful whenever I sketch any image.

Reflection (14th)

I attempted to sketch the basket shown below. It involved basic techniques including: hatching, cross-hatching and contour hatching. It was not difficult creating the ellipse or making the shape, generally. The basket’s sides are drawn evenly and the shading came natural to me. Practicing, I discovered this type of style is easy for me, since I’ve practiced drawing a lot of cylinders, or objects made of cylinders. It was a simple sketch but showed me where my progress is, and I am making improvement, being more comfortable holding the pencil and not as intimidated looking at the sketch before I start sketching; there are many other aspects I could still learn.

Reflection 15

This week I finally accomplished my goal of dunking a basketball! I did it in the morning of Saturday because I knew snow was coming and I had to get out to the park and try to dunk. Unfortunately I was alone so I couldn't get any video, but that doesn't take away from this great accomplishment. It has been a rough ride but the final product was well worth it.

Reflection 15

I cannot believe that this week is my last reflection in my 20 time project.  It seems like I just began this journey yesterday.  It has had it's ups and downs, but it was definitely a success overall.  I learned a lot about myself, and made major improvements to my character.  I also gained strength, which was the main goal.  Now I just need to put the finishing you hon my project and I will be finished.  Yet even when when this project is done, the things I learned wil Lantau with me.

Reflection 15

This week I worked a lot on achieving my goal of learning how to play a consistent song. Although I have learned a couple songs over my 20% journey, not a lot of them sound exactly like the song, which is something that I'm concerned about because I hope to include something in my presentation to show the class what I have learned. I decided to delay my post by one day because this is essentially the last reflection that I have to talk about the past week. And since today is not a school day, I had more time then I did all week to dedicate to my practice. In terms of what I have done, I have focused on one song in particular and tried my best to get it as best as I could. I have done my usual consulting and following videos on YouTube, especially tutorials, to try and do my best. I'm trying to shake a habit that I've had along this journey where I played along with songs and the videos as it's a lot harder to get the rhythm down when I'm playing by myself. Overall, this is really the last stretch and I hope that I can reach my goal.

Reflection 15

I've been coming closer to finishing my project. I've had a lot of time to work on it this past week , and I've been working on my presentation and my actual work/product. I'm excited to show what I've learned and made through this journey.

Reflection #15

I finally finished learning "Hello" this week. It was pretty hectic since I had a swimming meet today and got home really late, but I finally finished it at around 12 A.M. I spent most of my Friday and Saturday learning this song because I knew I wouldn't have time today, and it certainly paid off. I learned the song by separating the song into about 4 parts and learned the easiest parts first and then the more difficult ones. This helped to build up my strength rather than just diving right into the more challenging stuff.
My plan for this coming week is to finish my last song. It may seem like stretch but I feel like I can definitely pull it off if I spend at least an hour practicing and learning each day.

Reflection 15

As this 20% project comes to a close soon. I am glad to say that my project is 99.9% finished. Now all of my work will be going to the presentation, which I am looking forward to. I will still keep working on my level though until it is completely done.

Reflection 15

This week was a hard but productive one. With mid-terms looming around the corner, my teachers bombarded me with a barrage of tests, quizzes, and projects. I had little time to work on my 20 time project. However, I utilized the time in class well and was able to progress through my course. I am now at my 50% goal. I will now start working on the presentation itself.

Reflection 15

This week I ran about 4 times for 15 minutes. I worked out my upper body (pull ups, chest, back), did squats, and dead lifts. I've been working on my presentation mostly and taking pictures while working out to adequately display my workouts. While constructing my presentation, I realized throughout my 20% time that I enjoyed all aspects of staying fit, not just trying to complete a 10k so that is what I will be discussing in my presentation.

Reflection 15

This week I decided to make another Haitian delicacy called Soup Joumou, which is just butternut squash soup. To prepare this dish, first start off by preparing the meat. Marinate the meat overnight or for about an hour. Place the meat in a pot filled with water and cover it. Add in olive oil and let biol until the water evaporates. Uncover the pot an add a few drops of water and then stir. Keep doing this until your meat browns. Add in one tablespoon of tomato paste and stir it in, then take the meat out and set it aside for later use. Now you can start preparing your vegetables. In  a bowl, cut into small pieces some scallions and cabbage. Peel & chop the potato, malanga, butternut squash, carrots, and turnip. Then wash all your vegetables and add into a separate pot of boiling. Cover the pot and let boil for an hour over high heat. Reduce heat and add scotch bonnet pepper. Once the squash is fully cooked, remove it from the pot. Use some of the cooking water to blend the squash into a puree. For best flavoring, pour the cooked vegetables, the squash puree and cooking liquid into the pot that cooked the meat. Add parsley, thyme, and broken spaghetti. Let it all cook, until tender, then combine meat into soup.
When making this, I learned how to properly attend to  meat and how to marinate it properly so that the flavor comes out and it's not dry and nasty. This was a bit difficult because it was my first time dealing with meat, in which I prepared it on my own.

Reflection 14

This week was the fourteenth in my strength training journey.  This week I went to the gym four times.  I would have went more, but I had too much hw.  Not only that, but I was working on the presentation for this project.  As a whole, I am happy with the way I have been progressing and am happy I chose this for my project.  I think it has been a huge success, and I will continue going to the gym even when the project is finished.

Reflection14

This week I sprained my knee on Monday or Tuesday, and that put me out of my routines for a few days. I have been having a lot of pain in my lower body recently, probably due to basketball, which has been making weight training and jumping difficult. Hopefully it doesn't snow so I can hopefully dunk at a nearby park on the weekend when I have time. Overall it is becoming more and more difficult to find time when I'm feeling 100%, which hasn't happened in quite some time.

Reflection 14

The most recent week, I did not get much done. I was distracted with a bunch of projects and tests and couldn't find the time outside of school to continue working on my project. It was a disappointing week especially following my winter break success. Luckily, I will have surplus time to work on my project/presentation in class, and hopefully I can finish soon.

Reflection 14

As the reflections are coming to an end, I am trying to do more research on how I can improve on my dishes like, seeing how I can combine different seasonings together to make something yummy, and how I can use different techniques in order to make my dishes more aesthetically pleasing. I haven't done much cooking, other than making pancakes for my brothers and I this week for breakfast.  But as time keeps passing, I am learning about more ways to make my dishes relatively healthier.

Saverio's Reflection for Week 14

This past week I have redoubled my effort in learning about crocheting. Over the past month or so, I have been distracted by several other things and did not want to put the effort into this project needed to type up reflections. But, I still spent that time working on my stitching. I am moving faster than I could before and am now ready to move on to using more than one color of yarn. The result of that will prove to be very interesting. Also, at this point I will have to begin thinking about how I will present this as a “talk” to my classmates. 

Reflection 14

Continued work has been put in my 20% time project. as this project come to a close in a few weeks I will try to just add polish and experiment. Everything is mostly done. I tried to put in some minor particle effects just to test them out and they looked nice i may or may not keep them in.

Reflection 14

This week, being that it was the first week back from break, was hectic. I barely had enough time to practice any of my skills. However, I did make some progress in my course on codecademy. I learned about loops and arrays and what they can do. In short, they can help you save a lot of time. These commands can repeat something that you want to say. This eliminates the need for typing the same thing in over and over again. I hope to make it to 50% by the end of next week.

Reflection #14

This week I focused a lot on learning my final song. I haven't really gotten a lot done however since it was the first week back from break and things were pretty hectic. Also, I've been looking for a backup song just incase I decided to abandon this one, since it seems to be a little too difficult for me. If I don't have this song by next week I'm just going to go with learning the backup and practicing my first two songs. I am almost certain that I will have three full songs learned by the time I present my project, but for now I really have to focus on practicing these songs.

Reflection 15

As my final week of 20 time comes to a conclusion, I look back and reflect on my experience. While I have made huge strides in my goal- learning Italian- I regretfully say that I was met by two, one bigger and one smaller, challenges. The first one is rather small, this is the fact that almost all people, or groups of people, speak Italian differently. Some of these differences are minor, however, some of these differences are more significant. I am learning proper Italian, which makes it hard for me to talk to my dad or my grandparents, who speak a dialect known to their area in Italy in which they came from. This means that when I'm trying to have a conversation with my dad I might say something that doesn't make sense to him but actually is a correct word, or vice versa. The next bigger challenge is that I am trying to learn Italian while also having to learn Spanish in school, and while also having to use English in my every day life. This makes it hard to learn because the best way to learn language is for full immersion in the language, which cannot be achieved because, other than my father, I do not see anyone else on a day to day basis to whom I can speak Italian to. Also, and perhaps more important, is the fact that the language of Spanish and Italian are so similar that it is very easy to mix up the words and sounds between the two, which I do often, because I am learning both at the same time, which I underestimated the troubles of doing so while picking my 20 time project.

Reflection 14

This week, I had to make an adjustment to my 20% schedule. During the break, I was able to play guitar for hours at a time, but now that I have school and work, it's been pretty hard to find that balance again. I did spend a lot of my time preparing for my 20% midterm presentation, which may or may not include a sample of me playing. I personally don't think that the audios I have recorded are sufficient enough to show the class because my laptop audio is terrible, and so is my phone quality, and my camera is currently unavailable. I have played around with all of the different songs that I have been trying to learn, and one that I would want to focus on either Stay With Me by Sam Smith or More Than Words by Extreme because their both super easy and I could probably get it as close as I can to the actual song. Either way, good progress has been made on my 20% project.

Reflection 14

This week was hard in terms of changing my workout/running schedule. Over the break, I adjusted to a early morning schedule, but this week, school is back in session and I am not a morning person. Monday, I went to the gym before school, ran, and did strength training. Tuesday, Wednesday, and today I focused on my legs by doing squats and calf raises. Tomorrow, I am going on a run during co and will probably do pull-ups. I don't want to lose the progress that I gained over break because I was really consistent with my routine.

Today, during 20% time, I found an interesting article on core strengthening with exercises to do to build a strong core and I want to give that a try. I am starting to come up with ways to present my 20% time, as well and I am looking forward to showing my progression to the class.

Reflection 13

Winter break turned out to be a very successful time for me in my journey of learning how to code. It was by far the most productive time I’ve had coding. In fact, I spent 2 straight hours one day just coding. The reason as to why these past days have been so great is because I have started to move away from HTML and started learning some Javascript. I started new Javascript courses at codeacademy.com and udemy.com.  It is rather different from what I have learned so far. Javascript uses an abundance of “if, then” statements such as:

if (hourNow > 12) {

greeting = ‘Good afternoon’;

}

// This would display the appropriate greeting based on the current time. And the two forward slashes at the beginning of last sentence assures that the computer won’t see what's written after it.

Beginning to learn Javascript has brought me to the decision to scrap what I previously had planned to do for my final product (which was to build a website). There are reasons as to why I have chose to not build a website but I will explain that when I present my final product. I am still going to incorporate HTML and CSS aspects into my final product (which is going to be a surprise), but I’m hoping to do something a little more entertaining than that. So far, I have really enjoyed coding with Javascript and although I have a little ways to go, I’m excited to present my final product

Reflection 15

The week coming back form winter break was extremely cold. I wasn't expecting the major change in temperature but I mean it is winter. Usually my Saturday run has an option to rest or run but my training program now just says to run. It is only a 2 mile run which is very light so I am happy. I was supposed to run on Wednesday for 45 minutes but the temperatures did not allow me to because I wasn't feeling to well. Not following through with my training is disappointing but sometimes I will need a break and that is okay. I can be too hard on myself. I have to trust my body. So for my Friday run I was scheduled to run for 40 minutes (4 miles). I will do that and take a break and run another mile at a fast pace to push myself and makeup for missing the previous run. Having a schedule to follow is great and it puts a lot of pressure on me to follow through with the program. I am okay with giving myself breaks as long as I put in greater effort or make up for it. During my 20% time I researched ways to deal with the cold weather when running. It is safe to run even when the temperature is below 0 degrees. The key is to dress warm, have a good warm up and mentally prepare yourself. I was looking to challenge myself and my discipline and this is my opportunity to prove I have what it takes.

Reflection #13

Over the break I did a lot of work on my 20% time project. First, I finished my second song. I was so proud of myself. It still sounds a little choppy but I still have plenty of time for improvement. Next, I worked on my presentation. To do this I made an outline of what topics I am going to discuss. I decided I'm going to talk first about how I got into playing the piano and then I'm going to go into how I practiced and what I had to learn. The last thing I did was pick my final song. This song is easier that the rest since I don't have much time to learn it, so hopefully I'll have it done by the time my presentation comes around.

Reflection 13

During winter break, my 20% project progressed pretty greatly. Me and my family always do Christmas/New Years in Massachusetts with my other relatives (cousins, etc.) and, although I did try to fit it into the van, I couldn't fit my guitar in with all of our other things. Luckily, I did make it back home to make some time for my 20% project. I continued watching videos and trying out different songs, and perfecting others. I didn't dedicate much of my time to a specific song, because I like to try and be versatile between my abilities. When I played a bit for my friend, she noticed that I am starting to have my control over my strumming patterns, and she was able to identify 3/5 songs that I was playing - granted, with some difficulty. The problem is, I play the song at a much faster rate, and it kind of sounds like the original song but sped up two times. Hopefully, I will be able to correct it in time for the midterm, but overall I have been making good progress on my guitar playing skills.

Reflection (13th)

I tried the gridding method again using the angel shown below. It looks symmetrical, so the focus was on proportions and evenness, which made it a challenging piece. The multiple curved lines going between the sections were very difficult to draw with cohesion. The objects in the image dipped into other squares which made it even more difficult. Although, the relativity of sizing was apparent, and establishing it serves the purpose to gridding. I am struggling in proportions, but by continuing to practice, I could improve in the skill, and try other proportion techniques; generally, I would be a much better sketcher in mastering it.

Reflection 13

Over the break, I went to the gym only three days.  Considering the amount of days we have been off, I did very little.  I simply was not motivated during the holiday season.  I spent most of my days sleeping and lounging around the house, figuring that I would do it tomorrow.  On the days that I did go, my sessions were not at the intensity level they need to be.  Now that school is back in session, I am confident I will get back to my regular workouts.

Reflection 13

Over the break, I have got a decent amount of work done on my project. Although I was still in my splint for the break, I managed to get closer to dunking with my right hand, although still a ways away. I also did some leg workouts at home and went running a few times. I just got my splint off the other day, and now can resume my normal dunking routine. I feel very confident I can achieve my goal within the next couple of weeks with a lot of hard work and practice.

Reflection 13

With the craziness of the holidays, I found it hard to find time to devote to my twenty time project. I did have one day, however, to work on my project. I was able to make the jump from 25% on my project to about 40%. Although I was short on my 50% goal, I am happy with the progress. I have hit a bump in the road, for I am having trouble with a part of my course. I hope to resolve it soon so that I will have time to continue on and finish this course.

Reflection 13

I had a very productive winter break. After Christmas, I went to the gym every morning and ran about 3.5 to 4 miles every day. I also did pull ups, walking lunges, and leg raises. I worked out my chest and arms, as well. I noticed how much my runs have improved since building my strength up. I can run the same distance, but faster, and with less strain on my muscles.

I kept a good diet during my break. I got a good amount of protein in from eating grilled chicken and hard-boiled eggs. I enjoyed many salads, avocados, salmon burgers, veggie burgers, sushi, and veggies. I feel more energized and my water intake has gone up. I also drank a lot of tea to cleanse my body of toxins.

One thing I need to work on is making time for my stretches. I think I am going to start up with yoga again to help with my flexibility.

Reflection 13

This weekend I decided to help my mom make a traditional Haitian dish called "Macaroni au gratin".  Bring a large pot of water to boil over high eat with one capful of oil and a bit of salt, then add in the macaroni and let cook until soft and firm. Add in onions the Maggi chicken broth cubes. Reduce heat and stir continuously. Add in the Velveeta  cheese and stir until it's melted. Add in butter and  Parmesan cheese and keep stirring. Pour in carnation milk and stir. When cooked, removed from heat and add to a buttered pan. Preheat oven to  300 degrees , then place under the stove and let cook for 1 hr and 20 minutes.

Reflection 13

Over break it was surprisingly hard to find time to do my 20% time project. When I did find time i managed to finish my level. It's barebones but it still looks nice. The rest of the time i'm going to spend on this level is testing out all the different things i can do using C# and C++. I'll also add textures and more aesthetic improvements. I may not include everything in the final product but remember, you don't learn to code, you code to learn.

Reflection 14

This week I only ran three times. There is an option in my plan where you can either rest or do light run on one of the days. I took the lazy way out and decided to rest that day. On Friday, I went out to run and it was very cold. I had my good friend tag along with me. It was getting late so we changed the running plan. My training required me to run for 45 minutes that day but instead we ran for 20 minutes at a fast pace. We stopped and did squares and other leg exercises. I enjoyed going run with her because we are on the same boat with knee injuries. She gives me advice and exercise that will strengthen my legs. I also think that she is a great motivation because I push myself harder. Working out with a partner is great especially when they are more advanced. Next week I will run the three times with out any alterations to what the program has set. I will also do more squats. I have been stretching after every run. And during this winter break I woke up and went on my runs so I can tell that I have more discipline.

Reflection 14

This week was almost the same as last week, though a little better. I got through the two more lessons on duo lingo. I finished "family" earlier this week and just finished "measure" yesterday. I am still not close to done with the all the lessons, but I am getting there.